Autumn in BT

Autumn came suddently to Ukraine this year. Unusually cold weather for almost a week provided a very quick transition from summer to fall. Still, Oleksandria Park is as beautiful as usually this time a year.



Alyona and Daniel





Nature

Cannons aim for the US

Betty and Joe Cannon are leaving for the US on Thursday, October 29, after spending almost 3 months in Ukraine this time. On Sunday, we had a Farewell Tea Party after worship.
Since this was the Sunday we adjust the clocks to the winter time, some people came and hour early, while those who usually come late, this time arrived on time. What an advantage of having time changed! Haha :)

On pictures, Joe, Betty, Party

Prayer requests

These are always there. We would love to have no problems, but as long as we are in this world, we will shurely have quite a few.
So,
1) For Betty and Joe Cannon, as they travel back home. Travelling proved to be quite a challenge for both of them, especially for Joe.
2) For Alissa, a daughter of Sergiy Strilchuk - she's in the hospital with her mother Olya. She has pneumonea
3) For Lidia Bairakivska. It's basically the same problem she'd had in the past, it seems to be on and off
May the Lord be with you in all of your trials!

Please feel free to add more in your comments.

Books

In the time when the technologies are developing way too fast, the books are still a good investment (unless one has to travel a lot).
Our dear brother Rick Walker, who's now in Kazakhstan, gave our churhc a huge part of his library. Of course, i was not able to use all of them yet, but in my study of the Book of Revelation they turned out to be very valuable and helpful. And, of course, we have quite a few books sent by our brother A.M. Burton from Neshville TN.
And most recently we received another load of books from our dear brother Larry McKenzie, a minister with Highland Church of Christ, Memphis TN. Also David Ralston brought several copies of the Bible (NIV) which we use in our English studies.

We are very much greatfull to all of you for your input and support!

P.S. I guess I need to post some pictures of all the books we have in our library now!

Shans (Chance) Center

Currently I got more involved with the Shans Rehabilitation Center for disabled people. I teach two classes a week on their site - Wednesday and Friday morning, approximately 2 hours each time. We read the book of Acts, Easy-To-Read version of the Bible. It's a very interesting class, and very useful, since along with the opportunity to master English young people get the insight into the spiritual truths.
Since many of my students go to schools and universities, and the transportation provided by the center is not flexible enough to let us have these classes in the afternoons, I was asked to teach extra classes, in our church building. It's a great class too, and about 8-10 come every time. We have it on Mondays and Fridays. When Betty Cannon leaves in a couple of weeks, I hope that young people that come to her classes would join us in our study.

On the photos

Oleg (on the left) and Roma


A Polish language class


Sasha Kryzhanivsky working on the design project in the workshop


Zhenya


Alyona


Sasha Tsvyntarny interviewed by the National TV reporter

Singing

I do believe singing is the most versatile language that has ever existed. On Tuesday, October 6, David Ralston and Michelle Robertson had brought a group of 12 children, 10 to 14 y.o., for the mission trip in Bila Tserkva. Accompained by 7 other adoults, they gave a concert first in the so called Boys House (the special school for the mentally underdeveloped boys), and later that day in our church building.

In the Boys House



At church we had about 40 people at the concert, many of them are my Shans students. Also, we had four visitors from Skvyra Church of Christ. Andriy Pomaz, a preacher with that congregation had recorded a video, which we'll hopefully put on youtube after he prepairs it.

In between these two concerts we stopped by the Organ House and Oleksndria Park.
On the photo below: in the Organ House



For Michelle Robertson it's a second visit in Bila Tserkva. She came with David Ralston earlier this year, in April. She does have a beautiful voice along with the talent of teaching others to sing!

Baptism

Today at around 9am Iryna Ratushna was baptised in the Ros river, Oleksandria park area. Oleg Ratushny (Ira's husband) and Sergey Strilchuk were witnesses of Ira's birth in Christ.

What a joyfull day! Praise the Lord!

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News!

