Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - I Corinthians 10:31
Today I feel the weight of this experience emotionally. It was one thing to be the American behind the camera. It is another thing to hear the children remember your name and call out for you.
Our plan was to visit Orphanage #88 this morning, but that did not work out. Instead Dima gets a call from two pastors who need a ride to check on a location for the summer Bible camp they run each year. He asks me what I think and hey, I'm game so we go and pick them up at the McDonald's in front of the Odessa train station. Oh Whitney, its the same McDonald's where they filmed Everything is Illuminated with Elijah Woods that we rented last time you were home. How cool! I met Pastor John from Maryland who runs Camp Victoria each summer in Odessa and Heinrich from Sweden who moved to Odessa to do church planting. We drove down to the camp that is on a cliff over looking the Black Sea. The camp was once a Soviet indoctrination camp. The irony that it is now used to lead youth to Christ is not lost on any of us. Pastor John gets the same reception that Dr. R got. The kids are happy to see him and hug him as he walks the property.
We head back over to Orphanage #9 (the little children) for another visit. They remember me from yesterday and say, "Preveyeet, Eslie!" ("Hello, Leslie" - they can't seem to pronounce the L in my name!) They are happy that we have come back and we spend countless time pointing at each other and repeating each others names. "Vika, Anya, Gayla, Eric, Eslie!" Lots more pictures too! Ulyses, I found a future geek here in Ukraine. One little boy (maybe 5) pulls on my jacket and sputters off a long conversation in Ukrainian. When I shrug and smile, he holds up his hands like he's holding something and pretends to turn something with his thumbs. By George, he's mimicing my Sidekick!!! I laughed so hard at him and I pointed to the locked car where I had left it. He was so disappointed. As we were leaving, the children chased the car to the gates.
We had one of the older orphans with us from Orpahange #5 all day. Yenga is 14 and is particularly close to Pastor John. Pastor John had him along for the ride so that he could take him to see his 4 siblings at another orphanage. Bless his heart! He wasn't accustomed to riding in the car and looked green the whole day, but he never complained once. His story is so sweet and heartbreaking. I will have to tell it to you when I get home. I feel like I have 100 stories to tell. These kids' history is unbelievable. Pastor John was telling me about how he took Yenga and his siblings to get some clothes and necessities on his last visit to Ukraine. Keep in mind that the average monthly income in Ukraine is $50/month. They all went into this store and Pastor John was picking out enough to get them through until he saw them again. He said there were like 4 sales clerks waiting on them beacuse the clerks were so shocked to see someone spending like $450. One of the clerks asked who they were and Pastor John explained they were orphans from the area. The clerk asked, "Why would you spend so much money on rats(that's what orphans are called here)?". Pastor John replies, "Because I love them." I have to believe that John's witness was worth more to those kids than any amount of material goods he would have purchased them. God has sent a small army of faithful here to minister in word and deed. And they are changing the lives of the kids they touch.
After lunch we went back to Orphanage #4 to visit with the children again. Dr. R says to all the adults, "Choose someone to take to town." Yeah, right. I'm supposed to look at this countless number of kids and choose ONE to take to go out to eat and visit with. Kill me now. And that's literally what I said to him. An 11 year old named Christina recognized me and had come over to see me when I got out of the car. So I tell her, "Get a friend and let's go out." Mind you, we don't have a bus or any way to mass transport the kids. We can only take what will fit. Surprisingly, the kids don't begrudge the other kids who get to go out. They are happy for them. So Christina (on the left in pink) comes running back with her two best friends.
She gives me a big kiss and we climb in the car and go. We went to another amusement park and the girls had a ball. And of course we wrapped things up at McDonald's with Happy Meals and ice cream.
Christina was waiting patiently for her food and she said to one of the guardians, "Can we give some coins to her? I don't want to eat if she doesn't have anything." And she is referring to an old lady in an orange head shawl that is in need of a meal. Can you imagine? Here's a kid who is hungry on a regular basis and she wants to make sure this total stranger gets food first. I am blow away by the fact that "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty." (I Corinthians 1:27)
God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. -I Corinthians 1:27)
Tomorrow Olya and I are going to Orphange #34 in the morning. This is an orphanage for handicap kids. She prepares me and tells me it is in really bad shape. No one visits and no one adopts from this orphanage. Olya has arranged to take 10 children to a local barn where she has them interact with the animals and ride a horse. Its therapy for the kids. Is Olya a physical therapist? No, she's just a Christian that sees a need and knows that this will help. Can we talk about that for a minute. I came over here all by myself, yet God has not left me alone for one minute. He has provided people with the same heart to go with me at every step. And although I have met two pastors, the majority of people I have been with are just Christians who lead ordinary lives and "inconvience" themselves in order to be the hands and feet of Christ. I feel like (in my life), I have worn the badges of "Leslie the Chrisitan. Leslie the Sunday School teacher. Leslie the Christian school teacher." And I have rested, or better yet hid behind, those titles many times. But if I have learned anything in this short time here, it is that ordinary people with faults and flaws fight the routine of the ordinary life to give themselves over to the living Gospel. "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." - I Peter 2:21> I am determined to cry out to God and ask Him to use me in some way, to help me be something that I am not already. I love my family, I love my church, I love my school, but those things are not my faith. Does this make sense to ANYONE other than me? Well, its no matter. It was really a conversation between me and Him anyway.
