Village of Hope…
…Is more than just being lumberjacks, or working in the sawmill making boards from trees, its more than how we have our own four bedroom, two baths house with a kitchen that has anything you would need to cook/bake, a TV, Hot water all the time, real beds. It’s more than having two hardy meals a day cooked for us, oh and the delicious brownies. It’s more then not having to be ready to go in the morning until 10am, and it’s more than having a sauna in our back yard. But it is about the men coming here and not only getting the help for their addiction, but also to have a relationship with Jesus and growing in that relationship. Discipleship.
One of the most beautiful things I have seen here is not all the trees, not the sun starting to shine, not the little dandelions that are starting to come out, not the little creek losing its ice and now flowing, or the dessert plate being stacked with brownies. No, none of that, but the most beautiful thing I have seen has to be the Wednesday night prayer meeting. Maybe it is just me, Wednesdays start out with two songs in Russian/Estonian, and then it goes to prayer time, and then another song after about 45 minutes of prayer.
First the men were sitting there praying alone. Then it happened, one by one they started picking up their chairs and moving around to the person they felt like they needed to pray with. I saw grown men who have spent time in prison, in more than one prison, and some even in prison in more than one country. I saw men who look like they could do some serious damage if they wanted opening up their hearts, and sharing things they are dealing with to their fellow brothers. I saw grown men praying to God, lifting up their “prayer wishes” I saw grown men encouraging each other, and I saw grown men attack each other with these crazy bear hugs after. I do believe this has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
I can’t imagine the pain that some of these men have gone through, who they have hurt along the way, and how they made the decisions they have made. But I can see on some of them the Joy, hope, love, and freedom God has restored to them. I get to come along side them and fight for them in prayer to be freed from their addictions, and the pain of their past. I wish I could see what plan God has for them as they move forward. As some have dreams of going to bible school, becoming a pastor, helping those who were just like them, and to have a family of their own. I know he has called them to great things and that is exciting.
This month has really made me stop and just realize just how small I am compared to the world. How even smaller I am compared to God, and what he is doing… just how he is working all over the world. God is so much bigger than me, you, the world race, and America. How I just have a tiny little part in his plan. Everything is not about what I am going through, and what I want to happen. It’s so much more about what God wants, what he is using to teach me, and what he wants to happen. The best part is God still cares for and loves me no less even though I can be a very selfish person.
It’s crazy to think I could be back home in America, in Kansas. Doing what America considers normal life. While here in Estonia, at village of hope, there are a group of men fighting for their freedom from their addictions, and fighting to grow in their relationship with Christ. And I could never have thought or even heard of them, that my life could have never been intertwined with theirs. That tough looking 48 year old who really is just a big goofy kid, who only speaks about 15 words in English, who always makes awesome goofy faces, and always has a smile on his face, and you just can’t help but love him.
Or the 31 year old, who told one of your teammates as he was strutting around in a jacket they were giving us to use that “He was Sexy and he knew it.” Who learned his English in prison, and you just can’t help but laugh sometimes at the things he says because it’s broken English. And how he doesn’t know how to run a coffee maker, and he keeps calling it a she and you both end up calling the coffee maker a lair. And how every time at church the kids just flock to him, and he can’t wait to be a Dad.
Or how about the older man that reminds you of a big old teddy bear. Who you know is someone’s grandpa, who gives you these hard candies after a hard day of work, who when having a bad day in the little English he knows asks you if you are okay. Who knows Frank Sinatra songs, and who joins in on your mushroom baseball fun. Who tells your teammate and you that you’re proverbs 31 Women.
Or how about the short stocky 28 year old, who likes to tap you on the shoulder to try and get you to look the wrong way, who also makes awesome goofy faces, and has a dream to go to bible school when he gets done here.
Or the tall 28 year old who works with us in the forest, who tries so hard to communicate with all of us and translate in his broken English, and who just really reminds you of a big kid who just can’t wait for the boys to be able to come out and play.
Or how about the 42 year old forest boss, who just reminds you of a grown up little rascals, who communicates in chainsaw noises, and hand motions, who really, you just can’t help but love him and all his crazy jokes.
This is village of hope and it is beautiful and its own way. So maybe the forest is not where I thrive, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else this month. And I am seriously going to miss this place when I leave. I will miss these guys and the laughter they bring me, the humor, the “what’s?!?”, and just being able to see them grow more and more into what God has for them. I will miss seeing God change them. I might even be a little jealous of the next team that comes here. Maybe not the working in the forest part, but the relationships they get to start/continue. *hint hint* Justin & Hannah.
The Village of Hope will always have a big piece of my Heart!
