September 2013
Greetings…
9:00 this Thursday morning sees me behind the keyboard happy to be home. I’ve come down with the cold that has been doing the rounds and feel… crook enough to stay home. Last night, Pris and I thanked the Lord for the blessings of health and for the blessings of sickness. Truly a trust in God’s goodness is a gift worth millions!
So how do we do? All-round-fine. It has been a good summer.
We had a good camp with other believers and a few non-believers on the island.
The annual kids club was well-attended and… good!
We took Priscilla’s parents out to the island for two night’s holiday which was nice.
Jesse and I went to Jono’s wedding and visited his great-grandma, uncles and aunts, and some friends in the process.
Priscilla has started treatment for the problems in her neck which reached a point where we needed to do something.
I managed to get a few games of cricket over the summer. I felt young again… until the following day. Then I felt four times my age! I enjoyed myself immensely.
Galya, our much loved neighbour, died this summer. Her love and care for others is already missed. We attended her funeral. Pris carried the “holy water” for the procession from home to the church and then from the church to the cemetery.
We continue to meet in the town hall Sunday afternoons. All-in-all, we feel like the benefits have outweighed the negatives (no heating, leaking roof). Most weeks, we have people come who wouldn’t have come were we still meeting in our home.
We had a few students stay over in Rzhyshchiv during the summer to work on the building site. It was good to have them here with at least one of them having had his faith deepened by the experience. The building projects have been a tool God has used for the students to have input and living discipleship in their lives, and we are grateful for the money that has made the student-building project possible.
The new school year has started in Ukraine and our kids are back into studies with a vengeance.
Jesse has half a year until he finishes. Both he and Marie are wonderful to have at the youth times. They are friendly and good examples of Jesus for these kids.
Marie is still studying Ukrainian in Kiev. She often translates for the foreigners who are here while I’m preaching in Russian, so her Russian isn’t that bad either. She’s the best masseuse in our family.
Angel is 13 and has just started piano lessons and choir lessons with some teachers who teach in the town hall where we hold church. So far, she’s enthusiastic about them… particularly the choir – where she gets to spend time with other kids – she’s a friendly kid.
Elle… is 8 and has started drawing and craft lessons in the town hall. She’s also enjoying them, and sees Lilya, a girl from church who also attends. Elle’s great achievement of the summer was learning to wake-board. Admittedly, all she does is hold on to the handle right now, but she says she loves it! She came a cropper on her bike a few days ago. Riding down the hill, she lost control and managed to run into the footings for a fence. Blood everywhere! We were thankful she came off so lightly!
And Pris… well, she is feeling like she is managing. The pain affecting her right side saps energy, but considering that, she is doing pretty well. We need to leave the country in about a year to renew our visas, (something that has become quite complicated for missionaries), and hope to make a visit to Australia to facilitate that. I think Pris may just look forward to it even more than I do!
Something that is quite exciting is the response of the students over the past two weeks since the Ukrainian school year began. Incredibly, I loaded up 30 of them into our van last Friday night. How they actually managed to squeeze in is a minor miracle in itself! It was raining and the group just kept on climbing in to get out of the rain! The heater in the van isn’t working so we had to keep the windows down and the “hand-wipers” on to keep the windows from fogging up… but we made it! They came to the men’s breakfast Saturday morning and then again to church Sunday.
I was talking with Anton, a new student, today and asked him if he’s tall like his dad. He said that he’d never seen his dad. How about his mum? It had been a long time since he’s seen his mum, too. He spent some time with his grandparents and then went to an orphanage until he came here. Today I talked about how beautiful Jesus’ culture is. I hope that these kids get a longing for peace with God through a relationship with Jesus. So many of them have had a pretty hard life. We are planning on taking them to the island for an overnight trip in a few weeks. We’ll present the gospel to them and ask them to repent of their sin and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. Please pray for them to be convicted of their sin and that they might be made new to the glory of God! Anton was one who agreed to read the NT with us before the new year.
The students from the other technical college are also out in force. About 20 came this last Sunday and had a good relationship building time. It seems that this year, God has chosen to shake us up a bit with a big student influx. If it means more kids get exposed to the gospel, get an idea of how special God is, and become Christians… wonderful!
Priscilla here:
There is a song that goes, ‘We have this moment to hold in our hands as it slips through our fingers like sand…’ Today is a gift in our own lives and a gift for us to share of our lives with those whom we influence on purpose or accidentally. We were thinking of that, especially in regards to the students. Some of them would not hear of Christ (at least not at this time) were not God using us over here. Thank you for praying and giving to keep us here so faithfully. Our hearts still burn for the souls here.
A couple months ago early in the morning, I was chatting with my dear neighbour Galya. We both are early risers and would often exchange a wave or a chat as I hung out laundry and she worked in her garden. That evening she had a massive stroke and died a couple weeks ago. Over the course of time we had had many conversations about God and she had begun reading the Scriptures. I miss her and feel tears of love, but mostly I am glad that she loved God and had prayed for forgiveness and sought to please Him. Now we seek to share God’s love with her husband (of 53 years), Ivan. Up till now he has been very hard hearted, but has become somewhat open.
Most of you know of Vlad who is in prison innocently. His wife Vika now comes regularly to church—not as a stranger (like she did at first), but with gladness to be there. I don’t think she has been convicted of her sins and given her life to Christ yet, but I pray she will. Recently Vlad’s mother has come a couple of times, too!
There are so many others… Please pray for them and for us and for the believers in this little body. Right now there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm to serve (if you want to grow spiritually, serving is a part of the formula). We would love to see some who have known Christ for a few years now begin to teach young teens or S.S., or want to take part in some of the ministries.
On Sept 28 we will have a women’s outreach. In the past, between 30 and 60 ladies have come. We usually try to do three each year. Also in October we have planned a ladies retreat aimed at the believers in our church. My Mom will be doing the teaching this year, which I am personally looking forward to. Please pray that the ladies will be able to come. While we subsidize the retreat, the cost is still considerable for many of the ladies.
On Friday, we received our documents to live in Ukraine until Sept 2, 2014! It is getting more difficult to stay in Ukraine as missionaries. So we are thankful for this ‘moment’—this year that we are once again given to serve and love and live here.
I am thankful to be in treatment for my neck and arm. It is painful treatment (a type of physio/exercise), but we hope and pray that God will use it for healing.
I am feeling confident and yet nervous, (glad for him and yet ‘missing already’) about Jesse leaving home. He is a great fellow. How can it be that that time has come in our lives already? On the other hand, soon we will have been married 19 years! We are glad that at this point all of the children love the LORD with all their hearts. How we pray that as they come to all the crossroads of life, that they will press deeper into Him, deeper into faith in Who God is (when the valleys come).
Please pray for Wisdom for us that is greater than practicality or human reason.
Thanks much for checking-in! May God bless.