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Love Ukraine
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Love Ukraine (Editor's Note: This story was originally posted in January 2010.)
An international team arrived in Ukraine in July 2009 to help at an English Camp just outside the capital of Kiev. We hailed from Australia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and the United States, so we learned quickly that this would be a cultural adventure as well as a spiritual one. We varied in age from our 20s to our 70s! God had worked in so many ways already to get us all together on the team that we knew we were in for an amazing two weeks. We worked alongside the OMS missionaries Randy and Shelley Marshall and their three boys, Alex, Andrew and Philip. The Marshalls coordinate the summer English camps and then follow up with events throughout the year, including Life Groups, discipleship groups and English classes. The Ukrainians who attend the camp are mainly university students who want to improve their English through conversation, but are told before the camp that there will be a Christian element. Most of the students are not Christians (there were only two at our camp....out of 23 students) and do not know how to have a personal relationship with God. As a team, our aim was to show them that having a relationship with God was possible and could be fun. The camp is a fun-filled 10 days of building friendships with the Ukrainian students through English, Bible discussions, games, songs, watching the JESUS film and having worship times. A highlight of the camp is a visit with your Ukrainian partners who often bring you home to meet their families. Traveling on the metro, buses and walking around the city is a great way to see the real Ukraine. Meeting the students’ families is always exciting, using animated actions to try and convey simple sentences when neither party can speak the others language. The warmth shown by the students and their families to make us feel welcome and for them to show off their country and way of life makes the visit one to remember. Exchanging cultural experiences with everyone when we return to the camp can be humorous! Of course, having a cultural exchange is part of this experience, so getting used to the heat and humidity, practicing our limited Ukrainian and Russian language, drinking tea at every meal and trying the delicious borsch and verenki was great for the team. For the students, they heard a variety of accents from the English-speaking team and had fun trying to imitate us. We also shared about our countries with a presentation and photos. This year, the response from the team and students was the same........it was like a big family. It was an amazing atmosphere, and God opened the hearts of the students to learn more about Him. Students told us they wanted to read the Bible, ask more questions about Jesus, keep in contact with the friends they had made at camp and go to the follow-up events organized by the Marshalls. This was an answer to prayer. So, if you are looking for an adventure next summer, we pray you will seriously consider going to Ukraine. OK, so you may not get your required eight hours of sleep per night, but you do learn about friendship! |
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