Well, it is so hard to believe that a whole week has passed by since we made it back to Kiev from Gorodische. And once again, we are making plans to move on to our next ministry tomorrow night. However, I wanted to write about our time here in Kiev ministering with the Revival Baptist Church and working with the Children's Camp.
We arrived in Kiev last Friday after a long week of ministry in Gorodische. The first thing we did was head to the local grocery supermarket to buy food for the week. Our apartment has a small kitchen and dinning area, so we were able to buy some food to cook for breakfast and dinners. Later that day, we got together with some of the youth to celebrate a birthday and have some fellowship.
Saturday was our day of rest and it sure was greatly needed! We slept in and got to wash clothes! In the late afternoon, we got to go to a local park and pass out invitations for the Children's Camp. The girls brought games and toys to attract children at the park and entertain them with hopes of getting them to come to camp this week. Yuriy, Konstantin, Ilya, and I, along with two of the guys from the church, did some soccer evangelism. We played with several guys at a local soccer field and talked with several of them afterwards about Christ. The evening was spent beginning to prepare for camp.
Sunday was a busy day for us. We did all the music for the morning church service, as well as two of the three sermons. Yuriy and Ilya preached, Olenka sang a solo, Konstantin quoted a Christian poem, Ivan sang two songs, and I played two flute specials. In addition, we did our group poem and sang "Jesus in Our Hearts" together in Russian. Pastor Yuroslav Machinskiy asked me to share my personal testimony before the church and share how God called me to missions, as well as tell about my future plans. It was the first time that I had ever shared my testimony in front of the morning service of a Slavic church and it was definitely a new experience. :) We had a wonderful lunch with the youth of the church after the morning service and had a meeting regarding the Children's Camp. We also went to around town passing out invitations for the camp and evangelizing as opportunities arose. That night, we also had the opportunity to go to a Christian Ukrainian family's home for dinner. It was a wonderful visit and the food was fantastic!
Monday was our first day of camp. It goes all week till Sunday morning, when parents are invited to church to come hear their children present a special program and receive rewards. We had about 24 children and the day went very smoothly. All in all, we ended up having about 40 kids total attend this camp. When the children arrive, there are sports and games for them to play until Opening Assembly. At Opening Assembly, all the teachers and helpers were introduced and the children were divided into four groups (two boys groups and two girl groups). We also memorized verses and sang some songs during Opening Assembly. Following Opening Assembly, the groups rotated around six different stations where they spend about 15 to 20 minutes in each one. The six stations are as follows: Bible Story Time, Music Class, Craft Time, Sports, Team Cheers, and English Class. I taught the English class and what a fun time we had!!! We learned basic conversation and greetings. Each day we had new vocabulary including numbers, colors, animals, and sports. Olenka was the translator and assistant, although we tried to make them speak and understand as much English as possible. After about two hours of small station times, the children had food. Food was then followed by more sports outside and singing. After announcements and some prizes, the children listened to one of the men from the church preach from God's Word. He preached the Gospel by way of the Colors of Salvation - Yellow, Black, Red, White, Green. Each day he focused on a different color and shared the Gospel in light of the color of the day. After this, I planned a skit each day that focused on the character quality of the day. The children really loved the skits and we all had fun laughing at the great actors including Ilya, Konstantin, Ivan, Yuriy, and some of the girls from church. I was always the narrator and Olenka translated. Skits were followed by a time of learning about the character quality of the day. We learned about Orderliness, Obedience, Humility, Purity, and Diligence. In the late afternoon, we had more Bible time that focused on the Plan of Salvation. I taught this time using the ABeka Bible flashcards and having Olenka translate. We learned about Creation, the Fall, the Life of Christ, His Death and Resurrection, and how to Grow Spiritually. To the glory of God, we were informed today that TWO GIRLS WERE SAVED as a result of this time. Their father is a member of the church and he told us that they went home and asked him to help them get saved. He was impressed with their understanding and knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I am so excited to finally see some harvest from our labors here in Ukraine!!!
Each evening after camp, we went to the local park for evangelism and witnessing. I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with one Ukrainian guy who knew English. I was so excited, and in fact, it was an answer one of my prayers for the week. Since I do not speak the language, I am usually just watching my fellow teammates evangelize and witness. So, to finally get to witness to someone was such a blessing. His English name was Zach and he was 22 years old. He was so tender to hear about God and the Bible. In addition to the Gospel, I shared my testimony with him and gave him Christian literature to read including a few tracks and the Gospel of Mark and John.
There is still one more day of camp tomorrow. On Sunday, parents will be encouraged to attend the church service with their children and see the results of the camp. The Gospel will also be preached and we hope to see souls saved! Our team, however, will not be at this church service since we leave Kiev tomorrow night. We will finish the last day of camp and have to travel to Gvozdov in order to make it for our first day of ministry in Gvozdov in the Sunday morning service. Please pray for our safety in traveling and that we will not have any problems with all our luggage. We are traveling by bus and we have a lot of bags to take with us in order to minister in Gvozdov and the upcoming orphanages.
I apologize for the gigantic post, but I hope it has been somewhat interesting to hear about our week in Kiev. Before I say goodbye, I did want to say that we had an opportunity to do some touring of the city of Kiev. It was so amazing, and especially since the Euro Cup is going on right now, the city is at its best for tourists. We visited most of the famous tourist cites and took lots of pictures! So, speaking of pictures, I will be loading lots more for a look into our week in Kiev.....thank you for your prayers and God bless you all!
