Kolentsi, Ukraine It’s funny how we conjure up these ideas about reality in our own heads based on our own experiences and then one day you come to find out the truth about that “reality” is quite different than what you had always thought. Years ago, I had a friend back in Minnesota whose family was from Ukraine. They were God-fearing people and his dad was the pastor of a Ukrainian church in the Twin Cities. Naive as I am, I therefore deduced that all Ukrainians were God-fearing Christian people based on what I knew about the only Ukrainian folks I knew. God has since shattered that belief that I once thought to be true and now I have seen with my own eyes the despair that people live with here in the countryside of Ukraine. This month we are working with an organization called Jeremiah’s Hope, a ministry that aims to offer relief & hope to the kids and families here that have otherwise have none. Jenny & Andrew Kelly moved their lives out here several years ago and now run a Christian camp & retreat center. We are helping with the construction on a new building. When they aren’t hosting campers or retreats, they spend time visiting familes in the area to love on them. The families they visit have been referred from Social Services and many of the parents are alcoholics and rarely around. The kids pretty much take care of themselves. Some of the families we visited live in one small room with only two beds and a small makeshift stove. The stories of what these children live with day to day are terrible. Jenny told us about one little girl whose mother had gotten so drunk to the point where she passed out and locked her daughter out in the freezing cold all night by accident. Another little boy’s father punished him by forcing him down on top of a burning stovetop. The sad reality is that this type of life is typical for the kids here. There is no such thing as children growing up in Chistian homes as many of you reading this have.
I can now see how ignorant I used to be about the spiritual needs around the world. The statistics now have a face — poverty has become personal. I believe that when I decided to follow Christ, I was adopted into a family that is much broader than biology and extends beyond borders. Visiting all these places around the world this year has opened my mind to reveal new perspectives and forced me to grow out of this myopia that I had created for myself back home. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to see these things with my own eyes and thanks to all my supporters who have allowed me to experience this! You guys are all in my prayers. Peace to y’all!
