I’m sure this is a common thought in the mind of people who work with orphans and troubled kids. It’s that wish that you could just buck the whole orphanage system, take the kid home and give him a decent family yourself. Not that the idea is always practical or possible. Well ha, I’m actually going to do it this time.

Long time supporters have heard my stories about a gypsy kid named Sasha. In my “fresh off the airplane” days, I went to an orphanage in the middle of nowhere in western Ukraine. All around me were children speaking some combination of Ukrainian and Hungarian. And then there’s this kid who’s spent his entire life in the orphanage, except he’s speaking English. Nobody around him, teacher or student, had his grasp of the language. Clearly, this kid has a gift.

We ran a camp for them that summer, and at age 14, Sasha asked if I would be his “Tato,” the Ukrainian word for daddy. I spent several days reasoning with him. A guy who visits once in while is not a real father. There’s a heavenly Father who really loves you that you can speak to at any time. I live 16 hours away and I’m just not able to give you the physical and emotional support you need. He said, “Yes, I understand all that. But will you be my Tato?”

That was the beginning of our friendship, formed mainly by cell phone and tri-annual visits. He often was my translator for my work there at his orphanage or talking to the staff there. But six months ago, I found out the Sasha was graduating from the orphanage this summer. His dream is to make translation his career, but his opportunities are too few, with no family, no job, and living in a village.

My original intention was to just take him in myself. But I prayed about it, and asked for wisdom from my leaders, and people who watch over my life. As a result, I felt like God spoke to me several times, “I haven’t called you to be a single parent.”

I took this as a “no” from heaven. But as I let it go and went on with my life, Sasha kept coming back up in my prayer time. Did I hear God clearly? I didn’t have a release to “adopt” him, but I didn’t have the release to close the door either. Somehow I was missing a piece/peace.

I ended up taking it to my team, Key of Hope. As a ministry, we’d already taken two kids from another orphanage. We are like a family. So I shared my heart with them and asked, “I can’t do this by myself. Would you be willing to take Sasha as a team? Pray about this. Understand that it will affect how we do things, especially me as a leader, and as his mentor.”

I suppose I wouldn’t be writing this if the answer wasn’t “yes.”

I called Sasha to let him know he had a home to come to and you should have heard him celebrate. Every single day he calls me to thank me and to pray with him and dream about the future. Sometimes he cries because he’s so grateful. What a cool kid.

So now I’m in the process of creating a kind of objectives list for the next three years. In addition to teaching him lifeskills and discipleship, we’re going to help continue his education. Did you know he can get a university education in Kyiv, Ukraine for less than $400 a year?

I’ll have more to share about all of this as I come home February 24^th. This is leading to the next big chapter of our ministry hear. We’ve got super big plans, not just for Sasha, but for kids like him. But that’s for another update.

¶ 5:51 AM

 Unknown said...
That is an awesome story !! i'm surprised there are no other comments. what is your main reason for being there? may God continue to bless the work you do.  

 Scott said...
James,

Love your blog and being able to participate in a small way in what you are doing. I hope to someday in the near future to be on the mission field and there is a good chance it will be in Ukraine.

What happens to kids as they age out of the orphanage? Is there any support system or do the just get pushed out onto the street? Do they often crash and burn? Is anyone doing this sort of work if it needs to be done?

Scott  

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