The Words To Tell.

I had a long, challenging, arduous, wonderful, brilliant, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, faith growing, joyful, laughter filled, taxing, testing and blessed time in Rakhiv. Okay, I just was trying to think of how many adjectives I could come up with to describe the past ten days … because I really just do not know where to start. There are so many images and memories running in my mind; some of them are wonderful moments of peace and others could not be farther from that.

I rode a train alone for sixteen hours (over the course of two days). I prayed for a safe arrival in Rakhiv. God listened and answered.

I spent the week working with eleven wonderful, laid back and easy going Americans. They managed brilliantly when the schedule changed three times before the day even got started. They were thrilled to simply spend time with the Roma children – nothing else in the world mattered to them at those moments.

I met a young Roma girl. She was twenty-three and had seven children (all single births). She was living in a small dorm type house with sixty-nine other adults and children.

One small girl needed some antibiotics for her bronchitis. When we asked where her mother was the little girl just shrugged her shoulders. After a few more questions of the others in the room we discovered that the girl and her siblings lived in this dorm house completely on their own. Last they heard their parents were living in Kyiv.

The team needed clean drinking water. I prayed that at least one of the shops in town would have some. God listened and answered.

I took pictures of the children in the field every day – only to look at the pictures you might think they were taken all on the same day. They wore the same dirty and worn out clothes every day. One boy wore a heavy winter coat and another boy wore wool knit tights as pants. “You must be so hot” seemed to be the continual question. “Of course, but these are the only clothes I have” was the response.

I watched a grown man, a man called of God to minister to the Roma people, weep with joy and excitement over the help God had brought him from America.

The first believer among the Roma village, K suffers from cancer of the tail bone. He is bedridden and sometimes in quite a bit of pain. K hosts bible studies in his home and he never passes an opportunity to share what Christ has done in his life. He has seen several of his family members and neighbors come to a relationship with Christ. We visited in K’s home for a worship service and one of the doctors asked K “what is your favourite Bible verse, what truth do you read that keeps you close to God?” K answered, “I cannot read. The only way I know the Bible is if someone comes and reads it to me.”

I was honoured to serve this team. It was a brilliant reward to see the looks on their faces when I told them I had booked dinner at a restaurant that would serve them ice!

Over the course of the last ten days I have learned much, loved deeply and been blessed beyond all imagination. God has proven again His love, His power and His majesty. I hope the experiences, relationships and the truths that have been planted in my heart will grow into a beautiful picture for others to see.