Monday was a good day.
We woke up around 5:45am, loaded up our big red van, and headed out on the open, yet very bumpy roads of Ukraine. Four hours later, after picking up our translator and our optometrist, we finally made it to our destination, the small village of Novobilo, just minutes from the Russian border.
(((sidenote:: For those of you who know me well, you know that any drive (especially on THE bumpiest roads ever) over an hour will make me car sick. I have YET to get sick in the car in Ukraine. Isn't that crazy?! Thanks God! )))
As soon as we arrived we were told that the day had already not been going as planned (a common theme on the Worldrace). This area we were in is populated with people who are purely Orthodox.
Hold up… aren't Orthodox Christians too? The essential doctrine is very similar yes, but if you talk to a Ukrainian/Russian Orthodox, you may be surprised by what they say. To them, their religion is purely tradition. Many just say they are Orthodox just because their parents were. Bruce was telling us that near Easter, everyone will walk around saying "Christ is Risen" (in Russian), yet if you ask them "Do you believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior?" Most of them will reply, "No! That's just a tradition!" I was shocked by this. It broke my heart to think that these people have the truth right in front of their faces, but refuse to except it. That they are missing out on the greatest love in existence.
Our plans changed a bit because we were supposed to have the open clinic in the middle of the village, but the Mayor told the pastor we were working with that we were not welcome because he was too scared. Now I was really confused. Why on earth would the Mayor of this small village be afraid of a small group of Christians handing out free eye glasses?? Apparently the Orthodox priests tell the people in this area that Christians who do not belong to the Orthodox church are a part of a cult. They make up so many lies to scare the people away from other believers. Such lies as "they sacrifice babies to their God, they put poison on those glasses, they want to hurt you."
What???
So the clinic was moved to a small home. This home so happened to be the place where the local church meets. The local Christians that we were working with were convinced that no one would show up. Just hours before we showed up, they went door to door with the eye glasses to show people that there was no poison, and it was merely a gift we wanted to give.
The locals walked away, refused to listen, and just said "Niet."
We arrived, and we prayed that people would come. We prayed that God would open their eyes and their hearts. And He showed up, and so did the people.
They started coming one by one. Then few by few (some even on motorcycles with sidecars…which was awesome). Those few then went back to their neighbors to bring them, and then ​they​ went back to get their neighbors.
Our group greeted them outside with smiles. We weren't sure what to do. We didn't want to "scare them off" so we kept our distance at first. I was praying constantly that God could use us to show them his love. Inside the house, they were given New Testaments and our salvation bracelets (the ones described in my friend Neysa's blog that I posted yesterday). As Brian and I were playing around with the guitar/singing outside, the pastor asked us to come inside and sing. I gladly accepted. So we sat with the very stern-faced babushkas and sang praises to God. Valery and Bruce translated the songs after we finished. Then the older women we were working with would sing some songs in Russian, acapella.
We would sing.
They would sing.
We would sing.
They would sing.
After the singing, Bruce spoke to them about God's love and how it is about so much more than traditions. Some of the babushka's faces started to soften. Some even teared up.
