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Ukraine, Nikopol Trip Blog

Fraser Valley

Monday, June 22, 2009

Our Time at the Orphanage

Thursday noon we were on the road to the orphanage. Upon the arrival we were greeted with shouts of joy from the children. Many of them recognized us. They kept asking by name , about people from previous teams.
The kids were sharing their experiences from camp, they had just returned. The school is over and they are having so much fun playing outdoors, biking, and climbing trees, doing crafts. it was a joy to just run and play with the children, talk to them, get to know them better. Edna was truly blessed to see to the work shop equipped with all the necessary equipment for teaching the boys skills of the trade of repairing vehicles, bikes, etc. She had an opportunity to meet with the instructor. What a fine young man! What a delight to check out the totally redone wreck of a car that we had viewed a number of years ago.”I was so thrilled to see what God can do when we entrust our funds to Him. The investment I made here is for eternity. The story was told of a thirteen year old student who was attending regular classes and could already weld just as good as the instructor. What a joy to see the fruit of our giving and prayers.”Edna
We got a chance to see the transition home and were so impressed by the progress of the project. The house was of wood construction, just like in Canada. This is the first in this area.
With the help of German Christians, the church is now ready for insulation. We are so happy for this congregation .God is totally looking after His own.
~ Mary (HFL Team Leader)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Train Ride

The team is currently on a train (Friday) heading for Kiev to fly out early in the morning....there will be another blog update of their time at the Priazovje Orphanage, but for now pray for their safety as they take the long journey home.

~Mary HFL Team Leader

Wednesday Activities

Today started with early visitors, Babushkas arriving left right and center. We had planned for a small gathering of ladies to join us for brunch, to share Gods love, and that’s exactly what happened. God showed up in a mighty way, everyone had an opportunity to share there heart. Many shared of the hardships in their lives and how God moved in and through them always giving the praise to God. All enjoyed our time together, when it came to an end, the ladies were taken home by John whom they absolutely adore, they did not leave empty handed, they left with food and hygiene hampers. The joy and peace that they left with, was a gift to witness. This will be something they will talk about for a long time and something we will never forget.

The afternoon held the biggest surprise yet, an introduction to what out mighty God is doing in Ukraine in and through the local people. We had the privilege to visit several different local Christian operations. One being an outreach to special needs people in the community through various facets, another being a Christian run hospital/clinic where small operations and procedures take place a very large and modern facility holding its own pharmacy. This hospital is an outreach facility as well with a no charge policy towards orphans and special needs individuals. Discount rates are given for the poor and needy. They also have a vision to open a Christian children’s home for abandoned and special needs, providing education and life skills.

We had the opportunity to meet with a group of directors who addressed their heartfelt concerns towards their community. Their hope was to encourage Canadians to partner with them to facilitate Christian humanitarian projects. We were touched by the sincerity of how God is working in the leadership and how they are living out their mission.

To our astonishment, we were interviewed by a reporter and camera man from a local television network. We were asked to share about the purpose of our trip. It gave us a wonderful opportunity to represent the Lord in sharing His love in a tangible way.

Thank you for giving to the Ukraine.

Edna and Anita, what special ladies, the understanding and love they have and share for people especially widows. May God truly bless them for what they do and share with others. The encouragement I see in the women they meet and share with is a gift only from God.

Some Photo's From Tuesday

Here are some photo's of the teams activities on Tuesday, They are currently at the Priazovje Orphanage and should get an update from them just before they travel back to Kiev to catch their flight home.

