March Update

The weather has warmed up in Gorlovka for the past couple of days. Kids are everywhere - on bikes, in the playground, and on Ripsticks (Dima has two that are shared with the neighborhood kids). Several neighbors have started working in the garden - planting, cleaning and replacing missing bricks. Everyone is ready for winter to depart and spring to arrive.

Classes, worship and events at the church are back to full speed. The College class is Studying the Book of Revelation (their choice!) on Saturday evening. The Young Teens are studying Stories from the Life of Jesus on Sunday afternoon. They also have classes on Friday and Saturday afternoons taught by ladies in the church. The church family is working through the Gospel of John on Sunday, and studying the Book of Deuteronomy on Wednesday night before prayer meeting. (This class was moved from the morning to evening to help boost attendance - it is working). The College class on Thursday night (designed for Institute students) is studying Parables of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke. In addition I have started my Institute classes on the Shack and they are going well.

Please keep the church family here in your prayers. There is a lot of uncertainty right now because of political unrest and the continuing fallout of the global financial crisis. While we are all keeping our eyes on Jesus - the problems are touching the lives of many people we know and love.

Working with Kids

In 2000 we moved to Ukraine and started working to plant a church in our neighborhood. One of the first things we did was start playing with kids in the neighborhood (Leanna was seven years old). We soon met Dasha and Masha, sisters who lived in our building. Eventually they were both baptized and they are still active in our church family. This afternoon I took Masha and one of our ABC babies to Donetsk for a consultation. Masha has nearly finished medical school and is doing her residency requirements at the Baby Hospital working under Dr. Sergei Korotya. The baby was found abandoned in the snow in January and there are some problems with the child's back due to the exposure (the result of the consultation is that the child should be fine).

Taking Masha to the hospital with one of the ABC children in her arms took me back to those years when Masha was a kid playing in the neighborhood. I remember the time we "prayer walked" around Gorlovka praying for the various things we were working on as a church family at that time. Masha was part of that walk - and one of the places we stopped to pray was the Baby Hospital. It is amazing how God works in and through our lives to lead us in his ways.

We are now working with a whole new generation of kids. It will be great to see what God does in their lives in the coming years.

Great Sunday in Gorlovka

This was our first Sunday back in Ukraine and also International Women's Day. We had a great morning of worship, a warm fellowship following and then a great Bible class for the young teens. There were thirteen present for the Teen Class in the rain.

We are still trying to get over jet lag. It snowed the evening we arrived and was cold for a couple of days, but the past couple of days it has warmed up to over freezing and the snow is melting off quickly. It is supposed to be warmer for the next week - everyone is ready for that.

Thanks for your prayers concerning our safety in travel and for our luggage. This was one of the fastest and easiest trips we have ever made. Our layovers were very short and the total trip only took 24 hours and all our luggage stayed with us the whole way!