UKRAINE NEWSLETTER

Dear Christian Friends,

    In our last letter we reported that we had skipped spring this year, but we just had it in June instead.  Most of June was cool and wet with temperatures from 40 to 70.  The rain was great for the gardens and we are having great fruits and vegetables.  This was very important for the people here as many of them depend on their gardens for food in the winter.

    The Proletarsky congregation sponsored a three day campaign in a poorer area of our region  June 26-28.  Alexander Naymenko, a recent graduate from the Bible institute, organized the campaign, in addition to heading up the repair crew.  We were given permission to use the room in the “entertainment palace” only if we would do some much needed repair.  A number of our members helped with cleaning, painting, etc.  We were not able to repair the room and had to move our chairs during one lesson because the rain and parts of the ceiling were coming down.  Attendance was low, which may be attributed to the rain or to the rumored discouragement by the Orthodox church.  There is an ongoing Bible study with three of the people who came and two of them came to worship last Sunday.  We have planted the seed and God will give the increase.  Ray preached his first sermon in Russian without an interpreter and did a great job.

    June has been another great month, as three more precious souls were added to the Lord’s church in Proletarsky.  Sergey, who has been attending with us for several weeks and comes from a conservative Baptist church, Tamara the mother of Oleg, who was baptized a couple of months ago, and Galina, a very quiet, reserved lady, put their Lord on in Baptism.

    We are working hard to get ready for our third annual teen camp.  We were all set to leave on July 6^th, but received word on June 30^th that we could no longer go to that camp.  It seems that this is a government camp for special kids only and the officials finally discovered that we had been there.  This delayed our trip, but we think another place has been found for the following week.  We pray that God will guide us to a good place and help us as we study and play with the teens. 

    Our program to feed several old and invalid people continues.  Vanya continues to do a great job in heading this program, in spite of the rising prices on many products. For some reason the price of sugar and cereals has almost doubled.  Many of these old people look forward to getting their food because it gives them someone to visit with.  We are encouraging our members to visit some of these people at other times as well.

    Lynn, Nikka and Christina spent four days in a small town about an hour north of Donetsk helping in their annual Bible camp.  A few of their helpers had had to cancel the trip and they were short on teachers.  It was a really good experience.  They are allowed to teach pre approved Bible lessons in the public school and local boarding school for orphans.  Christina went expecting to be just a helper (gopher) and ended up being one of the best interpreters they had.  She was asked to stay two days  longer to assist in the final program presented to the parents.      

    Our ladies class at Lynn’s home continues to grow.  There have been as many as 11 ladies and one child.  You would be impressed with the way they prepare their lessons ahead of time and have the workbooks  filled in.  The book of Acts was chose as the topic as we were hoping for visitors.  There have been some visitors and the regular members are enjoying the review.

    We thank you for your continued support and ask God’s blessings on each of your.

In Christian love,

Ray and Lynn