True Hope Ukraine

An Incredible Time in Ukraine ….

It’s awesome when we have teams come to help us. It’s even more awesome when those teams choose to come back. They are able then to see things from a different perspective and minister in a different way. Recently, our new friend Hanneke returned for a couple of weeks to work with the ministry after she was here with her team from Holland this summer. I wanted to share with you a little of her experience.

Last summer I came to Ukraine with a Dutch team to do ministry with True Hope Ukraine. After this crazy, awesome and spectacular time, I decided to come back to Ukraine on my own. In the past, I’ve traveled to several countries, but I’ve never gone back to a certain place. So being here for the second time is special and different to me because to recognize places, people and especially the kids in the dorms and orphanages and to be recognized by them is totally worth everything.

For the last week and a half I’ve been working together with True Hope again and it has been a great time! We visited dorms, played with kids, hugged them, cooked local food, ministered in villages and we even visited, for the first time, a prostitute on the highway to talk and to pray with her.

What I like the most over here, besides the people, culture and language, is the fact that you can talk about God everywhere and that people are definitely hungry for it! It’s different in the Netherlands where there are even rules for evangelism in public places, which of course limits people to talk about what they believe. In Ukraine though, the awesome thing about being free to share my faith, is that it challeneges me to step out, to be radical and creative. I’ve learned over here that sharing Jesus with babies, kids, prostitutes or a bunch of teenagers, doesn’t need to be difficult, like it often is in my own country. Seeing that one person, spending time, talking, loving them and especially giving away loads of free hugs, is what it is about. This is what Jesus did and I believe that’s why it’s one of the most effective ways as well to make an impact on someone’s life!

I’ll definitely come back for a third time!

Hanneke van de Weetering from Holland