Friday, August 26, 2005

Missions Report - August 2005

Steve and Zoyia

New Life in Kiev, Ukraine

We are here safe and sound here in Kiev. The trip was an adventure. God was in control though. That is what Danelle kept telling me. I was struggling to believe this when we started. We had a two hour delay in Atlanta as we sat on the runway in a thunder storm for 2 hours! It made us miss our connecting flight in Amsterdam. It was a God-thing though. I sat next to a mother and daughter from Odessa, Ukraine. They were on their way back from vacationing in Cuba. The daughter spoke English and we talked about knowing God through Christ for several hours. She asked Christ to forgive her sins and take control of her life toward the end of our conversation. It was beautiful! Please pray for Zoyia to grow and get involved in a good fellowship here. She is 17 and will be studing here in Kiev for 4 years. I spoke to her a few days ago and she expressed interest in coming to church and pursuing God. Now I understand what He was doing in Atlanta with the storm.
When we finally arrived in Kiev we were short 3 pieces of luggage. They came late the next night though. Only three things were broken. Praise God!
We have been working hard at getting settled, buying food and things for the flat. It is not easy to be here at times, many emotions and thoughts of sadness leaving our family and friends, but God is keeping us encouraged by His word and through each other. The team here has been a great support, especially the Powers family!
We had our first Russian class yesterday and had a language helper come over last night. It is a challenge, but God is giving grace.
Our language helper is Svetlana. I have known her several years and she is a very good Christian and member of the church we are working with. So it seems like an answer to our prayers. Sveta has a very good job right now and is praying about quitting so she can tutor us and work for the church. Her mom is not happy about it though. Please pray for her in this big decision.

Love,

Steve, Danelle, Grace and Merry