Playground Restoration Project (Phase 1)

The playground outside of our apartment

It has always been on our hearts to do something about the condition of the playground by our apartment. We have often cleaned up trash around it and tried to do some minor repairs, but we realized that it wasn't going to be enough. Vandalism and neglect have left the playground looking worn out and in some cases unsafe for the children who play there. During the summer, the playground is a hub for all the families with children and for all the grandmothers who like to sit on the benches and chat with each other.

This concrete horse slide is all that's left from the original Soviet playground that was replaced by the newer wooden structures.

Sadly, this is one of the better playgrounds in our neighborhood. Most are so badly neglected or stripped for scrap metal that they don't even resemble playgrounds anymore. These playgrounds are maintained by an area work crew, but unfortunately they do little more than pick up a few pieces of trash. We recently discovered that this playground has a concrete border around it with several paved paths, but they are all overgrown due to neglect. We were further saddened when some of the benches were vandalized leaving only a few for the older people and mothers to sit on. A few people did their best to try and repair what they could with some scrap wood, but it wasn't enough.

These wooden swings were meant to ride on bearings that have completely come apart making the swing unstable and dangerous for small children.

With the help of church members from Calvary Chapel Pryluky here in Ukraine, we are moving forward with a project to help restore the playground and fix some of the more dangerous pieces of equipment. We have been praying about this for awhile now and on March 1st, we began making the final plans and pricing the materials needed. It is our hope that our church here in Bila Tserkva (called "House of Mercy" in Ukrainian) will come together with the Pryluky members to not just fix up a playground, but truly show the Love of Christ in action.

According to some of our neighbors, this was once some kind of bridge for children to play on.

We are sure that when people see us working on the playground, they will begin to ask questions. The cost of this project will mostly be in labor and that labor will be freely given. We want them to know who we are and why we care so much about them. This will be a great opportunity for our neighbors to meet members of our church and to be invited to our home Bible study.

Several wooden rungs are missing on this structure.

Please pray that God will provide us with good weather so that we can complete the project as planned (from March 20th-23rd) and that he will provide enough hands for the labor and provide for the financing of the needed materials (about $250).

Most of the benches around the playground are in bad condition
like this one, leaving few options for the elderly.

More Help from Pryluky

Vlad, Zhana, Edna, Yana, Tanya, Nastya, Joshua, Max, and Dominic

This weekend a group of people came from the Pryluky Calvary Chapel to help us again (Vlad and his wife Zhana, Yana, Max, and Tanya). This time we focused on ways to make worship at our church better and the planning of our playground restoration project that we will complete this month. It was a pleasure to have them in our home. We had a good time just being mutually encouraged.

Dominic, Yana, Nastya, Tanya, and Edna taking a break in the park.

We were able to get three guitars restrung and in good working order, have a Friday night Bible study with our neighbors, get most of the planning for materials for the playground done, and take a long walk in the park (Vlad also spent a lot of time working on our computer. Thanks Vlad!). We ended our weekend by having Max and Yana (who are brother and sister) lead worship in our church for us. When church was over, they returned to Pryluky with one less person. We are excited to have Tanya staying with us for the next month to help serve in the church here and help us out with ministry. She's definitely an answer to prayer.

Of course we let Max and Joshua have a little fun before going back home.

From Pryluky with Love

Edna, Bohdan, Tanya, Nastya, Yana, Joshua, Kolya, and Vlad sitting down to eat borshch

On Saturday, five people came from Calvary Chapel Pryluky to help us out with worship in our church here in Bila Tserkva. Vlad, Kolya, Bohdan, Tanya, and Yana blessed us with fellowship and some help learning to play guitar for me and Nastya. Vlad also helped us to pick out a guitar that we can use for worship at church. (I don't know how, but Vlad was able to get our internet to work with our Macintosh for the first time, so we are especially excited about that. Life just got a little easier.) We are so grateful for all the help and advice they gave us and honored to have them as guests in our home. Thanks again guys.

Oksana, Edna, Tanya, and Bohdan

Our neighbor, Oksana, came over to copy some songs to a CD, but when she heard the worship music coming from the other room, she forgot about the CD and sat down to listen. We were shocked at how much she enjoyed listening. When we told her that they would be leading worship on Sunday, she asked excitedly if she could come. She was at our door dressed and ready to go an hour before church the next day. I was totally amazed at how she was drawn to the worship music and how she intently listened through all of the teaching. Praise God.

