I must admit when I looked at the list of countries the World Race was taking me to, it was Ukraine that had me the least excited. I assumed that what I would find there was a country grayed, built and saddened by years of Soviet control. But outside of the architecture I found something must different in their culture. An eastern country striving to move into a western status. A society rich and knowledgeable in their history and invested heavily in the arts. A place I fell in love with.
It wasn’t so much the beauty we found in the Crimean Peninsula while backpacking with students.
Or the endless amounts of cookies.
Or their traditional beet soup, borsch.
Or the ballet.
It was the people.
Our ministry this month was working with CCX (pronounced S-S-Ha, because it’s Cyrillic), a university ministry working with students in several schools in Kiev. CCX finds the best ways to relate and connect with students through non-Christian activities then teach about Christ through these activities. So my team and I spent the month teaching English classes and clubs, hosting movie nights, picnics, and of course the backpacking trip. All of these gave us opportunity to connect and make friends with the students, to love them as Christ would love them, and teach them about Him. We would also use that opportunity to connect them with more of the Christian activities that CCX sponsored.
To be honest occasionally the ministry felt like it was too much fun, but then I started thinking about Jesus’s ministry on earth. It was socializing. Dinner parties. Talks with people he met. And that is what we were doing- Christ is about relationship.
I think back on my time in the US where in college my Christian friends (most from Intervarsity, CCX’s sister organization) and I would be running around the dark playing manhunt, or duct taping each other to walls. The next morning I would sit with my friends that went to the parties, and they would tell me how empty they felt, that there wasn’t really relationship building in the activities they were doing, and often times they couldn’t even remember the night before. I think American society often thinks that Christians are boring, and don’t know how to have fun. CCX, however, is finding a great way to entertain all the while disciple students that is keeping their interest. And they are building relationships while doing it. It was hard was hard to say goodbye this month, even to people we had met only 3 days before leaving…and I think that says a lot. There were tears shed. Relationships created, and students who caught another glimpse of Christ- a seed, or some watering.
And while my heart was overcome with joy over the beauty I’ve seen and the relationships I’ve created my heart still breaks for Ukraine in many ways. While filled with gorgeous women, it is also filled with way too many women suffering from eating disorders because of a societal expectation and a city filled with mirror after mirror. Their orphanages put 16 year olds on the street often after selling them to criminals to turn the children into thieves or prostitutes, or even use them for organ harvesting. Religion is a tradition rather than a belief or faith, as thousands of years ago their ruler forced all of them to be Orthodox, and with the exception of Communist rule, has been prevalent in the country. Most in society view Protestantism as a sect. And on a lighter note, they have no peanut butter…prayers for that, too.
I’ve been in South Africa since April 2 (after 46 hours of travel in 6 legs: bus, plane, train, bus, metro, van, campground) it’s been cold and rainy, beautiful, and heartbreaking…more on that soon!…Running a memorial service on Tuesday for an 18 year old beaten to death.
