CCX Christmas PIZZA PARTY: Santa vs. Shepherds

This was our LAST meeting of the semester... and the FIRST big event (as we called it) for the past 1,5 years in L'viv. Such a meeting we could pull off ONLY with God's mighty help and also due to the wonderful team of volunteers: Lena, Vira, Oksana, Alina, Tolik, Andriy and Volodya! Thank YOU guys! We praise the Lord for this group of people, who have been committedly serving and helping CCX to serve students here in L'viv.

" We had around 40 people that evening "

So, back to the PARTY. The night was truly amazing as almost everything we wanted to accomplish was accomplished! The sub name of the party was: Santa VS Shepherds and the key idea was to compare how Christmas is celebrated now and how it is described in the Bible. We had everything: games, fun, Christmas carols, PIZZA, fellowship, singing, video and MOST IMPORTANTLY the story about TRUE meaning of Christmas! Tolik did a great job playing a shepherd and being the host of the party at the same time. He also read the Christmas story and encouraged everyone to remember these words, when they celebrate Christmas with their family (Christmas is also a VERY family oriended hiliday here in Western Ukraine).

" The key idea was to compare how Christmas is celebrated now and how it is described in the Bible "

We had around 40 people that evening. Some of them were brand new students, whom we never met, some were those who attnended our Bible studies. Unfortunately we were missing at least 7-12 people, who couldn't make it...:-( How would it be if they came? One thing I know for sure - we would be VERY SHORT on pizza (which we've ordered expecting 25-30 people).

Here are some pictures from the party:

Unforgetable moments of CCX Christmas PIZZA PARTY 2010

In any case, thank you to EVERYONE, who has prayed and helped us in preparing this evening. It was a truly great end to this year of our work with students and an encouragement to keep going.

Please continue to pray about students' ministry in L'viv and for CCX staff to appear here soon, so they can unfold the work even more. Special thanks also goes to Hosanna church (where we are members), who allowed us to use their facility and equipment.

All pictures from the PARTY you can see by clicking here - at our Picasa album.

Going to Passion 2011 Ft. Worth: THE POWER OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

Well, OK, this is more a POST SCRIPTUM to things that have already happened... not a FRESH NEWS.

However, I wanted to share this since this fall was a special period in our lives, as (for the first time in our life as family) we were involved in a small fund raising project to find finances for a trip to Passion 2011 conference in US.

In 2010 we went to Atlanta upon Passion Conferences invitation and were immensely blessed by what we've experienced there. The people we've met there, the atmosphere, the speakers that spoke - everythings there extremely blessed our hearts and we felt like we've got a HUGE boost to continue growing in our relationships with the Lord and in work for His Kingdom. In more details about our experince I have writeen in posts: Passion 2010: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.

"We decided: if we had the needed money - we would GO, if not - we would NOT GO!"

Now, back to the process that we went through this fall. It was truly a journey for us, as we basically wanted to find out, if it is God's will for us to be at this conference... We definitely knew that we wanted to go, but with our car beign stolen only 6 month ago and having to pay monthly rent and land loan to the bank we simply didn't have extra $2,000 to spend for a trip to US. So, we decided to write to many of our friends and ask for support... and, if we had the needed money - we would GO, if not - we would NOT GO!

What happened after that was a total surprise for us as people started helping us and in a little over 4 weeks - we had the money we needed to go to the conference. Here's how it worked:

A snapshot of how our "Passion 2011: Fund Raising THERMOMETER" looked each step of the way

We came up with what we've called "Our fund raising thermometer" and decided to let, those who, were thinking about supporting our trip to see the progress.

In a little over 2 weeks we had first $500, then - another $500, then - over a thousand... and then one of our friends (if you can imagine this - a person, whom we've met at Passion 2010 in Atlanta last year), have said that he wants to cover "the rest" of what we had left to raise. WOW!! That was really a great end to this small project. We've got the FULL AMOUNT RAISED!!

Through this process, we were once again humbled by people's readiness to GIVE and "invest" into our lives, by the generosity and trust in God on each of our friends' side. It is a HUGE ENCOURAGEMENT for us and a learning experience, that though we all, as Christians, might live at different parts of this Earth - through CHRIST we are united into ONE BODY and can count on each other.

Me and Katya wanted to THANK EACH and everyone, who's supported this quest of ours either financially or through prayer... You are a TRUE BLESSING and a great example to us of obedience to the Lord.

"We all, as Christians, might live at different parts of this Earth - through CHRIST we are united into ONE BODY and can count on each other"

P.S. And you know what, we were especially impressed by one family, who said, "We are tight on finances now, but we'll see what we can do?" - that family ended up praying for us and giving $25 towards our trip... BUT we were immensely blessed and amazed by the attitude they've shown. I thought to myself, that indeed it doesn't matter that much how much you give, but that YOU DO GIVE, what you can, if you want to support someone. Guys - you have blessed us tremendously - even through this small gift!:-) We praise the Lord for you and pray for your family and little son regularly...

Statistics of our students group in L'viv... do they matter?