"To be spiritually minded is life and peace -Romans 8:6
Today I feel the weight of this experience emotionally. It was one thing to be the American behind the camera. It is another thing to hear the children remember your name and call out for you.
Our plan was to visit Orphanage #88 this morning, but that did not work out. Instead Dima gets a call from two pastors who need a ride to check on a location for the summer Bible camp they run each year. He asks me what I think and hey, I'm game so we go and pick them up at the McDonald's in front of the Odessa train station. Oh Whitney, its the same McDonald's where they filmed Everything is Illuminated with Elijah Woods that we rented last time you were home. How cool! I met Pastor John from Maryland who runs Camp Victoria each summer in Odessa and Heinrich from Sweden who moved to Odessa to do church planting. We drove down to the camp that is on a cliff over looking the Black Sea. The camp was once a Soviet indoctrination camp. The irony that it is now used to lead youth to Christ is not lost on any of us. Pastor John gets the same reception that Dr. R got. The kids are happy to see him and hug him as he walks the property.
We head back over to Orphanage #9 (the little children) for another visit. They remember me from yesterday and say, "Preveyeet, Eslie!" ("Hello, Leslie" - they can't seem to pronounce the L in my name!) They are happy that we have come back and we spend countless time pointing at each other and repeating each others names. "Vika, Anya, Gayla, Eric, Eslie!" Lots more pictures too! Ulyses, I found a future geek here in Ukraine. One little boy (maybe 5) pulls on my jacket and sputters off a long conversation in Ukrainian. When I shrug and smile, he holds up his hands like he's holding something and pretends to turn something with his thumbs. By George, he's mimicing my Sidekick!!! I laughed so hard at him and I pointed to the locked car where I had left it. He was so disappointed. As we were leaving, the children chased the car to the gates.
We had one of the older orphans with us from Orpahange #5 all day. Yenga is 14 and is particularly close to Pastor John. Pastor John had him along for the ride so that he could take him to see his 4 siblings at another orphanage. Bless his heart! He wasn't accustomed to riding in the car and looked green the whole day, but he never complained once. His story is so sweet and heartbreaking. I will have to tell it to you when I get home. I feel like I have 100 stories to tell. These kids' history is unbelievable. Pastor John was telling me about how he took Yenga and his siblings to get some clothes and necessities on his last visit to Ukraine. Keep in mind that the average monthly income in Ukraine is $50/month. They all went into this store and Pastor John was picking out enough to get them through until he saw them again. He said there were like 4 sales clerks waiting on them beacuse the clerks were so shocked to see someone spending like $450. One of the clerks asked who they were and Pastor John explained they were orphans from the area. The clerk asked, "Why would you spend so much money on rats(that's what orphans are called here)?". Pastor John replies, "Because I love them." I have to believe that John's witness was worth more to those kids than any amount of material goods he would have purchased them. God has sent a small army of faithful here to minister in word and deed. And they are changing the lives of the kids they touch.
After lunch we went back to Orphanage #4 to visit with the children again. Dr. R says to all the adults, "Choose someone to take to town." Yeah, right. I'm supposed to look at this countless number of kids and choose ONE to take to go out to eat and visit with. Kill me now. And that's literally what I said to him. An 11 year old named Christina recognized me and had come over to see me when I got out of the car. So I tell her, "Get a friend and let's go out." Mind you, we don't have a bus or any way to mass transport the kids. We can only take what will fit. Surprisingly, the kids don't begrudge the other kids who get to go out. They are happy for them. So Christina (on the left in pink) comes running back with her two best friends.
She gives me a big kiss and we climb in the car and go. We went to another amusement park and the girls had a ball. And of course we wrapped things up at McDonald's with Happy Meals and ice cream.
