After we got through the first winter in Ukraine, it didn’t take long before visitors started coming and our household started to grow with both friends and fellow volunteers.
I already mentioned Rebecca and Joy, but many more people helped us during our time there. Some stayed for a while before moving on, and some stayed for the long haul. Others became real close friends. Each of them were special. Here are a few of those I was privileged to meet:
One of the first days we went to a park on the island in the Dnepr river. The island was connected by a tall walking bridge. That was there we met Oleg, a law student, a bright and intelligent fellow with a legal mind and lots of questions. I don’t remember all we talked about, but it must have been about faith and God and the Bible and the problems with religion. By the end of our conversation he decided to "try" Jesus and to invite his Spirit in. That became a turning point in Oleg's life, obviously a big change took place in him after that encounter.
Sadly in one of our many moves we lost contact with Oleg. When we met again years later, he had gotten his law degree and it was a delightful reunion meeting him together with his girlfriend Oxana, whom he later married. Last I heard he is still in touch with our friends there.
We also met two sweet girls down-town (pictured in the middle with their arms around each other). After visiting us a few times, one of them invited us to visit with her parents around Christmas time.
They had a grand piano occupying most of the living room in their modest apartment. Her dad turned out to be an outstanding pianist, and since it was Christmas we asked if he could play some of the classic Christmas hymns. We had some sheet music with notes, and to our delight he played them perfectly while we sang along.
Surprisingly he had never heard that music before. Imagine! Seventy-some years of Communism, a perfect Maestro on the Grand Piano, and never had he heard, "Oh Holy Night" or "Come all Ye Faithful" or any of the other Christmas hymns we know so well in the West!
Chris was a bit shy in the beginning. She turned 18 shortly after she came with us from Scandinavia. She was the second oldest of a number of siblings, and it didn't take us long to discover what a jewel she was. Chris became an invaluable member of the team, she stayed with us through thick and thin all those years in Dnipro and became like a daughter to us - and a faithful "big sister" for our three youngest.
Chris was serious about her vocation, she was intelligent, diligent. sacrificial and ready to jump in when there was a need. She could cook and clean, stay by the stuff, have fun and throw a party - and definitely had a mind of her own.
She was a big part of the reason many young people liked to visit as they were better able to relate to her.
Up the street from us lived a young man, Andre. It didn't take long for him to seriously fall for Chris. However she was no push-over for the first handsome guy passing by. She was determined to dedicate her life to serving the Lord, so she told him in no uncertain terms. "Forget about me, focus on Jesus." - Which Andre then proceeded to do!
Andre was a polite and sincere fellow, in the top of his class in school, as well as being a martial arts expert. His mom was a respected doctor at the hospital and his brother and dad were both truck drivers. Not an unlikely combination in the former Soviet Union, where manual labour was as much respected and valued as academics - as it ought to be. His dear aging grandma was a retired doctor.
After a long time he eventually managed to convince Chris that not only was he in love with her, but also that he was sincere about their common faith, so she was won over :-)
Weddings are a big deal in Ukraine, and Andre's brother threw an elaborate two-day feast for the two, which included limousine, heaps of food and free flowing champagne, vodka and beer for a large gathering of friends and relatives.
Today Chris and Andre are settled in Norway with their four beautiful grown kids. Proof that true love can endure.
Daniel and Vera, a Polish/Ukrainian couple, were working in Moscow, and had written and told us that Vera's sister, Ruthie, who lived in Yenakijeve East of Donesk, was interested in perhaps becoming a volunteer with us. (right: Daniel with their two oldest children)
So one of our first trips out of Dnipro was the 700km round trip past Donetsk to pay Ruthie a visit in Yenakijeve.
Yenakijeve and Donetsk are in the Donbas area which in the very recent past has been the battleground for a civil war. It is sad for me to think that these places where we often visited have been ravaged by another needless conflict.
Coming towards Yenakijeve by a certain direction, the first thing to catch your eye was an enormously ugly factory that seemed to be rising out of the ground as you came up a hill - like a great iron monster. The apartment blocks, residential areas and administrative buildings were built adjacent to the mine and smelting works.
Ruthie's parents on the other hand were endearing. You couldn’t help but like them instantly. Her mother always prepared loads of yummy food and goodies for us when we visited. Regardless of the general hardships and prevailing poverty at that time they were always hospitable. Ruthie’s dad had been working in the mine many years. His hobby was photography. I remember that before leaving Ukraine I gave him my trusty Nikon F1 camera which he had been admiring. To him that was a great treasure.
Ruthie's mom had worried for her husband all those years he had been working underground because of the many accidents in the dangerous work in the mine. Eventually he had managed to secure a job above ground, much to his wife's relief. We made several visits over the years to Donbas, and each time we visited Ruthie's parents, we were received with open arms.
Not long after our first visit to Yenakijeve Ruthie decided to come and try a life dedicated to Jesus together with us.
Ruthie moving to Dnipro had an unexpected consequence. A friend of her, Josh, who lived in Stanovska next to Yenakijeve, also came to join our team.
Josh was an extremely talented musician, he seemed to be able to master any instrument he got his hands on. Drums, guitar, piano - you name it! Needless to say Josh became a valued asset to our outreach.
Later I became a very close friend of Josh’s dad, Pawel. Pawel's story is amazing and deserves a chapter for itself.
Tim was from Kiev, where he had gotten to know Joy. Not long after we had settled in Dnipro he joined our team as well.
Tim was a friendly fellow, likeable and good with people. He could also have fun with the kids, and on top of being a good and willing all-round helper and handyman, was also an excellent cook and driver.
Later Tim and Joy also married and had two wonderful children together, Danny and Vlada. You can read the story of their wedding in the next chapter.
So the work was growing, slowly but surely, and we were busy. My team mates did most of the work while I, "Pastor Paul from Scandinavia" as they called me, got most of the credit, which was okay with me - I'm joking of course.
There was a type of respect shown to me as someone from the West. Not that I felt superior or anything, to the contrary I was often intimidated and humbled by some of the hard working and well educated people we met, but I'll admit that my "status" as a foreigner sometimes helped me get through doors that otherwise would have been closed.
We were living under humble circumstances, but nevertheless were thriving, and I felt the Lord was looking after us.
I remember one lady from a Baptist church asked us why we were always smiling, "it looks like you never have any problems."
Funny enough, at the moment we were being asked that question we actually felt beset by difficulties and worries and paper work, needed permissions, being low on funds and uncertainty on every side, so we did not at all feel happy-go-lucky or carefree, but that's how this lady saw us. I took it to mean that the Lord somehow endowed us with enough faith to believe that things would work out in spite of the many obstacles, and perhaps so we could be an encouragement to others.
Coming up, another Ukrainian wedding and more car trouble.
Chapter 9 ~ Black Sea Adventures ( TOC )