Wes' Thoughts

I am currently writing this post from Poltava, the third and final city I will be living and working in. It’s crazy to think I only have about two months left in Ukraine and I am already 2/3 done with my time here. I have come to love these people and this place so much!

I think that in modern times, especially in the west, we have lost some sense of the depth of what hospitality used to mean. Nowadays, we think of hospitality as either a term used in the hotel and travel industry or it is being the host for events held in your home. It’s more synonymous with comfort and entertainment and, while I think these are aspects of hospitality, I think there is more to it than that.

In ancient times inns were often rare and also dangerous. Because of this, it was more common for a stranger to stay with a friend of a friend or distant family, whom they may have never met before. In these cases, hospitality was a matter of making a stranger essentially part of the family. While they were under your roof they received your protection and were offered the same courtesies a family member would receive. This level of openness and closeness to a stranger may seem strange to us in modern times due to safe hotels and other cultural changes. But in both the Old and New Testament we see many examples of the importance of hospitality.

In Genesis 18 and 19 we see two examples of hospitality. First, Abraham sees “three men were standing opposite him.” (Genesis 18:2) And when he saw them he immediately ran to meet them knowing them as angels from the Lord. He proceeds to have their feet washed, gives them bread, and a place to rest. He killed and prepared a choice calf and Sarah baked bread cakes for them. After this great showing of hospitality, the angels bless Abraham and tell him that Sarah will soon be with child. In the very next chapter, we see another powerful example when two angels go to Sodom where Lot offers them hospitality for the night. And after the people of the city attempt to attack the angels, Lot goes as far as to offer the people of the town his daughters rather than let them harm the guests “who have come under the shelter of my roof”. (Genesis 19:4-5) Due in part to Lot’s showing of hospitality he and his family are saved from the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the New Testament Jesus and the apostles speak about hospitality quite a few times. In Matthew 25:42-45 Jesus goes on to point out that we are to feed the hungry and thirsty and to invite in the stranger and clothe him and in doing what we do to the stranger we do to Him. Even in secular works of fiction about fantasy worlds, like Lord of the Rings, hospitality is of the highest importance. In one such fictional world once someone has eaten and drank under your roof they cannot harm you or let harm befall you. Even for the worst of enemies a breach of this hospitality is considered a crime of the gravest level.

All of these examples just show the importance of hospitality. While living in a place where I constantly rely on other people and where I have to put a lot of trust in those around me, it is very easy for me to see the importance of hospitality. That’s why last Sunday, at my last worship with the church in Kamenskoye, when I was asked to say a few words about my time there, the first thing that came to mind was the amazing hospitality I was shown. This hasn’t just been in Kamenskoye. It has been everywhere I have gone. The whole time I have been in Ukraine I have been shown amazingly true hospitality. However, as I was preparing to leave Kamenskoye it was especially clear to me the love I had been shown by the people there.

It is amazing how loved and a part of the community I felt, even with people with whom I could barely communicate. Soon after I arrived some of the ladies from church made me a big pot of borscht that I could eat on for a few days. I was always greeted with big hugs and cared for in so many ways. I joked that I kept getting “Babushkaed”. (Babushka is grandmother in Russian so it’s like getting grandmothered.) If I tried to go outside to do something without wearing a coat they would pester me into going back in and putting a jacket on. They would always check to make sure I wasn’t hungry and always had food or candy ready to give me. I really truly felt like part of their family.

Since I haven’t really gotten the chance to write about some of my highlights from Kamenskoye, I’d like to share those and more examples of this wonderful hospitality. The children we worked with in Kamenskoye were a good bit younger than those who come to Domik in Zaporizhzhia. This ended up being very fun and rewarding, even though at first I was a bit nervous about the change in age. These children were some of the sweetest kids I have gotten to know. Every Thursday we would have English lessons in Domik. One lesson would be for the young kids and one for adults and young adults. Both sets of lessons were great. But these poor people trying to learn English had to copy down my handwriting. They were gracious and kind as I tried to explain that I probably wasn’t the best person to teach the written side of English, especially since my handwriting is somewhere between awful and illegible and my spelling abilities are not much better (just ask any of my teachers from school). But using spellcheck on my phone and some careful handwriting I think they managed to learn something or at least they were hospitable enough to make me feel like they did.

