Bockisch Ukraine Adoption: Adventures in Missions!

Elena in a favorite spot-one of the many cherry trees

The cherries are very different than what we are accustomed to in the United States

I spent the past week visiting Elena in the morning before she went to camp and the remainder of the day with the Adventures in Missions team and MacDonald Family who are doing an amazing work in Eastern Ukraine. In the near future, hoping to catch up on my visit with Elena at her camp today

Right now, to sum it up without many words since it has been an exciting and unforgettable week and one without much sleep or rest.

Summary for now.....................more to come!!!

High Adventure, Exciting times and wonderful opportunities to help serve and reach the unsaved, very long days and nights, faces, smiles, shared memories, experiences being stretched in ways that I never imagined, smells and tastes that will last a life time. A collage of people form a picture frame in my mind all of whom need the Lord and all of whom have received seeds of the Gospel. Part of that collage includes some who are believers and a precious vibrant living portion of the body of Messiah whom will be dearly missed. Our paths crossed as we served our Lord together for a brief moment in time and this fleeting time was incredibly precious!

Praise God for this amazing journey and for His good works prepared beforehand for me to walk in Christ Jesus!

Following is a summary of last week:

Thank you for praying as His Spirit has led you and reminded you! It truly is my lifeline and always is (yet is ever so much more evident when on any missions trip or "a trip with more than one mission" as I like to refer to it.   Last week was overflowing with activity. I visited Elena in the morning and then joined Bruce MacDonald and the World Race Team of Adventures in Missions. I had dropped off my suitcase that morning before visiting with Elena at the oprhanage.   The MacDonald Family hosts teams that serve the Lord in different ways. This past week and this week it consists of softball clinic Mon-Thurs and then Eyeglass clinic on Friday. By working with the local church they are able to be very effective in different villages that would otherwise be difficult to reach and perhaps even more challenging to follow up. The entire experience was wonderful and inspiring and such a blessing! The six young people (in their very early 20's for the most part) were abounding with energy and a passion to see Jesus lifted up high and His Word to go forth with power.   It was a joy to meet with each team member and family member and co-labor with them! The softball clinic (or camp) was in a village called Avitratsit. The local church we worked with is House of Prayer in Russian. They are the most hospitable people I have ever met. Hospitality in this culture (and many other cultures) is more true to hospitality in Jesus' Day and very different than how it is typically defined and demonstrated in the United States.

The first day of softball clinic we warmed up by throwing the ball and catching in pairs, practicing with grounders, pop-ups and then broke up the children into a younger and older group.   In between different activities testimonies were shared, the Gospel was shared in different ways but one of the most successful was the wordless (or salvation) bracelets (with the explanation given verbally and handed out on a sheet of paper in Russian).  Each team player was instructed in the proper batter stance and holding the bat. I worked with the younger group and we engaged them in other games and activities to keep them focused and engaged. As the week progressed there were different ways to introduce the Good News and just love on the kids.   I stayed with the younger ones (8-11) and after the first day they were eagerly greeting us with warm smiles and hugs. One boy, Yirat, commented as we were leaving the first night "you Americans are all SO happy"!~   I said to him that we were very happy to see him smiling and happy!

The days lasted longer and longer it seemed each night as the children all wanted their picture taken with each of us and they all wanted us to sign our names on the arms. Later in the week, they were asking each of us to write notes for thand em in English in their little notepads and came prepared.   We gave out cross necklaces and more salvation bracelets. The neat thing is that here everyone of all ages were eager to recevie everything we were handing out (including the bracelets, necklaces,and small New Testaments etc. toward the end of the week).  One day I helped Pia (Bruce's wife) and some people from our host church make a huge pot of chili for the entire crowd that showed up that night. We prepared whatever would fit in the pot and God is so good to allow us to feed each person (young and old) that night -over 200 people a yummy bowl of chili. Then the pastor of the church preached while they ate and we showed them a picture slide show with a large screen set up on the field with Christian music (Russian of course).   There was an electricity about the whole night and lots of smiling faces and many more requests for autographs and pictures with us. We know they are intrigued with us being American however each of us wanted them only to see a glimpse of Jesus. We tried to shower them with extra loving touches and hugs and just playful gestures. They seemed to enjoy practicing English. Starting the next to last night, they started asking us if we would be there on Friday also (they already knew it was only through Thursday night), but they were all sad that it was going to end so soon!

The last night, there were so many people out and we had a final game of the Americans versus the Ukrainians. It was a really close game and were it not for Bruce MacDonald's amazing homerun (the ball hit a metal roof and you could here it quite far away), the Americans may have lost however we did win. Earlier in the game, a teenage boy came up to me and asked me the score. At the time, it was tied 24 to 24 and God gave me grace to tell him that in Russian.    He looked stunned since he had mocked me and the Americans at the beginning of the game. After the game, he came up to me and introduced me to his girlfriend and was proud to tell me he was a "sex boy" and she was his! I asked him in Russian to please be quiet since I was in the process of giving his girlfriend a salvation bracelet. She was very happy to receive it and he did go away for the moment.   I believe there was another short time when someone spoke and sowed more Gospel seeds. Then  after another electrifying time of sharing hugs,smiles, autographs, taking more pictures, there was a showing of a movie in Russian called "Rodeo" or in English "The Ride" (a Franklin film). The crowd was very excited to watch it!   I enjoyed watching it in Russian and can't wait to see it in English too!  Praise God for the many whom heard the Gospel and for the work of the ministry that goes forth in this remote region of the world!

The World Race Team encouraged all to come to the church the next night.   That is a critical thing since here if one is not part of the Orthodox Church and identifies him/herself with the born again church, it is (they are) considered evil.   I met one sweet young lady, Kate, whose mother refused to allow her to continue to participate after the first two nights (even though she is 24).   The first night, I stayed off to the side later in the evening since I wasn't feeling well but the Lord used that time since I had one on one time just with Kate!   I showed her the magazine of testimonies and was asking her about it and she became intrigued and started to read it on her own. Please pray for Kate, Yirat, and the countless young and older people who were exposed to the Good News and God's love through this outreach! Please pray for the MacDonald's and the World Race Team as they continue with intensive outreaches in Eastern Ukraine. Eastern Ukraine is the type of place that people come to with a mission! There is very little here that would attract people to come see otherwise!

On Friday, Jane Griggs (whom I am currently sharing an apartment with and who is adopting an older orphan girl from Lutugino as well), and I asked Oleg (our driver) to take us to the village where the eyeglass clinic was being held. Oleg asked a hunched over elderly woman for directions to where the eyeglass clinic was being held. Then she got in the front of the car and he drove us all to the clinic. The clinic was awesome to see operating in full swing! Bruce told us that by 9 am that day there were already 85 people signed up. They each fill out a slip of paper, are seen by the doctor and given eyeglasses. The church then has the ability of following up with each person. They are also prayed over, given a Bible, and learn about the church in their village. It is really an amazing and efficient way of reaching and blessing individuals in these remote places of Eastern Ukraine! We are eager to hear more of an update from Bruce. Bruce and his wife gave me a tour of the children's hospital just across the street from Elena's orphanage. There are many needs there and the MacDonald's have helped tremendously over the years. Right now there is a special need for replacing an important piece of equipment. I was introduced to the director (who is a sister in the Lord) and they showed me around. It would be difficult for you to fathom how this "hospital looks and operates" which is the antithesis of the hospitals I am familiar with!