On the morning of the departure of our trip we walked down a full 3 flights of stairs, luggage in hand, not wanting to leave. As we came down those last 4 steps we were greeted by the campers, their mothers, and the ukrainian volenteers. The amount of thank you's and we love you's was overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. Campers and mothers that we thought we didnt even impact were hugging us and crying. One of the campers, Oksana, who has mental disabilities and was in me and Natalie's group was among the people who we thought did not understand why we had come in the first place. But oh my goodness, we were so wrong about her. I will never forget the feeling of her sobbing on my shoulder. The one thing that she said to Natalie and I was "Thank you for coming all the way to Ukraine just to be my friend. I love you." That is exactly why we went to Ukraine... was to show them what it means to love them as a friend, as family. But that was not the only beautiful thing that happened as we left. As we loaded the bus to leave, the oldest grandmother at the camp waved with wet eyes and when we pulled around the corner we saw the beautiful image of everyone gathered outside the camp gates waving to us. This beautiful image is not one that i can even begin to paint for you with words...... I guess the best way to describe it is that at that moment i knew that when my time is over here on earth and I die and go to heaven, I will see those same smiling faces welcoming me into the gates.
Now, it has been a full month since our trip to Ukraine. After such a powerful trip it takes a long time to process everything that happened. However, like most trips, the buzz of the experience is starting to wear off and I am finding it more and more difficult to remember details, names, and activities from the trip. Although this is starting to take place, I know that the most important things that I learned and experienced will stay with me forever.
There is so much that I wish I could tell you about this trip, but there are no words to describe the works of God that we saw. However, I can tell you how this trip has impacted me. In the last post I talked about giving my voice away and in the past few weeks I have been using my voice to glorify God. I am happy to tell you that I have not been taking my gifts for granted and i will continue to look for more opportunities to use them. For those of you who do not know, I want to become a teacher. Over this past year I have really struggled with exactly what I want to teach (as college is drawing near i need to be thinking about these things). But I think that struggle is over as I have possibly come to a conclusion. I want to be a special education teacher. However, I am still keeping my eyes, ears, and heart open to what God wants me to do. And who knows... maybe He wants me to get into the "Mission to Ukraine" ministry!
Anyway, I hope that through this blog I have communicated to you just a small amount of the glory and love of God that I experienced in Ukraine. Thank you for all of your prayers, love, and support. Each one of you has been a blessing.
-Ashley (:
