On December 9, 2022, House of the Gospel Church in Fresno held a Ladies Christmas Dinner with over 120 ladies in attendance. The purpose of the event was to bring ladies of all ages together to connect with each other and hear an encouraging message that would prepare them to enter the Christmas season with a heart that is focused on Jesus rather than the hustle and bustle of the secular world.
It was a festive evening with beautifully arranged tables, delicious dinner, and signature coffee personally delivered to each table. The evening started off with Pastor Vitaliy Yasnitskiy praying for the event and blessing the ladies. Then there was opportunity to make a craft, which was a beautiful ornament, eat dinner, and get to know people around the tables. The theme for the night was forgiveness and ladies discussed what it meant to them personally and shared personal stories about times it was difficult to forgive.
The message, spoken by guest speaker, Nancy Avera, discussed three types of forgiveness: forgiveness of God (Romans 10:9), forgiveness of people (Romans 12:17-18), and forgiveness of self (Isaiah 1:18).
Ladies also had an opportunity to worship together and the best part about the evening was that the message was translated in Russian so all of the older ladies as well as new refugees could understand. Livestream recording is available here.
Nicole Gerban
