Children's Festival

Maxime dressed for a fashion relay race.

Yesterday we held a Children's Festival on the playground outside of our apartment with the help of eleven people from Calvary Chapel Pryluky. We also cleaned up the playground, added four new benches, repaired the old swings, and added a suspended balance beam before the festival. I can't believe how much we accomplished in just one day. The festival was a huge success in that God's word was taught and the name of Jesus was made known as our Lord and Savior to about fifty kids (not counting about fifteen or so that came late or simply just watched the other kids participate). It doesn't get much better than that.

Songs and prayer to gather the children.

The team had five stations with four rotating groups broken down by age. The theme was, "Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life". There were crafts, Bible Teaching, worship songs, activities, and face painting. The festival ended with songs, a prayer, and a water balloon toss. Words can't really describe how much God blessed our time with the children and with everyone from Pryluky, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Edna and Olya discussing the festival.

We were happy to see that several mothers and grandmothers thanked us for our work on the playground and for the festival. It was interesting to see how many people in the surrounding apartments were all watching and listening to the music from their balconies. A few people watched the festival from the benches on the playground, including our neighbor Olya (who also helped us out with the cooking). Olya and Natasha, the woman whose husband died last week (see post), said they both want to come to church with us next week. Praise God.

Max and Dominic uncovering an ancient walkway and border.

Max and Yana painting the street with John 14:6.

Kolya and Max replacing the bearings on the old swings.

Dasha and Dasha. "Jesus - the way, and the truth, and the life!"

Max and Sasha securing a balance beam.

Building new benches.

Testing the new attraction.

Sasha finishing the benches.

"God loves you!"

Tanya with her group on the new benches.

Max teaching about salvation only through Jesus Christ.

Natasha painting faces and hands.

Dasha, Vika, and Tanya with happy faces, literally.

"Jesus"

Maryna helping lead the kids in a song.

Water balloon toss.

You can see the rest of the photos we took by clicking HERE.