Our team has finally been united with our other teammate, Olga Mokan, after two weeks in Anadyr. She's a really great asset to already a great team as we've already ministered in Pevek and in the village of Yanranai, where we spent the weekend doing kid's and youth programs together. God has been blessing us and providing in many different ways. One of which is that we got the permission to use the local youth center, where there's a lot more room for doing our program with the kids. All but 2 kids from the village came to hear our funny and loud clown, who not only showed tricks and made kids laugh, but also told stories along the way and lead everyone in learning new songs! After one of the lessons on prayer, the kids made prayer cards. The most common prayer requests were "For my parents not to drink; That people would not drink vodka in our village; for people not to drink." The state of being drunk is a norm in the village for many young guys were coming to our events in this condition. But they still were able to talk about serious topics which showed us once again how alcohol became an accepted part of their life.
Family is most important for any person and Satan knowing it, strikes right in it with the deadly weapon of alcohol. Kids seem to be suffering here the most. Friday night, a mother of Vika, was at our church service, next day she came to borrow 50 rubles from us when we were playing with kids outside. Vika was very embarrassed to see her drunk mother and ran away crying. She was avoiding us the rest of the weekend and after calling her several times she resistively came at the very end.
Most importantly, we were able to follow God's direction and his leading. We had plans to do 3 youth gatherings but each time our planned program had to be postponed. Our goal was not to tell them what we had on our paper but to be sensitive to God's leading and he wanted us to hear their stories and their thoughts about life and about their relation to our coming and what it means for them. Finally on sunday night, after we've established trust and relationships with them they all came. We had great discussions, where two teams presented their opposing views about smoking, alcohol, purpose in life, and life without purpose and goal. I was pleasently surprised how much the people opened up and shared about the topics. May God continue to work in their lives, as many of them have already heard about God many times and some come from believers families.
Our loving Lord has also been blessing us with great weather, it's been pleasantly warm on most days, around 70 degrees, which is very warm for this part of the world. On the days and nights in between services and programs we were able to spend more time in fellowship with the amazing Grin family and their kids. We've only been here about a week and if we're able to leave for Aion tuesday, we won't see Slava because he's gonna leave for his class session and come back most likely after we all leave Chukotka. Today we were lucky to spend a whole day with the family, where we went on a photoshoot and had a great time. We're thanking God for the opportunities he has been providing us with in serving Grin family and the people of Chukotka. Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Our team has finally been united with our other teammate, Olga Mokan, after two weeks in Anadyr. She's a really great asset to already a great team as we've already ministered in Pevek and in the village of Yanranai, where we spent the weekend doing kid's and youth programs together. God has been blessing us and providing in many different ways. One of which is that we got the permission to use the local youth center, where there's a lot more room for doing our program with the kids. All but 2 kids from the village came to hear our funny and loud clown, who not only showed tricks and made kids laugh, but also told stories along the way and lead everyone in learning new songs! After one of the lessons on prayer, the kids made prayer cards. The most common prayer requests were "For my parents not to drink; That people would not drink vodka in our village; for people not to drink." The state of being drunk is a norm in the village for many young guys were coming to our events in this condition. But they still were able to talk about serious topics which showed us once again how alcohol became an accepted part of their life.
Family is most important for any person and Satan knowing it, strikes right in it with the deadly weapon of alcohol. Kids seem to be suffering here the most. Friday night, a mother of Vika, was at our church service, next day she came to borrow 50 rubles from us when we were playing with kids outside. Vika was very embarrassed to see her drunk mother and ran away crying. She was avoiding us the rest of the weekend and after calling her several times she resistively came at the very end.
Most importantly, we were able to follow God's direction and his leading. We had plans to do 3 youth gatherings but each time our planned program had to be postponed. Our goal was not to tell them what we had on our paper but to be sensitive to God's leading and he wanted us to hear their stories and their thoughts about life and about their relation to our coming and what it means for them. Finally on sunday night, after we've established trust and relationships with them they all came. We had great discussions, where two teams presented their opposing views about smoking, alcohol, purpose in life, and life without purpose and goal. I was pleasently surprised how much the people opened up and shared about the topics. May God continue to work in their lives, as many of them have already heard about God many times and some come from believers families.
Our loving Lord has also been blessing us with great weather, it's been pleasantly warm on most days, around 70 degrees, which is very warm for this part of the world. On the days and nights in between services and programs we were able to spend more time in fellowship with the amazing Grin family and their kids. We've only been here about a week and if we're able to leave for Aion tuesday, we won't see Slava because he's gonna leave for his class session and come back most likely after we all leave Chukotka. Today we were lucky to spend a whole day with the family, where we went on a photoshoot and had a great time. We're thanking God for the opportunities he has been providing us with in serving Grin family and the people of Chukotka. Thank you all for your prayers and support!
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