I went to Russia with an American ministry founded by an
American man who takes American volunteers to help Russians. It’s to be
expected, then, that the success stories I saw had an American influence. No
doubt there are Russian orphans who grew into happy, healthy adults without
ever crossing paths with an American, but someone else will have to tell their
stories.
My first night in Russia—at least I think it was night
because it was dark, but since we hadn’t slept in 30 hours, my sense of time was
foggy—we had dinner with four young adults in their late 20s. They grew up
together in the Mstyora Orphanage, which just happens to be the orphanage my
church, Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, has supported for 19 years.
In the 11 years I’ve been attending that church, I’ve heard the name “Mstyora”
dozens of times without knowing what it was or what the people of my church had
invested there. Yet here I was, seeing the fruit of their labor right before my
eyes. One is a successful businessman. Three are now parents themselves. There
were a brother and sister with us, and when we asked the young woman if her
brother is a good dad, she said, “Yes, he’s always been a good dad. He was a
good ‘dad’ in the orphanage.” Everyone at the table nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. One
mother said she kisses her young sons all the time and will never leave them
“the way my mom left me.” The son who was with her that night clearly adored her. They shared the funny memories they have from Mstyora—one dumping a bucket of dirty water
on the other’s head—and they talked about the love they felt from the people of
Woodmen Valley Chapel. When they found out that’s my church, their eyes lit
up. Did I know so-and-so? I don’t really, but I said I know of him. “Oh, give him
my love!” said a young man whose life was clearly impacted forever by one
man half a world away.
Later I met two Natashas who grew up together in an
orphanage. (Natasha, I’m convinced, is the National Name of Russia.) After
aging out of their orphanage, they were sent to a tech school, where,
supposedly, they would begin thinking about how to get by in this world. But
their childhood scars left them detached and apathetic, and with no thoughts
about the future beyond how to make it to the next day. Then they met an
American woman, a missionary who had responded to a call to love girls just
like these Natashas. She pursued them hard, which sometimes made them a little
uncomfortable. Once she even threatened to lock them in a room until they told
her what they were going to do with their lives. In what was primarily an
effort to remove her from their backs, they both threw out the idea of studying
English. Soon they were both studying with a private English tutor, paid for by
the missionary and her church. Today, one works as a translator and office
manager and the other as an assistant at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow. They
are smart, well-spoken, confident, thriving, and beautiful.
Last time I wrote about Antonina, the orphanage director who
kept her kids fed on whatever food she could barter for, using whatever plates
and forks her staff could rummage up from home. Antonina pieced things together
for eight hard years, and then a group from an American church stumbled upon
her great need. This Pennsylvanian church provided beds, mattresses, and new
windows to keep out the bitter cold. That was only the start. They befriended
the children, and perhaps more importantly, they befriended Antonina and gave
her the encouragement to keep at it. The orphanage slowly but surely turned around.
With tears in her eyes, she recalled her deep gratitude to “Ray” and his team
from Pennsylvania.
Time and time again, I saw that the love extended from
Americans was multiplied many times over in the Russians who received it.
Yes, we Americans are guilty of rushing in to meet a need and then leaving as
quickly as we arrived. We can be culturally clueless and insensitive. We’re too
loud, too proud, and too optimistic. But sometimes what we do works. If God’s
in it, it always works. Hope wins and a life is changed. All because someone
heard the call and answered.
My mission field is so much smaller than the country of
Russia. Right now, in addition to my family, it’s 17 little girls who I get to
read and study the Scriptures with. They all live in nice houses with parents
who love them, but the idea is the same: investing in their young lives by
teaching them the truth of who God says they are and how much He loves them. I
have to remind myself that just because it’s so easy to love and teach them—no pricey
airplane ticket, jetlag, or cold Russian winters required—it’s no less
meaningful a call. I believe that’s one of the big things God wanted to show me
in Russia: the power of investing in one or seventeen or a couple hundred
lives, of just faithfully showing up and doing what God tells you to do. When
we respond to His call, He multiplies our efforts in ways we could never
imagine. This is the Father’s business. How grateful I am that He chooses to
let us in on it.
“God will make this
happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24
(NLT)
