God's Glory!

          I know I haven't updated the blog in a while. I have been busy of course like usual. However, I decided to make some changes. Instead of just writing about what activities I'm doing, I want to share also more about what I am learning here. What God is teaching me and the things I'm learning about Him, the ways in which I am growing here. I thought this would benefit you and me more, and I am excited to share these things with you. Recently I started studying in the seminary here in L'viv. I just wanted and needed some knowledge myself to be a more effective missionary, and a better disciple. I didn't want to go back for 2 years to America to get this. I can stay here and continue to serve, and learn, and grow spiritually at the same time.

            One of the things we recently talked about was God's glory. I want to share some of these things with you all. We talked about different names of God in the Bible. His actual names, such as God Almighty or Lord of Hosts, some names that describe Him, like the Lord is my Shepherd for example, and then the actual phrase that includes the word "name" such as "your name" or "God's name". For example in 2 Chronicles 6:32-33 Solomon is dedicating the temple and says, "so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you." Or even in Exodus 9 God says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for this very purpose...that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." And again in John 12:28 Jesus himself says, "Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” I won't put all the verses that mention God by His "name" because it would take much too long, but we see our purpose here. The purpose of everything really is that God be glorified. That His name be lifted up! Many of these verses say that God's name might be glorified among the nations or among all peoples. This is the reason for missions. This, one might say, is the reason we are left here on this earth and aren't just taken up to heaven when we repent and believe in Jesus. 

            How then can all the nations or people glorify God if they don't know Him? It is not possible. This is why we need missions. This is why I am called to Ukraine. However, you all were also still left on this earth for this purpose, and you also have callings. I want to encourage all of you to be missionaries. In the places you work, visit, the restaurant you eat at once a week. You have unique opportunities every day to be missionaries and to make God known that He might be glorified. So let us do this! I will end with what Paul writes in Romans 10 where the actual path to salvation contains the need for missions! He writes, "13 Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent?" 

          Thank you for your support and the encouragement that you have been to me and in this way I hope also to be an encouragement to you all. Thanks also for the prayers for my health. I had a long three weeks but I am finally back to 100%. So thanks again and praise God for His healing hands. I know you fervently pray for me and it is a huge blessing. God Bless, and may His name be glorified forever and ever!

Trip to Kherson

I have already been back in L'viv for a few weeks but finally getting around to updating about my trip to Kherson. It is a city in south, central Ukraine pretty close to Crimea. Naturally my parents and some other people were worried when I said I was going close to Crimea and closer to the combat zones in Ukraine, but I promise it was completely safe. Kherson is very patriotic, and there are Ukrainian flags flying on every street. Also, it is one of the cities that toppled and removed a statue of Lenin during the revolution this last winter. I went to Kherson with my good friends Serhiy and Sofia, Sofia being 7 months pregnant! Serhiy is from there and we went to his father's church in a village near Kherson called Bilozerka. There we did a summer camp much like our VBS at home for children from that village. We left on a train, and 21 hours later we were there. It was hot on the train, but God had answered our prayer for rain the night before, so it wasn't as hot as it could have been.

The weather in Kherson was much warmer than in L'viv, and the first few days were hard because we didn't have a shower. We ended up building a summer shower outside, but at first, when we didn't have a shower, we just went swimming in a natural spring not far away, or in the Dnipro river. Another method to help cool down was to dig into a fresh watermelon, which they are famous for growing in that region. The first week of our two weeks in Kherson, we set the territory of the church up for camp the next week, which included building a shower for ourselves as I said, but also building benches, tables, fixing things, painting, cleaning, and many other things to prepare. It was a great time getting to know the believers there as we prepared everything, then would spend evenings together. Our team wasn't very big, there was about 7 of us plus some grandmas that helped in the kitchen, so we really did everything. It was a hard first week getting used to the heat and the amount of work we did everyday, so I slept very well each night. Finally we prepared everything and Monday morning waited for the kids to arrive. We expected around 30 and ended up getting around 22 which was great. I did the sports/camp games during the week, and it was fun teaching them some american games which they seemed to enjoy even though it was so hot. I threw in some games with water/water balloons to help with this. I also helped wherever possible, and tried to get to know the kids as good as possible. They speak a poor and not always correct mixture of Russian and Ukrainian so it was difficult for me to understand them at first, but the longer I stayed the more I understood. I just spoke to them in Ukrainian, which they mostly understood as they learn it in school. Our camp was themed "Joseph, God's Hero" and they learned about Joseph from the Bible and what made him a "superhero." It was encouraging to hear them answer questions about what they had learned. Even the smallest group knew their stuff! Also because it was about Joseph, and that is my name, they often mentioned that, or made me play Joseph in the skits everyday.

