Jonathan and Heather Powell CMF—Berdyansk, Ukraine 27, 2011

Last month’s update In last month’s update I wrote about the possibility of purchasing a house in the village of Lunacharskoye to use as a meeting place for the church. When Artur and I went to look at the house, the owner told us that it had already been sold. Actually it was a relief. I have very mixed feelings about buying buildings in Ukraine. That’s why I asked you to pray that God would give Artur and me wisdom. So, we will continue to meet in the village’s music school. Praise God.

On the first day of . . . Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated on January 7th. The tree, decorations, , present side of Christmas in America is attached to New Year’s in Ukraine. So Christmas in Ukraine is all about . I preached during the morning service and compared Ukrainians to cannibals (you had to be there). Actually, I shared part of Don Richardson’s story that he told in his book, Peace Child. He was a missionary working among a tribe that practiced cannibalism. What does this have to do with Christmas? Check out the book. It’s a good read. The highlight of the day was seeing the deaf members of our church sign a song as a choir. They do songs periodically with 2-5 people, but this time there were twelve. The men lined up the back row with the women in the front. The men sang. The women sang. They all sang together. It was an awesome sight to behold. Praise God for our deaf brothers and sisters in Christ!

Sunday school choir. Sasha in front middle. You can see Maya over her right shoulder. I think Sasha won the battle of the ridiculously huge hair bows this year, but Alisa, on Sasha’s left was also rocking a huge bow. Hard to say who won without a precise measurement of bow to head ratio.

On the second day of Christmas. . . We had a church social. When we arrived the upstairs meeting hall was decorated and in the middle of the room was a long line of tables stacked with food, sweets, and treats. Every family in the church was told to prepare something to share with the church—a song, a poem, a testimony—something. We thought that if an American church had a Ukrainian family, they would want them to sing something in Ukrainian, so we decided to sing something in English. We sang God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen with me (Jonathan) on guitar. At the end of the evening a grandma came up to Heather and thanked her for our song. Then she said, “By the way, what language were you singing in?” It was a great night of fellowship and celebration of Christ’s birth. Praise God for the Berdyansk church and our partnership with them!

4 Wisemen from the Youth Christmas production.

On the third day of Christmas. . . The church building was packed. As I looked out I saw people not only from Berdyansk, but also from the various villages where we work to plant churches. The children took part in the service with songs and poetry. The Sunday school party was held after church. The evening service was youth led. I didn’t know what to expect. I had not heard about any of the preparations. I knew that two young men were going to preach who had never preached before. I expected a few upbeat songs with a drum and maybe a skit or two. I was wrong. They had planned and produced a play with a beautiful curtain, costumes, special effects, a great script, and fantastic performances. The audience was captivated from start to finish. Since our return to Ukraine, we have spent a lot of time working with our youth and campus ministry. It was so exciting to see God use them. They have already performed their play at a local school with plans to perform at another school in downtown Berdyansk. Praise God for the youth and campus ministry!

At this point in the play, Maya and Sasha were ready to rush the stage to save their friend, Oksana.

Your brother in Christ, Jonathan Powell [email protected]