UKRAINE NEWSLETTER

Gene and Mary Parker

Donetsk, Ukraine

Newsletter for May 2003

Dear Supporters, Family, and Friends,

May began with the apricot and cherry trees blooming everywhere in the city. It was a sea of white blossoms. Then came the tulips and trees budding and putting on leaves. It is always a beautiful sight here in Donetsk. The month has been both hot and cool at times but with no rain. The ground is cracking and gardens are needing rain very much. Please pray with us for rain here.

In the last letter we wrote about two baptisms we had. They have both been such nice additions to our family. The teen age boy, Sergey is his name, was asked to lead a prayer on the Sunday evening service that was led by the teen boys. He got up before the congregation and very seriously said, "this is my first time, please have mercy on me".

Needless to say he did a good job and nobody dared to criticize. The lady is named Evdokia and her family came to Ukraine from Bulgaria during an unrest there many years ago. Some long time members who are long time friends of hers had been studying with her. They wanted me to talk with her because she wanted to be baptized. I could tell she was very uptight so I asked her why, she answered, "I'm afraid I'll fail the test."

There is another man, named Sergey, that has been coming for more than a month who wanted to be member of our congregation but he had been in a conservative Baptist church for several years. He claimed that his conversion and baptism were correct. But in studying with him it became clear that his experience had been the usual Baptist way. He had believed, repented, and was baptized months later. We had a hard time convincing him that to be a member of our congregation he needed to first be sure of being right with his relationship to God. His obedience to the gospel would put him in the Lord's Church and then he can be a member of any congregation of the Lord's church. He has now decided he would be baptized correctly and will do that Wednesday evening.

It has been decided to have a mini-campaign at an old Palace of Culture in a part of our district that is depressed because the mines there have been closed. Alexander Naumenko, a recent graduate of the school will be heading this effort. He desires to be a missionary somewhere in Ukraine, so this will be good experience for him. We will be needing to find support for him and his family next year if things work out. His wife is attending the school now. Our teens put on a skit at the Children's Day celebration there to advertise the campaign.

Budyonnevski plans to do some remodeling, painting etc, in their building. They can't afford to do much as they are just renting. The work there seems to be doing real well now. The have a nice group of men that are working together and several are taking part in services, even preaching sometimes. A couple of weeks ago a young man about 18 who was baptized last year, preached and did a really good job on the Holy Spirit of all things. He is an exceptional individual. He came to Donetsk to live with and care for his grandmother who has cancer. Some of you that have been here will remember Valentina with the crooked arthritic spine.

Mary has been busy having Nick , our translator , work on Pictures from Proverbs which she got from Mission Printing in Dallas. She and Nick are translating and copying them for use by the teachers here and Budyonnevski. They are really impressive tools. But one of them speaks of drinking alcohol which she can take a lesson from. A couple of weeks ago on a hot day we were going to the building. On the way she decided to go by a store and get a coke. But when she got there they were sold out of cokes so she decided to get something else. She saw a bottle that said "Sok" on it and knowing that was the word for juice she bought and took a big drink. She noticed it burned going down so she asked Nick what it was. He said it was a kind of Vodka cocktail. She dumped the rest in a hurry.

May 24 saw another graduation at Ukrainian Bible Institute. Two of the men we have been supporting with your help graduated that day. Alexander Naumenko and Eugene Bubuchov. There was a total of 12 this year. Alexander did a speech and presentation of a gift to Jay Don Rogers, the Director.

May 31 was cleanup day at our building in preparation for the Annual ladies Day which will be June 6 this year. They are expecting about 200 this year. This is a real highlight for ladies from congregations all over this area. Our ladies always do a great job with this.

As you can see it has been an eventful month. We are both fine with no more than our usual problems that seem to come with growing older. Please thank God with us for all the good things happening in His Kingdom here.

We send our love and thanks to all,

Gene and Mary Parker