Blogspot # 4

April 10, 2012

Two of the many projects we are currently working on are due to the generosity of children in Canada. How wonderful when the younger generation demonstrates compassion for the less fortunate!

A young girl by the name of Rebecca decided that the guests at her birthday party should bring a donation for a charity instead of a gift for her personally. She raised $200 for the students in the Sanitorium School in Molochansk, who need sports equipment. For her donation the Mennonite Centre purchased a ping- pong table with the necessary accessories. The staff and the students were very pleased to receive such a gift, which will provide many hours of healthful activity for the children, some of whom are there from 3 months to a year. Thank-you, Rebecca!

A group of Sunday School students from Altona Mennonite Church raised money for a library in a Mennonite Church in a Ukraine village. Children in Canada have always had easy access to Christian books for all ages, but in a country where Bibles and related literature were outlawed for generations, Christian books are still uncommon, especially in the villages. The money that was raised is being used for books, SS curriculum, magazine subscriptions, craft supplies, and DVDs. The Sunday School is continuing to raise money to support the Christian day camps that the church will organize in the summer. A big Thank-you goes out to the Altona Mennonite Church Sunday School!

We have also been impressed by the huge generosity of 6 men who travelled about 42 hours from Germany to volunteer at the building site of the new Mennonite Church in Molochansk. They are giving up their holiday time to dig trenches and pour the cement for the foundation, clean up trash and scrubby undergrowth, and build a fence. They are doing this out of their desire to serve God and their fellowman. We have been impressed by the spirit of faith in which this project has been undertaken by these volunteers as well as the local church. Doing such a project without excavating machinery, cement trucks having to travel almost 2 hours from Zaporoshiya, and neighbors continuing to dispose of their garbage on the building site (because they had always thrown it on this empty lot until now), are challenges that boggle our western mindsets. The energy and commitment of these young men has been exemplary and an encouragement and inspiration for the local church. We had the privilege of hosting 2 of them in our apartment.