Rafael – He’s lived here for 25yrs, married a Ukrainian. He’s a regular at the Cafe and a dear brother who prays for us, and now serves with us via the new Widow Ministry.

Today Rafael, a gracious Cuban brother, Natasha and I drove to Kiev for some Widow Ministry bulk food purchases.  It was quite interesting to go to a bulk food market, where the actual stores in Kiev region go before products hit the shelves marked up 30%.

Typical bulk food shop. We bought 2 months of food today for 25 Widows in our town.

The highlight of the trip was fellowship – God is working in our lives and it was great to encourage one another.  Second to the fellowship was watching a rather large Babushka come screaming out of a small shop waving her hands and chasing a young man down the street.  He was trying to reason with her, but she was furious at something – I thought of filming it, but the I realized it was best to just soak it in – a day in the life of Ukraine, you just have to be there.

On the way home we got our first real snowfall of the winter.  I was thankful to get the traveling finished just as the roads were getting slippery.. our van is rear wheel drive and ready to be parked for the season. 

We returned to the Cafe and stocked up our pantry, which is now 1/2 filled with Cafe products and 1/2 for Widows.

This Sunday we’ll be meeting with some area believers again as this new ministry continues to form.  We have a list of Widows now from various churches, and also those to reach out to.

Each widow will be sponsored, meaning there will be someone responsible to pray for them, visit and build a relationship with, and bless with some food packages during the year.

Thank you for your prayer – it’s been SO great to see Ukrainians take this mission to heart already, rising up to use their administrative talents, creating a ministry that will not only bless those in need, but create opportunities for practical discipleship among the body of Christ.   That was a run on sentence, but it’s late.

Thankful for World Challenge and their generous donation to get us started with our first purchase.  In the next couple of weeks we’ll begin handing out first a Christmas Package/Gift, then in January begin our first full month of ministry to Widows in the area.

Entire room filled with Sausage. I never knew there were so many shapes and colors. The best part was the cashier, she was chewing on a hunk of pork the entire time.

This poster pretty much says it all, but if you’ve ever wanted to use your creative gifts in the context of foreign missions, this could be the perfect trip for you.

We are opening up a handful of spots for our friends, family and partner churches to join with our amazing sending church (www.ccclongview.com) as we host another Awaken Event via The Lighthouse Cafe in Ukraine.

It’s coming up quickly, so if you are interested and want to know more, please contact me for more info!

Every week a group of 8-12yr old kids meet to study and practice English.  The class is led by Sveta.  She is a creative gem who decided to do a theme night – Alice in Wonderland.   She employed several of the Club 180 students to dress up as characters from the book/movie, including Noah and Deb as Alice.

Immediately following the tea party, we met again with students at Club 180, a consistent 15-20 are gathering and every week it seems one or two more are added.  We shared about being vessels – the significance of housing eternity (Spirit of God) in mere physical flesh by faith.

We used two glass pitchers to illustrate – one filled with dirty garbage, the other with pure water.   We are given this free gift of new life in Christ, the divine exchange.  Yet, we are now in a battle to remain in Him – not listening to the enemies lies, we are new creatures by faith.

I’m a visual thinker.  My prayer has been for God to give us life-lasting impressions for these students.  Please pray for them – we believe they will do great things for their generation if they continue to look to Him.

Our family has been rocked by sickness the past week.  Like dominoes each of our children have been down for 3-4 days.  The carnage of immobile bodies throughout the house has been something to behold.  Adding to the oddity has been our internet being disconnected (long story).   We’ve been gathering around the fireplace at night, forced to socialize ‘in person’.   Deb and I were joking how we’ll all remember ‘that time we were sick and didn’t have any internet’.   Strange days we live in.

Bruce & Deb

Yesterday we met with some friends from local churches who are helping us start a Food Storehouse for the most needy in our area.  We’ll be specifically encouraging believers to connect and ‘sponsor’ a Widow this coming year, and utilizing the new food pantry in the Cafe garage to meet both physical and spiritual needs of local widows.

We’re believing God that this will not only bless many in need, but provoke the church towards greater unity in the public arena.  The current economic conditions are not only creating many desperate situations, but also causing much infighting politically – God has given us opportunity to break through the darkness with acts of love.

Pray for this new ministry and the many lives it will touch!