23-26 May 2014, Kiev and Korub, Ukraine

May 23^rd is a return to True Beginnings Ranch, Toichna Nachnyom, near Korub, Ukraine, 90 kilometers from the Russian border. Since my last visit there in July 2013, Pastor Vladimir continues to build, expand and minister.

Occupancy is up from some 30 to about 40 to 50 people. Among these is baby Maria, now one year old after her emergency C-section, and her mother. Others include those who are vulnerable to substance abuse, are disabled, and would likely be homeless, and that in a society with no safety net. Two of the women are unable to walk due to nerve damage from drug abuse. One of them has almost no use of her arms. She has a son in the hospital with tuberculosis. Her elderly table mate is mostly unresponsive. Others have weathered faces that speak of hard living.

The conversion of a barn to Olga’s Dining Hall is underway. As work commenced it was decided to make use of the existing building foundation to build a second floor that will include three apartments. Framing the new structure is ongoing and a new metal roof is on. Other buildings under renovation last summer are now complete. One house is ready to house a foster family.

Last summer Pastor Vladimir was hoping to buy or rent an abandoned school. It has now been leased to him for essentially no rent. He has a weight room getting lots of us from local teenage boys.

Sheep and cattle herds are increasing, and vegetable planting continues. The ranch continues to move to be self-sustaining.

Vladimir, his wife Olga, and her mother Anna (who was the camp cook last summer) host us to a delightful lunch of chicken liver stroganoff, rice and salad. Three of their teenage daughters are dressed up and heading off to play in a piano recital in the nearby village of Korub. Hearing last minute piano exercises from an unseen piano in another part of the small house comes as a big of surprise in this rural and frankly somewhat primitive setting. It is a reminder of the life and vitality that is being cultivated here.

 

One of the great joys of the day is to reunite with kids we camped with last summer.  They squeal with delight at seeing their pictures in Rescuing Ukrainian Children.

 

 

Visionary Vladimir has a new dream. A few kilometers away is a village originally of about 15 houses that is now completely abandoned. Some of the houses have been burned down, and others are in serious disrepair, but a few look from their exterior to be quite serviceable.

On one side of these dwellings is a beautiful forest. On the other are breathtaking prairies and grasslands, and a river that beckon cultivation for farming and livestock. Indeed cultivated farms are nearby. Vladimir believes this village and surrounding land could be acquired for an astonishingly low price. There would have to be substantial refurbishment and development of the agricultural potential, but with the sweat equity Vladimir and the residents have already demonstrated they are capable of at nearby Toichna Nachnyom, this does seem doable.

An additional potential use for this village would be to build out more permanent summer camp facilities for the children. The site is about 3 ½ hours from Kiev, close enough to bring kids from the city, as well as surrounding villages. Facilities could also be built to house and accommodate international ministry teams of youth and adults.

This dream may or may not get traction. But it does seem worthy of further study and prayer.

Half the fun is getting there, and that was certainly the case for us. Ezra International’s Ukraine Director, Viktor Mykhaylov, drove Bruce and me. Viktor is great fun. On this trip we had the special blessing of hearing Viktor’s testimony. I asked Viktor how he came to be involved with Ezra. He began, with, “When I repented in 1994,” and went on from there. That is a fabulous way to begin a story.

Viktor’s descriptions of working with Ezra to assist Jews emigrating from Ukraine and surrounding areas to Israel, early efforts to reach street kids in the 1990s, and his personal testimony were incredible and faith building. These are powerful Jesus stories.

Viktor has a great package of a heart of compassion for hurting people, street smarts, consummate good judgment, and of particular value for our purposes of the day, driving skills to take on all manner Ukrainian drivers and roads.

We visit the home of one of the families’ whose children camped with us last summer. The fenced courtyard is muddy and home to a family ducks who seem oblivious to their culinary destiny, two chained puppies, a cat, and a Lada (soviet compact car) under repair. The outbuilding used for storage has a dramatic cant. The mother, her boyfriend, and seven children ages 3 to 16 all come out to great us. The younger ones are filthy. The entire family love Pastor Vladimir, and there are lots of hugs. There are also lots of needs. This family is on the bubble. At one time they were living at the ranch. It is good they are still engaged with Pastor Vladimir.

The day is long, leaving Kiev at 8:00 am and returning at 11:00 pm.

 

 

May 24^th is a needed down day for me. I’m tired from a nonstop week and battling a cold. I make good use of the day to rest and prepare for speaking the next day.

Bruce attends a football, i.e., soccer, match organized specifically for kids from orphanages, both private and government, and foster families.

That night Bruce hosts a party for the Ezra International Children’s Rescue Center and Father’s House staff and their families in the apartment we are renting for the week. Vera’s brother Dennis, her sister, Alona, and Alona’s husband, do the cooking and prepare a fabulous meal of salmon and steak. Some 30 or 40 people come including about a dozen kids. It is great fun, and a great success.

