Newsletter #4 April, 2017

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1 Newsletter #4 April, 2017 Little Lambs Conference Conferences trainings... it s a unique opportunity for your spiritual growth and to receive useful information to improve the ministry for the Lord. God has blessed our team of the Inspiration Centre to take part in few trainings in April. So, on April 7-8 the training for camp directors and coordinators was held in Kyiv by Little Lambs Ministry. We had time to share our testimonies serving orphans in different orphanages in Ukraine and inspire each other to continue that ministry! We had powerful prayer time and time of worshiping our Lord. During two days all participants enjoyed time spent together having great program and team games. Directors and coordinators could improve their knowledge and skills for kids ministry. The training was ended by discussions of our plans for summer 2017 and prayer. The team of the Inspiration Centre is planning to go to Bobrynets Orphanage (Eastern part of Ukraine) on May 26 till June 3 and do Christian camp program for 132 orphans in that orphanage. We need your prayers for that ministry! Garden Project There is such a stereotype in our minds that gypsies are lazy and they don t want to work. Well, there are some as well as there are some in our society. But still there are so many people who are eager to work but nobody wants to hire them. So, we decided to test it and start garden project. School for Gypsies While the team of the Centre was on the conference, Nina Ognivchuk visited wonderful Christian project for the ministry for gypsies in Zakarpattia (Western Ukraine). Thanks for the initiatives of The Emmanuel Association and Orphan s Promise was built a school for Roma kids. The kids can not only study there but they also attend different clubs and also learn how to grow vegetables and feed the animals. There is a sauna and beauty salon on the territory of the school. It s a challenge to feed more than 300 kids every day but two Roma ladies are doing wonderful job cooking delicious Ukrainian meals.

2 GYPSY MINISTRY The Bible Club for elder gypsies started in March, We were doing Roma children ministry for a year and we realized that it s impossible to change the problem and statistics if we work only with kids. So, God put on our hearts to start spreading the Gospel to parents. It was a big challenge for us as far we realized that it s a huge field and gypsies tell fortunes, read the palms, do drug business, have deep demon roots, etc. Honestly, we all were afraid but we were praying and had peace about that. First, we went to one gypsy house to another and asked them if they are interested in learning the Bible and if they would like to spend some time together reading the Bible. We were surprised to get to know how many of them are uneducated and they can t read the Bible by themselves because they can t read. We ve started our meeting in one room at the Inspiration Centre and we used to have 7-10 people. But now this number is growing and two last meetings were in the hall. It is such a great honor to answer their questions like, How should we live to be happy?, How can we earn money if nobody wants to hire the gypsies?, Why are there so many churches if there is only one God?. They started to share their sins, struggles and troubles. They get the income from deceiving, stealing, doing drug business and they question, If we accept God, we should stop doing it but how we can take care of our families if we are uneducated and we never worked physically? They realize it and it stops them from accepting the Lord! One Roma lady, Zola, shared that she reads the Bible and prays every day. She feels the power of God and it has big influence on her life. Her dad stopped smoking because he got saved and he wants to change his life. We as a team see God s will in that ministry. Today you can rarely meet people who are hungry for the Gospel but they ask the questions and discuss different questions till 8 pm. We always have hot black tea with apples as far as they love it! When we visit their families, we always drink such tea with them. It is such a joy to serve God with them! Easter time with gypsies! It was our first celebration of the Easter together with our Roma friends! We have a lot of Easter traditions here in Ukraine and many of them aren t biblical. For example, people bring food for dead people on the graves showing their care for them. So, you can find all gypsies (especially kids) in the cemetery collecting the food (cakes, cookies, candies, meat, bread, sausage). That s why we made the invitation cards and went to the cemetery in Shepetivka to find gypsies and invite them on our activities at the Inspiration Centre! We also have good traditions. One of them if to bake Easter bread (called PYSANKA) and eat it all together with your family. God blessed us with money and we could purchase 20 Easter loaves of bread and visit 20 families. We shared the true story of resurrection from the Bible. To be honest, nobody knew that story even many of them have lived 40 years on earth! The market gave us good discounts for that reason. It was very nice of them!

