And the Heart Still Overflows

Joshua and Kyryl with Taras the hedgehog

Some of you might remember a blog I posted almost two years ago about a little boy Joshua met on a playground. The little boy was dirty, his clothes were a mess and the kids were making fun of him. You can read about our first encounter with him by clicking HERE.

Since then we have seen him a few times around the neighborhood and have learned that his name is Kyryl and he is now seven years old. He's a quiet shy boy that Joshua says the other kids aren't very nice to. Joshua has continued to pray for him and an opportunity to show him the love of Christ since that first meeting.

Yesterday, Joshua found Kyryl playing by himself out in the snow and he invited him into our home to play. Kyryl was very excited to see our hedgehog and told us how he likes to find them and play with them. He really liked Taras. Joshua shared some cookies with Kyryl and they played with Legos together until it was time for him to go home.

Joshua decided to give Kyryl most of the Legos he was planning to take back to California with him. I know those were some of Joshua's favorite things, but he never hesitated when he loaded up a plastic bag full of them for Kyryl. We also sent him home with a little Ukrainian story book that explains the life of Jesus and how he died for us. Kyryl was very thankful and polite when he left. It really broke my heart as I helped him get his jacket and boots on to go outside. His clothes were absolutely filthy and his jacket had more holes and patches than I could count. We still don't know much about Kyryl's home life, but we can only imagine. I pray that Jesus will touch his heart and that he will always remember the kind little American boy who keeps a hedgehog as a pet.

This is Kyryl the first time we saw him almost two years ago.

Thanksgiving Birthday

Micah, Christy, Tanya, Kolya, Edna, Olya, and Dominic

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Claycamp family, our neighbor Olya, and our friends Tanya and Kolya. Dominic's 16th birthday was yesterday, so we celebrated that as well. It was fun explaining to our Ukrainian friends about the different traditional foods that we had prepared. "So why do you call it stuffing even though you didn't stuff it into anything?"

Olya and Tanya with Dominic in his new vyshyvanka

The best part was explaining that Thanksgiving was a day set apart to pray and thank God for all that He has given us and for the many ways He has blessed us throughout the year. Of course our Thanksgiving meal was actually a blend of Ukrainian and American dishes. It just seemed fitting since God has blessed us by bringing us to Ukraine and filling our lives with all these wonderful people who we otherwise would have never met.

Kolya gave Dominic this Bila Tserkva milk jug which was perfect because one of Kolya's favorite English phrases is "Dominic, drink milk!"

The J's (Jeremy, Joshua, Jaden, Justin, and Josie) watching "This is America, Charlie Brown" about the first Thanksgiving. It's surprisingly full of historical facts.

Justin especially liked Joshua's Soviet protective mask

Here's the cake I made for Dominic yesterday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'm so thankful for the path that God has placed us on and all the people and blessings along the way. We have so much to be thankful for.

Luncheon in Park Oleksandria with Olya

Olya and Halya unpacking the food as Joshua and Edna watch.

Yesterday our neighbor Olya knocked on our door and invited us to have a late lunch with her and her friend Halya in the park. She told us that they had waited for us because they knew we did school work with the boys in the morning. We had just finished the boys' school lessons so it was perfect timing. Dominic opted to stay home (his loss as Olya is famous with us for her delicious cooking). We knew by the smell of food making its way into our apartment that she had been cooking all morning. We quickly packed up a few things and headed for the park with her and her friend.

Some color in the park

I'm not sure exactly how long we stayed in the park (it was sunset when we left), but we had a lot of fun listening to the two women's stories and watching all the different people go by. There were the joggers that Olya jokingly asked if she could jog with. There was the lady with the old dog named Julia (who by the way was a male, the dog not the lady). She was afraid he was going to choke on the bone we gave him. There was the man on the scooter who was singing the whole time as he gathered grass, probably for his cow. There was a group of tourists from Kyiv who really wanted our picnic spot, but we politely refused to leave. There was the little old lady collecting bottles from the trash who we put together a bag of food for. There was the man on the bicycle who was filling jugs of water at a nearby spring and generously offered us some as he explained that God gives living water (the most profound statement of the day). There was a little stray dog and his female companion. The poor little guy had such a bad under bite, that we couldn't stop laughing every time he would come up to us to beg for more food. Then there were the two police officers who rode up to us on horses. They were nice enough and let me take their picture.

