Pray for Me

Have a Happy Summertime!!!

My Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers for our ministry in Petrovka. God has been answering your prayers and we have seen many people growing in the Lord and many who have come to know Jesus as their Savior. Thank you for persevering in prayer for the people in Petrovka and especially for the young moms who attend my Wednesday Bible studies. There are currently five moms from my group who are planning to be baptized on August 21. Please pray for Ira, Alona V.,  Victoria,  Alona and Natasha. Alexandra and Lena are two other ladies who are preparing for baptism as well. Pray for them as they make this important step in their lives to walk with the Lord.
Please pray for me as I have extra responsibilities this summer and I am feeling really tired. Just yesterday I opened up an e-mail and the title was "I Will Give You Rest". I was reminded of the verse from Matthew 11:28-30 - "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Pray that I will make time to BE STILL before the Lord and renew my strength. My word for this year is ABIDE. Pray that I will abide in Him and bear fruit for His glory this summer.
Please note that my mission board has a new mailing address for contributions:
TEAM, P. O. Box 1986, Grapevine, TX 76099-1986
May God give each one of you a fruitful and restful summer.
With much love,
Denise

Praises and Prayer Requests

- for wonderful Ukrainian Christmas celebrations and for three young husbands who attended our New Year celebrations with their wives who come to the young mom's group.
- for five moms who had their children blessed in our church this year.
- for new babies, Sarah and Vova.
- for the 102 children who attended our Annual Easter Egg Hunt.
- for a great visit with my friends from Calvary Church, Marv and Dawn Snedeker.
- for the salvation this year of Lera, Sasha G., Dima, Sasha, Radik, Valik, Victoria, Lena, Alona, Lida, Ira and Igor.
- for Oleg and Alona's marriage being blessed in our church.
- for new people attending our church thanks to the dental ministry for our children in Petrovka.
- for the new sport, Floorball, which is drawing new youth to our church.

Pray for Sergei, Vova and Dima to be open to the Gospel. Pray they would have a desire to attend church with their wives who have come to know the Lord.
Pray for God to provide a babysitter this fall to watch our small children for our young mom's group.
Pray for my daddy to know God's will about his future living situation which could mean a possible move to be nearer by sister and her family in Florida.
Pray for some of our adults who are starting to have dental work done.
Pray for my summer intern, Courtney Hoekwater, as she ministers to our children, youth and adults.
Pray for our summer camp coming up July 26-31. Pray for God to work in the lives of our children and that they will be open to hear the Gospel and come to know Jesus.
Pray for the seven ladies who are preparing to be baptized on August 21.
Pray for wisdom for our church plant team as we are praying how we can minister to the adults and children in the village, Alexandrevka, which is near Petrovka. We will be picking up 12 children from this village to attend our summer camp. Pray for fruit from this effort to share the Gospel with children who don't have a church in their town.
Pray for God to provide new teammates as our ministry continues to grow.

Summer Camp 2016

Please pray for our team as we make preparations for our summer camp coming up on July 26-31. We are expecting approximately 120 children this year. Our theme is "If You Want to be Healthy". We plan to have a dental hygienist come and share how to care for their teeth and someone will share about personal hygiene. The first day of camp is about the epidemic of sin. The second day is a vaccination against laziness. The third day deals with pricks of envy. Day four is therapy for disobedience and the fifth day is x-ray for pride. Please pray for our leaders, helpers and cooks as we minister to our children in Petrovka. We are inviting children from a village close to Petrovka this year. The children in this village don't have a church and some of them may be hearing about Jesus for the first time. Pray for God to work in the lives of our children and that they will be open to hear the Gospel and open their hearts to Jesus.

Courtney Hoekwater - My Summer Intern

A big welcome to Courtney who is from one of my supporting churches. She has been to Ukraine at least six times on short term mission teams. Courtney has a special love for Ukraine and expressed a desire back in December to return to Ukraine for ministry. Praise the Lord that she arrived on July 7 and will be here ministering with our team in Petrovka for almost seven weeks. So thankful for her sweet spirit and willingness to help out in any way. Pray for Courtney as she adjusts to the Ukrainian culture. Pray that God will use her as she ministers to children, youth and adults.

