Privet!  Kak de la?  In March of 2004, God called our family to take a short-term missions trip.   I was amazed that each one of us, individually, felt we needed to go – and as a family.  We only had a couple of months to get all the details together – and the only one of us to have ever taken any Russian was my husband, Jim – and this was over 25 years earlier.  But as with anything, when God is in charge – He also works out the details.   We were able to get our visas and passports, we bought a book on “How to Speak Russian,” and in June, off we went – to the Internaut (an orphanage) in Crimea, a country recently given to Ukraine by Russia.

             We were asked to prepare some crafts, songs and skits to share with the children we would be meeting.  This we did, but when we arrived we were grateful to discover that there was a team of well organized Ukrainians, some of whom also spoke English, and who had also prepared similar items for the kids.  Our team was lead by Pastor Vitalik – who did a great job blending our items into theirs and creating a wonderful program for the kids each day.  The first few days we honestly felt a little lost, but God used this time to prepare our hearts and burn a desire to pray for everyone during the times we did not understand what was being said or when we did not entirely comprehend what we should be doing.  So we did.  We prayed and prayed and prayed.  And God worked.   I am not sure when it was that our group became a unit, but it did not take long.   Our new Ukrainian friends and fellow Christians took great care to explain and translate for us and in response, we prayed even more.   God took a group of people from across the globe and brought us together for His purpose – how amazing is that?

             And this was just the beginning.   Although we did not take a “head count”, there were many children that came to Christ.   The beginning of the program explained who God is and why He is relevant to our lives.   Then we moved into the broken relationship through sin and how Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven and again commune with Him.  But this was not the end.   We then explained how we are still not perfect, but when we fail – God is still faithful to forgive us and He is always there.  He never leaves.   All we need to do is ask for His forgiveness and repent and He is there – ready to renew the relationship. 

            The children and the people of Crimea have our hearts.   We miss everyone and continue to pray for all of them each day.   We have continued to study Russian with the hopes of returning one day soon.   It still amazes me that God can – and will use us. All we need is a willing heart.  I can never thank Him enough for giving this opportunity and for giving it to us as a family unit.