Clean shirts- Yea- they dried overnight. Jane fixed a gourmet breakfast again, while Vasily was out the door even earlier than us to pick up supplies. Some needed more coffee than others to start off the day as the sleep deficit has accumulated. There was a disturbance one night recently after all were fast asleep, and It seems that Jodi and Alicia's room has the right acoustics to make fireworks sound just like gunfire. We all had a laugh and will leave the rest to your imagination until Jodi can tell you her story personally.
We welcome the 5 flights of stairs each morning to get our blood flowing, especially since it is downstairs. Julia our translator greeted us once again in the fresh morning air among the flowers rainbow of flowers standing tall in between the paths of the High rise buildings around us. Off we go to the main street for Vasily to pick up the whole team. Smiling faces again greet us at Studenitza as the children swing on the Iron gate with even more practiced hello. Today we throw some a curve by saying Good Morning!
Set up was quick with all saying hi to their new found friends. How easy it is to love the smiling faces of these children. For many of them this is their big event of the year for travel and vacation as their families are too busy working. For some it is the first time away from home. For those wanting to picture how many of all ages there were, picture about 45 children.
Songs started the day again. Jodi and Bronson talked about Christian fellowship in the Church, their witness by their actions and sometimes words and inviting others to church to come and see. Anna and Jane did great jobs translating and keeping their attention while, as usual the rest of us sat/moved among the children to keep order and quiet/ focused attention.
They all pretty much have John 3:16 down and we have to be selective among who gets to come and recite for a prize. This alone is an answer to prayer of hiding God's word in their heart even if they do not yet understand it or connect it to all the related lessons.
Jane, Alicia, Bronson and Cody are our Rec team. At rec, they pulled out the parachute so we made teams and just got some wiggles out. Following that we played Simon Says with Jane and Roma leading. Please don't ask me to spell Simon Says in Ukranian as this keyboard does not even have the symbols for those letters! This was followed by explaining the church is the body of believers, not the building and we all have functions as part of the body. Alicia lead Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes game
Meanwhile Michelle and Addy joined Jodi and Anna as the crafts team inside, doing crafts that align with the lessons we tell each day. By today as you might expect, the routine is becoming familiar to all, but still very exciting. Following crafts/rec we had review time with prizes which is always fun. The friendships just get better over time with the kids. Tomorrow will be invitation day. So please pray hard for tomorrow.
Once the lesson and review were over, Bronson prepped them for tomorrow's invitation. There was then some short free time prior to lunch. Futbal was again done, with even the littlest ones playing with very lightweight flat Frisbee type discs made from fiber flex wire and material. Today was extra special because there was a big cake after lunch was over. It's not that we are big on food as a team, It's just that they place so much of it in front of us with so much variety and freshness-family style. They put Cracker Barrel to shame!
After helping clean up we had a brief rest before heading out for Miniki! The air was thick with anticipation as we knew today was the day of invitation for the children prior to parents being invited tomorrow.
Upon arrival, Alicia and Cody went with Julia door to door to invite adults to the service tomorrow at 5PM right after VBS. Bronson and Jodi along with Jane and Anna each did one half of the Jesus died for us lesson, complete with Addy, Michelle and Cody holding up mountains and the cross filling in the great divide as a visual help. Jodi was great, breaking the lesson up to keep their attention by asking questions right after she taught the point of Jesus dying and being put in the grave. What a great team effort!
We scheduled rec with the older children outside first and the 8 and younger inside doing the salvation bracelet first. Then the 8 and up came in and the young ones went with Anna out to do extended rec. Just prior to joining our team Anna had just finished helping a Russian Church do VBS back in America with the same age group so she was very comfortable with these 8 children. We told her rec was to go twice as long as the invitation would be given today. So she makes sure they use the extra time by playing hide and seek! Ask her how that went- I'm still laughing. The terrain is like an old over grown area around a barn with a slight sloping hill in back. In front, by the road, but inside the fence, young shirtless men had just finished cutting the tall grass with sickles(SP?). And sharpened them with a piece of granite. No lawn mowers here- it's sickles or farm animals do the cutting here. As we moved the rec time into the newly cut area, the resourceful older boys picked up the few blackberry bush cuttings and ate the berries. Then back to the game at hand.
Invitation time.-Mike was most privileged to have the honor of doing the invitation. Today for some reason only 20 or so of the 35 or so kids were there, Accounting for the little ones outside and those that decided not to come back from rec we had the perfect number to have them sit in every other seat. Mike pulled a chair up with Jane as translator and we just got up close and personal with them. God blessed the greatest true story ever told! At the end Pastor Vasily brought the invitation home and 9 boys and 1 young lady came forward and prayed the sinners prayer. Praise God! Each of you parents, prayer warriors, contributors, teachers, mentors, and friends share in this Victory for Christ. All of you have good reason as I said before to be very proud of EVERY member of this team. They are being used of God mightily.
All for now- tomorrow the invitation for the children at Studenitza, Evangilism Service at Miniki and also an Evangilism Service at Kominy Brid!
