WORD OF THE DAY - Friday 19 October 2012 Mykolaiv, Ukraine

And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. (Luke 19:6)

И он поспешно сошел и принял Его с радостью. (От Луки 19:6 Russian)

І той зараз додолу ізліз, і прийняв Його з радістю. (Лука 19:6 Ukrainian)

Dear heavenly Father ~ we thank you for another spectacular day that greets us with the dazzling brightness of your abiding love. Help us to have the same sense of obedience as Zacharias, so that we will always rejoice about welcoming Christ into our hearts and invite others to do the same. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray, Amen. 

Yesterday - Thursday, was our last day to enjoy the company of the three brothers in Christ who were with us from the Dalraida Church of Christ. They were only able to spend four and a half days with us. Even though their visit was far, far from being long enough in duration for them to experience all aspects of the work here, at least they had a sampling of our mutual work here in Nikolaev, Ukraine. This congregation is the sponsoring church for our efforts to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and plant a Church of Christ here in southern Ukraine.

When we are in the USA due to problems involving the duration of our stay in Ukraine, we spend most of our time in Montgomery and worship with the Dalraida congregation. So, they know us in that way, but now these three men know us as working missionaries and not just people showing pictures and giving reports. When they are back with their home church, they can tell people firsthand about our work for Christ.

In the morning, we were able to take them with us to the Nikolaev House of Babies and met briefly with the Director who was on her way to a meeting at some other place. However, before she left, she gave instructions to the chief doctor to show our guests all around the facility. Ludmila the doctor took us into every nook and cranny of this pristine facility.

Not all such homes in the former Soviet Union are so well maintained. This is in large part due to the tireless devotion of the Director and staff. Also, this particular facility has been the recipient of help from some of the adoptive parents who became familiar with this orphan’s home when they came here to arrange for the adoption of their child or children. We were able to photograph a few of the children. But, in most cases we were not allowed to take pictures since some of the children are already involved in the adoption process, or they are part of a special department that helps local parents with caring for their children with various birth defects. They only come during the day and at night are home with their families.

For the children who are not adopted, this is their home until they reach their 4^th birthday at which time they are transferred to a facility that takes care of children up until the age of 17 unless they are adopted – or run away as some of our boys at the Boys Home had done.

There is always a great amount of emotion that usually leads to tears after such encounters with children who have been rejected by their parents or were orphaned due to some great tragedy. In one room, there were a few children playing and as usual, I like to get down and talk with the kids. One curly haired little boy, grabbed one of my fingers and we talked a little while the others were listening to our guide. When we had to leave that room, he would not release his grip from my index finger. I had to pick him up and carry him over toward the woman in charge and even then it was very difficult for me to let him down. For some reason, God is constantly giving me personal reminders of what it means to have “pure and undefiled religion”.

The three brothers – David, John and Will surprised Galina with some beautiful flowers that they purchased with the help of our sister Nastya. They brought them to her as we were taking care of some last minute details at the church office/meeting place. After that we went to the hotel so they could fetch their things and had a little company meeting in the café situated on their floor of the hotel. John and Will witnessed our signatures on our absentee ballots and agreed to mail them for us when they arrived back in the States. We were so relieved about that since we had mailed absentee ballots from Magadan, Russia in a previous election and our votes never made it to the election office.

We watched the men leave Nikolaev with our friend Maxim who has a nice car that he can use for this purpose, and he took them to the airport in Odessa. They were scheduled to arrive last night in Ivano-Frankivsk to spend a few days observing the mission work that the Dalraida church is also involved with in that city of western Ukraine. They will only be able to spend 3 days there before they return to their homes in Alabama.

Nastya walked with us back to the church office where we had things to pick up on our way to the University for our weekly session with the Master Degree students. On the way there, we received a call from Lesya and she explained that they were involved with some other activities. So, we spent some time visiting with Nastya and then went shopping for a few things for home since we had not taken care of that for the days we were hosts – or hostess would be more to the point, considering how Galina was so involved with all of the interpreters making sure they were doing a good job, and she was very concerned as a mother hen about the safety and welfare of the three brothers while they were in our city. We sincerely appreciate your prayers. 

WORD OF THE DAY - Monday 17 September 2012

 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

Итак всякого, кто исповедает Меня пред людьми, того исповедаю и Я пред Отцем Моим Небесным; а кто отречется от Меня пред людьми, отрекусь от того и Я пред Отцем Моим Небесным. (От Матфея 10:32-33 Russian)

Отже, кожного, хто Мене визнає перед людьми, того перед Небесним Отцем Моїм визнаю й Я. Хто ж Мене відцурається перед людьми, того й Я відцураюся перед Небесним Отцем Моїм. (Матей 10:32-33 Ukrainian)

Dear heavenly Father ~ thank you for the unbounded joy that we experience on this new day that brings evidence as fresh and clear as the morning dew that you are our Only God, the great giver and sustainer of life in all its forms. As it is within your great plan for us, we ask according to what little we know about the future to grant us more of your wisdom so that we will understand ourselves better, but mostly so that we will be able to know how to communicate your perfect plan of salvation to those who do not yet know Christ as Lord. Give us courage so that we will never take the foolish way of denying our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ but will always stand firm in the promises of our faith. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 

 Yesterday morning, we had our usual 3 boys for Sunday school class taught by Galina. We received an SMS message from Tatyana their usual teacher during the class period. She has a son working in New Jersey, so she has gone to visit him for a couple of weeks. We have a small English lesson for the boys and we are teaching them to sing Jesus Loves Me in English. They already know it is Russian. We had 16 present yesterday for our worship services. Omo led the opening prayer with Galina translating. Pasha led the church around the Lord's Table. Olamide led the closing prayer. After the worship, the 3 boys Dima, Zhenya and Vitaly, recited their memory verses. Dima and Zhenya are sons of Pasha and he helps make sure they do their memory work. Vitaly is their good friend and doesn't have anyone at home to help him with the Bible. He even caught the bus and came by himself yesterday. He's the tallest of the three boys. Later during our fellowship, we had time to have a little visit with our visitor Alexander (Sasha) who lives 2 hours away and comes when he can. Next week he plans to attend the seminar that is put on each year in Feodosia which is in the Crimean region of Ukraine. Galina presented the boys with prizes for saying their memory verses. Omo, who is a university student, is far from home in Nigeria and we gave him a little toy also which he gladly received.

