Try as I may, I think it would be nearly impossible to express the joy in my heart as I look back on our month in Ukraine, and the extreme sadness I feel knowing that tonight we will leave this beautiful place for Romania. Still, I am looking forward to all that the Lord has for us in our final two months on the Race.
Nearly one month ago, we arrived in the city of L'viv, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, after nine hours of flying and an overnight train ride from Kiev. The skies were blue that first morning, which were truly in stark contrast to China's perpetual grey. It was love at first sight.
We partnered with a missionary family, aptly named the Blessings. Mark and Rhonda have been serving in Ukraine for more than 16 years, and their three beautiful daughters are now also serving in Eastern Europe. They live in a tiny little 700 year old town, Domazhr, which is not far from L'viv and literally looks like the village from Fiddler on the Roof. From the moment we first met the family, I was truly humbled and blessed by their warm reception and the ways in which we quickly felt like part of the family.
The Blessings have a strong calling on their lives to reach out to God's chosen people, the Jews. As part of their ministry, they have been building Bethel House over the past few years as a way to reach out to Jewish families in the community who are relocating to Israel. Although the bulk of our ministry was painting and preparing the third floor of Bethel House, we also held weekly English Clubs to minister to university students, as well as participated in a local feeding ministry.
One of the highlights of this month for me was learning about different Old Testament Jewish prophecies which were fulfilled in the coming of Christ. We celebrated a Passover Seder on Palm Sunday, and then we had weekly Shabbat serviceswith the Blessing family. I have been reading through the Old Testament in my quiet times, and, being the kinesthetic learner that I am, it was definitely enlightening to participate in some of the old traditions and then view them in the context of the new life we have in Christ.
To summarize our month in words would probably take a novel, but I have included a slideshow to share snapshots of some of our ministry here. I sadly do not have pictures of the inside of Bethel House, as my hands were covered with paint most days, but I hope you will enjoy the snapshots from other aspects of our ministry.
