Last Bell Blog

What a privilege it has been to watch God unfold a vision. So many exciting things have happened in the past few months and as each day passes.

Most of the summer was spent fixing up The Shelter to become the home of Andre and Oksana and their children and to become the center of ministry to the graduate orphans. The entire staff worked overtime to put in a new bathroom, make the windows safe from outside intruders, prepare a room to become a computer lab to name a few of the many things that were accomplished. Andre and Oksana were able to move in last week.

We started holding youth club at The Shelter the end of September. Much to our surprise and joy, we had 7 graduates attend and most of them were boys! Since that time we have had as many as 14 come. Youth club is a time of games, skits, singing, food and a clear presentation of the gospel and will be held on Thursday nights at The Shelter.

The first of October, we started Awana for the younger children at the orphanage. What a wonderful ministry Awana is. They have provided our team with leadership training and found financial sponsors for our program. Olga and her team are doing a great job. The kids have never had this type of Christian program where they can play games, learn verses, and have bible time. They get so excited that things can become very chaotic but they are now settling into the program and enjoying it.

The long awaited opening of The Shelter was last week. The first night we had 5 boys and 2 girls attend. And last Thursday we had 13! Praise the Lord. Liz wrote that evening ” A lot of kids are coming more consistently now, we really appreciate everyone who has been praying for that! The topic tonight was “Why We Need God” Oleg talked about God creating us for a relationship with him and how nothing we try to fill up our lives with can fill the God-shaped hole inside. It was interesting because Oleg asked everybody who was happy in their life, and people that were happy raised their hands. All the leaders raised their hands, so did our Anya who is a Christian, and one other boy. It was a good reminder that the happy faces the kids show everybody are masks that hide their pain and the emptiness that only Christ can fill!” This Tuesday night we had 13 kids. They helped with the remodeling, had small group time with Andre and Ira, were fed two meals and watched a movie. In the next few weeks, we will be starting our English classes and computer classes.

Please pray for our staff. They are excited about ministering to the kids but are also tired from the hard work of getting The Shelter ready. Pray for Liz and Oksana as they prepared to come to America on November 20 for three jam packed weeks of meetings in Indiana, Colorado, Washington and New Mexico. Those of you who are in Indiana, mark November 28 on your calendars! Oksana and Liz will be sharing the ministry through a media presentation and also singing in Ukrainian. Appetizers are served at 6:30, the program will begin at 7:00. The cost of the benefit is $10.00, all proceeds go to the operations of the Shelter.

Friends, thank you so much for your support of our ministry. God has been so gracious in answering your prayers for us! I remember the last group of people I spoke to before I went back to Ukraine this December was the ladies missionary support group at Harbour Shores (my home church). I shared that our two biggest prayer requests were that we would find good staff, and that God would give us a plan for ministry (November was when we had those awful problems with the government and some other believers and our kids were taken out of the home). Right after I got back to Ukraine we lost the temporary house-parents we had, and so our three big requests were that we needed staff, the main staff we needed was house-parents, and we needed direction for the ministry to take now that we couldn’t have kids live with us.

Between my trip home last year and my trip home this summer God answered all those prayers!

As for staff, Ira Mikityook has continued working with us and is continually growing more dedicated and passionate about the orphans coming to Christ. For three months, Andre Krevoruchko volunteered with us, and then we added him to the staff May1. He is an incredibly hard worker, a team player, and also feels a clear calling from God to work with orphans through Last Bell. The three of us were praying all spring, with you, that God would give us house-parents.

Then one day I was out to eat with a special friend of mine who works at a Mission in Zhitomir, and I was talking to her about our need for house-parents for our ministry. Her face lit up and she started telling me about these wonderful people she had worked with at her mission. They had taught abstinence education (topics were the dangers of “free sex”, pregnancy, STDs and AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse etc.) to youth in public schools all around the city. Now the husband was in a different mission and the wife was at home with a baby and a 5 year old. I still remember everything she told me about them, because I couldn’t have even thought to pray for such wonderful characteristics in house-parents. She said they were honest, full of integrity, sincere, full of energy and enthusiasm, gifted at working with youth, compassionate, very strong spiritually, funny, and talented. It didn’t work out for me to meet with this couple until a month after I heard about them. Even this had divine reasons. For two weeks before I talked to them they had been fasting and praying about where the Lord wanted Oksana to pour out her life in ministry to the Lord. They had also been praying about a way they could live separate from Oksana’s mother (they’d lived with her since they were married). So when I invited them to the ministry they immediately assumed it was from the Lord because it came as an answer to prayer. Andre had always had a desire to work with youth full time. Also, someone had prophesied over Oksana a few years back that she would be a mother to very many young women. She was so confused by that and wondered why she wouldn’t be a good counselor or teacher for young women, why a mother? Now she knows!

