160 Decisions for Christ

According to the figures compiled by Brother Bob there were around 160 decisions made by Ukrainians this past week to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.

While Larry Avery and Bettie Dugger saw the largest and most impressive outpouring of the Holy Spirit with all of the decisions made in the villages where they worked on the northwestern edge of Chernivtsi, all of the teams who went out on home visits saw immediate results.

What won't be known for some time will be the fruits of the seeds planted this past week.

Dealing with the youth this week I was disappointed in not seeing immediate results, particularly when I found out that we were going to be dealing with kids more than teenagers and young adults. I haven't helped with Vacation Bible School since I took part in it as a kid myself.

Needless to say they nearly wore us out, especially the imp on the left of this picture from some of the kids from Anadoly, a small village downriver from Khotyn and about an hour away from Chernivtsi.

We were there most of the day on Monday and Tuesday, playing games, teaching songs, and just generally telling kids about God. It wasn't called Vacation Bible School, but that's the closest description if take a normal 4-hour VBS schedule and triple it to 12 hours.

On the previous Friday and Saturday we went to the home of Brother Simon, one of the assistant pastors at First Baptist Church in Chernivtsi. His family was hosting the equivalent of a Backyard Bible Club in his garage with games at a nearby park down the street.



Like I mentioned earlier, I was disappointed at first when I learned that we had missed the week of youth camps and would be present for a week of kid camps. I didn't feel like what we were doing was as important as the other teams.

No matter how many times Jesus' words kept flowing through my mind - "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Luke 18:16 NIV)" - I still didn't see the connection until we all started comparing notes on the van ride to Lviv yesterday.

Oleta Arnold told of a visit she and my mother Betty Musgrave made to some friends of Brother Simon a day or so after we worked with the kids at his house. After witnessing to the family, including the two kids, repented and accepted Christ.

Later she asked the man of the house who had not wanted to sit down long enough to listen, why he finally did and made the decision he made. His answer was surprising. It was hearing the songs about Jesus and God his children had come home singing that they had learned from us and Brother Simon's children.