Last Bell Blog

(Skip to the end for a short list of prayer requests)
Dear friends,

Greetings from Zhytomyr! The weather here is warm and spring is putting everybody in a good mood here. I went to the park today with two of the girls and then we climbed around alongside the river and found a clearing where we’ll have our next graduate reunion. It was good to just spend time with them. I know they need my time a lot more than anything else I can give them (besides Jesus).

But things are getting very busy here, so I’ll have to guard my time carefully so I can still love on the kids a lot. Our American team gets in May 30, and we’ll be having a busy busy busy but awesome time serving Christ together. The weekend they get here we’ll be attending the last bell ceremony at the orphanage and then we’ll have an all day long graduate reunion at the river.

Their first week we will be on rotation manning a prayer room 24 hours a day and also doing remodeling at the orphanage, hanging out at the orphanage daily, and preparing for camp. The second week we’ll be joined by our Ukrainian team for a week of camp at the orphanage. Then we’ll go to Kiev to sightsee before the team flies out.

There is all kinds of work to do to prepare for their arrival and for camp. Please pray that we’d be able to get everything done on this side in time. Pray for the American team also, that they’d be able to raise the needed funds and do all their preparation as well. Please pray for more Ukrainians for camp. Praise God there is a missionary team working with YWAM in Kiev that is going to come and join our American team for camp week.

Thank you so much for your prayers that God would bring more great people onto our team. Soon we hope to be hiring a young man named Andre onto the team. He has been volunteering with us for a few months now, and Ira and I both are very excited about having him on staff. Please pray for Andre as he seeks the Lord’s will for his life and we seek the Lord’s will for his involvement on our team. Again, thank you for your prayers! Having a trustworthy team is the most important thing in ministry, and God is building us just that!!!

Tomorrow night I will be meeting with a young couple to ask them about the possibility of house parenting for us. They go to my church and are just amazing. They love God so much and love people too. They have tons of energy and wonderful character. Please pray that the Lord would reveal to us and to them whether they are to be a part of our ministry. I’ve tried hard to not get my hopes up, because these people are just exactly what we’re looking for, it will be difficult if they are not interested.

Please continue to pray for all our kids and all the graduates in the Zhitomir region. We are always looking to build relationships with more and more kids. Please pray we would display Christ and the kids would be drawn towards Him.

Please pray for one of our girls who just found out she was pregnant today. Pray that she would act responsibly while she is pregnant and that God would protect the unborn child (she is at risk for a miscarriage). Please pray for us as we help her, advise her, and find her a place to live.

The Lord is alive and working in Zhytomyr. Sometimes I feel like my heart will fall out of my body if I was any more full of joy in Christ. I was just reading Rosalynn Prough’s blog and I am just so happy at what God is doing through her life! It’s great that we are in the same city. And our church is such a wonderful blessing. I wish there was church every day. I can’t wait to see what God will do through that church in the next year. And I can’t wait to see what God will do in our ministry in this next year. I am so glad that you are all in this with me and I can share with you about the fruit the Lord will bring from this ministry. I am humbled to be a part of such a good thing. God’s grace to me is amazing. I don’t deserve His favor!

Prayer Requests

Pray that:
1. Graduates would turn to Christ for salvation
2. God would build the Last Bell staff in His time
3. God’s presence would be with me tomorrow night and the with the couple we’re inviting onto the team as houseparents
4. God would help us get everything ready for camp and summer
5. God would be with our girl who is pregnant
6. God would continue revealing himself to our grads and loving them through us
7. That the board in America would be able to get us status as a 501C3 non-profit organization
8. In all things we pray that above all Jesus’ name would be glorified.

Thank you for your prayers. We need them desperately! Thank you so much for your faithful support.

In Christ,
Liz