The Lord also answered our prayer for direction for the ministry. Our plans are in place to use the house this fall as a daily family center for graduates. We’ll have the house open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday every week and we’ll have activities planned every day. We hope to be able to reach many more youth this way, because instead of having a select few kids that are “ours”, all kids will feel welcome at the house, and we’ll be able to influence many times more kids than we would have with a residential program. Also, we now are responsible for the whole team of volunteers that will work in the orphanage this fall, and this is a wonderful opportunity and blessing from the Lord, but it will be a huge undertaking. Like Andre Krevoruchko told me this summer, we haven’t even seen the beginning of the work God has for us to do. He said we’ve not even reached the starting blocks of this race!

We are sure that a lot of our ideas will fail and we’ll have to do a lot of rearranging once we begin ministry in the fall, but we are confident the Lord will guide us. We know he loves the kids more than we ever could and this is His ministry that he is guiding and protecting. The smartest thing we can do with this ministry is take all our problems and questions to Him in prayer! He has been so faithful.

Please continue to pray this August for the staff in Ukraine as they do some remodeling on the home and please pray for Ira especially as she takes care of the girls. Also, pray for the opening of the house in September. Our biggest concern right now is finances. Our operating budget will double September 1^st, and we have less than 20% of that coming in monthly! Please pray the Lord would bring us sponsors.

Dear Friends,

We are so excited about our FIRST SUMMER CAMP.  It is taking place this week at the orphanage.  It has been incredible to see how God has unfolded his plan to minister to these children.

The American team joined Liz and her staff on May 31^st.  Liz had decided the first of May that instead of having 2 weeks of camp, we would try something different.  And has it been a blessing.  But let me back up.  The first day there, everyone attended the Last Bell Ceremony at the orphanage.  This ceremony signifies the end of the school year.  Most children are excited and overjoyed to be out of school but for the graduates it is an anxious time knowing that they will have to leave everything they have know and face a future of unknowns and uncertainty. (I have reread this sentence as I have proofed this blog.  I realized that to say unknowns and uncertainty is a great injustice.  For many of them it is a future of blackness filled with hopelessness and despair leading many of them into alcohol and drug abuse, crime and prostitution and for some death by suicide and neglect.)

The next evening was the graduate reunion hosted by LBM.  One of the board members stated what a joy it was to see so many of the kids that we have been praying for over the years.  It was a great time of fellowship.  Many of these kids have been hurt by Christians and the speaker that night was able to get them to open up about their hurts and hopefully start some healing in their lives.

Back to doing things different.  Instead of having camp for two weeks, Liz planned the first week to lay a spiritual, emotional and physical foundation for the week of camp.  She and her staff excitedly prepared a prayer room where for 24 hours a day that first week someone would be praying.  Then each morning, a team went to the orphanage to help with painting, maintenance projects and remodeling.  In the late afternoon and evening, the whole team returned to the orphanage to spend time with the children, talking, playing games, and just getting acquainted.  By the time camp started this week, the children were ready and eager.  On Saturday, they had a carnival day and a bonfire.  It was a great time but also a sad reminder of what orphanage life is like as they observed kids fist fighting and older kids bullying younger kids.

Camp started this Monday.  There are sports activities, crafts and bible lessons in the morning and a group time in the evening with concerts and skits and more Bible time.  One of the exciting things that has happened with camp is the participation of so many different ministries.  This week a team from YWAM in Kiev came to help as counselors, Ukrainians from 2 different churches have participated in drama and music.

