The Long Run

     So the news is out. I mentioned in the last post that I want to stay longer. This is my post to expand on that statement. First though, a little history.

      Back when I first started thinking seriously about this trip, the plan was that it would last one year. That wasn't something I was thrilled about but if it meant going back to Ukraine, then I could do it. It seemed like a lot of time and I wasn't certain I could handle it. Imagine you are going to leave everything you have ever known for a place with a strange language and different way of life. Would you want that to be as short as possible? I think in the back of my mind, a shorter time wasn't a bad thing.

     However, at this point, I've been here for over four months and need to start thinking about what the next step is. I have two options. I can choose to leave when the money I've raised runs out or I can raise more and stay the full year. 

     Leaving when the money runs out was my plan for the first three months I've been here. Around the beginning of December (right now), I would start looking for a job back home. I would budget for a plane ticket and make a guess at how long the remaining money would last. Hopefully by the time I stepped off the plane, I'd have a job or interview lined up and ready to go. It wasn't until recently, though, that I thought of doing anything else.
     In talking with people here it's become crystal clear that more time is better. It takes time to build relationships and rapport. David, Pastor Max, and just about everybody else here have shown me that being here is a huge help to them. David has said on several occasions that he always needs help with English club and that he appreciates me being here. Pastor Max always planned on it being a year-long trip. Even when my missions team decided on half of that time, he was thinking of ways to keep me here longer. (Side note: that sounds a lot like kidnapping, it's not.) My plan now is to stay until the end of August next year. That way I can finish out the ministry period with the group from this year's camp. I'll also be able to help with the planning, preparation and execution of the next English camp. That way I won't have to go home and come back.
     On the other side of the decision is that I now know I don't want to be a missionary as a career. I realized that a few weeks ago at church. Way back in July, when I first arrived in Kiev, one of my goals was to see if missions was something I could do for the rest of my life. Up to that point, I had been wanting to change jobs for over four years. I don't have the attachments that many of my peers do (families, careers, houses, businesses). That means I can try things like this. Simultaneously, I can be a blessing to people while finding out if this is the new direction I want to take in my life. Being a missionary is something I never thought I would do. After I graduated from college, people asked if I was going to go into missions aviation. I told them that it was an option but I was never serious about looking into it.

     In the past four months, I've found that the missionary life is not what I want to live for the rest of my life. While I really enjoy the interactions with people and helping in English club, there are still many other things I want to do with my life. In my free time, I find myself reading about politics in the US. I have friends and hobbies at home. There are so many things in the US that I still want to do.

     However, staying for a year total isn't (at this point) a problem in my mind. I'm "in the groove" now. In some ways, I feel like I've just gotten here. To leave at the end of January or February would feel like I'm abandoning the ship when I'm half-way home. I see it every week, at every event, in every lesson at English club. My work here is helping. It's having an impact. I want that to continue and not be stopped prematurely.
     Think way, way back to the beginning of this blog. In my very first post, I listed my two main reasons for coming here.

• I want to provide a way for young Ukrainians to enrich and better their lives spiritually and personally.
• I want to live an as example so that people I interact with will see God though my actions.

 So far, I've been able to only scratch the surface of the potential in those goals. Through the English clubs, I've met and interacted with more people than I can count. Through Bible study and the Bible English group, I can share my faith and help others grow in theirs. Living as an example happens every time I talk with someone, every time I step out my door, every time I host Bible study. I don't want to leave all that behind just yet. Just like in July when I answered the call to come, I feel the need to answer again and stay.

     So that's where I'm at now personally. Over the next week or so, I'll be working on figuring out my fundraising goal for how much I'll need to stay until the end of August, 2016. If you have any questions about this, please let me know, either in the comments or by email. If you are willing and able to help support me in staying, you can send a check to my church, Covenant OPC, with a note saying it is for my trip.

Covenant OPC
1201 Yerger Blvd
Sinking Spring, PA 19608 

 www.covenantberks.org

I truly appreciate all the support, both prayer and financial, I've received from everyone so far. It has been a massive help, not only to me but to everyone I've met and interacted with here. I hope I can continue to be a blessing here. Thanks for (figuratively) coming along with me on this journey. Every page view (over 3000 now!) encourages me that I'm doing the right thing by being here.


     Lastly, and completely separate from this post, look for the Q&A post in the next few days. I finally got a few good questions I can write about.