Double Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year)!

We have come to the land of holidays! Because the Eastern Orthodox Church is still active here, there are two calendars. One is the one that we are familiar with and the other one is the Gregorian Calendar (Orthodox) which is two weeks behind ours. For this reason Christmas is celebrated twice in Ukraine. We will have Christmas this coming Tuesday and again on Jan.7. There is also our New Year’s celebration and then two weeks later what is called “the Old New Year”. Presents are not given on either of the Christmas Days but on New Years. Dedushka Morose (grandfather frost), who was created by Lenin and looks very much like Santa Claus, is responsible for the presents... I hope this is all clear.

Happily, we are attending a Christmas party at the Myer’s home with the church and college staff. We will have a gift exchange and a dinner so we will not be missing out.

Sorry - no Christmas cards this year. So to all our wonderful friends and family we send you our love and best wishes for a wonderful Christmas season! We miss you all.

Isaiah 49:6 Indeed He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The prophet Isaiah foretold that the Messiah of Israel would come one day as a blessing for all nations. Today we are blessed to have experienced that salvation!

A Word About Our Sponsors

We wanted to take some time to describe the history and ministry of Jim and Phyllis Myers, who we are working with here in Kiev. Jim and Phyllis graduated from Moody Bible College and pastored non-denominational Bible churches in both Arkansas and New Mexico for a number of years. In the early 90’s after the break up of the Soviet Union, they came to Belarus and started a Bible study which eventually grew into a church there. However, Belarus became more and more of a closed country and eventually they were forced to leave as foreigners were not allowed to head up churches there. They left the church under the leadership of a trained Belarusian pastor and came to Ukraine which was decidedly more open to foreigners and missionaries. Since coming here they have started a Bible College and church. The Bible College prepares nationals for a variety of ministries. Several graduates have started churches in other areas of Ukraine and some have gone to other countries as missionaries. Because the people here are usually too poor to afford leaving their jobs to study, the Bible College provides a free education and a living stipend to the students to allow them to complete the two year program. The Bible College occupies two adjoining apartments in a local tenement building. The church consists of nationals, some American missionaries, and some Ukrainians who are on staff with Campus Crusade. We meet in rooms rented from a local public school. In addition to the college and church, there are several ongoing ministries that the students are involved in. These include Bible studies for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, Bible clubs at a variety of hospitals, and help and visitation to some invalids who are unable to leave their homes.

Our involvement will include help in administering the church and college and outreach English classes. We are currently planning our first English classes to begin in January, and have started to plan for these classes in the last couple of weeks. Our first session will be ten weeks long and we are looking at it as a trial run. It will only meet once a week and depending on the response we will determine if we should expand it when the second ten week session starts.

Because our current focus is on learning languages, we are trying to limit our involvement in ministry initially. That is difficult to do as we are quickly getting busier and busier. I am currently meeting with a young nurse in our church who requested English lessons. Bill has been meeting with the assistant pastors regarding some administration issues. He is also planning on meeting with a friend we have made in the church for personal discipleship and is hoping that this gentleman will be able to help him with his Ukrainian as well. He has decided to learn Ukrainian.

We have been invited to different social events and into people’s homes, and have been trying to reciprocate when we have free evenings. This week we are going with some Americans to listen to a full orchestra and choir perform The Messiah, something which we are truly looking forward to.

Thank you all for praying. We truly desire to have effective ministries here and wish there was a magic pill that we could take to immediately learn the languages and overcome this barrier. We are trusting that even in this time of preparation, the Lord would use us to accomplish His purposes.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.