SMILES :)

Smiles
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." 3 The Lord has done great things for us, And we are glad. Psalms 126:2-3 (NKJV) 
Today for me was a day of smiles. Today was probably one of the most peaceful days of my life but not at the beginning of the day. I turned 41 today and it didn’t start out so well. Felesha and I woke up about 2:30am to the sound of what seemed like someone trying to crawl through our apartment window. We never really figured out what it was but decided it must have been some of the 10000000000000000 pigeons that live and sleep around our apartment area. (Must have flown into our window or something)




Anyway we went back to Chutiva today for our 4th day of Children’s camp and it was truly a day of smiles for me. I saw so many smiles today that I could have not possibly been sad. It was one of my best birthdays ever. Kayla, Andrew, and I run the sports station of the camp. Today we brought out our huge, colorful parachute. (We had been saving it all week) You should have seen all the smiles on the kid’s faces. (You can see some of them in the photos) I got to see beautiful smiles all day in a land that has surely seen its share of hardship. Around 100 years of rule under the former U.S.S.R. has left most Ukrainians with not much to smile about. Christians especially suffered harsh persecution during Soviet times and GOD was declared dead or non exsistant. Atheism still carries over strong here especially in the older generation. We have our sports ministry and Children’s camp almost under the nose of Lenin. (his statue still stands here in this village as in most) we pass it every time we change stations at our camp. But today no one seemed to notice him as he points toward the east to Moscow. JESUS CHRIST was the one adored and talked about today in story, in song, in craft, and in sports. JESUS was the center of attention and we are praying that all the kid’s will someday make HIM the center of their lives, the hearts, and their all. God has blessed me so much to be here in Ukraine with my family for another summer. I could feel HIS HAND and peace on my life today so strongly. It was just one of those days when I felt so close to HIM and that makes me smile alot, there is nothing in the world like serving the LORD and knowing that you are right where HE wants you, doing exactly what HE wants you to do. Sometimes those days can be clouded by the darkness of this world and then HE brings a wonderful day like today. HE allows us to see HIM at work, to feel HIS love, and to be a part of what HE is doing. I know HE smiles when people who have been in darkness have the opportunity to hear the story of HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, the LIGHT of the world. I hope these photos make you smile and I hope you will pray and ask the LORD to continue to smile on us as we serve HIM here in Ukraine. GOD bless!!!

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7 (NKJV)