Category: Bruce Posts (Page 143 of 211)

Project Christmas

This Christmas our family will be sharing the Christmas Story with the 100 students (where our boys go to school) in the small village of Kuzmenci, Ukraine.

This will include many children that have lost a parent and are living in poverty.  Some of the children we’ve been ministering to in this village actually live at the school having been taken from their parents for safety reasons.  We thank God for the open doors He is giving us!

As we share the story of God’s greatest gift in His Son to these young hearts, we want to bless the students and teachers with a small gift.

To do this, we need to raise $500.

Could you afford to sponsor a child for $5.00?

*if you are on a PC or Mac, use the widget below and click GIVE. If you are on a mobile phone, click DONATE.

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All gifts are tax deductible and we thank you in advance for partnering with us again!

Bruce & Deborah Crowe
Missionaries | Ukraine

After two long years, a forest of paperwork and a truckload of chocolates, I’m a permanent resident of Ukraine!

Those of you that have followed our process will appreciate the amount of relief and joy this day has brought.  We were told earlier this week to come in Friday and get it, but even then I refused to become hopeful.  It wasn’t until driving home with Natasha that it hit me.. I can go in and out, I’m not here on business or for religious purposes.. we’re ‘in’, I can work, operate businesses, and now sponsor legally Deb and the kids.

I wonder if I can be put in jail more easily too.  Never thought of that.  Let’s stay positive, it’s over!

We’re now quickly planning a trip to Poland to get Deb’s new visa that will allow her to stay legally for one year.  During that period, we’ll be working like mad to secure her and the kids under the permanent status too.

Those of you that know how difficult, illogical, and downright mean the OVIR folks can be, will appreciate how special this day is for us.  We’re here long term, we believe God has called our family to this part of the world, and this little stamp and booklet are an affirmation of our faith and God’s blessing in this direction.

I was so surprised, I asked the Ovir lady (who has not been the kindest sort) if I could give her a hug.  She looked around at the waiting room and was like, “in front of all these people?”..  she smirked as this towering foreigner swooped in for an appreciative gesture of delirium.

I want to thank God for the patience and endurance He has worked into my life through this ordeal.  He’s not finished, but I grew through this folks.  I want to also thank both Svetlana and Natasha who have gone to Kiev collectively at least 50 times during this process, stood in lines for me for days, and provided he translation and document help that was possible.   We know the ropes now and should be a little less stressful with Deb and the kids.  I say ‘little less’… who knows what curve balls their process will bring.

Also picked up some wonderful tables and chairs for the Cafe today, should be enough for now.  Will try and take some pictures this weekend.  After 3 long days in Kiev this week I’m ready to chill, enjoy the family and reset for what God has next week for us.

Please pray for a situation we have with the business here.  I won’t go into details but we have a legal ‘gray area’ issue regarding an employee and their taxes which has been brought to my attention.  We need wisdom to take the right steps both for this situation and the future of the business.

Bruce & Deborah

We’ve been wanting to snap some fall photos for weeks.  The leaves are almost completely fallen and we think we’ll get snow soon.  This afternoon, with about 30 minutes to spare in between things, we raced into our forest toting kids and camera.

I love this woman!!

With the camera set to timer, it took a few times to get a decent shot. Noah didn't get the memo to smile, cracker jack.

My three girls! This is in the woods next to our house.

Tomorrow I’m off to Bucha, west of Kiev to deliver some of the kids from the local orphanage to a ‘rest camp’.  I don’t like how the government displaces kids from one spot to the next, just when the kids get settled.

Bought final pieces of counter-top for the Cafe yesterday.  Ordering a dishwasher this week hopefully, then final tables and chairs.  The ones we bought last week are assembled and look great!! Pictures coming soon.

Heard today that my Permanent Residence might be available this Friday!  This would be the biggest news of the year.. well besides Abbey!  We’ve been really in a pickle with documents, my truck, and Deb’s visa situation because I haven’t been able to leave the country as we’ve waited, and waited for the past 6 months.  There will be some serious celebrating this Friday if this truly happens, but I’m not getting my hopes up just yet!

Looking forward to sharing more about the Lighthouse Cafe and plans to start a new discipleship/missions ministry here in Ukraine soon.  God has been re-inspiring some of the original things He put on our hearts years ago, we’re entering another phase in our journey.  Please pray for us as we continue to seek God for wisdom and vision.

Bruce & Deborah Crowe

This weekend Deb is with 30 other ladies in Ivankiv, Ukraine hosting a ladies retreat. She’ll be sharing a couple of times on the topic of Spiritual Warfare. It’s been a topic of much thought, discussion and study particularly since we left the comforts of the US. I wish they recorded the sessions, I know how much time she’s put into preparation.   Proud of my amazing warrior woman, she quietly stands for the Kingdom in her family and life, resists the enemy and loves our God!

Having the boys this weekend is not without it’s challenges.

My Possie of Boyz enjoying the last bit of fall weather

With Deb gone, I’m getting the full force of ‘Daddy can I…”

Particularly the amount of gadgets and ‘game time’ that goes on almost continuously with 5 boys. I remember getting an Atari, then the Nintendo (or Pitendo as mom called it), and being so excited when allowed to play. I did play a lot, but nothing like these multi-gadget-mobilized-monkeys. You had to be in one spot to play, wired up and pray that your mom or dad didn’t have a show coming on that would interrupt your game. These days, the kids are playing on them at any time, in any place, with any one..

I just came up with a plan. Gaming cards. We’ll see how they work. They have to earn them, and they can also lose their time through a series of deductions for bad attitudes, generally not being nice to one another. Most of the time my kiddos are pretty sweet, but when it comes to video games, all bets are off as they endeavor to monopolize a gadget. They hide them, they ‘borrow’ cords and suck batteries like vampires. They point to their brother as spending more time than them. Well, I’ve got my hole punch handy and they are amazingly sweet and thankful! I need to get Deb a hole punch too for her return.

This week was a tough one with sickness in the family.  I’m just getting my voice back and feel energy returning.  Behind in Russian, many things to do for work and Cafe purchases still.  We did  find some great chairs and tables earlier this week and Shane helped me put them together.  We still need to get 3 booths and 2 more tables for the front but it’s coming together and looks great!

We had our fourth bible study on Wed night at the cafe for students seeking more of God (not yet surrendered their lives to God).  Yura is one student that has come to every one.  He came over last night as well and watched Narnia with our family (in Russian), pray for him, I think he is being drawn to God and close to surrendering his life to God.

A few have asked about Vlad during this holiday season.  We’ll be in touch soon on something we can do as a supportive body to encourage him and his family.

Thanks for checking in!

Bruce & Deb