Andy Langeland

Stephen Andrew Langeland was born in Redding, California, the only child of parents who raised him to know the Lord from a tender age. At the age of five, he remembers seeing a vision of people in hell, and knowing he would go there himself if he did not surrender his own heart to the Lord. So with an amazing conciousness of the seriousness of his decision, he walked down the aisle of the small Assembly of God church where his father was the Associate Pastor, to answer the altar call for salvation.

At the age of 14, he stayed overnight at a friend's house. He woke up early, and while his friend slept, he flipped on the TV. He stumbled across a movie on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He was riveted to the faces and scenes from Ukraine, a place he had never visited, thought about or had any connection to before. By the end of it, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was supposed to go to that nation. In his own words he describes his experience, "I had no idea what I would do there or of what real help I could be, I just knew I had to go. I was all alone, no inspirational message, no audible voice, but I just knew."

The following summer, at the age of 15, he made his first venture to Ukraine, participating in a short-term missions trip through an organization called Shake the Nations. He had prepared himself by listening to language tapes in an attempt to learn some basic Russian phrases. The trip, which included ministry at multiple orphanages, was a defining time for the teenager.

When he stepped off the plane in Los Angeles after flying back from Kiev, he threw his arms around his father and wept. When asked what was wrong, all he could say between sobs was, "I didn't want to leave!" He says about that experience, "It altered (and cemented) my life goals, my desires, my thoughts, my worldview and even my personality. From that point forward, I knew I’d have a long term connection to that country."

Though he traveled on missions trips to a number of nations including India, China, and several in East Africa, during high school and college, it only solidified his determination to return to Ukraine. In 2006, Andy and his wife Jaimee, led a short-term missions team back to Ukraine to serve in a summer camp for orphans. By 2007 they were ready to move full-time to Sevastopol, where they would launch OPERATION LAZARUS. Having observed one of the greatest needs of teenage orphans in the nation, they planned to target those getting close to "aging out" of the orphanage system. These teens were the most vulnerable to the lure of prostitution and criminal gang activity, since they had no other way to support themselves when they left the institutions.

After two years on the mission field, we asked Andy what was the most amazing thing he had seen. He replied, "We have gone into some situations pretty blindly, not having everything perfectly planned out or in some cases literally not even knowing where we were going or how to get from point A to B, just trusting the Lord – and of course He always takes care of us. We haven’t ever had to sleep on the street! However, its always the most amazing to see hardened orphan kids change as a direct result of your love and investment into their lives. And I love doing something day in and day out that will have eternal value. "

When asked what he misses most about America, he said, "Besides friends and family, I miss American style coffee shops, affordably priced electronics, Dr. Pepper, Mexican food, wide freeways, drivers who drive predictably, obey most traffic laws and drive in the lanes, beaches with sand and surfable waves!"

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