A time to plant and a time to build.

There are many seasons in life. Yesterday I spoke with a lovely guy who would dearly love to come with us on our team trips, but as a tear rolled down his cheek he explained that his body had decided that this was sadly no longer an option, and he wanted to support us in another way.  I wander what many of us will feel like when this is the season of life we enter into... and our life choices are severely restricted. Will our assessment be that we did all we could with the abilities, energies, and opportunities that God gives us whilst we were "able"? I guess none of us will say in that season, that we wished we had spent more time in front of the TV or on Facebook.

Pastor Viktor Pugach has become an amazing friend of mine.

He works in NorthWest Ukraine. I love and respect him for many reasons, but especially because he is the epitome of Eph 5:16 "making the most of every opportunity". Viktor, his lovely wife and the church network provide food and clothing for thousands in their region to help them get through the winter. In a masterstroke of love and compassion Viktor and his amazing little army "took in" seven 16 year old boys who had no home (after their time in "official care" came to an end), then another 7 and then 8 girls. The home, family atmosphere, love, food and training they have provided for our young friends is brilliant, but the house they are trying to build for these precious young people is unfinished.

This is where we come in... we have had a time to rest... but now is a time to build, to invest in a future generation, a time to serve and a time for healing as we encourage our young friends in their future paths and walk of faith.

September 28th to October 12th We have a small team ready to go - some for a week, many for a fortnight. Our plan is to complete the second floor of transition house so that Vika, Olya, Dianna, Tania,  Marichka, Sonia, Sasha, and Liliia have a lovely place to live and grow together in their friendship and faith. We have a team... but we need more people power to make the most of this opportunity. We have a small window of time wherein we can work on the property and get the place ready for folks to move back in. We are looking for 4 kinds of people...
1) WILLING TEAM MEMBERS - If you are up for serving in any way but have no skills - we need you to come with us and  to help us make the most of this opportunity. If you can hold a box of screws, plug in a battery charger and make a cup of tea you are ideal.
2) FRIENDSHIP CARE in the name of Jesus Christ / MENTORS  - If you want to help us as we invest in young friends lives, we'd love to hear from you as we provide small gift packages and encouragement for them. We are encouraging women to join us on this trip to meet the girls and encourage them. The present team is a mix of male and female.
3) ENCOURAGERS OF THE CHURCH - If you want to encourage the network of church plants that are emerging in this unreached area of Northern Ukraine, we would love to hear from you. Pastors network conferences, helping rural churches, training younger men are all on the agenda... maybe you have skills and passion in this area.
4) GOD's JIGSAW PEOPLE who are in the right place at the right time because they responded to his prompt to "fit in". There are specific needs we have ... A good welder (to put up the staircase), a good plasterer (for upstairs walls), a person who can teach basic cooking skills to the girls etc ... all highly valuable at this critical juncture in this amazingly fruitful gospel project.

If in your consideration you wonder whether it is worth your time, sacrifice and money to come with us be assured that it is. This story is one of fruitfulness, lives changed, churches born, regions impacted, thousands won over by the love and compassion of Jesus Christ through his people. It is our great privilege to be a very small part of this fabulous story and we'd love you to be part of it to. Don't hesitate ... get in touch !