3 CHILDREN MINISTRY Berezdiv orphanage is our second home as far as we have family there! Those kids became as brothers and sister for us! We have close relationship with kids and now they open their broken hearts sharing their horror stories. There is one 7 years old girl who watched how her dad killed her mom on her own eyes Can you just imagine it? How can you start to talk with that broken heart? On April 28, the orphans from Berezdiv orphanage were so excited to welcome a special guest from TN Craig Copeland. First time I ve seen her, she didn t even allow me to hug her because she was so scary I can see how God is changing her heart and she runs to welcome us and she wants to be the first to give the hug for the volunteers from the Inspiration Centre! During that meeting we could also have fun with kids outside and they enjoyed jumping on the trampoline! But it was so special to watch how one boy from the orphanage was talking with a Pastor Sergey who came with us on his van. We talked about future professions with elder kids. I was upset because I ve seen that kids don t have dreams. They want to be drivers or cooks they don t know their talents and perspectives. shared Anna Pustovit. Every trip is very special because you have to deal with such hard life stories and in such cases you depend only on God! It is so encouraging to listen to the kids stories when they have experienced the care of God or have got the answer on their prayers. We always have Bible lesson, Christina songs, games and sometimes crafts. We do all our best to take some time and talk personally with an orphan. It helps them and helps us to know the root of their needs! Every talk is finished with prayer and we see its power! What was more, every child received the shoebox gift from the Samaritans Purse! The kids were so excited to open the boxes and look in all great things inside the boxes!

4 AFRICA IN UKRAINE On April together with our four wonderful brothers from TN we visited Roma villages in Zakarpattia. I can t pick up a word to describe the reality people are living in there I have seen such pictures in Ghana (Africa) in 2012 and now I see so much in common in my country. Mentality people are living as a crowd not a personality. Nobody has personal opinion, personal vision, personal decision, but they all follow the commands of the gypsy baron (chief). He is the only owner of the local market and he has access to the credit cards of all people in his village. So, if you want to buy something, you go to his market and get it, but the baron can take as much money as he wants from your card. You like it or not, nobody cares. Be careful to say something against the baron. Praise the Lord for the barons of all 6 Roma villages we ve visited who respect Christians and let us preach the Gospel there. Hygiene there is no hygiene in Roma villages at all. No one knows what is soap or toothbrush... all kids are dirty, most girls are not braided, have lice and this is normal for everyone... Water - today in Ukraine there are people who do not have clean drinking water! Can you imagine it? In one village there is a small well, we looked inside the well, and the water appears yellow like clay so deep in that well. And this water is drunk by whole village. Frankly, I cannot even call it water... it's just thick liquid, but these people have no other choice. Food - we saw Roma who were working in gardens and growing the vegetables or having a household only two villages. Most people have a great need for food. First in my life I ve seen how 5-year-old child ate a loaf of bread per hour while we were sharing the Gospel. Living conditions - large families live in old small thatched houses. We had the opportunity to visit a family that has 14 children and they live all together in a 2-bedroom house that looks more like a barn. Most people uneducated and there is a small number of children who go to school. Meals are prepared on the fire. If the village has one or two toilets on the street, then it is progress. However, almost every home has a television. Christian life - for these two days we visited six Roma villages and the life picture is different. In one village there are different denominations and one church stands next to another church. In another village there not Christians at all and brother Edik (gypsy pastor) just started to visit them with the Word of God. People are willing to listen to the Word of God. Many people do not even understand the Ukrainian language and our words were translated into their language. They love to sing Christian songs and do it with great pleasure and humble hearts. I praise God for He has called me to that ministry and showed me huge Africa in my country. You don t need to travel far away the more we serve for gypsies at the Inspiration Centre, the bigger field I see and I pray God to call more missionaries on that field to bring the Light of His Word to that dark places! shared Nina Ognivchuk. If you have any ideas, advice or vision for the Inspiration Centre, please, share it with us! Contact Information: Nina Ohnivchuk Skype: ninaohnivhcuk ninessa@ukr.net Cell-phone (Viber, We Chat): THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE AND PRAYING FOR US!

5 OUR WAR ROOM Thanks and praises: Praise God for volunteers who join and help us; Praise God for donors who support our ministry with their money, time, own strength; Praise God for open Roma houses; Praise God for the ministry of the IC in April and His care of the building; Praise God for missionaries from TN and Roma ministry in Zakarpattia. VBS: Pray for our VBS in the Bobrynets orphanage on May 26 till June 3. CLUBS: English Club English classes for 66 students WooDecor kids come and learn to make wooden souvenirs and magnets; Gloria singing classes and learning to play the guitar and the piano; Bible Club every Wednesday at 6 pm we read the Bible with elderly gypsies; Teens Club meetings for teen girls every Sunday at 2 pm Mothers Weekend every Wednesday mothers can bring their kids to the IC MINISTRY IN SCHOOLS: Lectures in the schools by Anna Pustovit. THE POWER OF PRAYER MATERIAL NEEDS: Money for ongoing projects at the Inspiration Centre; The van for the IC to go to the orphanages and pick up the kids; The purchase of the second floor; The playground project;. The official papers for the land. COOPERATION WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Mutual understanding and support. SERVANTS Pray God for the missionary who can minister for gypsies as far as Sasha isn t able to do it due to his health conditions; Pray for the growing of our team we need to hire an accountant, a lawyer and a cleaner. Four people who are in the team are doing all that job but we see we get exhausted and we hate to admit that sometimes our ministry can steal our relationship with God and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Ps. 50:14-15)