THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508160223
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TRUDY CUTHRELL, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
LIFE IN RUSSIA, says Jill DeVere, offers opportunities ``to grow like you've never grown before - to never, ever be the same again.''
DeVere recently returned to her Suffolk home after a year's assignment with Mission to the World in the Ukraine. It is among nearly 80 Christian organizations to form The CoMission, with a goal of reaching ``120,000 public schools for Christ'' in the former Soviet Union and other independent states by 1997.
DeVere, 26 and single, left her teaching job at First Baptist Christian School. After completing an extensive application and training process and raising $23,000, DeVere flew to Kiev for orientation last July.
There DeVere and about 70 teammates learned of the culture shock they were about to face - transportation, food and customs.
On the third day of orientation, the Americans showed The JESUS Film to visitors in the resort area and received an overwhelmingly warm response.
``The lady in her 50's sitting next to me wept openly as she saw Jesus nailed to the cross,'' DeVere said. ``Like many others, she left for her home with a Bible.''
Once settled in her seventh-floor apartment in Odessa, DeVere ministered daily to those around her. They entertained with Bible stories illustrated on a flannelgraph, showed a film and passed out gospel bracelets.
``They loved these bracelets and responded with many questions about the meaning of the gospel,'' DeVere said.
Throughout the week, DeVere's team visited local schools and worked with teachers and staff members. Team members taught teachers ``Seven Laws of the Learner,'' based on Biblical principles of teaching.
At one school, they did a Tuesday night Bible study with teachers. At another, they met Thursday nights with teachers for a Bible study, and taught them how to teach the Bible to students.
On Monday evenings, DeVere and a friend visited with the family of an English teacher for tea time, a popular custom in the Ukraine. On other evenings, they developed relationships and established Bible study groups within their own apartment flats.
``Often, people would attend to practice their English, but then they would see the truth in Christianity and want to have a deeper understanding,'' DeVere said.
Life was hard in the Ukraine - shopping in the open market where every item must be purchased individually and nothing's wrapped; lugging groceries in canvas bags from the market, on the trolley and along the one-mile hike to the flat; searching for edible meat in a place where cow tongues and slabs of fat are delicacies; speaking through an interpreter; having in-house running water only certain hours a day.
``It is easier to share Christ there because the people are so receptive,'' DeVere explained. ``Most people are very poor, with just enough to get by, so they don't think as much about material things.''
She said, ``In their culture, the focus is more on relationships than anything else.''
DeVere said she received much from her visit. ``I really think I learned the meaning of ministry and how to be a servant,'' she said. ``I saw that the material things of this world are nothing when compared to knowing and following Christ.''
DeVere plans to return to the Ukraine in late August for another one-year term in Odessa. She still needs to raise $7,000 to finance her travel, living and ministry expenses for the year but feels confident that God will supply those needs. MEMO: For information about the ministry or to make a financial pledge,
contact Westminster Presbyterian Church, DeVere's home church:
539-0540.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Jill DeVere needs to raise $7,000 for her return mission to the
Ukraine in August.
by CNB