The police let us feed their horses some bread.

Olya, Edna, and Halya on the bank of the River Ros at sunset.

Sunset on the Ros.

Final Touches on the Playground Restoration Project

Before and after of the old swings complete with new bearings and paint.

Yesterday, I put the final touches on our Playground Restoration Project by painting the new benches and the repaired rigid swings (you can see all the past posts about the playground by clicking HERE). The group from Pryluky made these last repairs and additions to the playground before the Children's Festival. We definitely couldn't have done it without them.

A splash of color for the new benches

We've been planning this outreach for a long time now and I'm so happy to see everything done. The paint we put on this Spring hasn't held up against the summer sun and humidity as well as I would have liked, but it's still a huge improvement. The children, parents, and grandparents really enjoy the repairs and additions that were made and through this we have become closer with a lot of them. It has definitely opened up doors for sharing the Gospel. I'm excited to see how God will use all of this.

Before and after of the suspended balance beam

While I was painting yesterday, several children came up to me and asked all sorts of questions. They asked things like, "What color will you paint that?", "How long will it take the paint to dry?", "What else are you going to build?", "Do the paint fumes bother you?", and so on. The question that took me by surprise came from a little boy. He said, "Why are you doing all this? Is it because you like children?" I said yes and kept painting, but I started thinking about his question.

This bench had been completely destroyed by vandals at one point.

Why did I do all that work? There have been plenty of times when I was frustrated because fresh paint was ruined by kids throwing sand or ripping down "wet paint" signs or by people throwing litter all over the ground right after I had picked it all up. It can be discouraging when not everyone appreciates what you have done, but I didn't do the work to try and please everybody. So why did I do it?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Matthew 18:3-5

I did it so that the children would have a safe place to play, that they might come and through outreaches like the Children's Festival come to know the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Children's Festival

Maxime dressed for a fashion relay race.

Yesterday we held a Children's Festival on the playground outside of our apartment with the help of eleven people from Calvary Chapel Pryluky. We also cleaned up the playground, added four new benches, repaired the old swings, and added a suspended balance beam before the festival. I can't believe how much we accomplished in just one day. The festival was a huge success in that God's word was taught and the name of Jesus was made known as our Lord and Savior to about fifty kids (not counting about fifteen or so that came late or simply just watched the other kids participate). It doesn't get much better than that.

Songs and prayer to gather the children.

The team had five stations with four rotating groups broken down by age. The theme was, "Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life". There were crafts, Bible Teaching, worship songs, activities, and face painting. The festival ended with songs, a prayer, and a water balloon toss. Words can't really describe how much God blessed our time with the children and with everyone from Pryluky, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Edna and Olya discussing the festival.

We were happy to see that several mothers and grandmothers thanked us for our work on the playground and for the festival. It was interesting to see how many people in the surrounding apartments were all watching and listening to the music from their balconies. A few people watched the festival from the benches on the playground, including our neighbor Olya (who also helped us out with the cooking). Olya and Natasha, the woman whose husband died last week (see post), said they both want to come to church with us next week. Praise God.

Max and Dominic uncovering an ancient walkway and border.

Max and Yana painting the street with John 14:6.

Kolya and Max replacing the bearings on the old swings.

Dasha and Dasha. "Jesus - the way, and the truth, and the life!"

Max and Sasha securing a balance beam.

Building new benches.

Testing the new attraction.

Sasha finishing the benches.

"God loves you!"

Tanya with her group on the new benches.

Max teaching about salvation only through Jesus Christ.

