Monday, August 27, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY - Monday 27 August 2012 from Nikolaev, Ukraine


The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

по милости Господа мы не исчезли, ибо милосердие Его не истощилось. Оно обновляется каждое утро; велика верность Твоя! (Плач Иеремии 3:22-23 Russian) 

Це милість Господня, що ми не погинули, бо не покінчилось Його милосердя, нове воно кожного ранку, велика бо вірність Твоя! (Плачът на Еремия 3:22-23 Ukrainian)

 O LORD God, our dear Father in heaven ~ we come into your gates with hearts full of thanksgiving for all the mercies we receive on this new day from your unending love and faithfulness. Forgive us for our foolish ways when we sometimes think that we are all alone in this vast universe and wonder where we are going. Give us wisdom along with your blessed assurance that we have the perfect Savior to follow into eternity. Help us to fight the good fight of faith without compromising any of our principles based truth found in Scripture. Nevertheless, help us to demonstrate your superior love and patience toward all people with whom we come in contact so that they may see Jesus living in us and not only in our words. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

 Yesterday was the first time in many months that we have had 20 in attendance. We used to tell the group that if and when we began to regularly have around 20 each Sunday, we would move our worship services downstairs to the large auditorium. We are not exactly preparing for that, since several of the folks yesterday were some who come from out of town and do not intend to be here that often. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to having to make such a favorable change. We experimented with meeting in the large hall in 2009, but our small group was lost in all the theater seats and stage. We had a good children's Bible class yesterday with several kids who have now become regulars. The idea of Nastya's death was very difficult for their young minds. She was the spark of the class and the one who asked and answered questions. We plan to call our children's Sunday Bible class after Anastasia Nezhelskaya, who came seeking more knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Thank you for being faithful in prayer. 




Sunday, August 26, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY - Sunday 26 August 2012 from Nikolaev, Ukraine







And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)

Они же сказали: веруй в Господа Иисуса Христа, и спасешься ты и весь дом твой. (Деяния 16:31 Russian)

Вони відповіли: «Вір у Господа Ісуса, і ти будеш спасенний — ти й твої домашні». (Деяния 16:31 Ukrainian)

Almighty God, dear Father in heaven ~ thank you for blessing us with the incredible gift of life on this new Lord’s Day on which fellow believers around the world have the opportunity to assemble with others of the same precious faith. Give us wisdom as we search for more effective ways to communicate the message of salvation through obedient faith in Christ our Lord to our own family members. Help leaders of families – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and older siblings that are united in the faith, to be more evangelistic since they already set a good example to other families. We offer this prayer in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

We had a wonderful day yesterday that included several walks around town to take care of errands near our apartment. The fountain looked very beautiful as a reminder of the Ukraine Independence holiday weekend. We also went shopping for fruits and vegetables at our central bazaar that overflows onto several streets with small vendors and farmers trying to display their goods. We are always amazed at how much lower the prices are for fresh goods than in the stores. We spent time at our church office and took picture of a picture that Nastya; the young girl who drowned painted for us. David Ciolcosz was present the day she gave us this special gift that we added to our collection of treasures, and he requested a copy of her painting. In the afternoon, we had a productive meeting with Pasha going over some details of our work together for the Lord. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY - Wednesday 22 August 2012 from Nikolaev, Ukraine


So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.(1 Peter 2:1 ESV)

Итак, отложив всякую злобу и всякое коварство, и лицемерие, и зависть, и всякое злословие, (1-e Петра 2:1 Russian)

Отож, відкладіть усяку злобу, і всякий підступ, і лицемірство, і заздрість, і всякі обмови, (1 Петрово 2:1 Ukrainian)

Dear Heavenly Father ~ thank you for the precious gift of life on this new day that brings us fresh opportunities to be faithful and true disciples of Christ our Lord. Give us wisdom and moral courage so that we will behave with kindness, honesty, sincerity, generosity while doing our best to build others up with our speech and deeds. Help us to truly be people who are doing our best to pattern our lives after Christ our perfect example. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Yesterday was just another spectacular day in our first days back in Nikolaev, Ukraine. We spent the morning preparing for a visit to be with the boys. We didn't hear anything certain yesterday since it is a vacation time and their regular teacher Natasha had to come in off her vacation. She left after the lesson was over and another teacher - Sveta who started her job about the same time that we began to visit the boys in 2009. The boys were very communicative during the Bible study part of the class even though they were anxious to just spend time with us. We took them a few gifts and later went outside and played Frisbee with them. It was very windy day so that didn't last too long. We sent one of the boys to a store nearby and he brought back some soft drinks that they were anxious to share with us. After hanging out with them for a while, it was time to go into the lunchroom building for their snack. This was a tasty pancake made with cottage cheese. The boys wanted to share with us. This was actually the first time we have been into their cafeteria. It is not fancy, but it is very clean and the boys do their jobs of keeping everything spic and span. There were a total of 15 boys present. These are all true orphans who have no relatives to visit in the summer. Three of our boys from last year were still there since they are waiting for the start of classes at the vocational college they will attend and have a dormitory assigned to them. We hope to get to see them after they leave. Soon we will know who the boys are that will make up our 9th grade class for 2012/2013 school year. When we finished with the boys, we enjoyed the beautiful weather and walked back toward the center of the city and stopped at a large supermarket where we made a few purchases. Just outside this market in the middle of Lenin Blvd. is an old Soviet tank that serves as a monument to the Great Patriotic War against the Nazi invaders. Thank you for the prayers. Galina is really struggling with a bad cold, but it is impossible to slow down with all the excitement we have each day.