Joshua and Bohdan

Nastya practicing some of what Vlad taught her

We are excited to see how quickly Nastya is learning to play guitar. We aren't surprised since her entire family is so musically gifted. We hope some day that she will be able to play well enough to lead worship at church. She already made the first sacrifice when she had to cut her nails to hold the strings properly.

Worship at church on Sunday with Bohdan, Nastya, and Kolya

Also on Sunday, we were happy to meet a girl named Masha who joined us at our church for the first time. Interestingly enough, she found us through this blog, so I'm encouraged that God would use it in such a way. I have no doubt that Masha will be a blessing to us.

Thanks to everyone from Pryluky, we were able to have one of the most intimate times of worship we have ever enjoyed here in our church. Including the time spent in fellowship after the service, we were in church for almost four hours and it still seemed too short. We are eagerly looking forward to future visits and joint outreaches with Calvary Chapel Pryluky. We are currently working on a few ideas, so please pray that God will use us all for His Glory.

Church Christmas Party

Maxime, Marina, Ira, and Joshua

On Saturday the 27th, we had our church Christmas party where we invited people to come from the three English clubs we are involved in. Several people from our church also invited their friends and family. The Christmas party began to take life when Valya suggested that we do something for Christmas where we could invite people to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Maria and Edna

Kristina played the bandura and sang for us.

It started with Valya's idea of having a skit that would portray the parable of the ten virgins awaiting the bridegroom that Jesus told about in the book of Matthew. It ended up including several songs by girls from our church, a bandura performance, a slide show on the life of Jesus, a presentation of why Jesus is better than Santa Claus, personal testimony, and of course a slide show of American Christmas scenes complete with classic Christmas songs by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, and even Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Maria, Nastya, Zhenya, and Veronika singing

The girls performing a skit of the ten virgins awaiting the bridegroom from Matthew 25:1-13

Ruslan, Karina, Marina, and Anya

Besides being a fun time for everybody involved, our Christmas party was a cooperative effort to work together with fellow laborers in Christ. Along with our church, Ruslan and Anya and a couple from their church, Andriy and Marina, poured their hearts into making this Christmas party a success.

After the Christmas party we were all pretty tired, but thankful that everything went well and everyone had a good time. From left to right: Valya, Fedir, Nastya, Yana, Nikita, Ruslan, Anya, Me, Edna, Andriy, and Marina.

Maxime and Joshua with Fedir dressed as Did Moroz

Fedir wasn't able to join us until almost the end of our Christmas party because he had to work. It was his job that day to dress up as Did Moroz and delight the young children as their parents snapped pictures and took video. As not to be outdone, the children also dress up in costumes for the occasion.

Fedir as Did Moroz with some children

I thought it was cool that there were sleigh rides going on that day too.

On Sunday, the following day, we continued this same type of unity by combining our church with theirs for a joint service. We met at their church where I was honored to be able to share a message on the sacrifice of Christ being born into the world and several girls from our church were invited up to sing. The skit of the parable of the ten virgins was also performed again.

Regardless of what we may have shared or said at the Christmas party, I think our willingnes to cross denominational lines, put aside doctrinal differences, and work towards a common goal of making the Gospel known, spoke louder than words. In this way, no one person can take credit. To God goes all the glory.

Lord, Hear Our Prayers

This is Yulia in the center of this photo taken in July of 2007

Shortly after the above picture of Yulia was taken, we learned that she had been having fainting spells. This was later diagnosed as a brain disorder that had been left undetected too long to be treatable. Specialists in Prague and Moscow were consulted, but Yulia was told that all that could be done for her was to be given pain medication and be sent home to die. This was especially heart breaking for us since Yulia was a widow raising her daughter Masha on her own. We were devastated to think that this girl would become an orphan.

Each Sunday we began praying for Yulia that God would provide for her healing and recovery. We continued to pray for her as we got updates of her condition. I'm not quite sure of the details of how exactly everything took place, but somehow it was discovered that a procedure at a hospital in Turkey might be successful. The only problem was that it was going to cost something in the neighborhood of what the average home sells for in Central California.

