Happy New Year! 

Christmas is celebrated Jan 7th in Ukraine, so we still have all of our decorations up. It seems that I have spent a lot of time baking and decorating the past couple weeks because we are having so many celebrations. Our church celebrated the birth of Jesus our Messiah and Lord last Sunday. The church choir was wonderful. I know they spent a lot of time preparing for this day and it was such a blessing to see and hear. The children gave an adorable presentation. Afterwards, we had a time of fellowship with lots of baked goodies. We are so blessed with a very sweet and loving church. Unfortunately, some of our students were taking an exam this Sunday. They will be taking exams all the way up to New Years Eve.  The church will be celebrating NewYears together with worship and communion. 

Ternopil Main Square and Theater

Ternopil's main square is decorated for Christmas and New Years right now. Most weekends there is some sort of concert, political booths or children's entertainment set up in the square. It's a pleasant place to walk and see what's going on in the city.

This is something I never thought I would see in Ukraine: a police band playing in the square last Sunday..... and they rocked!

I'd like to take this opportunity now to sum up the last two months of the year. At the end of November, our Missions Training Program (MTP) came to an end. Our five graduates have now gone home and are praying and seeking God about where He would lead them to serve. Vova will be coming to Ternopil and help with the church plants in Lutsk and Vinnitsya.  This is a picture of the team praying for the MTP students at their graduation.







Also, in November there was a leadership conference for all of the Calvary Chapels in Ukraine. I had the blessing of sharing with the single women in leadership. I have known these young ladies for years now and it is such an encouragement to see how they love the Lord. Most of them are involved with children's ministry. Please pray that they will continue to be an example for all of the women in Ukraine. Please pray for more women in the churches to be raised up as teachers of the Word.

CC Leadership Conference Kiev

As my health has been steadily improving, ( and I'm FINALLY losing weight since my thryoid medication seems to be where it should be), I've started traveling again. Since we have two church plants that our church is actively involved in, I've had the opportunity to travel to both in the last few weeks. 

The Bible study in Lutsk is two to three hours away, depending on who is driving. I've been there three times now. I'm blessed to see a committed group of believers who are seeking to understand the grace of God. Please pray for their freedom from the law and to rest in the Lord's grace. There are also two Iranian sisters who attend the study. One already knew the Lord, and the other sister received the Lord two weeks ago! Please pray that they will get the resources they need in their language to grow in the knowledge of God's Word. Another big praise report is that Stephen Pomeroy and his family have moved to Ternopil. Stephen and his family will be moving to Lutsk to lead the fellowship there. Praise the Lord!

I also had the opportunity to go to Vinnitsya and help with the English club and be there for the Sunday service. Please pray that  a pastor will either move to Ukraine or be raised up within the country to lead this new church plant. In Ukraine, truly the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Our pastors are traveling to two different cities in addition to leading the church here in Ternopil.  Hopefully it will work out that I can go once a month to Lutsk and once a month to Vinnitsya. Please pray for a pastor for Vinnitsya and for Spirit filled teams to live in minister in Lutsk and Vinnitsya. 

Lunch with the church in Vinnitsya

At the beginning of December I was asked to share at the first Women's Retreat at Calvary Chapel Lviv. Mike Pratt is the pastor in Lviv and his wife Michelle hosted the event in their home. We had an amazing brunch prepared by Michelle, and then I shared with the women about "Staying on the path with God" It was such a precious group of young ladies to be able to minister to, but it always seems that I am the one that gets the most encouragement. The Pratts have also been a huge blessing to me as we've traveled together to Poland to keep out visas current. 

Another big blessing for me these last few months has been hosting "English Immersion Night" with three YWAM Students from the base here in Ternopil. They are in a five month program called "English for Missions. "Once a month they come to my home and we prepare a meal together. They are required to speak in English the entire time. Marichka and Oksana are Ukrainian and Marina is from Russia. Please pray that their English skills will improve as their desire is to use English as a tool for missions. All three of them have been serving the Lord for about 15 years and are seasoned missionaries. We have such a wonderful night of fellowship and they are a great inspiration for me as we share our stories of what the Lord has done while serving on the mission field.

English Immersion Night with Marichka, Oksana and Marina 

Last night we had a Christmas party with the English Cafe. We sang Christmas Carols and watched Greg Laurie's video, "RED: the color of Christmas." It was a great opportunity to share the gospel as usually we play word games and most of our witness is through the relationships we build with the people. Please pray for those that don't  know Jesus, that their hearts will cry out for Him!

English Cafe Christmas Party

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support. 

Happy New Year and may the Lord bless you beyond what you could have ever imagined! Remember, the Lord is on the throne!