WORD OF THE DAY - Sunday 16 September 2012

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. (1 John 3:20 NKJV)

ибо если сердце наше осуждает нас, то кольми паче Бог, потому что Бог больше сердца нашего и знает всё. (1-e Иоанна 3:20 Russian)

бо коли винуватить нас серце, то Бог більший від нашого серця та відає все! (1 Йоаново 3:20 Ukrainian)

Almighty God, our dear worshipful Father in Heaven ~ we give you the greatest thanks for granting us the indescribable gift of life on this new Lord’s Day. Give all followers of Christ our Lord the wisdom and courage to overcome whatever obstacles stand in the way of their attendance with other Christians. Help us not to be overly self-destructive or hyper-critical of ourselves since we know that Christ died for our sins and we have obeyed His gospel message. We pray in Jesus precious name, Amen.

 We spent a big part of the day yesterday looking around the city for some items that we needed to take to the boys. Natasha had requested some basic necessity type items - toilet paper, bathing soap, cleaning supplies, paper towels, etc. Part of the boys training is to learn how to take care of their space. We took socks, lined and graph notebook notebooks, paper for teachers, plastic files, pen and pencil pouches, ping-pong balls and a paddle, and of course Snickers. They really need some underwear, and we are anticipating a shipment of those from dear friends in the USA. The boys and Natasha were really excited to see us. They have had a tough week getting back in the groove of school which is rather the same around the world.

They truly made us happy when every boy recited his memory verse and made a little comment about what it meant to him. Those comments easily become fodder for criticism from your friends, but they know they are in the same boat and don't become too critical when another boy makes a mistake. Natasha said she had extra duty as the acting Director of the Boys Home since Vladimir was out of town. She told the boys what they had to do, and she said they acted very responsibly.

We really like these boys! In the beginning, we had a review of our first English lesson from last week. We assigned our memory verses for Saturday and had time to visit with each boy. As we made the long walk back to the pontoon bridge, we had to walk past a goat herder who was letting her goats feed on the grass by the side of the road. Galina was not too excited to ease by these 59 critters with various horns. We then had the pleasure of passing a goodly number of cows that were under a watchful eye from somewhere. As we got close to the bridge, we noticed a family loading all their fishing gear in the back of an old station wagon. The son/grandson was loading the boat on top of the car and we said to each other at the same time, “he looks like Sasha.” He looked at us with a little smile and we knew it was Sasha the Korean boy who used to come to our Children’s Bible Classes in 2009 when we met on Frunze Street.  He is now about 6 feet tall and towers over the rest of the family. We could only exchange greetings since they were anxious to leave and our taxi showed up.

Each day brings some special surprises as we serve our Lord Jesus Christ in the harvest field of Ukraine. Thank you for the prayers. 

WORD OF THE DAY - Thursday 06 September 2012 from Nikolaev, Ukraine

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

научает руки мои брани, и мышцы мои сокрушают медный лук. (Псалтирь 17-35 Russia)

мої руки навчає до бою, і на рамена мої лука мідяного напинає. (Псалми 18-35 Ukrainian)

 O LORD our God, dear heavenly Father ~ we bow in your presence with hearts bursting with thanksgiving for all your merciful blessings on this new day. Give us the wisdom we need in order to have compassion on those whom you have mercy. Forgive us for the times when we have turned a deaf ear to the cries of those in deep despair. Help us to initiate contact with those who are open to your great love and kindness. We pray in Jesus name, Amen. 

 We were anticipating a great meeting with our new group of 4th year English students at the University, and we were not disappointed. This group will be the best we have had so far. Of course that is what we said about the previous ones and it was certainly true. When we walked in the door of the University, the first person we saw sitting in the rotunda area was Dasha, one of our previous WEI students. She is a first year student at the university and should do very well in the English language program. After we started walking up to the 5th floor where our room we use is located, Lesya came down to meet us halfway. She is the faculty member that these students must answer to for their work and grades. Once upstairs, we learned that two teachers in the program were cut and that is why Lesya has such a large group. We expected 30, but 1 was out sick and 2 were working. We used this first session to get acquainted with these new people and let each one tell about themselves. Several have travelled abroad and told about that. Two of the young women enjoyed time in America over the summer, even though their work was very difficult working at a hotels and restaurants. They were able to save some of the money they earned and came back with positive feelings about America. Other students told about the places they would love to go if they ever had the chance. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles topped their lists, and Germany came in second with Great Britain third. One poor girl touched our heart by telling how she would travel to Moldova if she could travel to another country because that is where her grandparents live. At the conclusion, I shared a handout with them about the Bible and offered a free New Testament to each person. We only had to carry a few back to the church office. These students and faculty members were delighted to receive the ballpoint pens with the light and imprint of a thought about Jesus Christ. Charles Campbell, our friend and brother from Montgomery, Alabama sent these for us to give away. In the evening, we only had 4 of us for the Wednesday evening Bible study. As Olamide says when we asked him from America how many were present, he would always say it seemed like a crowd to me. Thank you for the prayers.

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. 

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. 

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.