Monday, June 3, 2013

Prayer Requests for Summer Ministry

Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support. I want to thank my new supporters who recently began to support my ministry. I lost a lot of support at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I prayed that God would supply my needs to that I wouldn't have to come to the States to raise support since we had just started our new church in Petrovka. God answered through you - my faithful supporters - and my new supporters. Some of my faithful supporters through the years raised their monthly support. I am so grateful to God for you and for your sacrifices for my new ministry. May the Lord repay each one of you for your generosity and kindness to me.

Pray for our remodeling project to be finished by the end of June. We are currently replacing the roof on our small building and remodeling the room next to our kitchen so that we will have a multi-purpose room. God provided all the funds necessary for these two projects. We also need to build some kind of shed so that we will have a place to store our tools and equipment. If you would like to make a donation to help with this please mark it for Petrovka Project and send it to TEAM Stewardship Department, P. O. Box 969, Wheaton, Illinois 60187-0969.

Pray for our teammates, Zirnove and Nastya, who are getting married on June 9. Pray for God to bless their marriage and new life together.

Pray for a four day summer camp we plan to have in the second or third week in July. We have some youth who are interested in helping us who have a program ready to use. Pray that the children will come and will hear about Jesus' love for them.

Pray for us to have wisdom about starting a weeknight youth fellowship and special events for the youth in our town during the summer. Pray that the young people would have a desire to come.

Pray for the people attending our church services to understand the great love God has for them. Pray that they will not be affected by the people who are talking against them for attending our services. Pray that they will understand their need for a Savior.

Pray for me as I visit families in our town who are attending our church. After visiting four families this past week, they all showed up for Sunday services. I am getting to know about their personal lives and their problems. Pray that God will use me to share His love for them and that they will begin to have a desire to know God.

Easter Sunday - May 5

 
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
We celebrated Easter in Ukraine late this year. We were thankful that the weather had finally warmed up and the flowers were in bloom reminding us of new life in Christ. When we arrived at church early Sunday morning one of our neighbors was sitting outside. We had purchased Easter cakes to present to those attending our services and planned to visit our neighbors who don't attend church in the afternoon and greet them with an Easter cake and Easter greetings. Since our neighbor was sitting outside I asked two of my teammates to go over and greet our neighbor and present him with an Easter cake. When our service started our neighbor and his son came for the first time to our church. We had 15 children participate in our Easter program and had invited their parents. We had so many people show up for our  service that all the chairs were filled. The pastor and some of his congregation from the next town came a little late to greet us with Easter and they had to sit out in the foyer. We had a lot of first time visitors and were so thankful that we were able to share about Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Christ is risen!!! Truly He is risen!!!
Little Children Singing about the Greatest Miracle - Jesus is Risen

Children Reciting Poetry with Spring Flowers


First Easter Egg Hunt for our Children in Petrovka

On April 27 we had our first Easter egg hunt for our children who attend our Saturday club. We were concerned that we wouldn't have a lot of children because some people in our town have started to persecute the adults and children who attend our services. They accuse them of being traitors of the Orthodox Church. We were thrilled when 30 children came for the Easter egg hunt and a lot of them came for the first time. We shared the Easter story using Resurrection eggs and sang songs about Christ's resurrection. The mayor of the town gave us permission to use the territory next to the hospital to hide the eggs. The grass hadn't been cut and so the eggs were truly hidden. The kids were so excited about hunting eggs that after we closed some of the children went back to hunt eggs just in case they missed some! It was a blessed day! Thank you for your prayers for us.



Church Work Day

On April 6 we had a work day at our church. Our goal was to haul a huge mound of black dirt into our church yard and make sure it was level so that we could plant grass. We also trimmed trees and cleaned up the outside territory of our church.



Various Ministries

On Saturday, March 16, the mayor of our town gave us permission to host a medical mission clinic at our local hospital. Ukrainian doctors from this mission see patients for free and offer medicine and referrals for further treatment if needed. We are trying to meet the physical needs of the people who live in our town. Please pray for God to work in the hearts of the people who came for medical help. We are praying about hosting this clinic twice a year.
Medical Clinic at Local Hospital
The director of the public school in Petrovka recently asked our brothers to begin teaching classes against alcohol, drugs and abortion for her students. Our brothers have been teaching students at the Technical College for two years. The director said that she knows her students need to hear these lectures now and not only when they enter college when it may be too late. We began working with the students in the 8th and 9th grades on Tuesday afternoons in February. It is a great opportunity for us to get to know the students and invite them to our student ministry.
Petrovka Public School Students 
My church plant team meets every Wednesday evening for Bible study, prayer and fellowship. Here is a  photo of us having fun on my birthday on March 26. Recently Natasha, a seminary student who lives in Petrovka, joined our team. She is helping with our children's ministry and has a special love for the people in her town. Please continue to pray for our team to have unity and to grow spiritually.


Oleg, David, Tanya, Misha, Lena, Eugene, Nastya, Zirnove
Natasha

New Believers in Jesus

One of our students from our youth ministry, Luda, repented on February 24. Luda's parents have a problem with alcoholism and recently one of her brothers returned from the army and wasn't happy that Luda was attending our church. Since his return she has not been attending on a regular basis. She recently told us that they may be moving to another part of Ukraine. Please pray for Luda and her family to come to understand God's great love for them.
Luda
On April 7 another one of our students, Julie, repented of her sins. She is very active in our children and youth ministry and also likes to share poetry in our Sunday services. Please pray for Julie to grow in her relationship with Jesus.
Julie
Alexander repented of his sins this past Sunday, June 2. His mother has been a believer for a very long time and has been praying for her son to come to know Christ for years. He was excited when he heard that we had started a new church plant in Petrovka. He began attending our services the past several months and recently began asking what he needed to do to start his relationship with the Lord. Please pray for Alexander to grow in the Lord and pray for us to have wisdom as we work with these new believers.
Alexander (Sasha)


Valentine's Day Party for our Children's Club

What better day than Valentine's Day to share God's great love for us! We had a puppet show and shared John 3:16 with our children. We had lots of fun playing hand bells, games and opening our special store for the children to purchase items with the smiley faces they had earned for learning Bible verses and for attendance.





Ukrainian Christmas Celebrations 2013

We started our Christmas celebrations in December with a party for our children who come to our Children's Club on Saturday. We played games, shared the Christmas story and presented the children with gifts.
Children's Christmas Party
We celebrated our first Christmas in Petrovka on January 7. We shared the true meaning of Christmas with the families that attended and displayed my ceramic Nativity scene that my parents made for me. The children sang Christmas carols and recited poetry about the birth of Jesus. We had great fellowship over a Christmas lunch with the new families that came to celebrate with us.
Nativity Scene


First Christmas

January 8-9 our team and a youth group from another church visited the homes in our town and we sang Christmas carols and presented calendars to the adults and candies to the children. God touched the hearts of some of our neighbors with the Ukrainian Christmas carols. We had lots of snow and freezing temperatures on those two days but were determined to reach all the homes in our town with the good news that Jesus, our Savior, was born.

Christmas Carolers

Sharing Christmas Carols with our Neighbors

We also had the opportunity to have a Christmas program at the public school and present the children with gifts from Samaritan's Purse. For all of you who participate in this wonderful ministry, we thank you and the children of Petrovka thank you!
Gifts from Samaritan's Purse