Things my lovely team and I were blessed with:
- Hot water
- Lots of amazing food
- Big rooms that were basically brand new
- A bunch of coffee and tea
- A bunch of pastries
- A bunch of bread
- a cute little family (4 kids and 2 parents)
- a washing machine
- WiFi
- Flushing toilets
- Heat
Should I continue?
- Transportation to literally anywhere in which our host mom drove
- Super cool teens that hung out with us
- Lots of hugs. LOTS.
- Really nice clothes
- A beautiful kitchen and dining area
- Ravioli’s. The best homemade ones.
Now I’ll stop. But really though, Ukraine treated my team and I so well. We were blessed beyond all measures and certainly it was so difficult to leave.
Along with that, I grew really close to some of the most beautiful little Ukrainian girls ever. People that I will never forget and will always hold a place in my soul. Along with all these things I was blessed with, I was blessed with something even more and that’s a relationship with people. Ahhhh, it was so amazing to literally just connect so well with so many people in Ukraine. All the sweet moments I had this month is something I will cherish forever.
One of those relationships that I developed was with this little girl named Rita. Ohhhh Rita. She is an actual angel, like I’m pretty dang sure. Her hair is the most blonde and her eyes are the kind of icy blue to literally pierce your soul. But wow does she have a heart of gold. I met her on the first day that my team and I arrived to our church we were going to be working with. The minute I made eye contact with her, I instantly knew that she was going to be my best little friend. She came up to me very sweetly and gave me the warmest hug ever.
I was able to see her during the week at the English classes we did at the church, because her mom was one of the volunteers here. Some days, I would just sit with her in the corner and teach English to her by myself and others, I waited until after class and just loved on her. From piggy back rides to her sitting on my lap, she was not afraid to show affection towards me and boy did I love it. She showed me her kindness and in return I showed her my crazy side, because she was pretty timid and shy, but I cracked that out of her so fast. Now, there are a few little things I learned from Rita, but one thing she was really good at was knowing what I was feeling. One day, I was pretty sad about leaving Ukraine, and she read right into it and just hugged me so tight and told me “I Love You”. Literally a little 7 year old. What a gift from the Lord. But, when I was happy she knew and we would just have fun and laugh for a good 10 minutes.
Sometimes in life, little moments like these with Rita, is what we need to encounter with the Lord. Throughout this month, the Lord taught me that seeking those intimate little times with him are so so important and vital. I was able to seek him when I needed him and just grow in my relationship with him through the most random times in Ukraine. The Lord is crazy awesome and I will forever be thankful for not only him, but also Rita because she taught me what it looks like to just love people in the most simple ways.