Another big highlight was about once a week we would go to the orphanage in town and play basketball in the gym with the kids. This was so much fun and while I’m nothing to note when it comes to basketball back in the states it turns out that where you’re on average 4-5 inches taller than your opponents and you have a decent understanding of basketball strategy and zone defense, you can be pretty effective. It was without a doubt the first time I had been complimented on my basketball skills in at least 10 years. Here I was a stranger on their court and these special orphans made me feel like a special guest! Most importantly, many of the kids we got to know through basketball have started coming to Domik. It’s amazing all the ways the Lord works!

Every week we would have a Bible study in the apartment of one of the church members. She would welcome us into her home to study God’s word, she always provided us with snacks and always offer food before we left. As soon as you entered the apartment you felt as though this was close family you were staying with.

We also had a prayer meeting once a week and several other activities throughout the week, where they always prayed for me and my comfort right along with safety for their family members fighting in the war. Even though I was a stranger who was being taken care of and in much less of a need of prayers (in my opinion) than their more pressing problems. To them, I wasn’t a stranger but a brother in Christ who they were whished the absolute best.

I stayed very busy while in Kamenskoye I was involved with almost everything going on. I was always busy doing something with the church or the kids at Domik and it is easy to see that there are so many amazing things happening in God’s kingdom in the city of Kamenskoye.

The last day I was there we had our last English lesson and a party. These amazing people gave me some wonderful gifts and keepsakes as if the hospitality they had already shown me hadn’t been enough. I find that 6 weeks is just about the amount of time it takes me to really get comfortable and settled in a community and it makes it that much harder when I leave. This makes me even that much more excited and I can already tell I’m going to have a great time in Poltava. I’m eager for the opportunities it holds for me.

I will always remember the incredible hospitality shown to me in Kamenskoye and the way these people, whom I had just met, showed God’s love to me in such an amazing way. I hope that in the future when I have the chance to show hospitality to a stranger I can remember how much it meant to me when I was the stranger.

I am writing this post from the Domik in Kamenskoye. I have moved from Zaporizhzhia to Kamenskoye for the next 6 weeks. A lot of what I will be doing will be similar, but a lot will also be different. This post, however, is about some of my time in Zap (Zaporizhzhia).

Leading up to this trip I had many meetings with Chris and Christy, the directors for PHA. I had trainings. I read a couple of books and I met with other people who have spent time in the mission field all to prepare me for my time here. But one of the best pieces of advice I received was to be ready for the unexpected or things I hadn’t prepared for as much because that is often where the Lord works through you the most. For my time in Zaporizhzhia this was among many things the opportunity to go to Svitanok (“Sunrise”) Boarding School/Orphanage two days a week and help teach English classes.

This is undoubtedly one of my favorite experiences so far. Each day I would ride the Marshutka (public transportation) to Svitanok and get there about 10 o’clock, right before the second-class period was over. Once the second-class period ended I would meet up with the school’s English teacher, Elena Karavaeva. In this school, and maybe schools across Ukraine, the students stay in one classroom throughout most of the day and the teachers rotate from room to room to teach the different subjects. Elena and I would go to her next class of students and start our lessons for that day. 