Natasha painting faces and hands.

Dasha, Vika, and Tanya with happy faces, literally.

"Jesus"

Maryna helping lead the kids in a song.

Water balloon toss.

You can see the rest of the photos we took by clicking HERE.

Through the Son

Yesterday, a man in our building died while riding his bicycle to work. Today, he was buried. It’s a reminder to me of how fragile we are and the simple fact that we are all perishing. Some of us will have eternal life in Christ because we have chosen to follow him, while others will not.

I can’t help but wonder what effect death has on our lives. Growing up in California, I feel as though I was shielded from death in a way. Of course I attended the occasional funeral of deceased relatives, but with limited exposure to death. Death was something associated with funeral homes and cemeteries. I suspect this is the case for the average American as well. Does this lead us to forget or at least not think about our momentary existence in this world?

In Ukraine, death is part of life. There is little attempt to hide or disguise it. Funerals generally take place at home with the help of friends, family, and neighbors. If you live in an apartment building, you can’t avoid being a part of or at least seeing a funeral every couple of months or so. Does this constant reminder of mortality cause people to examine eternity more closely or simply become numb to it? I don’t know, but I do know that I am more driven than ever to make known to the person I pass every day on the stairs that salvation comes from only one source, Jesus Christ.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6

For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. -John 6:40

A friend of mine, Jeremy Foster, recently wrote this on his blog about death.

"Just a thought with this: oftentimes when a Christian dies, people say something to the extent that the person has gone to a better place. "A better place"? I appreciate the sentiment, but in reality, that is possibly/probably the greatest understatement in the universe. In all actuality, there is no better place anywhere. For the believer in Jesus, earth is the closest thing we'll ever have to hell. For the non-believer on the other hand, earth is the closest thing they'll ever have to heaven."

First Bell at School 16

Ringing the first bell

Today was the first day of school in Ukraine and even though the boys are staying home this year to focus on home schooling, I decided to go anyway. Since we know so many of the children, it felt a little like we were sending our own kids off to school.

Our neighbor Oksana

The ceremony had pretty much the same format as last year, but instead of a little girl riding on the shoulders of an older student and ringing the bell, they did things a little different. This year they had a boy and a girl ring the bell together as they were flanked by two older students.

Oksana and Alina

All the children dress up for the first day of school and bring their teachers bouquets of flowers. It broke my heart to see Maxime after the ceremony standing in the back wearing basically the same clothes he had been wearing on the playground the day before and looking a little bit dirty. I realized that he hadn't stood with his classmates. He didn't have a back pack or even a bag to carry his new books in like the other kids either. It really bothered me that his parents did absolutely nothing for him on his first day of school as he goes into 7th grade. At least I was there for him and was able to tell him to be happy as he went off to his class room. Hopefully that meant something.

Two police officers attending the event just in case things get out of hand. (just kidding) The officer on the left is Alina's father and her mother is next to him.

New Swings (more fun, less dangerous)

Today I decided to put up the two swings we had brought from California. The kids had never really seen swings like this before and were a little uneasy about how to use them at first. All the swings I've seen here are either rigid metal or wood. They won't give if a child were to walk in front of one that was in motion. (Dominic witnessed this first hand when he saw a man accidentally get hit in the face by one of these contraptions.)

These are the typical rigid metal swings you see on playgrounds here.

The kids quickly got over their initial fears and started pushing these new "chain swings" to the limit. For awhile it was boys against girls as they competed to see who could touch the opposite overhead support with their feet first. Eventually the girls won out and took control of both swings forcing the boys to find other means of entertainment.

The girls have been using the swings non stop since I put them up. We are so happy that we could do this for the children in our neighborhood. We are even more excited about finishing the repairs we have planned for the playground and hosting a children's festival for all the kids the first Saturday in September. A group of people will be coming from the Pryluky church to help us do this so that we can share Christ with these children in both word and deed. Please pray that many children will come and have God's Word sown in their hearts.