Overall I must say that this camp was really very special to us. Maybe because we were truly needed there. Or maybe they were just really great kids, but all three of us were not wanting to leave by the end of our trip. I am blessed to have had the chance to get to know these great kids and the believers in Bilozerka. Already I have shown my pictures to many people in L'viv, when telling about our trip. Every time I show someone, I just miss that place even more, and it makes me want to jump on a train back there. It was a great time and there are many special people in Kherson and Bilozerka that I will miss very much, so I hope I'll have an opportunity to visit again. Thank you everyone who was praying for me while I was there, and for my safety, and for the camp. Please continue to pray that Jesus would be known in Bilozerka and in Kherson, and that the churches there would continue to be strengthened and continue to grow.

Youth Camp at the Lake

Finally getting around to my updates after a few weeks of being out of town. The first I went to was a camp with the Central Church here in L'viv. It was a youth camp and we went about an hour away to a lake. The name of the camp was "It's Worth It 2." It was mostly children from believing families but there were about 12-15 guests from non-believer families. It was a great experience to see the youth change from day 1 to day 6 as they talked about different themes in small groups, and heard a message every evening. One thing that stuck out at me was the fourth day when we had a "camp game" in which we posted signs everywhere saying this or that was prohibited. Then throughout the day we took notes of people who broke these rules.

Some of them thought it was funny to be disobedient, but at the end of the day we called them all up to the front when we were sitting around a bonfire. Then they were told that they would all be sent home the next day. Then the director said he would take the punishment for them and they poured a bucket of cold water on his head. It was interesting to see that reactions of the youth and many of them felt very bad for the director who didn't do anything wrong but was punished. Of course, as you can probably guess now, this was a good example of Christ who took the punishment of our sins but was holy and blameless, never doing anything wrong. Camp was a great blessing for me, I always seem to get more out of it than I think I am putting in. God works that way sometimes. The last day the camp staff and leaders stayed an extra half day to clean and pack everything, but also to enjoy time together and of course to enjoy a very tasty barbecue. It was a nice time to debrief and also for me to spend some time with some friends I've known for years but haven't seen much this year. The youth really changed a lot from the beginning and I pray that these camps wouldn't just make a difference for a few weeks, but for eternity. Thanks for your prayers and support, and continue to pray for peace in Ukraine as the east is still at war.

MH17

I know many of you, if not most of you, have seen a lot in the news about Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. Most people are blaming the rebels in eastern Ukraine, and blaming Russia who has been supplying them with weapons and training for this horrible act. It always grieves me to think of any loss of life. Life is so valuable, so precious and 298 lives were taken in just a second. I don't need to tell you much more about this as I am sure you all have already heard a lot about it. I just encourage you to think about life in general.

God gave it to us. It is short, and it can be taken away in an instant. Don't waste your life. Don't wait until it's too late to tell a friend, a neighbor, a family member about the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ and what he did for us all on the cross of Calvary. Please pray for the family members and loved-ones of those who died on MH17 in this senseless act of aggression. And please remember the more than 300 Ukrainian servicemen and hundreds of Ukrainian civilians who already have lost their lives in this conflict in eastern Ukraine. Please pray for peace for Ukraine. I just returned this week from a youth camp. It was a great and encouraging time for me serving with other Ukrainian believers, and it was a blessing to be a part of. I was amazed to see God working in the hearts of these young people and really saw a change in many of them as camp progressed. Please pray for them, that they would remember what they heard at camp and that God would change their hearts. They are the future of Ukraine and I pray continually for God-fearing leaders for this still young country. Also please pray for me tomorrow as I head east, closer to the conflict zones, to help with another camp in Kherson. There we will be doing a lot with very little resources and we will have mostly poor children from the small towns and villages in the area. Please pray for our safety as we travel around 20 hours on train to this area. Also pray that God would use us in an amazing way as we help a church in the area with this camp. We pray that through the children we can help this church to connect to these families in this area, and be able to witness to them and show them the love of Christ. And also of course that they would hear the Gospel and respond to it. We know God desires that all men be saved, and again I encourage you to value every life, every soul around you. Remember that there are more important things than some of our everyday problems that seem to consume us sometimes. Think on eternal things! May God bless you all this week. Thank you again sincerely for your prayers and support for me and our work here in Ukraine.

Presidential elections

If anyone is following closely the situation in Ukraine you will know about this but for the rest of you I will give a quick update. As you probably know the revolution took Victor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine, out of power and an interim president was elected.

