Restoration

The tire that shredded on our way to the orphanage

The little boy on the right of this photo is doing something that we never saw from him before. Tolic is smiling. When a team from church came here last spring, Tolic was new and sad. He would come and sit off to the side, but not participate in activities. But as time went on he started getting closer to Cheryl. After a bit, whenever Cheryl had a free arm, Tolic was in it. He sensed Cheryl's loving heart and Christ's love coming through her. When we visited the orphanage last week, I brought a gift Cheryl had sent with me for Tolic. When I gave it to him and told him it was from her, Tolic looked at me in amazement and then ran to take the gift to his room. The awesome thing was that he did not stay there. He came back and hung out as we spent the day with the kids. Tolic was even smiling. I think that the Lord was too.

 

Bogdan and Kostya

One of the hardest parts of working with kids in detention centers, prisons and orphanages is that we see kids like Tolic come so far, only to see them fall away. But when you are in this for some time, you see some of those kids come back, even if it takes a while.

About a week before we went to Kaniv, Kostya called as he wanted to meet me when we came there. Kostya had lived with Bogdan and Anya a few years ago, but he started to get back into old, destructive habits and even with many chances, Kostya had to leave. The problem is that when the guys and girls leave like that, they often break all ties. Kostya had done that with Bogdan and Anya and hadn't wanted to see them.

God had some other plans as when Kostya called me, I was with Bogdan and Kostya asked to speak with him. When we went to the orphanage, Kostya met us all and spent time with Bogdan and Anya. Later he told me that he owned up to what he had done and had wanted to make it right with them. As he left, Kostya hugged us all and we all smiled at the gift that God had given us. What was lost has now been found.

Giving Thanks and Giving Back

Pasha and Sergei Skiba

There are times when the Lord smiles on us and gives us some extra gifts. He gave me one of those last week, when I visited the rehab house, they call "Revival House" in Zolotonosha. Quite a few years ago, some friends-Rob and Shyra, Steve and Lisa, Dan and Tracy-provided the funds to buy an old house that would become a place of new beginnings.

Pasha is living there even though he does not have an alcohol or drug addiction. Pasha came to faith at a Bible study in the juvenile prison colony in Kremenchug lead by Lydia Petrovna and Sergei Skiba. His abusive father is dead and his mother is in a mental hospital. Pasha, who has lived on the streets, in orphanages and, finally, in the colony since he was 11 wanted to live in a Christian environment. Sergei asked him to come to the house and now he has a home. Pasha is a gift to Sergei and when you see the two of them together, you see a family bond that goes deep. When I asked Pasha if he likes living there, he paused and said, "I love it." For Sergei and me, having Pasha there is a dream come true as for many years we have wanted a place for kids to come when they leave the colonies.

The Rehab Center Crew-Sergei, Pasha, Vovka, Ruslan, Vanya, John, Zhenya, Sergei

Sergei Skiba, Sergei, Sasha, and Zhenya help to run the center. Zhenya was the first resident and now he is it's leader. The guys who live there all have hope for the future, though the past still haunts them: Vovka is 24, came back the night we visited and was hoping for another chance as he realized he could not make in on his own. He is HIV+, they call him "ogon", which means fire, and he is a great kid. Ruslan is 25 and grew up on the streets of Kiev after bandits took his mother's apartment. She froze to death when he was 16. His smile and sense of humor are infectious and he has become a big brother to Pasha. Vanya is 53, looks at least 10 years older, lost his wife and kids due to his alcoholism and just moved into the house, hoping that the Lord of second chances will give him one. In the three days that we were there, we saw some of the old, long hidden Vanya coming back to life. Please pray for Vanya and the guys.

The Revival House is a place of second chances and new lives. It is also a place where giving thanks is not taken for granted. The guys wanted me to thank you for supporting them through Straight Ahead. I want to thank you for making this dream a reality.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Connecting

Zhenya, Zhivchik, me and Gala

Smor's with the boys.

Zhenya was new when he came to the orphanage, but at one of our first camps, he bonded with Tim right away. After that, he latched onto Matt, who is Tim's good friend so that seemed to make sense.

Zhivchik, who is now 16, has been my buddy since shortly after he got to the orphanage, which was a few weeks after his father beat him and left him to die. Zhenya, Zhichik and many of the guys and girls at the orphanages and prisons have similar stories. They often put up high wall around their hearts, but allow some of those walls to fall when the Lord shows His love through His people.

Sometimes I wonder if these visits and the time we spend with the kids really impacts them beyond making them feel good for a few days. I know it does, but the prayer of the father whose son was being tormented comes to mind: "Lord I believe. Help my unbelief." This past week, I met with guys who have become friends over the years and who both grew up in the orphanages.

Sasha is approaching 30 and he spent most of his childhood in different orphanages. He is a good guy and a hard worker. When we went out last week, we starting talking about relationships so I asked him about a girlfriend. Sasha said that he goes out with many girls, but nothing ever goes beyond going out. As he struggled for the Russian words that I would understand, I also saw the struggle in his heart. "You know, when you grow up in places like that, it's not normal. You don't have family. You just have other guys and girls. I don't know how to have a relationship."

As we talked more, Sasha told me that Americans, Christians, would come each summer and bring them to camp. Sasha is not a believer, but he has fond memories of the camp. I asked him if he remembered the people and Sasha smiled and said "Ben, Linda, Sarah,..." He still has letters from them even after 16 years. Those were some of the best weeks of his life. I'm praying that those memories will open his heart so he can see that he too can have someone special in his life.

