How long do you think we can celebrate Christmas? You won't believe it, but we were able to stretch it to the first day of spring! More than a thousand children can attest to the extended holiday, which included these "innovations".

 

 

The Child Evangelism Fellowship staff of Salvation church faced a difficult problem. There are a lot of children, but the Christmas holiday lasts only one day. For most people the holidays don't just pass, they fly by. So we were very worried that our belated Christmas celebration might not be understood. But God kept the door open for us and made it possible to extend the Christmas holiday spirit to many children in the Poltava region. Our meetings continued through the winter and, believe me, the meaning was well understood.

The start for the Christmas greeting tour were the 120 gifts that our church lovingly prepared for children in Poltava. This was just enough for the children of the village Zavorsklo and the children in the leukemia ward of the city hospital. Then we held a few festive programs in schools in the city, where we spoke about the Savior's birth and handed out books and magazines.

In mid-January we received the gifts promised by Samaritan's Purse. It was through this blessing that God opened the doors of hospitals, health centers, pediatric nervous system rehabilitation centers, the TB treatment center, orphanages, boarding schools, village clubs, schools, "Lighthouse" camps, where the orphans are taken for vacation, and the houses of culture of the Turbo-mechanical factory to which disabled children from our city were invited. It is in the houses of culture that we had the opportunity to proclaim the Good News, not only to the children, but to their parents and guardians.

And speaking of adults, the program that our team uses allows us to reach a lot of moms and dads, teachers and mentors, guardians and educators, who are almost always present in the classroom with children when we perform. According to our rough estimate the total number was around 400 people. We praise God for His blessings in the Christmas message, for our dedicated team, for the support and participation of our church, and for the ministry of Samaritan's Purse. Of course, we could reach more children and significantly reduce time required for all the Christmas celebrations, but we are limited by the number of workers at our disposal. So please join us in praying for God to call more believers into the work of presenting the Gospel to children and their parents.

And now our photos will tell the rest of the story:

Vladimir Golyuk