Courtney

Courtney

Floorball Competitions in April and June

Praise the Lord for our new sport ministry Floorball. We have about seven new boys attending our church thanks to this outreach. In April our youth were involved in a competition in a nearby town and our young people came in first place. In June we had a Floorball competition in Petrovka and three professional floorball players from east Ukraine came to lead the competition. The director of our public school in Petrovka gave us permission to use the gymnasium and she asked one of the cooks to prepare lunch for the 85 students who were competing. We are so thankful for her willingness to open the school up for us. Our older team came in first place and our young team came in fourth place. It was an exciting day for our youth. Please pray that God will use this sport ministry to reach young people for Christ. My teammate, Oleg, leads this group and he starts training off with a message from the Bible using character traits of a believer.

First Place Winners on April 23

Our Petrovka Team

Professional Players in White - Denis, Andrew and Michael

Our Two Petrovka Teams

Dental Ministry to Children and Adults

My teammate and I became concerned last fall when we began to notice that a lot of our children who attend our Bible club have serious problems with their teeth. We were able to contact a children's dentist who agreed to help us fix their teeth. We have one mother and another young family who began attending our church services due to this new ministry. At our church camp this summer we will be having a dental hygienist come and talk to the children about how to care for their teeth. A big thank you to Jim Winslow, Marv and Dawn Snedeker and Jenna Hoekwater who prepared dental packets with toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss for the children. We are starting to work with some of the adults in our church who also have serious dental problems.
Pictured below are some of the children who have had dental work done:

Olga

Nicolai

Dima

Inna

Radio

Eugene

Children's Bible Club Birthday Party

On our last Children's Bible Club meeting in May we had a Birthday party celebrating all our children's birthdays. We shared from the Word of God how each child was created by God and how much God loved them. We played games where they could win prizes and had hotdogs and cake. We also awarded prizes to the children who had perfect attendance and each child received a small gift and balloon to take home. Our children look forward to this end of year party.

Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Misha and Sasha enjoying Cupcakes

Happy Birthday to our Children

First Wedding in our Church - May 22

One exciting thing that happened in our church recently is one of our families decided to have their marriage blessed in our church. In America couples are allowed to officially get married in a church. In Ukraine a couple must first be married by the government and then they can decide whether or not to have their marriage blessed in the church. This couple has six children and we celebrated their wedding on May 22.  Please pray that God will strengthen their marriage with Christ being the center.

Our pastor, Misha, blessing Alona and Oleg

Oleg, Alona, Daniel, Nastia, Sarah, Kuril, Ella and Sasha

Celebrating with Oleg and Alona

Easter Evangelization with Marv and Dawn

We are so grateful for our friends, Marv and Dawn, who shared with our young families the day after Easter about how to have a strong marriage. They used the Scripture from Ecclesiastes 4:12 that talks about a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. They used a wonderful illustration using rope and a gold rope intertwined to represent Christ as the third strand. Everyone in our church fell in love with Marv and Dawn. Thank you my dear friends for visiting us and sharing your lives with us!

Dawn sharing her testimony

Cord of Three Strands

Easter Celebration on May 1

We had a late Easter in Ukraine this year. I was in the States for Easter on March 27 and while I was there 10 people repented here in Ukraine on that day!!! What a glorious Easter! Praise the Lord for the salvation of Sasha G., Dima, Sasha, Radik, Valik, Lena, Alona, Lida, Ira and Igor. On Ukrainian Easter one of my young mom's, Lera, repented. Praise the Lord!!!
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead took on new meaning for me this year after my mother died. I am convinced more than ever that the Word of God is TRUTH and the hope we have in Christ truly gives us eternal life with Him. Praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!!!

