I am so happy to tell you about two new young people who have begun spending time with us. The elder of the two is Andrei (pictured above), he is 18 and graduated from the orphanage this past summer. He is currently working as a mason on several local construction projects. The next is a 16 year old young lady named Ksusha, who has a little over a year to go in the orphanage.

We had met Andrei and Ksusha at the Camp Gorney orphan outreach in July. We had spent some quality time with both of them while we were ministering at the camp but had lost contact with both following the summer. Andrei had graduated and we knew he was working at a local restaurant. We had extended the invitation to him through the grapevine to join us for dinner, but we never heard from him. Ksusha, a very bright, street-wise girl had run away from the orphanage, and we weren't sure where she was.

However, about four weeks ago we made contact with both of these teenagers. Andrei happened to be visiting the orphanage when Sergei (our interpreter/main man) stopped by to say "hello" to the kids and he invited him to our Wednesday night get-together. Andrei has been faithfully joining us every week since! Andrei doesn't say very much, but is very gentle, helpful and always gracious and thankful for the opportunity to come to our home. Andrei is living alone in an apartment on the edge of town. He works hard as a stone mason, carrying heavy bags of mortar throughout the day. We suspect he doesn't quite get enough to eat on a regular basis, as he works a physically demanding job, is rail-thin and we have yet to see him turn down any food at any meal for any reason.

We are currently developing a plan to assist the graduated orphans who are living on their own with a weekly or bi-weekly supply of basic food necessities such as rice, potatoes, noodles, butter, oatmeal, eggs, sausage and cheese. Stay tuned for that!

Andrei surprised us by joining us for our church's Easter Sunday service. He came to our apartment before church and joined myself, Jaimee, Sergei, Vanya, Anya and Dima in preparing our contribution to the Easter potluck. We had taken responsibility for bringing a traditional Ukrainian rice dish simply called "plov." (It is so tasty that I can easily consume large amounts of it, even to the extent that it amazed the ladies at church!) Before we could eat all the delicious food, of course we had Easter service in our little house church. There were no dramas and no theatrics, but amazingly Andrei answered the call to give his life to Jesus in front of everyone! We were all so excited. The potluck food and fellowship were great.  It was the most meaningful plov I have ever eaten!

 

Just several days after Andrei had joined us for the first time, Vanya (17 year old orphan boy) had asked us to go with him to an event and Ksusha (pictured above), who we hadn't seen since summer happened to be there as well. We took them out afterward for a drink at McDonalds and we were able to reconnect with Ksusha. At the summer camp where we first met Ksusha, we noticed she was one of the most influential teenagers among the orphan children. She is a beautiful, outgoing girl whose demeanor and actions could make one guess her to be much older than her 16 years. It was apparent to us that she was more mature than most of the other orphans. Ksusha has a heart-wrenching story and has been through a lot that we know of, and probably a lot more that we do not even know about.

Ksusha is currently at a proverbial crossroads. She is at a place in her life where she can easily choose one of two diametrically opposed trajectories for her future. Ksusha has shared with us that she wants to study in the university to become a children's psychologist in order to help children avoid trauma like she has experienced. She said the only reason she returned to the orphanage (this month) was because she realized she had no chance of entering the university if she did not go back to the orphanage. We would love to help Ksusha pursue this goal of university study as the time draws closer. I hope one day to be able to clearly and succinctly write her memoirs as a story of someone who has overcome all odds and obstacles and gone on to do something great with their life.

Please pray for Ksusha; she has so much potential, yet could still at any time slip right into the life she has already tasted of drugs, alcohol, crime, prostitution and the daily struggle to survive at any price. Please pray for Andrei's battle against alcohol abuse, smoking, hopelessness and depression. Also, please pray for him to find a higher paying job, and for strength in his new found faith in Jesus Christ.