A Father’s Love Story

I call it a Father’s Love Story, but I was not her father and she was not my daughter. Oksana wanted to be my daughter. In her heart, she wanted to belong to someone. She wanted a family experience. She never knew her father, and she had been taken away from her drug using … mother when she was 4 or 5 years old. Her life as she knew it was at the orphanage.

She began to make a connection with me when she was about 15. When I responded to her with acceptance and kindness, her heart responded. She began to dream the impossible dream. Could she have a father of her own, could it be true? I gave her and a number of other children my address. I asked them if they would write to me. (I had been told earlier that the children didn’t have the mentality to write a letter, being an orphanage for special children.)


Oksana was the only one who did write to me. It was clear to my translator that she did actually write the letter. So, I read the letter with great interest. She wrote to me about her dreams. She opened her heart and told me that she wanted me to be her father.

This writing relationship continued for the next four years. When I would visit Marganets I would spend some time with her, talking and learning more about her. The plan was that when she was 18 she could decide her future legally. She continued her education through the tenth grade, and then moved to the youth hostel to participate in trade school to learn to be a master plasterer.

By the time that she graduated, she had fallen in love with a classmate and decided that she wanted something different. She was an adult, in her eyes, and didn’t need a father any more.

Without actually being a father, I experienced many of the feelings and frustrations of what being a father must be. I felt the love, the need, the joy, and the sorrow. It was a difficult experience for me, but I learned many things. We have lost touch and doubt that I will ever see her again. One thing that she asked me to give to her was a Bible. I did, and I must believe that God is watching over her and will guide her to Himself.

January 2009 MUCH Newsletter

Hello family and friends,

Happy New Year! I hope that 2009 will be a bright year for all. As we have closed 2008, I see the progress of the children most evident. I have short videos of some of the children at the massage clinic who are walking who could not walk in 2007. The Emmaus children learned more life skills and are doing projects on the computer. In Marganets, many great things have moved forward in 2008. Most important is the new weekly drug and alcohol prevention program. The year-to-year support for the Transition Home in Marganets, the programs for the Marganets orphanage, and support of the Dobromel orphanage have opened new doors of opportunity to serve our children in better ways.

I have begun to post to this blog each week. I am writing about some of my experiences as a missionary. I hope to shed more light on the lives of the children. A couple of photos will bring my posts to life. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember what my readers don’t see. Life here has become so normal for me that I forget how different it is. If you're reading my posts, please take a moment to comment at the bottom of the post. I would love to hear from you. Some people think that my newsletter is only about financial support. I hope that you will realize the stories are news about the children. They need your prayer support. But I think that most of all, they need you to be talking about them. They need to become a part of your conversational lives.

Ira and I will be sharing more stories about MUCH children in the newsletters and the blog in 2009. Below, Ira talks about the Rehabilitation Center that is a result of four years of the MUCH massage clinic. The medical community and the local people saw a new value in people with disabilities. MUCH is creating a ripple affect, as it exemplifies the love of God through rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

I’m pleased to say that the MUCH Christmas Fundraiser has successfully reached its goal of $3,620!! Four programs will enrich the lives of the children at the Marganets orphanage. We will clothe as many as 104 children who will pass through the Transition Home in 2009. Our funds will support Pastor Volodya’s work with the children who have special needs at the orphanage in Dobromel. All of these programs will operate for one more year because of your generous gifts during this Christmas Season. We say a BIG UKRAINIAN THANK YOU!! СПАСИБO БОЛЬШОЙ!! May God bless your giving hearts.

Here is an update on how the economy is affecting my work here. Ukraine is being hit hard with unemployment, banking problems, and the Russian gas “war.” In spite of all of these problems, what I am able to do is somewhat dependant upon the value of the dollar. In October it had fallen from 5 to 4.5 grevnya for $1. Earlier this week, it had climbed to 8.7 grevnya for $1. It looks to be a very unpredictable year. The Christmas Fundraiser guarantees funding for our six-year-to-year ministries. Our main three outreach programs will be challenged month to month for financial support in 2009. Please be praying for our 400 plus children and our teams who reach out to them throughout this coming year.

Blessings of love and healing,
Mark

Ira's Insight (January 2009)

Now Mark is preparing to visit America. He will go in April 2009. He is taking pictures and short videos of his ministries. We have been visiting Emmaus Club, the massage clinic, and the Rehabilitation Center in Illichevsk. It’s very nice to see people there who can tell us about the positive changes that are taking place.

Two days ago we visited the Rehabilitation center, a city government facility. There is a very difficult situation with the legal documentation of the Center. Our government authorities are not sure who the director of it is at this time. There are three possible candidates. One is doing the actual work. Despite these problems, everybody who comes to the center may find himself in the atmosphere of kindness, hospitality and children’s laughter.

