Here in Rivne, Ukraine my team and I are working with Ivan, a fellow brother in Christ. Ivan is the director of The Apologetics Research Center in Ukraine. This month we have been working alongside him in the library organizing books and books and books on apologetics. We have also organized an ESL program in a nearby village. About 50 children from the community come to a field where we have put up 2 “circus tents” everyday from 3 to 5:30 and we teach. You may have already guessed it, but yes, we do teach them English. We have also had the opportunity to share God’s Word with them. And they love it. They love learning new words and phrases and discussing what different verses in the Bible mean to them. Tomorrow is our last day with them, and they will be presenting to their families what they have learned in the past 2 weeks.
Many times after class we have been invited into a wonderful family’s home for dinner and desserts and of course tea. This family (Julia and Sergiy) have 4 beautiful children (who attend ESL) and a simple lovely home that they have graciously opened up to us. My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and this family made me 3 desserts, presented me with gifts and spoke loving words into my life. As we were on our way back to our hostel for the night, I thanked them for their kind words, delicious food, abundant hospitality and their genuine love. Julia and Sergiy looked at me and said, “well of course, God has blessed us with so much and we just want to extend that blessing to you.” I said thank you again and was just blown away by their love and humility. Julia then embraced me with tears in her eyes and said “and you are our sister and we are so thankful that you are with us.”
I had only just met Julia 3 days prior to this. It still amazes me. Later on that week we asked Julia and Sergiy why they were so thankful to have us over at their house all the time. They told us that they are the only Christians in that community. Their simple answer made me really think about fellowship and how blessed I am to be surrounded by people who pour so much love and life into my heart. It gave them so much joy to serve and love on us, because they recognized us as family. Even though we don’t speak the same language or come from the same culture we were able to experience a supernatural connection because we are all working towards the same goal.
There is no place I would rather be. Thank you God for this time in the Ukraine. Thank you for this Race. Thank you Papa for continuing to show me your unconditionally love in the most lovely and unexpected ways.
And thank you to all of you who have supported me on this adventure. Your prayers and love have brought me here.
In less than a week I will be in Tanzania. I am extremely excited! Please pray for smooth transitions into a new country, safe travels and finances for my squad. Our next and final deadline is July 1st. We all have to be fully funded ($15,500) by then. There is still a definite need financially. I, myself still need $1,700. If you feel led to give, please do not hesitate. God is moving in great and mighty ways through the World Race. One way you can be a part of it is by donating to my account.
Thank you for all your love!
