How It's Going

I have been living in Ukraine for 3 months now. And I have to say it was a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be. It was a learning curve every other thing.

Jessica introduced me to a lot of people there in order to give me a foundation. One of the people we visited was the director of a school. While visiting her, she asked if we could come back and teach English to some little kids. Jessica asked me if I would be willing to take this on. I agreed. 

So that week I prepared so much since I have never taught English before. I prepared a little lesson and had some games planned out. Printed off coloring pages and bought some crayons. 

I arrived at the school feeling good. Went up to visit the director before meeting the kids. I hired a translator to go with me since the teachers don’t speak English. When we sat down and started talking she told me that there was a change. I was going to visit with some teenagers. The director wanted me to talk to the kids and get to know them. Help them sort through their thoughts and stuff.

Well, clearly my coloring pages weren’t going to go over so well. This was way out of my comfort zone and something I didn’t prepare for. Since the sirens were going off we met in the bomb shelter. The whole way down I was praying!

We got down there and God gave me the words and we had a super great time. After it was done I asked more questions and turns out these 8 kids lived at the school (the rest go home).

But that is kinda how everything has been over there. Prepare for one thing and then totally have to rely on the Lord because it ends up being totally different. 

I was able to go each week and be with those teens. Brought them pizza, gifts, played games and had some good discussions. We talked about how Joshua felt inadequate to lead the people of Israel after Moses died, but God was with him and told him to be strong and courageous. Then we tied that into their life. God was with Joshua guiding him and he is with those teens. 

The next step is to go back and learn the language. I realized that I to be able to connect with the people on a deeper level, I need to be able to speak their language. 

Let's see how I will be used next in Ukraine...