PCC Proclaim Team!

PCC Proclaim Team!

Yesterday, one of the Pensacola Christian College Teams came to the First Baptist Church to represent the college and praise the Lord in music, skits, and preaching. It was a great blessing! I knew just about all of them from school, and it was so awesome to get to fellowship with them. They spoke for the youth at the church and also ran the Wednesday evening service. In addition, we ate pizza, played games at the church including the Wii, and spend time sharing about our summer experiences. The three guys stayed at the Hicks' house with me, so we had a blast! It was nice to have college friends around! Overall, their stay was a blessing and I praise the Lord for their ministry. May the Lord bless them as they continue to travel this summer!

My Summer Home....

My Summer Home....

I have been so blessed to be able to live with Mr. and Mrs. Hicks, an amazing couple from the First Baptist Church in Laingsburg, Michigan. From day one of my stay, they have been very hospitable and have taken very good care of me! They live in a spacious piece of property right in the middle of the country or woods. Mrs. Hicks cooks delicious meals and has been so fun to talk to and sing/play the piano with. Mr. Hicks and I have enjoyed watching some basketball and hockey games together, as well as had some good talks. I am very blessed to have the whole basement to myself with a bedroom, living room, and desk area. I praise the Lord for the Hicks' generosity and hospitality towards me. It is a blessing to see how involved and dedicated they are to the Lord and their church family. I look forward to getting to know them better as live with them this summer!

Mr. and Mrs. Hicks and me!

My Summer Home

Mr. and Mrs. Hicks' Beautiful Home!

Mrs. Hicks' Colorful Garden!

The Backyard...

The road that leads up to the house....

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!

I know that I am far from home.....but I still wanted to say THANK YOU for being my Dad!!!

Father's Day Video

Church Internship Summer 2011

Church Internship....Week One flies by!!!

It is hard to believe that a whole week has already gone by since I first got here to Michigan for my Church Internship. The Lord has been so good to me this week, and I praise Him for the strength and guidance He has given me this week. Here is a small synopsis of my week:

Last Saturday, I had a seven hour CPR certification class in order to get ready to teach on Monday. It went very well and it was a great refresher of all the First Aid knowledge one should know. I have to say that it brought back great memories of being in Boy Scouts a few years back. Oh, how I miss those scouting years!

Sunday was my first time attending the First Baptist Church in Laingsburg, Michigan. I was very blessed by the kind words of welcome and smiles I was given by the members. I was introduced as the 'church intern' and had the privilege of playing the piano for the offertory. There was also a church fellowship meal after the morning service. The food was great and I was able to meet more of the church members. Later that day, I got a complete tour of the school and had time to get my classroom ready for Day Camp on Monday.

Monday was the first day of Summer Day Camp! It was wonderful to get to meet the children for the first time that I will be working with all summer long. When we got to our classroom, they all introduced themselves and we played some 'get to know you' games. I had them all make name tags to help me out as I began to memorize their names. The day went very smoothly and I was very thankful to the Lord for helping me have a great start to the summer!

So, Monday to Friday went by very fast. As I looked back through the week, I am very pleased with the things we accomplished. The theme for the summer is "Warriors for Christ" from the passage in Ephesians 6:10-17. The children have already memorized Ephesians 6:10-11 this week! As for songs, this week we learned the "Balloon Song" (this song has to do with not being prideful, but humble) and will continue to learn several other songs throughout the summer. Our character quality for the week was humility. The children were able to color pages, make shields, and learn about swords. Also, we were able to begin our study of the Life of Christ beginning at His birth till his visit to Jerusalem at the age of 12. Every morning, we also have garden time when we take care of the school garden. The children water the plants and take the weeds out. We are growing a number of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and cabbage. In music time, we learned basic things such as rhythm, tone, melody, the music scale, and music pitches. They got to play songs together using hand bells and sing along as I played the flute and piano. In Spanish time, they all learned six colors and how to count from 1 to 10. This week was soccer week in our summer sports competitions , so we had several soccer competitions. It was so much fun to see them play soccer with huge over-sized balls! We also read the wonderful missionary story of "Tifam" that clearly shares the Gospel message. Each day we had a special activity as well: Monday - Scavenger Hunt, Tuesday - Olympic Day, Wednesday - Water Day, Thursday - Bike Day, and Friday - Ice Cream Day. From games to crafts, we were busy all week long!

The group of children that I am working with for the most part are children that are not familiar with the Gospel or the Bible. Thus, throughout the week, I was able to teach many Bible truths for the first time to them. Basic Bible things such as the details behind the birth of Christ were new things to some of these children. I was very touched by their eagerness to learn about the Bible and memory verses, and I made a huge effort to be complete and thorough in my lectures and Bible stories. I have a great opportunity to be a shining light to all these children, and possibly lead some of them to Christ this summer. I pray that I will stay close to the Lord and be a willing and useful vessel for Him.

Besides working at the Summer Day Camp, I also participated in some church activities that were a blessing as well. These included a church baseball game outing, Wednesday night Youth group meeting, and a high school graduation open house. I have been able to get to know some of the members better this week, and I look forward to getting to know more of them this summer.

Well, that is a small report of my week here in Michigan. Following are some pictures of the week. I appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement! I will continue to post updates about my "missionary training" here in Laingsburg, Michigan!

Summer Church Internship Pictures

Visit in Manchester, New Hampshire

Visit in Manchester, New Hampshire...

