Waiting for a Miracle (cont.)

In September of 2003 I visited Saki, Crimea. At the time, I was still green as a missionary, but hungry to open new doors. I thought that God would open a door in Saki. He did, but not the door that I had assumed, and not in the time period that I wanted. I was thinking that I would become involved in some type of ministry there, as a third outreach.

While I was there, I met an eight year old little boy who was walking on his ankle. I recently learned that it was due to an error in surgery when he was an infant. A nerve had been cut, leaving the related muscles without control, causing the opposing muscles to pull his foot to one side.

Now, after six years of growing in my mission, I will return with some possible solutions for this little fellow. I had originally envisioned that Jesus would heal his foot in a miraculous situation. I still look for that to happen, but I have learned that Jesus heals in many different ways, with many different formats. Jesus created everything, so all forms of medical treatment are a part of His creation. How He will choose to heal, and how long the process will take, can be different in every case.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about all of the possibilities that could develop during my visit. When I begin to think of all of the negative possibilities, I tend to become discouraged. My mission, all of it, is bigger than me. I have to always remember that. With all that is going on in this world, it is easy to lose my focus. I think the song that says it all is titled, Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus. So that is what I have to do.

I dream for the big miracle for this little fellow, but it isn’t up to me. When I get back to Illichevsk, I’ll post the results. I’ll be tweetin’ all about it probably in the middle of September, so stay tuned.

The Seashell Girl

Sunday evening I decided to go to the sea and collect some sea shells for my future visits to the orphanages in Marganets and Dobromel. I like to take the different little shells for the children to experience in art projects or science class.

The last time that I went hunting for the baby Whelk and Conch shells, I found that they were in abundance in the seaweed clusters of Mussel and other shells that are freshly washed upon the beach. They are hard to see at first, but once you train your eyes to search for the particular colors and shapes, they seem to pop out at you.

This time, I found a spot by the water’s edge and sat down. As I began my search, it was difficult not to keep every pretty shell that I saw. Collecting them, sometimes a few at a time, I would put them in my little bag. I must have stayed in that one spot for almost an hour. One man came to me and asked what I was doing? Of course, I had to guess what his question was. Then I had to ask him, using my Russian words, if I understood his question. He seemed satisfied with my answer and continued on, looking for larger shells a meter or so further out in the sea.

When I decided that it was time to go, I got up and brushed my pants off. I looked around, checking the shoreline for the August evening beach lovers, and slowly walked away from the sea. In the process, I saw a little girl about five years old, standing perfectly still, holding a little red container about two or three inches deep and maybe five inches in diameter. The expression on her face was not sad or happy, but maybe one asking a question. In the exact center of her red container, there was a half of a clam shell. It was a Norman Rockwell picture for sure.

As I walked past her, I remembered my childhood days. I stopped and looked through my bag. Earlier, I had found one larger spiral shell that was the best find of my evening. I pulled it out and walked back to her, still standing motionless. I carefully put my prize shell into her little red container. She looked at me as I began to walk away and whispered in Russian, “Thank you,” without changing the expression on her face the littlest bit. As I waved goodbye to her, it was as if she couldn’t believe that someone, a stranger, gave her a nice shell. I hope that it made her day. I know that it made mine.

Water???

How we take water for granted. When I first came to Ukraine in 2002, I was introduced to the water problems of Ukraine. My first experience took place in Patriky, Ternopol region, while I was in the lecture phase of missionary school. The village where the school was held had turned off the water for three to five days. This was not so unusual for the local people. What was funny, although not at the time, was my not knowing what to do. An announcement was made that there was an outhouse in the back yard. For some reason, that announcement was not translated for me.

In the second phase, outreach, my team lived in a city in western Ukraine for two months. We lived in a flat on the sixth floor, about a twenty minute walk from the center of the city. Our water situation was an eye opener for me. Hot and cold water were available for two hours in the morning, two hours at mid day, and four hours in the evening. What a challenge it was for me to coordinate all of the team water needs with our other activities. I learned a lot about living with other people during those two months.

Seven years have come and gone, and I have had a lot of water stories to tell. As I write this story, I am once again in Western Ukraine. This time I am in the city of Borislav, in the L’vov region. This is my fourth visit, and I am only beginning to learn about their water problems. For instance, during the last eighteen years, they have not had hot water.

In 2008, MUCH started to support the ministry that Volodya has. He works with orphaned children in the city of Dobromel. In his home in Borislav where I stayed the first three visits, I learned that he is an engineering genius. In his home on the fourth floor, they receive water twice a day for two hours. It is common for people in this city to fill the bathtub in the morning, using that water for the toilet, cooking and cleaning needs throughout the day. Instead of accepting this as normal, Volodya has installed a gravity fed holding tank and a gravity fed hot water tank. They still must be careful with their water use, but it is available all day.

