Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from Ukraine – Someone out there drink some eggnog for us and eat some juicy American (or Canadian) turkey!  Our ice rink is glistening and ready to go just in time!  Just need to get some lights out there for our Christmas skate.  Wish you could join us!

Very thankful for our health, our warm house, and some time off regular scheduled programming – I hope you are able to rest, refocus and allow the Lord to deposit some fresh vision and inspiration for the coming year.  Reminded how much we need him – He truly is our fuel and brings ultimate meaning to all things.

As most of you know Ukraine doesn’t celebrate Christmas on the 25th, but rather the Orthodox Calendar (which for centuries has refused to adopt daylight savings) is currently Jan 7.  We’re going to wait and celebrate fully on the 7th with my parents who arrive on the 6th. 

“He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.” – CS Lewis

Bruce & Deb

Today we put on a Christmas program at our kids school for the entire student body (75 kids) along with their teachers and director.  Together with Vova & Natasha (puppets), Roma and the choral singers from Obuhkiv, Masha the translating queen and my two oldest it went really well.

Roma leads this great group of young singers who love God.

Thank you to all that gave from Crossroads and Facebook for the Bibles and other gifts we blessed the students and teachers with today.

I was able to share a few times about the incredible gift of God’s love in His Son.  I believe we brought attractive attention and praise to God.  The communist culture was to highlight ‘New Year’s’ as the biggest celebration of the year while attempting to relegate any Christ centered meaning to the folklore of old crusty, boring, religion.  So to most kids here, Christmas is just one of many religious holidays on their Calendar that passes without much notice.  We aren’t trying to convince them to become western commercial crazies but simply taking advantage of the natural orthodox holiday to share the gospel message in various forms – and that we did!

Putting together the gift bags complete with chocolates, candles and a children’s bible.

My favorite part of the day was hearing that after the event, some of the teachers required of their students to read 2 chapters from their new Ukrainian storybook bibles as homework over the weekend!  How cool is that?  Not only did they embrace the gift, they are promoting it and God’s Word is being read and contemplated by many young hearts, and even some of their parents now.

Kids patiently wait for their turn to receive their present.

Thankful for the opportunity.  Glad we put our kids in this school.  It’s not been an easy road for them, but I have a feeling it’s only the beginning of some neat opportunities to be salt and light for the Lord as a family.

Sincerely,

Bruce & Deborah CroweMissionaries – Rzyshchiv, Ukraine

Tucker has a soft spot for animals and has become Charlie's favorite I think.

Thought some of you might find this little e-blast (fancy word for marketing emails) interesting.  I appreciate these guys immensely, knocking out amazing work for businesses, cities and ministries around the US and Canada.

Shane & Jememah led a Christmas Dinner Outreach to the students from the 14th Technicum this past week. Over 60 students came out as well as some adults.

Alyosha helping me pump out the water from heated flooring at Cafe since we had gas shut off this week. Now we aren't as concerned about the dropping temps.

New board/switches all ready to go once we get the 'go ahead' on document process.

Thanks for checking in! We’re about to pick up Cassie from the airport tonight, she’ll be in for a few days en route to Texas after a semester in Kyrgyzstan. Some of us not feeling 100%. Remember us in prayer this week as we wrap up planning for 21st Outreach at our kids school in Kuzmenci. Also for safety on the roads as we’ll be traveling a bit this week and they are incredibly icy.

Sincerely,

Bruce & Deb
Missionaries | Rzhyshchiv, Ukraine

The first day of the new Parliament – get your tickets on sale at your local box office!

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing – 2 Peter 2:15