The Shelter Feast

As many times as I’ve traveled the world, I’m often astonished by the culture shock I experience when I enter a new space. Whether it’s driving through an unknown neighborhood in Indianapolis or entering Zhytomyr, Ukraine for the first time this October, I’m eyes-wide-open, attentive to new smells, new sights, new languages.

If there’s one thing I’ve known that brings differing worlds together, it’s food! It’s a common language. There’s such power in gathering together at the table to build relationships, share stories, and feast. Some of my most sacred moments when I’ve experienced God’s presence occurred while gathering to eat.

At the Shelter in Zhytomyr one evening, there was no shortage of stories at the table: former orphans trying to overcome the tragedy of their past worlds, Last Bell staff who give tons of sweat equity and heart each day, and the little ones, “could-be-orphans” who instead sit at the table with their young parents, forging a new way forward.

A few LB staff and some of our Shelter moms, kids in tow, made the most delicious meal I ate all week: borscht and herbed carrot salad and creamy cabbage rolls. The Shelter moms swapped recipes and held their babies, and hosted us with such pride. After the beautiful feast, they insisted on cleaning up while we Americans stayed way past their childrens’ bedtimes.

I invite each one of you to come and see the work of God with your very own eyes in Zhytomyr. You’ll take a leap and you’ll experience some culture shock. You’ll eat more borscht than you ever dreamed. But mostly, you will see the transforming power of God at work in our orphanage graduates. Our young people are changing the face of Ukraine, and I urge you to come and see, face to face, the healing power of love. It will change you as it changed me.