Eyes Wide Open...a book by Jud Wilhite

Recently I was given the opportunity to read and review a book. It was an extraordinary book! I am so happy I got to read it. For the entire review and links to purchase the book go to www.nebraskafillemans.blogspot.com. Anyway, in one chapter he spoke of us all being priests. The Bible tells us that each of us is a priest as a Christian. In Revelation, John wrote "He has bade us a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS for God his Father." Whether you work at a hotel, manage a bookstore, stock shelves at a supermarket, lead a law firm, manage a medical practice, whatever...the same this is true. If you're a Christ follower, then you're a priest. As you realize this, your life will take on new meaning. A simple task at work is suddenly infused with purpose becasue you are representing God in all you do. A conversation takes on greater depth becasue you understand your role in helping to reconcile others to God.

We are ALL priests if we are a Christian, and we should always act like that. People are watching us...seeing what the "Christian's" will do...seeing how we will handle situations, etc. We need to be sure to handle everything in a Christ like manner. We are more than just children of God, we are representing His great Kingdom.

Thank you Julia and Sergey for going out daily and sharing the Good News! You are such a blessing!

Training Seminar

"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven...." Ecc.3:1

On the 6th and 7th of June I (Julia) attended a training seminar on how to work with teenagers in the risk group. I was invited because of the ministry with the orphan kids. The training was designed to teach how to train the kids to build healthy relationships with others, how to express your feelings in a constructive way, how to understand your own feelings. It talked a lot about how to teach the kids to respect themselves and others around them. We learned many useful exercises and games that we can use in our communication with the kids, in our visits to the orphanages and at the Bible group that we have at our place. I am very blessed that I was able to attend that training and I feel like the last several weeks were filled with many opportunities from God to learn new skills that can be used in our work with the youth and teenagers. There is a time for everything - time to learn as well.....This Saturday I am going to use several exercises and games at our group to talk about the importance of the words we say every day.

Alina's Birthday!

At the last Bible study we had a great time together: played games, had great fellowship and celebrated Alina's birthday. She was very happy to have a little party, she said it was the only celebration she had this year for her birthday and was very ecxited about it. Please continue to pray for us to have a good time together on Saturdays as we study the Bible together, play games and have tea. This last time we talked about the Second coming of Jesus, there were many questions and discussion during the group. We had two students there and it was cool to see the girls from the orphanage and them involved in the discussion together. We hope that the older kids from the orphanage will be able to meet new friends from there with whom they can talk and develop their social skills.

Guitar!

"I will exalt the Lord at all times; His praise will always be om my lips." Psalm 34:1

It was on my heart for a long time to learn to play the guitar to be able to lead worship. For the last 2 months I have been taking guitar lessons. I am very thankful for my teacher who is a worship leader from one of the Odessa churches and am thankful that God provided me with the guitar. It is a good electric guitar. I am very ecxited about this new role that God is giving me. I want to start leading worship at our Bible group in a few weeks. I still need to practice a lot to be able to do that. I wanted to share this with you and ask you tp pray for me to be able to use this skill for God's glory.

May Donations

Thank you to our May Donors!

Whether it be your regular donation, or your donation to help a student learn english...it is all SO helpful and we are just SO thankful to God for each and every one of you!!!

In the future Julia ans Sergey are going to give us an idea of how they use your donations every month! Stay tuned!!

Thanks to:

Rick and Mary Coates

Ken and Vera Gustafson

Edward Push

Les Stutzman

Kathryn Alexander

If you donated for the month of May and you are not on this list, please contact me...that means I don't have accurate records for May and I want to make sure that they are accurate. Thanks so much!!!!!!!

Update from Julia

On the 16th of May, Sergey and I went to a family retreat to Kiev (capital of Ukraine). There were many useful topics presented (conflicts, difference between man's and woman's thinking etc.) It was a very useful time for us to spend that weekend with other couples, in small groups we discussed many things and prayed for each other. There were also times when you had time with your spouse to talk about different things in your family. We liked the closure of the retreat: romantic time in a cafe where each couple could sit at the table and talk over supper with candles. Just wanted to share this with all of you, our dear friends and partners. This past month we were blessed by this special time and we are thankful for that to our God.

More insight

In the same book that I was reading, it talks about the Great Commission and how it is among the most important of the tests we now face...the future of missions. It gives statistics of the church seemingly losing it's "voice" in missions. The late Carl F. H. Henry said that the words of support for the missionary cause are meaningless if we don't produce a new generation of bold, courageous, and committed Christian missionaries. Christians MUST take our stand for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has made atonement for our sins. We MUST point to the only gospel that offers salvation. We MUST learn again to define the true gospel in terms of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This is the sum and substance of the genuine gospel - and the true gospel is always a missionary gospel.