My Dear Praying Friends!
I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! I thank God for your faithful prayers for me over the last 20 years. God has done AMAZING things in the lives of many adults, youth and children because of your prayers.
I look forward to the New Year 2017 with anticipation of the many great things God has in store for each one of us. His grace and mercy are new every morning. May you know the wonder of that first Christmas this year as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Grace and peace to you and your family,

Denise

Pray for Natasha, Ira, Alonya and Lena who are experiencing many trials in their lives. Pray for them to grow spiritual and to learn to trust God in every situation.
Pray for our children's leaders as they prepare each week to share Jesus with our sweet children. Pray they will show Jesus' love in all their words and actions.
Pray for our new youth ministry we started in November. Pray that our team will be so filled with Jesus' love that we will love these dear young people to Jesus.
Pray for those living in east Ukraine near the war zone to come to know true peace found only in Jesus.
Pray for my home assignment from February 1 - March 20. Pray for me as I will be sharing in churches and with individuals about the great things God has been doing in our church in Petrovka.
Pray for our new believers Marina, Julie, Monica and Kolya to grow in the Lord.

Praise for our wonderful summer camp and for the 149 children who attended and for our leaders and cooks. Pray that seeds that were planted will bear fruit. One of our young boys, Kolya, repented in October.
Praise for our Children's Bible Club and the opportunity we have to share Jesus every week with our children.
Praise for our second baptismal service in our church.
Praise for the mom's who are growing in the Lord and for several who are asking questions about salvation.
Praise for the many Ukrainians who have come to know Jesus in east Ukraine this past year.
Praise to God for each one of you who support me through your prayers and giving.

December 14 - 28 I will be spending Christmas with my sweet daddy. This is my first Christmas without my mom and my dad's first Christmas without his wife of 65 years.

January 7 is Ukrainian Christmas. My dear friend, Sveta, is making angel costumes for our children's choir. We are inviting their parents to attend our Christmas program entitled "Christmas with the Angels".

February 1 - March 20 I will be in the States on Home Assignment. I plan to be in Florida from February 20 - March 6. I look forward to connecting with my churches and dear friends.

Christmas Fun

On December 3, we had our last Children's Bible Club for the year and it was a Christmas celebration. Our lesson was about the birth of our Savior, Jesus. We had two Christmas crafts for the children and it was a really fun time. Who would have thought that the children would love making snowmen masks and wearing them??? We were able to give a Christmas Children's magazine, candy cane, stickers and a bookmark to each child and again present them with toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss thanks  to Jenna Hoekwater and Marv and Dawn Snedeker who sent boxes filled with these gifts.

Igor and Oleg Preparing Gifts for our Children

Super Book Christmas

Marina and Igor with our Little Children Enjoying Cupcakes

Our Snowmen

More Snowmen

And More Snowmen

All our Snowmen

Ukraine Refugee Ministry in East Ukraine

Praise the Lord for the opportunity I had to travel to east Ukraine in November with one of my teammates and with my TEAM Donor Relations colleague, Doug. We were able to see first hand the wonderful ways God is at work in the lives of the refugees and how God is using His church to reach out to help those in need. We were greeted by a pastor and his wife who immediately became like family to us. We visited orphanages and churches and met with pastors and church leaders who minister within the war zone. We were able to provide food and medicine for the refugees and orphans. Please continue to pray for those who are living close to the war zone because they hear bombings every night and it is difficult for them to sleep. Pray for peace for these people and that they may come to know the Prince of Peace, Jesus. We visited one church where one year ago there were only 10 people and now over 100 attend and many have repented and have been baptized.

Our New Adopted Family

Doug and I with the pastor's daughters and their friends

Doug preaching and Denise translating

Sweet Children at an Orphanage

Floorball Sport Competition

On November 5, our Petrovka floorball teams were in a competition with other churches in our region. Our children and leaders worked really hard getting ready for this big day. Our younger team came in third place and our older team won FIRST PLACE!!! Praise the Lord for this sport ministry that reaches out to the young people in our community and gives them an opportunity to hear about Jesus.

