MIssionsUkraine2007

On Mission in Ukraine: 2007

Steve & Sandra

As of April 2007, Steve & Sandra are serving the Lord in the Ukraine. They are teaching English classes and taking opportunities the Lord provides to share about His love for the world - a love so great that God sent His only Son, that whoever would believe in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

A hearty send-off from First Baptist Church in Terrell. By plane from Dallas to London, then London to Budapest. Then from Budapest, the train.

Our sleeping booth was small without a window that opened but Steve found a window to open in the train hall way…what a blessing in the beginning of the trip; however, in the night it was a little chilly as we crossed through Carpathian Mountains.

How WONDERFUL it was to see Helen and Sasha as the train stopped in Lviv. At that time they were not sure about what apartment would be best but through talking they chose the one for us. So they called and we went by taxi…with bags in laps.

We are glad to invite you into our apartment. Of the five places Sandra has lived in Lviv…this is BY FAR the BEST LOCATION….We are about a 12 minute walk from the English School and 10 minute walk from the Tabernacle Church. There are corner stores within a block and a larger market within 4 blocks and supermarkets by tram or mini bus about 30 minutes away.

For the first few days we did not have a refrigerator or a cord for the washing machine…BUT PRAISE GOD now we have both!

We have a one room apartment, where our sink is in the bath area…and 2 burners on our stove work so we boiled eggs yesterday…the baked items will have to wait until we get back to Texas.

Steve is putting together a meat mixture and pancake Jane made…Sandra’s stomach is still more in the fruit & cracker stage.

After meetings with Sasha on Wednesday and Thursday getting details for English School worked out we were invited to Anatoli & Ala’s 25th Wedding Anniversary on Friday at 11am. Pastor Igor, pastor of Central Baptist Church, preformed the ceremony in the sanctuary…then we moved to the dining room for sweet foods, skits and a video.

Registration for the English School began on Friday afternoon, at Central Baptist Church.

There were 43 students enrolled that day. The Ukrainians facing forward in this picture are two of the Ukrainian teachers…Sergay in the red jacket and Nadaya with the black and white blouse and glasses. In the back ground you will see Kristy’s back as she is testing student Sergay. 11 more students registered on Saturday…hopefully we will have more on Monday. Sasha is hoping for 70 students.

Sandra is interviewing a student to see what level of English they speak. This student was advanced…Robin is her teacher. Steve teaches the older advanced students. Robin’s daughter, Chesely teaches the younger intermediate students. Sandra teaches the older intermediate students and Kristy teaches all the beginning students.

Please pray for the Ukrainian Teachers that sit in during the English lesson then guide in a discussion afterwards that points to the Bible. Sasha is with Robin. Nadaya is with Steve. Svetlana is with Chesely. Luda is with Sandra and Anitoli is with Kristy.

The topic for Saturday was : Book for all ages (Bible) Which was received well by some classes; however, there were a few students that caused difficulty for their teachers and therefore their class.

Monday : Parents and Children

Tuesday: Together in life (Marriage)

Wednesday: Why giants fall down (sin)

Thursday: Highest Reality (Who is God)

Friday: Peace in the world, with friends, with ourself, with God.

Saturday: will be a fellowship and graduation time during the Ukrainian time the Americans will share their testimony as part of the English Class.

Visits to this page since

April 24, 2007

Our 6PM Students singing …If You are Happy and You Know It!

Special Prayer Request: We found out last night that Kristy our beginner teacher will not be able to teach after Wednesday…So Steve has agreed to teach her 4PM Class. Beginners are quite different as you can imagine from Advanced students. Steve joined Kristy in the class last night and will continue with her while she is here. This is just another indication of how the Lord is in control, since Steve has been co-teaching with Robin in the 4pm advanced class …Please pray for Steve as he makes this transition.

In case you are wondering, Kristy’s 6pm class is much more advanced than her 4pm class so her 6pm class will move in with Sandra’s intermediate class on Thursday.

Dear Prayer Partners,

(Saturday, April 28, 2007)

We are PRAISING THE LORD for the way the students are responding. The Lord is answering your prayers.

We have had an extremely long day. What should have been a 20-40 minute job this morning preparing certificates for the English School...based on all the work that was done prior took about 4 and 1/2 hours. But it was worth it!

We were both able to share our FAITH testimony and share the FAITH presentation with our classes tonight...Steve with 10 students and Sandra with 16 students and guests. They were all very respectful and many showed outward signs of the work of the Holy Spirit.

The school is over...next week we start English Clubs and English Groups....Please continue to pray as we continue follow-up work with these students.

We just wanted to thank you for your prayers and the Tabernacle Church here wants to thank you as well. It is so exciting to see how the Holy Spirit is working in lives here.

Tomorrow we plan to attend services at Tabernacle Church at 10:00 for two hours and then at 3pm we plan to be at The Vineyard Church that was started from the English Club in 2006. We pray that the Lord will bless you and your church as you worship tomorrow.

Because of HIS Love,

Steve and Sandra

On Wednesday morning Sandra and Steve joined Grape Vine Church in a “Shes-leek” (Bar-B-Q) picnic in the forest near Lviv.

Wednesday night we had our First English Club at Tabernacle Church…the age range was from about 5 to 94… everyone seemed to have a good time…Your prayers are being answered.

Thursday night we started our English-Bible Discussion Groups…Steve had 5 Beginning students and Sandra had 8 Intermediate Students. These were both great groups.

Ukraine…seems to have a lots of holidays…Monday was a holiday; Tuesday was a holiday and so was Wednesday…Saturday & Sunday were Celebrate Lviv Days…Next Wednesday is suppose to be a BIG holiday…( the picture above is the children’s part of the parade lead by Svitalana an English Club member for 2003).

Friday night when we had dinner with 2 missionary families and on Saturday Grape Vine Church had a baptism service using Central Baptist Church.

Next weekend…we have an opportunity to go to Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea. We will leave on Friday night and return on Monday morning by over night trains. Please pray the Lord will bless this time.

Information posted

May 8, 2007

(Sunday, May 27, 2007)

Good Morning,

This is our last Sunday in Lviv. We plan to go to both

churches and understand one of the two sermons at each church will be in

English...Yeah! With an interpreter, of course. Today is Pentecost Sunday and

tomorrow will be the holiday. There will be a Christian Concert at the Opera

House tonight with screens and speakers outside for all to hear. We have been

told the Opera House is to hot so we have not bought tickets. We plan to go

with Grapevine Church and an American team from Georgia that arrived on Friday

and will be her a week working with the working with the church doing prayer

walking and street ministry during the day and English discussion groups in the evenings.

We have finished all our English Classes

and Clubs. Yesterday we had a picnic/bar-b-q in the forest on a hillside with

the church and English students. Much is done in Ukrainian so we don't know

all that is going on but that is the purpose of the English classes...to open

the door to build relationships with new people. Things have gone well.

Last Sunday we did a personal evangelism seminar "FAITH", at Tabernacle church after

a 2 hour church service and had 14 attend. They seemed very attentive and ask

a lot of questions.

Monday we will have a conclusion meeting with Sasha and then leave on a 8:30 pm train

for Budapest then on to Vienna, Hallstatt, Salzburg, Munich, Fission, Bern, Lauterbraunen (?),

Innsbruck then back to Budapest on June 11th...we start our flight home at 7:30 am the 13th and

by way of London and should arrive on Wednesday afternoon at DFW.

We look forward to seeing everyone and thank you for ALL YOUR PRAYERS...Please keep praying

for the seed that have been planted, the seedlings, and those that are nearer harvest.

Because of His Love,

Steve & Sandra