Pictures

Ukraine!

I was going to dedicate an entry to the Local believers here in Ukraine.. however… I didn’t get to update my blog too much last week because of an electricity explosion that happened last Wednesday. It caused Andre’s apartment to lose electricity for about 3 days, and hence me not being able to update as often (although, with camp, I don’t even think I would have been able to update that much, since I have been tired and have been sleeping at around 10:30 at nights). And God has been amazing this last week, revealing His power and His ability to change hearts! Therefore, the local believer’s entry is going to have to deservingly wait as I describe what the Lord has been doing here in Ukraine.

            First off the camp finished really well. We went through the 10 commandments and then held a fair today to cap off the camp. But here’s the crazy part – about 15 minutes into the fair, it started raining. Since we set up all the booths outside, it seemed like we would have to call off the fair. Then James (the pastor’s oldest son) and I went to a corner and just prayed for the weather, prayed for God’s sovereign will to be exercised, and prayed for our desires for the rain to stop so we could have more opportunities to talk to the parents and kids. In the middle of our prayer, Joe (pastor’s youngest son) came running towards us, and as he waited for our prayer to finish, he told us, “The rain’s gone!” I have to admit, even as I was praying in my heart I don’t think I really expected too much. But when I found out what had happened, I got really excited! I don’t know and I can’t say if we hadn’t prayed, the rain wouldn’t have stopped. Yet I do know the Lord opened my eyes to see that it was Him working the whole time! The prayer was for my heart and my faith to trust in the God who is over the winds and seas and rains. It also came at the right time, getting me excited for the rest of the day to serve and see God work because He knew as we were nearing the end of our camp I was definitely feeling a little drained. It was as if God had to remind us, stop relying on yourself, and your plans, and just running through the schedule as a choir. Be refreshed and see that your plans are not the most important, your hearts are! Be excited to serve!! Definitely reminds me of Lam 3:23, “His mercies are new every morning!” He provided the strength and excitement to serve Him!

            Also, something that was very encouraging was to see how the kids responded to the numerous gospel pounding we gave them. Many professed to believe in Christ this year. I wanted to note a couple of boys:

-         Vald: He’s one of my older boys. So I got him a bible last week and have been encouraging him to read it. Tuesday lunch time he came up to me and told me he read the story of Noah and the Ark. So we talked about what he read and I asked him, “Why did God kill the people with the flood?” he told me because those people were sinful, and I asked him what he thought about himself after learning about the 10 commandments. Through an understanding of his inability to not sin, I once again told him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he said he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart. To make sure he actually understood what we were talking about, I asked him to explain to me why he could go to heaven, which he responded because Jesus Christ died for my sins. So I prayed with him to accept Jesus Christ as his savior, and then gave him some other passages to read so we could talk about it the next day. Through out the week I’ve been able to go through some scripture with him, namely the cost of discipleship and parable of the four seeds (which I went over with him, Dennis and this kid David I will mention later). Then on Saturday during the fair, his mother actually came up to me and thanked me. She said that her son really enjoyed camp and that it has been really beneficial for him. I told her about the bible I gave Vald, and she told me that he has been reading it. Through her simple words of English that she communicated with me, the Lord blessed my soul very much, refreshing, encouraging and reminding me of our God’s faithfulness.

-         Sasha: this was the “active” kid in my group. He never got behavior tickets, and on top of that I even took away all his tickets on Saturday during the fair because he was causing trouble again distracting people. He was very sad, especially in the end when everyone else was using their tickets to trade for toys and other goods, he had none. Praise the Lord to make my heart sensitive to opportunities, as then I pulled him aside, and told him that I had to take away his tickets because he was misbehaving. In no way does he deserve these tickets. But God is a giver of grace, and because He forgave me and loved me and gave me grace, I will also show him grace. I made it clear it was nothing on his part that deserves these tickets, and if he misbehaves again there won't be any second chances, but that by grace I would give him those tickets because God loved him, and wants to give him grace, that it was a gift in which he did not earn. He smiled at me, hesitant at first, but then took the tickets and then gave me a hug. After the fair, before he was leaving, I grabbed him to the side, put him in my lap and told him that he should behave more. He half jokingly said I'll try, and I told him to pray when he is having a hard time behaving, which to my surprise he responded, "I don't know how to pray" (this was the kid that said he didn't believe in the bible earlier in the camp!) So I taught him a simple pray to ask Jesus for help when he feels like he can't control himself, to which he smiled and prayed with me at that instant. It was especially cool to see him there on Sunday at church (I think I saw him), showing how God can really change hearts!

-         David: He wasn't one of the kids in my group, but he stood out because he was the "active" kid in another group. Him and his 5 year old brother Lucas were definitely not one of the well behaved kids. However, praise the Lord that he professed to repent and believe in Christ during the camp, and him and his brother and their dad all came to church on Sunday. Their dad even shared a message of thanksgiving in the end about how the camp has really helped teach David and Lucas (I hope we've done more than behavior modification of course, but it's a testimony to the dad to see the kids change!) So that was very encouraging to see fruit from the Lord through our ministry!