3rd Place Winners - Valentin, Sasha, Dima, Olga, Radik and Kolya

1st Place Winners - Vlad, Alina, Oleg, Sasha, Donna and Igor

October Fall Camp

We had a wonderful opportunity to host a team from the Odessa Bible Institute where one of my co-workers studies. This team wanted to have a fall camp for our older children and help them to get deeper into the Word of God. The theme was "Not That Way, Jonah!" Our children became journalists for the week and we all had an AMAZING TIME!!! All of our groups had to interview someone in our town and ask questions about obedience to authority and to God. Our young children needed to interview the Director of the Technical College. When they showed up there were real journalists from a local TV station and the children got to meet them and were able to do their interview. One of our older groups interviewed the school principal and our last group interviewed the mayor of our town. We are so thankful for the team who came and served us and we ended up being helpers. Our children grew in the Lord and many were convicted of their own disobedience to parents and those in authority.

Our children with real journalists who showed up at the Technical College

One of our Older Groups Interviewing the School Principal

A Wild and Crazy Game with our Children Chasing these Guys for Sweets

Every Morning our Children Had Fresh Baked Goods! Yummy!!!

Harvest Celebration and Jim's Visit

We are so thankful to the Lord for our brother, Jim, who was able to visit with us again in October. He was a blessing to all of us by his sweet spirit and generous heart. Jim especially has a desire to bless the widows and orphans and he was able to fulfill that desire. Jim has also been our summer camp sponsor for the past two years and we thank God for him and his love for Ukraine and our church in Petrovka. We love you Jim!!!

Denise, Jim and Igor Purchasing Food for Widows

Our Sweet Girls Singing

Our boys reciting poetry about Jesus being the "Bread of Life"

My Children's Choir

SUPER BOOK

On September 17, we started the new school year with our Children's Bible Club. We are using the Super Book materials which has a children's film with a robot and two children who go back in time and experience Bible stories in person. We had 80 children attend our opening. We have several new leaders this year who have made a commitment to serve with us. We thank the Lord for Natasha who was baptized last year, for Sasha and Natasha - a couple from another church and for Marina, who repented in our church on September 11. We love our children and are thankful we have the opportunity to share Jesus with them every week!

Christina and Dasha

Igor, Dima and Kolya

20 YEARS IN UKRAINE

On September 2, I celebrated 20 years of serving in Odessa, Ukraine. I am so thankful for all of you who have financially and prayerfully supported me all these years. Thank you for partnering with me in the ministry. I was able to be with other TEAM missionaries on this day and we celebrated with a Chocolate Mozart cake!

Amanda, Kayla, Rochelle, Sierra, Elijah, Anna and Kurt

Baptismal Service

On August 21 we had our second baptismal service in our church. There were five people who were baptized - Natasha, Ira and Alonya from the mom's Bible study and one other lady, Lena. We also had  one young man, Eugene, who was from another small church. Please pray for the ladies from our church who were baptized and who are currently facing many trials in their lives.

Eugene, Ira, Alonya, Lena, Natasha

Summer Camp 2016

We want to thank all of you who supported our summer camp in July! It was the best camp we have ever had at our church. We had 149 children registered and 30 leaders and helpers. Our biggest day we had 127 children. At the start of our camp our children had to visit the heart doctor, ear doctor, eye doctor and throat doctor and have their medical card signed that they could participate in our camp. The doctors and nurses from our hospital came and participated with us at the opening. We had special classes with a dental hygienist who shared how to properly brush and care for your teeth. Some of my supporters had helped with preparing bags with toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss that we gave to all the children at the end of the day. We had a sports instructor who taught our children about exercise and they actually had a workout. We also had one day that we shared about personal hygiene and we presented the children with shower gel and shampoo. We are so thankful for our cooks who fed our children and leaders every day. They were awesome!!! The main theme was that to be spiritually healthy you need to know Jesus!!!

If You Want to Be Healthy

Checking out Misha's Heart!

Time to Pray

Having Fun in Happy Jump!

Our Cooks!!! Two of the ladies are from My Bible Study Groups

Best Ever Summer Camp in Petrovka!