Art Sale

Steve's Grandma Nicole is an artist and is having an art show in Winnipeg next weekend. She has graciously gifted us 20% of any sales that she makes. She is a wonderful artist and fantastic to visit with as well :) so if you're interested please stop by and see what she has on display! 

This is from Facebook: 

TIME TO DROP EVERYTHING AND TO THINK OF COMING TO MY ART SHOW.

I have a large variety of art work from $ 3.00 to $ 100/+ (greeting cards, magnets, photos, paintings). 20% of all my sales will go to Steven and his family (Missionary in Ukraine). Please come and help me help them. If you can't, tell your friends.

WHERE : Elmwood Active Living Centre
180 Poplar Ave at Brazier St - Winnipeg
WHEN : Opening reception Friday May 1st 7 to 9 PM
Sat May 2nd 10 to 5 PM
Sun May 3rd 12 to 4 PM
FREE ADMISSION
$ 100.00 door prize
Children's Art Table

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

Supper Club Leaders Outing

Our supper club leaders team along with Max and Anya went out to Khortitza Island today to shashlik to build some team unity. It's been a bit of a rough month as far as supper club is concerned so we thought it would be a great idea to get together and just have some fun. 

It was only about +12 with a chilly wind but it was sunny so that helped it feel nicer. The men built a fire and set up the shampoors (the metal sticks the meat goes on over the fire). 

Then it was time for some volleyball and croquet.

The boys did some wandering around on the massive rocks.

Lunch!

Suddenly during lunch the clouds came. +12, windy and no sun makes for not so much fun!! We packed up and headed back up to the van right as we started feeling some raindrops! It never actually rained but we sure meant business climbing up these stairs to the parking lot!!

Moms Club

We had Moms club on Tuesday. Jessica has some guests from Virginia here right now - a mother and daughter, so the Mom taught the girls how to crochet diaper covers for their babies. 

I baked with the girls again - this week we made bannock in a skillet on the stove top and they thought that was just crazy! They always try to figure out what it is that we're making because a lot of the time there are no Russian words for what we're cooking! Apple crisp, bannock....both really foreign foods to them! Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well so I finished up the cooking and then headed home before I could see their reactions to bannock....but Jessica said they loved it. One thing I'm never worried about here is my cooking going over well!

Ukrainian Easter

Because Ukraine follows the Orthodox calendar for holidays, Easter was this past Sunday. We went to church where we had to sit way in the back because it was quite full. Pastor Max invited different people up to share about what God was doing in their lives (we think) and he called Steve up. He shared Psalm 20 which has been a prominent and meaningful Psalm for us lately because it speaks about Christ and His Victory. 

After service there are always cookies and tea but on Easter there will be Paska and eggs.

In the evening we went to Mayakovskaya Park where we met up with people from the Baptist church to sing worship songs. It was an absolutely beautiful evening (despite how most people are attired it was around +20 degrees) and it was fantastic to spend time praising God to celebrate His Victory!!

 Galatians 2:20 says:  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 

Novomykolaivka Orphanage

On Tuesday we traveled to a town east of Zaporozhye called Novomykolaivka to visit an orphanage there. We went with Max from New Hope Center, Jessica, two of our graduated orphan guys, Yura and one other guy who is friends with Max. Steve went a few weeks ago with everyone but this time there was room for the rest of our family to go as well. 

This was the group we saw however I think there are more than just these kids in the school.

My guess is that these kids are between the ages of 6 and 16.

This is the director with Max:

Each class performed a dance for us, apparently this happened the last time our team went there as well!

After the dance recital, it was time for some sports! This is our "team" ready to play some basketball.

The orphanage team was surprisingly good - it's rare to find good basketball players here but they easily won against our team....of which only Steve regularly plays basketball.

Then it was time for volleyball, which was again easily won by the kids:

After the games we brought out cookies, drinks and Yura shared with them the story of Easter and all about Jesus.

This is the bathroom at the orphanage....the door doesn't lock and I believe that it's for both genders. Just one of those times that I shake my head at the stark differences between here and home!! 

Just Youth March: Talent Show

Just Youth was on Saturday and instead of having a band we instead invited whoever wanted to, to participate in a talent show. 

Of course we as the organizers had to put our money where our mouths were so to speak, and perform. I don't know about "talent" per se, but maybe we just made everyone else look better ;) With the help of Justin playing guitar, we did the "Cups" song by Anna Kendrick. 

Aaaaaand for your viewing pleasure here is the actual video of our song. We actually started it with Steve sitting alone at the table just "playing" with his cup until he "figured out" the beat, and then I walked up on stage and joined him, and that's where our friend started recording. Also note: our friend may never have recorded anything in his life so he flipped the camera at the beginning so I had to cut it, flip it and paste it back together fairly close to the beginning so you'll notice that. 

We also sang another song that required much less practice....

 Two other girls sang, one guy rapped, one guy did some break dancing...

...these two girls did a skit and then one of them did a reading...

 ....Steve's Moroccan friend sang a couple of songs....

...and then of course Steve ended it with a message.

Steve spoke about heaven and hell - what the Bible tells us about each place and then questioned where will YOU spend eternity? Then he shared the message of God's love and gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. It was a great message, and the crowd was fairly serious and attentive while he was speaking.

We had around 90 kids come even despite the terrible weather (rainy and SO WINDY) so we were thankful that we still had a big crowd.