I will do my best to remember this story which Mary shared over the phone. The lady you see in the picture above was given a choice by her husband once she became pregnant many years ago. Her husband wanted her to abort the child and if not then he would leave. She chose to not give up her child which saw her husband follow through with his threat to leave. 16 years later her son wanted to thank her for not taking his life and saved up his money to buy his mom a ring on his 16th birthday. Recently the mom has been caring for a bed ridden widow who does not have enough money to afford pain medication. With much prayer and talking it over with her son she decided she would give the ring to our partner's John & Nadia to sell at a pawn shop so she could purchase medication. She told John & Nadia that she is doing this because if she was in the same position as the widow in pain that she would want someone to help her and this was the only thing of value she owned. John & Nadia told the team the story and right away it was decided that they would cover the cost of purchasing the medication for the bed ridden widow. They invited the lady over to the house to present her with a 2 gifts, one was that they would pay for the medication and two was in the box wrapped for her. When she opened it, it was the ring (see picture above) in which they told her to never take it off as it is a testimony of God honoring her faithfulness.

Visiting Widows

One of the ministries that our Ukrainian partners are involved in is hiring widows to provide extended care to bed ridden widows. The team wanted to honor these ladies for all their hard work by providing them their own banquet. This was a first and a great encouragement to the ladies.

Chad (on behalf of the busy HFL team leader)

Monday, June 15, 2009

So Much Need

Our last two days were very very busy. We are still doing home visits mainly as yesterday we gave our testimonies in the Nikopol Church.

After visiting one family in Nikopol we were on our way to village Shishkino. It was nice to see the family of Pasha again, Pasha is a young 28 years old man who was in the car accident 3 years ago while driving drunk which cost him his health as he is paralyzed from the neck down. He lays in bed all day long. It was very encouraging to us to see him happy, joking with us, and smiling. The last time Mary visited him which was in November 2008 he wanted to commit suicide. This was very encouraging to see him in good spirits.

We visited a very poor home there as well which was more than anyone could imagine. There was hardly anything in the house. We don't know how anyone could survive in these conditions. A mother of 87years old has 2 alcoholic sons that are drunk all the time and can get very abusive . One is in his early 50's, the other one is in late 40's, as she also takes care of her 42 year old down syndrom daughter. We had a chance to bring some little gifts for them. The situation was heart braking.

Today was different for us but just as busy, after visiting with one of the pastors that we are supporting It was very interesting to get to know him through the stories he shared with us of God's grace to him personally and how God is using Him now to lead others to Christ. After a long drive we ended up in the poor village of Maryivka where we met with the directors and the residence of the rehab centre.

For the supper we were invited to join the family of and ex Communist Mayor and a persecutor of Christians during USSR. He gave his life to Christ 11 years ago and holds a strong testimony of God's love and forgiveness. He speaks in churches, works with kids, leads people to the Lord through the testimony of his life. We had a wonderful time there as he told us stories of his life before and after God met him. We cried and laughed, we sang and prayed and fellowshipped together. Please pray for his kids as they are still on the journey to find Jesus.
well, it is late, we have to get some sleep, tomorrow is another busy day for us.
Thank you all for your prayers.

Mary ~HFL Team Leader

Saturday, June 13, 2009

More Than We Expected

It's been a long day for us. It is after 10pm and we just arrived home from our last home visit .As you might know a night before we go off to bed we discuss about the plans for our next day. So this morning we started to pack some of our care hampers for the people we had on our list for today. But God had few more things HE decided to add to it.
During our breakfast John and Nadya received a phone call from a younger sister of the two widows we visited yesterday and shared with you about. The news was shocking : her oldest sister was gone to Heaven So after few phone calls that Nadya and John had to make and few adjustments to out program, due to the news we finally were in the van on the way to change money for the funeral and John dropping us at the first house visit on his way to the house of mourning. Here we were again visiting bedridden, really ill people, trying to encourage them somehow with the HOPE in the LORD. But God keeps teaching us so much more. The thing that touched us the most was the people who sacrificed their lives to look after the ill. The first house we visited was a widow's home. She's been sick for 29 years. The last few months she's been totally bedridden. Her daughter who is in her early 50th quit the job and is looking full time, 24/7 after her mother. It was so touching to see the look of calmness and content and deep love in daughter's eyes. It wasn't a burden for her to care after her mother.

