Andy and Jaimee Joye Langeland are the Directors of Operation Lazarus and are based in Sevastopol, Ukraine.

You can contact them at:
andy@operationlazarus.com or jaimee@operationlazarus.com

Check out their website at:
www.operationlazarus.com

Updates From Our Missionaries

Going Stateside to Receive A Blessing

September 2009

by Andy Langeland
Co-Director of OPERATION LAZARUS

For Jaimee Joye and me it is always very exciting to travel. We love seeing new places as well as the daily adventures that come with living in a developing nation such as Ukraine. However, as much as we love to explore and live abroad, we also love to come home! Those of you that have traveled abroad can agree with me I’m sure, there is no place like the United States of America! Dr. Pepper, Mexican food and other creature comforts aside, we are very excited to be reunited with our dog, friends and family in Southern California. We are also looking forward to the opportunity to see all of you, our friends and family in the various parts of the United States over the next 7 months. We already have our tickets purchased for our return to Ukraine in March 2010, and with many plans already made it seems like our time here is so short!

Jaimee Joye and I are expecting our first child (a girl) on September 17. For all of our jet-setting, this is definitely uncharted waters for us! We are very excited of course, and have been preparing everything we can before the baby’s arrival. Jaimee is a real trooper and has slowed her usual activities very little. We have been actively working with youth for about 7 years now and it will be quite a shift from filling a parental roll with teenagers to parenting a newborn! Please pray for us to figure it out in a hurry! (ok, I already know Jaimee will be a natural, I’m actually just talking about myself!!)
Our plans for this winter remain the same as the past two years, traveling around the United States sharing about our work in Ukraine and the plight of orphan children. Last year we filled our time with speaking engagements and needed more calendar time in order to branch out and speak in any new locales and make new connections with additional supporters. This year we will devote October and November to that task. Please pray for the Lord to bring us new connections and an abundance of speaking opportunities! You can also help in this by inviting us to your group. We LOVE to share about our work as well as inspire others to do something meaningful with their lives! If you would like to have us share at your church, youth, school or home group or know someone else who can – drop us a line! Andy@operationlazarus.com or Jaimee@operationlazarus.com

Our newest venture is a side business in photography. For those of you who may not be aware, I have acquired an affinity for photography over the last few years to the point that it would be a waste not to use this skill as a supplemental income-earner. Jaimee and I live on a very thin monthly budget of fundraised support and with the addition of our first child this budget seems even thinner. There is plenty of Biblical support for missionaries raising part or all of their funds through a side business, as you know even the Apostle Paul supported his missionary jouneys through tent making! And we would be excited to be able to put more of our fundraised monies toward projects while not being dependent on fundraising for our own basic needs. If you or anyone you know needs photographic services in California (or anywhere really!) please visit our webpage
www.paradigmphotographyoc.com to see a sample of some of our recent work! You can have beautiful wedding photograpy and support a missionary at the same time! Thank you for spreading the word!!!

Heaven Sent Help

by Jaimee Langeland - Co-Director of OPERATION LAZARUS

We are so excited to announce a new addition to the Op Laz team. Anya and Sasha Zelenenko, 22 and 25, a precious Christian married couple, have officially joined Operation Lazarus. Anya is a very gifted interpreter with strong business and administrative skills and Sasha is a jack of all trades. They are both extremely anointed in their ability to minister to the kids we have been working with. They joined our third team to Mt. Gorney for orphan summer camp ministry and the progress they made in just 4 days with the kids was astounding.

Our biggest hindrance for the past two years has, without question, been our lack of perfect fluency in Russian. Although, we have both made incredible progress in the language there are just some conversations that can’t be had without complete fluency. In just a matter of days, Anya and Sasha have begun to minister to various kids, explaining to them why they must forgive their parents for abandoning them, the reasons they should give up smoking, the power that prayer has over their unsaved family members, how to make choices so that they don’t end up repeating their parents’ mistakes, and the list goes on. It is thrilling to watch them in action and to see how incredibly responsive the kids are to them.

Anya and Sasha will be helping us with a multitude of things such as researching orphan rights, researching the necessary procedures for becoming a non-profit organization in Ukraine, participating in our weekly gatherings, and interpreting when needed. They will also assist us in the development of the transitional home and the purchase of land and building for this project. We are so happy they have joined our team and we are looking forward to the many ways God is going to use them in the future.
Pray with us for an increase in support for Operation Lazarus, since expanding our team requires an increased financial commitment.

