Partners in Mission

From May 9-19 we were privileged to have a mission team from Peachtree City United Methodist Church with us, interacting with our youth, helping us with repairs on two apartments that two of our young men have been given and participation in worship with St. Luke's UMC.  These folks hail from Peachtree City, Georgia and brought with them a wide range of mission experience.   Below is a picture of some of the group worshipping with us on Sunday at St. Luke's UMC.

Led by missions pastor Stephen Soulen and member Ted Reissing, one of the big helps of the group was to do some repairs on the apartments two of our street children, now young men, have received from the city government after we helped them to file the documents necessary to prove their being without family.   Athough the apartments are in a new building, the construction quality is not the best and some needed repairs were made on one of the apartments.  A broken door was repaired, a new sink and tub faucet installed and a good cleaning job was done in the apartment.  

While the apartment was being repaired, the rest of the group interacted with the children at the St. Luke's center, involving them with crafts, games and other fun.   One member of the team, Debra Shoaf, helped complete sewing a worship banner which is a cross with hands on it.  The hands are outlines of the children who attend the St. Luke's center's activities.

At the end of the time they had with us, the group took the kids to the Kiev Botanical Gardens where the lilacs were in bloom.  All had a wonderful time and we all deeply appreciated the time Peachtree City spent with us.

Back from General Conference

Whew! Helen and I just returned from the whirlwind event known as General Conference. The theme of the conference was a Future with Hope.   As the clergy delegate from Ukraine, replacing Alexander Merzlikov, our pastor in Lugansk who could not attend due to health reasons, I had 10 conference days which started at 7:00 am with a meeting of the Eurasian episcopal area delegation and usually ended around 11:00 pm at night or later.  Our lay delegate, Olga Tyshkovetz, and English instructor at the Lviv State University was very active, speaking on the floor of General Conference at least 4 times!  During the debates, many of us delegates had a Hope for a Future that was the end of General Conference.

 I had been told of the long days and the exhausting schedule.  I was also warned about being bombarded with material from the various caucus group and agencies which tried to persuade delegates to vote one way or the other.  But what I didn't expect was to be inspired!  The worship was wonderful: incredibly inspirational, powerful preaching and spiritually uplifting.  To see the whole process work gave me renewed vision for the United Methodist Church.  I left feeling that our United Methodist Church really does have a Future with Hope.  Here is our delegation, all two of us, hard at work.  Can you find us?  Olga is sitting to my left.  She's the one who isn't bald.

 

If you would like to know more about General Conference and what was discussed, I recommend the blog of pastor Adam Hamilton, delegate from Kansas East Annual Conference who had a daily report from General Conference along with thoughtful discussion of all the major issues.  You can find it by clicking here for the main page of the blog.

Check the Recent Posts section in Adam's blog to find the posts on General Conference.