During a conversation with one of our local friends, he mentioned St. Nicolas’ Day (December 19th, in the Ukraine), and the more we talked about it, the more we realized that this was a terrific opportunity to meet and minister to people. In the Ukraine, children traditionally receive their Christmas presents on St. Nicolas’ Day, whereas Christmas tends to be a more low-key family celebration.
One friend arranged a venue for us to put on a show, another arranged transportation for all the disadvantaged kids who would be attending, and some others donated snacks and drinks. We centered the show on the story of four clowns who would receive a letter from St. Nicolas asking them to bring the children gifts in his stead. In his letter, St. Nicolas specified which children should receive the presents—the kind, cheerful, and polite ones. After some funny skits where the clowns humorously acted out different wrong attitudes and the unpleasant results, we prayed with all of the children to receive Jesus into their hearts.
The whole project was an immense success. A total of 260 children attended the banquet, and each participating institution received a sponsored set of Family-produced Treasure Attic / Kiddie Viddie shows for children.