News, blessings and needs of March

Good day, dear friends! 

This month of ministry was very blessed, mega tiring, effective and filled with meetings and new acquaintances.

English club

This is an unforgettable experience for me, worth all those sleepless nights and all the preparation. The project itself lasted a week, but the preparation started long before. We received 150 student registrations, and organized interviews for them to distribute language skills by level and get to know each other. A blessing for us was the help in this from local Americans whom we met in Odessa. The blessings did not end there, a team of 8 Americans from the US church (Columbia, Missouri) came to us. These were people who sincerely love Christ and want to share His love with others. Our team and each student felt such strong care and concern through them. Our project began, 70 students attended all days and classes. Every day we had an evening of three parts, where we could get to know each other, learn new words and phrases, read a Bible story together and have discussions about it, then there was an informal time with fun and games. I watched with admiration as many students read the Bible for the first time, much less meditate on it.

We also had personal meetings (Tutor Times) before the evening program, where students registered. During these meetings, the American and the staff/volunteer had the opportunity to talk about their lives, share values ​​and their conversion stories, as well as hear about the lives of the students and support them.

Discussion time. One of the biblical stories we read was about The Lost Son. It seemed very lively, with many deep thoughts from the students and awareness of difficult things. "We are all lost in this world... we are lost... look at our ecology, at wars, at everything that is happening around" - such thoughts were heard from them. We all need a good father who will accept us, who will rejoice in our return. I thank God that I can be a part of serving the students and share with them that such a Father exists. Thank God  that I can dedicate all my time to this thanks to the team of partners, your finances and prayers.

Discipleship 

In the previous letter, I wrote to you about my joy regarding the decision of my students Halya, Tanya and Lisa to join our mission. So we received an answer, they were all accepted. I am very happy, now even more people will be able to devote all their time to serving students, to serve with their spiritual gifts and talents. Not all of them will stay in Odessa, but I imagine what a blessing they will be in teams in other cities. Of course, they also face certain challenges now - raising support for the ministry, finding contacts, moving to a new city for some. I believe that God will take care of all this, but also as a mentor, I want to be a support for each of them. Please pray for the girls and me in all these processes, we really need support.

Evangelism

After the project English Club, I also had 3 girls who don't know Christ yet, we started having personal meetings where we talk more about worldviews and get to know each other.

Maria came to the English Club. She says that in elementary school she had a Christian ethics class, where a good teacher explained everything in an interesting way. But then she somehow forgot about it, and then, at a more conscious age, she did not explore such issues. And now this desire has returned to her again. Please pray that God will reveal himself to her through our meetings, and Christ will become her savior.

Maria in the middle

There is also 2 Vika. It turned out very symbolic, it was not on purpose. I don't choose by names😅

One of them registered for the "Who I am" project, because registration for the English Club was already closed. We had already had our first meeting, she was very sincere and open. And so it was natural to share my story of following Christ with her. And then she herself asked me about baptism, and already at the 1st meeting we were able to talk about its meaning and significance. For me, this meeting was very warm. I hope that in the future we will also be able to go deeper, and Vika will be interested in delving into Christianity. We forgot to take a photo, so I will just share her photo from Telegram. Please pray for her.

And I have started meetings, with another Vika. She appeared in our Campus, last semester. My dicsiple Tanya held meetings with her, and I joined when possible. Now we decided that I will continue the meetings with her, and another of our volunteers, Karina, will join me. And at our first meeting last week, we talked a lot about Christ, Vika came to us with specific questions that we could discuss together. At the end of the meeting, I suggested praying, because Vika found it very difficult to understand the concept of the Trinity and the person of Christ. And Vika agreed. It was a touching moment, we took turns praying to our Lord. And after that we agreed to read together the Gospel of John.

This week we were supposed to have another meeting of the three of us, but due to some difficult circumstances I had to go to another city with my dicsiple Lisa. But we still agreed with Karina that she would not cancel the meeting with Vika, that she would come to our office, and they would connect to me on Zoom together. We agreed to discuss 3 chapters of the Gospel of John. Unfortunately, due to circumstances I never managed to connect to them, but what Karina told me later brought me such incredible joy. Vika repented! This is a miracle, this is God's grace! This is the power of prayer and His incomparable mercy!

Vika on the left

Personal 

Unfortunately, my mother will not be able to come this spring. It is sad, but we trust God with this.

Also, on a personal note, I am currently starting the process of opening a Schengen visa to go to the conference of all CRU ministrys in Europe, which will be held in Berlin in July. I would really like to get there to hear how God is working through our mission in other countries and to meet the different staff. Please prayer about this process. I need it.

Prayer needs and thanks

* thank God for the English club, the team of Americans from the Grace Bible Church, who served us so much and for the further work with all the students.

* for my girls Halya, Tanya and Lisa, raising support for their ministry and quick adaptation in the mission

* for the follow to Christ of Maria and Vika

* gratitude to God for the follow to Christ of another Vika and her further spiritual growth, joining the church

* for wisdom for me as a mentor and my personal raising support for ministry

* obtaining a Schengen visa

Thank you God for everything and for you! Thank you for your prayerful and financial support, I will be happy to pray for your needs as well. Blessings 💛