Hey friends and family!! I'm sending this from Ternopil, Ukraine and I'm happy to see that I am safe, warm, and happy. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and are looking forward to an even better new year. I really enjoyed Christmas this year because it was the first time I reflected on how the birth of Jesus meant the death of Jesus, which meant a chance for a relationship with God. I got to appreciate the gravity of the birth of a single child because He bore on the gravity of the entire world on his shoulders. This month's song is from Maverick City's Christmas album not only because the song is amazing, but because of the interlude in the middle of the song where Natalie Grant speaks on gratitude and how it has been proven to reduce anxiety. She shares that our anxiety should not be louder than our worship. The short message starts at the 6:00 minute mark so feel free to take a listen because she speaks more eloquently than I ever could. Her words were a real encouragement for me because worry and anxiousness has been plaguing me this past month so it was a great reminder of how to combat these thoughts. This post I'll be talking a bit about the different ministries I could take part in, my initial impression upon entering a country in war, and some testimonies I've been a witness to.
Ministry Matters
This will mostly be a list like description of the different opportunities my team had this past month. It was a lot of manual labor but every day was full of many blessings and joy!
Romania
Cooking, Serving, Cleaning
A majority of our team's ministry was providing food for about 30-40 Ukrainian refugees everyday Monday through Saturday. This involved buying an enormous amount of groceries, cutting/peeling/mixing for hours, and cleaning up afterwards. It was hard, but very fulfilling work and it left us all exhausted every day.
Yardwork
A couple of us had the opportunity to help the staff in Romania with filling up a trench with dirt and cleaning up the base's backyard before they closed for the holidays. It was a good time of getting to know the staff and a way to physically use my body to bless others
Relationships
In Romania I also had a chance to eat meals with the Romania staff and the Ukrainian refugees that were living in the area. Listening to their stories and their view on war gave me new perspectives on life. Many refugees felt displaced in their worldview and didn't see any purpose in work or aspirations anymore because they had to flee their country to a place where they could not find work, did not know the language, and at times felt unwelcome. The reason the refugees come to eat meals at the base is because many do not know Romanian and it is not similar in any way to Ukrainian or Russian (which are the primary languages in Ukraine) and so grocery shopping can be very difficult.
Christmas Party
The last week we were in Romania, we helped run a Christmas program for the Romanian children in the neighborhood. We gave out gifts and performed a nativity skit for the families to help invite them into the community that the YWAM base in Romania was trying to build up.
Ukraine
Initial Impressions:
As soon as I entered Ukraine, the atmosphere felt different than when I was in Romania. I experienced a deep sense of heaviness and sorrow to the point where I felt an overwhelming urge to cry for the next couple days. After a night of reflection and prayer I realized that before coming to Ukraine I had been asking God for His heart for the people here because I can struggle with compassion and He had done exactly that as soon as I crossed the border. The sadness I felt was not despair or hopelessness but it was sorrow for the pain that God was feeling for His people. The lives that have been lost have been weighing heavily on my heart since coming here and I cannot have a conversation with someone who has not lost someone in the war. Every child and teenager has had the same Christmas dream, new years wish, and prayer request which is for the war to be finished. There are portable metal tank traps on the sides of the roads as you walk down streets and temporary bomb shelters by bus stops. Air raid sirens and loss of electricity has been normalized and most people continue to go about their daily routine. There are many people who struggle with PTSD and other mental health issues because their homes have been bombed and they have had to leave loved ones behind just to survive. In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, there are piles of burned cars and bullet holes painted over as flowers to help ease the mindset of the people. Speaking of mindsets, many of the younger generations feel hopeless about the world. They do not see a point of school or education or jobs because anything could change within a day's notice. There is no guarantee for your safety so many young adults are leaving the country which then leads to division as the people who stayed feel resentment that their friends did not stay to help rebuild Ukraine after the war has ended.
