Andy & Jaimee Langeland: Back to Ukraine

Children growing up in government-run orphanages in Ukraine have their basic physical needs met. Theyare housed, they are fed, they are clothed and they are schooled. But shelter, food, clothing and education are not the sum total of a child’s needs.

God created every person with a need for love and relationship. Learning to love and relate in a healthy way to others was intended by God to be learned in a family setting. Ukrainian orphans who spend their formative years in an institution often lack the simple skills of relating appropriately in a social setting and have no understanding of what a healthy family unit should look like. One orphaned teenage girl and boy had sexual relations and fathered a child. When the child was born, they promptly brought the baby to the institution in which they both were raised, so that the orphanage would care for the child. They had no idea what parenthood should look like, since they never experienced the love of parents themselves.

Andy and Jaimee Langeland, Directors of Operation Lazarus, are returning to Ukraine after the birth of their first child, Andee Joye. One desire of their hearts is to model to the orphaned teenagers they work with, an example of a loving, godly marriage and family relationship. Sharing their lives with orphaned teens, they will have many opportunities to demonstrate a lifestyle that most of them have never observed before.

A major goal for Operation Lazarus this year, is to obtain a building which can be used to establish a Youth Center and a Transitional Living Home for teenaged orphans who are “aging out” of the institutional system. Please pray for them as they seek out an appropriate facility and for the funds that will be necessary to rent (or purchase) and equip the building for its ultimate purpose. Having such a facility will take Operation Lazarus to a new level in its ability to minister to teenage orphans in Sevastopol, Ukraine.
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EDITOR’S NOTE:
Andy and Jaimee Langeland will return to Ukraine on March 3rd. If your church, school, youth or civic group would like to invite them to share about their work with orphans, please contact the Hidden With Christ Ministries Office at 714-665-0407. They have open dates in February which can be scheduled. Also please pray for this pressing need: a reliable vehicle for our missionaries when they return to Sevastopol.

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