MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS - Part 1

AUGUST 17 - 22, 2013
The Rays of Love team joined with some Canadian friends for a week of ministry in the village of Mishurin Rog, about 2 hours from Krivoy Rog. The team has been doing ministry in this village for many years, but it was my first time, so it was especially exciting for me!

We spent time each morning and evening from Monday to Thursday with the boys who live at a handicapped orphanage in the village. Some of them are unable to communicate well or understand a lot of what we tell them, but they have brilliant smiles and kind hearts, they love to sing and play, and they need affirmation and touch to let them know that they are very loved. Playing and singing with the boys and giving out lots of hugs were a couple of big highlights for me! Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took while we were there.

Above: The boys singing some of their favorite songs with us at the assembly on the last day we were there.

Above: This is our whole team, including the members from Canada.

Every day we walked to the home of a special Ukrainian lady for lunch. It was a long walk (45 minutes plus) but very worth it, because the food was delicious!! The goats along the way were entertaining also.

We also did a program with kids from the village every afternoon - sharing a Bible lesson, singing worship songs, playing games and doing crafts - and we had a good turnout. One girl expressed a desire to know about how to accept salvation - praise God!

This young girl has a beautiful spirit and smile, and she was so open. 

On the last day, we made bannock over the fire with the kids -- they loved it!!

We were going to do this at the field where we played soccer, but one of the village boys started a grass fire, so we had to change plans. PRAISE GOD - we were able to get the fire out so that it wouldn't spread to the homes in the village (there was lots of dry grass).

We used Curtis's car to take buckets of water from the well at the church to help put out the fire.

Mike standing in the middle of the affected area. Thankfully it was contained to the field.

L to R: Ruslana, Vlad, Tanya, Yan, Sveta, Janna, Roma and Sergey.

The guys from our team also played soccer every afternoon with men and teenagers from the village -- this has been a tradition as well all the years we have been going to Mishurin Rog, and it is a really great opportunity to build relationships and be a witness for Christ. I was there cheering our guys on most of the days - it was pretty exciting! These pictures are from the championship game on the last day.

Yan presenting a celebratory award to the village team.

The Canadian team won, but there were good spirits all around.

This was a week of ministry that I will not soon forget, and I am grateful that God gave me the opportunity to be a part of it.