Stories in the Missional Journey of Bruce & Deborah Crowe

Category: Bruce Posts (Page 175 of 211)

Bruce main blogger and general updates

January 20, 2011

Back in Ukraine, wonderful to be back with Deb and the family!  Flying has lost it’s excitement, but this trip I was encouraged by the Lord during the take off.  In Ukraine, the winter months are very gray.  Sometimes we’ll go a few weeks without seeing the sun, it’s dreary to say the least, especially when the snow melts.  When we were taking off from Ukraine we broke through the clouds and WHAM, the brightness of the sun is blinding!

Flying over Ukraine

The thought, I believe God spoke to my heart was this, “I never change. I am always the same.  I am as bright as this sun every day though your perspective is continually changing as the clouds of life roll in and out.” Something like that anyway, it was a strong encouragement to my soul, that no matter how things look, we have a God that is unshakable, and desires to pull back the clouds and radiate His life in us if we seek Him with our whole heart.   Creation truly does declare His glory!

I really enjoyed time with the guys last week.  The last trip in September was a whirlwind of activity and this trip was more focused on work.  We’ve made some significant changes in the structure of our company, and legally registered EDsuite as it’s own legal LLC.  The next few months are going to be very important for both companies to adapt and grow.  I embrace more than ever the role of business in my life, and the guys I work with.  Together we are able to have an impact in the Kingdom of God through the relationships we have with our customers, and the income we are able to put toward missional efforts.

We went to two plays in the past 48hrs.  The first, a professional Ballet in Kiev, the Nutcracker.  It was a great time, 14 of us enjoyed a quick meal together and then took our wives to the theater.

The second, was a few minutes ago actually.  A children’s production in RZ, at one of the techicums here. 

Light in the East, our friends in Kiev worked with some local Ukrainian believers here to put on a Christmas (yes, it’s still ok to have your tree up here!), play.  I counted 400 children in the auditorium, ages 4-12yrs.  We took our kids, but it was all in Ukrainian so we didn’t understand very much. Thank you to Crossroads for Decembers donation for outreach, we were able to use the extra amount given to pay for transportation of these children to the play today. The play was full of scripture and reference to Christ’s coming, in the context of a Ukrainian family. This was truly valuable seed that was sown in the hearts of many kids today. Pray the seed takes root, and through continued efforts here will produce a harvest for the Lord in the near future.

Over the next two weeks we’ll be elevating prayer at church. Encouraging men’s prayer Wed mornings, Thurs prayer at night, and times of prayer on Sunday. Would you pray that God would re-charge hearts here? Sometimes after holidays people seem more tired than before their vacations, and with lots of people coming in / out, we need God’s heart and His Spirit guiding us from the start of this year.

The 2nd floor in the cafe is warm!! We are still working on the first floor. If you are interested in learning more about the cafe, purpose, or would like to donate toward the renovations, here’s a link to the poster – it’s 3mb.

http://www.cypressinteractive.com/beta/missions_network/11x17_center_poster-eng.pdf

In the next week or two we’ll have more information regarding summer groups if you are interested in joining one of them to help with construction.

For the grandparents, here’s a silly video of Clark and Noah, our entertainment:)

Thanks for checking in! Leave a comment and tell us you are still reading this??

Bruce & Deb

Jan 12, 2010, woops 2011

The past week I’ve been in Texas for a short business trip.  Two more days left before heading back to Ukraine.It’s been cool to see God affirm my decision to come in some neat ways.  I have a greater peace that my business is on the right track, and the team in on board with several changes.  Praise God for directing our steps, and being for us in very practical ways.

Meetings with guys at workexpecting warm weather, I brought Ukraine!

The past two nights I’ve also been able to hang out with dear friends, enjoying their kids and speaking in english.  Our church here in Longview is in the middle of intense prayer time, 24/7 prayer chain at the church, and other prayer events with the purpose of starting the year off with God, asking for direction and crying out for spiritual reality both personally, and within the community.  We are so blessed to have a church family that elevates prayer and includes us (our family and church in RZ) in it!

CJ attempts to flip a tortilla old school w/ hand

My cousin CJ, who has helped us open the Canadian office, is with me in Texas – his first time.  Been fun exposing him to some new food.  Although, the day after we arrived, it snowed and temps have dropped below freezing, neither of us expected or packed for that.

