Until recently I have had the pleasure of serving on the Missions Team at church with Cyndee Knight, Hope Now’s USA Director. While we served on the same small missions team, Cyndee and I tended to work on different projects and the work that we did was independent and successful.
Last year, Cyndee commented to me that she was having trouble filling some of the spots for the USA Teams to go to Kompas Park – while I was aware of the work she did I never gave it too much thought as I had viewed a trip to Ukraine to serve at a summer camp one of the “premier” mission opportunities that our church offered and one that didn’t need any “help”. Cyndee and her family corrected that misunderstanding and I made a commitment for our family to join hers and help lead one of two 2010 USA teams to go to Ukraine.
In hindsight, I didn’t know what I was committing to. To frame this statement, let me say that our young family has been immersing ourselves more and more into mission opportunities over the past several years. With a 10 year old son and an 8 year old daughter we’re considered to be very open and adventuresome, but we’ve focused on things that we can do together to serve Him obediently and to shepherd the hearts of our children to prepare them to love and serve others as well. While we’ve visited other countries and we’re very “well traveled” the work that we signed up for at Kompas Park was very different than anything we’ve done previously. It’s a simple decision to make a commitment like this as an individual; it’s very different to make it as a young family when considering the goals and reasons for participating.
Short term mission work, for me, is a tricky thing. Balancing the earthly and human desire to “impact others, spread the Word and improve someone else’s life” over a short few days with the reality that the real purpose of short term mission work is to work on YOUR OWN heart BY serving others is a real struggle. For months we prayed as individuals and as a family that God would bless us with proper hearts & minds, provide us the strength and will to serve others as humble servants and to help our hearts to grow such that we can come home better prepared to be “missionaries” each and every day. God blessed us – he gave us Kompas Park!
My belief is that God answers prayers by providing us opportunities to receive the blessings we ask for. Kompas Park was handed to my family and from the minute we arrived there the opportunities to earn those blessings were available for the taking. The USA team arrived at the camp on Sunday night and plugged in with the team from Ukraine – what an interesting dynamic; we don’t speak Ukrainian, the Ukrainians don’t speak English (most, at least), there are 3 interpreters to go with 8 working groups and a pile of kids that don’t speak English are due to show up the next morning. HA! We’re all sitting there smiling at each other and come to find out later we’re all thinking the same thing – “do we really have to do this – maybe we can just divide into the American team and the Ukrainian team and work separately.” Then the children arrive and you remember that God’s work is a mystery that is not meant to be easily understood.
The children arrived on Monday morning and the organized chaos began – each age group of 6 – 8 children was teamed with one Ukrainian leader and an American assistant. As soon as you look into the eyes of the children and see their expectant and eager smiles you are impassioned with the desire to work and serve and the communication issues are put aside. All these children want is for a loving adult to spend time with them, listen to them, play with them and just do anything with them. Kompas Park provides all of these opportunities. I won’t exaggerate – the first day was hard; the kids want to be with you, you want to be with them but it’s hard to get past the fact that you can’t speak Ukrainian. My wife and I went to bed that evening exhausted and mentally preparing for a long week ahead.
The first blessing from God came the next morning. After three strong cups of coffee and an early morning team meeting, I walked to the breakfast table to meet my group for the 2nd day. I was the first to arrive but within a few minutes two of my 11 year olds saw me and flew to me with a huge hug and some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. The other three boys quickly followed and there was a circle of yammering boys around my son and I that filled my heart with Him and energized my body for the week. The rest of the week was the same or better and my son moved out of our room in the cottage to stay in the dorms with the Ukrainian boys (how they communicated is still a mystery to me). It’s amazing how little you have to talk when you are playing ping pong, soccer, chasing kids around, singing songs, etc… When it comes time to talk there is always a way to communicate when your heart is in the right place.
Kompas Park is truly a magical place. Alla, Nadya, Cyndee and all of the Ukrainian leaders are truly gifted leaders that have the unique ability to bring teams together to enrich the lives and souls of everyone that visits there. It’s been a few weeks since our family left KP, yet not a day has gone by that we have not communicated with many of our new best friends from Ukraine or prayed for the children that blessed our lives. We never could have expected what the experience would give to us. What a wonderful God we all have!
I’m tired and jet lagged, but I’m happy to be home. It was a wonderful
trip to Kompas Park. Thank you to everyone who prayed for our USA
Cottage Homes Team.
Dealing with disappointment, while never easy, says something about who
we are. Now there are a group of Ukrainian musicians who are having to
do this as they come to terms with the decision of the British Border
Agency to refuse them visas for entry to the UK in October to help us
with the Silver Jubilee tour.
In 1996, a group of 10 brothers and sisters from First Baptist Church
Cherkassy, lead by Valerii Belyaev started the work to create a church
in the Malyi Buzukiv village.
