Evan Bowers (left) with Sasha Tsvyntarny, one of the readers. Sasha is 19, he is crippled, yet a member of the Ukrainian para-Olympic team.

LST Update

Just counted the number of LST readers - 45. I had a couple of phonecalls this morning, and 4 more people are expected to join the program next week.
Tonight at 7:30 we are going to have the first LST party, with Church members and LST readers invited.

Ray and Susan Jones

Ray and Susan Jones are leaving for the US on Tuesday. It was a great pleasure to fellowship with them! We had a farewell dinner after worship service, with chicken, chilli, salads and sweets. Also, they brought six of their 1st year university students to church, who also stayed afterwards for dinner.

A baby

It happens sometimes that the event is so wonderful, that you feel like everyone else is already informed! Well, i will have to correct myself and actually inform you.
On May 12 a baby boy was born to our dear brother Jenya Guchek and his wife Sveta.

They named him Andriy (or Andrew). His weight was 3,7kg and he was 51cm high (or long,- they can't stand at that age, you know :)). Mama and the baby are OK, were allowed to go home three days after birth.
I will ask for Jenya's permission to post the pictures here.

LST 2008 in BT!

Finally - the Let's Start Talking compaign had started. Everything seems to be intact, though at first there was a bit of confusion. We were expecting the team of 3, but 4 actually came. This confusion took place because one of the young men that was coming to Vynogradar Church, Kyiv (they are all from the Tennessee Tech) had cancelled the trip due to the health problems, and they were trying at first to transfer one of the guys from our team to Kyiv. That didn't work, so we have 4 and Vynogradar has 2.
On the picture (from the left):  Evan Bowers, Sarah Elliott, Jayna Yates, Aaron Leverette


Almost 45 came to the Information meeting on Wednesday, May 21. There are some old acquaintances, but most are new people. Few weeks before the compaign had to start, Joe, Betty and I visited the School of Linguistics at the local University. The Dean, Vyacheslav Semiletko had invited us to be in the jury for the English language contest, which we actually did. I handed out about 100 flyers, asn as the result, several students are coming to LST classes.  Also, several people from the neighbourhood signed up. So far, only 2 quit (that i know of).

With LST here, i will still keep teaching my English calss on Proverbs. It's been a great experience for me, since it helped me to gain a very close, friendly relationship with the members of the church who attend this class.

Members and visitors of Bila Tserkva Church, soon after New Year 2008

From the left: Lidia and Marina Bairakivski, Inna Tikhonevich, Valentina Shapovalova, Inna Chernyakhovska, Oleg Ratushny, Jenya Guchek, Irina (a friend of Oleg), Sergiy and Olya Strilchuk. Sitting in front is Andriy Korchachenko and Misha Chernyakhovsky. Also, someone is hiding behind, and one more person is taking this picture :)