Just realized that this semester I haven't shared about how our student groups are going. At the same time there's A LOT to share about (both happy and sad). I wanted to start with some statistics, which I usually really love to analyze, even though I know for sure that the Lord doesn't work through statistics:-)

Anyway, here's how statistics of our L'viv CCX student group look:

Last semester:

- 4 people in our leadership team

- 1 regular Bible study group

- 5 non-believers attending

- around 35 people involved all together

- 3 universities covered

- 1 car to get around

- 1,000 gospels of Mark distributed

This semester:

- 7 people in our leadership team

- 2 regular Bible study groups (and 1 about to be started)

- 6 non-believers attending

- around 20 people involved all together

- 4 universities covered

- NO car to get around:-)

- 0 gospels of Mark distributed

Now, are these statistics good or bad, I do not know. All I know is that 13 months ago we (together with couple of other volunteers) have started our work with CCX Ukraine to help students of L'viv understand WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING in their lives! And after all that has happened (good and bad) I can definitely say that - GOD has done A LOT through this and it all really matters! If not in lives of people we've met, then at least in our own lives. We are indefinitely grateful to the Lord for that. We have grown, being inspired and blessed!

Yesterday, we had our 6th group this semester and the topic was "God's redeeming sacrifice through Jesus Christ" (Rom. 3:19-26) We are going through the book of Romans and some studies are not easy to undertand. But this group WAS AMAZING!! Seemed that all students were very much moved and inspired by the words that we've read in the Bible that evening. Those, who do not follow Christ yet, have been asking many questions... and got great answers from other members of the group! One could feel the Spirit of the Lord was moving. Evenings like this give you a great boost in ministry and another proof that what you invest into people from the prospective of ETERNITY is the most important thing in this life.

So we are praying that this ministry here GROWS even more!! That more students get serious about their faith and those, who do not believe reconcile with God. We do not know what our role will be in the future... We are praying for CCX staff to come to L'viv to continue this work that has been started. Please pray for this WITH US...

Picture of our yesterday Bible study group

Katya's grand mom turned 80!

This fall Katya's grand mom, IVANNA, turned EIGHTY! We went to her house to greet her with this honorable date. She's doing quite all right and still does some things by herself at the garden and at dacha (sometimes). She loves gardening, but of course at this age can not do much.

That day I wondered how would we look when we are 80 and what would our birthday look like?

Katya with her Grand mom, Ivanna, at her 80th birthday

Trip to Denmark

Yes, we've finally made it!! Our trip to Denmark to visit Taras and Elizabeth's wedding went really well. It was an unbelievable time together with friends and experiencing this new and very interesting culture.

The wedding was fabulous and it was a real pleasure to help (Katya was playing piano), meet all Elizabeth's large family and just have FUN together. The Lord has also allowed us to wonder down the streets of one of the oldest towns in Denmark – Ribe, drive through Hans Christian Andersen's home town – Odense and off course experience beautiful architecture of Copenhagen and take a boat ride down its channels.

More pictures from our trip can be seen at our Picasa album.

Here's us with Taras at the boat's dock near the North Sea:

1 year to our blog (almost)

Forgot one important thing. Our blog is almost ONE YEAR old now, so I have decided to record a small video, while we were in Carpathians to commemorate that!:-)

Funny, but we've started this blog in 2009 with a short video, which was filmed in Carpathians as well. Interesting how certain things in our life happen in certain places.

You can check out the very first post with the video HERE

BEAUTIFUL CARPATHIANS! Trip to the mountains.

Katysha, at the top of the mountain

First of all HAPPY UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY to everyone!! It has been 19 years now since our country became an independent state. An important holiday on the one hand, on the other - it is a bit sad to see what the current president and other politicians are doing to the country. Coming back into Russia's orbit is not the best thing I have envisioned...

Nevertheless, I did not intend to stay long on this bitter topic and want to tell a little bit about our trip to Carpathian mountains this Independence day week-end.!!:-)

We've never been to Carpathians in summer time. So, I searched the Internet (www.karpaty.info ) and found us a place to stay not far from Volovets' (a next train stop after Slavs'ko). And off we went on Saturday morning to explore this beautiful region.

To make the long story short - this was one of the best weekends we've spent together with Katya for past couple of years. It was very calm, peaceful, refreshing and resting. We stayed at the small hotel called "Real fairytale" - and it was like a fairytale. This hotel is targeted at families and kids, so NO loud music or drunk people were around. There are twenty cats that live in that hotel and they were all over the place!!:-) Funny, I usually do not like cats, but those were very friendly and not annoying.

All in all, we thank God for such a wonderful getaway that He's given us right before the season starts. Praise be to Him!!

Long time - no writing

Well, it has been a while since I've written here for the last time. Lot's of things have happened, but it will take too long to write about everything in one post. What I will have to do is post_posting:-) which would be telling about different happenings in our life post-factum.

At the moment I will just say that we're doing really well - enjoying the summer weather in L'viv and plan to go to a trip to Carpathians this or the week later. Katya is working her second month at the company I used to work for (WUMC).

