SPEAK UKRAINIAN WITH US!

Do you ever have those days, or just those moments, when you so very much miss the life you used to live?  The "you" you used to be?  That time when?  

Today I really missed Ukraine.  Living there, the people, the language, the food.  I don't so much miss the "me" I was while I was there.  If you know my story,  you'd know I got pretty messed up, but

there was an aspect of my life there that I desperately miss.  I know I've written about this before, so humor me here.  These things come in waves for me.  Today could be a result of a weird dream I had last night about a friend of mine and his moving to Ukraine.  I digress.

I miss walking to the market to buy fresh produce.  I miss going to Puzata Hata to eat varenyky, not-so-fresh cabbage salad, and skillet potatoes.  I miss the exhilaration and the utter privilege of the realization that I, Brittney Boatman, lived in Europe.  I miss walking around the souvenir market and buying cheap jewelry and art.  I miss how delicious McDonalds tasted.  I miss going to a cafe, ordering a fine cappuccino and tasty pastry and just sitting...because that's what you do.  I miss every other day being a holiday.  I miss Beer Mix and Desperado.  I even, for some reason, miss struggling through the no-electricity or no-water days. 

  

MOST of ALL I miss going to Christ Fellowship Church and seeing true, passionate worship.  I miss knowing the "American" worship songs in Ukrainian or Russian.  I miss serving because you want to, because it's part of life, because "why wouldn't you"...not just because you should, are supposed, or are trying to meet a quota.  I miss my friend Tanya and Yulia who just want to hang out and be with me even if that means we do nothing.  I miss being a part of something so small yet so big, so authentic, so powerful that I didn't even realize how big, authentic, and powerful it was until I left.  

I don't miss the programs or the events or the plans.  I miss just living life and seeing what happens.  I miss that kind of ministry...the kind that is real and impactful and changes lives forever.  Mine has been changed because of Tanya, Yulia, Igor, Elina, Sophia, Solomia, Dima, Max, Artyom, Nadia, Yulya, Mariana, Syava...and so many more.  It's  not because we did English camp together, which we did, or because we did youth group together, which we also did.  It's because we lived life together; we laughed, we cried, we ate, we talked, we listened, we were.  

I miss Ukraine today.