This week Ukraine was hit was a major heat wave, upper 90’s for 3 days straight. Today is back down in the 80s and feels like a dream! Without AC it gets pretty tough. The kids were running around in their undies, we were crowding down in the basement among the in laws and their boxes:) Speaking of Neil & Noline, their house is nearing completion, however will be another month before they can move in. It has been slow going because they added an extension and studio for painting, it will be gorgeous when finished and the extra space will be a blessing to the increasing amount of visitors and groups that will be partnering with us in RZ (construction teams etc.).

I told myself I would keep this short, I’ve got a staff meeting coming up and draft floor plan concepts for the family center waiting to be rendered to scale. Andy & Drew Farrell are in Ukraine now, we will meet up with them next weekend and they will come back to RZ for a 2 day visit before returning to the camp they are serving in. Brent and Tucker will be attending the 2nd week of camp, how cool is that… we’ll have Andy there to watch out for them (or protect the others from them).

Family is doing well, Deb has started a new series of curriculum for the kids. The added schedule for the summer will be nice to keep things from going totally wild around here. We have a permanent fixture of neighborhood kids at our house, they’ve become pretty independent of our own kids. We’ve had several interesting stories with them, from minor theft to abuse of our property, all of which has worked out for God’s glory I think. I’ve had the opportunity to be strict with them, but in love and fairness. When one of them abuses the privilege we are giving them, they all suffer (had to take away the trampoline a few times) and that seems to be working out. Putting healthy group pressure toward honesty and mutual respect.. there’s a few sneaky characters still among them, but for the most part they are really great kids who love to hang out and jump/play and ask for cookies, ice cream, or anything else we offer. Don’t feed the animals! Our little kids ATV we brought over was holding up well until we blew a tire, and a chain last week. It’s in need of some attention right now but it’s too hot.. it’s another attraction that has the kids here in a line up when it’s running. Our most effective and natural influence here, I think, is to these kids, they literally watch in our windows when we sit to eat, interact as a family, we believe some will come to Christ, by God’s grace, and these seeds will be a part of their eternal history.

Thanks for checking in, no news on the property documents yet, keep praying with us for God’s will to be known through all of this and for finances, this is such a big step of faith that for some may look easy, but it’s not!

Bruce & Deb

Today we signed a contract and gave a deposit toward the new property downtown.   In approximately 30 days the official documents should be completed allowing us to fully purchase and own the property.   In the meantime we will begin some initial architectural drawings and more importantly figure out how we will best handle the very wet and sunken ground.  The entire property is too low and collects a lot of run off.  It must be elevated before we can build on it.  I think this fall we will concentrate on deconstruction of the existing building, cleaning up the property and preparing for 2011 main construction.  That will be the plan unless God provides the money to move more quickly this fall before winter sets in.

Here we go, one step at a time:)

Bruce & Deb

Quick note to ask you to pray this week.  We have our friends at Light in the East (Kiev, Andrei Murzin church contacts) ministering all week in the town center.  They have a tent where they are doing morning kids ministry (about 50-75 coming, I’m helping to bus them in), and evening services where people are sharing testimonies.  They also have this painting gallery outside on the main street that takes people through the gospel message.  It’s a very creative and effective method to sharing the historical narrative in a non-confrontational way.  They are telling us that they’ve already had over 15 people pray at the end of it for salvation.  We are organizing ourselves now to always have local believers there for better follow up.  This morning Dan said while he was there, one of the husbands of the medical director for our town went through the exhibit.  The man remembered Dan from the Christmas dinner we hosted together last year.  He asked to pray and receive forgiveness for his sins right there on the spot.

Please pray that there would be fruit this week, ultimately souls saved from their sin and given new life in Christ!

Been thinking this week how wonderful to know that God uses many people in the process of salvation.  Ultimately, it is He that causes the heart to respond to truth.  Thank you God for your pursuit!

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” – 1 Cor 3:6

Bruce

Tomorrow we are planning to meet with the agent and sign documents which will initiate the purchase of the land downtown.  Because it is public property, we have to ‘apply’ for it, however the city council has already voted (unofficially) to approve our purchase of it, along with the price.  If you read this before tomorrow, pray for us.   The entire process we are told will take 1-2 months before the documents are finally in our name.  We will then be able to make some progress before winter starts, clearing land, preparing foundation and getting approval from architects.  I am going to start organizing construction groups for next summer, probably 4-6 teams over the May-August period.  Pray about joining one of them if you are handy “Tim the tool man Taylor” type, we need you!

I believe God is in the means, and the process of Christians working together, from all over the world, for the purpose of God’s Kingdom in this town will speak volumes to the locals.  I think the building of the facility will be as effective of an outreach ministry and community engagement as anything.  May God be glorified and direct us as His people.. not too fast… it’s not ours yet!

Picture of Clark holding one of Dumpy’s kittens… that’s right, the kitty that he rescued from the dump already had kittens!  Bad Dumpy!  Jon & Ruth get to find homes for the now, want one?  Thanks Ruth for the picture, when Clark saw it he declared, “is that me?  I love me!”

Several things happening this week including a week long evangelism outreach downtown in a tent by our friends from Light in the East (Kiev).  Simeon & Asia are back from Scotland with their little bundle named Amelia (spelling?), they are house hunting and excited to see where God will put their family (they are the ones that want to start foster parenting orphans).

We are coming to Canada/US in October!  We were able to find direct tickets from Kiev to Toronto for  an incredible price, and decided that it would be a great time for a break, visit family, churches and our dear friends we miss.  The kids are beside themselves and already counting (161, 160).

Next week the pastors from the Cork, Ireland church are coming for a quick visit.  We’re very encouraged to hear that the group gave a neat report to the church about what God is doing in our town, and they are interested in coming back next summer, and partnering with us more long term as we serve together in Ukraine.  He works all things together folks, He is a gracious God!

Talk to you soon-

Bruce & Deb