God bless you, Marilyn

Please pray for the Calvary Chapel Leadership Conference in Kiev this weekend, Nov. 10- 12. I will be sharing with the single Women in Ministry. Please pray for wisdom and anointing to encourage the ladies. We will be few, but the Lord is strong! Please also pray for the Lord's protection as we travel to and from Kiev. The weather is getting foggy and snow is on the way. I will be driving with Sharon Markey and her three little boys. Please also pray that we will be refreshed from the conference and ready to minister Sunday morning at church after we return from Kiev Saturday night. 

I'll be posting another update after the conference. Thank you for your prayers!

This is my first attempt at a blog. Hopefully it will be a way that I can share my experiences, prayer requests and updates as God is leading us at Calvary Chapel Ternopil, Ukraine.  It's a beautiful fall day. The air is cool and leaves are floating past my window as I look out over the street. I like this time of year. Now, what to write.

I walk past this flower market daily... I love it!

Summer was filled with a lot of ministry activity. We hosted the 2nd annual Worship Conference in July attended by 60 musicians from all over Ukraine. Our guest speakers were Mike Payne, the worship leader at Calvary Chapel Budapest, Hungary,  and Pete Nelson,  pastor of White Fields Community Church, Colorado and former member of the band The Kry. We were blessed with incredible teaching through their wisdom and experience. We are planning to host the 3rd annual conference next summer. As a person obsessed with good service, based on my background in the restaurant business, it was my job to make sure everyone was served and fed with as few problems as possible. With the skill of Dima, our amazing cook from Youth with a Mission, the help of Janice from CC Lviv and Vanessa from CC Boryakonka, along with our brothers and sisters from the church in Ternopil, everyone was fed and happy.  The Lord provided abundant help through our family in Christ, and the food was delicious.

Our next big venture in faith was to begin a Missions Training Program. It is a 12 week program designed to train and equip those with a heart to go out into the world to preach the gospel. Classes began August 29th with 5 students, Ludmila, Vova, Kristina, Roma and Tanya. We've had terrific guest speakers come to teach the students. Regular classes are Tuesday through Friday with outreaches each week to the cities of Lutsk and Vinnitsia, and children's festivals each Saturday morning here in Ternopil. The students Tanya and Ludmila are living with me, so this is a great opportunity to spend time with them and hopefully be an encouragement in their desire to serve the Lord.

                                 Sasha Andrieshnya teaching the Missions Training Program

                                 Tim and Sasha leading the children in songs at the Children's Festival

At the end of summer we had our church service followed by a picnic. It was such a huge success we are going to have another one Oct. 2. I'm sure this will be the last one of the year, since the weather's getting cold. I invited the English Club and it seems that many will be coming. Hopefully they will come early to hear the church service. 

Church Picnic

The Sisters Bible study is continuing. It's so good to have the girls back who were gone for the summer. We're continuing our study on the Holy Spirit. The girls have a heart to study the Word and my prayer is to see all of us grow in our love and faith in the Lord. Each year I have to say good-by to one or two of the girls who have graduated and are returning to their home countries. This year we said good by to Tolu who was such a blessing to our fellowship. Please pray for Tolu, that she gets the teaching, fellowship and study of the Word she longs for in Nigeria. She has discovered Calvary Chapel radio and I'm blessed knowing that she is listening to the Bible studies so she can get good solid teaching. 

 

      Sisters Bible Study. We miss you Tolu!       

Prayer for Ternopil

• The Missions Training Program: for the students to be filled with the Spirit and to step out in faith to serve the Lord where ever He may lead them. 
• The children's festivals to be fuitful. The school where the festivals are held have opened up their facilities to use during the winter. They are also going to allow classes on drug and alcohol abuse given by Zhenya from our church. 
• The church picnic Oct. 2nd: Please pray that the group from English Club comes with their families and will hear the message. Please pray for their salvation
• The Sisters Bible Study: to grow in our love and faith in the Lord. For the Holy Spirit to fill us to overflowing!
• I have two English classes at the high school starting this week, Please pray that I will be a good witness for the Lord and will be used to draw people to him. I've also been asked to start a class at the Technical College. Please pray this will work out only if it's God's will. 
• Please pray for my health. If it's not one thing it's another. The Lord is teaching me patience and humility in dealing with hypothyroid disease. I took a blood glucose test and I'm pre diabetic. This is actually a blessing because it's forcing me to eat better and that also helps with the thyroid issue. I actually feel better now than I have in three years, but I do get really tired when I push myself. 
• Please pray for financial provision. As with all of you, things are a little tight right now. But I know the Lord is faithful. "When God guides, He provides"

Praise

• The Lord has sustained me for almost 19 years on the mission field. I praise Him for His love, grace and faithfulness to reach out to the lost and hurting. 

Thank you all for your prayers and support. You are equally a part of this work here in Ternopil. The Lord bless you! Marilyn

                    

Calvary Chapel Ternopil, Ukraine