An Elaborate Display of Affection

What would God do to bring you to Himself, to prove His love for you?
Well, He came to earth and lived a sinless life. He taught us about Himself through living example. He healed the sick and showed grace and mercy and love. He taught about the righteousness of God and He taught us what sin is. He taught that sins seperates us from Him. Then He taught us how to be reconciled to Himself.
Christ allowed Himself to be crucified so that He could bridge the gap between us and God. God died for us! Through His sacrifice, we can have a relationship with God. We can talk to Him and walk with Him everyday. There is nothing more precious than a relationship with God. There are so many churches here in the US and our nation is one of the richest nations in the world. Yes, we have been having a financial crisis, but so has the rest of the world. And they already have less than us to begin with. So what I'm trying to say is that we do need international missions. We'v been commanded by God to go and share His truth and we are responsible for doing so. There are not many churches in Ukraine and they need help sharing the Gospel. We should partner with them.
I recently read about a Ukrainian couple who are sharing the Gospel and using eleborate means, just as God did. Read this blog post by another blog and pray about partnering with them. They are doing all that they can and we need to do all that we can.
This original post was posted by Cindy at Life to the Full
Alyona and Slavik Built Rome in a Dayby Cindy on January 6, 2011
Last summer Alyona and Slavik set up a Roman Empire Camp along the Black Sea.

They literally set up a Roman Empire Camp.


Now you may recall that I am a Camp Girl, but my camp experience is nothing like what Alyona and Slavik did. They bought, transported, and set up fourteen tents, brought in port-a-potties, created all the activity areas, and even built an underground refrigerator. They built a Coliseum for all of their shows and evening devotions. They built a market where kids could sell the crafts that they made during the week

And then they welcomed 45 staff and 107 poor village children and orphans.


They took the kids to 1st Century Rome, to the first Christmas following Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. The kids participated in 1st century activities such fishing, carpentry, pottery, etc. Through the day they saw the love of Christ as the staff ministered to, cared for, and provided them with more fun than they had ever had. And in the evening they experience a compelling presentation of the gospel from stories in the book of Acts.

But, on the 5th day of camp, disaster struck. A hurricane hit. From Alyona’s email …
Everything was on a schedule untill the 5th day came and we faced a huge hurricane….that destroyed EVERYTHING….We had to evacuate the kids within 4 hours to 16 different villages. The children were in a panic as they saw almost all the tents on the ground, the trampoline flying away, all the wood parts that the Coliseum and a market were built out of. We tried to save as much as possible while 107 kids kept crying out of fear in a small church room. It all finished in 15 minutes and when we looked around it was obvious that this was the end of our camp that we have been working toward the whole year.
But we were happy and thankful to the Lord that NONE of the children or adults got hurt. But more than this, the day before two teenagers wanted to confess their sins and follow Jesus. It was very meaningful to us as we all understood (as we considered the hurricane) that we can face the Lord anytime and the most important thing would be “What choice have we made in our life?”
Alyona and Slavik literally built Rome in a day for the sake of sharing the love of Christ and the reality of the gospel with 107 children. They saw their work destroyed in 15 minutes. And they chose to rejoice in God’s care of the staff and children. They chose to rejoice that two teens had been welcomed into the family of God. They chose to take a terrifying experience, see the hand of God in it, and challenge themselves to examine their own relationship with the Lord.
Alyona and Slavik are willing to do whatever it takes to bring help and hope to the poorest children of Ukraine. Slavik becomes a clown. Alyona helps numerous children find families. They visit children to bring them fun in the midst of a dreary landscape. They deliver food, fun, and the truth of Jesus. They go into prisons, orphanages, and hospitals. And they are the hands and feet that found the “Lost Boys of Ananiev.” (More on that story tomorrow.)
Please consider becoming supporters of Alyona and Slavik thorugh a one-time gift or through monthly giving. Click HERE. You can pay by check or by credit card, but BE SURE and designate that your gift is for Alyona and Slavik.
If you would like to be added to Alyona’s list for ministry updates, email me at cynthiafin@gmail.com. I’ll reply and give you Alyona’s email address.
Alyona and Slavik want to build Rome again this summer. Will we help them make this dream a reality?