2 September 2009

On the Journey

                            The seed breaks through the ground . . .

              Sometimes I am asked this question: “What happens in Klintsy after our mission team returns home?” It is a good question. Our team members come home joyfully sharing all they have seen and done in Klintsy. This is what it means to be a witness. Yet, we do not begin to see, in 10 or 11 days, the results of the seeds we scatter. Recently, I received a report from Pastor Yevgenny of new developments in an initiative that began this summer. I want to share this exciting news with you.

The story begins in the fall of 1998. A team from Immanuel traveled to Klintsy for the dedication of the church building. While there, we visited a shelter for children. The city of Klintsy established this shelter to care for children abandoned by their parents. The police were finding children left on the streets and hiding in the parks. The first shelter was an old house on the outskirts of town.

              The next chapter in the story was written in the summer of 2006. Our team visited the city shelter that had moved into a kindergarten building about a mile from the church. During our visit, the director took us into her office. She began to thank us for all we had done for the children and the shelter. Of course, we were taken by surprise. We did not know what we had done.

As we left the building, we began to notice that some of the same materials on the walls of the shelter were also used in the orphanage built by the church. Later we learned that the craftsmen in the church had taken materials left over from the orphanage construction to refurbish rooms in the shelter. As we left that day, the director asked if we could establish a partnership. She made the request, but Yevgenny heard nothing more from her.

              The latest developments in this story occurred this summer. Upon our arrival in Klintsy, we learned that there was a group of 5 American students from Chicago also staying in the apartment building. These students were recruited by an organization called Little Lambs. This organization places students in orphanages in the Ukraine to work with children during the summer. Usually they live with the children and provide respite for the workers. Yevgenny was attempting to facilitate their first attempt at working  in Russia.

              When these students arrived, Yevgenny had not been able to secure permission for them to work in any of the orphanages in the Klintsy region. On the Saturday after picking us up in Moscow, he went to the city shelter to see the director. The staff informed him that she was sick and a patient in the hospital. They gave him a phone number for the hospital. Yevgenny returned to the church and attempted to contact the director, but he could not reach her. He went back to the orphanage, and the staff offered him her cell phone number. A call would not go through. Yevgenny returned to the church and prayed. Later in the afternoon, he made a third trip to the shelter. When he arrived, he discovered that they had brought the director to the shelter to sign some documents. (Was this a coincidence or a divine appointment? I will allow you to draw your own conclusion.) The director agreed to speak with Yevgenny. She approved his request to allow the team to work in the orphanage!

             During their conversation, the director informed Yevgenny that she did not know how much longer the shelter would be able to care for children. The city had contracted a company to replace the roof. The company had torn of the old roof, started the framing for the new roof, and left town. The kitchen and the children’s rooms were being destroyed by water leaking through the ceilings. Mold was growing, creating a serious health hazard.

              Yevgenny, Lucy, and I returned to the orphanage later that afternoon to access the roof situation. We agreed, that if possible, we would complete the roof for the sake of the children. Many of the materials had been left. Labor could be provided by the Klintsy Church. When we returned to Paducah, Yevgenny was left to work out the details with the city officials. The good news is that the work is progressing.

              Yet, God is doing much more! In recent weeks, the director has agreed to the let the children at the shelter come to the church on Saturdays for a special program designed for them. With her permission, they are also attending the church on Sundays.  A door once closed has now swung wide open, and the members of the Klintsy Church are seizing this opportunity to embrace these children with the love of Jesus. As long as the door remains open, they will introduce the children to Jesus and His love.

              The way the work of the kingdom of God comes about always amazes me. I am learning that God’s way requires patience on our part. It seems like a long time from November 1998 until August 2009 from our perspective. Yet, God, in His work of redemption, never loses patience. Thus, let us learn patience and in faithfulness seize the opportunities God presents to us—in Klintsy, in Paducah, and wherever he leads us. Glory to God!jamie