Christmas in Mississippi...

We've celebrated Christmas at Pinelake church at Starkville, MS

This year we got to celebrate Christmas in America for the first time together as a family (me and Katya) . And it is now NOT a cold and snowy Maine (which would be usuall for us), but rather warm and sunny Mississippi!:-) We were invited to the States by a good friend of ours Chuck, whom we've met at Passion conference in Atlanta back in 2010... eversince, we've become really good friends and we've visited Chuck in US before and he came to visit us in L'viv Ukraine. One other reason we've came to the States is to participate in Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta, Georgia. We are looking forward to that VERY MUCH, cause this year we will be volunteering. Here are some pictures from our trip for now:

Celebrating Christmas with Lovorn's family

2,000 pageviews at our blog

Here we go, it took our blog almost 1,5 years to get first 1,000 views and now, only within some 9 more month we've got another 1,000.

On Dec. 20th 2011 we "celebrated" 2,000 views at this BLOG. It is encouraging. I guess it means that this is interesting at least to some people to read. So, we will continue on doing this... Please stop by anytime, leave your comments and subscribe to the blog by e-mail (it's in the upper right conner, where it says "Follow blog by e-mail") - you will get a notification by e-mail everytime the new post appears.

Finally settled in Kyiv

OK, well, finally, I've got to write in our blog about how we've settled in Kyiv. This is actually the very first weekend (eversince we've moved our stuff to Kyiv from L'viv on Nov. 19th and moved ourselves) that we had at least some free time, which was not consumed in unpacking bozes and visiting with parents/relatives/friends.

How we've moved?
Actually, today it has been exactly ONE MONTH after we've moved to Kyiv!! Amazing, how time really flies! But on a more informative side I wanted to let all of our good friends (and readers of this blog, I hope) know that we are doing really well and grateful to the Lord that He has provided everything needed to "transport" us to this beautiful city (of course, L'viv is beautiful as well:-)!!

The move itself went really smooth and we were able to use a really large truck - big enough to transport BOTH of Katya's piano's!!:-) So, now, we just need to figure out what to do with them both. Our Kyiv friends and my brother Slavik, came to help us unload the truck. We arrived around 20:30pm and by around 22:00pm all our stuff were upstairs and truck unloaded. Thank you, thank you again to everyone who has helped us in L'viv and Kyiv with this move!

Where we live?
We are renting a 2 room appartment on the 21st flooor (yes, no kidding) of a relatively new appartment building near Zhytomyrskaya metro station. Here's the picture of me on the street right near our building, which was taken by Katya from our balcony...


Can't see me? I'm that little gray spot right near the black car...:-)

Anyhow, you probably can tell that we sort of live "on the top of the world"!! However, our windows do not face downtown Kyiv, so we rather see the Zhytomyr highway and nice forests, which are on the suburbs of Kyiv.

Переїзд до Києва: потрібна допомога

Привіт друзі, так, ми переїздимо до Києва і я пишу цей пост, щоб детальніше розповісти про нашу потребу в допомозі при завантаженні/розвантаженні машини. Речей накопилося досить багато і нам потрібна допомога, щоб все це успішно і швидко перевезти. Отож:

Хто може допомогти у Львові:
Потрібна допомога в завантаженні машини (4-5 моцних хлопців:-), бо машина буде порівняно пізно (біля 9:30-10:00 ранку) і нам потрібно її за 1-1,5 годинки завантажити, щоб ще встигути доїхати в Київ і там розвантажитися до кінця дня.  Тому, якщо ви можете допомогти, підходьте будь-ласка до нашої квартири (вул. Вол. Великого 73, кв. 45, під'їзд 3-й) біля 9:45 в суботу 19 листопада.

Хто може допомогти у Києві:
Потрібна допомога в розвантаженні машини (5-6 моцних хлопців:-), бо машина буде порівняно пізно (біля 20:00-21:00 вечора) і нам потрібно її як можна швидше розвантажити. Тому, якщо ви можете допомогти, підходьте будь-ласка до нашої орендованої квартири (вул. Феодори Пушиної 19, зразу на виході з метро Житомирська) біля 21:00 в суботу 19 листопада.

