December in Kiev

After being in the US for a couple of months to help with Hurricane Michael clean up in Panama City (Please keep the people of Panama City in your prayers as they experience major devastation that will take a long time to recover from) and packing up the house to place our stuff in storage, I (Kenny) traveled to Kiev on December 4 for about 17 days. I have been teaching a lot of classes at Grinchenko University, meeting with our Young Adult and Teen small groups. We purchased a case of "The Message of Christmas" books to use at KUBG and the kids love them! Thanks to all our donors who make it possible to work with these young people!

September Update

September was a great month in Kiev, and October is also off to a wonderful start. I haven’t posted in a while, so I will try to give you the highlights of the past month…

Lora and I were granted our Temporary Resident Permits allowing for full year residency.  There was a technical problem with Lexi’s, so please be praying that everything gets resolved and she is granted one as well.

Our Discipleship Small Groups are meeting each week. The teens meet on Friday night and the Young Adults meet on Sunday evening. We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount with the teens and the Gospel of Luke with the young adults. The discussions are engaging, and you can see growth happening from week to week.

I am visiting English classes at Grinchenko University each week and teaching things like “Building Strong Character,” “Relationships,” and “What is love?” I am amazed at the language ability of the freshmen classes I have visited, so much better than 20 years ago!

Lora has been busy creating “teaching artwork” for the apartment. She made a chalkboard where the memory verse for the week gets displayed, as well as other signs (see attached pictures). We also send Facebook posts a couple of times a week to remind everyone of the story we studied on Sunday. 

We are trying to keep the word of God in front of our student’s eyes in a variety of ways.

School started for Lexi in September and she is busy with classes, guitar lessons, and small group activities. I am taking online classes through Loyola University Chicago, working towards a Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction.

Last week we took our young adult small group to a Bethel Music concert with Jeremy Riddle. Yesterday I attended a lecture and a meet and greet with Phillip Yancey. We are enjoying living in the big city!

Thanks for being such faithful ministry partners! Your gifts are changing lives!

Blessings,

Kenny

Ready for Fall in Kiev

It was a busy summer for the Payne family as we visited the United States for June and July. We visited churches in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. We also attended IMPACT Junior and Senior at Lipscomb University, the Equip Workshop in Orlando, and Summer Celebration at Lipscomb.

Since arriving back in Kiev on July 30 we have been meeting with our teen small group on Friday evenings, and with our young adult small group on Sunday evenings. School started in Ukraine this week and Kenny will be teaching at Boris Grinchneko University again soon.

Thanks to our Cross Culture family of supporters who make our ministry possible. If you would like to become a ministry partner, please send me a private message and I will give you details. We cannot serve the people of Ukraine without partners helping us with funding!

Spring in Ukraine

Winter finally ended at the beginning of April! Spring is in full swing, trees are full of leaves and flowers are blooming everywhere. The warmer weather is a welcomed friend.

Kenny is teaching a lot of classes each week at Grinchenko University. While the classes are all for English practice - students need to interact with native speakers - the topics lend themselves to discussions about faith, Jesus and the wonder of life.

Our small groups for teens (Friday nights) and young adults (Sunday nights) continue to be times of food, fun and fellowship as well as giving teaching opportunities.

Lora has been working hard to make our apartment feel like home and become a hospitable and welcoming meeting place for our friends.

Thanks for your support and prayers for our work. We are so grateful to have such faithful minstry partners!