 I hope I was helpful in these lessons. I know I enjoyed it very much and the kids seemed to enjoy having me there, as well. Elena would prepare lessons from topics like rooms of the house and things in your bedroom, to musical instruments, and so on. Usually I would read a short passage. It’s really good for the kids to hear a native speaker, as even Elena, who knows English well, still has a Ukrainian accent.  Then I would help the kids read the same passage back, a sentence or two at a time. We would have exercises like word searches, fill in the blanks, and so on. I would help the kids with those as well. We had 3 classes, two times a week, on Tuesday and Thursday with kids anywhere from about 10 to 15 years old. On Thursdays we would have an extra learning session with any kids who wanted to come and get extra English practice. We had several come on different days and I definitely applaud them. I don’t think I would have given up my free time at their age to get extra foreign language practice. And then finally on Thursday we would have a meeting with several of the teachers from the school who wanted to learn English. In these meetings it was mostly Elena teaching and they would help me learn in Russian what they were learning in English.

I already miss all of the kids and teachers I got to know. Having basically grown up in schools (for any of you who don’t know, my mom is a principal of an elementary school and was a teacher for all of my elementary days) I spent a lot of time around teachers. I can say that they are pretty much the same in Ukraine as the U.S. I really enjoyed getting to know them and see them love and teach the kids.

The kids are just wonderful! Many of them are the same kids who come to Domik, but there were just as many in my classes who don’t go to Domik so it was a great opportunity to meet more of them. It also allowed me to really get to know them better. I got to see how they interacted with their friends; what they liked to learn; what they didn’t like to learn. We talked about what computer games they played and Hot Wheels and so on. I really had such a great time and learned so much there. Kids really are the same everywhere and they are so strong and joyful. Not all of the kids at this school are orphans. But some are and many of them who have parents rarely see them. But everyday the joy and excitement they poured out is something from which I think we can all learn.

In Mathew 18, verse 2-6 Jesus says, “And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever received one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in depth of the sea.””

These children are smart. They know the situation. They know that their life is hard, some harder then their friends. But they choose to find JOY! They choose to look for the exciting, the good in life. I think we all should try to be more like this, especially in this day and age with the ever-prolific media constantly shouting negatives at us. Look for the positives. Look for the JOY. Don’t blind yourselves to reality. Don’t ignore those who are suffering, but find JOY in peace; in helping them; in doing what you can to make the world a better place-a place where children don’t have to look past their hardships to be happy, but one where children are just happy!

First off, sorry it’s been so long since I posted my last update. I’m going to amend my original goal of posting once a week to something not quite that often. Hopefully, now that I am in more of a schedule, I can get posts done more often. Now onto the post. This one is a bit longer so hang in there with me.

Chaos and Order; the unknown and the known; the unexpected and the expected; the dark and the light. This is a literary theme that we see everywhere. It is the backbone of many a myth. It makes frequent appearances in religions. In fact, the Taoist built their religion around Chaos and Order. The Bible has many a parable and account of events that teach about chaos and order. In fact, these two things are so fundamental to us that scientist believe that our brains are specially organized to deal with chaos and order. The right hemisphere is specialized to deal with Chaos. It has broad views always looking out for the unknown. It is broad, but has especially low resolution. When something unexpected happens it is our right hemisphere that takes the lead in reacting quickly. The Left is the opposite. It is specialized to be in order. It looks for details in the familiar and expects outcomes. It has a more narrow view, but extremely high resolution. The left hemisphere is what gives your expertise and deals with known complex problems. At this point, you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this. Just hang in there with me and it will all come together.

In literature and mythology, the place you want to be is on the edge between chaos and order, firmly planted in order but taking on as much chaos as you can. In many stories a dragon represents chaos, like Smaug from the Hobbit or the dragon from the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. What does the dragon always have—gold or a girl he has stolen. Then the brave night goes and faces the dragon, slays it and brings back the gold or the girl. What does this mean? In the chaos there is something valuable, something to be gained. When you venture into chaos, subjugate it, and form it into order you gain something valuable. We see God show this to Abraham and Moses when he tells both of them to leave their home. He tells them to leave the order and venture into the chaos. They then make that chaos into order and gain things of value. This lesson shows up over and over again throughout all literature of all time. It is the backbone if the archetypal hero story. So part of my desire to embark on this work, to jump right into a foreign country where I speak very little of the language, was to put myself into chaos, make myself confront the unknown in hopes that when I go back home I will have gained something.