Finding Purpose

by Jaimee Langeland - Co-Director of Operation Lazarus, Sevastopol, Ukraine

I was so excited that day when I saw the light bulb go on in Vanya’s head. After a year and a half of investing in his life he finally began to get the picture and he didn’t even realize it. It was a Tuesday afternoon and Vanya had called Andy asking if he could come and talk to us. Our first guess was that he needed money, since he had been out of work for quite some time. As we sat around the table drinking tea, as we usually do, we soon realized that this visit had nothing to do with money and everything to do with Vanya’s purpose in life. Vanya began to explain to us that he wanted to do more with his life than just work at a job and die someday.

He then began to expound on his recent idea of helping older kids from the orphanage in which he had lived. He explained to us that since these kids grow up in an institution they don’t know how to live successful lives when they graduate. He wanted to come up with ways to help these kids. It was as if Vanya was reading directly from the Operation Lazarus website!

We asked him, “Vanya, do you understand that this is exactly why we came to live here?” He replied, “No.” I could hardly keep myself from laughing. The greatest part of the entire incident was that I still don’t think Vanya has any realization that he has been an essential part of the “pilot program” of Operation Lazarus. Part of me wondered how Vanya could be such a part of our lives for over a year and still be so oblivious as to why we live here in Ukraine. The other part of me was thrilled that Vanya has become one of our greatest success stories and yet never knew it and therefore never felt like a “project.” It brought my heart great joy to realize not only has Vanya captured the vision to do something important with his life but that he also captured the very heart of our vision and the very heart of God, to care for orphans.

Daily Life In Ukraine

by Jared White
Missionary Associate to Operation Lazarus
Sevastopol, Ukraine

For Amanda and I, the past several weeks in Ukraine have been filled with daily language studies, teaching English lessons, family nights with the orphans, learning to get around Sevastopol on our own, playing with the neighborhood kids, community prayer and worship, and several key moments with some of the post-orphans disciples! We are excited about our growing relationships with the orphans, and we have been truly blessed to participate in seeing some of the seeds Andy and Jaimee have planted come to fruition!

We have also used some of our time to start a small vegetable garden and currently have two tomato plants, eight corn plants, and several heads of lettuce growing. We initiated a small neighborhood improvement project by working to carve out a fenced-in, soccer field. The field is located near our apartment complex and was overtaken by weeds and trash. In the last week we have pulled most of the weeds and picked up the trash. We hope to soon christen the field with a neighborhood game of “futbol,” and several of the neighbor kids have been already been asking us the question, “When we are going to play?” Only in Russian it sounds like this: “Kogda mwi siberayamsa egrat vfutbol?”

Amanda & Jaimee have also been spending time figuring out how to cook everyday meals from scratch, and had the opportunity to learn how to make a traditional Ukrainian dish from a friend, Tanya. She taught them how to make “bleenchicky,” a potato pancake-like food, and a casserole made with chicken, potatoes, dried apricots, prunes, onions, and an assortment of various spices.

While we miss everyone at home in the USA, we have been enjoying the challenges and joys of living in a foreign country, and we are excited to see what God is doing in the lives of the youth here. Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Report From Ukraine - February/March 2009

by Andy and Jaimee Langeland - HWCM Missionaries to Ukraine

When our plane approached the runway in Simferopol, Ukraine, it was snowing heavily and the visibility was near zero. I began praying that the plane would not be forced to return to the capitol city of Kiev due to poor conditions. It had already been a 26 hour trip, and we didn’t want to add another minute to it! The pilot began circling the airport, forced to wait while they plowed the snow in an attempt to make his landing safer. The pilot landed beautifully on the still snow covered runway, and we were finally back in the beloved Crimean peninsula. Even the usually dreary looking city of Simferopol looked beautiful under a blanket of newly fallen snow.

When we deplaned, it was to be welcomed by freezing air temperatures and our luggage moving slowly toward us on a snow covered conveyor belt. Despite having lost one of our bags somewhere between Los Angeles and Kiev and having to fill out a claim form in Russian (now that is a victory in itself!) the piece of luggage miraculously appeared when we arrived in Simferopol.

But best of all, waiting for us in the terminal when we arrived in Ukraine were the reinforcements God had sent to us. My childhood friend, Jared White, and his awesome wife Amanda, had touched down in the frozen heartland a few hours ahead of us. We are blessed by the gift of these two dear co-laborers who have come from the U.S. to serve for three months with OPERATION LAZARUS. Both of them are graduates of Simpson University and have a deep passion for working with youth. They have served as Youth Pastors, camp counselors and even as Youth Chaplains at a local High School. Jared’s experience as a Youth Probation Officer uniquely qualifies him to assist us in ministering to the most deeply troubled teenagers at the orphanages. They are here to minister with us to the teenage orphans in Sevastopol and we are encouraged already by their presence.

