More history - How we came to Ukraine

A major life transition

In 1997 I retired from the US Navy, and in September I finished my Bachelors in Computer Science, began Seminary and we moved out of our home of 17 years into a 27' travel trailer parked behind the church we were serving at.  Little did we know that this was just the beginning of our journey to Ukraine.

Moving from two bedroom home to a travel trailer meant for some downsizing.  We tried selling our things via yard sales, but we didn't recoup much for our things.  I think I would rather give my things to a friend or person in need than let someone buy a bag full of my possessions for a quarter ($0.25).  I think God' honors those who willing bless others instead of working to fill their own pockets... but I digress.

There were things that we had trouble parting with, so those things found their way to a 10'x12' storage room.  This is the American way... we have so much trouble giving up our things.  I had my books in an office at the church and we brought our clothes and a few basics to live in the trailer.

I have to admit, that I actually loved living in our trailer.  It was small to us, but then that made it cozy.  It had A/C, a forced air furnace, a refrigerator (which ran on DC or gas), a small gas stove and range (similar in size to the one in our apartment in Kyiv (I prefer this spelling to Kiev, because it is the official international spelling for the city's name).  I liked that when we were in there together, we were rarely more than a dozen or so feet from each other.  I loved watching the quail and other wildlife that paraded by our trailer.

Its funny how you adapt to things.  In the evening when we were relaxing, I would lay on couch that was barely long enough for me, AnnMarie would sit across from me at the kitchenette and we would watch some TV.  It was a 9" TV that just fit into one of the kitchen cabinets above AnnMarie's head.  I would watch from the couch, reclined and she would watch the TV via a mirror on the kitchen table.  For us that became our normal.

Unfortunately, we had no proper sewer hook up, so I let the grey water go on the ground and then about once every six weeks we would have to take 10 gallon containers of sewage (black water) in the trunk of our car to the trailer park at the city park.  As disgusting as that may sound, God's grace made it almost fun.  Even our young friend Emily who joined us one time remarked at what a fun day she had doing that with us.

The Ukrainian Connection

While all this was going on, another couple at our church, Michelle and Hilary Lind, had begun to find an interest in Ukraine.  Eventually they became full time YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionaries to Ukraine.  Michelle would often try to encourage us with entreaties to come to Ukraine because "we would love it."  But I was on the path I had set in my heart and I wasn't the least bit interested (or so I thought).  On one of the Linds' visits to the US they brought another couple with them; an American married to a Ukrainian.  For some reason I thought it would be cool to greet them in Russian on Sunday morning.  So I looked up how to say "Good Morning" in Russian on the internet.  It made quite a hit with them, and it sparked an interest in me to learn some more Russian.  So I started checking out tape courses from the library and listened to them in my car on my way to my Seminary Hebrew class - talk about headaches, Oi!

Our first trip to Ukraine

 But I still didn't really have any desire to go to Ukraine.  I was studying to become a pastor/preacher and my plans were to one day have my own church in the USA, not Ukraine.  But one day one of my spiritual heroes (a man who served in The Congo for twenty years as a missionary) said that we needed to make a mission trip to Ukraine.  I prayed about it halfheartedly and was answered by the Holy Spirit with a resounding "Yes!"  Being this is the short version of my story, I'll just say that after much preparation a planning we landed in Ukraine the first week of May 2004. 

I cannot say that was impressed at first, but the following day when AnnMarie and I woke up in our hotel room at the Slovutich and we looked across the Dniper river, suddenly our hearts broke for Ukraine and we were weeping and praying for the people of Ukraine.

Our mission trip was like a spiritual honeymoon.  It seemed like everywhere we went we were received warmly and people responded to the Gospel message amazingly.  For example.  My hero, Pastor Dick was supposed to preach, but like many of us he was hit with some sort of bug that was making us want to be near a toilet.  He came to me and said that he couldn't speak and asked me to bring the message.  I cannot say that I felt very spiritual or very well at all, but I agreed to take his place.  I shared what was on my heart and made an invitation for them to come up and receive Christ.  There was silence and nobody moved.  I quietly prayed under my breath, "God this is yours, I cannot compel these young people to come up and receive you."  Then a little boy, maybe 5 years old, boldly came up and took my hand... the dam burst.  Suddenly the stage was filled with 30 or more children ready to accept Jesus's as their savior.  I stood there with tears streaming down my face.  I would never be the same again after that.

While there we also did puppet shows, told stories and showed pictures of our families and life in America.  It is very interesting to operate puppets when you don't understand what is being said on the sound track.  But the thing that got me the most was that after every performance they would sing a song, that I now know to be "Pray for Ukraine".  I didn't know a single word of it, it was sung in Ukrainian, but every time I listened to it I was brought to tears.  Even now 10 years later, it can profoundly move me.

Finally when it was all done and we were heading back to America, I found that I was angry that I was being forced to leave the place where my heart had come to know as its new home.  Just a little over year later, AnnMarie, our young friend Emily and I were heading to Ukraine for full time mission's work as independent missionaries; not knowing what we would be doing or where we would be living, trusting God to sort that all out as we obeyed our hearts' call to return to Ukraine.

For additional reading consider my other blogs:
Preacher Al's Blog
Walking in the way