January 20, 2011

Back in Ukraine, wonderful to be back with Deb and the family!  Flying has lost it’s excitement, but this trip I was encouraged by the Lord during the take off.  In Ukraine, the winter months are very gray.  Sometimes we’ll go a few weeks without seeing the sun, it’s dreary to say the least, especially when the snow melts.  When we were taking off from Ukraine we broke through the clouds and WHAM, the brightness of the sun is blinding!

Flying over Ukraine

The thought, I believe God spoke to my heart was this, “I never change. I am always the same.  I am as bright as this sun every day though your perspective is continually changing as the clouds of life roll in and out.” Something like that anyway, it was a strong encouragement to my soul, that no matter how things look, we have a God that is unshakable, and desires to pull back the clouds and radiate His life in us if we seek Him with our whole heart.   Creation truly does declare His glory!

I really enjoyed time with the guys last week.  The last trip in September was a whirlwind of activity and this trip was more focused on work.  We’ve made some significant changes in the structure of our company, and legally registered EDsuite as it’s own legal LLC.  The next few months are going to be very important for both companies to adapt and grow.  I embrace more than ever the role of business in my life, and the guys I work with.  Together we are able to have an impact in the Kingdom of God through the relationships we have with our customers, and the income we are able to put toward missional efforts.

We went to two plays in the past 48hrs.  The first, a professional Ballet in Kiev, the Nutcracker.  It was a great time, 14 of us enjoyed a quick meal together and then took our wives to the theater.

The second, was a few minutes ago actually.  A children’s production in RZ, at one of the techicums here. 

Light in the East, our friends in Kiev worked with some local Ukrainian believers here to put on a Christmas (yes, it’s still ok to have your tree up here!), play.  I counted 400 children in the auditorium, ages 4-12yrs.  We took our kids, but it was all in Ukrainian so we didn’t understand very much. Thank you to Crossroads for Decembers donation for outreach, we were able to use the extra amount given to pay for transportation of these children to the play today. The play was full of scripture and reference to Christ’s coming, in the context of a Ukrainian family. This was truly valuable seed that was sown in the hearts of many kids today. Pray the seed takes root, and through continued efforts here will produce a harvest for the Lord in the near future.

Over the next two weeks we’ll be elevating prayer at church. Encouraging men’s prayer Wed mornings, Thurs prayer at night, and times of prayer on Sunday. Would you pray that God would re-charge hearts here? Sometimes after holidays people seem more tired than before their vacations, and with lots of people coming in / out, we need God’s heart and His Spirit guiding us from the start of this year.

The 2nd floor in the cafe is warm!! We are still working on the first floor. If you are interested in learning more about the cafe, purpose, or would like to donate toward the renovations, here’s a link to the poster – it’s 3mb.

http://www.cypressinteractive.com/beta/missions_network/11x17_center_poster-eng.pdf

In the next week or two we’ll have more information regarding summer groups if you are interested in joining one of them to help with construction.

For the grandparents, here’s a silly video of Clark and Noah, our entertainment:)

Thanks for checking in! Leave a comment and tell us you are still reading this??

Bruce & Deb