Some good things must come to an end --- but not all good things.

Hi dear friends, we are at that stage where all the goodbyes (except those who take us to the airport) have been said and it is time to review our fortnight. What can we say...
1) We have achieved way more work than we hoped to , praise God.
At the begining of our trip there was partial metal work up in the two large rooms becuase of the team who worked so hard in December.
These two large rooms  have now been completed in walls and windows.






At the beginning of the week...




At the end of the week.

Please forgive that there is no lighting in the photographs, we thought it better to help Igor take them into storage so he didnt have to do all the tidying up by himself after we had gone. You will see that we still have work to do to complete the ceiling, this is waiting for the go-ahead on mains drainage for transition house (but it should be imminent). Now we have "squared" the room off, the final phase will be much easier. Note too the ventilation openings we have kept open for air curclation (a pump will take inside air out and outside in.) One of the main challanges in this room was that the far wall had several pipes along it and also needed sealing (as an outside wall). After sealing we then completed the metal work, then boarded.



From this room there are two large  doublewidth doorways to the second larger rec room...








Again the hardest work here was the windows being "boxed in". John D and Nick did a superb job on this.

  

The completion of these two halls was the work Peter hoped we would achive during our trip but ...praise God ... there are 3 more areas to tell you about.

1) We managed to complete the main corridoor from scratch (stud wall with borrowed light, metal work and boarding.) 

This leads to 

2) a changing room. At the beginning of our time it looked like this...

Now thank God it looks like this...

This is a lovely light room. This completes the walling in that half of the basement. 

We were also thilled today to break the back of the parrellel room and make a huge difference to what will be the kitchen for communal events. From small beginnings when it was in a real mess, Emlyn, got rid of a huge amount of structural obsticles and debris (his ears will be ringing for some time). Today we completed 75% of it from scratch (metal work and boarding with vent holes)

We are so pleased with what has been achieved, which well exceeds our own expectations. To see Peter's draw drop when we showed him the extra space we had managed to redeem was priceless. 

At lunchtime we joined by pastor Igor Kucher and pastor Roman Kalashnlkoff, who kindly hotfooted it over from their lecturing and duties at the seminary. We all agree that pastor  Kalashnlkoff has the coolest name we have ever heard of, and we wander if anyone would ever step out of line in a church business meeting if we had such authoritive names in the UK :)

It was a really precious time of fellowship. We exchanged prayer points, our encouragements and faith steps. Grace church is about to plant a new church, which was wonderful to hear about. It also has a wonderful opportunity to visit the local military base and college in order to speak evangelistically about the 500th anniversary of the reformation. Please pray for the young people and others as they prepare to take part in these amazing opportunities.

We managed to give our wonderful cook, Lydia and Elena flowers as tokens of our love for  all their servant heartedness this trip. We have eaten like Kings. All of us are on diets next week.

We were also presented with souveniers of our time here, notably a lovely lazer cut candle holder in the shape of the church. We were told it was to remind us of Grace church and to pray for them, We assured our hosts that we need no reminding to pray for them, as they are very very dear to us.

This has been an awesomely successful trip.

Here are my top 7 reasons for saying this.

1) We got to spend qaulity time with the people we are doing the work for, and the people who will live here. Our times with the children were really really special, full of fun. They know us all so much better now, and their confidence, appreciation and affection towards us will keep us going a long time.

2) Sergei and Vikor were awesome in translation. The reason our fellowship has been so rich and precious with our church family here, is that these two fellas are brilliant, sensitive and servant-hearted in what they do.

3) Our mealtimes have been just great, awesome banter with John B C and superb times with Peter, Lydia, Sergei, Igor (builder), Viktor and Alex.

4) Every mealtime and tea break begins and ends with prayer, these are a very significant part of why we feel so blessed and overwhelmed by God's goodness when we are here.