Well, in the last couple weeks I am starting to see more and more order out of the chaos. I have a fairly set schedule and I am learning more and more Russian everyday, especially now that I am without a translator because my time with Dima was over. However, I am getting more comfortable everyday, well at least until I move cities next month. But until then I know mostly what my days look like. I’m going to try and give you all a look into the chaos and order currently in my life.

The Order – On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to one of the orphanages here in Zaporizhye and help with the English classes. Here the orphanages are kind of like boarding schools. There is one building that is a dormitory and another that is a school. So I have 5 or 6 different classes with kids ranging from 9/10 to 14/15. I am assisting the schools English teacher. She is really great, cares about the kids, and knows English really well. But it is good for the kids to get to hear and talk to a native speaker. Almost all the kids are at a pretty basic level of English. They can say hello, how are you, I’m fine, nice to meet you. This week we have been learning parts of the room like bed, wall, lamp, rug and so on. One thing I’ve learned is that kids are really pretty much the same everywhere. I was in high school Spanish class and I know how that went for my classmates and me, so it’s easy to see where the middle school kids are coming from in English class. The kids are really great. The are kind, fun and all in all happy to be in school. (But, if anyone reading this is a middle school teacher, especially a middle school foreign language teacher, my heart goes out to you. You are fighting the good fight!) Really, it’s a lot of fun. I have a deal with the kids. If they will learn an English word they can teach me the Russian translation for it and I will learn it. We have a good time in class and I will definitely have more stories to come.

The Chaos – One word—“Marshrutka”. The Marshrutka is the main public transportation here. I take it to the orphanage and back by myself twice a week. They range from basically a 16 passenger van that has a center aisle, to mini buses, and almost anything in between. They have specific routes and stops on those routes. You walk to a stop, flag it down if you’re by yourself, then get in. You give the driver 6 grivnas and either take your seat or stand depending on the room. Then you need to know where you are going or monitor it on maps because the driver only stops if someone needs to get on or off. When you need to get off at the next stop you get up and walk to the front and tell the driver “next stop, please” in Russian or Ukranian. If it’s crowded you have to kind of push through several people in tight spaces. Even my friends here talk about how crazy the Marshrutkas are and they speak the language! All in all, it has actually gone really well. I’ve only had trouble once. I thought my stop was next, but I had passed it already and had to wait until the next one to get out and walk back about a mile in the cold. It wasn’t too bad, though. I did have a really interesting conversation with a man who was definitely drunk, maybe crazy, maybe both! He came up to talk to me while I was waiting on the Marshrutka to take me back after I was done at school. I told him I understood very little Russian and that I speak English. He spoke less English than I speak Russian, but that didn’t deter him. After about 10 minutes of me trying to understand what he was saying I finally got that he once had a vision (not a dream-I asked that and he said he wasn’t sleeping). He had a vision that he was on an airplane with former president Obama and Putin the “president” of Russia. But Putin didn’t speak any Russian (for some reason) and all the sudden this guy started speaking English in his vision and he had a conversation with Obama and Putin! Well… that was a fun encounter!

