Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Praying Friends,
This letter is long overdue and I pray you will have patience in taking the time to read all the great things God is doing in our ministry in Petrovka. I want to thank each one of you that prays faithfully for our ministry and for those of you who have sacrificially given to my ministry - some of you for the past 21 years. I pray that this Christmas you will sense the presence of our Savior and that you will truly be filled with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. It was wonderful to see many of you while I was in the States on home assignment. May the New Year 2018 bring you continued blessings as you serve our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

With much love and gratefulness,

Denise

Pray for the ladies who were baptized in August to grow strong in the Lord.

Pray for our children and youth to understand the Gospel and come to know Jesus.

Pray for my mom's Bible study groups. Pray especially for my new moms, Julie and Alonya, to come to know our Savior.

Pray for the remodeling in our yellow house to get completed soon.

Pray for the funds to finish the remodeling and for furniture for the classrooms.

Pray for our Sunday services that the Spirit of God would move in the hearts of those who aren't believers.

Pray for new leaders to join our ministry in our Children's Bible Club.

Pray for new people to attend our New Year's and Christmas celebrations in our church.

Pray for the husbands of the moms attending the Bible studies. Pray that they will be drawn to the Savior through the changes in their wives.

Pray for the team from one of my supporting churches in Sarasota that plan to come and work with us  March 30 through April 9. They were supposed to come in September but had to cancel due to the hurricane.

Praise for my churches and individual supporters that continue to faithfully pray and support our ministry in Petrovka!

Praise for our 80 children who are attending our Children's Bible Club on Saturdays.

Praise for the young ladies who were baptized in August.

Praise for safety on the roads.

Praise for the provision of the Yellow House!

Praise for our one new leader, Eugene, who joined our Children's Ministry on Saturdays.

Praise for five years in Petrovka and for all the great things God has done!

Praise for the two new moms attending the Bible study.

Praise for the great team of leaders who serve with me in Petrovka.

Five Year Birthday Celebration in Petrovka Church

On November 19 we had our five year birthday celebration of our church in Petrovka. We combined this special day in the life of our church with a day of Thanksgiving. There were 70 people in attendance and our children's choir participated in the program. We are so thankful for everyone who supports our ministry in Petrovka and are looking forward to this New Year in the life of our church. We see God at work in the lives of our children, youth and adults. Pray for a great harvest in Petrovka.

Ukraine Refugee Ministry

We had the privilege to visit east Ukraine three times this year. Our last visit was November 9-12. We were able to help 12 churches with medicine, food and clothing for refugees. Some of these churches are located inside the Russian occupied areas. One of the churches had an evangelistic outreach while we were there and 15 people came to know the Lord. I am so thankful for those who give so generously to help the refugees.

Pastor Igor

An Evangelistic Tract was given to all in attendance

Handing out Food Packets for the Refugees in Need

Opening of Children's Bible Club

We got a late start on our Children's Bible Club opening because we were having remodeling done in our main building. We had our opening day on October 21 and over 80 children were in attendance. We invited a group of young people from one of our churches in the region and they came and provided entertainment with making bubbles of all sizes and making popcorn and cotton candy for our children! What a great day! Our children were so excited to be back with us. We will be using Child Evangelism Fellowship materials this year and already we are seeing some great results in the lives of our children. Pray for our leaders to love our children and lead them to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yellow House and Yellow Brick Road

The Lord surprised us with a wonderful answer to prayer the first week in July. We had been praying about building a new building or somehow expanding our facilities in Petrovka because of the need for more space, especially for our children's program. Our next door neighbors in Petrovka decided they were going to sell their house and approached us to see if we were interested. We were interested, however, we didn't have any funds to make such a purchase. After answering some questions asked by a mission about how we would use the building, God gave us the funds to buy this house. We were AMAZED and GRATEFUL for how God was answering our prayers. We purchased the house on August 24 and are currently doing major remodeling inside the house and we are putting in cement tiles around the house so that our children can follow the yellow path to the classrooms we will be using for our children's Bible club. Please pray for the funds needed to finish the remodeling, the yellow brick road and for tables and chairs needed for our classrooms. We need four tables and 40 chairs. If you would like to purchase a chair for a child, the cost is $10.00 for one chair. Please send your gifts to TEAM and mark it for the Yellow House Project. A little side note: I inherited a dog, a cat and two kittens that were left at the house.

The Yellow House

The yellow brick tiles will be in front of the house with a gate opening from our church

The Yellow Brick Road may look similar to this but brighter

A White Chair for $10.00

Meet Bim

Meet Macyana (Momma Cat)

Meet Belka and Bella

Baptismal Service on August 27

Our Petrovka Church had our third baptismal service on August 27. We had four young ladies who were baptized this year. Alonya and Tanya are two of the moms from our Bible study group. It was a great celebration of how God is working in the lives of these ladies. Please continue to pray for Youla, Marina, Alonya and Tanya that they will grow in the Lord and be faithful.

Youla, Marina, Tanya, Alonya

Tanya's Baptism

Alonya's Baptism

Praise the Lord for these New Believers!

Summer Camp August 15-20, 2017

We had an Indian theme at our camp this summer in Petrovka. Our children studied from the Book of James and learned about how to handle trials, to be doers of the law and not hearers only and the importance of controlling our tongues. We had 127 children registered this year. We had 10 group leaders and each leader had a helper. Thank you to everyone who supported us!!! At the end of our camp we had a lot of new parents come for our closing program and I was able to talk with some of the young moms about coming to our Bible study in the fall. Praise the Lord for another opportunity to share Jesus with our children in Petrovka.

Mission Accomplished

Can you find our leaders?

Summer Short Term Team from Northside Baptist Church

We had a short term team from Northside Baptist serve with us from June 22-July 1. They were such a blessing to our team in Petrovka. They served us by helping to do remodeling on our children's playground. They worked for four days and then Pastor Tim, Jedidiah and Jariah left for west Ukraine and the ladies on the team - Tracy, Rochelle and Jessica, had a special event for the young mom's. We had such a wonderful time with them and look forward to future teams coming to help in our ministry.

Meeting our Team at the Airport

Pastor Tim Preaching in Petrovka

Meeting with Moms

Tracy & Jessica working with some of our youth

Rochelle, Tracy, Jessica, Pastor Tim, Jariah and Jedidiah

Having fun in Ukrainian Wheat Fields

Pastor Tim and His Sons

The Northside Team with First Baptist of Odessa

Birthday Party for All at our Bible Club May 27, 2017

Every year we celebrate all of our children's birthdays who attend our Bible Club during the year. We had a special puppet show this year and special songs and games. We then had hotdogs, juice and birthday cake! Our children love this day as they are celebrated for being special and they also receive a small gift. This is the day we announce the children who had good attendance and good behavior and they all received a trip to Odessa at a fun park in June. So thankful for the opportunity we have to share the love of Jesus with our children.