5) The team work, team spirit and cooperation has been amazing. Even to the point of sharing medication as well as pliers, snips, saws, tables, ladders, drivers, screws, metal, boards, and extension leads.

6) The stamina of the guys has been mammoth. Not just the work they have got through, (sometimes with illness, aches, pains and hurting bodies) but the amount of people we have met and conversations we have had. They are a first rate bunch to be on a mission trip with --trying to encourage other churches and followers of Jesus Christ. Mission accomplished boys... our mantra has been " WE CAN SLEEP ON THE PLANE HOME" We are nearly there... get your teddy and security blanket at the ready.
7) Our morning fellowship times. There is something massively precious when blokes get together to study the bible, and trust each other enough to open up and discuss life together. I praise God for the spiritual encouragement these guys have given me this week.
We give all the thanks and praise to God for all this and so much more. As this trip comes to an end we go home motivated to walk closely with God, reminded of our motto text for this week...

 Galatians 6:9-10 

 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

The trip comes to a close as the sun goes down on Odessa, but the bible reminds us that we have eternity with our wonderful friends. One day  there will be a home full of people who thank God. They will come from every country, but their native language will all say the same thing ("SLAVA BORG") "Praise GOD". As night time falls here, our hearts burn brightly with God's goodness. This little house is a taste of heaven and a taster for heaven, and there the good times will never end, for there, the eternal "city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." Rev 21:23

For all who look forward to that day, the best is yet to be, and not all good times end, in many ways they are just beginning.

Logging off for this trip.

Why not come with us next time? Go on... it might be the best thing you've ever done!

Bye for now...

As always, thank you so much for being with us, 

BIG APPRECIATION

BLOGSKI

A huge day of progress with a brilliant ending.

Hi friends, hope your day has been productive. We met early this morning to study and pray. I would love to say that we were bright and early, but sadly the voices around the table were a bit Barry White.  During the day we had several visitors, from ventilation experts to interior designers. despite all the diruptions and numerous comittee meetings (some more helpful than others), we made significant progress. We are looking forward to showing you some before and after photos hopefully tomorrow.

Hero of the day award goes to Joe who sadly contracted the lurgy some 24/48 hours ago/ It had been doing the rounds, and the dusty environment isn't particualy helpful to reccouperation, He was right to rest out this morning, but praise God he was sufficiently recovered to crack on with drill and OSB board in hand this afternoon. Sadly for this heroic effort he got some sawdust / small splinter in his eye from chopping a full size OSB board with the circular saw. I thought over dinner he was emotional at the privilege of being with us, but it was just a collection of his injuries and illnesses. Please pray for a swift recovery.
Heroine of the day award goes to Katya.
A number of people have their home at  transition house at the moment. You will have heard of us talk about Lydia and Peter, who faithfully feed us as if we are never ever needing to eat again. You know all about John B C becuase he is already famous. We have met a wonderfull brother this time called Viktor. Originally from Germany, he is a gifted man of God. Having a background in law amongst many other things, he has been a wonderful foster carer and now is using his time to work on elecrtrics gardening and maintainance at TH.. He has faithfully been mowing, raking and repairing the lawn all week (and I mean all week) with German efficiency. It is the most loved piece of grass in Ukraine.. (Viktor is in his favourite red Buyern Munich tracksuit in the photo). Then there is a wonderfully talented couple Sergi (in the hat - who also has had the lergi) and Elena (Helena), who have a little boy Nazaar. They are a gift to God's people here, not least in the superb translation work that Sergi does for us. The fellowship with local beleievers has been extraordinally special here this time, and much of it is down to Sergi's brilliant translation and spiritual gifting, as we have communicated and prayed with various folk.This evening was super special, becuase there are 3 other friends who live here who had planned a special thank you to the team for all the work they have put in over their trips. Katya, Lena, and Vicka live at transition house, and joined us after dinner. It was wonderful to get to know them a bit better and hear a little of how their friendship has grown both through the work of "hope house" and now here. They are wonderfully close, great sisters in every respect. Katya had made us 2 cakes as a special present. When I say "cakes" what I really mean is the mother of all cakes. Katya has a diploma in pastry/ cake making/ cookery and boy was the evidence  impressive.