This time, I stayed at Volodya’s son-in-law and daughter’s home on the first floor in a separate section of the city. A third problem in Borislav is that household gas is turned off two days a week. House heating is controlled by the city in the winter. Volodya created a new system to meet all of the need of this home throughout the year. He installed a hot water heater that heats water for the sinks and bathtub. It has a separate line that heats water for the house. In the basement area of the building, he installed a five hundred liter holding tank that fills when the water comes on. A pump moves the water up when it is called for. There are three filter systems to clean the water. I am continually amazed to see how the people of Ukraine meet their daily challenges!

Adventures With the Dentist

When I was a child, I seldom if ever went to the dentist. I guess that in those days, if you had no pain, why bother the dentist. I was blessed with healthy teeth, so I didn’t develop good dental habits beyond regular brushing.

Before moving to Ukraine, I had visited the dentist only a few years before. He was so kind as to give me a root canal and crown for the cost equivalent to three mortgage payments. Prior to that, I hadn’t seen the dentist for twenty five years. My first year in Ukraine was filled with uncertainties about their health care system. Along with that, I had a tooth that needed some attention. I put off doing anything about it for the whole year.

Finally, I had my translator, Ira, set me up an appointment with the dentist at her church. They had a certified dentist who did her work as an evangelical outreach. Free dental care if you listen to the Gospel message and receive a Bible. She did some good work on my tooth, but because I had waited so long, a large filling was needed. It lasted only six months.

By that time, she was working in the village. Getting to the village was a challenge. Ira took me to the village via two separate public transports. Once we arrived, we had to find the building, somewhere within one hundred meters from our drop off point. Seeing the outhouse to the distant right of the entrance, the building showed no resemblance to a medical facility. I felt as if I was walking into yet another world. This was quite an eye opener, esthetically speaking. There were three offices, each a different form of medical practice. I saw the true, heartland people of Ukraine and their children being served. The poverty was heartbreaking, but I was in Ukraine to help people, so I did understand.

Another six months went by and I had to revisit the village dentist. This time I received two pieces of information. First, my dentist was expecting a child and would not be working for the next two years. Second, she said that I would need to see a dentist who had the equipment to do a root canal and crown. She suggested a good one.

A while later, we went to this new dentist. He was in a new facility with new equipment and new everything. I was impressed, but was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It turned out that everything was very good. He had to pull the tooth, but ordered a bridge that connected to two other teeth. One actually needed a root canal. It worked out very well.

That was four years ago. In that time, I had to go back for work on another tooth. He was busy, so I was asked if I would see another dentist in the same practice. This turned out to be a blessing. This woman is very pleasant and gentle. She enjoys a good sense of humor, and I have one. The challenge is having it translate into Russian so that it remains funny. Ira, now my assistant, has been working with me for six years. She catches the meaning of most of my humor and is able to translate it well.

Previous to my current visits, I had gone to this dentist for a root canal and filing. This required two or three visits. During that time I tried out my humor on her and she always responded with a big smile. I would start off the visit with a joke, wanting her to be in a good mood before she started working on me. This visit, number three of three for this filling, I didn’t have a joke for her.

Her task was to remove the temporary filling installed on Thursday, and replace it with a permanent one. In the process, after the filling was in place, she needed to smooth off and match the surface of this tooth with the bottom tooth. I knew what she was doing, but my humor surfaced. The material that she used, asking me to bite down on it to check the surface of the tooth, came on a roll, like tape. When she finished everything, I looked at her seriously and said, “I have been very impressed with the quality of your work. But when I saw you reaching for the scotch tape, I began to have second thoughts."

July 2009 MUCH Newsletter

Hello family and friends,

July is a hot one in Illichevsk, 90 F in the shade with high humidity. But then, everything is relative, isn’t it. I got some good exercise walking around Marganets when I visited the orphanage during the first week of July. And have I got some stories about that week! See International Riot in Marganets and Promise, Provision, and Progress. For those who don’t have access to a computer or the internet, the problems in Marganets began in a bar and were not politically related. It was all contained prior to my arrival. The other story refers to the concert that the youth of the Marganets Baptist Church gave to the children at the orphanage and the Transition Home.

