Ukraine Mission Update for February-March 2011  Kendra and Caleb Harrelson We send our greetings too all of our family in Christ all over the world. We thank God as your remember us in your prayers. More and more are we realizing that God is in the midst of doing something very big all around the world- we are humbled and blessed to be a part of it with you. As I occasionally look over the world news online and see the sad stories everywhere and in Ukraine, it can become easy to become discouraged and forget that God is still present, still compassionate, and still Sovereign. I pray that daily we would be interceding for others around the world with prayer and be reminded that God hears us and is acting our behalf.
In February we began overwhelmed with the many opportunities and obstacles that lie before us. However, we were very excited to adjust more to our new setting. Figuring out how travel, how we will work with our Ukrainian friends and translator, and begin to minister to the kids in the orphanage and our kids in our village has been exciting. We have been praying for opportunities to grow and share Christ with more people. First, we realized how important it was that we are ministering to these kids from our own relationship with God and how we need to begin with them. We know that without God’s Spirit guiding us and speaking through us that we would be simply relying on our own strength and abilities rather than Him. Back in the United States it is easier to rely on my own ability to get things done for the simple reason that I have my own car, am fluent in our native language, and have what seems to be an endless supply of resources and parental support in ministry. Every day we feel humbled to know that we will not always communicate perfectly in Russian with the natives, we might not understand everything, and have our own short-comings; however, we know that God is able to shine through all of our weaknesses and make Himself known. Every day we are learning and understand more what Paul truly meant when he said that “I have become all things to all people so that I might win some to the gospel.” Orphan Outreach In life we run across many people with various backgrounds, experiences and stories to tell. Everyone has a story to tell about joy, pain, suffering, victory and at times how they found Christ and realized salvation. The months of February and March have been all about this for us.  We have spent time with the orphans in a nearby village in Ivankiv and have begun to learn more and more about their story. There are twelve kids at this orphanage. There are six girls and six boys. The obvious barriers of not being fluent in Russian have been things that we have had to work with in connecting with these kids; however, we are finding ways to build that bridge. I mentioned in our last newsletter how we hope to be able to spend time weekly with the kids at the orphanage getting to know them and sharing Bible stories. Over the course of February and March we have to been able to visit the orphans almost every week twice a week. Initially we were unsure were to begin teaching them and how much they know about God or not. All of the kids quickly accepted us and were excited to have us there with them. These kids had another couple working with them in the past and some have been able to attend summer camp here in Kolentsi as well. Thus, some of the groundwork of basic biblical stories has already been laid. After a little frustration on our part as far as teaching goes, we were reminded again of the power of effective storytelling and illustrations from the Bible instead of just talking about it. This culture, much like the rest of the world, has deep roots in the importance and shaping of stories. All the while we have realized the many questions the kids have about God, us, and America. Every other week or so, we give the kids an opportunity to write down some of the questions about God or us and we talk about them in class. Sometimes we answer these questions by sharing a story from the Bible emphasizing certain parts of the story to address the kid’s questions. Recently we told the story of the Exodus to the kids and they really got into it. As you would expect, a lot of the kids have expressed how lonely they feel and how much they want us to pray for them to be taken by a family. It was awesome to share with them how God heard the Israelites prayers and cries out to him, fought for them, and how he will “never leave nor forsake them” and how those same promises apply to them too. Then we were able to spend time discussing and illustrating that with the kids. Of Course that got them thinking of many other questions about God and was exciting to see the many questions that they had to ask that night. One of the kids, Vitya, asked “if God is so far away and up in the sky, how can we know what he wants us to do in our life?” Our hope and prayer is that the kids will truly be able to see and that God is near to them and that Spirit are living in us and working with us too.  Our Translator, Lyuda (right), working with kids Vitya (middle) and Anya (left) to say a Bble memory verse During our times at the orphanage we have learned of one girl who was supposed to be adopted, was featured in the local newspaper, and was really excited and then it never happened. Her name is Nastia. Since then she has been more distant from the rest of the kids at the orphanage and has felt quite hopeless. It was a very sad story to hear, and to see kids that are so precious, feeling rejected by the opportunity to be a part of a family. This is not surprising as we knew going into the orphanage that we would hear these stories- it just becomes more real when we really connect with them, play with them, listen to them, and see them for who they are instead of the label of “orphan” in another institution. We have seen her begin to open up and interact more recently. Please lift her up in your prayers that she would find a family someday and know that her heavenly father will never forget her or abandon her. We would adopt all of these kids if it was possible, but we are too close to their age. Someday. Another moment that I thought was very special was when Kendra spent some time with the girls and gave them each a little gift in honor of Ukraine Women’s Day. Then she told them the story of Esther and how she was an orphan that God used to save all the Jews. The girls loved this story and then made a craft together. Near the end of March I had a wonderful surprise from all the kids at the orphanage.