The only way I can describe one of the cakes is...
Imagine about 8 layers of beautiful spunge cake (all different) filled in each layer with creamy filling, fresh fruit, jelly / trifle., and topped with creamy marshmallowy yummyness. I'm not sure the men have any room left in their stomachs for several weeks, but I can assure you the cake went down really, really well.
Thank you Katya, Lena and Vicka for a very special evening, we really appreciate all the effort you went to and thank God for each of you and your story of His faithfulness.
This is the happy photo of us all together...

a

A superb day with wonderfull friends, a humbling ending. The privileges are all ours.
Talk tomorrow,
Blogski

Wow what a great and big wordlwide family we belong to.

Tuesday 
Hi friends, so sorry we didn't have time to scribble a blog yesterday. We spent the day in the blistering sunshine at the black sea camp. When I say blistering our complexion resembles something between cerise and lobster red for those familiar with B and Q paint range.
The camp has been a holiday home for many many 100's and 1000's of children and young people over the years. Many of them have not experienced a holiday like that by the sea before. It is a stunning place of natural beauty.

Here young people have heard of the greatest news on earth for the first time, the unconditional unrestrained love of God in Jesus Christ. In this truth we all discover our true identity. On top of the cliff top upper level of the camp is a cross, which no doubt can be seen by ships way out in the black sea.

 The camp has been a refuge for the hurting, balm for the distressed, and a haven for those rocked off their feet by a fallen and broken world. It was our privilege to just go and spend some time with the children and friends from church. Our fun started with an extended time of  volleyball. A game with the children, and then with some rather more aggressive Ukranian gentlemen who took things rather more seriously than we had signed up for. Thankfully Peter's BBQ came just in time....
Cooked on the charcoal, he had a small mountain of marinaded chicken and pork which could've kept us going for a very long time (days, maybe weeks rather than hours).

Lunch climaxed in toasted marshmallows, before a communal game of UNO with the children. It was absolutely brilliant. Little ones who maybe just a year ago were too shy to say a word, or maybe even look at us, were giggling their heads off and yelping with delight when they made us pick up cards. It was amazing to see how well they are developing and growing up, even translating for us so that we understood the jokes. All of it was kind-hearted gentle and caring of each other. They are a huge credit to their house parents and a delight to be with. The children then wanted me to go up to the top of the camp with them, so we had a race up the several hundred steps to the swings. I hope my knees may just about recover in time for my summer holidays. When it was time for us to go, the children were so keen to tell us how much they would miss us.

During the evening I had the massive privilege of spending some time with Julie and Alfie Mosse. I have met them briefly a number of times in Odessa, but it was so wonderful to spend some time getting to know them much better. They are a faithfull and talented couple who have been pioneering supporters of the Odessan church. They have a wonderful passion for the gospel, and the local church, a transparent honesty and integrety. As missioners with Send international, Alfie is a professor and Julie with her masters is an expert in teaching English. They are currently supporting a church plant initiative with their gifts and warmth. Talking with them was one of those occiassions where affinity and shared passion was so quickly established that there was massive mutual encouragement. Our hope is that we will be of mutual help as we pray together with one heart for that fledgling church. Please join us as we pray. The establishement of a new gospel work in that area, would be massively strategic.

Wednesday.
Today was back to work in the basement, and I believe we achieved more today than any of our working days here so far, praise GOD. I hope to give you a full rundown with pictures on Friday before we leave (*time and internet providing). Suffice to say, we now have a number of areas looking much more habbitable. Star turn of the day goes to Emlyn who was working with a sledge hammer and axle grinder trying to remove one extremely thick piece of structural metal from the floor of the room we are about to start work on. The banging and chiseling started before lunch, and went on during and after. The whole place shook with every blow of Emlyn's persistance, but still the thing wouldn't budge or bend. SO ... he resorted to yet more grinding until the sparks resembled something on bonfire night. I think he was a little bit miffed when John Davenport took all the glory with the final, vital fatal sledgehammer blow. Don't be dissolusioned Em, I'm sure you losened it a lot, those hours of work must have done something other than produce the worlds greatest pyrotechnic show.

