The Voices of Ukrainians

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a story about gift-giving at the orphanage and why I was more and more opposed to it based on the negative impacts. A lady from the US wrote me asking my take on Operation Christmas Child in this situation, because the Operation Christmas child boxes are only supposed to be given out by national groups who have a relationship with the recipients of the boxes. I was mulling this issue even before she wrote. Spending two years away from the States and then being there for four months makes things stand out a bit more starkly, and I think the materialism of Americans stood out more than anything else to me. This past year, though, God has been teaching me quite a bit. My answer is over 2,500 words, but it’s a complicated issue. We Americans always want to give some thing . We did presentations at 24+churches during our furlough last year, and we shared our most pressing need: financial assistance. We need people to partner with Children’s Hope Ukraine...

During our Easter retreat with our church, some of the ladies in our church told me I was like the churches grandpa. Everyone loved, me especially the kids and it was clear that I love them.    I was a little disconcerted that someone would compare me to a grandpa already, but kinda flattered by what they meant.     But then one of the ladies said, “But you never discipline. You should.”   It’s true, I have done almost no disciplining in my time here in Ukraine, but from where I stand, that’s with good reason.   At the orphanage, I’m just one of the group of people who visits once a week.   The director doesn’t even allow us to visit during school hours, so obviously we aren’t people with any authority at the orphanage.   At church and a lot of other situations, I just try to help where I can and stay out of the way the rest of the time.   I believe that discipline should be very intentional, and if you can’t have a discussion with a k...