Order—Basically everyday I have breakfast with Andre and Marina. They run the Domik here in Zap (short for Zaporizhzhia) and are truly amazing people. Before I met them I was told that I definitely wouldn’t go hungry while I was in Zap because Marina shows love through cooking. I was very excited to hear this because I know someone else like this . (shout out to my “other mother”) Anyway, I have breakfast there with Andre and Marina everyday and lunch pretty often. I love the food here and enjoy our meals a lot. We have a good time teaching each other words in our respective languages. We occasionally have to break out google translate, but for the most part we communicate pretty well. Every weekday in the afternoon we have kids come to Domik. Groups from two different orphanages, the one I’m teaching at and one from a village just outside of Zap, come to Domik. When they get there we play games, lots of ping-pong, and this card game called Durak (translates to Fool, there’s no winner just a loser, “the Fool”). Then Marina with the help of the older kids make food. We take the net off the pingpong table, sit down and have a Bible lesson. Before my translator, Dima, left I taught this lesson for a week. They are pretty basic lessons, as most of these kids know very little of the Bible. I taught about faith and seeing God through his effects on the world. Also, on Monday and Friday nights we have a meeting with the youth where we sing some and have a lesson. We are studying Luke right now. I also got to teach one of these lessons before Dima left. It’s a good time to worship God and learn more about him. Finally, on Sunday we have church in the morning. Andre’s daughter, Polina, helps translate for me so I’m not completely clueless. Then right after church all of the youth in the church and several adults go to Domik and start to prepare a meal. A group of kids from the orphanage join us and we all have a big meal, hang out, and play cards and ping pong for the afternoon.

Chaos- Not all chaos is bad, just things that aren’t expected or planned. Saturdays are a wild card. Today, Saturday, February 9th Zahar, Yegor, and I went to a museum of old cars here in Zap. It was really cool. They had many old European cars I had never ever heard off and several cool old American cars. They also had tanks and stuff. Last Saturday I helped an English teacher here in town by talking with her students and helping with some activities. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are also like this good chaos. I kind of shadow Andre and go with him to do whatever it is he is doing that day. That might be buying food for Domik or visiting one of the orphanages. One day I helped buy a printer for a sewing trade school here in town, so they can use it to help educate their students, and we took it to them. One day last week Zahar, Dima, and I went the Island of Khortystia on the Dniper. It is a really big island and its the ancient home to the Cossacks. They have a replica Cossack fort there and it was really cool! So, I never really know what some days will bring.

Everyday, in a country where you speak very little of the language, has its fair share of chaos. BUT, I think I am slowly, but surely, slaying that dragon and learning more every day. Well, at least until I leave Zap to go to Komenskoye. I will be spending 6 weeks in each town we have a Domik-Zaporizhia, Komenskoye, and Poltava. I’m looking forward to my new chaos (and order) in those cities, too. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my schedule and I hope it wasn’t too dry. I’ll post some more stories soon.

I need to credit Dr. Jordan Peterson and Iain McGilchrist as many of my thought on Chaos and Order came from their works, writing, podcasts, and such.

I have learned that there are some things that go beyond language, things that are universally understood. These things allow people to bond and to share experiences even in the absence of a common language. It has been 10 incredible days that I have been in Ukraine. It has been absolutely incredible so far and I definitely have too much to fit into one blog post but I will try to give an update on my first 10 days in this Amazing country.

I have stayed in 4 cities so far Kyiv, Poltava, Kamianske, and Zaporizhzhia. I have met so many amazing people experienced so many new things visited many new places and its only been 10 days! But as I said something that has occurred to me is that there are many things that go beyond language. This is especially easy to notice when you could write out all you know of a language on one piece of paper. I have a great translator Dima who is with me for another week or so, but even so, especially in a conversation, there’s just a lot that can’t really be translated. But these things that transcend language are great they create friendships and are amazing experiences so I will share a few with you here.

Food

I have a rule that I live by if people somewhere eat something by choice I will at least try it once. That being said I am not a picky eater at all, there are very few things that I’m not a fan of and almost nothing that I will outright not eat. There has been so much good food here in Ukraine, and the food is definitely one of those things that transcend language. I had some great Borscht in a little restaurant in Poltava and I was informed that it only gets better once I get some homemade. My favorite thing I have had so far is Vareniki which are these dumplings filled with cabbage or potato or meat, and boiled. They go great with sour cream. Especially in Poltava, they are a big deal so much so that they have a statue of a big bowl of Vareniki. Also, I drink hot Tea now which may come as a shock to those of you who know I never drank any sweet tea before, but tea is served with every meal here as well as pretty much any time you do anything anywhere. I like it a lot I’ve tried several different types but my favorite so far is strong black tea.

