Woman from Ukraine tells Operation Christmas Child volunteers how gift changed her life

WALNUT CREEK – Mariya Tatarin was an outcast at her elementary school in a newly independent Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union.

She alone among her classmates was a Christian and church-goer. For the first three-and-a-half years, no one sat with her at lunch. She was the last picked for teams in gym class. She usually walked home alone.

"When I came to school, my classmates started excluding me and making fun of me for believing that God exists," she said at Saturday's luncheon for volunteers of Operation Christmas Child, a project that gives Christmas presents packed into shoeboxes to children worldwide.

More on Ukraine:'I believe in my people' — Ukrainian exchange student studying at Central Catholic wants war, and Putin, stopped

War in Ukraine:Former New Philadelphia exchange student talks about war in Ukraine

When she asked her parents why she couldn't have friends at school like the friends she had at church, they said that she might have to endure the same things Jesus did. She realized her parents and teachers couldn't prevent her from being bullied and excluded.

"The only other option I had was to give prayer a try," she said.

At first, God was silent, Tatarin said. Her fourth year in school started like the others.

But at the winter break, she and the other children in her church received presents from Operation Christmas Child, a project of the international Christian relief and evangelism organization, Samaritan’s Purse.

'God already knew my prayers and already put that special gift in my shoebox.'

Tatarin told area Operation Christmas Child volunteers who gathered at the Carlisle Inn that shoeboxes given to her and her siblings were full of beautiful, amazing and colorful school supplies, toys, a toothbrush, soap, washcloth, candy canes, crayons and a jump rope. Some gifts, like a sewing kit, were kept, while others were shared, like the makeup that was given to a neighbor.

But the gift that changed life for the 10-year-old was a yo-yo that lighted up.

She let her classmates borrow the yo-yo, which Tatarin described as one of the coolest toys in the school. She gave them erasers that fit on the top of their pencils. And she forgave them.

After that, they invited her to sit with them at lunch. She was the first invited to play on teams. She walked home with abundant friends.

Among the gifts Tatarin kept for herself were the crayons that helped fuel her creativity. The girl who had loved to draw and paint since age 4 and who learned oil painting at 8, had received a new medium to explore what she described as a plan conceived by God.

"He sent them," she said. "He made that plan so much in advance. God already knew my prayers and already put that special gift in my shoebox."

Her immediate family, comprising her parents and seven siblings, moved to the U.S. two years later, when she was 12 years old. Shortly afterward, she won $50 in an art contest sponsored by a crayon manufacturer.

Three years after moving to the U.S., she recognized the red-and-green Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes when her youth group participated in the effort together. For her 25th birthday, she asked friends to bring gifts for shoeboxes. They doubled her goal of packing 25 boxes for children in foreign countries.

'I know that many of you are praying that God will bring peace to our country.'

Tatarin told the audience about the times she believed God had helped her and her family when they struggled to get enough food in Ukraine. One night, she woke to hear her parents praying there would be food in their one-room apartment in the morning. The next day, a neighbor brought a loaf of bread to them, something she never did before or after.

"She's not even Christian, but God works through other people," Tatarin said. "He speaks to them in their conscience."

On another occasion, her parents prayed for dry food to get them through winter. Then, Tatarin said, a box of rice and pasta from a foreign country was outside their door.

Today, Tatarin is married to Ruslan Tatarin. They have a 7-month-old son Charlie. She teaches art at a public school on Cleveland's west side.

Tatarin still has family in Ukraine. She said most live in the mostly peaceful western part of the country, where they help refugees of the war that has been raging in the European country for seven months. She said an uncle is a pastor who continues to preach in Kyiv, the capital, even though he has had many opportunities to leave. He helps people get food and other necessities for people who remain in Ukraine, she said.

"I know that many of you are praying that God will bring peace to our country, and do something that clearly people are not able to do," Tatarin said. "We know that God is able to do so much. He's able to do the impossible. We're trusting that God has his timing."

Tatarin said she always had a desire to be a missionary, and now gets the chance to live out her faith with the 530 students she teaches every week.

"I could have never imagined having a more adventurous life as a missionary in any other country in the world but right here at home in Cleveland, Ohio," she said.

More:Operation Christmas Child boxes collected in 2021

More:Lynette Mahaffey and Esther Troyer deliver Operation Christmas Child gifts to children in Tanzania

She asked that those who pack gifts into shoeboxes for children put their names inside so the recipients have the opportunity to tell them how the presents affected them.

"I never thought about my shoebox helping a child find a friend," said Esther Troyer of Sugarcreek, an organizer for Operation Christmas Child in Holmes, Coshocton, Harrison, Carroll and Tuscarawas counties. She said donors may not know whether their gifts will go to Europe, Asia, Africa or South America. "If you cannot be a missionary by going to those places, you are a missionary all over the world when you pack a shoebox."

Samaritan’s Purse will collect gift-filled shoeboxes at more than 4,000 drop-off sites from Nov. 14 through 21. For more information, call Lynette Mahaffey, Operation Christmas Child area coordinator, at 330-204-7244.

Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Mariya Tatarin tells group how Operation Christmas Child changed life