The two groups, Children’s Rescue Center and Father’s House, somewhat know each other, but are largely independent of one another. Mixing the two communities to strengthen and add to the network of relationships is a really valuable thing. All of these folks are doing amazing work, profoundly changing people’s lives, with limited resources and challenging circumstances. It is good for them to celebrate their work and feel the vitality that comes from being together in an extended community. Well done, Bruce, you party animal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 25^th is election day. The day begins with a breathtaking sunrise that reminds Who is sovereign and Lord over all.

We attend church at Pastor Phillip’s church where I have the privilege of preaching. The message is drawn from my blog post on Joshua 24:15 where Joshua says, a la Bob Dylan, you gotta serve somebody, including how God may be speaking that to Ukraine on this election day of decision.   The sermon can be heard here.  Pastor Phillip reminded us of the significance Ukraine has played in bringing Christianity to the region. He says 85% of the pastors in Russia came from Ukraine. Kiev was the seat of bringing Christianity to the region 1,000 years ago, and where the Russian Orthodox Church began. One wonders and dreams for the role this country will play in the future in the spread of the gospel. This vision adds importance to the vitality of Ukraine, and reaching this generation of children including those at risk.

Pastor Phillip hosts us for a delightful lunch afterwards. He includes Michael from his congregation. Michael is from Nigeria and is a medical resident in neurosurgery in Kiev. I resisted the urge to say, look it’s not brain surgery. Michael shared with enthusiasm in that delightful Nigerian, articulate accent how his grandfather had raised him to trust Jesus.

I cannot describe the quiet thrill from driving past at least a half dozen polling places seeing Kiev citizens making their way to vote. The sites were mostly public schools, flying a small but conspicuous Ukrainian flag. There was such a peaceful calm at each polling place, and yet a deliberate purposefulness in the strides of those making their way to vote.

Many reported cueing for 90 minutes in buildings with no or inadequate ventilation on this warm, humid spring day for their turns to cast their ballots. Turnout nationwide was 60%, including eastern provinces where there is unrest and turnout was zero, 10% and no higher than 30%. That means in Kiev and western provinces the turn out would have been even higher than 60%. For practical purposes, most everyone who could vote, did.

Thankfully the outcome was decisive enough to avoid a runoff, sparing the country yet more tension and uncertainty. Approximately 90% of the vote was cast for a combination of candidates supporting continued unity of Ukraine.

We rest in the afternoon. Having started with the sunrise at 5:00 am, I take a nap, awakened to a thunderstorm and downpour. Storms have punctuated the week, including a gale force windstorm one evening. These forces of nature are comforting reminders of how good and how big God is over all the earth, and puts in proportion the affairs of humans, like elections.

That evening there is an Ezra staff meeting. Afterwards I leave with the three Ezra staff, Viktor, Anna and Vera, to do some shopping. We enter the elevator barely big enough for the four of us to stand, which gets stuck. For. 90. Minutes. The light goes off and on. There is no ventilation. The intercom does not work. Our phones have no signal. Thankfully we get the attention of the Soviet-style building manager/superintendent by banging loudly on the tin door. She says she’ll have us out in five minutes, which is wrong by 85, and never returns to give us any updated information. This leaves one to spend that quality time speculating whether the entrapment will continue another minute, hour, multiple hours, or until climate change ends. I did manage to learn some new Russian words.

May 26^th is departure day. En route to the airport we have the privilege of visiting the refugee orphans and their caretakers from Mariupol staying at Father’s House.

We happen to arrive while they are cleaning. In the boy’s dorm, 15 teen and pre-teen boys are white-tornadoing the apartment. One is using a broom that looks like it could have been hand made in the same style 300 years ago. Another is hanging out the 2^nd story window to clean the outside of the glass. Most the boys have used pens and markers to make some pretty fun and elaborate temporary tattoos.

In all the kids are energetic and delightful. In our short time there we do not detect trauma. We have heard that the boys have been energized by the military operations that were surrounding them, but that the girls have been frightened. The seven caregivers are wonderful, warm and engaging. One of men tells us he himself was raised in orphanage.

I think about these adult caregivers and the lives they are leading. It is one thing to give oneself fulltime vocationally to such work, and I am in awe and deeply respectful of the many we meet here who are doing just that. But these adults who have brought their charges out of harm’s way have gone a step further and are themselves refugees, living with and responsible for the kids 24/7, not able to make a definite plan or future due to geopolitical machinations that are beyond them. I’m so grateful for Father’s House and the many whose service and generosity are making refuge possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving and saying final good byes for this trip, Father’s House has us sit down, again, to a warm and generous breakfast they have prepared. With new children and adults to care for, they should not be feeding us. But they cannot help it. The gift of hospitality is who they are.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to aid widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2.

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Post Script:  I was interviewed about this trip on KMA Radio on June 16, 2014.  The interview can be heard here.