This evening I had the wonderful privilege of spending time with the baptist minister here in Fontanke. Here is my wonderful brother Sergey Kirchun

He gave me a guided tour of his wonderful church building, which is being built by the sacrifice and commitment of his congregation. Sergey is a faithful brother who depends in faith for the things that he has, and the blessing God is giving to growing His church in Fontanke. It was a really special time of fellowship as we shared stories, laughs, and experiences of pastoral ministry. I was so encouraged to hear of how he is training men to preach, handle the text well, and youth leaders to love their bibles.
Our tour included ...
The classroom where preachers and youth leaders are trained.

The first hall the church met in on this site (after the house they met in crumbled down the cliff into the sea)

and the area where they collect clothes and food for Crimea region and those in need.

 The church hope to turn this in to a small living area / guest appartment for refugees or pastors, as their limited funds allow. Pray that God will provide please for this church, and thank him for such a great, gracious and humble man who depends, leads and encourages this gospel community to live by faith. I was hugely encouraged and challanged by my time with this lovey guy and his incredibly generous heart. Our evening drew to a close with a precious time talking to God about how much we appreciated being brought together... two guys from very different situations but with the same gospel ambitions and same wonderful providing God.

That's all we have time for today, thanks so much for sticking with us. Chat tomorrow,
BIG LOVE
BLOGSKI

Reuniting with great old friends and making a new one, (before collapsing in a heap.)

Good evening friends, we are now in recovery mode after a "full-on" day in the basement.
SURPRISE SASHA No 1.
The day started fantastically - a breakfast skype, with our great friend Sasha Domuschi from America. Many of you will know that Sasha was the first builder we worked with as work on transition house got going. We are praying that soon Sasha will be able to return to his homeland, but in the meantime skype is an amazing privilege, and our conversation flowed just as if he was sharing breakfast with us. The phone got passed around all the team along with the corn flakes. I told him that transition house is looking fantastic, he would be very pleased. However there is one big issue ... he is not with us and we miss him. Please pray for Sasha, a faithful brother and friend. 
SURPRISE SASHA no2
The day then got even better with Sasha Logvinenko coming to spend the day with us and work as part of our team at Transition House. Sasha was living at transition house when we first came, and our friendship has deepened over the years. Now married he is a great testimony to the care of Pieter,
Lydia and great evidence of how transition house can be of such massive help. Sasha is a great musician and bass player, with a passion to see young people come to know Jesus Christ. We listened to his latest band recrding as we put up a wall together, it was very impressive. He has kindly agreed to do a one off interview for the blog, which will feature on our return. As you can see from the photo, Sasha dwarfs all of us, his height is useful on any job or basjetball team.

Surprise no3/
What do you do when you are not as tall as Sasha L and you want to put up a ceiling. Well in Ukraine the answer is simple...make a platform out of wooden crates. One thing I really love about the guys here is their resourcefullness. Igor constructed for us with the mother of all wooden platforms. It has more cross braces than the Eifel tower, is as strong as it is high, and is likely to be our new close friend throughout this week.
 Beleieve it or not, tomorrow is yet another public holdiay in Ukraine, so we have been invited to join the children at the camp. This will mean we have to work like trojans at the end of the week to complete all that we planned to do, but with God's help we hope this is still possible, Please pray that we can encourage the children tomorrow, and that our time together will be hugely beneficial to all. Some of our time if not all are feeling rather achey for all the games we anticipate at the camp. In the meantime, we wish all your muscles a happy rest time, without looking at another ladder, metal snip, platform, driver, pliers, osb board or hammer drill for at least.....oooooh good few hours.