We prayed that God would miraculously provide a way for Yulia to have this procedure and that He would guide the hand of these surgeons as they operated on her. Again, I'm not sure how it happened, but amazingly the hospital significantly lowered the fee for the procedure and enough people stepped forward to pay for the costs to make it possible.

Praise God that Yulia stood before us at church today to give her testimony of God's Sovereignty even in suffering. Against all odds, the surgery on her brain was a success. She last saw the doctor six months ago and has made a full recovery, but the story doesn't end there. While Yulia was in the hospital, a man named Yura began visiting her and praying for her. In fact, Yura began spending so much time with her that they fell in love with each other. Even in the face of death and suffering, their faith remained firm and their love blossomed. They are now happily married.

God not only restored Masha's mother, but through Yulia's suffering, Masha gained a father. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be praised, yet how sweet it is to be witness to His giving.

Yura, Yulia, and Masha today at church

Making a Right Judgement

Maxime posing with a guitar at church.

Today before church, Maxime and Joshua were out playing until Joshua came in complaining that Maxime wouldn't share. Apparently, Maxime's grandmother had given him some money (a rare occurrence to say the least) and he had spent it on cookies and candy at the store and refused to give Joshua any. The first reaction Edna and I had was to question why we weren't getting through to Maxime with all the Bible teaching about sharing. After all, Joshua has always shared with him and we have treated him like one of our own children, so how dare he not share with Joshua.

When it was time to go to church we were still upset with how Maxime had acted. The one time he had the opportunity to share with Joshua, he didn't. When we didn't see him outside our building or at the bus stop, we figured that maybe it was best if he didn't go with us to church this time. Obviously the messages about sharing with one another hadn't gotten through to him.

We were more than a little surprised when Maxime showed up at church a few minutes behind us. He told us that he had run to the bus right behind us and had just missed it so he had to catch the next one. What happened next broke our hearts and made us see how poorly and wrongly we had judged. Maxime opened up the bag he was carrying his Bible in to reveal unopened bags of candy and cookies. He hadn't shared with Joshua because he was saving all of what he bought to share with the church. How could we have been so quick to judge? Maxime had not only taken the Bible teachings of sharing to heart, but had far exceeded our expectations. We had misjudged Maxime and the power of the Gospel message to transform lives. How humbled we both are by what happened.

Maxime was just happy that he could share what little he had with the church and he was excited to sit up front and listen to the worship music. Some members from our sister church in Kyiv provided us with some great music that included some songs in Hebrew.

Maxime was fascinated by the music.

As if I had thought my birthday had somehow gone unnoticed, I was yet again surprised this year to be presented with flowers. I'm just glad they didn't announce how old I was. Not that everyone doesn't already know, you can't keep anything a secret in Ukraine, but at least they didn't say it out loud.

Edna holding my birthday flowers as Maria admires them.

We were also blessed to have Ruslan and Anya (and of course, little Nikita) join us for church. It was nice to include them in our church family and introduce them to everyone. Nikita made his way around the room making friends with everyone, no introductions needed. Anya even stayed after church to practice a skit the girls will be performing as part of a Christmas outreach.

The girls practicing their parts while Valya gives careful instruction.

Today turned out to be a humbling yet fulfilling experience for me and Edna. I will never cease to be amazed at how God uses children to bring us to our knees and to bring us to the Cross where we belong. Glory to God.

From Death to Life

Today we held a funeral for Serihy, but not in the normal sense. We brought members of our church and treated it as though it were an extended church service. We sang worship songs and preached about God's free gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. It turned out to be a great opportunity for sharing the Gospel with the villagers that attended. I was blessed to be able to share about the life we are offered once we leave this world behind. The other two pastors preached similar messages of salvation and the need to invite Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior before it's too late. God's Love is so great that His Word reached into this small village of mostly elderly people and began to shine light into their lives. (This happened figuratively and literally!)

A cold overcast day suddenly gave way to bright sunshine as God's Word was lovingly shared.

After we left the cemetery, we shared a meal and one last song together.

