Experience the real meaning of Christmas as you drive or walk through Bethlehem at our free Living Nativity. See 200 live characters and animals depicting the night Christ was born. To take a short video tour of the Nativity story click here or if you want to see still photos click here. Or you can click on the Ministries menu above or see our December 2007 Achieves for a recap of last year. Also join us for our Christmas Music Night 6 Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. as our musicians and choir present a speacial night of worshipful Christmas music. Or join us Christmas Eve (Dec. 24 at 6:00 p.m.) for a special Candlelight Service as we sing favorite carols and are challenged by a special message in chalk on Christ's birth. During December Pastor is also starting a new morning worship series in Isaiah entitled Hear O Heaven & Earth which highlights the prophecies of Christ's first and second coming.

Even though the roads were rough, Caleb was able to get us safely there (Makarovo) and to the other villages. Caleb and I left Wednesday night, after a small service, for Odessa. I was able help with printing problems and was able to download and run a antivirus program on some of the workstations there at Church Ministries Institute. I was also able to backup the server and clean up the temporary files. The next day I visited with Doug's family and worked with there computers. The Lord was with us as we worked through the issue's those two days.

Meanwhile the team was able to do the children's programs in the surrounding villages of Makarovo. They said they went well and had a good outreach to the children there. Praise God!

The men were able to help Velodia (The church leader) with the grain before the next rains. They used pails with about 20 pounds in them and handed them to the next guy in line. The pails were then tossed down to the middle guy and then the process started over. Several tons were processed. Everyone was grateful for the work and the help. The men also helped Paul with a project at his home. The lights upstairs in the church work well. Thank you to Josh, Norm, Chris, and Paul. Thanks to Katie and the other women who cleaned up after.

Caleb was able to go back into the villages and pick up a van full of people for Zhatva (Ukrainian Thanksgiving). Zhatva went well with about 92 people or more to help celebrate with lots of music and praise to God. The meal was excellent. Katie was the brave one the team to eat the local delicacy.

We arrived safely in America with our bags. We are so grateful. We did not sleep much for 36 hours but the Lord sustained even still.
Thank you for your prayers

Your 2008 Ukraine team

In Kiev Josh Reid really enjoyed the food at Mike and Rachel's.  He wanted to stay there.  He is having a hard time finding Pepsi here. They have Coca-Cola but he likes Pepsi better.  He loves America. He said that he was going to kiss the ground when the team arrived in New York.

The team traveled to Cherkassy and lunched with Christina Suko’s parents.   Then they went on to our sister church in the remote village of Makarovo.  The team was able to get a lot done there at the church.  Most of the electrical upstairs is done and some of the ceiling is put up in the one porch in the church. Jacques started painting the fence yesterday but returned with Caleb to Odessa on Wednesday to work on the institute’s computer systems.  The server is running well now at CMI and so he was able to clean up the desktops there. Praise the Lord.

The team will do several children’s programs in the afternoons, have a service in the village of Sahanskoi on Friday and then be in Makarovo for Zhatva (A major thanksgiving celebration) on Sunday.

Chris still has his cold/allergies, last night he and Josh only had an hour's worth of sleep.  Pray for them, Norm has a bad cough. Katie is doing fine and is very strong. She is helping me with Motrin and Tylenol. I am staying with Caleb and Christina and am really enjoying the time spent here in Odessa. The kids are wonderful! Thank you all for praying for us! We are all having to rely on the Lord more for everything. He is our Rock and our Redeemer. He is always there. Praise Him. The small group in Markarovo church last night saw the greetings that Discovery sent and were grateful to hear from you. They are praying for you also. Pray for Zhatva this weekend. We should have many visitors here.
May God bless you all

In His Name,  Jacques, Norm, Katie, Josh and Chris

Ukraine Team visits Kiev

     Mike took us on a wonderful tour of downtown Kiev today. We rode the subway! Cool! It was Monday so it wasn't too bad at around 11:00 a.m. but it was busier around 5:00 p.m. when we returned to Mike and Rachel's. We went through independence square. Saw the statue of Gabriel watching over the city. Went to St. Michael's, St. Andrew's, and St. Sophia's church. Very interesting! So many frescos to see in the churches. I wondered if the people were praying for their souls or someone else's soul. Sometimes they would cross themselves and then kiss the picture in front of them. Ritualistic I imagine. It was a beautiful day, just perfect to walk in. We took some pictures and bought some gifts there. The vendors spoke English and took American dollars.

     Norm spoke tonight at the institute and the students welcomed us by clapping when we arrived there. They also had food! That was special. Pray for these students and for the faculty there.

     We need to get some sleep tonight so that we can travel again tomorrow and to be prepared for Markova. Thank you all for praying for us. This trip has been a blessing to all of us and we really appreciate the sacrifices you all have made on our behalf. Thank you to the families and friends as well. We could not have done this without all of you. Thank you for you financial support as well as your prayers.

     There are so many people here that need the Lord! Pray for more missionaries to come. Just be willing to come, the Lord will provide just as he promised. Sunday, Josh played the guitar on the song “All in Al”l as we sang. That should be our prayer and commitment to the Lord.

     Note: The team arrived in our sister church village of Makarovo on Tuesday. A major part of their ministry and will be there through the weekend before they return to the U.S. on 10/6.