For now here are just couple of pictures from our last trip to Transcarpathian town Uzhgorod, where I was invited to be a best man at our good friend's wedding. Will stay in touch.

PASSION 2010: Day 4

This last day of Passion was both happy and sad. It was great to be there and experience the final accords of this AMAZING conference, with Louie speaking from Philippians 2nd chapter about the importance of working OUT our salvation. It was important to hear and be encouraged that the meaning of this conference is NOT only the conference itself, but what will happen after it. Should watch it on ALL DIGITAL ACCESS later and dig deeper...

I can definitely feel that this is the most important outcome of our trip to Atlanta - what we will do and how will be live after we are back to Ukraine... and I am grateful, that the Lord has started and amazing NEW season in our lives after attending Passion 2010 in Atlanta and meeting all those wonderful people. They were a great example of how to live for Christ and to have Him increased and glorified in our own lives.

It was sad to leave, but on the other hand by doing that we had another interesting acquaintance waiting for us. One of the volunteers (his name was Jim) that server at Passion 2010 and lives in Atlanta has graciously agreed to host us in his house for 2 days... He lives at Buckhead and attends church there, which is a part of North Point Community Church. Jim gave us a really warm welcome at his house and cooked great food, both days we stayed there. It was cool to get to know him better and find out about what he's doing. THANK you Jim for your HOSPITALITY!!:-)

He also gave me bunch of books and DVDs of Andy Stanley, who spoke at the conference as well, so now I am listening and reading to a lot of his stuff, which I really like... He speaks a lot on leadership, which is an interesting topic for me.

Anyway, we are leaving Atlanta PACKED with impressions, which, I am sure, will RIPPLE through our hearts and lives for MANY MORE years to come. Thank you LORD for Passion 2010 and for true AWAKENING!!

PASSION 2010: Day 3

~ 17,000 towels and ~75,000 pairs of socks for the homeless shelters of Atlanta

Ok, here we go... It seems like today the conference has really come to its peak!! What an awesome feeling it is to be among so many people praising the God of universe together in one place. The Holy Spirit was moving on the main sessions, during the time of worship (especially) and even when we would talk to people at lunch. It was extraordinary!!

Today we've heard from another two great men of God and amazing speakers: Andy Stanley and John Piper. I have never heard those guys live, but have heard A LOT about them from other people. It was so great to hear from them and both topics that they've preached on were very important and relevant to me. Accept, the John Piper's one, I am still "digesting" on...:-) Man, that guy is deep!

PASSION 2010: Day 2

Today was a first full day of the conference and finally we've got to experience what Passion is really all about. By that I mean being at the main sessions with such great speakers as Beth Moore and Francis Chan, at breakout sessions and, most importantly at community groups. At community groups it was a great time to process everything we would learn at the main sessions and also to share some personal stories and pray for each other. Later on it has also proved to be a great way to meet new friends and establish good contacts with other youth leaders.

Ok, so, here's briefly what the main sessions were all about. Beth Moore spoke on the passage from Hebrews 13:20-21 on how God equips us (makes us complete) through different circumstances to do His will in every good work.

Francis Chan taught on the importance of God's word and how important it is for us to value it, every time we open the Bible, and how we need to almost TREMBLE every time we read it. Some of the passages he used were Isaiah 66:2, 2 Peter 1:16-19, etc. What really hit home for me was when he spoke about how we need to be changed by God (and His Word) from the inside. Only this way we will not come back to the sin and our old nature like pig comes back to the mud - no matter how much you're trying to clean them.

Then at the end of the day we had a late night concert with David Crowder Band - and it was an absolutely awesome and rocketing time of worship and unique music from DCB!! Exhausted, tired, but happy and overwhelmed we came back to our hotel literally falling asleep on our way...

Oh, forgot one more thing, today we also had a meeting for international students and we've met all other guys from Ukraine. All together there were 10 of us there coming from Ukraine. Praise God for those who could have come!!

Ukrainians at PASSION 2010
(sorry for the bad picture quality, but that's the only one I've got)

PASSION 2010: Day 1

OK, today was the first day at the conference... and we are just back to our hotel room. Wow, it is hard to describe what we have experienced today. Right from the start we've felt that this is going to be a very special conference, since we were invited as guest leaders and have met so many wonderful and interesting people in here.

Today, before the main session we had a dinner together with guys, who are a part of Passion leadership team. We've met people from Texas, who have been to L'viv in the past and know some of the people we know back home. So it was cool to talk about different things together. Also, we've had a chance to see some of the main musicians from the Passion team - David Crowder (and his band), Christy Nockels and Christ Tomlin.

Louie Giglio preached the first night from John Chapter 11,12 about Jesus healing Lazarus, and how we all should consider awakening for the Glory of Gog and trade our "small" lives for being a part of MUCH BIGGER picture, that God is painting around the world.

Then we had our Community groups (where we split into smaller groups, well ours was 3,500 people) and discuss what we've heard at the sermon, sharing how it has touched our lives).

Anyhow, this is briefly how it was. All together over 22,000 have registered for the conference. So it is AMAZING to see so many united for the GLORY of GOD. Will write more later.