Poltava Pregnancy Center Training Seminar
The training seminar was really awesome. I found myself wishing that I had done something like this earlier in my ministry as a counselor for Healing Hearts ministries. The tools we learned for counseling in a Pregnancy Center environment are great tools that can be used for counseling in any situation!
The teachings were intermixed with one on one discussion groups as well as small group discussions. The Lord really challenged me in many areas, language being one of them as the teachings were done in British English (our main teachers were from Great Britain) as well as Russian (we had two trainers from Kharkov, a city in Ukraine).
The Russian teachings were not translated except for the main teachers, and during the one on one and group discussions I participated all in Russian!!! There was a point in time when I had stepped outside for some fresh air during one of our breaks, and had a break down with the Lord. I poured my heart out to Him, sharing how inadequate I felt in my language skills, and how I wasn’t so sure I was cut out for this ministry, for doing this ministry in Russian. I solicited His help in a way I have never done before.
After my break down, I went back into the seminar and had a break through with my language. The Lord really worked through me and gave me words as well as comprehension/understanding that I didn’t know I had! PRAISE GOD from whom all blessings flow.
This week, the volunteers of the Poltava Pregnancy Center, myself, and the director met to discuss all of our roles. I have the privilege and the honor to pray with each of the counselors for their times with the clients, and for any of the clients who come into the center or call on the “hot line”. What an honor to be considered for such a role, and that the director feels my Russian is “up to par” that I can communicate in prayer with each of these ladies who do not speak any English.
Please pray for my prayer times with these volunteers. That the Lord would use me mightily, that my prayer language skills would increase, and that all the glory and honor would go to Him!
L-R
Ira (translator), Joanna Thompson (Head of CARE Centres Network), Sheelagh Clarke (Course Trainer)
