JustYouth 2nd Service

Saturday night we held our second #justyouth church service/drop-in at New Hope Church. This one was a huge success, we worked really hard all week praying and preparing and were really excited for it. We also noticed a number of spiritual attacks during the week leading up to Saturday so this told us that we were on the right track with this and we were really praying for the specific people to come to hear the message Steve prepared. 

We kicked off the service with some live music provided by a band from Molochansk, south of Zap. 

We then did a karaoke competition for something fun and to get people involved.

There was a skit by two Young Life friends of ours.

And Steve gave a really strong message on the existence of God. He used some science facts to show the intricacies of how we and the earth are made and shared some stories from our lives to show how real He is to us.

We had a bit smaller of a crowd this time, about 40 kids - but we knew that each one of them was supposed to be there and were the ones we were praying for all week.

Afterwards we had coffee, tea, cookies and played games - foosball, ping pong and card games.

All of the leadership team walked away at the end feeling really good about how it went. The atmosphere was completely different than the first time (not that the first time was bad at all!) but it just felt intentional, relaxed, filled with the Presence of God and just so alive!!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!! Our next one is planned for August 16th and our biggest concern is being able to find a band for that evening so prayer for that, as well as the youth that attend would be really appreciated!!

We are taking off on the train this evening headed to Spain for the G42 five year reunion and are looking forward to some family time and a chance to relax a little bit before coming back here for the rest of a busy summer.

**Photo Credits to our friend Sasha who is a professional photographer and was kind enough to take these for us**

Survival Night No.2

Last Wednesday Steve and Ruslan took three guys (Andre, Andre and Roma) to Nicolaipolia for a survival night. Steve had asked Garry if there was a place near his farm where they could go so when they showed up they were pointed in a direction.

The found some shelter near a pond and set up camp. They brought no food, just water so they hunted and fished. 

They caught one fish and a few frogs; The fish was about the size of a woman's hand, so not much to eat. But they did find an apple tree for some sustenance.

It was a cold night but warmth was found in the morning sun. 

And they survived. Maybe next time they'll try two nights.

Weekend

On Friday evening we went to Rainbow Park to meet up with the Young Life kids who were finishing up a Quest (scavenger hunt). Every summer at Rainbow Park they set up this huge screen and play movies or have shows of all kinds and on Friday they were showing the soccer game. 

I was surprised at the amount of people who were there but it was a really cool atmosphere and nice to see how "normal" life is here despite the tense time in the country.

Evelyn Wiens is back! She arrived last Wednesday and we were able to go for lunch with her and her traveling companions (Vince and Dana Penner from BC) on Friday and then they were in church on Sunday. Ev spoke a little bit about what the last few months have looked like for her and Vince and Dana spoke as well. In this photo are some of the church leaders - from L-R: Ev, Vince, Dana, Max (Pastor), Sergei (Pastor), Andre (worship team) and I don't know the last lady's name. 

After church our Just Youth team headed out to Baburka (Ba BOOR ka) to Vanya (worship leader) and his wife Anya's place in the village (but it's a dacha NOT part of the village...we learned there's a difference). We did shashlik and relaxed outside in their beautiful yard.

 ....and then proceeded to have a two to three hour meeting discussing how our first service went and how to improve and plan for the next one which is on July 19.

It was nice being out of the city for a bit and it was great getting to know some of the people we don't know as well who want to be involved with Just Youth. Steve and I have learned a thing or two about shashlik over the last few months too - when you think you've bought enough meat, double it because the party will usually last at least 10 hours, and meat should flow off and on the entire time.

We have our next Just Youth service on July 19 and then we are heading to Spain for the G42 Five Year Reunion after that - we'll head to Kiev on the 21st and fly from there. Brian will be traveling to Kiev with us and also heading over to Spain at that time.

Thanks for reading!!