Tonight i had a phonecall from Oleg Ratushny, and he said his wife Ira wants to be baptized. We will go to the Ros river tomorrow at 8am. Oleg studied with her, and this is very much thought about decision.

About myself

Recently I was not feeling well - after the flu i had 6 weeks ago, as it's consequence i discovered i have both otitis and frontitis. Last week i had to spend in the hospital, and, thank God, i am feeling much better now. Don't ask me what they did to me - it wasn't too bad, but not plesant at all! :) I can hear with my left ear now, after 1,5 month of being half-deaf. I am greatfull for your prayers!

Problems and challenges

They are always there. Especially when someone claims they are not there. We do have quite a few.

1. During LST program we once again encountered a group of skinheads, or "football hooligans", as they call themselves. They came for one of LST parties we had for readers, with the obvious purpose to ridicule us. They had done enough to make quite a few readers refuse to come to the following parties. Next time though this group came with the interest, and we were able to meet them and talk to them some. Their behaviour though is a subject of a serious concern, and that was the reason for all the men in our church to come to the last party, in the role of a counterposing power. Also, men are now challenged to adjust their schedules to be able to come to every church event during the week, one reason - for the sake of security. Those are safety precautions, yet we decided to welcome those young people whenever they come, show them proper respect and kindness.

2. This problem originates from the first one. Our porch had become a subject of vandalism, first by the hooligans, and then by the younger kids, that imitate the"cool guys". We still have not come up with the solution for this problem. So far we pray for wisdom in this situation.

3. Winter 2009 is coming, and again arises a heating problem. We are considering a possibility of installing an electric heater into existing heating system, but no estimated figures available yet.

Last winter we had to pay up to 3,000 hryvnya a month, which is 2 times more than we have in contribution monthly. Above that we pay about 200 hrn for electricity and about 250 for other utilities. 450-500$ each month is a challenge.

4. It's traditionally hard (at least in Ukraine - I never attended congregations in other countries :)) to get Church members involved. Attendance is not very stable, people find it normal to come very late even for the Sunday morning worship. The building requires constant care, we desperatelly need people (preferably women) willing to work with children. We need more workers!

Update

We've been having quite a busy summer so far. LST team, as it was expected, came to spend 6 weeks in Bila Tserkva. Evan Bowers and Tyler Fultz are both students at Tennessee Technical University, and are attending the Christian Student Center there. For Evan it was his second trip to Ukraine - he was a member of LST team we had in 2008, so his experience was of a great benefit for both of them and for me as well :)

Since the team was too small to cover a significant number of readers, we decided not to advertise it much, as we did in the past, but rather use personal contacts with people who might be interested in taking free English classes. And - it worked, what's more, we didn't even expect that many to come to the information meeting. And many more came later, willing to sign up. All in all we had more than 45 people to come. In June, as it was expected, quite a few dropped, due to the graduation from high school. From the prior experience we discovered that July and August are two least effecient months to have LST, because many, if not most, go to the Black Sea or other resorts, which made it impossible for the readers to complete the study. May/June proved to be the best time. Of course, even in the other regions of Ukraine the situation may be slightly different.

I was very glad to see most of my Shans students taking LST classes. In September, i plan to continue meeting with them twice a week in the Bible Study (in English).

LST back in town!

It may seem to be a miracle, but we DO have a LST team this year! Financial crisis has been hard on everyone in the world, USA included, yet the Lord has His ultimate plan for us to accomplish His will.

Evan Bowers and Tyler Fultz, students of Tennessee Tech University arrived on May, 19. Evan has been to BT last year, so it's his second visit here. And - he gets to see most of his readers from year 2008! We had several people to come to the information meeting (i still don't have the exact number, but at least 25), and more will join the classes during next week. 

I will be posting updates and, of course, pictures, since i have a camera now :)

May the Lord bless you all, and please remember our church in your prayers to our Father!

