Last
Friday evening my team and I came home, from a day in the city and a day at the
zoo with the Gypsy children, to the words (in Ukrainian accent) “We go to
village for five days.� So, with very little knowledge about said village we packed
our bags and left for the village the next morning. The village is located
about an hour and a half outside of Odessa and translated into English, it is
called the Red Flag Village.
We
had no idea what to expect but wow, we absolutely fell in love with this
village and the people that live in this village. We lived at the small but
Spirit filled church that we were serving at for the next five days. On Sunday
morning and Sunday evening we participated in the church services. When the
weather allows, the church services are held outside, in the yard. The numbers
are small but it is evident within minutes that this church is ministering to
the whole village. They set up speakers facing outwards toward the neighbors
and towards the streets so that people who may not necessarily come to church
can hear the Word of God. When I realized the purpose of the speakers, I turned
around and there in the street was a man just standing and listening.
The
rest of our days we did yard work in the mornings at the church such as cut grass, dig up and
move rocks and clean up around the church. In the afternoons we held English
club for kids in the neighborhood to come and practice their English. We also
played a lot of volleyball. Who knew that the people of this village are in
love with volleyball.
God
continues to humble me more and more each day and for this I am so thankful. At
first when I heard we were doing yard work around the church I was a bit disappointed
because I wanted to be ministering to people and bricks can’t exactly be resurrected.
God is so faithful and so big! I am so small and so humbled by His grace! I am humbled
to be such a small part of His gigantic painting that He is portraying around
the world. God spoke to my heart in beautiful ways as I was mowing the lawn
with an electric lawn mower. On our last night the church families expressed
their thankfulness to us for our work around the church. They said that because
of babies and small children they are not able to keep us with the place as
they should (although it’s absolutely gorgeous) and I realized that moving
bricks and rocks, pulling weeds and cutting grass was Kingdom building for
these people! We were able to meet heir felt needs so that they may do the work
assigned to them by God!
I
wish I could adequately portray in a blog the hearts of the people from the
village. The pastor, Alexie, is so full of genuine grace and love for each and
every person he meets. He has such a huge heart to see complete salvation come
to this village. His wife is full of love as well and what an incredible
blessing it was for us to eat her home cooked food each night! Our translator,
Lidia, was an absolute blessing and joy to be around. There is another handful
of people at this church and my team and I fell in love with each of them! They
were such a joy to be around and there love for the Lord is so evident.
In
conclusion, please pray for the family that neighbors the church. The woman’s
name is Ahnya and she is married with children. They are a family of
unbelievers but just by seeing this woman a couple of times I am confident that
God is working in Ahnya’s heart. I am confident that we will see her and her
family in Heaven. She brought us milk (straight from the cow) and eggs
(straight from the chicken) while we were there. It was such a blessing to us
and I am excited for how God is pursing this family, even if they may not know
it yet. Pray that their hearts would be softened and salvation would come to
this family!
When
we left Pastor Alexia gave us four things to be praying about and I am eager
for you to join me in prayers for this village, if you feel led:
1.
Pray for God to pursue the unbelievers in the
village and for their hearts to be open to God that they may have a
relationship with Him.
2.
Pray for the service with young people. Pray for
fruit, salvation, English club, and a man of God to pour into the young people.
3.
Pray for a potential medical service ministry to
the village.
4.
Pray for evangelism in other villages. To do
this they need better transport. Pray for a van or money for a van.
Tomorrow we will leave for “extreme camping� I wish a could
adequately tell you what extreme camping intels but details are few and far
between here but in short it is a weekend camp for young people. We will be
serving at this camp. I will write about it when we return, as I am confident
that God will be at work during this camp!
Love you all and please send me your greetings from America!
“He alone is my rock
and my salvation,
my fortress where I
will never be shaken.�
-Psalm 62:2-
This is a gorgeous view of the village from the “bathroom” (if you want to call it that)
