Debrief - Part 1
“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
I am on the second longest mission trip! I spent one week in Western Ukraine, one week in Northern Poland, and on the back end of two weeks in Germany. This trip has been a wonderful blessing. In Ukraine, I felt home again but with a heavy heart for the ongoing conflict.
I served along with Timofey and Timofii at SALT Lab. Timofey and I talked to the pastors about disabilities and belonging to a church family. God worked in their hearts and was greatly impacted with my testimony and the needs of the disabled.
Also, the Christian school invited me to talk with the students. Official languages of Ukraine are Ukrainian and English. This is an awesome opportunity for short, mid and long term mission trips for Christians to assist with teaching English. They learn grammatical English but don’t have a lot of experience with conversational English. I am collecting English Christian books, children’s Bibles, Awana Spark Workbooks and Dr. Suess books. Please email me if you have any gently used books.
In Northern Poland, I attended an international church in English. They worship in a mall on Sundays. Unlike America, shops are closed on Sundays. It was full of people from Poland, Asia, Ukraine and Ethiopia. Many Africans and Asians attend universities in the area.
A great blessing was re-connecting with a family from Odessa. They relocated to Gdansk because of their son’s health. He is so tall and loves legos. I attended Gospel Church’s Wednesday night prayer/Bible study. They are walking through 1 Corinthians. That evening the focus was 1 Corinthians 2. So many students overfilled the small room. They were hungry to hear and learn His Word. Their comments and questions were amazing. All different people coming around His Word.
On Friday, I was invited to a small group by Julia. It was an encouraging time gathering around prayer, worship and testimony. I shared my testimony and photography. We had great discussions. It was awesome to see young adults around His Word on a Friday night. Sunday, I joined worship at Julia’s church. I met the lead pastor. He is an awe-inspiring man. This church has incredible worship, and outreach.
I will report on Germany in the next blog. I am spending two weeks in Germany. In Germany, I have many pre-SALT Serve logistics to arrange, developing relationships with the local churches with Ukrainian refugees and visiting the WOF families!
Note: Originally when I started living on a mission, I planned and budgeted for four trips to Ukraine per year. God has led me on three trips to three or more countries. He is opening many doors.