Snowball Fights

The average temperature has easily been below freezing both during the day and at night. And in Poltava especially there was lots of snow. Also, we walked basically everywhere in Poltava with several members of the youth which lead to many many snowball fights. You don’t need words to pelt someone in the back of the head with a snowball, or to silently agree to ambush someone else with a new found friend and momentary ally.

Warm Welcomes from Christian Brothers and Sisters

Ok this one does actually directly involve language but even without the language, the love could be felt. And now when I say it involves Language its time for a quick Language lesson. In Russian, there are two words for hello Привет (Privet) and здороваться (zdorovat’sya) Privet is for people you know friends, relatives, colleagues for all of these its just a common hi, but it infers at least on some level a sort of kinship or at least acquaintance. For people, you don’t know or people of import or stature i.e. a boss or public official or just any random stranger the formal zdorovat’sya is used. In all my meetings of people in the churches here from the first I have been greeted with Privet, I have been welcomed with open arms and shown so much hospitality and love its incredible.

Praising God

This one is probably my favorite so far, as I write this on Sunday the 20th I have been to two Sunday Church services here one in Poltava and one in Zaporizhzhia as well as incredible a small group meeting and prayer meeting in Kamianske and a youth meeting in Zap. All of these have involved praising God in song and it’s been incredible. Singing praises have always been one of my favorite things about worship and if anything its even better here. Again like I said I don’t understand enough Russian yet to comprehend the meanings of the words. But many of the songs we are singing here are translated songs I know by heart in English. They follow the same notes and tune just with new words. And I have to say its so good to praise God in a different language with new brothers and sisters in Christ.

This hasn’t been too much of a details post but I hope you all enjoy it anyway, I will probably have another one in the next couple of days and after that, I plan on making about one post a week but we will see how that goes. Thank you for your prayers, and all your many kind words of encouragement, your support means so much to me.

Change… Few words bring up such a mixture of excitement, fear, anticipation, and many other emotions. Throughout all of our lives, there are events that fundamentally change what our lives look like overnight. Your first day of kindergarten, last day of high school, last day of college, the day you became a Christian, the day you were married, and so on and so on. These events of huge change bookend the epochs of our lives and it seems like from one day to the next your life can look completely different.

Over these past few days, change has been on my mind. As I prepare to leave for Ukraine for 6 months, two of my best friends are moving across the country later this week. Another friend just got a job in a new town and my two roommates will be married almost as soon as I get back. As we all parted ways and said our goodbyes, we promised to keep in touch and said we would see each other again in 6 months at a wedding. I knew from that day on all of our lives would look fundamentally different. It was one of those bookends closing one epoch of life and starting another. For me and my friends, this next part of life is full of opportunities and possibilities. It’s exciting and hopeful. But, unfortunately for orphans in Ukraine, that’s not the case. For those who have been raised in an orphanage without knowing the love of the Lord or the support of a family or having any resources graduating and being on their own is scary and full of trials and fears. Orphans in Ukraine have to leave the orphanage system at the age of 16 and their prospects are often grim. The girls often end up as prostitutes and the guys end up in gangs.

That’s where Program For Humanitarian Aid comes in. PHA operates Domiks (day centers) in three cities. In the Domiks PHA teaches life skills, Bible lessons, and mentorship to help prepare the kids to enter the real world and give them the tools to succeed. On January 10 I fly out of Houston for Ukraine to begin helping with the work there. I will be there for 6 months working in the day centers each day, spending time with the kids and helping out in any way I can. I will be writing posts as I go here on this blog with updates, stories, and my general thoughts. Please be praying for the children of Ukraine, the people of PHA and for me that I can help out as much as possible while I am there.

People often say “be the change you want to see in the world”. I think Jesus already did that perfectly and the more we know him and rely on him to make our paths straight the more healing we can bring to this world. And as we point others to him they too can have the comfort in knowing that those big moments of change in our lives are all part of the Lord’s plan and he will use them to further his kingdom.