Goodnight
BLOLOGSKIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

1 day less on earth, 1 day closer to heaven in every respect.

Hello friends, I do hope your day has been as joy filled as ours.
We had the privilege this morning of spending time  in worship with our friends at "grace" church.
I was humbled to be able to preach about "the undinding goodness of God".
Psalm 107 starts by saying...
"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!"
It finishes by saying...
"Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
    let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord."

The psalm begins and ends with the steadfast love of God, reminding us that the whole of our lives are lived in this context of his never ending goodness. The message this morning had 4 simple points
1) GOD IS GOOD
2) GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME 
We discover this even in our darkest moments and most difficult circumstances
3) We see that GOD IS GOOD most AT THE CROSS
4) One day if we are trusting our lives to him, WE WILL SEE GOD's GOODNESS FULLY IN HEAVEN.
I go back to a dark day some years ago, alone in bed struggling with disabiliting illness. My body was shaking (through living off muscle protein), my eyes were shut with the pain, and my only desire was to keep still in the hope that this pain would one day go away, that "normal life" would miraculously resume, and that my blood infection would be met with a remedy. 
Sometimes we ask "Can God still be good when our world / circumstance is so bad?"
In that moment God met with me in an amazing way, and showing me the cross of Jesus Christ, reminded me that he chose my pain. This truth for me was the brightest ray which pierced all the dark clouds. Why would God chose to take our pain?
 Isaiah says ...
"Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering"
Why would he do that? His love for us.... his steadfast love for you and me. He chose to be rejected outside of a city, in order that we might come close to God. He chose to be alone, and bare the judgement we deserve before an altogether Holy God, in order that we, with countless others (from East West, North and South (Psalm107:3))  might join in the one song of heaven... 
"Worthy is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
I look at the good times and all we are enjoying as a team here over the last few days, and there is only one response to it all -Give thanks for God is good. I don't know whether you've done that today, or you've ever done that?... but before you put your head on the pillow tonight , you should!
Not only has God given you breath today to live in his world, but he's opened up for you a hope and a future in Jesus Christ. If you trust in his goodness and not your own, you can say that your life is in a good place today, you are safe and will always be safe in the never ending goodness of God.

This evening we joined with 1000 or so folks at a concert hall in downtown Odessa.

 
 The venue was stunning, the music was even more sublime, and all of it done to the glory of God. It really was a taste of heaven. God is completely and utterly worthy of the highest praise. As we listened to the "hallelujah"s ringing out to honour the God (to whom we owe everything) , we thanked him for one more day lived on earth and one more day closer to heaven. Make sure you are preparing for that day. There is soon coming a day when you and I stand before the perfection of God, and our only hope on that day is that we have asked God to accept us on the basis of the goodness he has provided for us at the cross of Jesus Christ. What hope do you and I have if we have rejected the goodness of Jesus, and instead attempt to prove to God that we are good enough? Thank God we don't need to, becuase the darkest day in cosmic history led to a bright morning three days later. It proved beyond all doubt that  sin, death and all God's enemies, could never and will never defeat the goodness of GOD. Our appropriate response is to trust in him for a certain hope, a guarenteed future and the sure anticpation that we accepted by the God whose goodness will never end. 
I hope you are able to say that tonight. You will be in good company if you do... not only with the Choir and Orchestra of Odessa, but all kind of peoples from every nation who are all discovering that GOD IS GOOD. If you are joining in the song of heaven today, then you can be sure your life is in a good place.
Speak tomorrow... when we return from the sublime ...to the basement     :) 
Sleep well, in certain JOY,  and sure hope,
Taste and see - He is so, so, Good!
Love
BLOGSKI 

A day of amazing experiences, but I wouldnt want to get lost without the guide.

