There is little more beautiful than the spring weather here in Eastern Europe today. We officially left our ministry site in Ternopil, Ukraine and took a train then a bus to Budapest, Hungary!
We passed through the Carpathian Mountains on the train for the second time, and I have officially fallen in love with this place. Ukraine has beautiful mountains, castles, but most of all, the hearts of the people I met.
In a country that has had a lot of conflict in the Eastern region and a long history of problems with it’s bordering countries, I experienced a culture that was a contrast to what some might expect. All the people we made friendships with, were incredibly hospitable and loving in all they did for us. The culture was also honest about thier emotions, which I found a relief after places where “saving face” was so prevalent.
This month the language barrier was the most difficult on the race so far. Few people knew how to speak English well, even though it is commonly taught in schools. I found it similar to how much Spanish people in America remember from high-school haha.
This made for a great opportunity to put on an English School with Dwelling of God Baptist Church and it was my favorite type of ministry so far!! It started by school visits and playing music in the city center to promote the classes, and teach about the Reformation. We handed out flyers for a solid week to people, with the only requirement to attend was to be over 15 years old. You can watch our silly video about it here:
After all the promotion we finally started classes with roughly 100+ students! We each split off into teaching our own classes ranging from introduction to English to experts that were actually local English teachers that wanted practice with native speakers.
Throughout the school we made some great friends with all the students. It felt like home for me, having my own classroom and getting to teach however I felt best. I taught the lower intermediate class and we watched all the videos I made from the trip so far. We had conversations about what we saw, the trip and about eachother. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!
One of my favorite parts was the diverse careers of the students that ranged from EDM musicians to Bio Technical Engineers to medical students to high school seniors to delivery guys to at-home mom’s. If I ever “need a guy” in Ternopil Ukraine I am covered now haha.
Overall, we all shared together whatever we had from our language to our friendships. The last day of class I got a chance to share my life story with each of the three sessions of classes. It was humbling to share my past mistakes I’ve made and I was excited to share how my Dad in heaven redeemed every last bit of it through Jesus.
I explained, that while English is great to know, it is not nearly as amazing as knowing God’s love. It sparked some great conversations and made for an ever harder goodbye yesterday. They showered us with gifts and food as we had tear-filled goodbyes with these people who felt like family.
This month started with us praising God for hot showers, beds, cool weather, and Wi-Fi. The month ended with us praising God for something, so much better than just the modern comforts in Europe… FAMILY.
I hope to see you again Ukraine, Lord willing I would love to return!
Yellow Blue Bus Ukraine
(roughly how you say “I love you” in Ukrainian)
Yours in Christ,
Andy
P.S. Keep an eye out for more videos on my YouTube Channel: Andy’s World Race Journey
Or my Instagram @theandyhaak
