Summer 2015 Trip Update (posted by Jen)
It hadn't been our plan for our whole family to spend three weeks in Ukraine this summer. We thought Dad and the four oldest kids would head over there and visit.
Evidently, that wasn't God's plan. Once again, God changed our plans-- all 11 of us ended up going to Ukraine for a three week trip. Dad likes to refer to Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." We know and can trust that God's plans are always better than ours. And looking in retrospect, we can also testify that it's true.
I couldn't help but notice how smoothly things were going while we were in Ukraine. God's hand was really just all over this trip. We saw nearly everyone we could possibly see in Ukraine-- which is a lot of people! And there were very few, if any issues. God really blessed this past trip. And we realized that it was good that we all went.
There's much that we could say about our trip, but here are some highlights.
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| Baby sister's first trip to Ukraine! |
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| At our church, they always recognize birthdays in the congregation with a small gift, prayer, a song, and a passage of Scripture. Mom's birthday had been a couple of weeks before our first Sunday in Ukraine. |
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| The passage of Scripture our pastor gave Mom brought her to tears. Not long before our family left for Ukraine, Mom visited with a friend of hers, whom we fondly call "Aunt Alice." During their visit, Aunt Alice had pointed Mom to Psalm 91. A few days later, half-way around the world, our pastor in Ukraine presented Mom with this same passage. She explained to the church that both our pastor and Aunt Alice had given her this Psalm, and so she knew it was from God. So cool:) Praise the Lord! |
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| One of the things that I love about the small church we attend in our village is that after each service, they always gather in the kitchen for fellowship over tea and cookies. Here, our pastor talks to Vitaley about spiritual matters. |
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| Everyone was excited to see Oleg and Vitaley again! |
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| Friends reunited:) |
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Meet our new friend Pasha. Pasha is an energetic, always-smiling man who loves the Lord. He lives at the church where we were staying, so we got to know him better. He was more than happy to give motorcycle rides to my brothers and sisters, and, as pictured below, he instructed and lead my mom in making a Ukrainian meal for us all! |
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| Our young believing friends, Andri and Alyona, welcomed their new daughter into the world a few days before our arrival. |
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We also met this sweet young lady through a friend of ours and were able to spend a few days with her. |
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| We spent a week in the city, where we had many friends who we hoped to visit with. |
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| Although we always do a lot of walking when we're in Ukraine, the larger cities have marshutkas-- little, yellow buses which will provide transportation around the city for only a few hryvna. |
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| Kirill! He was so excited to see everyone and to meet Rya:) |
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| A guys-only trip to a Nuclear Missile Museum a few hours away. |
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| Many thanks to those of you who helped provide us with diapers and children's Bibles to hand out to expecting moms. We were able to distribute several of these gift bags ourselves as we walked around the city and our village. We try to keep some of these bags on hand so we can give them to expecting women who pass us on the street. The common response is "why are you giving this to me?" And mom is able to reply: "I have nine children, and I'd like to give this to you in the name of Jesus." |
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| Just spending time together:) |
On one of our last days in the city, we invited many of our friends to come over. We had a house full of brothers and sisters in Christ, many children, good fellowship, and delicious Ukrainian sweets:)
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| Our dear friend Masha--a beautiful, sweet girl who loves the Lord:) |
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| Pretty sure Ukraine has the best sweets;) |
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| 13 kids and 15 adults in a three room apartment-- it can be done! And we had a wonderful time:) |
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| Our friend and brother in the Lord who had been in the army came to visit with his wife and children. |
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| While we were in the city, we went to a ministry for the homeless after church. A team of young people run this home which is open every Sunday offering a good meal, shower, medical attention, haircut, as well as shoes and clothing to whomever is in need. Masha took Mom, Matt, Karissa and I along with her to help at this home. We were encouraged by what we saw-- and we were also surprised to find out that this is the only ministry of its kind in the city. Click here for a follow-up blog with more pics and information about the "Miloserdiya" (mercy) home, but you can find the Facebook page for this home and team here. |
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These are just some of the people who help at this home. Vova (front, far right) leads this team and ministry.
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| Ukrainian blues with Kirill. |
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| Most, if not all, towns and cities now have memorials to Ukraine's recent heroes. |
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| Our friends make and sell curtains-- and they do a beautiful job! |
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| It was so cool how God worked it out for us to see Diyana once again! I just "happened" to get in touch with her when we just "happened" to be nearly the same place at the same time-- praise the Lord! It was wonderful to see her beautiful face again! |
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| The two boys would join us in the evenings after work. It was great just being able to talk and catch up. |
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| The invisible bench... |
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| ...and the *almost* invisible bench:) |
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This is us, driving on the wrong side of the road. Enough said.
(No, Dad wasn't the driver.) |
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| Nastya was the first expecting mom to receive one of our gift bags, and she has kept in touch with Mom ever since. |
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Young adults' Bible study. |
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We passed the word around and got our kickball group together for a few games. It's a good kind of different for these neighborhood kids to see a whole family-- including mom and dad-- doing something together. |
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| Friends, old and new:) |
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| We met this man as we walked around town during one of our previous trips. He's one of the people who have made us feel welcome in town. We don't know him very well, but he's always happy to see us:) |
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| With Andri and Alyona outside their home. We were able to bless them with some food, household products, and things for their new family member. |
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| We were blessed tremendously by the church where we stayed, and as a small "thank-you" we were able to sing during their church service one morning. |
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We literally had visitors up until the very moment we left our village.
It reminds me of a quote from Winnie the Pooh: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
We are truly blessed to have been so warmly welcomed into Ukraine. Over the years, we've made many friendships and have many loved ones in Ukraine, always making it hard to say "do pobachennya" (goodbye/until we see each other again). |
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| Before heading to Kyiv where we would take off, we traveled to Western Ukraine, where we were able to visit with our relatives once again. It still amazes me that we've met and are in touch with our Ukrainian relatives! Praise the Lord! |
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| Trying to catch a few winks before take-off. 34 hours of travel time--our longest yet! |
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Thanks so much for your prayers and support! It was an amazing trip! Please continue to keep our family and this ministry in your prayers. All praise and glory to God! Вся хвала і слава Богу!
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