We ask you to pray for us as our heart’s desire for this year is to develop a Transitional Living Home where we can take in some of the orphans when they are released from the government orphanages for a one year program. Our goal is to  have a curriculum in place that can prepare them for life outside the institution through Christian Discipleship as well as vocational and practical living skills. This will require a miraculous provision of a house with a set-up conducive to the project, as well as more finances, but we know God is able. We feel this would be so beneficial and have the long term impact we are desiring to see.

We are grateful for our time in the USA and the encouragement of friends, family and churches as we shared the vision of OPERATION LAZARUS over the last two months. We are thankful to all the pastors who opened their pulpits to us to tell of the orphans that God loves so much. We would like to ask you to add one more thing to your prayer list. We are expecting our first child in September, so we will appreciate prayer for Jaimee’s and the baby’s health. We know that it will be good to model a healthy Christian family lifestyle to the orphans who have never seen or experienced that for themselves. Thank you for your continued love, prayers and financial support for OPERATION LAZARUS. May God bless you!

Winter Report - January 2009

by Andy and Jaimee Langeland - HWCM Missionaries to Ukraine

Though we left the frozen Ukraine behind, we are mindful of our friends there who have suffered with no heat during the standoff between Ukraine and Russia as they argued over gas deliveries between the two countries. All heat in the homes is natural gas and this event was a serious one as the temperatures dropped well below freezing. We are thankful that the heat has now been restored but ask you to pray that this scenario will not be repeated.

Here in California, we have already had a wonderful time visiting family and friends and celebrating the holidays. We have been enjoying all the luxuries of the American lifestyle. We were really blessed to spend Christmas with Andy’s parents and Grandparents at a cabin in Lake Arrowhead. It was truly a white Christmas. We had a great time playing in the snow and managed to build a classic snowman on Christmas Eve complete with a carrot nose and Oreo cookie eyes that our dog Latte tried to eat!

As of this writing, we have begun our official traveling/speaking schedule to raise awareness of the mission of Operation Lazarus to reach teenage orphans. We are continuing to believe God for our full budget to be raised in committed monthly support before we return to Ukraine in the beginning of March. Please believe God with us for this to come to pass.

If you would like to become a monthly sponsor of the work of OPLAZ, you can go to our NEW website at www.operationlazarus.com and click on the DONATE link. OR send your donation to the Hidden With Christ Ministries office and mark your check “Operation Lazarus”. You can help us by sponsoring one day of missionary work with a monthly pledge of $42.50 or sponsor a day of two missionaries work for a pledge of $85 month. However, any amount is welcome, as every dollar helps us reach our goal of ministering God’s love to teenage orphans in Ukraine.

Again, we want to thank all of you for the part you played in reaching the orphans of Ukraine this past year. Because of your obedience to pray and give, the orphans of Ukraine are getting to know their Heavenly Father. We love you and are thankful for you!

Renovation Projects Reveal God’s Heart To Teenage “Post-Orphans” In Ukraine

by Andy and Jaimee Langeland - HWCM Missionaries to Ukraine

November 2008

Jaimee Joye and I have been extremely busy lately, happily implementing one of our major strategies for showing the love of Jesus to post-orphans in Sevastopol. The project I am referring to is the recent renovation of a post-orphan’s apartment in partnership with Tom & Larissa Benz and their ministry, Bridges of Faith. According to Ukrainian law, when a child “ages out” of the orphanage system they are supposed to be given their own apartment by the government. While this system of social welfare for post-orphans sounds simple enough, it struggles to become reality.

Andrei (pictured on right) is a 19 year old post-orphan that we first met over a year ago at the mountain camp where most of Sevastopol’s orphans spend their summer months. Andrei was one of the few children who, upon “graduation” from the orphanage was able to immediately move into his own apartment, which had once been the home of his now institutionalized mother.

Up until now, our relationship with Andrei had been stable, yet minimal. Andrei always appeared glad to see us, yet remained completely closed to us. He was perpetually pleasant for someone who had experienced so much pain and rejection from spending his formative years in an institutionalized setting. However, he never opened up and conversations with him never yielded more than one or two words answers.

