Page 12
Proclaiming Jesus Christ, Making Disciples, Growing Healthy Churches
The Ukrainian Experience, By Richard Dodding
The Ukrainian Experience 2013
outreach.
We are deeply thankful for those who
prayed for us. We had received an invitation to return to Ukraine this year to hold a
two-week conference for Ukrainian teachers of English. We left with a team of 14
on 28th June and returned on 15th July.
The order for 80 copies of English NIV Bibles was placed, and arrived in record
time. The final copies of the many
handouts were finalized and sent by
email to Ukraine to be printed. One of
our former team members, eager to return, attended the orientation, when
suddenly we realized that her "health"
was fragile. We had the unpleasant task
of letting her know it would not be wise
for her to come.
Just to recap a little, we were not certain
that we would be able to fulfill this invitation to hold a Teachers Institute until we
had a full team. I felt that "in 3 days, I
would know" whether to go, or cancel the
project. The third day came and almost
went, when during the evening I checked
my emails once more. Suddenly, there was
a message from the UK and a couple we
had invited to return with us said, "We
have just received permission to take leave
from our jobs in order to join you to
Ukraine." What a boost! Then, I called the
Waschuk family in Winnipeg and they said
that now they felt that they were well
enough to go with us again!
On 29th June, we all arrived at the airport in Kiev and we were thankful that
our entire luggage also arrived. We met
our dear hostess, Natasha, and boarded
the prearranged bus for the six-hour
journey to Khmelnitsky. It was dark when
we arrived. Natasha had already called
each home-stay family, to join us at the
appointed place to take us home.
Sunday was a day of rest, and time to
settle in with our home-stay families. We took a little time to visit the site
where our conference would take
place. They were ready for us with chairs
already set into ten circles of 9. Then we
visited a restaurant, about a 10-15 minute walk, to inquire about noon meals.
A little later, we received two unexpected
emails from Manitoba, asking if there was
still room. Neither knew each other and
they had not spoken to the Waschuk's. Another teacher we dearly wanted to join us
finally said that she would come. Now, we
had a full team! Our flights were booked
and now we were coaching the new ones, Monday began with a short meeting with
three in total, to help them prepare for this our team before meeting the Ukrainian