Disclaimer: These daily blogs are based on journal entries during my two and a half week trip broken into seven installments. Over the next week, you will learn more and more. The idea behind doing it this way is so you can go through the process of experiencing a portion of my experiences in the same progression of events that I did. The goal is that by the end of the seventh blog, you will have the context to understand why and how I intend to continue serving these people.
New Country, New Name: Day 3 -- August 6, 2013
We made it to Kyiv, Ukraine today, after two full days of travel. We departed from LAX on Sunday August 4 at 3:30pm, and nearly 10 hours of nonstop flight later, it was lunchtime in London August 5 where I about caused an international incident after taking this photo--I'm kidding of course, kinda.
Photo Credit: Jeff Mueller After several hours of sightseeing in Westminster, we found ourselves exhausted tremendously. Ok, that last part was primarily me. During our ten hour flight, the others slept but for some reason I could not, and when combined with the “American Tourist” experience on my first excursion outside the US Border awestruck at the royal architecture, I found myself so exhausted. My fellow teammates took photos of me sleeping seemingly everywhere we went. They even tell me I fell asleep standing up!
However, after a full night of rest—over ten hours—in our cozy hostel, the rest of the team and I were fully energized and had our eyes wide open to what was to come. The picture to the left of this paragraph is where we stayed in London; it's on a street with a whole bunch of places like these, including a Hansel and Gretel house, but that picture is for later. It was as if we stayed in a hotel village, and with the tiny restaurants/pubs it certainly felt like a village.
When we got off the plane in Kyiv, in the middle of the day, the airport was completely empty; the only people there seemed to be the people getting off of our flight. Leaving the airport in Kyiv, Ukraine seemed a lot like the United States (at first); four lane freeways, McDonalds all over the place, driving on the right side of the road, and all the street signs were translated in English--on many signs, the English print was larger than the Ukrainian print!
As we moved away from the airport though, those reminders of home went away, the nice buildings began to disappear and the four lane freeways turned into single-lane roads and then into dirt roads, leading towards small homes and pieces of land where the people outside the industrialized square of the airport’s metropolitan area lived.
While in Kyiv, my team and I from The Well Community Church in Fresno, California stayed at the house of the director of Hope for Orphans. His wife is a Fresno native who was connected with the Well prior to getting married and moving to Kyiv. Our national host family made us burgers and fries and called it Ukrainian In n Out to make us “feel at home”; I must admit, In n Out’s spread/sauce does not even come close to the Ukrainian secret sauce, although I did not dare ask what was in it.
Photo Credit: Greg Feaver During the meal, the team-at-large of 25 (mostly Ukrainians) got acquainted with one another by introducing ourselves and went around to receive our new names. The Ukrainians deliberated and picked out Ukrainian names for us five Americans, and we Americans gave an American name to each of the Ukrainians. My Ukrainian name is DONYA. Names were typically close to our regular names, although my teammate Chelsea was given the Ukrainian name ‘Football’ because of the Chelsea Soccer Team in London, however her name also changed to Abramovicha, the coach of that team. As it played out, most of us became close enough to our foreign counterparts to use their real names, and our Ukrainian names were used in jokes during the mission.
Right now we are resting in the home of our national hosts and will be leaving tonight around 10pm local time and trekking across the Ukrainian landscape through the night—they say about 10-11 hours—to get to the Hope for Orphans camp near Uzhhorod in West Ukraine near the Slovakian border by morning. The camp is for Gypsy kids. Gypsies are darker skinned and we are told they look identical to Mexicans with Russian eyes. We are also told that Gypsies are the outcasts in orphan culture, which makes me sad that there is such a thing as outcasts within the orphan community. We are excited to be part of the movement to show these kids God’s love, part of Hope for Orphans’ long-term mission and part of assisting Hope for Orphans in guiding these kids and people toward Jesus Christ as they grow up.
I have realized how much of an idol my iPhone is in my life. I chose not to bring my phone, or any other electronics for that matter beside a camera, and man, I am much more attached than I even realized I was. I imagine as things get going I will not think about it quite as much, but in the free time or time waiting that we have had so far amidst our travel, including now, my mind wanders about potential texts, voicemails, Facebook notifications, and Words with Friends games, which will all be waiting for me upon return. In order to get my mind off that distraction, I am trying to read intentionally. I am in the middle of Radical by David Platt and it is about how the American Dream has distorted the American Church. I also brought Crazy Love by Francis Chan and The Great Evangelical Recession by John Dickerson, although unlike several in my extended family, I cannot read more than one book at the same time, and sometimes even that is #thestruggle.
So many months of preparation mentally, financially and spiritually and we are just hours away from being with these orphans. It has been a long time since I have worked with younger kids. Growing up, I was involved in the infant-preschool ministry at my church, and worked in a childcare at a Christian family camp several summers ago. I love kids, so I am so excited to get back to serving and caring for children. I am thankful for the opportunity to be used by God and am looking forward to seeing what God wants to change in my heart, all for His glory.
So many months of preparation mentally, financially and spiritually and we are just hours away from being with these orphans. It has been a long time since I have worked with younger kids. Growing up, I was involved in the infant-preschool ministry at my church, and worked in a childcare at a Christian family camp several summers ago. I love kids, so I am so excited to get back to serving and caring for children. I am thankful for the opportunity to be used by God and am looking forward to seeing what God wants to change in my heart, all for His glory.
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