“Who’s the chief here?” – a stranger behind the fence shouted to us.
“Here you go, we’re going to be scolded for being noisy with kids”, – Sveta was thinking, coming to the fence. – “Well, I am and here are three more”, – she replied.
“Ok, then take your kids and come into my yard to gather apricots”, – said the man.
It was the most unexpected answer. The stranger turned out to be a guard in the kindergarten, which doesn’t work anymore. We were leading a “playground” (short kids’ camp in the evening in the yard) since the 2nd of July till the 4th of July nearby.
About 20 children from the dormitory and the nearest houses came every day. They were from 4 to 14 years old. We were leading our playground in the yard, so that everybody could see us and join if they wanted. We didn’t have the same kids every day, that’s why we met 30 new children. Some of them attended our Sunday school during the school year but not regularly, the rest was completely unknown for us.
The team that was leading this playground wasn’t the same everyday, but here is the list of all of them: Sveta Kudlai, Yaroslav Mokritskii, Ania Podrucha, Nastya Plyva, Ira Plyva, Anya Shestova, Nastya Mankovskaya, Kolya Vatsyuk and Igor Zabarnyi. The aim of this playground was to share the Gospel with kids, invite them to the Sunday school and get acquainted with their parents, that’s why we did different visual evangelization: with the help of heart that is restored in an amazing way, evangelization with paints and with the help of package, water and fire we told them about trust to God. Also we sang Christian song for kids to a guitar. Some parents came closer to us to know what was happening there. A lot of them heard the Gospel and didn’t mind. We wanted to make friends with kids, that’s why we prepared different games and competitions.
We organized an interesting event every day. On the first day we made dogs and swords out of balloons, on the second we did face painting and big soap bubbles. On the third day we were playing soccer and volleyball. The children and their parents were very happy and were looking forward to the next day.
On the last day some parents asked, when the Sunday school would begin and promised to bring their kids in autumn. The guard of the kindergarten invited us to come and visit him. I was talking to him about God and church and he said that he would read Bible. Please pray, so that this desire would grow into an action. He also said that nobody hadn’t been doing anything with kids here, that’s why he liked watching us.
I ask you to pray about these kids and their parents, so that the Word of God would stay in their hearts and they wouldn’t forget to bring their kids to the Sunday school in September. Also we want to lead a similar playground again in this yard in autumn. Please pray about new ideas for us and about kids coming again.
Ira Plyva, “The Light of the Gospel” church in Kyiv
I’m very glad that I could take part in one more ministry for God. These three days were wonderful. I didn’t want to go home from kids at all and the time flew very fast. I was very glad that the parents, which brought their children to us, decided to bring their kids to the Sunday school on the last day. Children always inspire me, but when you serve God among children – it doesn’t only bring you joy, but also praise to Our Father.
Sveta Kudlai, “The Light of the Gospel” church in Kyiv
