As we are nearing Easter around the world, it has us reflecting on church. Here in the village, it’s not really an option to drive the 2 hours to the church in Sumy. So, since the beginning of March, we’ve been regularly meeting for our little Ivanivka home church. It’s usually just the 3 of us at the Orange Fence and Dusya’s family. Sometimes it’s all of them, sometimes just some of them. We make a pot of coffee and sit in our living room watching a sermon on YouTube, taking some time after to talk about what we each learned. We hang out, talk, play with baby Emily, the kids climb all over Sasha, and we all have enjoy the time together. It may not look like much, but in the past several weeks, we have clearly seen how good it has been for all of us. When our friend Ira came to visit recently, Dusya proudly told her, “We have our own church here!”
Vala, Dusya’s 11-year-old, has been leading us all in the way she pays attention and summarizes what’s she’s learned each week. A few weeks ago, Melissa gave her a pen and some paper, thinking she’d draw and doodle while we watched. At the end, she shocked us all by reading copious notes she’d taken and shared what she had learned! She inspired us all and since then, more of us have started taking notes. Her brother, Andre, who is only 7, is very active and sitting still is not his favorite. Even in school, he’s had issues with his reading that the teachers has discussed with Dusya. This past week he sat quietly and filled almost a whole page with his own notes and proudly took his turn to share, reading them out loud in front of us all. We’re so impressed with the things these kids are not only learning, but teaching us along the way!
We really love our time on Sundays, as we believe church is important, but it’s not about a building. We are trying to do the best we can with what we have. And right now, that’s a small house behind an orange fence with a few people who just love Jesus.