Elections were moved from next year to May 25th of this year. There were many fears of pro-Russian interference in the elections, but besides some problems in the east where voters were prohibited from voting or poll stations closed or prevented from opening, the elections went smoothly. A successful businessman and pro-European candidate, Petro Poroshenko won the election. (photo on the left) Please pray for him that God would give him wisdom do deal with this broken country and with the unstable situation in the east, as well as a devastated economy. The east is still in turmoil and there is serious fighting there between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian militias. The day after the elections these militants tried to take over the Donetsk airport and the Ukrainian military responded in force killing more than 50 of the rebels. (photo on the right) It is even rumored that fighters from Chechnya, the infamous region of unrest in Russia, have joined the pro-Russian forces.

Please pray for Ukraine, that the country can get back to normal after these elections. Pray that there would be peace in Ukraine and that things would get back to normal. Also please again pray for the economy because the Ukrainian Hrivnia is continuing to drop in value and it really is affecting the people here. It is making things even harder for me financially but for Ukrainians it is becoming much more difficult even to afford basic amenities. Thanks again for being faithful to me with support and with lifting these things up in prayer. If you have any questions or would like to help with supporting me in some way please just ask me or talk to someone at Calvary, or to my parents. God bless and I will update again soon.

Trip to the Orphanage

One ministry that we often take part of here in Ukraine is ministering to orphans. We went to an orphanage in a village not far from L'viv, called Veliky Lyubin. I am just now updating the blog, but we went there on Mother's day and we try to visit there once or twice per month. So first we asked our neighbors here if they had any used toys, or clothes to donate and we went door to door asking them.

They were very generous and we received bags full of stuff to give the orphans. We wanted to include the neighbors in this ministry, even if they didn't know it, and give them a chance to get to know us because we hope to minister to them as well. We took a couple of buses to the orphanage and basically just spent some time with the kids there. It was Mother's day as I said so the kids that were left there really had no where to go and no one who cares for them. We played games, sports, did arts and crafts, and sang songs with them as well as a short message from the Bible. Then after we just went for a walk with them. The children were excited to show us around. They were so excited to just have someone to talk to or to receive a little attention. There were big smiles everywhere. And of course they were very happy to get a little "goodie bag" that we had prepared for them. It is a blessing always to see their smiling faces. Please pray for them as orphans in Ukraine have a very hard life, and very few opportunities for a better future.

Please pray also for the situation in Ukraine as the eastern part of the country is still very unstable. Thank you all for your prayers and support and if you have any questions just ask!

Situation with Russia still not any better

Hello everyone! Finally writing an update this month! If you are still following the news the situation with Russia hasn't really changed all that much. Still there is very high tension, and no one is really sure what Putin will do next. Some Ukrainian forces have tried to take back some buildings in Eastern Ukraine from pro-Russian forces, there was some success but not much. We believe these forces are either payed for and/or backed by the Russian government, and there is even believed to be Russian agents trying to cause some of this dissension to destabilize the interim Ukrainian government before elections in May.

Some of these pro-Russian forces have even captured some individuals from the EU, some Ukrainian diplomats, and members of the Ukrainian armed forces, and I even heard that someone was found dead and was believed to have been tortured as well. It is a very sad situation because not all the people in the Eastern parts are wrong. Some are just normal Ukrainians who have bought into the lies told to them through the Russian run and Russian controlled media, so there isn't a simple solution to these tensions. Please continue to follow this situation and pray for Ukraine. Just remember I am on the other side of the country and far from these situations. It is safe in my area for now, so no need to worry. (The photo is some Ukrainian forces moving in on a checkpoint controlled by pro-Russian forces.) This last week I celebrated my birthday. I actually thought I wouldn't really celebrate I didn't expect anything special, but my friends threw me a surprised party. I had some English lessons that day so I really wasn't expecting anything. It was a very fun evening and was a blessing for me. We had a great time fellowshipping with one another, eating, and playing games. It was great! I have English lessons just about every evening. It is mostly to help support myself here, but pray that God would use it as well. Also this week we are starting a new youth ministry. We have been wanting to start some ministry for young people for a while, and have been planning it, and will meet the first time on Wednesday. It will be a social outreach to youth where we will basically discuss together different problems we see in society and in the world. We will then give them a biblical solution to these problems or say what does the bible say about them, and we will discuss together will them what can we do to make a difference. We hope to brainstorm with these youth and come up with ideas, then together with them to actually do something about it. For example if they say the parks are dirty and it is a problem, so we will all go together and clean-up in some way. Our church is partnering with another church in the are to do this so please pray that God would bless this, and that many young people would come. I also hope to invite many of the people I know from Horodok where I was living last year. Thank you all for you prayers and support! It is very appreciated. If you have any questions feel free to ask or leave comment! God Bless you all this week! Another update coming soon.