We came to the Ukraine with little idea of what we would encounter. Of course, Hungry for Life staff prepared us as best they can for the practical details of Ukraine: where to get internet, what kind of adapters we would need, where we would stay, what to do with laundry, transportation and the like. And we had a briefing on the culture, the history and about John and Nadya, our project partners here.
But that was all we knew. The heart of this ministry in the Ukraine was completely unknown to us. So now I reflect upon the last two weeks (my, how the time does fly), and I sum up the Ukraine with one word: stories. Everywhere we look, every time we turn around, there was a story. Being a journalist I am already a firm believer that everyone has a story to tell. And obviously everywhere we have gone the object has been to find specific stories of spiritual and physical transformation of people and communities.
But it seems that here, the stories just pour out of every nook and cranny. And each story has had an impact on me. The people here suffer so much, and those that help sacrifice so much. If salvation was a matter of how much each person sacrificed, Heaven would be full of Ukrainians.
We’re still processing all that we’ve seen and heard, and we hope to share some more stories from the Ukraine with you shortly. In the meantime, we’ll be traveling again for the next few days. We take the night train to Kiev then two more flights to our next destination of Uganda. Please pray for safety as we travel, both by land and air. Pray that all our luggage makes it with us and that we have no problems with customs.
