Spoiled For The Ordinary

On Monday we went out for ministry in a city park in Vinitsa, Ukraine, where we spent last week on a week long school trip for our Evangelism week. We split of into small groups and started approaching people to start conversation. The goal was to evangelize, as well as get people plugged into a strong church in that area, and to hand out information for a coffee house ministry for alcohol addicts that YWAM Vinitsa is running. I went with a couple native Russian speakers and we spent the first little while trying to figure out what the Holy Spirit was saying. We tried a couple times, but nothing was really sparking and we weren't getting a response. Then we saw a woman sitting on a bench, and felt like God wanted us to speak to her. I was a little nervous, but one of my fellow team members suggested that I try to talk to her (with a translator helping) and try to use the fact that I was American to get her attention.

I approached her and was relieved that she seemed open to talk with me. I explained to her that we weren't pushing, but we were just looking to talk with people who had questions, and gave her a flier for a strong local church to try to spark conversation. Then she told us that she already went to a church."OK," I thought, "I guess God just wanted us to encourage her." But then she started saying a lot of stuff in Russian, and it was explained to me that she was actually attending a Buddhist church and was proud of the fact that she was deep into their teachings. She started telling me how great it was that we were doing this, because "God is alive and moving, and there are many ways to Him, and we need to find our way." So I'm not going to tell you how spiritual I was, and went on to slay the demons and overcome the devil. I'm sitting there going, "Oh my gosh, I'm actually in a evangelism situation here, what the heck do I do?" And the student that's translating for me turns to me and goes, "Well, this means we have a chance here." So the woman keeps talking to us, and we try to just get to know her and introduce ourselves to her. So then we handed her a card for the coffee house ministry not really sure what reaction we were going to get. This really got her attention, and she looked at me and asked point blank, "Why do you do this?" In that moment, I honestly just felt led to say "Because we love Jesus and He loves people so we love people."

After talking with her, she ended by the conversation by telling us that she actually wasn't so deep into Buddhist teachings (hmm), and maybe she could try out the church. And she committed to trying out the coffee house ministry as she admitted to having an issue with alcohol.

When I woke up Friday morning, I got ready for a normal day of Discipleship Training School (if "normal" can truly describe DTS). We had been told that we were doing ministry in the city in the morning, but no specifics were given. Then we were called down for a meeting a half hour before we were leaving for downtown Vinitsa. Our leaders informed us that they had prayed about what we should be doing and that we would be shouting out the Gospel on the streets of downtown Vinitsa. Standing on benches, in the middle of the street, just telling people that God loves them. We would also be doing "radical prayer...." shouting out to people that our God heals and praying for people for healing and whatever else they asked for. "OK," I thought. "The leaders will be preaching, and we'll be praying for people. Sounds like fun!" Then our leader threw a little bit of a twist in, informing us that every single person would be preaching for a short amount of time. I'm going to be completely honest. That moment was completely terrifying for me, and our team was really scared.

We took a half hour to prepare what we wanted to say, as well as pray. We had an intense prayer time where we prayed against fear, for miracles and miraculous healing to take place, and even to be given the gift of languages and understand and be able to communicate with the people we were talking to. Then we headed to downtown Vinitsa. We split into two teams. My team took a guitar with us and started trying to gain attention by playing music. This tactic didn't really work, so instead we just started walking around and talking to people.

I noticed a man sitting on a bench who looked homeless and unsure of what to do. I got distracted and forgot about him for a couple minutes (just being honest) before our leader pointed him out to me and a fellow team member and me went over to speak to him. We tried the "traditional" route, asking him how he was, if he had any questions, if we could pray for him. He refused the prayer but asked for a bible. So my Ukrainian friend immediately felt like he was supposed to give him his bible and handed it to him. The man took it, but refused to let us pray for him. So we walked back over to our group.

I was nervous about my short "sermon," so I picked up my bible and started reading over the end of Hebrews 9 as well as chapter 10, which is what I was planning to use (I ended up not using it anyways). I noticed the man walk over and just stand there looking at me. He then conversed with my friend in Russian, and through translation, it was communicated to me that he was asking me to read aloud to him so he could hear it in English (he was a native Russian speaker). I recognized that this was another moment of opportunity, and took the chance to read aloud Hebrews 10 to him and let God do what he wanted to do. The man stood right next to me looking over my shoulder, and repeated every word I said. He prayed as I was finishing reading, thanked me and walked away with the bible.