One of the most exciting has been the afternoon sessions with the 8^th and 9^th form kids.  These have been lead by staff from Mission to Ukraine, an outreach program in Zhytomir that specializes in abortion prevention counseling and Christian sex education.  Many of the girls already have had abortions and have been sexually involved with boys in the orphanage or have prostituted outside the orphanage.  Monday, the group was small but they listened carefully to what was said.  The orphanage Activity Director heard what was being talked about and instead of reacting adversely, she went to many kids the next day to talk them into coming!  The group has grown steadily every day.

After time with the kids in the evening another sister ministry prepares supper at their foster home for the entire team.  Then it’s back to the house and apartment for meetings and fellowship.

Prayer Requests: 

(Skip to the end for a short list of prayer requests)
Dear friends,

Greetings from Zhytomyr! The weather here is warm and spring is putting everybody in a good mood here. I went to the park today with two of the girls and then we climbed around alongside the river and found a clearing where we’ll have our next graduate reunion. It was good to just spend time with them. I know they need my time a lot more than anything else I can give them (besides Jesus).

But things are getting very busy here, so I’ll have to guard my time carefully so I can still love on the kids a lot. Our American team gets in May 30, and we’ll be having a busy busy busy but awesome time serving Christ together. The weekend they get here we’ll be attending the last bell ceremony at the orphanage and then we’ll have an all day long graduate reunion at the river.

Their first week we will be on rotation manning a prayer room 24 hours a day and also doing remodeling at the orphanage, hanging out at the orphanage daily, and preparing for camp. The second week we’ll be joined by our Ukrainian team for a week of camp at the orphanage. Then we’ll go to Kiev to sightsee before the team flies out.

There is all kinds of work to do to prepare for their arrival and for camp. Please pray that we’d be able to get everything done on this side in time. Pray for the American team also, that they’d be able to raise the needed funds and do all their preparation as well. Please pray for more Ukrainians for camp. Praise God there is a missionary team working with YWAM in Kiev that is going to come and join our American team for camp week.

Thank you so much for your prayers that God would bring more great people onto our team. Soon we hope to be hiring a young man named Andre onto the team. He has been volunteering with us for a few months now, and Ira and I both are very excited about having him on staff. Please pray for Andre as he seeks the Lord’s will for his life and we seek the Lord’s will for his involvement on our team. Again, thank you for your prayers! Having a trustworthy team is the most important thing in ministry, and God is building us just that!!!

Tomorrow night I will be meeting with a young couple to ask them about the possibility of house parenting for us. They go to my church and are just amazing. They love God so much and love people too. They have tons of energy and wonderful character. Please pray that the Lord would reveal to us and to them whether they are to be a part of our ministry. I’ve tried hard to not get my hopes up, because these people are just exactly what we’re looking for, it will be difficult if they are not interested.

Please continue to pray for all our kids and all the graduates in the Zhitomir region. We are always looking to build relationships with more and more kids. Please pray we would display Christ and the kids would be drawn towards Him.

Please pray for one of our girls who just found out she was pregnant today. Pray that she would act responsibly while she is pregnant and that God would protect the unborn child (she is at risk for a miscarriage). Please pray for us as we help her, advise her, and find her a place to live.

The Lord is alive and working in Zhytomyr. Sometimes I feel like my heart will fall out of my body if I was any more full of joy in Christ. I was just reading Rosalynn Prough’s blog and I am just so happy at what God is doing through her life! It’s great that we are in the same city. And our church is such a wonderful blessing. I wish there was church every day. I can’t wait to see what God will do through that church in the next year. And I can’t wait to see what God will do in our ministry in this next year. I am so glad that you are all in this with me and I can share with you about the fruit the Lord will bring from this ministry. I am humbled to be a part of such a good thing. God’s grace to me is amazing. I don’t deserve His favor!

Prayer Requests

Pray that:
1. Graduates would turn to Christ for salvation
2. God would build the Last Bell staff in His time
3. God’s presence would be with me tomorrow night and the with the couple we’re inviting onto the team as houseparents
4. God would help us get everything ready for camp and summer
5. God would be with our girl who is pregnant
6. God would continue revealing himself to our grads and loving them through us
7. That the board in America would be able to get us status as a 501C3 non-profit organization
8. In all things we pray that above all Jesus’ name would be glorified.

Thank you for your prayers. We need them desperately! Thank you so much for your faithful support.

