Vypnarka Day 6: Best Experience!

May 20

Brick tiles…I think we are going to be dreaming in brick tiles for weeks to come. Today began with more work on the outside of the church. We continued in our attempts to rid the church of these brick tiles. Pastor Igor ordered us to stop. I’m not sure why. I am sure that we were all relieved. It was taking us so much time and energy for little result. I think we are all appreciating the access to the “right” tools we most often have while at home. Chip and Mark had some success with a sledge hammer and ax. The tile and mortar was coming of fine. It helps that Chip had the sledge hammer and his 6’5” frame!

When the pastor freed us from our brick work we were sent to finish dismantling the brick fence behind the church. We’ve been working on this project little by little each day. Today we finished it. It is so much more satisfying when you can see the results of your labor. At least this was how I felt. It has felt odd all week dismantling what to me looked like a perfectly fine stone brick fence. The fence is near a walking path parallel to the train tracks. People have been stealing bricks one by one. I think the plan will be to eventually build a new fence. We do what they tell us to do…how they tell us to do it. It has been a discipline of humility! Although we’ve been asked to take a rest several times this week but we tell them “we’ve come to work”. The pastor and parishioners sure have cared for us well this week!

I haven’t mentioned much about the food here. WOW! I’ve loved it. I’m going to need to work out hard when I get home. We’ve joked that this isn’t the mission trip to lose weight on. : ) The soups for lunch have been wonderful and by far my favorite part of the cuisine here. We are being fed way more than we need or more than most of us can eat. The dishes this week have had a lot of potatoes. We’ve had a lot of milk products too--sour cream, cheese, milk, etc. They’ve fried fish and chicken. We’ve had dishes made from oatmeal and barley. The other day they made a beet salad. I’ve never liked beet anything before this trip. The way they cook the beets here must be different than they way we process our beets. So far I’ve tried everything here but one thing--raw pork. I think I’ll stay away from that. They’ve spoiled us with sweets of a large variety after lunch and dinner.

Lunch today we fun for my table. Losha, one of the Ukrainian guys, was a whole lot more open. He was full of questions and so were we. Earlier in the day he had asked me if I thought Obama was a Muslim. At lunch we learned more about the economic hardship happening in Ukraine. Losha was surprised that the US has also been experiencing hard economic times.

After lunch we finished our work on the dismantling fence project. It feels great to have finished one project. We had hoped that the playground equipment was going to arrive after lunch. However, that equipment didn’t make it. It is coming from Kyiv and the truck broke down on the way here. So we are hoping it will arrive tomorrow morning. It is hope….but we are not sure it will. We sure would like to see that project to the end. It would be disappointing to not get to help finish this project. However, I’m sure that with the church folks and the men we’ve been working with from the recovery center could more than handle the job. It might be something we have to release to them. How exciting this will be for the church!

Our students taught about Jonah today for Kids Club. Dan worked some this afternoon to teach a few of us how to make a Jonah in the whale balloon animal. The kids loved the balloons. We taught the kids how to say body parts today. Liz lead the group in the “head, shoulders knees and toes song”. I think it was our most fun English lesson to date. Once the kids got a handle on the English they taught us the Ukrainian words. (and the kids did a whole lot better with English than we did with Ukrainian)

While the students went out to the evening sports outing I stayed in to take advantage of time to get clean (and warm)! Dan spent some mission money today to help the church buy a water pump. What a difference a pump makes. It is going to be a nice addition for the church and future teams will enjoy it too. Our guys have been taking “drip” showers. (The girls have had water pressure enough to wash hair with patience) But now the water pressure is strong… hurray, hurray, hurray! And you can imagine what showering with drips (on the guys side) smells like after all the hard work they’ve been doing! So we’ll be smelling so much better from here on out….I hope.

A few of us went with Pastor Igor this evening to another village to pray with a family. We walked down a cobble stone road as the sun was setting to get there. Although we’ve been working alongside Ukrainian’s all week it was tonight that I was reminded that I am in a different country--a place I’ve never been before. It was nice to see another part of this small town. The home we visited seemed like a farm house. In fact cheese was hanging in cloth in the entry way. Geese poop littered the concrete walk way. We took our shoes off and were escorted into a room (with a bed) that was awaiting our arrival. We were so excited to see someone we knew. Natasha, one of the girls from Kid’s club was there. We were in Natasha’s home! This is Nathasha’s family. After feeling very much like a tourist at Disneyland because of the way Pastor Igor encouraged us to get pictures with Grandma we introduced ourselves to the family.

We each shared something about how we came to know Jesus. Then they told us some about themselves too. Some of them were shy. Could you blame them? If you allowed 5 American strangers who didn’t speak your language into your home and didn‘t feel shy, I‘d be surprised! A neighbor lady shared that she works as a teacher and a painter. Grandma shared that 24 days ago she lost her husband. She is only 60 years old. Then since the other 3 ladies were so shy Tasha who seemed to be the head of the house started giving the background for everyone else. We learned that Natasha only lives in this home because her parents are alchoholics and not able to care for her. Tasha said that Natasha is her “helper”. We’ve seen Natasha all week having a great time, laughing and playing with the other girls. None of us could have guessed her story and it makes me wonder what the other stories are. Pastor Igor thanked us for being together. He prayed for the family and then before we left I asked if we could pray the Lord’s Prayer together. We prayed the Lord’s Prayer in 3 languages--Russian, Ukrainian and English. It was a very cool experience. I shared that the “Our” in “Our Father” just got bigger. When I pray “Our Father” from now on they will be apart of that prayer. So far the moments we spent in Natasha’s home hold the most power for me. We connected deeply and I was so grateful that we had a translator to help make the connection possible. I was grateful for Pastor Igor’s invitation and for the people’s willingness to let us into their private space.

We can’t believe tomorrow is Friday! Happy sad…. Most of us are ready for the work days to end… I’ve not done as much manual labor in a 5 day period of time maybe ever! I’ll be honest, the students and Dan (especially) are working circles around me! I must say I’m enjoying the relationship aspects of this trip way more than the labor. Yet I see how the work is the “vehicle” for the relationships forming between myself and the students as well as the group and the Ukrainians. It is a great thing!