Dear friends,
July 2017
Thank you for praying for us this past academic school year. As usual, the year ended with Kyiv Theological Seminary’s (KTS) graduation ~What a time of celebration! We rejoice in the privilege we’ve had – along with you – to invest in these students. This year 33 students graduated from KTS and will be returning to work in their local church or church plant context. God is good and He is building His church.
This month, we have the joy of serving with one of our Pastoral Leadership students in ministry. We are welcoming a summer team from Woodside Bible Church (Michigan) who will be partnering with KTS pastoral student Marcel Karim in his home town of Sokil, Ukraine to hold an outreach youth camp, ages 9-15. The goal of this camp to to jump start Marcel’s struggling, small church and make a lasting impact in the community. The theme for the week is “Overview of the Bible” … starting with Creation and walking through the major stories of the Fall, Noah, Tower of Babel, 10 commandments … then ending the week with Jesus’ death and the joy to be found as a result of new life in Christ. Andy & Holly Rist - SEND International - www.send.org/rist - www.facebook.com/theristsinukraine
Prayer Requests: 1. Pray for the team from Woodside Bible Church, as they travel to Ukraine to hold a youth camp – July 8-17th. Pray that this camp will be an encouragement to the ministry of Marcel. Pray for many, many kids to come with soft hearts to the gospel. 2. Pray for Andy as he directs the Pastoral Leadership major at KTS. While it’s summer break, there is still much grading and administrative work to be done. 3. Pray for Abigail as we consider her schooling options for the fall – due to aggressive practices from students at the MK school, it’s become a challenging and draining place for her to study. Pray for wisdom. Pray for softened hearts of the students who drive the discord. Family Update: Andy’s Activities: In June, our family attended SEND’s Eurasia conference in Germany. It just so happened that we had a chance to visit Luther’s Wittenberg on the way to conference. (Far right: the door where Luther nailed his 95 theses) Yes, it was awesome! While at Eurasia Conference Andy was recognized for 20 years of service with SEND International. Thank God for His faithfulness. Holly’s Happenings: On her summer reading shelf: Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp & The Vaccine Friendly Plan by Dr. Paul Thomas and Jennifer Margulis. Abigail’s Adventures (17 yrs. old): Not only did she have a birthday this month, but she made a public commitment to follow Jesus as demonstrated through baptism. Praise God with us, for His work in Abigail’s life. Pray that she will grow to love Jesus more and more each day, and serve Him all the days of her life. Here’s a short clip of her baptism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D43uGhZcs0o Drew’s Discoveries (14 yrs. old): His summer to do list is fairly simple: play basketball, soccer, read, help at camp… and sleep! Noah’s Notables (11 yrs. old): Noah’s right on his brother’s heels every step of the way – the two are inseparable… so you can guess what his summer is like, play basketball, soccer, read, help at camp …. But no sleep for Noah – he’s an early riser! Andy & Holly Rist - SEND International - www.send.org/rist - www.facebook.com/theristsinukraine