Dobry Den (Good day!) from your missionaries in Ukraine
Our day began with a wonderful breakfast fit for a king…and quite honestly the way our Ukrainian families feed us is like we are kings! :) All of our meals are "douzhe, douzhe smachcneh" (very, very, delicious!). I think if it were not for the super amount of energy that we use leading VBS, the miles walking in the villages inviting people to our services and the evangelistic service each night, that you might not recognize us! Ha!
We are so overwhelmed by the grace and love by our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Ukraine
So today was the first day of our 3 VBS camps. In our morning VBS Camp, a portion of our team had the joy of serving the Lord in a new village that Pastor Vasily has had a vision for reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our team met in the local community building or "club" in this small village of Nova Borova
The Lord used our team to present today's first Bible lesson on God's creation. Throughout the week, each lesson progresses through God's divine plan for mankind and His redemptive work through Jesus Christ. We had 26 children on this first day. The children were challenged to invite their friends for our Tuesday VBS. Please pray for every effort in reaching out to these children who need to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
After a delicious lunch, our VBS team began two afternoon camps with the first one being held in the village of Berezihno
In addition to this afternoon camp, a portion of the FBC Norfolk team began their first day of church camp at Pastor Vasily's church in Bilkivtsi. These children are from all three of Pastor Vasily's churches-Bilkivsti, Studynistia and Kaminy Brid. What a blessed day it was as the FBC Norfolk team along with other servants from these three churches led this camp of 50 plus children. The entire theme of the week is on the armor of God and its' application in their young lives. We look forward with great anticipation as God speaks and touches these children.
We praise the Lord for His favor on all of our camps in these area villages. We know that these are extremely important opportunities for the Lord to plant seeds and for Him to even bring some of these young hearts to faith in Jesus Christ. Please join us in praying for God to not only bring more and more children this week, but also for Him to eternally change their lives, their parents and even their villages with His message of salvation.
While the morning and afternoon VBS camps were taking place, the rest of our team headed to the small city of Ihrshansk Pastor Vasily has such a heart for helping other Baptist pastors in this region of Zhytomyr and so our team's efforts were welcomed by Pastor Sergey in Ihrshansk. This small city or large village has a strong Greek Orthodox influence and of course we were met with some resistance, but all in all, most of the people we invited were open to us.
Well, God is so good and you have to know that He heard your prayers because as we drove up to the cinema building there were many people already waiting for our arrival. When we started the service there were over 200 people in attendance. Wow! What a joy it was when our team began to sing and the presence of the Lord began to inhabit our praise. The Lord greatly used your missionaries as they testified and exalted Jesus Christ. All of the many days and hours of learning our songs in Ukrainian and Russian have been blessed of God too. We continue to hear from the Ukrainians how well we sing songs in their language. We know anything we have done or been able to do is because of God's faithful anointing and blessing.
As the service continued, the Lord greatly used Addison Hockman as she shared her journey with Christ and even how the Lord had used Shari Griffin in her conversion when we were serving at FBC Norfolk years ago. Oh how the Father moved in and through Addison as she testified to the many lost people in attendance. God also used Gail Kynett as she shared of God's grace and her conversion experience through Jesus. And after a beautiful song, "He Still Saves" by Mary Purington and our team, Mike Kynett, proclaimed the simple but powerful message of Christ from John 3: 16. At one point in his message, Mike had all of the people repeat the words of Jesus Christ and had them insert their name in the place of "for God so loved the world" to "God so loved Inna etc". Folks, to hear these people quote this verse with their name inserted was overwhelming. Without a doubt, God planted seeds in many hearts and lives.
When the invitation came, over 50 boys and girls, teens and adults came forward indicating that they were repenting and turning their lives over to our loving Savior. What a mighty God we serve! After the service, an elderly follower of Jesus Christ told us through the interpreter that she had been praying a long time for God to touch her town. In addition, Pastor Sergey shared with Pastor Vasily that this town for so long had been very spiritually "dark". He said that during the service he sensed God lifting that darkness and doing a new work in this town. So please pray for God's Spirit to continue what He began tonight.
Well, following this service, our team continued ministering to many, many children and teens by teaching them about and helping them with making salvation bracelets. Just think about it…children going around town explaining to others the significance of each color of the beads on this gospel witnessing tool! Wow! To God be the glory!
So prayerfully you realize even more what your faithful prayers mean to us. God is at work in and through you just as He is in and through us here in Ukraine
In Christ Alone,
Your Ukraine Mission Team
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” Jesus (John 17: 20 NLT)
