Odessa Odyssey: May 2015

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Thank You to All!!!

My Dear Friends,
I thank God for your faithful prayers and support of my ministry in Ukraine. It has been a difficult year with the continuing war going on in the eastern part of the country. People are living in fear and are having a hard time making ends meet with the inflation of the grieven and food prices soaring. Please pray for the people in Ukraine to turn to God in repentance and that they would know the peace that only God can give. It is a privilege for me to be able to serve here during these uncertain times. I pray that each one of you may know the peace of God in your lives and that you may experience His blessings in your ministry for His Kingdom.

Grace and peace to you!

Denise

Summer Prayer Requests 2015

On June 6, we will be taking the older children on a field trip to Odessa for those who had the most attendance in our club. We will be taking them to the zoo and to McDonalds for lunch. Pray for safety as we travel and for the children to have good behavior.
June 20-July 11 we will be having a special missionary emphasis in our children's program. We will be sharing the lives of Amy Carmichael, Gladys Aylward, Erik Liddel and Jim Elliot. Pray for the Spirit of God to work in the hearts of these children to maybe one day give their lives to serve God in missions.
July 21-26 we will be having our summer VBS/Camp. We are expecting at least 100 children to attend. Currently, we do not have enough leaders to run the camp successfully. Please pray for leaders and helpers to agree to be a part of our camp. Pray for our team as we make preparations for this event. Pray that God will work in the hearts and lives of our children in Petrovka.
In August, we will be having our first baptismal service for new believers. Currently there are 10 candidates preparing to be baptized. We thank God for these 10 people! We need prayer for all the preparations for this special event in the life of our church. We need a pool or basin that can be set up on our property for the service. We thought about traveling to the Black Sea or a nearby lake, but we believe we need to have this service in our town so that neighbors and friends can attend.
Praise the Lord together with us that one of my supporting churches and four personal supporters provided the funds for the 25 chairs we need. Thank you so much!!!
Also, we thank the Lord for the remodeling project that was just completed in our children's Sunday School room and our kitchen. Thank you to all who had a part in this project.

May - Update on Young Mom's Bible Study Group

Praise the Lord for a wonderful year with the young moms in Petrovka. In May, one of our moms invited one of her friends named Louba. In March, we heard about a needy mom from Petrovka who had just had a baby and was in the hospital in Odessa. We visited her and took some needed baby items to her. In May, I saw her and her husband walking to the children's playground and I invited her to come to our group on Tuesday. Her name is also Louba. She has come two weeks in a row and also came for the Sunday service. This past week I gave her the book we are studying called, "Wisdom for Mothers". She asked me for a Bible and at the same time the other Louba also asked for a Bible. It was the first time they opened a Bible and I showed them how to find the books in the Old Testament and New Testament. One of the moms called me later in the day and asked again how to find the passages listed for our homework. Her baby was sleeping and she had time to work on her lesson! What a great blessing these moms are to me! There are 12 moms who attend our group and nine of these moms have repented. Please pray for God to work in their hearts and give them strength for caring for their families.

Louba, Nikita, Bogdon and Louba
My Precious New Moms

April 12 - Easter Sunday in Ukraine

We had a joyful Easter celebration which included our children and team singing praises to our risen Savior! One of our brothers, Oleg, who came to know Christ last October recited Psalm 119 from memory. In Russian it is Psalm 118. After the service we had a special lunch and then visited our neighbors and presented Easter cakes and congratulated them with the greeting, "Christ is risen"!
We praise God that we serve a living Savior!

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

Our sweet children singing about Jesus' resurrection

Oleg reciting Psalm 119 in Russian

April 4 - Annual Easter Egg Hunt

It rained every day for two weeks before our Easter Egg hunt. I asked people to pray that the rain would stop for this one day. Praise the Lord - we had sunny but very cold weather. We had 87 children attend our hunt this year. We shared the Easter story using Resurrection eggs and also a special story from the Bible about Easter. We had special refreshments prepared by my missionary friend, Pam. After the hunt we had gifts and a Christian magazine for the children. We had 100 people total for this event which included our leaders. A big thank you to my parents for the baskets and eggs.