Productive day in KYIV: US VISA, new boss, appartment to live in



Well, yesterday was a very LONG but one of the most productive days in my life for past couple of months. May be I should rather say the day when many things, that have been happening on the background (preparations, thoughts, prayers) just fell into place and I have seen the physical results of those. To summarize all that 18 hours long day I have got my VISA to US, received approval for my Christmas/New Year vacation from my new boss (which means we can come to Passion 2012 and spend Christmas with our friends in US!!:-) and, I think, I have found an apartment to live in when we move to Kyiv. So, now so many questions that we had in our heads cleared up and we can continue on with our move to Kyiv and plans for next 4-6 months of our life.

I have got my US VISA , received approval for Christmas/New Year vacation and found good apartment to live in.

Funny story from that morning... I came to US consulate around 7:45 (as was written at the web site) and there was already a huge line there. Maybe around  25-30 people in front of me to get their visas! I was last in that line... ok, I thought to myself I will wait.How surprised I was when one of the guards asked "Is Mr. Shekhovtsov here?"... I said "Yes, its me". "Please follow me and stand here" - he said to me pointing

CCX Lviv Graduation party 2011

This Wednesday we've had our last meeting of the semester and our final PIZZA PARTY (which became a good tradition now)! This semester was kind of hard, since we were not in L'viv for almost a month (when we went to Passion Ft.Worth and then our vacation) and overall students were hard to gather all at the same time...:-) You know how it is. So, for this meeting we wanted to get everyine together for one last time this semester.

"This evening I was reminded once again, that God is there, He's big and I am very small. I should remember about this!"

We thank the Lord so much that he allowed so many people to come. Some, whom we haven't seen for many, many month, but also 5-7 new people, who have never been to CCX meetings before. We had students from L'viv Conservatory, Polytechnic university, State University and Culture Institute. The name of the party was Indescribable: The Misteries of the Universe and we've based it on Louie Giglio's lecture "Indescribable". TURNED OUT REALLY well... One of the girls, who was at the meeting said at the end: "I was born in a penticostal family and went to church most of my life. But later I've got frustrated with the church and people there. When I left my parent's house and went to the university for couple of years now, I've lived far from God. This evening I was reminded once again, that God is there, He's big and I am very small. I should remember about this!"

We also had some games, sontests and a GREAT DISCUSSION, after the lecture, which at the end WE HAD TO STOP, cause people got so fired up talking about God in their lives. I also had a chance to tell people about importance of their personal relationship with the Lord and they should read the Bible taking it as a foremost authority.

Again, special BIG thanks to all our team of volunteers: Andriy, Vira, Alina (great decoraitions), Tolik and Taras - for the help in organizing this PARTY!! Without your help it wouldn't have happened. We also thank New Horizon's church of L'viv for the opportunity to meet in their appartment. Overall, the Lord has once again been faithful allowing us (even with all our busyness and lack of time) to finish the semester STRONG and look confidently into the future of CCX L'viv as we await Misha and Irena - our staff workers - to come and join the work here in September 2011. Please keep praying for CCX Ukraine and God's work in the hearts of Ukrainian students!!

Some pics from CCX L'viv Graduation Party 2011

First 1,000 views at our blog

Today we've had 1,000th view of our blog. Cool. I am happy that this is a place where people stop by time after time to read news about our life. Keep coming by, we will always have some updates or interesting stories for you!:-) God bless.

Passion Ft.Worth: Day 2

Francis Chan at Passion 2011 Ft. Worth Yellow Community Group

This day at Passion Ft. Worth was the ONLY full day of the conference. I sort of expected the speakers to continue to talk on Philippians, but this second day of the conference continued exactly the same trend as the first day did and both Fracis Chan and John Piper continued to speak more directly from their hearts rather then researching the book of Philippians verse by verse together with us, and it was GREAT!

Francis spoke about the importance for everyone of us to EXPERIENCE God in a personal and real way. That no one can make us or force us to experience the Lord intimately and personally!! Therefore, we all should seek the Lord wholeheartedly – and He will reveal Himself to us. This was a great reminder of another sermon I’ve heard long time ago… my favorite phrase from that sermon was: “If each generation does not experience God first hand, all we’re going to be as Christians is just another social club, where we’re interested in Jesus instead of football, knitting or model cars!”

We’ve also started getting to know each other more in community groups. Funny, but this year, as another proof that this world is a small place, in our community group we’ve met a girl, Lauren, who happens to be in the same church with a Ukrainian girl, Anya, whom we know through Passion… It was great to talk with her and other group members about different things in our lives.

And then in the evening we had John Piper. His sermon topic was “What Is The Bottom of Your Joy?”. It was an AMAZING sermon, probably one of the most influential sermons I’ve heard in past 3-5 years. I will write about it in a separate post.