I will end here, since this entry is getting long. I am very thankful for what’s been going on in the camp, and am well aware also that what our team was part of in Ukraine was the easiest part of this ministry. The real work of ministry has just begun, which is to take care of the new born infants in Christ through discipleship, fellowship and follow-up work. As our college Pastor Rick always says, the real evaluation of the camp comes 6 months from now, when the emotions are gone and we can truly evaluate the fruit that the camp has produced. Hopefully next year if I get a chance to come back, I’ll be able to see these kids in church and growing in the Lord.

Camp!

So it’s been a while since I updated. Once the camp started, our time here started picking up and passing by fast as we are at about the midway point of our trip here in Ukraine now. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and there’s so much to talk about, so I will do my best to give a summary about what’s going on, and be sure to ask me when I get back if you want to know more about my trip.

So far the camp has been great. I am mainly serving in VBS in the morning and ESL at night. I have 6 kids in my group. Vald and Dennis are two boys who have been coming to camp for a couple of years now. They are the oldest kids in VBS, and they can be described as those “cool” kids who think they know everything and try to answer every question to get all the candies. Then I have Bokdon, who I was told came to camp last year and was very shy. This year he’s definitely been more outgoing, willing to answer questions and talk to other kids. I have 2 little girls in my group, Nadia and Veronica. Nadia is pretty smart, and she actually listens to the lessons and writes notes, but she’s pretty shy to answer when I ask her questions. Veronica is the youngest in my group, and she’s very quiet. She usually just sits there and “listens” (or I think just stares blank) while others are discussing and talking. Finally, I have the trouble kid in my group, Sasha. He is very smart, always the first one to remember his verses. However, he open says that he doesn’t go to church nor believe in God (most Ukrainians are orthodox Christians, it’s kind of like a cultural thing), and he doesn’t like to participate in activities, always tries to mess with other kids, and even hits other kids when they don’t give him what he wants. However, praise the Lord that He gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel to him during one of the lunch times. Through a translator, he told me how he tries to be a good kid, but it’s very hard. And then he told me about his view of God from a video game that he plays. He basically gets his life view through that video game! So Nick (my translator) had to tell him that video games are not real, and you can’t learn about life through the game. We then told him about a just God, who in order to be fair has to punish him if he misbehaves. Then we explained to him that he was headed to hell (worse than his video games), and asked him if that’s what he wanted. He said no, and so we said because God loves you, He sent His son Jesus to die for your sins. We said he had to repent of his sins and believe in Christ’s death as a payment for his sins, and then turn towards God, away from his sin. He then said he didn’t want to repent because he’s scared after he repents he’s going to sin again. I told him, God is the one who will provide the power to not sin, and as I wanted to talk to him about true repentance, time went up. A couple days later I talked to his mom, who told me he is an active kid, and it’s amazing that he really likes coming to this camp because he usually doesn’t like going to camps. His mom started asking about Sunday school seems pretty interested in coming out and bringing her kids. Therefore please pray for Sasha, the first of all we would have more opportunities to share with him the Gospel and clearly explain to him that good news, but also that his mom and him may come to church and have more opportunities to hear the Gospel and experience God’s love through the body. Also pray for Vald and Dennis, who always seems to know the textbook answers to questions, but I highly doubt they really understand the weight of those answers. Especially pray that there will be more opportunities to talk to them individually and gauge what they truly think about.

So there are a couple of things that’s been on my mind lately. First of all just truly feeling the temptation of just trying to be nice or friendly with kids; thinking that I’m serving the Lord by playing with the kids, keeping them company and making sure they are enjoying the camp so they will keep coming. It definitely stems from my desire to please man over the Lord, and to obtain the praise to myself. I find it humble to see how prideful I am, continually thinking about how I can make the kids think I’m cool as opposed to really caring about their souls. The only thing keeping the kids at camp does is give them more opportunities to hear the Gospel. However, if no one tells them about the Gospel, then we’re not really fulfilling the great commission. Therefore, I’m humbled and thankful that the Lord has continually made it a pressing issue in my heart to examine my motivations and make sure the kids souls are my first priority, that I would not pass away any opportunity to share the Gospel with them. And even as I go back to the US, no matter where I’m serving, the Gospel and people’s souls should be first priority, instead of just trying to befriend them for no real purpose other than indulging in my fleshly pride.

Another thing this trip has definitely helped me think about is how to preach the gospel to kids. I had mentioned in one of my prayer letters, in VBS, I have a hard time communicating to the kids sometimes because it always has to go through a translator. Therefore, I know that my actions and the way I interact with them, punish them, show grace to them, will help them experience Christ more than my words can explain. Balancing God’s justice in punishing sin with God’s grace in freely giving when they don’t deserve anything, and also God’s mercy in giving forgiveness has been quiet an experience. More than that, it really helped me appreciate and respect the Lord even more, thinking about how hard it is for me to balance those things, and yet the creator of the earth is able to hold all characteristics in perfect balance, always giving grace and yet always showing justice. How through the cross, justice was met by his son’s death; through the cross, grace was given to us who didn’t deserve it; through the cross God offered the means of forgiveness of our sin. Such a glorious plan from the beginning of creation could definitely not be from our selfish sinful minds, but from the only God who is powerful beyond measure, and wise beyond what we can comprehend.