Не в тому любов, що ми полюбили Бога, а що Він полюбив нас, і послав Свого Сина вблаганням за наші гріхи. -1 Іван 4:10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. - 1 John 4:10

You can see more photos from this day by clicking HERE.

"The Little Path" Issue Zero

We are excited to announce that the Christian children's magazine that we know as Ctezhynka in Ukrainian, little path, has been published as a trial issue in English. It will be published under the Russian name, Tropinka, The Little Path. Please go to www.tropinka.org where you can view this beautiful magazine page by page. The theme of this issue is appropriately enough, light. It will only be published in English on a regular basis if there is enough interest.

These great magazines are published here in Ukraine by Light in the East (Світло На Сході). You can click on this link Light in the East for a rough English translation of the site. The senior pastor of our church, Pavlo Mitichev, works with Light in the East in Kyiv so we are blessed to have access to their publications through him. These English versions are great for helping some of the children learn English in our Children's Ministry. Light in the East publishes many other books for all ages in Ukrainian and Russian. They also have a missions training program for equipping native Ukrainian missionaries as well as various other ministries for Christ.

The origin of Light in the East can be traced back to World War I Russian prisoners of war. They came in contact with German evangelists who taught them the saving knowledge of Jesus. These prisoners of war would eventually take this Gospel message back to what was to become the Soviet Union where these men literally became "lights in the east".

The English version will share works by some of the same great Ukrainian authors and illustrators as its Ukrainian counterpart.

If you know of a church that might be interested in these magazines, please contact :

Tropinka "Light in the East" Inc.
P.O. Box 326
Lake Forest, CA 92609

Email: svetvostoku@hotmail.com
Phone/Fax: (949) 458-6248

Blessings and Answered Prayers

Joshua, Oksana, Kristina, Lusya, Zhenya, Maxime, and Dominic with Maria and Edna during Children's Ministry

We were happy to see God at work in so many ways today at church. Maxime has been spending his weekends in a village with his grandmother lately and we have really missed having him at church. This weekend he stayed home from the village and even spent a night at our house. We were glad to see him outside of our building with his Bible waiting to go to church with us today.

Our neighbor Oksana usually goes to her grandparents home in a nearby village on Sundays, but today her family stayed home. She came upstairs to our place before church to get some help on her English homework and she asked what time we would be going to church. We told her and to our joy she told us that she wanted to go with us. This is something that we have been praying for since we met her. God is faithful. Oksana seemed to really be listening to the teachings and having a good time. Please pray that she continues on the path that leads to life.

We were treated to Anya singing to the music of a bandura today also.

The kids making turtles.

Maxime holding up his turtle that says, "Mattew 5:16, I will be a light."

God Can Open Doors (Literally)

English Club last night: Edna, Oksana, Yana, Nastya, Tanya, Inna, and Serhiy

In December of last year, we began praying that God would open doors for us at the university here in Bila Tserkva so that we might reach out to people through our English Club. (Currently we are using the TV series LOST as a way to introduce Biblical truths and English language discussions.) We were also praying that at least one guy who spoke English would start coming to our English Club. It had so far been all girls and we had jokingly called it "Girls Club". It had also been in our prayers to have a permanent translator at church since Maria, who usually translates, has to come from Kyiv on Sundays and can't always be here. God has been faithful in answering all these prayers beyond what we could imagine.

First, I'll start with Tanya. She moved to Bila Tserkva with her husband Kolya so that they could both teach at the university here. Tanya has been coming to our church for a few months now and we are blessed to have her. She has offered to act as a translator whenever we need her to. Definitely an answer to prayer. Tanya is also very active in our English club and has introduced us to several English speakers from the university. One of those people is a guy named Serhiy who also teaches at the university.

Through Tanya and Serhiy, we have learned that there is a satellite campus for the university that is even bigger than the main campus and includes student and faculty housing. Last Friday, we met for English Club at the Rosava Palace of Culture (where we always meet and also have church on Sundays). We had the largest group of people show up so far. Unfortunately, there happened to be an event going on that was taking up all the rooms in the building. Undaunted, Serhiy suggested that we use one of the classrooms at the university. A few of the girls couldn't make the trip across town, but the rest of us piled into a marshrutka (shuttle van) and headed for the university.

