news from Kagarlyk, Ukraine

Greetings! So much has happened since the last time I sent out an update that I'll just try to give you a brief picture of what has been happening here this last month. To start off we ("we" being the summer ministry team in the church here in Kagarlyk) did a series of family festivals in and around Kagarlyk. We had about 30-50 kids, many with their parents, come to each festival where we had bible stories, songs, games, skits, and "fun for the whole family". We were able to share the gospel with all who came, and because of the festival here in Kagarlyk a woman and her son have come to our church. We also did two soccer tournaments, one with anyone in the city who could get a team together and the other with the villages surrounding Kagarlyk. Both times we had 6 teams come and they all had a great time and were very glad that there was someone organizing soccer events because they all just love to play. We were able to build relationships with many of the guys and plant seeds of the gospel. Because our church building is in the center of the city with a small park in the front of it we decided to do a couple of street concerts. We had a few problems getting bands to come, but it all worked out okay. A group from Chernigov came down and played music and shared what God had done in their lives. It was encouraging for our church and for theirs, and people came and heard the gospel as well as music.

Team from AZ

An outreach team from Phoenix, Arizona came out for a couple of weeks and the helped us with the festivals, played soccer a tournament, and played music for the second street concert that we put on. We also spent a lot of time on the streets in the evenings inviting people to come to the different events we were planning and sharing the gospel. Although there was little response from people, just being out on the streets with the gospel and shining God's light is something we as a church feel we should be doing. God will bring the fruit in His time.

Vacation Bible School

This last week we had a vacation bible school type thing at our church. The children's ministry leaders planned it all, the summer ministry team did all the work, and I found that I was almost not needed. It was wonderful to not be needed. They all did a wonderful job of everything, learned a lot about ministry, about team work, and the best was they got to see God reach kids and parents with His love. Between 30 and 50 kids showed up each day and throughout the course of the week most of them prayed to ask Jesus to forgive their sins. The last day of camp we had a talent show for their parents to come to and about 20 parents came. We were able to share the gospel with them and they got to see what their kids learned about God's love. So that is a small glimpse of what has been going on. I hope to get some pictures together this next week and make them e-mailable so that you can see a little better what God has been doing.

Thank you for your prayers this last month, God is certainly answering them and will continue to answer. I'm sure that we will continue to see the fruit of all that was done for some time to come. Thank you for being a part of the work here in Ukraine through prayer. May God bless you and keep you, Daniel and Annaliese Foote