One of our first outreaches here in Ukraine was to a small village about 3 hours from where we are staying. We stayed with man named Anatole and his family. Anatole used to be a scary man in his village. Very rough, beating up people and doing life his own way. He actually went to prison and that is where he heard about Jesus. Now he and his family attend church, they do outreaches into the schools and have a house for people who are just getting out of prison and have nothing. At this house they do bible studies and go to church. The impact this man is having in his community is amazing. Gods redeeming love never ceases to amaze.
While we were all talking Anatole was also sharing some of the history of Ukraine. He talked about the persecution many Christians went through during World War II and after. There was a time when pastors would be executed for having church. He told a story of one time when there were 3,000 pastors executed in one day. How they would send in spies to churches and then raid them and kill the people in the church or send them to work camps. This would happen to any religion too not only Christians. Now it’s of no surprise that here in Ukraine they don’t want us talking to there children about Jesus.
