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VISION FOR YOU

The conference took place in the famous beautiful resort place Zatoka on the coast of the Black Sea from May 4-6, 2012. While preparing the conference, we thought about the needs of modern students. They have modern technology, money, and internet, but we found that they have no vision. Due to the unstable situation in our society, even students have no vision for their lives. Therefore, we chose the title, “Vision for You,” for the conference. We started preparations 1.5 months before the conference. The main preparation was life testimony writing by all the leaders. More than 20 leaders wrote and shared their life testimonies with the title, “Thanks to His Resurrection.” This filled us with new grace and joy so that we could prepare for the conference with our whole heart and soul.

We thank God who sent prayer servants to our conference: 14 leaders from Kiev UBF, including M. Peter Kim, and Bach Lee from Anam UBF, Korea.

The opening message was delivered by Gena with the title, “Put out Into the Deep Water” (Lk 5:1-11). With this word, God opened our eyes to see our shallow lives and invited us to step into a deep relationship with God. The evening program on the first day started with three life testimonies from Brother Luka, Sister Vera, and Sister Thui. Sister Thui was like a proud princess that had no needs. But after meeting God, she became a humble and sacrificial servant of God. The evening message was delivered by Tatyana Zhdanova with the title, “Remember your Creator.” We learned that we must remember God not in our old age but from our youth. This is how we can live meaningful and great lives.

On the second day, we started with fitness on the beach. Ester organized interesting and fun sports games that woke each of us up fully and prepared us for the morning Daily Bread message. The morning message was delivered by Alexey with the title, “Seek First the Kingdom of God.” Through the preparation of this message, he repented of wrongly prioritizing finances. Every one of us learned that our heart follows our money (Mt 6:21). We decided to seek first the kingdom of God.

After breakfast, Matthew delivered the message, “Jesus – the Living Water” (Jn 4:1-26). This word opened the deep problem of our thirst. And we found out that this thirst could be fulfilled with the living water of Jesus only. Jesus is the Christ who can solve all our problems. He fills us with eternal life and the Holy Spirit. The living water of Jesus changes the thirsty life of man into a spring of eternal life.

The evening program started with life testimonies. M. Bach Lee (Anam UBF), Natasha (Kiev UBF), Ester, Tam, Natasha, Abraham-Manh, Antony, and Katya-Berry (Kiev UBF) sincerely shared their testimonies and the work of God in their lives. Ester had been a hard-working slave of Satan. Her life was filled with pain and so much dirty and evil doings that it was hard to believe. No one could listen indifferently. A year ago, she was invited by Brothers Joseph-Festo and Prince. She looked like a Samaritan woman, but she opened her heart to God, and God came and changed her into a heavenly princess with the new name Ester. Now she serves worship service by playing piano, conducting exercise for the sisters three times a week, and keeping the Bible house in order.

Antony was expelled from his country (Tanzania) because he was too active as a communist revolutionary. The Government agreed to give him a student scholarship for study in another country to prevent his influence. He came to Ukraine and studied Law at Odessa Academy of Law. His friends Joseph-Festo (who went back to Tanzania as a missionary) and Ester invited him to the worship service and Bible Study. Now he left his communist views and is growing as a disciple of Jesus. All glory to Jesus!

In the evening, Abraham Vasylenko (pioneer from Odessa to Dnepropetrovsk) delivered the message, “It is finished” (Jn19:1-42). We saw Christ who died on the cross for our sins. We heard the voice of Jesus who proclaimed our salvation and redemption with the word “It is finished.” The evening program finished with a world mission dance.

After the evening program, Ukrainian leaders gathered for a meeting. M. Peter Kim and M. John Lee announced their decision to reduce their influence and give way to native leaders. For this reason, Abraham-Vlad (Kiev UBF) was elected as the Ukrainian director. The next morning, we held an ordination ceremony.

The morning message on the third day was delivered by David with the title, “By his Wounds You Have Been Healed.” In fact, it was the third of four lectures about healing from Jesus. Jesus shed his blood to heal us spiritually and physically.

The closing message was delivered by Moses with the title, “Moses! Moses!” (Ex.3:1-14). With this word, God called us to be spiritual leaders for our nation and for world mission. We prayed to be used in God’s history like Moses.

Sixty-five attended our conference. We especially praised God who brought one student from Nikolayev. This year we started to pray according to the word Isaiah 54:2: “Enlarge the place of your tent.” We prayed, visited, and preached the gospel in the major cities nearest to Odessa, which are Nikolayev to the east and Kishinev (the capital of Moldova) to the west.

After the conference, M. John Lee wholeheartedly served the young disciples with a Daily Bread meeting and sharing.

Prayer Topics:

1. Odessa Mission
   1. Repentance and to be filled with the Holy Spirit
   2. Establish ancestors of faith in the 12 universities of Odessa
   3. Pioneer Nikolayev and Moldova
2. Missionaries
   1. Abraham and Sarah in Dnepropetrovsk
   2. Jakob and Joan of Arc in Kharkov
   3. Irina Polukhina in Amsterdam, Netherlands
   4. Joseph-Festo Chikungua in Tanzania
   5. Quan and Chin in Vietnam
3. The spiritual growth of young disciples
4. Servants of God
   1. M. John Lee’s health and power through the word
   2. M. Peter Kim
   3. James Suh – healing
   4. P. Abraham Kim – serve world mission