Christina was waiting patiently for her food and she said to one of the guardians, "Can we give some coins to her? I don't want to eat if she doesn't have anything." And she is referring to an old lady in an orange head shawl that is in need of a meal. Can you imagine? Here's a kid who is hungry on a regular basis and she wants to make sure this total stranger gets food first. I am blow away by the fact that "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty." (I Corinthians 1:27)
God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. -I Corinthians 1:27)
Tomorrow Olya and I are going to Orphange #34 in the morning. This is an orphanage for handicap kids. She prepares me and tells me it is in really bad shape. No one visits and no one adopts from this orphanage. Olya has arranged to take 10 children to a local barn where she has them interact with the animals and ride a horse. Its therapy for the kids. Is Olya a physical therapist? No, she's just a Christian that sees a need and knows that this will help. Can we talk about that for a minute. I came over here all by myself, yet God has not left me alone for one minute. He has provided people with the same heart to go with me at every step. And although I have met two pastors, the majority of people I have been with are just Christians who lead ordinary lives and "inconvience" themselves in order to be the hands and feet of Christ. I feel like (in my life), I have worn the badges of "Leslie the Chrisitan. Leslie the Sunday School teacher. Leslie the Christian school teacher." And I have rested, or better yet hid behind, those titles many times. But if I have learned anything in this short time here, it is that ordinary people with faults and flaws fight the routine of the ordinary life to give themselves over to the living Gospel. "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." - I Peter 2:21> I am determined to cry out to God and ask Him to use me in some way, to help me be something that I am not already. I love my family, I love my church, I love my school, but those things are not my faith. Does this make sense to ANYONE other than me? Well, its no matter. It was really a conversation between me and Him anyway.
"To be spiritually minded is life and peace -Romans 8:6
posted by Leslie at 5:22 PM
5 Comments:
The amazing thing about what you are doing is that Christ is showing up left and right....he is preent. I welled up with tears when you told the story of the Dr. buying clothing for the children and saying "its because I love them" I was struck immediately with how we are "rats" and Christ clothes us with newness when He calls us to himself. That he literally changes our identites with his LOVE for us. What a mighty God we serve.
I cant wait to hear all the stories..Im hoping that you will have time to process even though you are present there still...what is God doing...what is God calling us to do??? I say us, but really I mean you...hahahaha..just kidding. leslie this has been an amazing journey to watch and pray for...so personal and actually pulls my heart to search for what God has for me personally. You are my brave hero!! Thanks for leading the battailion in the battle against injustice in this world!!
On a lighter note...Shakespeare was fabulous albeit it hot and sunny! They put a fab spin on it being a little bit "nazi-ish" with their costumes etc...great spin. Two highlights: #1 when the house manager came over the loud speaker and said, "Would the lady in the front who is throwing thing (lollys) please STOP!!! #2 In the big dramatic pause after Brutis strikes Juilus Caesar and he mutters, "et tu Brute" my cell phone rings...the tune, CLOWNS IN THE CIRCUS. I couldnt find it fast enough!
Have a sweet day my friend. Remember that God is mighty...more Mighty than we can imagine and that he will do exceedling more in us than we can even believe possible. Rest in Him. xoxoxo P
wow mrs. landrum those were some good words and thoughts!! i hear what ur saying!! like you feel like you want to do more for God than just give money to the church like you want to physically serve him (at least thats how i think) aww mrs. landrum i realy want to do something like this now! i want to go serve and help others!
aww that one little girl christina aww she is so cute! that is awesome how she wants to help someone else when she is also hungry! thats awesome mrs. landrum!! THE LORDS GOT A GREAT BIG SMILE on his face looking down on you!! i know he does!! well keep being safe! and have fun up their!!
o and one more question how big of a time change is it like it's almost 9 oclock here at night so what time wuld it be their? ok well just wondering. keep doin what ur doin mrs. landrum! its soo awesome!!
~sara
Thank you! The stiring in my heart and tears welling in my eyes are great and I can't thank you enough. Thanks for going on this trip and allowing the opportunity to be beside you in some small way.
Praying often for you and family at home.
Love ya,
Cindy
so #1 leslie! those kids eat out at mcdonalds more tha i do! holy crap! and i was actually just thinking about how much food i could buy them at dick's out here with like 89 cents for a drink and a dollar for like everything else!
another question; do they like specifically advertise being in the movie?!.. like is there a plaque on the wall saying elijah wood was here?! - just wondering... ~were there any vegetarian meals?! huh?! french fries?!~its a potatoe!
i also switched my hand clock here to tell me that right now 1.57am here it is 12.57 pm there! so i have no idea when u fly home or anything but i hope u tell me all of ure stories even though im not there in person. & i'll prolly not call u this weekend b/c i imagine u'll be super busy ~ no punn intended towards robert... : ) okay, well maybe a little for him& the little sombrero guy.. im bad.. hehe
this made me cry.
seriously.
and i dont cry.
i want to go with you if you ever go back.
- Haley
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