What satan meant for harm God made for our good!!!!---Trip to Crimea

“God is good all the time”
Before we left the USA our good friends Dave and Cindy Bargerstock who attend Rivertree church in Jackson Twp. Ohio informed us about a team that Dave was going to be leading over to the Crimea area of Ukraine one week after we would be arriving in Kharkiv. The church has connections with a ministry in the Simferopal (spelling?) area and they were going there to do construction on one of their buildings. Being that Dave and I have been friends since our high school days we thought how cool it would be to come see him when he was there and also to be able to observe the ministry there also. It remains to be seen here why we felt all of this, but let the story continue!
After not being able to get a hold of anyone about the details of housing etc in Crimea we decided to take a chance and get tickets anyhow. Well after spending over half the day in the train station here in Kharkiv, we finally make arrangements to buy the tickets the next day. These arrangements included Jenya’s (our only staff member:-)) father helping us get tickets thru his connections. His daughter needed to accompany an important “delegation” from the USA to the Crimea? You gotta love it huh? Anyway it never occurred to me that we should just give up on the idea! We had just seen Dave and his wife a week ago in the States, so what was the big deal about going to see him now already? Well the Lord had His plans that we knew nothing about. He always seems to do this kind of stuff.
So after an overnight train trip that was the roughest I can ever remember we arrived in Simferopal. Having barely slept at all and not having been able to find out all the details about our stay there we really started questioning the wisdom of taking this trip! Now after almost no sleep, we got crammed into a marshutka (small bus) to begin the “smelly” trip to the small town where our friends were. After arriving there we hired a taxi to take us from the bus station to the ministry compound that no one seemed to know where it was. The taxi driver finally got so upset he dropped us off in the area where it was supposed to be and we started walking around till we finally rang the right bell! You can imagine the “joy” all of this brought to our hearts! Dave Bargerstock said that when we walked into the place he could feel the “joy” coming from our spirits  We did actually discuss among ourselves the option of just turning around and heading back to Kharkiv, but God had other plans.
I won’t go into all the details here but I would just like to give an overview of what we experienced while we were there. We ended up meeting and becoming friends with 10 of the best guys you could want to know. They ranged in age from around 25 to somewhere in the 60’s. They were guys from Dave’s church and were there to do whatever needed done and when I say they got the dirty job I mean they got the dirty job. Come to find out that other teams had come in the past and refused to even do what they were being asked to do. Basically without going into the details they ended up covered from head to toe in concrete dust etc everyday! One guy said that he would not have asked any of his employees to do this kind of work and they work in the hot sun paving parking lots etc. So you get the idea here I hope. These guys were business owners, computer guys, engineers, retirees etc. Not normally the kind of guys that ever get involved in this kind of work. The spirit in which they worked could not have been better even though they could have been very disgruntled for good reasons. I know that they were a real blessing and a Godly example to all of those that observed them.
They made room for us and would not let us pay for anything while we were there. We went with them on the small trips they took to Yalta and the town they were staying in. They could not have made us feel more welcome! They had no idea we were even coming and could have easily felt like we were intruding on their space and time. There were four of us Christine and I and Jenya and good friend Dr Olya. We were so glad that Jenya and Olya were with us so that these American men, could see what we call the “future” of Ukraine. Some of the nicest people they will ever meet and in stark contrast with the people that you meet on the streets here in Ukraine.
I know from previous experience that this is how God works but for some reason it always surprises me every time it happens. The compulsion to go on this trip was so strong we never questioned it and just went forward with it, but as we look back we wonder why we didn’t question the lack of commons sense about going there. After experiencing all the difficulties we also started questioning the financial feasibility of this trip. When we encountered the difficulty of the trip we were saying things like “what were we thinking” or you know “we really can’t afford to do this, but for some reason we were acting like we were on some kind of “mission” to go there. Maybe some of you know what I am talking about, when you really feel strongly about something that makes no common sense whatsoever! We had a fantastic time with all of them and getting to know them. I believe that we have make friendships that will last. After all we are always saying that God is all about relationships but then we are surprised when He orchestrates our lives in the ways that He does to bring even more relationships into our lives. Obviously all of this was a God thing but I haven’t even shared what really blew our minds.
Dave felt like we should share our testimony how God brought us into full time “mission” work here in Ukraine. The night he had planned for us to share did not work out but I believe that God was in that also. Because the night we shared with the group other things had fallen into place that I won’t explain here, but God’s timing is always the best even though we often fight it. If you know me you can only imagine all the frustration I was going thru on this trip! As we gave our testimony God moved us to tears many times and made it difficult at times to compose ourselves. That evening God allowed us to really share what He had put in our hearts and to make it real to these men. We really wanted to stress that we were just regular people like them that God had laid something on our hearts like He was doing with them also. What happened the next day will always be one of those days that I will remember how God provides! As many of you know this is a totally faith based ministry that we are doing. We feel called to be aligned with the mindset of men like George Mueller. If you read his books you will know of what I am speaking here.
We were getting ready to leave on Tuesday evening to go back to Kharkiv, when one of the men motioned me to come to him. They had just returned from the job and like I had said before were covered in dirt etc. He reaches out his hand to shake mine and passes to me this “wad” of grivnea!! (local money) This is still the hardest part of being in ministry for me, receiving from others. He says to me that “I want to support what you are doing”! When I say to you that I had no idea or even the smallest expectation that something like this would happen on this trip, well I don’t have words strong enough to help you comprehend the truth of this statement. I have also confirmed this with my wife about how she felt! It was the same. Upon further examination of such “wad” it was obvious to me that he had emptied his pockets of the money he had recently exchanged for his US dollars. The amount here is not the point but the method in his giving IS the point. He gave what he had at that moment! What an adventure it is to live like this. We really do not know where our provision is going to come from. We have some monthly support but without God prompting others we would never make it! By the time the evening was over the Lord had more than provided for our trip from Kharkiv down to where they were and home again. At one point being on the receiving end of God’s blessing brought us to tears. So unexpected was this blessing. I think this is one of those examples of God blessing us “more than we can even ask or think” which is truly the case for us! We hadn’t even asked for anything and had never even thought about it! That’s why I say “God is good all the time” even when it would appear to our way of thinking that sometimes He isn’t!
On the way home to Kharkiv we marveled at how the Lord had taken this trip that could have been a disaster and turned it around to bless us with it. I am not even speaking of any provision we might have received but the relationships and time spent with others that God has put His heart into! I believe this will be one of those times that we will often think of and remember how God works in our lives. It is like Jenya said upon leaving, “a couple of days ago it wouldn’t have been near as hard to leave but now we will miss those guys”! I hadn’t mentioned it but we had planned upon leaving on Sunday nite to visit friends in Yalta but they ended up being in Kiev so we spent an extra 2 days with these guys and it was in those 2 extra days and Sunday evening that we believe the Lord really bonded our hearts together! How frustrating it must be for the devil to always be trying to ruin our lives but the Lord stepping in and turning around what the “devil meant for bad and turning it around into something good”! Reminds me of a scripture :-)
To those “guys” of whom I have spoken we do really want to hear from you by email etc and we will do our best also to stay in touch. God really and truly bless you!!!
Love David and Christine
(and Jenya and Olya also)