Part of our ministry this month was prayer walking though the villages which is basically taking time to walk around and ask the Lord what He wants to do through you today and being available for opportunities H
e may present. One day Summer, Carly and I were walking with our translator and friend Helen and we walked through one of the small villages and said “Hello” to some of the women there. I could tell the women were curious about us but did not want to engage in conversation with us. One asked us what we were doing but made it clear she was just walking past, she wasn’t going to stop and talk. We got to the end of the village and turned around and on our way back through one of the babushkas waved us over to where she was sitting on a bench outside her house. Her name was Valentina and she was so excited to know all about us and what we were doing in Ukraine. When she found out we were Christians she wanted to know whether we were Orthodox or Catholic, since to many Ukrainians those are the only two options. When we said “neither” she wanted to know more and we talked a little about how we believed in a personal relationship with Jesus and that our group came from various faith backgrounds but we found unity in the life, death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus. Valentina began to share a little about her family and then invited us back to her house for tea or “chai” the next day.
A blog from Ukraine…
The backbone of Ukrainian village community is its “Babushkas” which is Russian for grandmother. These little hard working women with hands like leather are all over the place with scarves tied around their heads and with a story to tell. The reason there are so many particularly in this area is that the young people in the villages generally leave and go off to the city for schooling or jobs if they are old enough and the men often die in their 60s because of a lifetime of hard labor in the local coal mines. Babushkas keep the communities running despite the odds.
The next day we returned with some cookies in hand from our local market and found Valentina waiting for us at her house. Summer, Carly and I sat and listened through the translator as Valentina told stories about her two sons growing up, her husband who she loved deeply that died three years ago and what it was like to live through hard times during the war (WWII) all while we sipped tea, munched on cookies and looked at her photo albums. Sitting in her kitchen that was heated by her wood stove while she kept piling our plates up with sweets and insisting we eat more, I was filled with joy at being a part of this woman’s life. Getting a glimpse into her heart was such an honor and being able to pray with her and sit for hours in her kitchen are things I hold in my soul forever.
We got a tour of her garden and returned later that week for more tea and conversation and finally to say goodbye. The video below is from our second tea time shortly after Easter. This video will give you a little glimpse into Valentina’s kitchen and how much we enjoyed being in her home but it does not do justice to her spirit and generosity. You’ll just have to trust us on that.
