October Newsletter
We’ve been so wonderfully received by the principal in the public school in Hotsky Village,
where our rehab center “The Father’s House” is located. Since 20% of
all Ukrainian villages have “died out” due to people moving to the
cities for work and higher education, the director was ecstatic that we
actually have moved into the village! We told him that we would like to work with the children in the school by teaching English, having a basketball club, etc. We told him we want to share with the kids about life with Jesus. He
said we could do anything as long as there were results, as many of the
youth in the village are on drugs and alcohol, because there is
absolutely nothing for them to do, especially on weekends.
We’ll begin this Sunday, with our first basketball club with Zhenya & his friends. We plan to sing, and pray with them, build relationships, and then preach the gospel to them. (Remember there is no church in the village yet!!!)
The
director also said that since we would teach English once a week there,
he would supply the children in “The Father’s House” with tutors during
their period of rehabilitation, before they enter public school (I
believe this “public school” is about to turn Christian! Please pray!) We
also found that the principal is very influential in the village, and
could also be helpful to us obtaining a building for a church
service/cultural center.
We’ve found 2 buildings: one an empty “shell” (has walls, roof and foundation), and another, a former library. We
have a dream to obtain these 2 buildings and have a church service, as
well as teach classes for the community, such as English, computers,
woodworking, etc., to help develop the village life. The
former library (now empty), we dream of opening again as a
Christian-run, mini “Barnes and Noble”, with the opportunity to read
Christian books, magazines, drink coffee (instead of alcohol!!), and
watch Christian films, such as “The Passion.”
One major challenge: when we came back to the Ukraine after the summer, we found that our wonderful houses that we bought have a bad “water pipe system”. The total job cost $7,000. Please pray with us about this need.
