So many encouragements and things to pray for.

Sowing with love and care.
The photo is from part of our work yesterday at the "boarding school". Elijah is just delving into his bag of goodies to get out all the props needed for his gospel talk. The children (6-16) are spellbound and captivated in the palm of his hand. One girl has brought her bible with her and guards it like gold. Slight of hand tricks have been done, they know sweets may be on the way. One child has discovered that the cardboard boxes we had in the back of the car were full of produce from the kremenets grocery store. (NB don't go shopping for apples or bananas in Kremenets today because there are non left. - Ivan joked ..."the store assistant is considering closing up shop after we leave, her quota for the day has been met").I was extreemly impressed with Elijah's talk, as he produced an animal trap (I wasnt sure if this would pass health, safety and risk assesment in the UK). He talked about the trap of sin, and placing his hand in the trap let the trap close on his hand. He explained that Jesus took all our pain and punishment for us so that we are released from the power and pain of sin. It is easy to see why the youth evangelism team is loved in this place, why they are greeted with joy through the school gates. 

Reaping in an expanding work.
We shared our evening meal time with some of the young people who had come from this exact boarding school and are now living at church. 6 of them had taken this journey and shared their experience, and it was a real joy to see where they are now... following Christ, full of love, joy and laughs. They have such a passion to reach the next generation and two of them drove us and are committed to the ministry of going in this school each week (where they grew up). The once lost sheep are now returning to where they grew up to find lost sheep as loving shepherds. We pray for this ministry. As we rennovate the second property, our prayer is Lord do this more and more. Find the individual sheep and bring them to a safe place where they can feed on you and enjoy life in the joy of your presence and be well cared for in your family.

 Pray for today's residential pastors conference.
We prayed for up to 30 pastors to be able to attend the conference. I am thrilled to share that God has been so gracious and answered our prayers... in fact the conference is oversubscribed, and sadly we are over capacity. Please pray for over 40 pastors. Each come with responsibilities, burdens, a large mission field, and a need for refreshment.

• Pray that we will grow as a band of brothers as we share informal time together and encourage each other, as we look to strengthen the hand of each other in gospel ministry
• Please pray that our formal time will help as we strategically plan to reach this region for Christ and follow the biblical directives of our commanding officer. May we be faithful men as we fight the good fight.