Welcome to part 2 of my blog about my time in Ukraine 🙂 During this post, I will be sharing how my team and I served during our ministry time and how to lord spoke to me.
First, the neighboring church in Pochaiv hosted what they called “Family Day.” I learned that Ukrainians are very relationship driven people. The church invites the community to the park for a few days of fun in order to get to know them and to be a service for the town by providing fun activities for free that the entire family can enjoy.
They set up blow up slides, a bouncy house, a trampoline, photo booths, serve cotton candy and popcorn, played sports and much more!
My team and I provided English lessons, a craft table, sang songs about Jesus, played with the children, and built relationships with members of the community.
I was really impressed by how united the body of Christ in Ukraine is. When one pastor puts on an event, the other pastors gather around him and help him.
Deema, a member of our host’s church and the man who graciously drove my team around town in his van (he’s the bomb!) lives in a very small town where there is no church. His heart longs to share the love of Jesus with his community, so he had the church put on a “Family Day” in his town as well. It was so amazing to see his passion to reach his neighbors with the good news of Jesus.
I got to hang out and play with some really great kids who really enjoyed the event.
The other way that my team did ministry was through camps. Our host’s church put on a 5 day “Kids Camp” or what we would call Vacation Bible School in the States. Children ages 4-17 from Kremenets came to church each day and were taught about the Bible. Again, Ukrainians are very relationship driven so we were given time to pour into these children’s lives by playing games, singing songs, doing crafts, teaching English, and having great conversations. The church did such an amazing job of loving these children well.
My teammate Nicole shared a story of how an 8 year old girl prayed to receive Jesus into her heart during camp!
I served in the class with the children age 4-7. I made a best friend in the sweetest little girl named Solomia. We hung out and played most days. Here is a picture of me with Solomia and her older sister Sofia (the one who prayed to receive Jesus in her heart!) along with some other pictures from camp.
Here is a video that my teammate Caitlyn made recapping day two of kids camp. You can see some of the games and classes that the children participated in.
The second camp that my team and I participated in was “Teen Camp.” “Teen Camp” is for the teenagers and people in their early twenties from the churches in the surrounding area to come together to be equipped for the coming year. Most of these people do not have a Christian community that contains people their own age and they can become discouraged. However, twice a year they can come to a camp and fellowship with and encourage one another. They also have guest speakers come to teach them spiritually. I was repeatedly told how much coming to this camp means to them and how grateful they were that they could come.
These young people were so on fire God. It was really inspiring to be around them, especially knowing how lonely and difficult it can be for them in their home communities.
My team and I were there to encourage and fellowship with these young people. Many people on my team shared their testimonies during group lessons. We lived with them for 5 days and really formed some great bonds.
I have to take a minute to tell you about the amazing camp grounds. The first day, I got to meet this sweet older gentleman.
He and his siblings were the former owners of the land. He still lives next door. He said that about 50 years prior there was a revival that took place on this land. When it came time to sell the land they wanted to maintain the land’s spiritual heritage, so they gave it to the Baptist pastor in Pochaiv to use for the church community. I was so inspired by that story!
I also have to mention how gorgeous this camp ground was! It was so green and it had apple and plum trees. All week, we could pick fresh fruit from the trees to eat. Delicious!(or in Ukrainian, smachno!) This picture I took has no filter!
This camp was also the most challenging ministry for me. Most of these young people do not speak English, so I relied mostly on bonding through playing sports with them. I felt so helpless to know how to encourage them. I was literally stripped of being able to encourage them and reach them in any way through my own strength. The only way I could reach them was through following the Holy Spirit. I felt the Lord challenging me and encouraging me to stop pulling away from the campers and going with my team to where it was comfortable. I’m not going to lie, I resisted the call for a while. However, on the last night, I surrendered to his leading. I got out of my comfort zone and sat out by the bon fire where all of them were singing worship songs.
A girl came and sat next to me. We ended up having a great conversation. I was able to pray with her concerning her school and community for the coming year. We had such a fun night and I really bonded with her. I was so impressed with how God showed up like He said He would. I was really encouraged to continue to be led by the Holy Spirit for the duration of the race because these language barriers aren’t going to go away. I am actually really excited to know that I can’t do the race in my own strength and I am forced to rely on God. I know He will lead me to what He wants to accomplish.
Here are some pictures from camp 🙂
Here is a link to a video that Caitlyn made for Teen Camp, enjoy 🙂
I have been so blessed by the people of Ukraine and I can’t wait to see what Romania has in store next month!
Update on fundraising: I am at a little over $12,000 funded! Thank you all so much! I only have a little over $6,000 left until I am fully funded. I ask that you would please keep me in your prayers and would also prayerfully consider donating to this mission God has called me on. God bless you all! Love you! <3
