JANET SPEAKS

Janet was part of a team of Americans who came to do a computer outreach at the Svyatoshina Baptist Church.  Here is her story:

In Kiev, incomes average $300 a month, yet a small apartment rents for $800.  Though computers are not yet in common use there, technology is spreading in Ukraine’s cities, with great potential for computer-literate people to improve their careers.  This is one reason our team came from the Washington, D.C., suburbs to Kiev in March: to teach basic computer skills at the eLearning Center (eLC) at the Svyatoshina Baptist Church.

We also came because eLCs bridge churches to their communities.  Advertisements and personal invitations brought many nonbelievers into the church classroom. We gave them basic computer instruction as well as the good news of Jesus Christ.  Relationships that began between church members and other class participants continue to develop in a weekly computer lab offered by the church.  Believers also benefit from the instruction, both in job potential and in learning how to use eDOT’s eBible courses.

At first I wondered how we could reach people with whom we could not converse.  But our genuine concern was shown by smiles, tone of voice, handshakes, hugs, patience, and gifts.  They felt God loving them through us, transcending the language barrier, connecting our hearts.

The students were spellbound as we shared spiritual truth and testimonies.   During our computer outreach, one young woman took a translator and me aside and asked, “How do I get connected with God?”  As we talked with her, we saw she was deeply affected by the truth she heard and the love she felt.  Another woman, who continues to attend the weekly lab, said she is now reading the New Testament which we gave her at the “graduation service.”

Indeed, we were more blessed than they were!  We knew we were working with God there.  We were touched by the sincere, open hearts of the students and church staff.  I think we all look at our American lifestyle differently since we glimpsed the Ukrainians’ hardship.  Now we are asking God how we can raise funds for more eLCs and to get ourselves back there again to be Jesus’ hands and feet to the Ukrainian people.