In the course of renovating Andrei’s apartment, our relationship with him changed dramatically. By the last night the team was working at his apartment, Andrei was sitting next to me happily chattering away as we scraped rust and other mysterious gunk off the old pipes in his bathroom. I am sure he talked to me longer that night as we labored shoulder to shoulder than all the conversations we had up to that time combined!

It was so exciting for us to see Andrei steadily come alive as the team focused all their love and attention on him. It has been just over a week since the team left and Jaimee Joye and I have seen Andrei more than ever, and he is happier, peaceful, and more talkative than we’ve ever seen him.

Here is what Tom Benz, our dear friend, “co-conspirator,” and director of Bridges of Faith wrote about our time working on Andrei’s apartment:
“I am still simply blown away with all that happened here. Not all went exactly as planned. But, through the unexpected, we see His glory. And see it we did, over and over again in these few days.

Dismal doesn’t express the sight of Andrei’s apartment. Abysmal comes closer. Wall paper barely clung to walls permeated with mold. The toilet couldn’t fulfill its purpose. The bathtub wouldn’t drain. Broken glass welcomed the outside weather to the inside. Sad, dilapidated, furniture filled the place with its own distinct fragrance.

In the end, the apartment gleamed with repairs and with love. The bathroom shone with new fixtures. Vinyl floor covering in the kitchen and hall shouted God’s love. Carpet in the living area warmed the floor and every heart. New glass protected the now cozy environment. A sleeper sofa, curtains, and new paint, along with renewed storage areas and too many other improvements to mention, surround Andrei with parental love through the Body of Christ.

The finished product blew Andrei away. Most of all, he could not comprehend that others loved him that much. And that God cared for him so personally, tangibly, and practically. I am still thinking of Andrei’s words and especially his expressions when he shared with us the last night we sat all together. In unabashed sincerity, he acknowledged God and us in the transformation of his apartment and his life. I think that he will never be the same again.

Of course, it’s way too early to conclude what long term impact all this will have on Andrei, but we do have some strong clues. Nastia, the post-orphan girl whose apartment received an apartment upgrade in July, still exudes the glow of strong relationship with Christ. Andrei, as he shouldered with our team each day, drank in the fellowship and explanation of God’s love. He then clearly and powerfully expressed his appreciation to us and to God.

It should be easy to see from the pictures the previous situation and the revolution that occurred in Andrei’s apartment. We have truly overthrown the hopelessness that surrounded Andrei’s life! It’s a spiritual revolution!

This miracle only began with the apartment. The Ukrainian plumber that we hired to help would not take all of the money that we agreed on. As a Christian, he felt that God moved him to contribute. In fact, he is praying about his family becoming sponsors for Andrei. Many other people saw the project and were touched and challenged. Andrei was profoundly impacted. I see all over again the power and the utter necessity of this ministry to kids who have “aged out” of the orphanage system.”

Andrei wasn’t the only person to benefit from his apartment renovation. Vanya, our 18 year old post orphan has now moved in to be his roommate. This was an answer to our prayers, and to Vanya’s desperate need for a place to live, and Andrei’s dislike for living alone. Vanya had been assigned a place to live by the government with three other young men, who did not want to make room for him. Now these two Christian young men can encourage one another. Please pray for them to continue to grow in the Lord.
COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU!

We are arriving in the USA on December 6 and are looking forward to so many things. We will spend our time catching up with family and friends, satisfying our American food cravings (Dr. Pepper in particular) and itinerating. (“itinerating” is missionary lingo for sharing our missions vision with churches in order to interest others in partnering with us for the next year)

We have already begun scheduling speaking engagements but still have several dates available in December, January and early February. Bringing awareness and sharing this vision is crucial to our continued work in Ukraine. It is imperative for Operation Lazarus to increase its monthly donor base in order to return to Ukraine in February and continue this ministry to orphans.

We are so grateful to everyone who has supported Operation Lazarus in this last year. Without you, Vanya wouldn’t call us mom and dad, Anya wouldn’t have told us we’re “the best friends in the world,” Andrei would still be sleeping in a windowless, mold infested apartment, and Nastia would still be crude and unstable. Furthermore, many Ukrainians, believers and unbelievers alike, would continue to be uninformed of the severity of the needs of these precious children.

If you are interested in having us come and share this vision with your church, friends, youth group, home group, or any gathering of people interested in this cause PLEASE contact us by email Jaimee@operationlazarus.com or phone the Hidden With Christ Ministries office at 1-866- 434-3257.

