“the Beginning of the start” :-)

So I’d like to thank you for your prayers and support with this letter and to tell how the Lord answered and was in control of all circumstances and volunteers of these projects which are for us also "the beginning of the start":-)

At the end of July – in the beginning of August we had two projects in a row – Sport Community called Sport Family. The main goals were:
- to activate the youth of the churches and to have a practical training how to minister kids, teenagers and their parents;

- to build “a bridge” between the church and the neighborhood where the church is located for futher Sport Community ministry on a weekly basis in order to preach Gospel among youth and children and their parents (grandparents);

- to strengthen volunteers of the church in their skills of sharing Gospel (volunteers can be also the children who grew up in Christian families) for futher commitment to this ministry.
The projects took places in two churches: Kyiv, the church “Revival” and Dniepro , the church” Arc” About 30 volunteers took part in them. God brought big amount of children to the fields – approximately 150 people total.
Every day of the sport community (SK) started with the meeting with volunteers: team building, short Bible passage sharing, worship time, lunch together, discussion and coordination of the responsibilities for the upcoming sport community at the field and then only we went to our fields for 3 hours sport community with children. SK didn’t consist just of some practical drills and competitions. We had also spiritual breaks or devotion break time during which we had possibilities to build relationships with children, to communicate and to share Gospel. In the evening we again gathered with our volunteers team and made the analysis of the SK done and of what to improve for the next day – its my favorite part in SK.

At the end of the projects we invited children, teenagers and their parents for the sum ups and for the celebration. The Gospel was also proclaimed there. The Lord just miraculously brought us through difficulties, miscommunications, changes in the weather conditions, lack of human resources, through the prohibitions to talk about God from the side of some parents and of the schools’ management who gave us soccer fields. And the Lord miraculously brought children, teenagers and even their parents (and grandparents) to the churches – almost all of them were in the protestant evangelical church for the first time and no one got scared that it could be a sect. (By the way – to have its own building for a church congregation is a huge blessing!)

Let me share with you two small stories from these projects though I’d love to tell you all of them.

The first story – it took place at the soccer field of Kiev in the neighborhood of the church “Revival” An old man (we called him grandpa), obviously of a soviet mentality, was jealously against us and considered us a sect and that we were people who came to brainwash children while their parents were at work. So once we came to our due sport community, he started to yell at us that we were nothing and nobody and that if we would start what we did, he would call the “militsia” (the police). We just suggested that we wanted to play with children and the older teenagers agreed, so we just started to play. The younger children started to complain that they couldn’t play as it was on the previous days (as we mixed older and younger kids in the teams before). Then later our team of organizators prayed right there on the field – I asked our Dutch coach to pray (I translated for him). Step by step the grandpa had to move aside under the “pressure” of the children and we started our sport community. Following days the grandpa came but his attitude toward us became softer. And I call this situation – the case when the actions talk louder than the words, i.e. our name is justified – “Athletes in Action’ :-)

 Sharing testimony with the teenagers at the field

 During the devotion break

Team photo of AIA Ukraine, AIA Netherlands and the volunteers from the church “Revival"

Parents in the church on the last row of chairs:-)\

The second story – at the soccer field in the neighborhood of the church “Arc” in Dniepro.

During our sport communities while children waited for their turn to play we also talked to them offside the field as well as with their parents who came to video or to take photos of their children or to just hang out. This way I noticed one old lady (grandma) who was sitting on the bench. I came up to her and introduced myself. She told me she lived alone, her son and her husband died. Her granddaughter with her grand granddaughter went outside of the city “but it they would’ve known that such an event would take place, they wouldn’t have left”, - she said. We spoke about family, about sin, about living alone, about financial difficulties, about death. She is 78 and she had never read the Bible. Eventually I shared Gospel with Maria (her name) and told her that there’s Father in Heaven, that there’s Jesus Christ who can reconcile and join to His family. I invited her to the church – praise God that the church is right over the corner – that’s where our soccer field was. When she came to the church I also talked to her more and gave her the brochure “Four spiritual Laws” and the passages from the Gospel of John. She started to read and another old lady a bit younger who also came to the church because of her child who was invited also looked at the brochure. This another lady had a suspicious not content look. When I came up to her and asked her if she wanted the brochure as well, she immediately answered positively. I gave her my last brochure I happened to have in my backpack. The lady’s name was Liudmila. Her look changed after all this to a well wishing one. The Lord again taught me that we shouldn’t look at the faces and we should let Him act as He sees what is inside and what will happen further. I pray for these ladies so that they would continue coming to the church and would join the family of Christ above all.  

Team photo of AIA Ukraine, AIA Netherlands and the volunteers from the church “Arc

More photos and videos can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SportFamilyUa/photos/?ref=page_internal

Please pray for:
1) the hearts of the children and of the teenagers and of their parents who heard Gospel (so that God would open the importance of accepting Christ and of following Him););
2) the follow up of the Sport Community on a weekly basis in Kiev and in Dniepro – so that the volunteers would arrange properly and plan further actions as they were trained by us, and would be commited to this ministry; so that our team of AIA could help them to plan furtherwards;

3) on August 25^th we will plan our semester – so that the Lord would give wisdom and a mutual understanding how to plan according to His will;

4) Thanks for the possibility to have rest with my disciple and my friend – basketball coach, Katya P. and also to see my friends – believers and non believers in Odessa;

5) for my health (neck spine especially);
6) Repentance of my friend, ex basketball player, Anya, and for the study of the biblical course “Sports and life” – she agreed to do it under my mentorship! J;

7) For the repentance of my relatives – sister, brother and my nephew – so that they would truly reconcile with God through Christ.

Thank you for your support and prayers! Would love to hear how God is working in your life :)

With love in Christ, 
Anya