Recently a couple of college students from UTM went with a medical team to Ukraine to conduct medical clinics and aid in tent revival services in two cities there.

Aaron Kennedy, a senior Social Work major, and Nathan Washburn, a senior Communications major, went with a group of eight men from First Baptist Church in Martin and one woman from Pennsylvania to Ukraine for a medical mission trip that lasted from Oct. 16-26. The team worked with the Rays.

The team left Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 a.m., from First Baptist. They flew from Nashville to Washington, D.C., from Washington to Vienna, Austria, and from Vienna to Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, where they arrived on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. On Saturday, they drove from Dnipropetrovsk to Pavlograd where they held the tent evangelism services and medical clinics for the week.

“To take nine people through eight time zones into a country with a totally different culture and historical background can be a frightening thing,” said David Stephan, Minister of Music at FBC Martin, and team leader.

“However, we found great joy in the team fellowship, in the fellowship with Christian believers in Ukraine, and in discovering how common are the needs for all mankind.”

The evangelism services, which were held Saturday and Sunday evenings at 4 p.m. and Monday and Tuesday evenings at 5 p.m., were done in order to bring credibility and exposure to a small church there in Pavlograd.

The church in Pavlograd is in the midst of a building program and has partnered with First Baptist Church in Martin to raise money for a building. The tent in which the services were held was set up right beside the site where the new church building is going up and only a couple hundred yards from the school where the medical clinic was held Monday through Wednesday.

The medical clinics, held at a public school in Pavlograd and at a hospital in Bulachivka, were designed to give medical attention to those who cannot afford it. Medical treatment is available on a cash-only basis because of the absence of medical insurance, and those who cannot afford medical help do not receive it. During the four days the clinics were held, the team saw more than 1,090 people receive medical treatment, eye treatment and dental treatment.

Kennedy and Washburn helped fill prescriptions in the pharmacy as well as anything needed in the optometrist office.

They also had the opportunity to speak to an English class and interact with the students when they were invited to a birthday party. The students were curious as to why Americans would come so far just to help others, and they were then able to tell the students about what it means to have a personal relationship with God, the reason they were there.

“It was definitely a major highlight of the trip to get the opportunity to share my faith with the students there,” said Kennedy.