My visit to Manchester, New Hampshire was amazing! I was given such wonderful hospitality by the whole Dolzhanskiy family. From wonderful fellowship at meals to going to church services, I was incredibly blessed by this family. A highlight was most definitely the Ukrainian food I ate. They made wonderful meals and I ate a lot! :) Their family was so friendly and hospitable to me, and I enjoyed every conversation I had with each member of the family! They are very involved in their Ukrainian Church, Slavic Baptist Church, and I was very glad to be able to visit their church. From the music to the various messages preached, it was a blessing. I enjoyed seeing and participating in the services - which have some uniqueness compared to typical American churches. Probably one of my favorite 'unique' customs that I enjoyed was when the whole church kneels to pray. It is very reverent and inspiring! I also had the opportunity to participate and preach at the TriYouth Meetings that the Dolzhanskiys are a part of. The youth group is made up of three different Slavic churches that are in the Manchester area. Overall, my visit with the Dolzhanskiy family was a great blessing, and I thank God for blessing me with this great opportunity. I have posted two pictures with the Dolzhanskiys and a few videos of the special music we did for the church.....

A great THANK YOU to the whole Dolzhanskiy family for your hospitality, generosity, and kindness! God bless you all!

Иисус - в нашем сердце!

song 1.wmv

Cello - As the deer panteth for the water

Touring Boston!!!

Touring Boston City!!!

Well, after New York City, my next stop was Manchester, New Hampshire, where I lived under the outstanding hospitality of the Dolzhanskiy family. I will write more about my time with them in a future post, but I wanted to put up some pictures of our trip to Boston, Massachusetts. Yuriy, Konstantin, and Olenka took me to tour this very historic city. It was so much fun to walk along the harbor that we all study about in history class where the "Tea Party" took place so many years ago. We enjoyed a nice picnic by the Bay and walked all around the city. We also took a tour of Harvard University. Enjoy the pictures!

Thank you to Yuriy, Konstantin, and Olenka for a wonderful time in Boston! :)

Boston Pictures

Washington DC and New York City

Washington D.C. and New York City...

Well, along the way up to Echo camp, my PCC friends and I toured these two famous cities. It was almost all of our first times in these cities so we had a blast! From visiting famous buildings to walking around times square, we were blessed with a wonderful time of fellowship and fun. As college students, we had to be thrifty and were able to enjoy these cities at low cost expenses. Praise the Lord! I made a short video in honor of our memories in these two cities......enjoy!

P.S. - I wanted to include a special thanks to the three people who greatly blessed our PCC group while in New York City. Tanya, thank you for hosting the girls and being our tour guide on Monday! Cousin Michael, thank you for opening your apartment for us seven guys! And last, but not least, Uncle Ardy, thank you for being our tour guide on Tuesday and for your generosity. We greatly appreciated all of you! Thank you again!

Our Trip Summer 2011

Echo Camp

Echo Camp!!!

Well, on my way from Florida to Michigan, I had a 2 week vacation driving up the East Coast with my college friends. One of our main stops was Echo Camp - a Christian youth camp for Slavic youth (Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan, etc.). Here are two videos that my good friend, Denis Dolzhanskiy, made about the camp....Enjoy!

Echo Camp 2011

Echo Camp

PCC Blog

PCC Blog Post

I had the opportunity to write a post for the Pensacola Christian College Blog. If any of you would like to see it here is the link:

http://www.pensacolachristiancollegeblog.com/index.php/2011/05/24/missionary-in-training/

Enjoy!

Summer is here again!

Summer is here again!

Well, it is hard to believe that another school year has come and gone by so fast! It seems like just yesterday that I came to Pensacola Christian College back in the summer of 2009. God has been so good to me and has blessed me beyond all measure in every area of my life. Now, as a seniow anxiously awaiting graduation next May 2012, I see how God has led me one step at a time throughout my journey as a "missionary in training".

This past year at PCC has most definitely been a highlight year for me both academically and spritiually. I took numerous Bible classes that focused on deep, thorough studies of Bible books including the Gospels, I and II Timothy, Titus, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, etc. These Bible classes have not only broadened my understanding of these Bible books, but have also challenged me greatly. Between scripture memory requirements and personal study involving writing papers and doing various projects, I have learned so much. These Bible classes have been supplemented by many other practical classes including my Missions classes, Foreign Language studies, and Ministerial Seminar classes and labs (preaching classes), and Speech classes. I also had the opportunity to intern at the PCC Camps Church all year long, including a four month internship with the Spanish ministries of the church. Between all my studies, I also worked on campus as a Men's Residence Hall Desk worker and at the Palms Grille Restaurant. I had the opportunity of being part of the Dramatic Productions drama, Early American Life, as one of the narrators. And of course, there was always time for some fun with friends including various park outings, birthday parties, and sport center nights! Overall, this junior year has been a wonderful growing experience in many ways.

But the school year is done, and now the summer has come. Throughout this part spring semester, I had been fervently praying along with my parents about what this summer would hold for me. Reflecting back on last summer's amazing experience as an intern at the Church at Katy, I wanted to do something this summer that also would help me put into practice all the 'knowledge' I am gaining at PCC. I looked into summer camps, work possibilities, mission trips, and numerous church internships. To make a long story short, God tested my patience by waiting to a few weeks before the end of the semester to finally confirm my summer plans.

I accepted an internship with the First Baptist Church in Laingsburg, Michigan (about an hour and half north of Detroit). Through a personal interview with Pastor Ivan Yoder, the assistant pastor of the church, and several phone conversations with Pastor Steve Brwon, the senior pastor, God clearly showed me that this was His will. I will be mainly working as a teacher for their Day School program that they run for children. This will be a full time position from Monday to Friday. Also, I will be participating in church activities, including helping with the music ministries. I am very excited about this opportunity and I will be posting updates throughout the summer.