Ukraine

In 1994 I (Kevin) went on my first mission trip. I went to Torez, Ukraine. The church we were part of then had helped to plant a new church family in this little mining town. About every 6 months to a year another group from our church went to help grow this new family. These groups would stay anywhere from 2-4 weeks on average. We even had people who spent months there.

I remember going that first time with a man who had been before. He told me that I would cry like a baby when we left. I'm not a big crier. Not because I think it's macho not to cry or anything like that, but because I just have never cried that much. So, naturally, I thought he was nuts.

The day we left Torez after our 3 week visit I literally could not stop crying for 30 minutes. I was blubbering like a baby. Anytime I would try to talk I just blubbered even harder. It's a hard thing to explain how people you didn't even know 3 weeks earlier could have such a hold on your life.

These people had nothing but would freely share what they had. This was a place where there would be a line around the street to get a loaf of bread. Where the heat sometimes didn't work in your apartment. Where you could not drink the water. Where the water was only turned on 2 times a day for a couple of hours each time. Where you had to put a bucket of water by the commode in order to flush if you needed to use the bathroom when the water wasn't turned on. Where people would grow their own vegetables so that they could have food in the winter. Where surgeons got $20 per month and school teachers got $8 per month and they both had not been paid in months.

It was a blessing to watch them take the free gift of Christ and treat it like the unbelievable present that it is. In my brief experience, the people who have nothing (or close to nothing) seem to get that free gift. They don't have all the worldly stuff to cloud their vision of the Good News.

The day after I graduated from physical therapy school, I was blessed to be able to return to Torez with my dad (two and a half years after my initial visit), and we spent two weeks there with our Christian brothers and sisters.

The reason my family is even in Brasil is because of my time in the Ukraine. I initially wanted to be a missionary there, but God had other plans for our family.

This week I received an email from my dad. It was from a brother in Ukraine who sent some pictures of Torez. It looked like this.

Torez will always be special to me. After getting this email I began to think of all the people I know there and their suffering. It sounds like it is even worse than when I was there in the 90's.

Please join us in praying for our brothers and sisters in Torez, Ukraine.