Orphan Camp: A Story of LOVE and TEARS

By Jaimee Langeland Co-Director of Operation Lazarus

September 2008

I was quickly reminded why I chose to move to Ukraine upon returning to Camp Gorney for the second time in two months. A week prior I had been asking God if I was ever going to have a normal life. My questioning thoughts followed two of the most challenging weeks Andy and I had ever experienced in our whole lives, on any continent. However, the moment we arrived with our awesome team and began interacting with the orphans at camp, all the questions and discouragement was washed away. I was once again reminded of the precarious existence these children experience from day to day and how desperate they are for love and attention.

A prime example of this was a boy named Kolya, a 12 year old who is seriously physically underdeveloped (he honestly looks like an 8 year old). On our second day into this trip he began telling us how thankful he was that we had come. Though outwardly undersized, Kolya was surprisingly intuitive and wise beyond his years. He expounded to us that he was grateful because when we were at the camp he felt like he, “had more brain waves.” Although this statement was quite entertaining to us later in the privacy of our cabin (and still is for that matter), Kolya was quite serious. He explained how happy he was when we were there at the camp (our 3rd time with various teams in a year) and how hard life was when we weren’t there (mind you this is at a recreational summer camp in the mountains run by a very good man). After our team had been there for several days, Kolya came knocking on our cabin door while the rest of the kids were at the nightly “disco” dance. When we asked him what he needed, he said he wanted prayer. We asked him what he needed prayer for and he answered, “I want a mom and dad.” Reality hit me like the softball that once sent me to the emergency room; no matter how tough these kids act, they have no desire as strong as their desire for someone to love and care about them.

Another boy, by the name of Sasha, who also looks about four years younger than his actual age of 14 and is the younger brother of Nastia (the girl whose apartment we renovated), told our interpreter Sergei that he wanted to stop smoking. Sergei, who has had extensive experience in this area, asked Sasha to give him his cigarettes, if he was serious about quitting, knowing this was pointless talk without action. By the end of their first conversation Sasha said he would “think about it.” After several days of the team praying and Sergei and our good friend Malu (from Orange County) talking with him and loving on him, Sasha finally decided to give up smoking. He was so happy when he made this decision that he begged Sergei to use his mobile phone and called his girlfriend to tell her about the decision he had just made. It is appalling to think of a 14 year old being completely addicted to cigarettes, period. However, I realized that just one week of loving on this kid was all he needed to give up this terribly common, disgusting and life endangering habit. The impact on these two boys’ lives was evident by the tears in their eyes as we waved goodbye from the bus windows. Love is power!

One of the most exciting events of the week was developing relationships with the kids between the ages of 14 and 17. There were about 40 of them in this age group. It was interesting to see the drastic difference between this age group and the younger children. The older teenagers (our target group) were not exactly the warm, receptive type as is often the case at first. Despite their serious faces and their cold demeanor we were able to break through to some of them. By the time we left the camp we had exchanged emails and phone numbers with about 10 of the older teenagers and invited all of the older teenagers to join our weekly “family night.” Although there were 30 others who didn’t act as interested in us, we are certain that we made the message very clear that we care for them, that we live in Sevastopol for the purpose of helping them make it in life and they are welcome in our home and our lives if they desire. We are waiting with anticipation to see them again when they return from camp this week.

Seeing these kids eat up our love was awesome and yet sobering. The need far surpasses what Andy and I or any short-term missions teams are capable of giving. It is clearer to us than ever that only Jesus Christ is big enough to meet all their needs and change them from the inside out. Please pray with us for supernatural wisdom, ideas, solutions and resources to help these kids in a life changing, lasting way.

Renovating an Apartment and Changing a Life!

By Jaimee Langeland

August 2008

It was an amazing moment when our ministry to orphans collided with my hobby of home decorating! Our dear friend Tom Benz, founder of Bridges of Faith Ministries, told us that the missions team he was bringing to Sevastopol wanted to help renovate an orphan teenager’s apartment. We had the perfect candidate for him - Nastia - our 18 year old post- orphanage graduate - who now works in a garment factory. Nastia was assigned a tiny government apartment, which in reality is a single room, rather than an apartment, as we know it in the U.S. She shares communal bathroom facilities as well as a communal kitchen with an entire floor of people.

One of my favorite things in the world is home decorating. While Nastia’s apartment is simply one tiny room, there was plenty of work to be done and I was excited at the very thought of it!

