Meet Pastor Roman…
We went to a small village about 3 hours away from Brovary today to visit an orphanage where special needs children live. Most of the children had varying stages of cerebral palsy. Some had other issues that I don’t know diagnosis for. It was a great day, if heartbreaking.
Before we went to the orphanage, we stopped at a small church across the street from the orphanage to eat our “picnic” lunch. We met the most delightful man, Pastor Roman, and his family, wife and five kids.
During lunch they played music and sang for us. It was very moving. They played “It is Well With My Soul” and recounted the story of its writer. They also played some Ukrainian traditional songs and one Jewish song.
I got the opportunity to talk to him about his ministry, too. He is a missionary from Kyiv. He and his family moved about 6 years ago. They live on virtually nothing and give most of what they have to the ministry of the church. They are also have a very active ministry at the orphanage. There are several dozen children who live there. He brings them over for church and Sunday school each Sunday and provides music lessons for them (teaches them to play the recorder).
It’s basically a one room church with a room for Sunday school. They currently have an outhouse far away from the church building. They have some people coming on June 23 to create a bathroom in the back of the church. They also going to repair the bridge in the tiny village as a gift to the residents. The total cost of the project is $1,900. Yes…that’s the total cost. It’s a no frills project.
So I started thinking today that as many friends as we have, perhaps we, together, could make this happen. Many of the children cannot walk and must be carried to the bathroom. I personally used the outhouse today…and I will just say that it is NOT ideal for ministering to these precious children. It’s bad right now. I can’t imagine getting kids in and out of it in the winter time.
Many hands make light work. Can you pitch in and help provide a bathroom for these beautiful children? Click the chipin button below to help. Thank you in advance! We can do this!