Our Tuesday evening English club continues to go well. We are regularly having at least 10 young adults each week, and they seem to be relaxed and enjoy our tea and cookie time after the sessions. Last week one of the girls asked what we do besides the English club and we had the opportunity to explain the correspondence Bible course to her. By the time I showed her a lesson the whole group was listening and we ended up giving everyone there a starter packet with lesson one. Praise the Lord for an open door.

Jessie answers Taras's questions over tea

3 of the girls show off their memo boards they created

I continue to work with the youth ministry at Greater Grace on Saturday afternoons, and we have been having a good number of kids come each week. We have a wide range of ages, and many more girls than boys. We are praying and working on improving our time together, and including more scripture memorization as well as theme- related Bible lessons. We try to include some English in each of our meetings, as this seems to be an incentive for some to come. I have been trying to put verses in Psalms to music and teaching them to the group as one more way to learn the Word of God. Thank you for your prayers for this ministry.

Dad talks with one of the students at English club

Well, I just spent almost an hour preparing this post, and with one unintentional click deleted everything. Sooo, I  hope that I can remember what I was saying and make this second attempt interesting and informative. The two weeks my parents were here sped by, but we did and saw a lot in that time.  They were real troopers on the buses and sidewalks, and we praise the Lord for health and safety. Besides sight seeing and meeting my friends they were also able to participate in some of my ministries.  Their first Sunday here we had a “First Bell” picnic, and my mom drew on her 37 years of teaching experience to give a spiritual charge to the students as they headed back to school. One Tuesday evening my parents came to English club and contributed to the conversation that Jessie headed up. They even helped put stamps on correspondence lessons I had to drop off at the post office. We all enjoyed a nice evening of fellowship with the Beals, missionaries from our home church, and were treated to a piano concert by Alexandria and Cassia.  The last few days in Ukraine before flying out of Kiev were spent with the Irelands.  This included some sightseeing and competitive bowling on Wii, but we also attended the mid-week service and had the blessing of meeting and fellowshipping with the church family in Fastiv.  I am not sure what my parents’ favorite part or memory of the trip is, but I can assure you they have some stories to tell.

Olena made borsht and plove for an authentic Ukrainian meal

Mom loved to stand on my balcony and watch people in the neighborhood

Mom, Dad, Benjamin Anna and The Alex Sluk family all arrived AHEAD OF SCHEDULE this morning and were already through customs by the time we got to the airport.  My parents and I had a 2:00 flight to L’viv, so we stayed at the airport and caught up on events, looked at pictures, read books, and anything else to pass the time.  I started to get a little impatient when the flights leaving after us were allowed to check in before us, and no one was giving an explanation to why that was. Finally, about 40 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave they started the check-in process to L’viv.  We ended up leaving an hour late, and after a 1 1/2 hour flight on a very aged plane we arrived to my town with one less piece of luggage that we had hoped. They promised to deliver it tomorrow around lunch time, so we will have some manditory rest time at home until it comes. Please pray that we have no problems getting my mom’s suitcase. Thanks to all who prayed for a good flight for the group. I also read tonight that the Steele family arrived safe and sound in America, and I know they appreciated your prayers as well.

I realize that it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted and thought I should give an update of what is going on. By the end of the month both the Steele family and Nathan Day will be back in the states for a while. Nathan will be preparing for his wedding to Kaitlyn Rebsch in October and the Steeles will be staying with family in Texas while they take care of some family business and work long-distance on the CBC lesson development. Bryan and I will continue to tackle the correspondence and Good and Evil mailings, and Jessie Beal will be directing the Tuesday evening English Club/Bible study.
Another big event next week will be the arrival of my parents for a two week visit. It is their first time to Ukraine, and it will be interesting to see their initial reactions to the life and country to which I have become accustomed. Please pray for a safe and smooth trip for them, as well as a good time of fellowship for us.

