Well, its hard to believe that we have already been in Ukraine for 12 days! Time is passing by fast. We arrived back in Kiev after spending over a week in the Gorodische village. I wanted to take the time to reflect back on three of the highlights from our time in Gorodische.
First, the way of life in Gorodische is much different than that in America. It is a small village where everyone knows everyone who lives in the village. People live slower paced lives and don't hurry about their days like we do in the USA. Homes are very humble and food is grown in gardens and farms. Also, walking and bicycles are the two main forms of transportation. It was so cool to see people riding bikes in groups of two or three per bike. And even more impressive was seeing grandmas riding bikes better than me! :) It did not take long for the village to realize that there were Americans visiting. At first, it was hard to get used to seeing people stare at us everywhere we walked, but soon it got fun to talk to several of them and take pictures with them. I was especially fascinated with one fact about the people in Gorodische - the fact that almost everyone owns a cellphone!! Surprisingly, cellphones and phone plans are cheap in Ukraine and so people are able to afford having a cellphone. With such a difference in the way of life, it was funny to see people in Gorodische walking about with their phones like people do in America!
Secondly, we had a wonderful time getting to know the youth of the church in Gorodische. Everyday, we had a youth activity where we got to spend time with about 30 Christian guys and girls. Not all of them were from Gorodische, but were from the surrounding villages. We played a lot of volleyball together, sang Ukrainian songs, sat around campfires, shares testimonies, and ate food together. On Wednesday after church, we had all the youth over to the house we were staying and had a youth fellowship. Girls made tasty cakes and sweets and we showed them pictures of our lives in America. On Thursday, we went on a day trip with the youth to the mountains. We visited an abandoned castle and saw beautiful Ukrainian scenery. It was such a fun time and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the youth. We had a picnic together and I practiced my Ukrainian a lot!!!
Finally, the Children's Camp was a great success! I had such a wonderful time with the children who came. Day 1 we had 71. Day 2 we had 78. And Day 3 we had 84. The children loved talking to me and I enjoyed trying my best to communicate with them in Ukrainian. They learned one verse each day including Genesis 1:27, John 14:6, and 1 Peter 3:18. We taught them several Ukrainian songs, as well as "God is so Good" in English. In our Bible time, I taught the children about Creation, Adam and Eve, the life of Christ, His death and resurrection, and the Gospel. From crafts to games, lots of seed was planted and we trust God to harvest it in His perfect timing. We were exhausted by the end of the week, but were so much more overjoyed by such a great success to our first ministry here in Ukraine.
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