Kids Changing Kids Lives...

For the second year, the Kingwood Church of Christ children's ministry has spent the month of February collecting spare change in order to help the orphans of Ukraine. This year, the children raised $3,100 to help us towards the furniture for the new camp in Ukraine.

I flew down to Houston last month while in the US fundraising. I spent a Wednesday with some of the ladies in the church who helped me prepare a Ukrainian meal including: Borsht (soup), Potato Pancakes, Macaroni-po-flotski (macaroni with ground beef and onions) and salad made from cabbage and carrots. In all, we fed over 80 people that evening before I did a presentation on the camp progress.

Thank you to the children of Kingwood Church of Christ!

And the Angels Rejoice Again!!

What a week it has been! The angels in heaven are once again singing praises as two more are added to the Kingdom!

This morning, following worship, Anya and Marina decided to become Christians and be baptized. We praise God for their decision and their obedience to Gods call in their lives.

Preachers Gennady Skippin (left) and Sasha Piletsky (right)
read a brief passage of scripture to the girls prior to their baptism.

Marina's baptism.

Anya's baptism.

And the Angels Rejoice!

We rejoice with Olya in her new life with Christ.

After studying for a while with Yakov, one of the men in the congregation, Olya decided that she wanted to confess her sins, give her life to Christ and be baptised. Following Bible study on tonight, Olya was baptized by Gennady Skippin, one of the ministers at the Left Bank church.

Please be praying for Olya as she begins her new walk with the Lord!

Ugligorsk Birthday Celebration - by Jared White...

Yesterday, Tanya and I rode 3 hours in the car so we could have a group birthday party for some kids at the Ugligorsk orphanage. She goes every two months and has a group party for the little ones who have birthdays in those months.

I think the kids were from the ages of 7 to maybe 12, most of them closer to the younger age and there were about 22 of them. The little boys got little toy cars and the little girls got small stuffed animals. We also had cake, bananas, and soda.

Before the kids ate we played some games. I started out by doing the song Father Abraham with them and had them do the motions with me, I think they enjoyed it…they at least thought I was pretty silly doing it. We also played a version of hot-potato with a beach ball.

Here are some pics from our trip to Ugligorsk.

Awesome Video with Important Message...

Some fellow missionaries showed me this video recently. The message is VERY important and speaks somewhat to what we are doing here in Ukraine.

Ivankiv Orphanage - January Outreach Day...

Today was our monthly outreach day to the children in the orphanage in Ivankiv. We were blessed to spend about three hours with the 21 kids who were there today.

Sheri Gray and Joni Long from Texas joined us to help us celebrate "Christmas" with the kids. They brought crafts with them for the kids, a couple of Twister games and the most amazing snacks. For snack time they brought brownie mix, stuff for rice crispies and hot chocolate. The kids LOVED IT!!!

The best part of the day was distributing the Christmas gift bags sent by the Monterrey Church of Christ in Lubbock, TX and the children's Bibles from EEM.

Craft time.

Jenny directing the giant Twister game.

We actually taped 4 Twister mats together for the game.

New House Parents for the TLC...

Meet Valik and Anya - our new House Parents!

Valik and Anya joined our staff at the beginning of the month as our House Parents at the TLC in Mariupol. Valik is a long-time member of the Left Bank Church of Christ in Mariupol and Anya has been a member of another congregation near Donetsk. They were married this fall and togehter have been pursuing opportunities to minister to orphans. With the kids at the TLC knowing Valik so well from church and Anya's previous experience working at orphanages teaching Bible lessons and doing outreach, it seemed like a perfect fit. We welcome Valik and Anya to our staff.

Valik and Anya will be replacing Alexandra and Sveta who had been taking turns serving as House Moms. They both feel they could no longer keep up with the teenagers and most especially the boys! We love and adore both Alexandra and Sveta and appreciate their amazing service to the kids and the Lord this past year!