We have been serving here in Ukriane now for two weeks and it has been amazing so far! We arrived here at Nehemiah International on Saturday with Team Aletheia. When we arrived we had a meeting with Nathalie, the camp director,who spoke with the other team which has been working with the kids camp here for the past two weeks. She met with our team the next day to tell us about all the different ministries that we would be working with this month. So here is what we did for the first week: Monday we spent the whole day praying for the camp. We all did a prayer walk around the campus just praying for God to dwell in this place and change the lives of the children who would be coming to the camp. Tuesday we went to a Methodist church to help clean the sancturary. Pastor Vasily came and picked us up and took us to his house. His wife showed us around the town and took us to a creek that was not far from their house. Pastor Vasily pastors 3 different churches and this one is connected to his house. After we cleaned his wife served us an amazing meal. We had a wonderful time just fellowshipping with their family. Weas prayed over them before we left and you could just tell how much they appreciated it! They were so nice to us and we could all tell how much they love the Lord. On Wendsday some of the team went to another one of Vasily's churches to tear down some walls where a basement had flooded while the rest of us went to a Gypsy kid's camo downtown. When we arrived we learned that most of the people there either spoke Russian or Hungarian and even our interpreter had a hard time understanding them. An older Ukrainain women ended up coming up to us and giving her testimony. She told us of how the Lord had healed her of Luekemia and other sicknesses. She has only been a Christain for a year. So amazing! On Thursday we went back to the Methodist church to finish up tearing down the walls. Thursday night we went back to the Methodist church that is at Pastor Vasily's house and participated in their youth service. Some of my team spoke about how they were led to the World Race and what God has been doing so far. Friday was our day off and most of us spent it in the city. During the day on Saturday, Katie and I went to a Children's Hospital where there were 3 babies who had been abandoned with no one to care for them. We just spent some time holding and playing with them. They were adorable and I enjoyed it! Saturday night has definitly been my favorite night so far in Ukraine! We went to a Gypsy church where we were told that we would be watching the kids while the adults were having a graduation ceremony for some young boys. Well God had a different plan! When we arrived we learned that the Pastor Voldova and his wife Maria just wanted us to be a part of the service with them. Before the service began we walked around the village. I have never seen a village like this before. It was just little basic houses everywhere and there was just a couple of outhouses for the whole community to use there. There were lots of children running around dirty and just wanting us to love on them. It is amazing to me what little people can live on these days. Most of these families do not work and just live off of what they steal or get from begging in the streets of the city. The 4 boys were graduating for their 1st year of bible school at the church. This service was a very big deal to them because most of the children there do not go to public school and do not know how to read or write at all. The ceremony started with the 4 boys: Igor, Ivan, Vasya, and Benjamin leading us in worship. You could just see how passionate they all are about the Lord. Two of them have been speaking in tounges since they were 6 years old!! How awesome is that?!? Their teacher, who is also the pastor's daughter, told a little about each of them and their progress throughout the year. Then the boys told us what they wanted to be when they grow up. All of them either wanted to be a preacher or a missionary! I was just blown away by them. Then we had a huge meal with them. We had a chicken dish, Ukrainian houlbtsi( rice rolled in cabbage) and cake for the graduates. Afterwards we all gave them some encouraging scripture to carry with them for the rest of their lives. My scripture was from Matthew 5:14-16, " You are the Light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before all men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." I told them that they are the light in this dark world. We could all definitly already see their light of God shining through them! I just encouraged them to let their light continue to shine as they witness to others. They have the potential of changing the whole village and I believe that they can and will do it! Before we left we all prayed over them. The 4 boys stood in the middle with their hands lifted to the Lord as we prayed in English and the Pastor prayed in Ukrainain. It was another incredible moment of the night! This week has been a diffucult week for me. I was sick on Monday and Tuesday along with two of my other teammates. On Wednesday we went back to the Gypsy church to help clean the chairs in their sancturary. They also served us some snacks and some desserets. The pastor shared some stories of healings of his family and his church family. The boys also shared their stories. You could just feel the presence of God's on those boys. It was just amazing! Today we went to another Gypsy church where we cleaned the sancturary. As I think about those boys I wonder why I am scared to share my faith with others. Those boys who are 11, 14, and 15 have no fear so why so any of us? For as it says in God's word, "If God is for us, then who can be against us?" Romans 8:31. May I encourage you as those boys encouraged me to not be afraid to share God's love to others. We are all called to go and tell others about Christ! So will you go?
Here are some pictures from this month so far:
Nehemiah International
Me at the Children's Hospital
The Gypsy kids!
The boys leading us in Worship.
All of us with the boys, the Pastor and his wife.
All of us praying over the boys.