Financial situation

Many of you are writing me letters, showing concern with the current situation in Ukraine. There are quite a few things to worry about: many people are loosing their jobs, or have their salaries cut down (actually, nothing to surprise anybody in the world with), prices on imported goods have grown dramatically lately (though food and other local-made goods remained basically on the same level). Some banks are having really bad problems, the payments are not going through on time, the deposits are blocked, businesses and persons cannot get loans from banks. Due to this prices on real estate have already dropped. The 2 room apartment will sell for under k25$, comparing to k50-60$ in summer.  We hope it'd be under 20,000, this will give hope to have one's own place to many young Ukrainians. So, there're pros among the cons of the situation in hand.

We pray for this situation to resolve soon, and for our government to be wise now.

I have already preached three times on how to remain peaceful and stable in the times of crisis, or any other stormy circumstances in our lives. Encouragement is very welcome these days.

With the currnet gas prices the tarrifs have grown like the mushrooms after the rain. We are trying too keep the heat as low as possible, but even then we pay around 2000 hryvnyas/mo (250$). Though I love winter more, this year I am looking forward to the warm spring :)

LST preparations

We are going to have another Let's Start Talking compaign this summer. We had a great experience with the Tennessee Tech team last year, so we prayed they might come again this year. And - our prayers were answered! Evan Bowers will be the only member from the last year team though, and we'll miss Aaron, Sarah and Jayna very much. Evan is coming along with Tyler Fultz. So team of two only, but we are sure the Lord will produce great things through this team.

If you are interested in supporting this LST team, contact me, and i will give you Evan's e-mail address.

The team arrives on May 19th, and will stay in BT through the whole month of June. I already have all of my Shans students signed up for classes. We are looking for the opportunity to build a ramp on the porch for people on the wheelchairs to be able to attend LST classes, as well as other church activities. We want to be accessible for every member of our community!

News

Yesterday we celebrated an Internation Women's Day (AKA 8th of MArch). We had 17 people in the worship service. Andriy and Valya Korchachenko came, after a 3 months of being away. They will live in BT, currently looking for the place to live. Please remember them in your prayers! Also, Lilya Rudnytska, who was a member of our congregation back in mid 90s, came to visit. The last time I saw her was about 6 years ago. What a surprise!

On the picture - Lilya talking to Inna Chernyakhovska

After worship we had salad, tea, 3 delicious cakes, muffins and other good stuff. Men sang a funny song of how important women are in our lives :)

New opportunities

Recently I have found another opportunity to preach the Gospel. There is a local internet forum of Bila Tserkva city - www.bc-city.com , with the average daily attendance of 300 people. All the discussoins are in Ukrainian and Russian languages. One can actually find out a lot about Bila Tserkva there, but also people naturally discuss many questions, that have a spiritual background.

One of the latest discussions a had (actually, it's not over yet) was with the orthodox priest, on the issue of worshipping icons: http://bc-city.com/index.php?showtopic=15666 . While ago I read a book by Otis Gatewood, or rather a record of his public debates with the mormons. That book gave me a good insight into the proper ways of defending the truth. 

Shans (Chance) Center for disabled children

Since New Year vacation is over, i've resumed classes at the Shans Center. Last Thursday there were 7 young people in the class. They are all good kids, very smart, willing to learn, with the good sense of humor. We study the book of John in English (i use easy-to-read version).

Oleg and Ira

Oleg and Ira Ratushny got married on the 26th of December. The ceremony took place in our church building, followed by a pleasant fellowship. 

May the Lord bless this marriage!

Did Moroz (Father Frost)

That's the name for the old man, who brings Christmas and New Year gifts to Ukrainian kids. But not only kids - he's happy to visit everyone :) I can't believe it was the 3rd time already I had an opportunity to help God's Hidden Treasures visit people with the special needs in our community.

All in all, we visited more than 120 families, and that took us almost 7 days, 10am to 5pm. Being challenging, this work had blessed all of us with the joyous Christmas mood. 

Here is the picture of Did Moroz and his granddaughter Snigurochka (Tanya) taken year ago. I hope to be able participate in this project in the years to come, if the Lord is willing.