Another wonderful day at Grace Church

Good evening friends,
Just wanted to give you a potted summary of a packed and joyfilled day before I crash!
Thank you those of you who have prayed for us today. We had a wonderful time thinking about the Holy Spirit and his desire to make us more like Jesus this morning. I was particularly encouraged by the amount of younger folk in the congregation who said it really connected with their hearts and lives - PRAISE GOD!. This morning there were 3 sermons and a extended Baby dedication.

 It was wonderful to hear Mum, Dad and Pastors pray. Another highlight for me was meeting Tim Murphy and his lovely family.

Tim is a wonderful brother in Christ from Kentucky, a retired GP, him and his wife (a dietician) come to Odessa for a couple of months at a time to work on a roving medical facility. The aim of the mission is to share the love of Christ with folk, and Tim has a passion for disicpling 1:1. Pray for my brother and his family, what they are doing is a marvellous thing after the heart of Christ. Also pray for their 2 young boys and little girl, all of whom are picking up Russian at a pace, and lovely company.

The highlight of the afternoon was being introduced to Black Ice-cream.

Peter has been tryong to feed it to me for days. When I finally took the plunge today (after changing out of my "Sunday best")  the cherry taste was gorgeous, but I am still trying to take the stains of my skin (- not exactly what they use to get it that black :).

This evening at church was the graduation of young people from Sunday school to youthwork. It was a great encouragemnt.

The young people sang, recited scripture, did drama. We also had 2 sermons, 1 from a young friend who preached his first sermon last time I was here (I was really encouraged by his development and the opportunity / encouragement he has been given). The second sermon was a typically warm hearted and well communicated sermon from our brother Roman Kalashnikoff on the theme of being filled with the Spirit.
All this was finished off with one of Alex's monster home made Pizza's . Alex is our hard working brother who cooks for the shelter every day of the year. As a trained chef, his skills bless many people, as a brother with a tireless servant heart he is always a challenge and encoruagement to me. As a friend he is a gem. Hearing of Ken's footy fascincation, he presented him with a commorateive plate from the fanshop of Odessa FC who play in the Ukranian premier league.  Ken's smile was too big for the camera but lets just say there is a display cabinet in Poole, Dorest which will soon be putting the precious gift on show.
We are looking forward to many things...
1) "Emile" *Emlyn Newman coming from Worcester tomorrow.
2) Working at the black sea again tomorrow.
3) Liz, Mo, Dad coming Tuesday
4) Seeing our Illinke church family Wednesday (a plant from grace church we have had the privelige of following and praying for from its inception as a pile of bricks)
5) Ian, Anna, Sam, Naomi and Sarah coming Thursday
6) Our 8 friends getting baptised next Sunday and the celebration at transition house.
7) The highlight of every trip our visit to see the children (I think Friday - the plans have changed a number of times)
Chat soon,
Much appreciation for all your encouragement and prayers,
BLOGSKI