The situation in the next home was even harder. There we saw a beautiful 19 years old girl looking full time after her 46 years old father, who had a stroke and is half paralyzed, for the last 3 month, and the last 18 years of his life he's had some mental and physical disabilities he received during the war in Afghanistan. The father is not a believer and she says she is not sure about herself either though she used to go to church while her Mom was alive, but after the death of her mother last year, to whom she gave full care for the whole year before, due to a cancer, she stopped coming to church .It was so sad to see no hope, no way out in her eyes and the huge load of responsibilities and decisions she had to make for the last 2 years. Our hearts were broken for her. We spend over 2 hours there. She served us tea and chocolate , we just chatted about what she is planning to do in her future .It was hard to find words of advise or encouragement. Yura (the bedridden) kept telling us ,"please stay some more, nobody ever comes to visit, I haven't seen a sun for the last three months, I don't see anything but these 4 walls day in and a day out. Anita shared with him her testimony while me and Edna prayed over the home and for them that the Holy Spirit will come down and fill their hearts and home with peace that passes all understanding. Please pray for this beautiful young lady, her journey is not easy. Her name is Oksana.

After a quick bowl of soup we left to Viktoriya's home. We were amazed to see their huge perfect garden that had everything from 5 kinds of berries and I don't know home many kinds of fruit trees to the 20-30 kinds of vegetables to tons of beautiful roses. The parents and Viktoriya were gone so we spent some time with smaller kids , brought clothing for them, talked with them. They were so proud and pleased to show us their new rooms. The transformation was unbelievable! Thank you all who gave towards that. You would be very pleased to see the change.
We came home to a very nice barbecue meal that was prepared by two young fellows from the church. At that point we thought our day was over , so we chatted and laugh, relaxed and talked about our experiences not even realizing that the work was not over yet. At about 9:20 pm the decision was made to call on the bereaved sister. A group of six of us hoped in the van and headed over to the apartment. Here we were with ,the two sisters and the prepared body all in one room. What an experience. There we saw again how much God cares for His children. The wish of the grieving sister was to have a Christian funeral service but the nephew in charge said there would be nothing but just a burial. She had no say in the matter .But God granted her her wish. we sang ,we prayed, words of encouragement were given. Here was the teams first funeral service. You never know what a trip to the Ukraine will entail.

Friday, June 12, 2009

First Visits

we arrived safe and sound. Thank you all for your prayers. We saw the hand of God during our trip. The luggage arrived safe , nothing got lost. We went through the customs with no problem at all. Thanks again for praying.It was nice to see John at the airport. He was quiet amazed to see 3 of us with all the suitcases that barley fit into the van.home sweet home!!!! we made it at 4:20am and how good those beds felt. we finally got up at 2pm and started the project. Our first visit was a hospital where we visited 58 years old lady with lots of different health issues.the main one was her gangrene on her legs. The CARE WAS very poor and wasn't doing much for her health. It was heartbreaking to hear her story and to watch her in so much pain.Please pray for her, she has decision to make about her legs: to amputate them or not. please pray for peace and the right decision for her.next was the stop at the widows home. It was unbelievable to see 87year old women who had a stoke and was recovering from it for the last 3 months being cared for by her younger sister (about 76yrs) who herself had already 10 cancer surgeries plus a broken leg that never healed after a fall..They shared their life stories with us how they survived famine, war, 2 years in concentration camps...in order for the younger one to get her surgeries she had to sell her home to pay for it all.and now they share an apartment that has one room plus very small kitchen and a tiny bathroom. They told us that God is good and He brought them through all hardships...We are blessed and privileged to be hear, to pray with people and encourage and to learn so much from them.how much more thank full we should be to God and faithful for the lives we have in Canada. This is only the first day of our journey but God is teaching us so much already. Please pray for us as some of the places and stories we heard and seen are very hard to process and will be in the week to come as our main project here is visiting widows and orphans and sharing with them and listen to their stories. thank you again for praying.

Mary and Anita

Back

Click here to go back to the trip overview.

Our Time at the Orphanage
Train Ride
Wednesday Activities
Some Photo's From Tuesday
So Much Need
More Than We Expected
First Visits
Arrived
Bags Are Packed

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