Last weekend I picked up my parents in Kiev where they had been visiting with my sister who recently had a baby. We traveled from Kyiv to the village of Makarovo, which is about four hours to the south.
As we drove the temperature was near 100f and we don’t have A/C in our van, thankfully we ran into a thunder-storm with lightning and rain as we got close to the village. Pastor Volodya and his family welcomed us although their power was out due to lightning storm we still enjoyed a wonderful meal together.
Sunday morning we had our first service at 9:00 am in Makarovo. I had the opportunity to preach then my mom gave a testimony. It was Naomi’s 13th birthday and she enjoyed spending it with her grandparents and interpreting for her grandma! My dad also preached and I was able to interpret for him.
After the service they invited the church to sit down for a nice big Sunday afternoon meal. I was amazed how much food they put out so quickly! Despite the heat we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship with the believers.
At 2:30 we headed out for the nearby village of Sahanskoe. The small church there meets in the house were the church leader lives. Again I preached, my mom gave a testimony and then my dad preached. After the service the people lingered for a long time and asked many questions. It was pleasant to see how much they enjoyed the fellowship and just the fact that we took the time to visit them in their village.
We then headed back to Makarovo were we had another meal with Pastor Volodya and his family before heading back down to Odessa! It was a long and tiring day but God blessed us and showed us how He is working in these two villages.
If you have a few moments please pray for the churches in Makarovo and in Sahanskoe.
1. Pray for the harvest. This is a drought year and many of the villagers who depend upon their crops are facing hardships now.
2. Pray for spiritual revival. Pastor Volodya desperately wants to see people come alive for Jesus!
3. Pray for men who could be leaders in these churches.
This week our children are enjoying a very special time with her grandparents, who they don’t see very often. This Saturday my dad, my father-in-law and I will be traveling to Moldova for the weekend of ministry with a an evangelist that lives in the northern part of the country. We also appreciate prayers for our travels and ministry. We will have a very busy schedule of preaching and taking part in services in various churches on Saturday and Sunday.
I’ll be posting an update on our Moldova trip once we get home so don’t forget to check back or better yet, subscribe so you don’t miss anything!
