Catherine: Why am I in Ukraine?

I have heard about Ukraine since I was small. I had two Ukrainian great uncles who came to England during the Second World War. They stayed and ended up marrying two of my grandmother’s sisters.  As a child, I remember going to visit one of them who worked as a farmer. My Aunt made dumplings and I remember being struck by the fact that the toilet was outside. It was all a great novelty for me! My other great uncle gave me a typical Ukrainian cross, a Ukrainian doll and a handmade painted egg as presents when I was little.

As a teenager I read newsletters from “Aid to the Church in need” which my mother received. I discovered the reality of persecuted Christians in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe generally. I both admired them and pitied them. But the Iron Curtain made it seem a reality that was very far away.  I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall and the hope that I felt that Europe would no longer be divided. A whole new world was opening up. Looking back I can see how God was preparing me to come here. I was attracted by Eastern Europe even before I felt the call to be a missionary.

Years later I joined a missionary community but they didn’t have a presence in Ukraine so I never really thought about it as a possibility. The only choices were Poland and Russia where we had communities. But then the Polish community started organizing missions in a town in Ukraine and the priest who worked there came to Argentina, where I was at the time, and encouraged us to found there.  I was really interested but I didn’t know if the community would take me seriously especially as I have a difficulty with languages.

In 2007 a group of our missionaries took the step of founding a community in Ukraine. I wasn’t in that first group but at the end of 2010 after finishing off my theology degree I finally arrived!  I felt at home straight away. Everything started to fall into place. The call became clearer - to help people get back their roots of faith and rebuild their country with new values. I know it will be a long process. It involves learning a new language and getting to know a new culture. But there’s time and I feel like I’m on the right path and God will lead the way and show us where he wants us to be.