Harkiv, Lviv, and the Rest of the World!
Wow! I can't believe I haven't gotten a blog post up in two weeks! I am so sorry guys, I don't plan on missing any more Saturday night blog posts. The good news is that I didn't abandon you guys. These two weeks that I've been absent I have been very busy, and it has been a great kind of busy. I can't wait to tell you about all that we have done these last two weeks.
Harkiv! I had the opportunity to go with a very small team from our church to the Calvary Chapel in Harkiv, Ukraine, where we stayed and served for a few days. The first night that we were there we had the privilege to lead the people in worship as we performed a concert for them. It was really a sweet time of worship, as there weren't very many people and most of the people there were believers. So we gathered and we worshiped. The night was a huge success and praise be to God, a young man gave his life to Christ that night! God is good!
Almost all of my life I have lived in Ukraine, and just about every year that we were in Ukraine we would host a Bible College group that would come to serve in Ukraine. Even though I have lived most of my life as a missionary, I've never really had many short term mission trips like the Bible Colleges would have. So it is funny for me to say this, having grown up as a missionary, but one of the things that I have been looking forward to the most about Bible College is the short term missions trips. I am sure that most of you are aware that I am currently studying at the Bible College in Hungary, but I am studying online, so I wasn't sure if I would really have any short terms mission trips this semester. So I was really blessed to have an opportunity to go to Harkiv for a few days with the team.
The team for this trip consisted of me and two other people; my brother, Joshua Pratt, and our best friend, Evan Ledford, who plays bass with our band. We are a pretty tight group of friends which made it pretty easy to get along as a team. We came to serve the church in Harkiv in whatever way we could, and the Lord opened many doors for us.
One of those doors that the Lord opened for us was physical labor! We had a great time of manly bonding as we helped our great friend, Nate Medlong, carry "stuff" down 6 flights of stairs. Now, when I say "stuff" what I mean to say is a super heavy, super old, soviet style couch that cannot be broken down into smaller pieces! We had to carry that, among other pieces of furniture, down 6 flights of stairs and into a storage basement; it was quite an adventure. But we all had a great time as it was quite comedic as we tried to get the couch down stairs and through small doorways.
Another awesome opportunity that we had was to open the morning for a children's school. My brother got to sing a few songs of worship and then they asked me to teach from the Bible...in Ukrainian! I am pretty much fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, but I still use a translator because my Ukrainian is often more informal. So I was pretty nervous as this was my first time ever teaching the Bible in Ukrainian, but I did alright and it was really such a blessing to be able to share with the kids.
Well, after a great few days the time came to head back to Lviv and to all of the opportunities that awaited us there. We got back and jumped right back into ministry with our church. While my parents are in America to see their new grand-baby, I've been teaching two Bible studies at our church; one Bible study is our youth group and the other one is our Saturday night Bible study called Koinonia Kafe. At times it has been difficult, keeping up with classes while preparing to Bible studies each week, but I have absolutely no regrets and I treasure every moment that I have to teach.
We also have had several opportunities to do concerts in Lviv as well, which has been a huge blessing! Just last week we played at a cafe called Medelin and we had a pretty good turnout. Most importantly, on a Friday night when most people like to party and get drunk, the people at this concert heard about Jesus and the great love that He has for us!
If you guys would, please pray for our photographer. He comes to our concerts and takes pictures and has even done several awesome photo-sessions for us. He is a really great guy, but he needs Jesus. So please pray as he spends time with us that he would see Jesus in us and that we could be a witness to him.
It is truly such a blessing to be here and to serve in the many ways that God has provided for me to. It is crazy to think that soon I will leave this place to study in Hungary. After I finish studying in Hungary who knows where I will go?! There are so many things that the Lord could do, and I can't wait to find out what they are! But for now, I am content to be serving exactly where I am, in the midst of the Ukrainian people that I have grown to call my brothers and sisters. How great it is to be in the place where God has called you to be!
God bless you all
~Alex R. Pratt
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