he who promised is faithful: Ukraine

After a LONG day of travel yesterday, I'm home from Ukraine! The trip was awesome. I am so glad my dad asked me to go along with the team. God was able to use the craft group at camp in ways that I would never have imagined. I was planning for about 50 kids between the two camps. We ended up stopping counting at 85 at one camp alone. It was truly a Jesus feeding the 5,000 situation with our craft supplies. I can't believe we had enough to do everything we wanted and still had some left over. God is good. Our days started in a country town called New Prague. This site was the smaller of the two camps. By the last day, I believe we had 50 something kids registered. I was somewhat partial to this camp because of the smaller size and more relaxed atmosphere. After lunch, we would head back to Alexandria, where we were staying, and have camp number two. By the end, this site had over 300 registered. At times it was overwhelming to have so many kids there, but we kept reminding ourselves that God wouldn't send us more kids than we could handle and that every kid there needed to hear the good news of our Saviour. I can say it was truly a privilege to be able to work with these kids. To be honest, I was struggling at the beginning. It was hard to go on a mission trip that wasn't to China. I selfishly have wanted nothing more than to be back there. My heart wasn't in it at first. As the trip went one, I realized that God doesn't need me to take the gospel to the nations, but because he loves me, he allows me to play a part in His bigger picture. It is a privilege to take is name to the nations, no matter what nation it is. Another thing that God taught me during this trip is that sometimes we are reapers of the harvest, but sometimes we are the other laborers from John 4.

Jesus said, "My food is to do what the One who sent me wants me to do and to finish his work. You have a saying, 'Four more months till harvest.' But I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields ready for harvest now. Already, the one who harvests is being paid and is gathering crops for eternal life. So the one who plants and the one who harvests celebrate at the same time. Here the saying is true, 'One person plants, and another harvests.' I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work on. Others did the work, and you get to finish up their work."

John 4:34-38

Sometimes, we don't see the results of the work we are doing for the kingdom. Sometimes we are just there to do the work and plant the seed. Sometimes, we don't see the harvest. However, no matter what role we play, we will get to celebrate in Heaven. Please continue to pray for the lives that we encountered in Ukraine. Pray that seeds will be planted and that a hunger for God grows in their hearts.