Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of the Youth of Ukraine supporters and prayer warriors out there! I am SO thankful for each and every one of you! God gave us the ability to be thankful not only to eachother but also to Him. I pray that we all remember Who to truly thank this Thanksgiving season. I realize that Americans are the only ones who celebrate Thanksgiving...but we should all be thankful all of the time...not just on Thanksgiving. I think it is wonderful to have a holiday to remind us, and to help us celebrate...but sadly, why do we NEED a holiday to remind us? We should remember to be thankful all the time. And always to God. Without Him, there would be no turkeys! Without Him, there would have been no Mayflower to bring the Pilgrims over. Without Him, there would have been no Indians for the Pilgrims to meet. You get my point. It all stems back to the One and only true Living God. So while you are busy preparing your meals, eating your meals, thanking your family, watching football (YIPPEE), and falling asleep from the sedative effect that turkey has....don't forget to thank your Heavenly Father, who created all things!! Just a reminder that we all need sometimes! I know I need reminders! We are only human!

Give your loved ones extra hugs and kisses tomorrow!! Enjoy the football...oh...and the turkey and time with friends and family! I guess you know what I am looking forward too!!!

The Future of Youth of Ukraine

Dear Youth of Ukraine supporters,

It pains us to have to tell you that through prayer and much thought and sought after advice, we are going to need to close Youth of Ukraine the ministry. It is not what we wanted, nor what Julia and Sergey wanted, but due to personal problems that the Yaravoy’s are having, we have deemed it fit to close the ministry indefinitely. Without divulging too much information, Julia and Sergey have decided to end their marriage. We are deeply saddened by this, as are they, but due to the feelings that we have and that we feel God has about divorce, we just couldn’t morally keep it open at this time. To my knowledge, the Yaravoy’s are individually seeking professional counseling in hopes to heal their own wounds. If you would like to continue supporting Julia in her work with the orphans, whether it be through English lessons or whatnot, you may still do so, you just will not be able to do it through Youth of Ukraine anymore. Julia will be in contact with her English tutoring supporters regarding payment options. If you are currently not involved with English lessons but would still like to continue supporting Julia, please contact me and I will get you in contact with Julia. I will be closing the Youth of Ukraine account as of December 1st, so if you have money to send to me regardless of the reasons, English lessons, general donation, etc, you can still do so UP UNTIL December 1st, 2009. Our prayer is that you and Julia will have worked something else out by that time. In the past she has used Western Union…however, they charge quite a bit more per transaction…if that is the route you choose, you may need to up your donation by a few dollars to offset the cost for her to receive the money. That is just an idea. We will let you and Julia work that out. We will also be sending each of you a statement after December 1st showing all of the donations you have made for tax purposes.

Thank you so much for your support through the last 3 years of this ministry. We are very sad to see it go, but it is just not in God’s timing right now. He is great and good, He knows what is going on and He will reconcile it one way or another.

If you have any questions or comments what so ever, please feel free to e-mail us. I will be posting this information on the website as well prior to closing it down. Again, I will continue to keep the website open until December 1st.

Finally, please keep the Yaravoy’s in your prayers. Satan has attacked their marriage just like it said would happen in the bible. They are both godly people bringing God to orphans and because of that they are being attacked, please be in prayer for them.

Blessings to all of you,

Jeff and Tonya Filleman

Inter-Varsity

This week the Inter-Varsity students got together to start the school year of their ministry. It was a great time of fellowship, praise, prayer and fun. I was invited to lead worship there and it was the first time I had a chance to lead worship at a bigger event than the home Bible group. I was a bit nervous at first but the guys were really encouraging and I was able to do it fine! I am thankful to God for this ministry to students, one older girl from the orphanage went there with me and this is great when kids from the orphanage can go to such events and learn more about God and meet fine christian young people to become friends with.

Bible Verse

The Bible Verse on the photo below didn't come out very well. Here are the verses, from 1 Peter 4:8-11

8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

FRUIT of the spirit!

This summer I had a special opportunity to serve Jesus. The girls who came for a Bible study and for English lessons shared that at the summer camp they don't get any fruit (they weren't complaining, I asked them myself). So, God put it on my heart to always buy them some type of fruit every time they came over and buy enough to eat as much as they want. So I did and want to thank the donors of our ministry who made this possible. For me this is an example of how the Body of Christ can manifest the grace of God in all kinds of ways. The girls said that it made their summer special to try every kind of fruit possible this summer, unfortunately usually this doesn't happen for the kids from the orphanage because they cannot buy it. I just thought that it is amazing how God can show His grace in any way He wants. Praise God for fruits!

Julia's sister, Katya

I wanted to say special thank you to my sister. She is running a small clothes shop and from time to time gives things to the girls from the orphanage free of charge. It includes underwear, shorts and T-shirts. I want to thank her for all the things she ever gave to the ministry and for her sincere interest in the girls. She always wants to know how they are doing and asks me many questions about them. Her name is Katya, she is 22 years old.

my sister with her doggie

First day of School...ringing the bell!

This picture goes with the story of the first day of school that I spoke about two posts ago! Isn't that interesting how cultures are so different!? I think it is so cool!!!!