Hi Friends!
Well if your day has been anything like ours it's been a craker!!!
This morning we visited part of the largest Katacombes in the world . Our expert guide took us well off the tourist track into a very unspoilt 3km of underground tunnels. He reminded us of the rich history of this limestone mine, where people worked hard for many hours in dangerous conditions and with minimal tools, to try and make a basic living.

We have it easy friends, we need to make the most of our privileges. I was so glad that Pieter told us about the "flesh-chomping giant black rats" (TRUE) after our visit there. The guys were suitably kitted out with torches and gloves, but as we traced the tracks on bended knees there was one thing we couldn't have done without - OUR GUIDE!!! He was amazing, and we certainly wouldn't have made it out alive without him. The experience (after a couple of hours of being in the spooky cold, damp underground) of coming out into the spring sunshine   bombarded the senses. Smelling the fresh grass/ flowers, and hearing the birds sing, was like coming up into a new world. It reminded me of what Jesus says in REV 21:5 "I am making all things new".
We have a guide, the bible says he is the one who created us, knows us best and has set his love on us. We are made to live in his illumination, the way he shows, the sunshine of his grace. He is not only our guide, but one who has gone before us. We must trust him, why wouldn't we want to? He has beaten death and darkness, his victory has become our victory. He has gone to prepare the place for us, and those who trust him  will leave this dark world for the imdediate radiance of his glory in the new creation.

Odessa is a beautiful city and this afternoon we enjoyed it in the sunshine.

Here we are in front of the beautiful opera house.
However like every city there are dark secrets. The little children who follow to sniff out your wallet, the older folk who beg then pull out their mobile phones, the shop fronts which are dark for a reason. Odessa like any other city needs a hope and a future, and it can only be provided one way.
This evening we went to a magnificent concert, put on by mainly young people who made up a superb orchestra and choir.

Some of you will know my professional background, and I have to tell you the standard was stunning, better than many pro orchestras I have heard. The point of the evening was to celebrate 500 years of the reformation, and particularly" soli deo gloria" (glory belongs to God alone). The young people were such a great testimony. They showed the talents God had given them to the full and used them to honour the giver. It was powerful evidence that all good things come from God, and all good things can be used to praise God.
As the evening sun fades ...

we left the church full of God's goodness and that sense of privilege that if you are his, your life is in a good place.
Please think of us tomorrow, especially in the morning when I have the privelege of preaching at a special members communion service. Pray that we will be in that sunshine of grace at "grace" church. We are so grateful for our friends in the uk who are thinking of us and praying for us, we are reaping many evidences that God is with us, and using us all to his glory, and I for one can't imagine a better place to be.
Till tomorrow,
Love
BLOGSKI

A superb day - progress and surprise.

Hi Friends, just a brief one this afternoon as the team are going to the church shelter to share some little gifts with our little friends.

• The day started well with another study, this time on the disciplines of faithfulness (to God, to our families, friends, oponents and to those who havn't yet come to find their hope in Jesus Christ) 
• We then (after eating beautifully home made fruit buns for breakfast) went to work. The surprise of the day at this point was that I had a good idea! We switched the design of one of the new walls around which will provide more borrowed light. 
• We then had a surprise visit from a Ukranian TV crew, and I had a small piece to camera to do. They also interviewed some of the folks who live at transition house about their story and how it has been helpful at a pivotal point in their lives. Please do pray for this as it is translated and aired, there is a great message in the story of rescue, forgiveness, hope and certainty in Jesus Christ.
• We then worked through till 5, for an early tea and out to the shelter.
• THANK GOD -HE HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO US: It has been an immensley beneficial day, with many walls looking much more complete and our minds starting to think about new jobs for next week
• PLEASE PRAY : that as we spend time with the young people this evening they will be encouraged by James 4:8 and Rev 21:4.
• Thank you for all your support, it means the world to us and keeps us going on long, dark, sweaty stints in the basement :) 

BIG LOVE
BLOGSKI