Oksana Orlik
About
My name is Oksana! I was born and raised in Southern California by immigrant parents from the Soviet Union, which was the starting point of many cross-cultural experiences. I have a degree in cultural anthropology and a master’s in spiritual formation and soul care, and it’s a privilege to be able to use my education in the field! Until now, most of my “professional” life has been in a local church setting, but no matter where I find myself, I’m passionate about walking alongside people as we journey toward wholeness (Christlikeness) together. I spend a lot of my free time taking walks, reading, hanging out with people, and thinking (also talking and writing) about what I believe about God, humanity, and our world. I’m a self-proclaimed geography expert and I want to speak as many languages as possible. I think I’m better at basketball than I actually am and I get very caught up in existential thoughts about existence. I love airports (but NOT airplanes), cooking for friends, and I’m a very mediocre small-talker. I’m continually compelled by a God who intentionally chooses human agency as a method for restoring the world, even when historically things never seem to go that well with us in charge. I’m grateful that God always extends the invitation for our participation in a global story, and that God cares about who we are becoming along the way. I’m convinced that together, we have important work to do! We get to use our unique stories and abilities to contribute to the flourishing of the world.
Ministry Focus
I currently live and serve at a place called Lungisisa Indlela Village (LIV) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. My “official” role is pastorally co-leading the youth spaces, but living here is all-encompassing. LIV is a cluster-foster care village for orphaned and vulnerable children that is home for formed families, and also has an accredited school, a church, a clinic, and various therapy and support services on site. The government places kids in the care of LIV, and here they are placed in a home with a mom and up to 5 other children. For context, many of our children are Zulu, and so are most of our moms. In addition, there is a diverse group of people who live on the village full-time serving in various roles.
It feels a little challenging to explain what day-to-day life looks like here. A lot of what we get to do actually feels small and ordinary, and we are trusting that God uses all of it for lasting, holistic transformation. As we do life together on the village, we model healthy behavior and relationships, and consistently point each other to Jesus. Hopefully as kids grow, they will experience earned secure attachment after living through trauma in their developmental phase, and the healing and wholeness that only Jesus can bring. We have professionals that obviously play a really huge role in this on the village, but we also see it as a family responsibility to contribute in these ways. We spend a lot of time in prayer, interceding for situations that seem impossible and circumstances that feel like they don’t have any solutions. We're trusting that all of us, kids and adults, would continue to grow in loving and being loved by the Father.
My role includes the youth pastoral spaces, so things like Sunday services geared toward teenagers, our discipleship process, our version of “small groups,” as well as relational and social spaces for teenagers on the village. My absolute favorite part of my role is building relationships with the teenagers. Once they are out of school for the day, I basically spend all my time finding ways to hang out with them. I play a lot of basketball and tennis, go for many walks, take groups to swim at our dam, help with homework, watch school spelling bees and go to rugby games. I stop by to have tea or coffee with moms, and find myself staying for dinner at one of the homes at least once a week. True transformation only happens in the context of relationship, and I see how this rings true here every day. It is a privilege to learn and grow together.
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Updates
Buying A Car
Having a reliable car will make such a difference not just for me personally, but for my ministry! It would give me the opportunity to go off the village sometimes (which would be so nice) and it would also allow me to take moms and kids off the village for things they need and for fun outings! Overall, transportation on the village is a challenge and we often need people to volunteer to drive to take kids to their sports games, etc. This feels like a huge ask but I'm trusting that at the right time, God will provide.