There’s so much more, but I’m falling asleep and it’s 12:30 here now. So, that’s it for today. Payce out home slice!

-Albert

July 5th

            What a day today. We had a lot of time to fellowship with the local saints, and it was an amazing experience to see the same God, working through the same message, touching people from a different culture, different background, different experiences, in the same way he touched me. One thing I noticed was here when people refer to salvation, they use the term “repented”. Usually when I talk about my testimony, I would say “I was saved when…”, but the local saints here would say, “I repented when…” I think it’s really neat. Pastor White reminded us that the message preached by John the Baptist from the beginning was to repent, and it just places such an emphasis on the fact that it is our sin that God came to save. Many people in the States preach a watered down gospel, not wanting to offend people of their sin and try to put an emphasis on God’s love. However, one cannot truly experience God’s love without a correct understanding of one’s sin. Romans 5 describes this hope in the Lord, in which is the hope that God will be able to accomplish what he has promised (as we see in Romans 4, the same faith Abraham had in 4:20-22), in our case Christ’s son dying for us on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we may be righteous (Romans 4:24-25). Now back to Romans 5 is says this hope will not disappoint. Why? Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts! Paul then goes on explaining what that means, which is basically Christ dying for the ungodly. You can’t experience Love without understanding Christ’s work on the cross, and you can’t fully comprehend Christ’s death on the cross until you understand the total depravity of man, and see the need to repent. What a refreshing reminder of oh the Love of the Lord!

            In the morning, we attend the baptisms of 3 fellow brothers and sisters - Bak-dan, Sophia, and Meesha. It was very encouraging because Bak-dan and Sophia, the two younger ones that were baptized all came to know the Lord through the previous sports camp. In fact, most of the teenage / young adult members of the church came to know the Lord through the softball and VBS camps. To hear and talk with these new servants of the Lord and hear how they were saved and how excited they are now to in return serve at the same camps they repented at stirred up my heart for the camp. I know that my job is to sow seed and preach the Word, and it is the Lord who calls his sheep, but in my selfish heart I secretly pray that God would grant me the opportunity to see someone repent and turn towards the Lord. =P

            Then after baptism, we all came back to Andre’s house (where Jake and I are staying). And by we I mean the whole church! Grace Bible church here in Ukraine really functions as one body. It’s really neat to see the church, filled with different age groups, ranging from I’d say about 50-60 year olds to babies) interact with each other, serve one another and treat each other as a family! They would gather to eat lunch together, with all the kids in one room wrestling, playing, fighting (in a friendly way.. somehow), while the adults and elders (old people, not church elders) sitting in another room just talking and enjoying each other’s company, caring for one another, and the wives would be in the kitchen preparing food, talking about… whatever they were talking about (I didn’t listen and I wouldn’t have understood anyway). It actually reminded me of something Vicky told me about earlier. I think it’s so often that when we talk about serving each other in church and covering each other’s weaknesses, we think about serving as in teaching, or leading music, or doing administrative things. However, sometimes (especially because we are in a college fellowship), we don’t get to see the physical aspect of that picture. What I mean by that is for instance the younger assisting the elder, serving them by listening to them or helping them with physical inabilities; and also serving the young kids, playing with them, being a good example to them! It was definitely a joyful experience to see these relationships, as we see in 1 Timothy 5 when it describes the relationship between older men and younger men and elderly men, between older women and younger women, and see them in practice. Then, as I was playing with the little kids and talking with the teenagers, the adults just started singing praise songs again in the living room together! I decided to walk out and hear what they were singing. As I walked over, Meesha (not the one that got baptized, but usually the music leader) handed me the guitar and wanted me to play (because during my introduction I had said I liked music). I was hesitant at first, but they insisted, so I started playing with Edward (a very gifted keyboardist in the congregation). We played songs that they knew in Russian, such as Draw me close, All in all, and everyone sang along in Russian or in English. It was an amazing experience, to hear worship from different tongues and nations all together praising one Lord. I totally felt like I got a glimpse of heaven, when all the nations would come together and sing to the Lord in unison. Then Meesha wanted me to play some songs that we played in the states, and so I played Psalm 62, Only in God, and tried to explain what the song meant. It was really cool.

            There are also so many other exciting things to write about and tell, such as hearing Meesha (the music leader) and his wife Yuri’s experience as Missionaries in Russia, Volva’s (one of the people around my age) testimony on how he was beat in school everyday for 4 years because he proclaimed Christ, getting to know Nick (the Translator who is our age), and also touring Ukraine. But once again it’s getting late now… so I will stop here.

Hesus lubit Tea-biea (Jesus Loves You!)