More about trip to Mississippi/Passion 2012

Wanted to share with you some videos we've filmed while going to US to visit Chuck (in his home in Mississippi) and then Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta.

Video interview on the way to U.S. in Amsterdam airport (Schipol):

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

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.

Final CHRISTMAS PARTY for students of L'viv Concervatory.

We have had a final meeting with our students group on the 9th and then 16th of December. Both those were really GREAT meetings and we had around 22 people in attendance during those two meeting (16 and 12 people correspondingly:-)

So, the Lord has really made that day very special since we've had snow for the first time in December, so it felt really like Christmas. We've had a special program prepared with a code name "Santa Clause vs. Sheppards", with couple of games prepared, a Christmas story that we red together with students and a short movie about how Christmas is no longer about Christ's birth anymore in most of the countries. Then we've talked about what Christmas really means and what it means for each of us personally.

At the end we've sung couple of Christmas carols together, which was cool, because there were many musicians in the room, so even without rehearsal it sounded really cool.

Anyway, all in all, it was a great finish of the semester and all students were really excited about the next semester. So, first or second week of February we will be starting the group back again, hopefully in the Concervatory building.