I am staying in Lutsk, Ukraine with Sacha Savich and his wondergful family. His wife Natasha is a wonderful cook and is taking care of us REAL well! They have 3 very cool kids-Tima (8), Katcha (7), and little Jacob who is a 4 year old firecracker. Yesterday we went with the kids to buy two hommyachucks (hampsters). Today the three kids took me sledding behind their school. It was a ton of fun! Tonight I will give them some gifts I bought for them 🙂
Yesterday evening John and I spent some time with a church called God’s Design. They wanted to hear from us regarding changing the church focus from a Sunday gathering focus, to a small group focus. Instead of meeting once a week for a big gathering, they want to meet once a week in smaller groups and then come together for fellowship once a month. That’s a big change from the Orthodox and Protestant patterns that rule the culture. Very risky, but they feel like they need to take the risk for the sake of the church and the gospel. Hearing their passion and vision for the city gave me great hope for the church, even as I am disillusioned with the American variety sometimes 🙂 It was such an encouraging time!
Tonight I will be spending News Years Eve with another innovative evangelical church in the city called Fimiam, which mean “insense.” what a cool name for a church! I am staying with the youth group from 9pm to 5am the next morning. We will eat and play games. I will give a little talk for the new year. They also will spend time meditating on the past year and writing letters for to themselves for the new year. New Years in Ukraine is a BIG holiday, bigger than Christmas. Everyone has off from work and school for a week. When the Russians came into Ukraine they replaced celebrating Christmas with New Years, so we will celebrate with them wih some big parties. On New Years Day John and I will help serve communion at Femiam after John preaches, which will be quite a cool experience I think.
Friday, John and I are heading to a mountain resort (ministry is tough work!). We’ve been invited by Femiam to join a leaders retreat and share with them for the weekend. We will be staying in the Carpathian Mountains from Friday through Sunday. Afterwards we’re not sure what’s next, but if its anything like we’ve been doing, it should be pretty awsome!
Enjoy New Years Eve. See you in the New Year!
