Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

"She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support for my ministry this past year.
I am so grateful for your partnership in the Gospel that makes it possible for me to serve in Ukraine.
Praying He blesses you and your family this Christmas and in the New Year 2013!

With love, 

Denise

Remodeling in Petrovka

Thank you to everyone who gave to our remodeling project in Petrovka. God supplied exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine. Thanks to you we have a beautiful place to worship God and to share the love of Jesus. Thanks to you we have started a new church plant in a town with no evangelical church. May God repay you for your generous gifts.

Our New Church in Petrovka

Our Kitchen

Sunday School Room

Church Opening - November 17-18, 2012

We had a day of Thanksgiving on Saturday, November 17 to thank God and our neighbors and friends who had participated in our remodeling project of our new church. We had a wonderful celebration giving thanks to God and fellowshipping together. On Sunday, November 18 we had our first worship service in the morning and in the afternoon we had our first youth fellowship. Rejoice together with us!

We had

November 17, 2012

Yum-Yum!!!

Some of our Visitors

First Worship Service

First Youth Meeting

Youth Meeting

Lots of Fun!

Children's Club

On Saturday, November 24 we held our first children's meeting. We had puppets, games, refreshments and a Bible story and verse. We had a few grandmothers bring their grandchildren the second week. Please pray for our team as we share Jesus with these precious children.

Pray for the People in Petrovka

We are so thankful to the Lord for the one family that is attending our services regularly. Valik and his wife, Lila and their children, Sergei, Vlad, Olga and Sasha. Lila is expecting a baby this week. This family is actively inviting others to attend all the meetings we have each week. Pray that they will come to know the Lord.



Lila and Valik

Maxim worked with us from the beginning of our remodeling in June until we finished in November. He attended our first youth meeting and afterwards commented that it was the best day of his life. The following week he came to our church service and said that he felt good in his soul. Please pray for Maxim and his family to come to know Christ.


Maxim

Pray for Maria who faithfully attends our services. Her husband is partially paralyzed from a stroke and her son has mental problems due to being beaten. When we invited Maria and her husband to come to our opening and first service we gave them an invitation that had a Bible verse on it. Maria's husband, Michael, wanted a Bible to check out the verse: John 14:6. Pray that Maria and Michael will understand the truth of the Gospel and come to know Jesus Christ - the Way - the Truth - and the Life.

My Church Plant Team is Growing...

A year ago my team consisted of Victor, Oleg, Nastya, Lena and myself. In May, God provided another new member, Zinove. In the fall, God blessed us with two new members, Rezo and Zhenya.
We have been praying that God would provide a family to join our team and on Thanksgiving Day, Misha and Tanya shared that they wanted to be on our team. Misha studied at the Technical College in Petrovka. They have a son, David, who is five years old. Misha is a deacon and has been blessed by his pastor and the senior pastor for the Odessa region so that he can serve us communion. We have another couple, Vadim and Nellie, who have agreed to help us from time to time. Oleg's brother, Igor, has been faithfully working with us, although he is not yet a believer. Please pray for his salvation. It seems impossible to get us all together in a photo, so here are a few photos of my team. Please pray that God will give us unity and love for one another and that we will be shining lights for Jesus. Our team consists of five nationalities: American, Bulgarian, Georgian, Russian and Ukrainian.


Celebrating Rezo's Birthday (He is from the country of Georgia.)
Oleg, Rezo, Zinove, Nastya, Lena

Tanya and Misha

Zinove, Oleg, Zhenya and Lena

Oleg's brother, Igor

65 Chairs

Thank you to everyone who bought a chair for our new ministry in Petrovka. I asked God for 50 chairs and after sending out my e-mail prayer letter we received funds for 51 chairs. After the hard copy prayer letter went out through the post office, God provided funds for another 14 chairs - 65 TOTAL!!!
Thank you for your prayers for the people God is sending us to fill these chairs.

Ukrainian Christmas

We plan to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas January 6th and 7th in Petrovka. We will have a special Christmas service on the 6th and then will have a Christmas party for the youth in the afternoon. Please pray for all those who will participate in our program. Pray for all the unbelievers who are attending our services that they will come to know Jesus - the true meaning of Christmas.
On Christmas Day we are planning to go Christmas caroling starting at 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. We have invited two youth groups to join our group so that we will be able to visit each home and share the joy of Christmas with them. Pray for God to open the hearts of the people in the homes in Petrovka.
In mid-January we will be having a special Christmas celebration with the children that come from poor families or families with lots of children. We will have a program and gifts for the children. Pray that through this ministry we will have the opportunity to share Jesus and invite the children and parents to our services.

Christmas Gifts

Our church plant team is praying for God to provide Christmas gifts so that we can purchase a sound system, microphones and speakers. We still need one closet to store children's craft supplies and two tables for our Sunday School room. You can make our Christmas extra special this year by providing the funds to purchase these items. We need approximately $5,000.00. If you are able to make a donation please mark it "Project Petrovka". If you are unable to make a donation, please pray that God will supply all our needs. I pray that God will provide all your needs physically and spiritually in the New Year.

Support Information

Give by Mail - Please make your check payable to TEAM and mark it for Denise Carter.
Mail to: TEAM Stewardship Department, P. O. Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187-0969

Give Online - Please click here:
https://secure2.convio.net/team/site/SPageServer?pagename=donatenow&did=1109

Thank you so much for your gifts to my ministry in 2012. I lost several supporters this year due to economic reasons. Please pray that God will provide all my needs for the New Year 2013.