I remember when the director of one of the organizations for the disabled, Ludmila, was dreaming about a rehabilitation center in Illichevsk. She wanted parents who have children with disabilities to have a place in Illichevsk where they could bring their children. She wanted the parents to have the freedom to go to their work, or have some rest while the caretakers played with their children or helped them with some exercises.

Her dream has been fulfilled. Today this center exists and gets a lot of use from children with disabilities and their parents. At the center, children can not only play, but can do some craft work and learn to sing. Every day they have a tasty lunch. It was so pleasant for me to speak to some of the mothers. They seemed to be calm and satisfied, quite contrary to their anguish of previous years. I think the center is the place where they can find peace, by themselves, or with other mothers.

Of course the center has some more potential, but because of the documentation problems it doesn’t function as it should. Ludmila hopes that soon the children can come to the center and have some medical and rehabilitation treatment also. I pray for her wish to be fulfilled.

Until next time,
Ira

The Live Christmas Story

In Ukraine, the Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. When Communism fell, there was a new freedom of religion. The Orthodox Church was no longer the only church allowed by the government. Other Christian groups wanted to celebrate Christmas on December 25th. The new government decided to allow the people to celebrate both. Not only did they celebrate both, but the day after Christmas was always a holiday. So the Christmas Season consisted of: December 25 and 26, December 31 and January 1, 7, and 8. It was most interesting for me to experience this the first year that I was here. If you were a churchgoer, that was a lot of services with a lot of sermons. This season is the first season that will have Christmas only on January 7.

The Evangelical Baptist Church took full advantage of January 8. It may be the first time there was a live presentation of the Christmas story. They created different scenes in the park next to their church. After the 10 AM service was complete, the player all took their places, ready to tell their stories. It was a very cold afternoon, but it didn't stop the enthusiastic choir or actors. Small groups would go from scene to scene to hear the story. It was a great event. It will be repeated, and will be recreated in different places in Illichevsk.

The people who grew up under persecution still have a high value of what religious freedom means. Unfortunately, this passion has not been experienced by the younger generation. They respond with enthusiasm of the event, but haven't experienced the true value of what it means to be free to express your beliefs in public. I continue to try to learn of the secrets of life during communism.

My Little Friend Grew Up

Each orphaned child has a unique way of dealing with their lack of family experience. I think that it is the individuality of the child, with or without family, which enables the child to cope with his/her life situation.



During the past six years, I have encountered many personalities of the children whom I serve. Yuri is one of those children whom I have dearly enjoyed. When we first met, this little boy was full of energy, animation, and hunger for attention. Most memorable was his smile, full of expression, with big dimples to accentuate his positive attitude.

During each visit, Yuri would make a special point to present himself to me. He would have a few questions for me and would always want to show me something that he had done. He was more upfront than most of the other boys. In 2003, the MUCH gift of a sound system brought about an opportunity for the children to have a dance on Sunday afternoons.

I happened to be at the orphanage on a Sunday afternoon in the course of one of my quarterly visits. The children were very anxious for me to join them at their discothèque experience. Of all of the children, Yuri had the most animated dance. His clothes didn’t fit well, he wasn’t very clean, but his heart was wide open and he was not the least bit inhibited in his expression through dance.

In March of 2008, I found a very different Yuri. As a teenage, he was dealing with a very different life. Cigarettes, alcohol, and possibly drugs were a part of the peer pressures that he had to make decisions about. When he would present himself to me he wanted me to approve of him, but he hid the part of him that he didn’t want me to know about. He was caught up in trying to be who and what he thought others wanted him to be. I wanted to know who Yuri had become.

In September of 2008, MUCH brought a Marganets resident onto the MUCH team to teach the children drug and alcohol prevention, morality, self image, and other positive reinforcement principles. Children like Yuri will now have a better opportunity to choose what is right for him and know that it is Ok to be an individual, to be Yuri.

See you next week!

Sisters of Poverty

I wish each of you a Happy New Year, that it may be filled with peace, financial recovery, and a new outlook on life. Ukraine will be celebrating Christmas on January 7^th.
I’ll write about my adventure with skin cancer when I have during and after pictures. For those who are concerned, I’m doing well.

This post, I want to tell about two of my children in Illichevsk. Four and a half years ago, I wrote about one child who fell out of her 5^th floor dormitory house window and broke her neck. She was 12 years old. She has a younger sister who was 9 years old at the time.

Life has continued to challenge each of these children in different ways during the past four and a half years. I’ll give them new names for this post to protect their identity. Kathy, the older of the two, insisted on continuing to live with her alcoholic mother in the one room that they call home. The mother is seldom their. Close to the 4 year anniversary of Kathy’s accident, she had a baby. The father of the baby married her. Now, 4 and sometimes 5 people live in the one room home.

Nina, now 13 years old, has physical problems of her own. Before age 8, she was hit by a car. Her leg that was broken was not set correctly and causes her difficulty in walking. Apparently, she had some brain trauma also. Her right hand is not contracted, but she does not use it. For some reason, it has not developed neurologically.