On a Monday night, we were having a bar-b-que at the beach with the missions team and all of our young friends who either currently live in the orphanage or have graduated from it. Nastia was there too, as she never misses an opportunity to have hot dogs on the beach! For some reason that night, Nastia was in a depressed mood and was giving many of us a bit of a cold shoulder. Her cold shoulder melted and her face lit up immediately the moment we told her that we wanted to come and work on her apartment.

Early the next day, a few of the team members arrived at her apartment to do a simple analysis of what work needed to be done, take measurements, and decide what tools would be needed. The moment we came within sight of Nastia’s fourth story window her gleeful face popped out the window and she began yelling to us. She welcomed us into her humble abode as the hostess of all hostesses. She had spread the table with cookies, candies, and cakes and was serving tea and coffee the moment we stepped through her door. On her meager salary as a seamstress in a garment factory, this was undoubtedly sacrificial giving, since food is an expensive commodity in Ukraine. It was also very apparent to me, as I had visited her apartment before, that she had cleaned the place inside out, not a thing was out of place.

Once we decided what her apartment needed, we began the shopping process. This was quite an undertaking since there is no “Home Depot” to run to here! After several hours, we had purchased linoleum to replace her floor, paint, and plaster to re-do a wall that was badly crumbling, and of course all of the necessary tools. And so, the work began. The team showed up with great enthusiasm and ready to get to work. We began taping off the windows which were terribly chipped and cracked in order to repaint them, replastering the wall which was falling apart, and moving furniture in order to begin laying the new floor. Nastia worked just as hard as anyone and probably with more joy than any person on the team. It was obvious that she was not only excited to be making the much needed improvements, but she was also thrilled to have so many people around. She knew that all those people were there just to bless her - what a feeling for a lonely teenage orphan to experience! As neighbors would pass by in the hallway, she would proudly explain that we were “remodeling,” a term that indicates dignity, money and upward mobility in the currently expanding Ukrainian economy.

As the apartment began taking shape, it became clear that Nastia’s front door just HAD to be replaced. It was so pathetic it wasn’t really even worthy of being called a door. Not only could she hear everything that happened in the hallway, preventing her from getting good sleep, the door was hollow inside. It was the type of door that belonged on a closet - not the front of your home. The door jam indicated the door had been kicked open multiple times and the lock mechanism was a joke. The problem was that a new door costs about as much money as we had for the entire project, $200. Thanks so much to the generous souls who responded to our urgent e-mail plea and enabled us to buy and install a brand new, beautiful, steel door. The door even has a special LED light which lights up the key hole.

It was a great treat to see Nastia’s shocked faced when two of our team members hauled the door up the four flights of stairs and presented it to her. It was especially touching because she had just told Andy earlier that day, that she was now planning to save her money for a new door. God had given her the desire of her heart before she could even pray for it!

So, after two days of painting, replacing a broken window, plastering, moving HEAVY furniture, killing mold, laying linoleum, installing a door, and putting everything back together again, we were finished. The best part of this remodeling project wasn’t the amazing difference all of the work made on Nastia’s apartment, but rather the amazing difference it brought about in Nastia. Not only did it give Nastia some dignity, it gave her an opportunity to be a hostess. And best of all, she saw the love of God in action and felt her heavenly Father’s love for her. This experience also gave Nastia vision that just because it seems like life has dealt her a bad hand of cards, doesn’t mean that she has to keep those same cards forever. Nastia is now planning to save her money to put in brand new windows and wallpaper. Truly, this is vision she didn’t have before. It appears that this two day renovation project has changed Nastia forever!

Report From Ukraine - July 2008

By Andy and Jaimee Langeland Directors of Operation Lazarus

LOOKING BACK
It’s hard to believe that a year has already passed since we moved to Ukraine. Often throughout the course of this year we have felt like the ministry was moving slowly. This caused us to wonder how much we’ve actually accomplished and if we were crazy to think we could actually change the world. After sitting in our kitchen a few nights ago amazed that a year has already flown by, we began to reflect on how the Lord has used us this year and what exactly we have accomplished in a year’s time.

LANGUAGE
As far as language skills go, Andy is amazing! His language skills are so good that we only need an interpreter for official meetings. He can understand almost everything and is fully capable of carrying on casual conversations with just about anyone. He is often my own personal interpreter. I am so thankful that he had a year of Russian language study before we came here. His awesome Russian skills have made a significant impact on our adjustment to living in Ukraine. As far as my own Russian skills are concerned they are also improving. I reminded myself the other day that when we moved here I could not read the Cyrillic alphabet, nor could I even begin to distinguish sounds or words when someone spoke. Now, I can read and write the language even in cursive, which is not as easy as English cursive. I can carry on basic conversations as well as identify almost all words when someone is speaking. I may not know the meaning of the word but I can distinguish sounds and words unlike when we first got here. Although we have both made great strides, we are going to continue our diligent studies of the very challenging Russian language.

CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT
Adjusting to life in Ukraine is another area of great accomplishment. We can get around our city and have traveled to other parts of Ukraine without an interpreter. I can even get around confidently without Andy. It is very comforting to know that you are able to find your way home in a foreign country! Also, we have become quite the cooks over the past year since life in Ukraine doesn’t permit you the ease of purchasing a prepared meal from the local Trader Joe’s (Oh, how I miss TJ’s!). We have accepted the fact that it takes longer to get things done in Ukraine. We have begun to drink tea and eat chocolate on a daily basis which is a most common Ukrainian habit. I have learned how to make tortillas, pancakes, and a chocolate cake, all from scratch. The list could go on but you get the point. We have made quite a few lifestyle adjustments over the year and we still love it all.

TRANSPORTATION
We are so thrilled to have just purchased not one but TWO mopeds! God is so good. We were believing God to be able to buy one inexpensive Chinese - made moped. As we were moped shopping we stumbled upon a big tin shed of a store, full of imported pre-owned Japanese (i.e. higher quality) mopeds. The men who worked there were like moped geeks (in a good way). This wasn’t just their means for survival it was very obvious that mopeds were also their hobby. We found two old-school style mopeds that had phenomenal prices. We decided to take the leap of faith and stretch ourselves a little farther than we expected and purchase two mopeds, which was more money than we planned to spend. After having money show up from unexpected sources, we bought two of the cutest mopeds in all of Sevastopol. And of course, our dog Latte has a basket so that he can ride along too. We have had a great deal of fun cruising all over the city, extremely happy not to be sweating away our patience on the public transportation during the hot summer.

MINISTRY
Although we don’t have 100’s of orphan kids clamoring for our attention, some of the ones we have been working with have begun to jokingly call us mom and dad, making comments like “we are like one big happy family.” Although they are joking, there is no doubt in our minds that they are finding in us what they have been missing for years - a real family. The relationships we have built with these particular kids is real and genuine. It can be so easy to measure success by the number of kids who desire our attention and affection, however, the Lord continues to remind us that are primary purpose here is not to work first hand with kids. Our primary purpose here is to awaken the local churches of this great need in their midst, so close to the heart of God, and launch them into action to care for and disciple orphans. The Lord recently told us to have a meeting gathering all of the individuals we have met who already have a heart for orphans, particularly the older ones. When we started planning the meeting we realized that we have a working relationship with six different churches from Sevastopol. Although this gathering is still in the planning stages, we are thrilled at what the Lord is going to do. We are looking forward to the progress of the vision as we enter into our second year here. We know God has BIG plans in store.

FINANCIALLY
Truly, the Lord has blown me away. His provision has been incredible. We have only 33% of our needed, committed monthly supporters. Despite this low percentage, we have met our budget expenses every month. Sometimes we aren’t sure how, but nonetheless it is clearly the provision and faithfulness of God. This next year, we are continuing to believe God for 100% of committed/consistent monthly support by the end of 2008.

OVERALL
We know that most first year missionaries to any new foreign field are assigned to focus primarily on language training and cultural immersion for their first year without ministry responsibilities. So looking back we know that God has accomplished all of that and more. We feel He has prepared us well for our second year where we will focus on mobilizing the local churches to reach out to these teenage orphans. This summer we are excited about the orphan camp ministry we will be doing and ask for your prayers for that. Thank you for your support and for sharing our vision to catch the teenage orphans as they graduate from the orphanages and before they plummet into a hopeless and dead-end lifestyle. God is rescuing young lives here in Ukraine... one precious teenager at a time!

REPORT FROM THE MISSION FIELD - UKRAINE

By Andy Langeland

April 2008

Last summer at the Camp Gorny orphan outreach we met two special teenagers, Andrei (now 18) and Ksusha, 16. Andrei has since graduated from the orphanage and is doing construction work as a mason and lives alone in a tiny government apartment on the edge of town. We suspect he doesn’t quite get enough to eat on a regular basis, as he works a physically demanding job, is rail-thin and we have yet to see him turn down any food at any meal for any reason. He has struggled with alcohol abuse, smoking, depression and hopelessness.

