This month has been the best
month of the year for me. I am
amazed because I came into Kiev knowing next to nothing about Ukraine. I have loved living in the city and the
ministries I’ve been involved with this month. I truly felt like this was my home for the month. The people are who I fell in love with
the most. I wanted to share
some of their stories with you.
Dema is 22 years old. We met
him at English club. He is in
university studying radio engineering. He is a freestyle swimmer for his university. He started walking with the Lord when he was 21 and has been
attending his church since April. Dema agreed to be our translator at the ChildRescue center and help us
get around. He has one of the
purest hearts of anyone I know. He
has given so much to us without asking or accepting anything for it. He fit right in helping out with the
kids at the rescue center. 
weeks when we met him. He speaks enough
English to help translate when we are without a translator. He told us that he was given up by two
families the latter placing him in a psychiatric hospital for a year. He states that he has lived on the
street for at least one year. He
would survive by pick pocketing and stealing from people. To hear him tell some of his story
check out the video on Blair’s blog.
Vlad is also a 16 year old at
the center. He has been there for
about a year and a half. At age
14, he attacked another person which landed him in jail for a year. He’s parents disappeared sometime
before he ended up in jail. He has
two sisters in a center in another city. He found ChildRescue and committed to staying in their program. He became a Christian a year ago, and
his life has been transformed by Christ and the center. From the moment I saw this boy I knew
that he had a sweet spirit but also a story. I was thankful to our translators for allowing me to hear
his story.
we met at English club. We invited
her over for lunch one afternoon and got to hear her story. She comes from a divorced family. She helped raise her sister. She start hanging out and drinking when
she was 13 years
old. She had somevery bad vodka, which made her very sick one night. Through that experience she began to hear God’s voice in her
life. Her mom got her in a
Christian English camp even though she was too young to attend. From that camp she got involved in her
current church and English club and became a Christian. The crazy thing about Dara is you would
never guess she is only 16 years old. The English club is for university students and we just assumed she was
one, not only by her looks but by her maturity. She has been a translator at the center and a huge help to
us in getting info about leaving Kiev. She has given tours of her city that she loves. I know that God has great things
planned for her. She already has
big plans for her life.
