Saturday, November 1, 2008

October 2008 Update - Bila Tserkva, Ukraine

Fall in the Village
The view walking to the village of Kozhenykiy.

In Ukrainian, the month of October, Жовтень (Zhovten), means yellow, and it has certainly lived up to its name as we have experienced one of the most beautiful Fall months we have ever seen. As the old passes away we have been witness to many new beginnings and we're continually amazed by what God is doing.

Greg teaching while Maria translates
Maria translating for me at church.

Children's Ministry
Oksana working on her turtle craft with the other kids.

It has been my pleasure and joy to be teaching through the book of 1 Corinthians and to see people encouraged to serve in the body of Christ. We are so happy to see that our neighbor Oksana has taken an interest in going to church with us and seems to enjoy being there. We have also noticed that she looks up to Nastya so hopefully there will be an opportunity for discipleship with Oksana from Nastya. Please pray that this will be the beginning of her walk with Christ. You can read more about her first time at church and what Maxime has been doing by clicking HERE. We have helped Oksana start her own blog which is a whole new world for her. You can check it out by clicking My Life, the title of her blog. (For now it's all in Ukrainian.)

English Club
Oksana is also a part of our English Club.

English Club
Edna going over a short grammar lesson.

We are blessed to see that our English Club, now meeting on Thursday nights, is continuing to grow and new people show up each time. We have put together a format that seems to be working well and attracts the interests of university students. We combine a short lesson on English grammar and an activity with a video that leads to a time for discussion (which happens to be the TV show LOST right now). Our hope is that as these students begin to know us and see that we are normal people (there is a lot of skepticism about Christian missionaries) they will become curious about our lives and open up to more discussion about the Bible. We have already begun to see this happen as a few people have started to ask us questions about why we care enough about them to offer our time to them free of cost.

English Club
Maxime and Joshua tagged along for English Club.

Something that we never expected from English Club was a spin-off. We've decided to refer to it as English Night and will try to hold it each Tuesday night. The idea began when two people from our English Club asked if they could just spend time with us as friends outside of the club. Olya and Serhiy speak very good English so we decided that, along with Tanya from our church and her husband Kolya, we could all get together for a night of fellowship. We will rotate as to whose home we meet at each time. We are looking forward to becoming closer friends with Olya and Serhiy. God has really blessed us.

English Night in our Home
Olya, Edna, Serhiy, Kolya, Tanya, and Me on "English Night" in our home.

Voloshka Orphanage
Spending time with orphans at the Voloshka Orphanage.

Nastya surprised us one day by revealing that she and some friends had been visiting a local orphanage after school. We quickly asked if we could join her and couldn't wait to see the kids at the orphanage we had first visited over a year ago. We had a wonderful time loving on these little ones. We were invited to come back another time so we are eagerly looking forward to that. You can see the post I wrote about our time at the orphanage and see more pictures by clicking HERE.

Edna has begun making trips to Kyiv each Friday to spend time with A.I.D.S. orphans in a hospital along with another missionary named Marianna. These infants and toddlers have no one to show them love beyond a nurse putting a bottle in their mouths. I'm glad that Edna has a chance to share this simple, but important act of kindness with these children. Please pray that Edna and Marianna continue to have this open door. You can read what Marianna said about their last visit by clicking HERE.

Lunch
Dominic, Edna, Natasha, Joshua, Nikita, and Anya having lunch.

Another new beginning is our friendship with Ruslan and Anya (and of course their boy, little Nikita). We have been so blessed with their friendship and times of prayer together. God led them here to Bila Tserkva from eastern Ukraine as native missionaries where they give all of their time to helping build Christ's Kingdom. Ruslan invited me to start an English Club with him at the university on Monday nights and we are greatly encouraged by what we have seen so far. As with our other English Club, a lot of these students come from out of town to study here and have the potential of becoming lights in this community as well as to their own hometowns. The doors of opportunity for ministry here seem to have opened wide lately. We are greatly encouraged by Ruslan and Anya and we are so thankful that God has placed them in our lives. Click HERE to see a little more about them.

Nikita and Joshua
Nikita and Joshua.

Serhiy's Funeral
Edna, Nastya, and Maria walking up the hill to the cemetery in Kozhenykiy.

This month we attended another funeral in the village of Kozhenykiy, this time for Maria and Nastya's great-uncle Serihy. Even in this, a new opportunity has arisen. Maria's mother Valya, wants to use Serihiy's home and the land there for ministry to reach out to the people in the village and for our church to use. We don't know exactly what this will mean, but it raises some interesting possibilities. Click HERE to read about what happened that day at the funeral.

We are so happy to be able to share with you what God is doing here and the impact your prayers and support make in our lives. Thank you so much. We will be traveling to the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Vajta, Hungary next month for speakers week and a chance to raise awareness for what we are doing here. We want to thank Calvary Chapel Visalia for making it possible for this to happen.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. - Matthew 19:29

“What proves that the giver is precious is the glad-hearted readiness to leave all his gifts to be with him.” - John Piper

Нехай Бог Благословить Україну
(Let God Bless Ukraine)


Prayer Requests


• That God would provide for Ruslan and Anya as they search for a way to handle their own support and maintain relationships with their supporters in the United States.
For direction in improving worship at church.
That the churches we met with in America would keep us (Ukraine) on their hearts and minds and in their prayers.
• That God would direct us in planning the English Clubs we are involved in.
• That God would continue to heal Edna's kidneys (she is still having unexplained pain).
• Pray that Maxime would continue to grow in Christ. That nothing would hinder him from coming to church on Sunday, or being able to stay with us here at home.
• That God would raise up others outside of Ukraine to serve in Bila Tserkva.
• That God would help us to form relationships with local evangelical churches.
• That Oksana would have a personal relationship with Christ.
For safe travels to Hungary next month.

Support can be sent to:
Calvary SLO
P.O. Box 1463
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
With an attached note: "For Greg and Edna Silva"


In Christ,
Greg, Edna, Dominic, and Joshua

Our blog: On Second Thought
Our photos: We Desire Him