Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Social Ministries

As I am here longer and longer one of the things that I see or notice more often, something that is heavy on my heart, is the infinite opportunities for social ministry. Usually financial help for poor families, whether it be buying them food products so they can have a descent meal, giving them money for medications, or just buying gifts for children on Christmas...these situations just seem to be commonplace here.
The level of poverty is much lower here and sometimes I just don't know how they survive at all. We try to help as often as we can and wherever we can. One family, as you maybe know from an earlier post, has 7 children soon to be 8 and the smallest has cerebral palsy. Some of you have helped them and baby Liza with some of her medication and we thank you very much. She has had some small improvements and has gained some weight, which was needed, and is sitting up on her own now, which is amazing because she is almost 2 for those of you who didn't read about her earlier. You can see her in this photo...the small one that is crying. (The other photo is their house which we are trying to help with some repairs including the roof and new windows.) ___________________________________________________ For Christmas we brought some gifts to a couple of our neighbors who are very poor also. It all started when I saw two of the children playing outside. They were wearing gloves for adults and trying to play with these huge gloves on their hands. Then when I asked about Christmas if it was nice, if they had a lot of tasty food to eat, they just said, "not really" and walked away. Was heartbreaking to think that so close there are children who barely had anything at all for Christmas. Makes me thankful for what I have and how blessed I am to be an American. It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to help in this way and a huge blessing to me. We weren't sure how we would help them. They needed gloves, winter clothes food, and we just didn't have so much money for all these things. As we were praying about it and discussing how we could help them we found in a box on our balcony a box full of everything we could think of: clothes, scarves, gloves, dolls, toys, crayons, coloring books. It was an amazing answer to prayer.
So we gathered all the stuff into about 6 nice-sized boxes for each of the children and we went and gave them their gifts. It was great to see them finally with smiles on their faces. We are finding many people in this area in similar situations. Families with disabled children (down syndrome, cerebral palsy, one blind child) and just families where a mother or father has died or is an alcoholic, or maybe just so many kids that it is hard financially because of that. They are often living with as many as 8 people in small 2 room apartments. Please pray for these ministries. I think that we are called as Christians to help in this way and also it is a great way to share the love of Christ and to open many opportunities to talk about Him. If you feel led to help in this area in any way or would like more information about it please contact me, or contact someone at Calvary.

Home Church

Now we meet every Thursday evening in Horodok for "Home Church."
It is basically a church in one of our homes, as you can guess from the name, and is a great time to study the Bible and pray with and for each other, and to meet together with other believers in our area for fellowship. Right now we are studying chapter by chapter the book of Mark. Our wish is that this group would grow in to the very church in Horodok that we have been working for. Also we pray that it will continue to grow as more believers in the area start to come, and eventually as unbelievers start to come as well. We have at the moment 6-7 people in this group, and our hoping for more and inviting some of our close friends and neighbors to come. Please pray first for them that they would have an interest and desire to study God's Word and that nothing would hinder them from coming, and second, for continued growth of our home church and that it would be a light here in Horodok. Please continue to pray for us and our work here in Ukraine. If you have any questions or would like to contribute in anyway please contact my family, myself, or Calvary.

Saturday Youth Group in Volytsya

Every other Saturday we go to a small village near the Polish Border called Volytsya. Here we have a youth group type atmosphere and are going through a Ukrainian Bible study course with our 5-6 youth.
Some unbelievers and some believers are there, so it is great time for us to be witnesses to them and to share the truth of the Bible with them. Also we play some games and have tea, cookies, and sing songs. Please pray for these youth that they will either grow closer to God and more serious in their relationship with Him, or will get to know God for the first time and make a decision to follow Him. We are helping this family in Volytsya, the Khitra family, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Pray for them that God would continue to use them in the area of villages near the Polish border where they are currently living, and that their needs would be met so they can continue to minister there. Here is a picture of us singing some praise songs. The youth come from different backgrounds and families, some with many problems, so please remember to keep them in your prayers. On the Saturdays we don't go they have a ladies Bible study so pray for that as well. Thanks and God Bless!

A Big Thank you!

Just wanted to say thank you for everyone who has supported or is supporting our work here. Also special thanks to Merrie, Tanya, Pat, my parents for sending a care package for Zahar. He is the 18 month old boy of the family I am living with. It seems he has many food allergies and gluten is one of them. Unfortunately in Ukraine they don't really produce specialized foods for children with allergies, so he has basically been eating just potatoes and some porridges. Anything else, including bread, was making him break out with rash and hives all over. As you see from this picture Zahar was excited to open this care package for him with all kinds of allergy-friendly snacks and treats. Thanks for help and prayers for Zahar is skin is much better. Continue to pray for him and his family, Alona and Andriy, as they are working here as well. Thanks again from Zahar he is very happy about this care package. If you every have desire to help in anyway with our work here just contact us and let us know what or how you feel led to help.