While in America, I was given three sets of items to bring back to Ukraine to give to our children. I had a great time watching the enthusiasm of the children at the Transition Home. First, I gave them the stuffed animals that Jenny Renner, National Champion in synchronized trampoline competition, provided for them. Next, the picture story books written in English and Russian, from Jessie Bullock and Kate Bullock Price, captured the imagination of the children. Finally, the children from Lighthouse Christian School in Pompano Beach, Florida made bookmarks for our children. The bookmarks were filled with colorful designs and messages of love. My Marganets translator and I took pictures and videos of this great event.

My big surprise happened one evening as I was out taking a walk. There were so many militia patrolling the city, I felt quite safe. All of the sudden, a young man walked up to me and said, “Prevyet!” That means “Hi” in Russian. I replied the same. Then he said, “It’s me, Bogdan!” I made the connection, and we began to chat as we walked. Bogdan was my first translator in Marganets seven years ago. He was twelve years old at the time. We met up with his wife and his second child, six months old, and walked across town to his parents’ flat. What a wonderful evening. After a short visit, his mother, his wife, and he walked me back to my street. What an interesting evening.

Progress can be seen in different ways. MUCH has accomplished many things in the past seven years. The big building blocks have been relationships. These are the keys to progress. In Marganets, we have built relationships with the orphanage administrators, and the children. Recently, we have been reaching out to the churches to help us. The youth group concert for the children at the orphanage is what I see as GREAT PROGRESS.

Blessings of love and healing,
Mark

Ira's Insight (July 2009)

I wish that every reader of the Newsletter had experienced what I did at the Christian camp. It was a great time for many children, especially for children from difficult homes (from the Christian club “Emmaus”) and for the children from the orphanages.

Every year, the Illichevsk Baptist Church holds a Christian camp for children. The goal of such a camp is to tell children about Christ. Most participants of the camp are children from difficult homes and children from orphanages of the Odessa region. And it is very important for these kids to know that there is One who loves them very much, and He is ready to listen to them and understand them.

Each year the subjects of the camps are different. Last year it was “Egypt”. There was even an Egyptian Pharaoh who made the people of Israel (children and their leaders) make bricks and other works for him. During that camp the children not only found out the history of Israel in Egypt, but also learned to trust God.

This year the subject was “The early evangelical church”. Together with Saul who later becomes Paul children experience how to live in an ancient city where they are trade makers. Also they experience persecutions and God’s love toward them. The camp lets children feel the real life in the beginning of the first century. For me it was a real blessing to see how children responded to the improvisation of the early church. I visited the camp for children from 10 till 12 years old. I enjoyed watching them while they were making different things with their hands to sell for their emperor (local mayor), or how they were participating at the worship services on the beach during the time of persecution. They took everything very seriously.

It has become a tradition for MUCH to help financially to hold the camp. Thanks to its money, children have more fresh fruits and vegetables during the camp. Personally I want to thank those who support this ministry. Your financial gift helps not only children to have good nutrition, but also to be at the camp and enjoy it. From my own experience, I know that many children who have been at the camp one time, live the whole year with the hope that they will go to camp the next summer.

I think today many people realize how important it is to help such projects to be available. Children are our future. And it depends on us what future we will live tomorrow...

Until next time,
Ira

Promise, Provision, & Progress

Seven years ago, I moved to Ukraine to work with children in need. The first group of children that I was introduced to was in the city of Marganets, south central Ukraine, at the Orphanage for Children with Mental and Physical Disabilities. At the time, most of the 156 children had learning disabilities, but some had minor physical disabilities.

Leaving my new-found manager to buy clothes, shoes, and winter boots for the children, I moved to missionary school in western Ukraine for five months. When I returned in December, I was introduced to more of the children with their new winter boots. They were all smiles. I saw a glimmer of promise in whom they were and who they could become!

The following 4 year were filled with provision. Clothing and shoes were the main items provided, but we had a number of projects, big and small. MUCH was changing the physical and visual atmosphere, but more importantly, the self images of the children. God’s provision had been meeting the physical needs of the children, but their spiritual needs were still untouched.

Two summers ago, Ukraine Challenge sent a team of short term missionaries to provide a Vacation Bible School at the Baptist church in Marganets. While there, they visited our children at the orphanage, bringing the Good News to them, possibly for the first time. In the process, I was introduced to the youth group of that church. Each time that I would visit Marganets, I would talk with the youth group and encourage them in some way.

During my last visit, I asked if they would like to put on a concert for our children during my July visit. They said yes and it was arranged. They had lost no enthusiasm between my January and July visits. When they arrived to perform the concert, they asked for some boundaries. I told them that the more involved they could be individually with the children, the better. As they began, I took videos and photos, recording the progress of seven years of loving our children. As I realized what God was doing, tears filled my eyes. A new door had opened; a new team had begun a wonderful work!