After we walked through the front doors of one of the campus buildings and Serhiy used his keys to open the classroom door, it hit me. We had prayed for open doors at the university and God had sent someone to physically open them for us. He sent someone who also happens to speak perfect English. God is Faithful.

Our English Club, which we have moved to Fridays instead of Saturdays, is slowing growing in size, one person at a time. It is also evolving into a more fluid and more tightly knit group. Our goal is to build relationships that will allow us to share the Gospel with people on an individual basis. We have struggled with ways to make this outreach successful, but it has only been through God's leading and His provisions that we have begun to see fruit. Sadly, we have heard that some students who wanted to attend our English Club, were told by their parents that they aren't allowed to attend simply because we are Christians, but God is in control.

Sometimes it's easy to try and plan things from the world's perspective. "Things work a certain way. There are formulas and rules to be applied for success. There is a pattern and plan that must be followed in order to get results." The simple truth is that the best marketing strategy in the world can't deliver the results that God can through our earnest petitions in prayer. God is sovereign.

English Club at the university last week
Front row, left to right: Yana, Tanya, Nastya, Anya, Edna
Back row: Me, Kolya, Serhiy

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. - Revelation 3:8

Church Picnic on the River Ros

Today we got together with a few people from our church and had a picnic at the river. Not everyone could make it, but those who did had a great time of fellowship. Fortunately, we got to the river early and staked out a good spot. Of course we had to pick up all the trash first, but we came prepared with trash bags. We packed out all of our trash and the trash we collected before we left. We all hoped that people would take notice and possibly follow our example. I'm working on some Ukrainian anti-litter posters with Nastia and Maria. We're thinking about putting them up in a few areas along the river and seeing what happens. We have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear if anyone else has any so feel free to comment. I'll post more about that project later.

Once we got settled into our picnic spot, the men set to work making fires for the shashlyk while the women sang worship songs. It wasn't long before the area we were in was filled with lots of people drinking and listening to loud music. It was interesting to see people notice that our group was a little different than the rest. Some people looked at us a little funny, but a few joined us for a game of frisbee and asked what church we were from.

Maria tossing the giant frisbee

Joshua and Maxime watching over the shashlyk

Our next door neighbor, Olya, couldn't walk all the way to where we met so we were happy to be able to bring her back some food from the picnic. Maria's mother, Vala, was worried that we wouldn't have enough food, but I think we had more leftover than we actually ate. I'm pretty sure the fear of running out of food is a universal fear among Ukrainians. Olya makes sure we are always well stocked with food so it was nice to bless her as she has done for us so many times before.

Kristina and Fedir

Maria, Edna, and Nastia

The necklace that Fedir made for Edna

If all we did today was to have fun, fellowship together, glorify God, and let our light shine a little bit, then I'd say it was a huge success. We're looking forward to doing it again sometime and so are all the children that kept asking their parents when the next church picnic will be.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. -Matthew 5:16

Отак ваше світло нехай світить перед людьми, щоб вони бачили ваші добрі діла, та прославляли Отця вашого, що на небі. -Матвія 5:16

Which Christmas?

Edna overseeing crafts

Today we had church at the Invalid Center again. It’s the same place where we have English Club on Wednesdays. We had a great time with the children and have started teaching them some of the Ukrainian worship songs we got from Calvary Chapel Kyiv. Ukrainian children love to sing and it wasn’t long before they were singing better than us. We are working on putting together some kind of performance for Christmas. This is where the confusion began. We weren’t sure which Christmas to celebrate.

In the 17th century most European countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, but Russia (later to become the Soviet Union) used the Julian calendar until 1918. Most holidays are thus celebrated 13 days later according to Orthodox tradition. We assumed that our church would celebrate Christmas on January 7th and had made plans to be in Chernihiv on December 25th. We found out tonight that Western Ukraine and most people here in Bila Tserkva celebrate Christmas on December 25th. It was decided that since we would be out of town then that the church would instead celebrate Christmas on January 7th so that we would be here to put on a children’s performance. We’re happy, but still a little surprised that we can choose which Christmas to celebrate.

You can check out how our Thanksgiving went by going to Danny Foote’s blog. (Why blog when someone already has and has done a much better job. Thanks Danny. )