I don't know what was going on in that mans heart. I don't know if that Buddhist will step foot inside a christian church ever. I don't know if any of the people we witnessed to in downtown Vinitsa will get saved. But I know seeds were planted, and God moved. We had team members giving testimonies of people breaking down and crying, we got the chance to pray with people, and we boldly proclaimed the gospel in Vinitsa, Ukraine.

I'm going to be honest. Last week pushed me out of my comfort zone completely. At times, it felt like I couldn't do what was being asked of me. On Monday, we went to the city park and witnessed, on Tuesday, me and two other team members went to a local English Club and got to develop a relationship with some locals, while the rest of our team went to an orphanage, on Wednesday, we all went to an orphanage, and got to play soccer, as well as several other games with the kids (obviously I was on the soccer side) and just got to know the kids. On Thursday, we had a homeless feed at the train station in the morning, and then the coffee house ministry at night, before finishing it off with the time of radical evangelism on Friday. We had a strong focus on combining the two aspects of evangelism: Developing relationship and preaching the Gospel.  At the same time we were getting teachings on Evangelism every day, and practicing our testimonies.

On the last day of teaching, our speaker challenged us to step out in boldness, and told us that if we let God move through us, we would become "spoiled for the ordinary." He told stories of his DTS outreach, and told us that we were about to witness amazing things.

We are in a process right now of coming together to prepare for outreach and become spoiled for the ordinary. We are all stepping out of our comfort zone and getting our hearts ready. We have 5 weeks left before we leave for Moldova and Romania. Our goal is to see God's kingdom come in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and wherever we all go home to. I know God is going to do crazy things through the next 3 months and beyond, and I am ready!

Continue to keep our team in prayer:) If you would like more information, check out my facebook page at "Josh's DTS With YWAM Kyiv, Ukraine,"( http://www.facebook.com/joshukrainedts?fref=ts) , or contact me at joshholmes19@gmail.com.

Big things are happening, pray for us!

Life in Kyiv

Well, last week was a life changing week. We had a teacher from Norway come in and teach us on "Identity In Christ." From the second he came in, we were all immediately challenged and called to a new level of faith. He changed my life, and I know I wasn't the only one. To show you how awesome a week it was, after a week of challenging us to realize our identity in Christ with powerful teachings, our teacher walked in on Friday and informed us that we would be having a "Holy Ghost Party." We proceeded to fellowship and pray for each other for 2 hours. Need I say more?

The last few weeks have been an exciting and amazing time. I have been attending a church for several weeks now, and I am really enjoying it. And I know my fellow students have been enjoying their churches as well. On the weekends, I haven't been able to stay away from downtown Kyiv. There are so many different aspects to Kyiv. One of our staff had family come in, so he took them on a tour of Kyiv for a full week, and didn't repeat anything. There is always something new to do. For example, last week, I was with fellow students in the city, visiting several malls and stores. This past Saturday I went with a friend to go pick something up, and got to see the residential part of Kyiv, and actually go inside an apartment. Then on Sunday I went back to the city and went to a mall. There is always something to do, and it's a beautiful city. Great weekend hangout spot.

On week nights, we just hang out with each other, play games, watch movies and tv, and get homework done. My team is just flat out amazing. Our relationships get deeper every day, and we continue to trust each other more. I love shared community, and these are great people to do it with.

The weather hasn't gotten overly cold yet. Right now, I would say I'm experiencing what a Florida winter would feel like. But it's gradually getting colder, and occasionally, we'll have a day where it doesn't warm up...which is a challenge for me, but so far I'm surviving. 

The half of the team that is doing the English Club Outreach (see Ministry Details post) has been meeting, preparing, and praying for our first official outreach this Wednesday. I am really excited to actually start meeting the people and getting to build relationships....it's mostly been administrative stuff so far, which is a struggle for me, so I'm excited to actually get started and build relationships. We have a team that has started working with Key Of Hope (orphan ministry), and I know they're all excited. We had a prayer walk for our prostitution ministry last Friday, and it went great! We will start that in 2 weeks:) I think God is really going to move through that one. It's a new experience for everyone (including YWAM Kyiv), so keep us in prayer!:)

I'm really sorry that I haven't been able to update more. We have been keeping a tight schedule, and it gets really busy at times. I appreciate all the prayer and support. I can honestly say that God is changing my life. I am learning new things about God and myself. It's been incredible, and I am super excited for our local outreach...not to mention our outreach phase in Moldova and Romania!

Living in Kyiv is just as amazing as I thought it would be. It's a great place to call home for 3 months:)

Please keep praying for me and my team! I appreciate all you guys:)