“Trust in God and be brave if you are scared” was the advice one mother had for her son during his time at the Little League Baseball World Series.

That message came from Liudmyla Ustinova, whose son, Serafym Ustinov, pitches for the Europe-Africa team this year, which is from Brno, Czechia. Liudmyla, along with her children, Serafym and Sofiia, who translated for her, lived in Kiev, Ukraine, until the war in Ukraine began and they had to leave.

Serafym played baseball when he lived in Ukraine and then played with the Czech Republic team when he moved, Liudmyla said.

“When we were in Ukraine, it was his dream,” Liudmyla said. “But not through the Czech Republic.”

Serafym’s mother and sister never imagined his dream would come true though, but he was determined to come to America. And they were determined to come with him.

The mother-daughter duo ran into problems when they applied for their Visas. They had to wait a few days to receive them.

“We were stressed about it, but finally they came to us,” Liudmyla said. “We had to buy tickets two days before we had the flight. We were stressed. We didn’t have anywhere to live.”

Social media came to the rescue. Their need for housing was posted and Brian and Tammy Peace, of Muncy, volunteered to host them.

“We were so happy they answered us,” Liudmyla said. “We are thankful for all the people that helped us.”

The people are also what Liudmyla has enjoyed the most.

“The people are very kind,” she said. “We like it so much. We want to live here because of the people.”

In Europe-Africa’s first game, Liudmyla said Serafym struggled pitching the game.

“We think in the game with Japan, he didn’t show his best game,” she said. “He was very careful, but he was very scared. It was his first time playing at this big field.”

Volunteer Stadium is a lot bigger than the fields he played at in the Czech Republic, plus there were a lot more people, she said.

Serafym also played in Barcelona and Italy, but Liudmyla and Sofiia did not go to all of the games, just the bigger ones, Liudmyla said.

After he played on Thursday, Liudmyla and Sofiia were able to see Serafym and eat with him.

“It was like he didn’t see us for a couple of years,” Liudmyla said.

Their plans now that Serafym is out is to also travel.

“There are some beautiful places,” Liudmyla said. “We just want to see America.”

When they return home, they want to tell people about how beautiful and cool America is and tell them all about the tournament.

The Little League Baseball World Series is not the end for Serafym. Liudmyla knows he is going to continue playing baseball, long past aging out of Little League.