In Christ,
Liz

Here’s the latest prayer letter from Liz:

Hello from Zhitomir! I am settled in and back to work. I was so blessed to spend time with many of you while in America. Thank you for your love, care, and support. Things were good here while I was gone, Ira and Anya and Sasha took turns staying with Anya and keeping Luda , Katya and Miroslava out of trouble. The lawyer got everything ready to break the agreement with Ira, and we don’t have to go to court! That will save lots of money. Praise God! Thank you so much for praying about that situation.

We received bittersweet news at our first staff meeting all together again. Sasha got an unexpected promotion at work that will take them to Kiev to live. And Anya is pregnant with their first child! So they will be leaving us, but we wish them the very best and appreciate their service to the orphans while they were with us.

I believe God has a wonderful plan for our ministry. We believe He will provide all the staff and volunteers we need in His time. The list of what positions we would like to hire grows longer and longer as our staff gets smaller and smaller! And our vision for ministry has only gotten bigger. We want to be dedicated to prayer that the Lord will bring revival to our ministry and reveal Himself to the graduates here in Zhitomir.

Ira Mikityuk (younger) and I are busy making plans for the future and taking care of the girls as much as we can. Ira is getting used to being at the orphanage, working with volunteers from Central Baptist church in the eighth and ninth grade classes. When they have a weekly schedule decided, I will email that so you can pray for those clubs. Ira also hosts culinary class once a week at the church for the eighth and ninth grades. Thanks to our new copier/printer/scanner combo, she can now make and send birthday cards to the graduates from 2007and 2006 and make invitations to gradauate reunions and other events. The first graduate reunion that we are responsible for planning is on March 8th, which is “Women’s Day” in Ukraine . It’s a holiday celebrating all females. I like it. I am working on plans for camp, for the future of the ministry and hiring of staff, and for registering as an organization in Ukraine . The board in America is also always busy with administrative responsibilities.

1. Please pray for:

Ira Mikityuk, as she serves the kids at the orphanage and our girls. Please also pray for her housing needs. For months she has been moving around between renting apartments (all problematic situations) and family. It has been very stressful for her and she is praying for a semi-permanent place to live. She has also felt very much under attack spiritually lately. Please pray that the Lord’s presence would be with her. Please pray that she will pass exams for entering a University in June. She is studying to be a lawyer, and has five years in a University to go. She could still work with us during these years, and she wants to use her training to fight for the rights of orphan graduates. Orphans are constantly taken advantage of legally because they don’t know their rights and there is no one to take up their cause.

Liz Millikan. Please pray for me as I grow in Christ, that I would let Him work in my heart to get rid of bitterness and sin so that I can be filled with his Spirit. And also pray for wisdom for me in gathering information and making decisions for the ministry.

Board. Please pray that God would bless the members of the board in decision making.

Other prayer needs:
-Salvation of orphanage graduates in Zhitomir
-New staff members for Last Bell Ministries
-Supernatural direction as we make ministry plans

2. Please pray also for our girls:

-Luda . She has moved in with a friend’s family and we don’t see her much. Please pray the Lord would continue to work in her that she would come to Christ one day.

-Miroslava. Pray for Miroslava especially for the next two weeks. There is a two-week quarantine at her trade school, and all the other youth went home. They would not permit her to stay with me because of the Social Service’s grudge against us. She has to be locked in the dormitory all evening and night with nobody except some druggies who harass her. Please pray for strength for her, that she would know the presence and protection of God during this difficult time, and that she would learn anything that God wants to teach her through this situation.

-Katya. Please pray for Katya’s physical safety. We have just now found out more about her home situation. She lives with her grandma who takes of her, but also her dad who is drunk every night and throws knives at her. She said she doesn’t want to live in the dorms at the trade school, she says she’s gotten used to the danger at home. There is nothing we can do right now, but please pray the Lord will provide a way someday soon if it is his will to get her out of this very dangerous situation.

-Anya. Anya asks for prayer for her schoolwork (she is studying to be a paramedic), for the salvation of her sister Leda, and for legal questions to be decided regarding the little house she has the inheritance rights to, where she will live in the future.

Thank you so much for all your support. May God bless you richly!

In Christ,
Liz Millikan
For Last Bell Ministries

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

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