This blog is sponsored by the special donations made to help Life Model Works share the love and peace of Jesus with people in Ukraine! Thank you to all who contributed to the Ukraine trip for LMW. We were able to teach passing the peace in the middle of a war. Our team was active in four regions of Ukraine, leaving behind new friends, video recordings, materials undergoing translation, trained counselors and churches in Immanuel Prayer trauma recovery, old ladies weeping because they had not been forgotten, and hopeful girls.
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In Kiev, our team stayed at the Kiev Theological Seminary (KTS) where Natalia and Nataliya helped with translation. If there is a difference in how those names are pronounced, our team could not tell. Nataliya, head of the children’s ministry training, worked day and night arranging the training and coffee for 140 people plus staff. She coordinated all the staff encounters, video recordings, meals, accommodations, and coffee. Natalia, head of the Christian education department, did the translation for Dr. Jim Wilder’s teaching.
The first evening at KTS we provided two classes for thirty-five child and youth leaders attending seminary for training. KTS decided to give the entire time we were there to our Passing the Peace training for resilience and trauma recovery with children. The following day our training went from 9 a.m. until about
9 p.m. Attendance was capped at 140 as that all the mostly bombproof, large room would hold. We woke up to a loud explosion that day as a cruise missile hit a power plant about 5 miles away.
Thomas taught about the God who sees us from the story of Hagar and Jim built a brain and lead Shalom My Body exercises. Each day included multiple group Immanuel experiences. At one point, just as Jim was saying, “Ask God to show you his presence in something that causes fear,” the air raid sirens started. “That is perfect,” Jim said. The room burst out laughing.
Some of our meetings in Ukraine were live-streamed. All the KTS training was video recorded and is being edited thanks to your contributions to funding our trip. The training should be available online once the editing is complete.
Marina is another of our translators. Marina lives in the active war zone. She traveled eight hours by train overnight to reach the KTS training day then traveled another eight hours home that night. Marina was once a border guard in Siberia under the USSR, but now is helping with our written translations. We use several translators for proofreading and checking that Life Model ideas were translated accurately. Tatiana, who is in the USA, is also checking translations, looking for accurate translation and expression of the Life Model.
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We hope you enjoyed this segment about Dr. Jim Wilder’s recent trip to Ukraine. Look for the next Ukraine Update Part 3 of 4 “Testimonies from Friends in Kiev”
Donations to further the work of translating and spreading Life Model resources in Ukraine and around the world can be made HERE