Jessie and Teresa Beal are in Krakow, Poland this week working on obtaining new visas. Even though they both have time remaining on their visas the new Ukrainian registation laws compel them to change their visas in order to register in this country.  The Beals ran into some hostility and confontation by the consulate workers. They are making it very hard to get the type of visas which are needed.  Please pray for a beneficial and God-honoring resolution to this situation.  I, once again, am out in the village with Cassia and Alexandria. Today’s task was to give all the house pets baths. The cats weren’t as hard as the dog.

Getting Jack into the tub was the hardest part of the task.

This past week I took a train ride up to Fastiv and spent some time ministering with the Ireland family and their churches in the village of Pyatigory. We held three days of children’s evengelism during the day and an evening service each night for everyone. The first day started out slowly, with only a handful of children, but by the third day we were blessed to have 20 children in attendance. Two of the boys that came to the day services also returned to watch the evening films and Mike Ireland Jr. had an opportunity to talk in length with these boys abou t their salvation. Getting together with the Irelands is always a great time of fellowship and encouragement.

Prep work for the week included erecting the tent and spreading the word about the meetings.

Officer Ireland and Slava did a great job as passport control inspectors as the children checked in each day and obatained their “entrance visas” for the country we were to visit.

Hadassah Jensen, Carissa’s friend from college was visiting during this time and she was a blessing as she used her talents to teach a couple of lessons during these three days. Our good friend Nina interpreted for her.

I had an opportunity to spend some time with friends from L’viv whose family live in Pyatigory. Isn’t Ruslan and Tanya’s daughter Alexandria just adorable?

The first evening we were in the village God blessed us with a picture-worthy sunset.

I spent the last couple days out in the village with the Beals, and yesterday Cassia, Alexandria and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a walk in the woods. We found a great spot just on the outskirts of the forest where we put our blanket down, ate lunch, then laid back and enjoyed God’s beautiful creation. After gazing at the clouds for a while we looked around and found several raspberry bushes just bursting with berries. We picked what we could and then moved a little farther down the path and found more, and then more, and still more. When we got home we had enough berries to make several small raspberry tarts in heart-shaped tins. Mmm-mm.

What a beautiful day for a picnic

Thank you, Lord for the special blessing

I had a busy 4th of July weekend, as I was invited to 2 separate picnics. It was a blessing that I didn’t have to choose between which one to attend, since one was on Friday and the other on Saturday.  Jessie met the ETO team at the Steele’s apartment Friday morning and drove us out to his house in the village of Citiheeve.   Jessie grilled some delicious shashlik (shishkebobs), and everyone’s culinary contributions were well received. We had a blessed time of singing hymns and patriotic songs, and after a rousing game of Catch Phrase it was time for the dessert. Teresa made one of her spectacular cakes (I’ve never eaten one I didn’t like) and I was still able to find some strawberries and rhubarb at the market, so I made the pie I remember my grandmother making when I was a child.  It rained on and off most of the day, but by early evening it had cleared up and was very pleasant.

Bryan is excited that his team won a round of Catch Phrase

Teresa's delicious patriotic cake

Saturday morning I headed out to the village of Karachaniv where the Bardwell family lives.  The place was already abuzz with preparation of food and last minute cleaning.  After an cloudburst while the meat was cooking the sun came out and it was quite sunny and hot.  Again the food was delicious and the fellowship enjoyable. There were 14 children running around, mostly boys as opposed to just 4 girls the day before, so the day had a whole different energy.  Kostya helped inflate and fill the kiddie pool I brought and it was a great way to cool off.   The skies again darkened and the wind blew, but the storm passed over without dumping on us.

Zoie protects the sausage from getting doused

All-American kids in Ukraine

fellowship of the saints

staying cool in the pool

I spent several hours today writing students in response to comments or questions they sent us in their correspondence lessons. We have one student who finished all current lessons in bulk because he was moving away and wanted to have the corrected lessons with him to study. Each lesson he returned also had several questions an/or comments about the topic of the lesson. I am little by little answering these via e-mail, and I ask you to pray that I have the wisdom and understanding to respond to him with firm biblical answers with the right amount of grace and sensitivity to his spiritual needs. I don’t believe he is saved, and I had the opportunity today to show him through scripture that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for Bogdan’s salvation if you would. Thanks.