ABC Kids

I visited the Baby Hopsital last week and saw some of our precious babies. Had a nice visit with Dr. Sergei Korotya and staff on the first floor then with the head nurse and staff on the second floor. We currently have 12 children living at hospital #2. Thanks to all our sponsors who make it possible to provide for the needs of these children.

The Week of Good Deeds

The young children were out of school recently for fall break and wanted to have their daily Bible Class! So Dasha obliged them and they decided to call it "The Week of Good Deeds." The kids baked cookies, decorated them, attached a card and an invitation to worship services and then went through the neighborhood passing them out to various people. They also did other service projects. It was an amazing week and Dasha sent me some great pictures - enjoy!

Playground

The playground is full of children and we made "flower signs" to remind the children of the things they have been learning in our classes. It is the "Garden of Virtues" and the individual flowers are "love," "faith," "patience," "goodness," "kindness," "forgiveness," and "long-suffering." There has been some discussion among the parents of young children recently about our classes and one mother decided to bring her son to class last Saturday. We hope that more parents will make that decision in the future. It is amazing to watch what God can do with something as simple as a playground! We are packing today for our trip back to Panama City. We would appreciate your prayers on Wednesday and Thursday for safe travel and no lost luggage!

2012 Teen Retreat

Last week we took 20 of our teens and chaperones on a retreat to Berdyansk. Our theme was "Shining Like Stars" and we studied the Book of Philippians. The weather was great and everyone had a wonderful time. In an effort to reinforce the theme we made leather bracelets and put stars (and other things)on them, we had glow stick bracelets and we released nine Japanese lanterns at the bon fire Saturday night. Enjoy the pictures.

Great Day in Gorlovka

Today we had a full house at worship and the congregation decided they would like to have a cookout at the worship room. After several days of rain and cold weather, the sun was shining and it was a great afternoon. We capped off a great weekend of classes with a study of the Book of Joshua in "The Story" sermon series.

Busy Week In Gorlovka

We have had a great week in Gorlovka. The classes were full this weekend. Fourteen boys at young teen class, and two girls! (Exactly the opposite from several years ago). Game night was lots of fun with nearly 30 people. Our Saturday night Bible class was a real treat because Dasha, Masha, Zhenya and Vanya from our "old youth group" were there as well as kids from the current group. We had a fellowship (cakes, coffee and tea) following worship on Sunday, and this morning Dasha and I took a cake to the Baby Hospital for Dr. Sergei Korotya's 50th birthday. There are currently 9 kids in the ABC program.

Thanks to all our donors who make it possible for us to work with the people of Gorlovka, Ukraine. At Bible class Saturday night we were talking about the different blessings God has given us and Vanya said, "I cannot imagine a better place to grow up than in our neighborhood - with the church family loving and serving the kids who grow up here." He should know - he was one of those kids and now he is drawing great strength from his church family at a difficult time in his life. Jesus is working in the hearts of his people. Thanks for being part of the Cross Culture family.