Reflections from Justin Boyd:
Today was very bitter sweet. We made our last visit to the school and had to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we had met. After visiting with the children and discussing the United States, we were invited to an assembly. The English teacher had planned a game to highlight some interesting facts about America and Ukraine. Did you know that the United States consumes 3 billion pizzas a year? We didn’t either… After the game, the teachers presented us with a few gifts including a towel stitched with a traditional Ukrainian pattern. And, many of the children had drawn a picture for us! It was so moving.
Later that evening, we again hosted some of the children for a Bible study. Caleb did a great job presenting Naaman. It was the first time any of the children had heard the lesson. And, I’m glad they were presented with the truth. After the lesson, we again had a wonderful time talking with the kids while enjoying some snacks and Sprite. Then, we had to say goodbye for the last time. Before coming on the trip, I would have never expected to have made such strong connections. But, I have to admit, I feel like I’m leaving a part of my heart behind.
Reflections from Mike & Karen Moody:
Bittersweet day in Lysets, this was our last day to visit a local school and spend time with children from several grades.
The children are so smart and respectful. It was a pleasure to see some familiar faces from previous days and meet some new ones.
I’d have to say our favorite class was the second grade. My team of Karen, Simba and myself always gravitate to the younger kids. In our class, we told them about life in America, sang songs (Simba ever coming closer to his goal of all Ukrainian children knowing the chorus to “500 miles”), made many animal noises (they would say the name of the animal and we would help make the sound) and all the kids gave me five (my favorite game with the kids at Dalraida).
The final night of VBS and an adult program grew in numbers as well. There were 24 younger kids, 20 teenagers and six adults. Tonight’s story was about Naaman. After Simba did a great job telling the story about Naaman and relating his obedience to how we must be immersed in order to be healed from sin, we played two games.
The first involved dividing the group into teams and having them race to a table where they would have to dip in the river Jordan seven times. There was a special-needs child there who could not participate so we made him the Captain and every time the kids finished dipping in the river, they would have to give Captain Alex a high five. He loved it and every child participated. The other game was Q&A. I would ask questions from Simba’s story and, if they got it right, I would toss them a piece of gum. It was great fun as they scrambled for the flying candy.
We made some real friends and, hopefully, some lasting impressions. May God bless this work and allow these seeds we have planted to grow.
Reflections from Scott Lockwood:
Our work here has definitely been successful. At the end of our third day, I have a feeling of sorrow because our work in the schools is now over. With heartfelt thanks on both sides we parted with the teachers and principals that we had grown to appreciate so much. Our hopes are that in the future our teams will meet up with them again.
The evening programs went very well. How much the gospel will mean in their lives, time will only tell. My connection with a young man from Starry Lysets keeps me pondering and hopeful. After relating to me his story and his challenges, my efforts to teach him were of utmost importance to me. As we parted ways, I watched him walk off into the gloom of night back to his life in the small village. I could not help wonder if I would ever see him again or if he would ever obey the gospel.
Continue to pray for us and the gospel’s success in this place.
Reflections from John Kachelman III:
Every trip to Ukraine brings new challenges and opportunities, and I am constantly amazed at all that still needs to be done in this wonderful country. The brethren continue to work hard but they do so in multiple directions and are making many efforts in order to open the hearts of the people to hearing the gospel message. The stronghold that the Orthodox Church has on the religious teaching in the country isn’t still pretty strong, and we must do things just to open up opportunities to teach and preach the Bible. Most look at us with suspicion when we say we want to teach the Bible since that duty usually falls on the local priests. This is no simple hurdle to get over and much of our efforts have made huge strides in getting these opportunities.
Each nights efforts in the villages have produced some incredible results. We have made some real progress in being accepted in the villages and them allowing us to teach the Bible. We have given away so many bibles and our sincere hope is that they will read them and develop a love for Gods word that they have not had before. We do not realize how blessed we are to have the ability to read a bible…and that’s a privilege we often take for granted.
I have been continually impressed by our team….it had bbeen beyond my expectations and those were already pretty high. I was able to hear Caleb speak lastand he did a spectacular job! The story of Naaman just opens itself to preach the necessity of baptism and obedience. I will have much more to day about our group later, but it has been an honor and privilege of lead this group as they are some of the best mission teams we have ever had.
Reflections from Ainsley Lockwood:
Today I went to the school in uremche which quite possibly could be one of my favorite experiences I’ve gotten to be a part of. The kids were eager to ask many questions about our culture in America and even sang one of their Christmas carols for us which sounded amazing. Again we were swarmed by many of the kids for pictures. The drive up there was spectacular with the fall colors and mountains surrounding us. Ukraine is truly a beautiful country.
In the evening we were back in Lysets for our last night of VBS. Our kids class grew more than 4x than it was the first night. It was so eye opening to see how much influence we had over only a few nights.
I can’t believe how much I’ve come to love this country in such a short amount of time. This trip has helped me over come my fears and helped me understand why I am here on this earth.
