Break-In at Worship Room

Last Thursday we awoke to discover that during the night someone removed the burglar bars from a large window at the worship room, forced entry and stole a lot of things. They made off with the flat panel TV, the surround sound system, a laptop computer and bag, all the DVD/VHS players, a dual burner stove top, a crock pot, two hot pots, and a variety of other things. The police were called, but came only four hours later. We cleaned up the mess, replaced the window pane and burglar bars. All total about $3,500 worth of things were stolen. We do not expect that the police will ever solve this crime. We will just have to replace the items and move on. We will replace the old style wooden windows with new plastic ones (that are much more secure) and we will also add security shades and hopefully an alarm system. While we cannot make the worship room burglar proof, we can fix it so it is more difficult to break into and noisy if someone does.
If anyone has any extra funds that you would like to donate to help us replace the things that were stolen, we would be grateful.

Birthday Box for Tanya

Those who are sponsoring children know that we are asking sponsors to send boxes to their children for their birthdays. Today I was given our first set of pictures of Tanya who received her box a couple of weeks ago. This is a good example of what we have in mind for sponsors to send their kids. Tanya received a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, sandals, an MP4 player (knock off I touch, because we said do not buy expensive players), candy, a hairband, lip gloss and several other small things. Tanya was so excited when she received her box from a family in America who cares about her. Tanya wrote a thank you note that is being translated and will be sent to her sponsors. Hope you enjoy the pictures as it gives you an idea of how your generosity is blessing your sponsored child.

Kids, Kids, Kids

We are grateful to God that we have three great groups of kids in our neighborhood to work with on a weekly basis. There is the group that is around Leanna's age - late high school and college age. We are doing a challenging study Breaking Free by Beth Moore each Saturday and have a game time together on Friday nights. There is the young teen group that is around Dima's age - middle school - and they are together on Saturday for two classes, and on Sunday afternoon for another class. Then there is the little kid's group around Lexi's age who have class on Saturday mornings and during worship on Sunday morning. Altogether we minister to around 50 kids each week in these three groups. I have attached pictures of some of the kid's in the youngest group. Please keep these kids in your prayers. We thank God for the chance to touch these precious lives.

Hope Orphanage Spring Tea Party

Lora and the older teen girls in our church family hosted the teen girls from Hope Orphanage for a Spring Tea Party. Lora and our girls decorated the worship room and prepared good food and crafts. The girls were so excited to attend the tea party. They worked very hard on their crafts and loved the gift bag filled with cosmetics and toiletries. The girls enjoyed trying new foods and making new friends. Everyone agreed that another get together would be great.

Easter Sunday

Sunday was a very full day in Gorlovka. We started the day with a sunrise service at the "Sea of Gorlovka" (actually just a small lake on the outskirts of town). It was cloudy, sprinkling and a little cold. But we had a nice fire and everyone was excited to participate in the sunrise service.

We had a fellowship meal following morning worship, our young teen class in the afternoon, and finally an event for our older teens at a local church. We were busy all day long, but it was a great Easter Sunday. Enjoy the pictures.

Kid's Class and Egg Hunt

Easter weekend was a great time in Gorlovka. Our Saturday class for four to six year old children had an extra special class which included the story of the resurrection, decorating eggs (none of the kids except Lexi had ever dyed eggs before!), playing special games, and, of course, hunting eggs. It is so special to be with kids who are making such wonderful memories! Enjoy the pictures.

Helping The Children

Today we delivered Pampers, wipes, detergent and food to the Baby Hospital. The Hospital was in the middle of inspections so we did not go visit with the babies. As always the staff was very helpful to move the supplies to the appropriate places.

Last week we created a "store" at Hope Orphanage. The kids will be working at their regular chores to earn the opportunity to shop at the store. This will teach the kids the value of work and the relationship between good work and good rewards, an important life skill. We put in shelving and stocked the store with all kinds of good items. There are snacks, of course, and many inexpensive items. There are also some items that will require saving to purchase - we want the kids to learn to save up for things they really want (another important life skill)!

Thanks to all our sponsors who make it possible for us to help the abandoned and orphaned children in Gorlovka. You are changing lives through your continuing generosity.

Computers for Hope Orphanage

Today Leanna, Dasha, Kostya and I delivered three new computers to Hope Orphanage to add to the one we purchased three weeks ago. It was exciting to see the joy of the workers and kids at the orphanage because of these computers. There are a lot of exciting things happening right now with our work at Hope Orphanage. Keep watching this blog to hear more about how God is blessing the children who live at Hope Orphanage...

Great Weekend in Gorlovka

The weekends in Gorlovka are full of classes and other events and this weekend was no exception. Lora and Leanna Payne teach a young children's for about ten kids; they are learning both the English alphabet and language and Bible stories. Of course, there are crafts, snacks and playtime! The young teens have a class at 2 PM taught by Ira Grabko and then at 4 PM another class tuaght by Kenny Payne. They also have a class on Sunday at 2 PM taught by Kenny Payne - they just can't get enough of being together as a group. The older teens and college age meet on Saturday nights at 7 PM.

This weekend we also attended an event for older teens/college age called Exit. Our college age girls made presents to give to everyone - a candy bar wrapped in a decorated wrapper with Jeremiah 29:11 handwritten on each bar. Exit was a great event that focused on the meaning of love - hosted on Valentine's Day. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Game Night

Sunday, January 17, we hosted a game night for our college age group and a group from another local church in Gorlovka. (They had previously invited our group to an event at their place). We had about 35 teens and young adults present for singing, playing interactive games, sharing a meal, and playing Wii, ping pong, air hockey, etc. It was great for both of our groups to realize that there are other Christian teens in the city who are seeking to live as disciples of Jesus. Enjoy the pictures.

Church Christmas Party

Ukraine follows the Eastern Orthodox calendar so Christmas is January 7, not December 25. We had a great Christmas party on Christmas Eve for the church family. There were over 50 folks present and we shared a great meal, had a talent show and exchanged gifts by playing Dirty Santa. No one wanted to go home and the party didn't end until about 10:30. Enjoy the pictures.