When I told Dima some of that, it lead to a good discussion on what people really want in a relationship and then he said that he thanked God for the relationships he has been given, especially the one with his new wife.

Then I asked him if he thought our going to the orphanage made a difference. "Of course" was his answer. Dima said that whenever he would get a letter from me or when other kids got letters or packages from people they didn't even know, it made them all feel special, wanted. "You don't know what that feels like; when you have no one and then you think that someone really does care."

At the conference I went to last week, Pasha, who came to one of our trainings a couple of years ago and who now leads a ministry that is getting mentors for the kids in the orphanages, spoke of how one person at the orphanage showed love towards him and how that changed his life. We can all do that, can't we? What if each of us found one new person to care about? Easy. Nope. Often those who feel uncared for are hard to reach. But we need to do this.

Please pray for Sasha, Dima, Sveta, Zhenya, Zhivchik, and the others so that those walls will continue to fall.

Helpers

From Thursday until Sunday morning, 40 or so if us were at a conference at Pine Branch Christian camp, which is run by our friends Andrew and Jenny Kelly. The camp is located in a cool village down a dirt road. The soil there is mostly sand so they have pine trees and small birch trees and it reminds me of some places on Cape Cod (now if they can figure a way to get some ocean smell there, I'm moving).

Before the conference started, I got to go with Jenny to three villages where she visits families of children who came to the camp in the summer. The kids went there to get a break from the abject poverty that they live in. Jenny, Sergei, some girls from an American team and I went to visit three families that day and we got to see homes that are similar to the ones where kids at the orphanage come from. The first was the home of a boy who is one of four kids, whose mother is trying as best as she can, but who has to worry that her ex-husband will come back and abuse her and the kids. He is an addict and has made their lives miserable.

The next two places were ones where the caretakers of the children are alcoholics. All of them were grateful for the food and clothing that Jenny brought-through Jeremiah's Hope Ministry, Andrew and Jenny are raising money to help the kids who are stuck in these homes with little to eat and little to wear. The kids were just happy to see Jenny and Sergei.

When the conference started, we knew that we were in for a good time. The 40 or so people who came ranged from former addicts to a doctor and a psychologist from the nearby city. The one thing that everyone had in common was that they all have dedicated their lives to helping children who have no one. Russ York, a psychologist from California, and I lead the seminars and then we had time to lead small groups where people could share some of their concerns and get some ideas on how to help. 

One of the best things about the conference was the time when we could all just hang out and share stories. The Open Arms Ukraine gang had us all in stitches as they told of their adventures with kids in the city of Sumy. Others from YWAM and similar ministries all shared their hearts and it was great. When you tell a story that often gets responses ranging from "you're kidding me" to "that can't be true" and get the response "oh ya, that happened to us last week too..." you know you are in the right group.

This coming week, I will head to a conference being put on by Compassion International concerning orphans and at-risk kids in Ukraine. We'll see what connections come from that one!

Denis was new this year to the orphanage. He is 15 and had come from another orphanage that was closed so he was upended once again. Denis was in my room at the camp and when he came in, he didn't smile and didn't want to engage in any kind of conversation. When I saw him I prayed and asked the Lord to show me how we could reach out to Denis.

The camp was great, right from the start. The older kids acted like little kids right away (sometimes they can try to be tough guys and girls) and they hugged us and laughed and were so happy to be there. The leaders were all Ukrainian and me so that was great for communication. As many of you know, we did not even have permission to do the camp until the day before it was supposed to start. And here we were with 45 kids, the assistant director (who grew up in the orphanage and who is wonderful) and us. And the Lord.

Oxana, who grew up in the orphanage and who is now a strong Christian, came with us and she taught the girls how to do make-up. Oxa taught gave them new hairstyles. Both are professionals and it made the girls feel special. Since I can do nothing like that, I taught the guys how to play American Football and they loved it! We kept he rules as basic as possible and even with two hand touch, they still liked to tackle each other. Their smiles and laughter were contagious. If only our kids could be allowed to play a sport like that and still have fun and not have to be future Tom Bradys...but I digress.

On the last night of the camp, we did our traditional smors and fire and the kids loved it. I had the younger kids in my group and as I was giving them marshmellos they kept asking me if I wanted them to make me a smor. I wanted them to have them all, but they insisted. They loved making me the smors and I had to tell them that I couldn't eat any more. Kids with nothing wanting to give something. I love that.

After the fire, we went back and had small groups. In Roma's room, the older boys asked how their faith could come alive. Roma told them that Jesus loves them and wants to have a relationship, a friendship with them. They understood and five of the boys repented. In my room, we talked about fear and all of the kids said that they were afraid to die. Vova said that he was afraid to be alone and they all agreed. When we talked about Jesus promise to be with us and to never leave us, several of the guys said that they believed that. Denis said that he did not believe in God, but he wants to. That they were all so open was amazing.

Denis' smile-a blessing to see!

The next day as we were leaving, we had several hugs, many tears and many smiles. One of the last kids to get on the bus was Denis. As we got to the bus door, he hugged Gala and then me and said, "Please come with us." When I told him that we would be there in a couple of weeks, Denis smiled. I think that the Lord did too.