Wayne's Blog

A week before my 35 birthday, I finally became a car owner.  Through a generous gift from a supporting church, we had enough for Renault Kangoo.  But when we told Olya’s dad, he was dismayed. A couple days later, he called and asked what I thought about Skoda Superb…  So, now we have a big [...]

We’ve had more snow than I can ever remember (40cm)… and I’ve done lots of shovelling.   I got to do lots of praying and thinking and day-dreaming during that activity…  I pictured how much good I could have done with serious snow-blower!!! Oh well… at least the path to the church is now clean. That [...]

It probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that someone with Australian blood likes too keep warm.  I love my toasty warm ugg boots.  But somehow I’ve become a heating system addict.  I just can’t help but share the warmth! Ask anyone in our church, when pastor Vanya (that’s me) does house calls, the first thing [...]

Going to the sauna or Russian baths is a cultural experience. Admittedly, it’s not every one’s cup of tea.  However, it is also great for relationship building. These last weeks have be COLD (-15 oC).  Volodya, a member of our church, has had us over a number of times for the sauna.  I’ve been really [...]

Every now and then God blows me away with His goodness… and His sense of humour. Dear Partners, hopefully this update will encourage you to keep praying. I hope that you can also get a revelation of how God really can do much more than our we pray of even hope for… and give Him [...]

Yep. I gotta admit that the two bottles of Buderim Ginger Refresher went down great.  Each 750ml of concentrate made a good 4 or 5 litres of ginger beer when mixed with local soda water.  It was almost like being back in Oz. After more than 16 years in Ukraine, there aren’t too many things [...]

While enjoying my morning coffee and watching the news on Ukrainian TV, it was announced that Yulia Timoshenko would be coming to Kaharlyk in just a few hours. It was all very exciting…  and she arrived with all the pomp, security and fan fare that you would expect.  After all, it’s not every day that [...]

On Sunday, men and boys of our church prayed for Sergei.  Sergei is locally born and breed. He and his younger brother, Vova, have basically grown up at the church.  Sergei has been actively in leading children’s ministry and recently became my faithful lab assistant and production technician at the biodiesel factory. Now, Sergei’s life [...]

The winter was not cold enough… to freeze our ethusiasm for Spring 2009 ministry events.  This definitely the case for those involved in youth ministry. We don’t to equate church ministry to mean the running major events/outreaches.  But having said that, our church is certainly growing in its ability to put them on.  Our youth [...]

Recently, our church men  (after weeks of studying aspects of King David’s life) put on a special meal for the ladies of the church. There was great cuisine, waiting on tables and some musical numbers too. The ladies all dressed up and had a great time chatting, dining and … have put in an order [...]