On the other side of this coin though is perseverance. The Ukrainian people are so strong in their faith in God and their country. Even when everything seems lost, there are people who remain faithful to God's promises. There is an overflow of joy in the staff here and they refuse to bow down to the war's attempts at destroying hope and happiness. Everyday that I am here, I am honored and in awe of the bravery and fortitude of the people here. They inspire me to walk in a deeper relationship with Jesus and to have that kind of trust in Him.
Telling Testimonies
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4: 6-7
The first testimony I wanted to speak on was how I saw God through my works. Most of the ministry opportunities I have been a part of have been physical labor based. From my body shape you can probably tell I was not the best worker. I was physically weaker and had less stamina than the other guys and so things tended to take longer. In the past, I would have felt inadequate, useless, and small. And on days when I did not start with prayer and in right relationship with God I did feel that way. But on days when I remembered that God called me here to be a blessing even if its in a smaller portion, I never felt worthless and felt joy in everything I did. I've never felt such joy cleaning toilets, peeling potatoes, and sweeping dirt than when I started with prayer.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" Romans 10: 17
This testimony revolves around listening and trusting in what God tells us to do. On Monday afternoons in Ukraine, our team was supposed to go out to evangelize in the town square or train station. The plan for this particular week was to hand out hot chocolate, coffee, or tea along with cookies to people at the train station and see if they were interested in hearing the gospel or in taking a Ukrainian bible. As we were preparing to leave, we found out that the person who was bringing the bibles to us could not make it and the thermoses for the hot drinks were being used for a different ministry. Instead of giving up or thinking up a new plan, we prayed and asked God for a new plan. Many of us felt that we should still go to the train station and one person on our team felt that God was telling us to go with empty hands. So trusting in what God had given us, we went with no plan and with empty hands. Immediately in front of the train station we were approached by a homeless man who was drunk. He spoke to us about his story and how he struggled with anger and alcohol addiction and how he wanted real change in his life. He had happened to pass by with this thought and felt an urge to speak to us. We had an amazing time to talk to him about Jesus and how real breakthrough can happen through Him only. To my surprise, shortly after a homeless woman joined us which I had met the day before as a friend and I were handing out bibles in the town square on Christmas. Turns out she was his spouse! It was a blessing to hear both their yearning to find a church community and grow closer with God. We hope to continue to meet with them to help ground them in a church so that they can grow closer with God.
"Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." 1 Samuel 17: 45
I learned to play violin at a very young age and eventually I had aspirations to audition for a regional orchestra in middle school. That was when I discovered I had terrible performance anxiety. I never got in once because every time I went in for my audition, I would freeze up and could never play well. It came to a point where near the end of high school, I lost my passion for playing because I felt there was no point in trying. To this day, I have never performed on stage alone because of my fear of freezing up and failing. Even in groups, I have never felt comfortable performing, singing, or dancing. My performance anxiety had become in a sense my "Goliath". Coming back to the present, I was told that I would need to prepare a song to sing for wounded soldiers. Nervous as I was, I prepared to sing the song Joy to the World while playing a guitar. Upon arriving at the hospital, I realized that there was no guitar and I was presented with two options: sing acapella alone or cancel the song. Without hesitation, I said I would just sing it acapella while inwardly I was screaming in panic. I lifted up a quick prayer and asked God to give me courage to help honor and bless these soldiers who have risked their lives. As I stood up to sing, my mind grew blank but to my surprise, the words came out and I started to sing confidently and without trembling. I finished the song and could not help but be in disbelief at how good God was in all circumstances.
Thank you all for reading to the end of this month's blog. This next week I will be moving locations to Odesa which is further east toward the Black Sea. Please pray for safety as we go closer to the frontlines of war. I also want to urge everyone who has taken the time to read till the end to spend a moment in silence to remember and honor those who have and still are fighting and risking their lives for their country. Let's take some time to take on God's heart for His people. My prayer requests have not changed, but I would also like to request prayer for healing as many members of my team including myself have come down with a cold. For me it is just mildly annoying but for others it is hampering their ability to do ministry. Thank you for the support and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year! If you so desire I would love to hear your New Year's resolutions so please feel free to message me them!
Love,
Heymin
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