If these girls only had their physical problems to deal with, that would be enough for a lifetime. Here is what their home life is like, as I understand it.

They live on the 5^th floor. If Kathy wants to go outside, some one must carry her down 5 flights of steps, and bring her wheel chair. If she wants to use the bathroom, it is a public bathroom at the end of the hall for that floor of one or two room homes. She uses diapers, as she is a quadriplegic, so that is less of a factor. The kitchen is also a community facility. So, accessibility for her is probably not a future possibility. Because she now has a baby, (something that I thought was not possible), all of her difficulties are times two.

For Nina, it was a great experience to witness her sister’s pregnancy, giving birth, and the early novelty of life with her niece. Now, the other facts of life remind her of what is real in her personal world.

Imagine for a moment, a 16 ½ year old mother of a 6 month old, a husband of possibly 20 years of age, a 13 year old sister, and an alcoholic mother who is transient in their lives, all living in a 10’ x 10’ room. The room has a curtain that divides it into by 2/3s. So, privacy is a luxury, Nina’s innocence has long since vanished, and interpersonal relationships of these children living in the adult world are stressed to the max.

This is only a sample of the 25 children who visit the Emmaus Food Program in Illichevsk. The children eat a hearty meal five days a week during the school year. There are programs to teach them life skills such as sewing, cooking, and social interaction. Other activities include crafts, singing, and Bible study. Recently, I have begun a chat session with the children twice a month. My goal is to discuss problems common to our lives, though we are two generations apart.

I hope to touch Nina’s life with physical rehabilitation, but it will depend upon her. I learned a very difficult lesson with her sister. Just because I see the need and want to help, that doesn’t mean that they want my help. As with most children, it is difficult to get them to see very far beyond their immediate needs and wants. That is what parents are supposed to do. Sometimes, the best that I can do is only to be available.

I’ll surprise you with next weeks post!

December 2008 MUCH Newsletter

Hello family and friends,

As the world economy challenges each of us, may we look toward Christmas as the birth of our Savior. As the Christmas season approaches, may love fill our hearts that we may reach out toward each other in peace and compassion.

I have returned from my journey to Warsaw, Poland to get my Ukrainian visa for another year. I stopped in Borislav and Dobromel, Ukraine to visit two orphanages on my way back. It was quite an eventful trip. You can read more about it in The Insider Info, my first two weekly posts below. I intend to post a story or an article each Saturday. I want to better inform our readers about the realities of life in Ukraine and my life as a missionary. Also, I want to better inform our readers and supporters about the progress that we are seeing in the different outreach ministries. If you have questions, or want to know more, please click on comments, and add your thoughts. I will be more than happy to reply to you personally if you wish.

The Borislav orphanage is not one of the MUCH outreach ministries. I was introduced to this orphanage because it specializes in habilitation for children with cerebral palsy. More than 120 children live there during the school year and receive appropriate education and habilitation. They have a multi therapy program. I visited with the neurologist and we spoke for about an hour. He showed me the different equipment that they use, ranging from EEG to acupuncture. We discussed the value of electric muscle stimulators, which I am interested in adding to our massage therapy program. He explained in great detail how each therapy adds only a percentage of the full results desired. This was a new concept for me. My experience has been that a therapist will believe that his/her therapy is the most important. But Dr. Oleg made it clear that each is important for the full result. I invited him to Illichevsk to address our therapists and have a round table discussion about our children. This is a big step in building a network of specialist to improve the lives of our children in Illichevsk and the surrounding communities who have cerebral palsy.

And again, if you haven't already, please read about our Christmas Fundraiser - MUCH's Goal is $3,620.

Blessings of love and healing,
Mark

Ira's Insights (December 2008)

Today there is a difficult economic situation in the world. Almost everyone speaks about this everywhere; you can hear about these problems and they may depress you. In spite of all these problems, God continues to show His grace and wisdom through His people. He continues to change the lives and minds of people. We just need to look around us to notice this. It will bring joy to our hearts and remind us of God’s promises.

I’d like to share a story with you that I witnessed. As you know Emmaus is a club for children from difficult homes. When you speak with the children, or only see them, you can’t understand the situation of their lives. Only within a personal conversation can you realize what lives they live, what personal tragedy each of them has.

Mark has begun a tradition of speaking to the children at Emmaus every other Friday. Usually he tells them different situations from his life. Mark’s stories initiate a conversation between the children and him. They begin to ask him questions. Very often children stay after “Mark’s story” to speak about their lives. When I translated one such conversation, I was very surprised what problems this child has to cope with in her young life. I see that God himself speaks to these children through Mark.

Through Mark’s answers I see the children comprehend what God’s love is and what they need to do with the adult problems of their families in their child world. The answers are so clear for the children’s inquisitive minds that I am sure they have received understanding for their vital questions.

When I translate such conversations and see the children’s eyes, it again reminds me that God always is in time, He always acts in His wonderful ways. He always is ready to give comfort to the hearts of the people who are in need…

Until next time,
Ira