Our Children's Choir

Our Future Church Leaders!

Tanya and Denise Singing about Jesus Resurrection

Lera came to know Jesus on Easter Sunday, May 1

Denise and Lera

4th Annual Easter Egg Hunt

We were blessed this year with 102 children and two babies at our Easter Egg Hunt. I'm so thankful for my friends, Marv and Dawn Snedeker, who came to visit and helped us fill 1,265 eggs for our hunt. One of my missionary friends made over 100 cupcakes for refreshments. We shared the Resurrection eggs with our children and the story of Peter denying Christ three times after He was arrested. The children had a great time and went home with candy and a magazine about Easter and a coloring book with the story of Jesus death and resurrection.

Marv and Dawn with me filling easter eggs

Our small children ready for the hunt

The Hunt is ON!!!

Our older children waiting for the hunt

Two of my young moms helping prepare refreshments

Lera and Olga with their sons

In March My Sweet Mother Went to be with Jesus

On March 16 I got a phone call from my sister letting me know that my mother was in the hospital and in critical condition. She told me that if I didn't get there soon I may not see my mother alive. I reserved a ticket at 11:30 pm and left the following morning. I arrived in Atlanta on March 17 and went directly to the hospital. My mother was resting and I went back the following day and she was doing better. The nurses said she had definitely improved. I was able to talk to her and was so thankful for the time I had with her. On Friday she took a turn for the worse and went into a coma and passed away on March 22 at 5:30 am. I stayed with my mother the whole night and one of my best friends stayed along with me. I spent time with my daddy after the funeral helping him to take care of financial and business things. Please pray for my daddy as he has expressed that he is very lonely. My sister would like him to move closer to her family in Florida. Pray for God to continue to bring comfort and peace to my dad. He and my mom were married for 65 years. I'm so thankful to God for giving me godly and loving parents who raised me to love Jesus. I know my mother is with the Lord today which gives me great peace. Thank you to all who prayed and sent me encouraging words.

Our Family

New Babies - Sarah and Vova

On January 21, Alona had a baby girl and named her Sarah. We are so thankful for this new baby girl! On March 23, Tanya had a baby boy and named him Vladimir and they call him Vova. Alona and Tanya attend the young mom's group and now we have lots of babies coming to our group. Pray that God will provide a babysitter for us so the moms can have some quality time in the Bible study.

Sweet Sarah

Precious Vova

Baby and Children Dedications

Our church has been blessed with parents wanting to have their children blessed in the church. In the Russian Orthodox Church they baptize the children and a lot of my young moms were asking questions about what is the right thing to do. I explained that we bless children like Jesus blessed the little children in Scripture. One mom had told me that she was having her children baptized in the Orthodox Church and at the last minute she changed her mind and came to church and asked our pastor to bless her children. Two of the moms pictured, Irene and Alexander, are both planning to be baptized this summer. They also wanted to have their children be blessed. Our precious children!!! Pray for them to grow up to love Jesus!!!

Oleg & Alona with their new baby Sarah and other children Nastia, Sasha, Ella, Kuril & Daniel

Valik and Tanya with their son, Vova

Nadia with Victoria and Sasha

Irene with Nicolai

Alexander with Miron

Winter Camp - January 2, 2016

This is our third year having a winter camp for our children. We share the Christmas story and have a time for crafts, games and baking cookies. It was lots of fun and our children got to take cookies home to their families. Pray that the seeds being planted will bear fruit in the coming years in the lives of our children in Petrovka.

Ukrainian Christmas 2016

Most Ukrainians don't celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Their traditions are to visit their godparents and take gifts and share food together. Our church celebrated Christmas this year and our children were "Stars".  They sang songs about the Bethlehem star and the fact that Jesus was born in a stable and that the star shone brightly over the place where He lay. We shared the real meaning of Christmas through preaching of the Word and singing carols.

Shining Stars

Our Astrologer, Oleg, with some of our Stars

My "Stars"