Ksusha is a beautiful young lady who we noticed was one of the most influential teenagers among the orphan children at Camp Gorny. She is a bright and streetwise girl whose demeanor and actions could make one guess her to be much older than her 16 years. We later heard that she had run away from the orphanage and was no where to be found. Rumors were that she was involved in prostitution.

By the grace of God, we reconnected with both of these teenagers about a month ago. Ksusha had returned to the orphanage because she knew that if she did not go back, she would never finish high school and her dreams of going to the University would be gone forever. Andrei happened to be visiting the orphanage and ran into our interpreter Sergei, who quickly invited him and Ksusha to our Wednesday night gathering.

Andrei surprised us by joining us for our church’s Easter Sunday service. He came to our apartment before church and joined myself, Jaimee, Sergei, Vanya, Anya and Dima in preparing our contribution to the Easter potluck. We had taken responsibility for bringing a traditional Ukrainian rice dish simply called “plov.” (It is so tasty that I can easily consume large amounts of it, even to the extent that it amazed the ladies at church!) Before we could eat all the delicious food, of course we had Easter service in our little house church. There was no dramas, no theatrics, but amazingly Andrei answered the call to give his life to Jesus in front of everyone! We were all so excited and the potluck food and fellowship were great. It was the most meaningful plov I have ever eaten!

Please pray for Ksusha - she has so much potential, yet could still at any time slip right into the life she has already tasted of drugs, alcohol, crime, prostitution and the daily struggle to survive at any price. Please pray for Andrei to find a higher paying job, and for strength in his new found faith in Jesus Christ.

Finally, please pray for us as we continue to love on Ksusha and Andrei and show them that they are valuable and have a hope and a future.

DISCIPLESHIP BOOK TRANSLATED INTO RUSSIAN LANGUAGE!

We are so excited to announce the completion of our translation project. Rita Langeland’s book - BIBLE BASICS FOR EVERY BELIEVER - has been professionally translated into Russian. We plan to use this as our main discipleship text with our OP LAZ teenagers. We now need $1200 to pay for the printing of 500 of these books. Pray about sowing a financial seed that will help bring forth a harvest of LIFE in Ukraine among teenage orphans and beyond!

REPORT FROM UKRAINE - February 2008
Back To The Motherland

by Andy and Jaimee Langeland

After two and half months of enjoying the endless variety of foods available in America, we headed back to the “motherland” (as Ukraine is called by its native sons) on February 18th. With the sweet memory of visiting family over the holidays and eating tacos from our favorite taco stand still lingering in our minds, we could hardly wait to get back to the kids we have been talking about for the past 2 months!

As much as we looked forward to returning to Ukraine (even though it is the middle of winter and daytime temperatures hover well below freezing) we are thankful to God for the very fruitful time we had in the U.S.

One of the coolest things that happened while we were in the states is a reunion we had with one of our favorite orphans from the summer camp last July in Gorny, Ukraine. Her name is Olya and she was adopted by an American family from Antioch, California late last year. We met up with Olya’s new family (whom we had met previously in Ukraine) and were given the opportunity to speak at the Youth group of Calvary Open Bible Church where this family attends. We had a wonderful time reuniting with 13 year old Olya, and her best friend Nadia, who was also adopted from Ukraine by this wonderful Christian couple. It was an answer to prayer to see these girls adopted into a loving home and given the opportunity to experience what God intended family life to be like! It is relatively rare for teenagers to be adopted, so these girls experienced a real miracle that will change their lives forever!

We spent most of January and early February traveling from church to church sharing the vision of Operation Lazarus with any one who would listen! That experience in itself was a maturation process for us in refining our own skills of presenting God’s dream (and ours) for the teenage orphans of Ukraine.

We are so grateful to the pastors that opened their hearts (and their pulpits) to us and allowed us the privilege of sharing with their congregations the opportunity to be a part of serving “the least of these”. We treasure the new relationships God has given us and the enthusiasm we saw among churches to join us for a summer outreach in Ukraine. You too can be a part of a missions team that will serve at a summer camp for orphans this coming August - just e-mail us for information at jaimee@operationlazarus.com.

Pray for us as we begin again to work with local churches in Sevastopol to recruit families willing to disciple teenage orphans and help steer them away from the pitfalls awaiting them as they “graduate” from the government-run orphanages. Thanks for your financial support which helps us continue this important project rescuing one teenage orphan at a time!