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!