Our First Sunday in the Ukraine

Well, although we are posting this at around 2:15 a.m. Central Standard time, we have already begun our Monday morning activities. The internet cafe was closed by the time we arrived back at our apartments yesterday, so here is a summary of our weekend.

The remainder of Saturday was spent getting groceries and making plans for Sunday's transportation. Sunday morning, we met our translators for the first time. We have four young people - Vonya, Masha, Nikka, and Kostya - that will be helping us for the remainder of our trip. They are excellent translators, and we are blessed to have them working with us. We traveled out to Krasnoarmeysk and had a wonderful period of worship. There were about 25 of us in the small room they rent, and we were able to hear Sasha, their new preacher, for the first time. As you may recall, they spent most of the last year looking for a preacher, and Sasha is a young graduate of the Kromtorsk Institute, a preacher training school, and he began his work with the congregation in May. He and his wife Maria are full of energy. They have a niece that lives with them, and Maria has begun teaching children's Bible classes on Saturday. There were 4 children present on Sunday, which shows the fruit of that work.

After our worship service, we had a men's meeting in which Sasha discussed the needs of the congregation. We were glad to have Tony and David with us to represent the Elders - especially since both of them have worked to correspond with this congregation over the years. We have had some difficulty communicating with the Krasnoarmeysk church in the past, and we will now be able to use Roma, a former preacher for that congregation who now lives in another city and was with us on Sunday, to send communication. Sasha and Julia are not from Krasnoarmeysk, but they have moved to the city and have long-term plans to stay there. This is very good news! We also discussed our plans for next week, in which we will teach Bible classes at night to some of the individuals Sasha has been studying with, as well as current members. We will be telling you more about this congregation in the days ahead.

After eating an early supper, we worshipped with the church at Proletarski. This is the congregation where we are conducting the VBS this week. We planned with Ray our week's schedule. This morning, we attended chapel at the Ukraine Bible Institute. We will spend the remainder of the morning going over tonight's lessons with our translators. This afternoon, we will canvas the Proletarski area, handing out fliers for the VBS, which begins at 5:00. We will then begin teaching the children!

All in all, we had a busy but profitable day yesterday. The meeting with the Krasnoarmeysk congregation was a giant step forward, and we are excited to begin the VBS in Proletarski tonight. The Bible school at the Macheyevka orphanage begins tomorrow (today is the first day of school here). Thanks for your prayers!

---

Mt. Juliet Church of Christ

Physical Addrees:
1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

Mailing Address:
P.O.Box 248
Mt.Juliet, TN 37121-0248

(615)758-2274
Fax:615-754-2351
Email


Worship Services:
Sunday Early Worship: 8AM
Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM
Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM
Night Worship: 6PM
Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM


Past Archives:

• August 2006
• September 2006
• July 2007
• August 2007
• July 2008
• September 2009
• October 2009
• August 2010
• January 2011
• July 2011
• June 2012