87 Children Attended our Easter Egg Hunt

...and they are Off to the Hunt

Cupcakes for 100

Older Group

Younger Group

February 22 - Ordination Service for Pastor Michael

On February 22 we had the ordination service for Pastor Michael Vatan. We had 78 people in attendance and special visitors from Odessa to conduct the service. Pastor Michael Pishtoy, senior pastor of the Odessa region and Vladimir Pormoskov, President of the Odessa Theological Seminary, ordained Pastor Michael. It was a great day in the life of our church in Petrovka. I am so thankful for Pastor Michael and his wife, Tanya, who are committed to serving in our church and serving and ministering to the people in Petrovka.

Tanya and Misha with Pastor Michael Pishtoy

Pastor Michael, Pastor Sergei and Pastor Vladimir Praying for Michael

Our Church Family and Guests

January to April - Help to Ukrainian Refugees

Thanks to the gifts of some of my supporters we were able to serve the refugees in the surrounding towns of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine who have fled the conflict. We were able to give food and needed items such as warm clothes and shoes and Christian literature for adults and children. We helped with food for children in orphanages and for invalids and we purchased medicine for sick children, babies and elderly adults. We were able to help more than 14 towns and villages and 1,660 individuals and families. We helped churches who are feeding 100-150 people two times a day every day. We received a great blessing to be a part of this ministry. If you would like to help the refugees in Ukraine, please send your gift to the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis fund through my mission board, TEAM. The mailing address is: P. O. Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187-0969

Buying Food in Bulk for Refugees

Refugees having a meal at a church

Grandmothers receive food

Families Receive Needed Food

January 7 - Ukrainian Christmas Celebration

We had a special Ukrainian dinner on Christmas Eve that included vareniki, stuffed with potatoes and kutia, a sweet grain pudding. We had over 50 people who attended the evening and we shared about Jesus being born and the reason we celebrate. We sang Christmas carols and lit candles to represent Jesus being the "light of the world." It was a wonderful evening with our church family and friends.
On January 7 we celebrated Jesus' birthday. We had over 63 people who attended our Christmas service. We shared the Christmas story using ceramic figurines that my parents made for me one year for Christmas and they had the set shipped to me for a surprise Christmas gift. After the service some of our church family visited our neighbors and sang Christmas carols. It was such a cold day that they didn't stay out very long. Afterwards we had hot tea and hot chocolate and fellowshipped together. It was a Merry Christmas for all!!!

Our Children

We had 63 people on Christmas Day

Sharing the Christmas Story using ceramic figurines my parents made for me.

Singing Christmas Carols to our Neighbors (It was REALLY COLD!!!)

January 2 - Winter Day Camp

This was the first year we tried a one day winter camp for our children. We had a really great time sharing the Christmas story using puppets, making Christmas cookies and Christmas cards for the children to take home to their families. We had a special lunch for our children and a special snowman lollipop for each child to take home along with their cookies and Christmas cards.

Sharing the Christmas Story using Puppets

Mixing up a Batch of Christmas Cookies

Ready to Bake

Beautiful Christmas Cards

Snowman Lollipops

2015 New Year Celebration

Two days before the New Year Odessa had one of the worst snow falls in years. The roads were piled with snow and we were concerned we wouldn't be able to get to our church. We had lots of people praying that the roads would be cleared. Praise God that on December 31 in the morning they cleared the roads. There was only one lane available but our team was able to meet the New Year with all the new believers in our church in Petrovka. Most of the families who attended said it was their first time to bring in the New Year without alcohol. We had over 50 people attend and a few of the husbands of the ladies in our young mom's group. We had a really nice dinner together, played games, sang songs and prayed together as a church family. Since the Ukrainian "Santa Claus" referred to as "Grandfather Frost" brings gifts on the New Year, we had special gifts for the children.

Alonya, Oleg and four of their children

Vova and Valentina with daughter, Karina

Valik, Dema, Nastiya, Sasha

Oleg was Our Emcee for the Evening

New Believers

In the Gospels it speaks about the crowds being amazed about what Jesus was doing. I can say the same for our church in Petrovka. We continue to see men, women and children repent and all we can say is "we are amazed and are glorifying God for His marvelous working in the lives of the people in Petrovka." "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."