They threw a birthday party for me. Many of the kids drew pictures for me, wrote letters, and some sang a song too. It was humbling and one of the best birthday parties I have ever had. I wish I was able to post some pictures of it up here for you, but I realized I forgot to charge my camera when we arrived at the orphanage. However I do have a good one of all the pictures they drew for me on my fridge!
 Village Outreach Near the end of February and most of march, we were able to start our village outreach with the kids here in Kolentsi. Pictured below are kids making cards for their moms and grandmas’ for Ukraine’s women day.   We have averaged around 9-12 kids when we have met the first three Saturdays of march. Our Saturday outreach with these kids is always a blessing and highlight of my week. We play games, make a craft, have tea and cookies and have a Bible lesson. These kids also have many questions about God and are excited to learn. Some of these kids do not have real good role models and there is not much for them to do in the village. I pray that we and other Ukrainians will be able to serve as mentors to these kids, to share in their pain, and help them grow in their faith in Christ. Many of these questions they are asking are very similar to the questions that the orphans have: Where is God? How do I know that he is real? Is God up in the sky and far away? We pray that God will use us and our ministry team here to show these children that is very near and living in us. Also, we pray that He will give us the words and wisdom to give the answers we can to these kids. For all we know, this will eventually translate into a church just naturally happening here in Kolentsi. Many of our times with these kids it feels like a group that consists of young believers, some that are curious and unsure and some that are very little are just having fun. The faith of a child is truly inspiring and hopefully will inspire the adults in this village as well.
 Kendra in a dog costume with the kids in Ivankiv at their city festival Sasha Project Another story that weighs on my heart is a boy named Artyom. After living with his dad for a few years, his dad took him to the train station to get rid of him forever. From what we heard, it was his 7th birthday. Through what I believe to be an answer to prayer, a lady from social services, who is a believer living in Ivankiv, made a call to Andrew and Jenny Kelly (our missionary partners in Kolentsi) and she was able to bring him to their Christian summer camp to stay. He was able to stay there until social services were able to figure out who would be next in line to gain custody of him in his family. Sadly, he ended up with his alcoholic grandmother. We have been able to visit his home, bringing him food and check up on him. Without sharing too many details of his home life, I will say that if social services showed up at a house like his in America, the child would probably be taken immediately and placed in foster care. It was so hard to say goodbye and leave the boy there in such a situation. He told Jenny that he is thinking of running away soon. We found out this week that a decision has been made that he will be living at Pine Branch camp all summer as he did last year, and he will likely unofficially be our foster child for that time. We look forward to having Artyom stay with us and serving as foster parents for him as well. I know I don’t need to tell you we will need much prayer during that time, but I’m telling you anyway! Start praying now!
This upcoming weekend we are very excited about Kendra and Jenny being able to work together on a young women’s retreat. This will involve around 10 girls from the surrounding villages. Because of the environment of alcoholism and abusive families they have grown up in, many of these girls are at risk of repeating the vicious cycle. This is truly a unique and powerful opportunity for Kendra and Jenny to share with these girls how they are special daughter of God. Kendra will be talking with the girls about inner beauty and God’s love with the girls this weekend. The girls are very excited about this opportunity to get away for a weekend. Prayer Requests -The young women’s retreat this weekend -For the kids at the Orphanage in Ivankiv -Our Kids in the village -The Ivan Sinyachenko and his family who live in a nearby village called Rozvazhev. He has 6 children and is dying of bone cancer. The mother is very worried about the future -Artyom- For him to be able to get out of his grandmother’s house and into somewhere safe -the future church of Kolentsi -Sergei- our Friend and ministry partner at the camp will need a new place to live within the next month -The LCU Praise Choir who will come in May -Andrew and Jenny Kelly, ministry partners here in Pine Branch -For people to sponsor lots of kids to come to camp in the summer In Closing It takes $40 per kid to do a week of camp. Jeremiah’s Hope invites these orphans and at risk kids to camp for free, but for them to come free, we need help from everyone else! If you would like to sponsor a child for a week of camp, you can donate on PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=NUUU97YU2Y29E We’re hoping to have around 300 kids this summer. Thanks for making it happen!
Thank you all for your prayers and support! You are part of a great work God is doing on the other side of the world! Following Christ is the greatest adventure in the world! In Christ, Caleb and Kendra Harrelson |
Ukraine Mission |