Been also talking over Cafe plans and starting to organize construction trip dates.  We have some neat opportunities to see this cafe come together with involving several churches, including some from Texas, Ireland, NYC and Latvia.  I pray that the ‘way’ we do this is as much of a testimony to the community as the finished product.  God use it all for Your glory!

nice american high cholesterol breakfast

Thanks for checking in.  Please pray for some new discipline in my eating habits, I’ve never had (or thought I had) any health issues before, but yesterday found out my cholesterol is way too high.  Might have to get rid of our fryer, oh no!

Bruce

Jan 3, 2011

Heading to Texas this Thursday for a week of business meetings & planning. It will be great to see our family at Crossroads as well, it’s the week of their annual Prayer Advance. Deb will be staying behind, she’ll be hanging out with her mom as Neil is also traveling that week in Western Ukraine.

Bruce

2010 – Year in Review

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – Psalm 103:2

Thank you for praying with us this year, and staying in touch as we journeyed through 2010!  Here are some highlights we remember, and thank God for:

Visits:

– Irish Team, new friends!
– Yuri & Family from Latvia
– Andy & Drew Farrell
– Matt Almeter
– Bo, Beth & Brady
– Tracy & Dana
– My parents

*Rory from Scotland, this is Simeon’s contact, but we really enjoyed getting to know him, so he gets on the list!  Wonderful heart and experience with kids camps around the world.

Arrivals in RZ:

– Deb’s parents, Neil & Noline Rhodes
– Shane & Jemimah
– Sergei, Tanya & family
– Sergei, Lesya & family

Church Projects, Outreaches & Special Events:

– Cafe Property Purchased
– Sunday Night Cafe Outreaches to Students (3 months)
– Summer Kids Camp
– Ladies Outreach Evenings
– Deacons established in church structure.
– Van purchased (thank you Crossroads!)
– Special Needs Outreach
– Pirini’s Hangii, we miss you guys!
– All Church Meetings earlier this year
– Sponsorship of several orphan events (zoo/water park/travel help)
– Christmas Outreach
– Ephesians Class Study (8 weeks)
– New Mayor and Officials elected
– 2 Months in Canada and Texas (extended by deb)
– Finished one house project, started another (90% done)
– Watched my first World Cup Final, powered by generator on fumes.

Business:

– Was a challenging year for Cypress Interactive as a whole, but praising God for answered prayer the past few months.  New direction, momentum, some new faces as well to an already amazing group of guys that love the Lord.

Spiritual Growth:

– Kolya, young man who has devoted his life to Christ & was baptized, what a joy!
– encouraged by several Ukrainian believers that have grown this year in their hunger for the Word, and God’s reality in their lives.
– Personally a difficult year filled with new challenges for growth as a husband, father and leader in the church.  Praising God for greater hunger for God’s Word, contextual study and apologetics.
– Deb and I have experienced renewed love and communication in our marriage, thank you for prayer as we have sensed more than ever, the spiritual nature of the battle being here.
– Kids are doing well, particularly our oldest two (Broderic and Bronwyn) as they keep growing in their understanding of God.

2011 Prayer Focus:

– more people in RZ to believe upon Jesus Christ for their salvation.
– discipleship material and structure for new believers needing foundation.
– students to be impacted by our love for God, and for them!
– finances and wisdom to complete and setup operation of the cafe.
– spirit led outreach in our town that invests in long term relationship building.
– wise use of willing churches to come and support different projects.
– continued development of leadership in the church.
– purity and holiness among all the believers.
– missionaries, pray for our marriages, accountability to deepen, & unity maintained.
– please pray we will learn more Russian this year!

Thank you God for what you are doing in our lives, your patience and willingness to work through your imperfect creation.  It is a privilege to be called a child of God, and to live for your glory on the earth, and wherever you guide us.  We look to 2011 with a sense of excitement, as the seeds continue to be planted in this community, through the faithfulness of your church, that some would begin to bear fruit – the kind that lasts forever!

God strengthen your faith as you number your days on this earth, look to Him alone, the author and finisher of your faith:)

Bruce & Deb

“The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” – Count Zinzindorf

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