John Piper preaching on "What Is The Bottom Of Your Joy?"

Not only we had a chance to hear him preach, but Passion guys have invited us to pray with their whole team before the evening sessions started. It was quite an amazing experience to be there together with all those guys, who organize and lead Passion movement and to see how important prayer is for them. Here were those big man and women of faith leading such a large movement, yet completely aware of the fact that without His power NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN!! We were there with other guys, who were at Passion from other countries (Canada, Brazil, Ireland) and Louie introduced us to the whole crowd there, as people, who work with students in other countries of the world… It was really special!! Me and Katya have got a felling that being at Passion we are indeed a part of ONE BIG FAMILY – carrying the name of Jesus to the students around the world.

Anyway, that was Day 2 of Passion Ft. Worth 2011 – full of impressions, full of transformational truth, full of encouragement, new friends and fellowship with God’s family.

Passion 2011 Ft.Worth: Day 1

First day of Passion 2011 at Ft. Worth just passed by and WOW - what a start! The main verse that Louie spoke on this evening was from Philipians 1: " For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain!" Powerful, powerful words!!

The conference has started out kind of slowly (most people started getting registered around 18:00), but sure enough by the start of the first session we had a room full with over 10,000 students in it. The worshp time was great, as always, even though sound was not the same as usual. But when we opened the word of God the Lord has really started opening up what the conference will be about.

"Has the TRAJECTORY for your life been set?"

Louie was reading from Philipians 1 and then from Acts 9:1-5, 9 and talking about how it is important for us as Christiains to first and forewmost to be the "servants of Jesus Christ" (that's how Paul introduces himself and Timothy in the beginning of the book). It is important that people know us in that role first of all. Then he contiued talking about why Paul always introduced himself like that - at some point in his life he went through a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ. and he just could not be the same (Acts 9:1-9).

That meeting on the road to Damascus for Saul (whom Paul used to be) has set a TRAJECTORY for the rest of his life. A change that he went trough was enormous and inreversable. "Can we all confidently say that in each of our lives we went trough that change?" If we didn't and just pretend being a Christian, the we will not be living out the words of Paul, where death would be gain for us, but to continue living in this world is Christ.

"We often turn Paul's word upside down! "We live to gain, and when we die then we will be with Christ (even though truth be told, we really do not want to die)"

It was interesting, that even though the book of Philippians is mostly about joy, from the very first session of the conference the keynote was seeming to be on transformational change that takes place in our hearts, when we experience God face to face for the FIRST TIME. The question, which Louie was getting at that first evening was: "Have you ever really experiened that transformational change, that only God can bring in your life?"

Then in the evening before we went to the David Crowder live concert we went to the prayer area, which is called "Kneel" to pray for around an hour: for the conference, for our nation, campuses and the world. It was an incredible experience, even though I'm usually not the most endurant person when it comes to prayer:-( However, this time it was such a blessing both for me and Katya to go through...

Well, I think this is enough information for this post, even though that first day of Passion was that and much more (as it usually is at Passion conferences). Good night, will update more later!!

Here We Go: Roadtrip to Passion 2011 Ft.Worth starts...

Today our trip to Passion 2011 STARTS!! We are leaving L'viv and taking an overnight train to Kyiv. Expexting great time with Katya's sister and my parents and then in the early morning of March 30th we are taking our plane to the States. KYIV-AMSTERDAM-DALLAS/FT.WORTH.

Praying, expecting and hoping for much to be revelaed... from the Lord, from the Word and from all the great people we're going to see. So sorry we can not see everyone of you who's supported us for this trip. Gene&Diana, Dough&Fran, Clay&Karen, Jim, Zarat&Damian, Mike&Jane, Al&Alice - we so wish we can see you while in States!!:-( But very much looking forward to see the rest of you guys Chuck, Rod&Sheila, Tim&Heather, Marc&Leigh during our trip.

Will keep you updated as things envelop... To God be the GLORY!!

UPDATE #1: Yesterday we have safely arrived to Ft. Worth. The trip was very smooth and we had great transatlantic flight. Still, very tired upon arrival so we went to bed right away. Slept through most of yesterday, ordered food to the room, and then slept again through the night. Today (March 31st) is a bright morning in Ft.Worht. Ready to eat breakfast and then do the morning Bible reading. Thanks everyone for praying. Will write more later.