Okay, here it is almost five months since I last wrote on the blog.  Frank has been telling me that I've got to get back to it.  So, after thinking about it for some time, I'm trying to do that.  I thought I would start this again by posting our monthly updates.  That would be a good start and let you know from month to month what we're doing and what is happening around the Home of Hope.  We send these updates out by email to people who have indicated they are interested in receiving and are interested in praying for us.  But the big majority of our friends on Facebook do not receive them, so I think it's good to put it here and then notify them on my Facebook page. 

Well, what have we been doing since my last posting in late September which was about our trip to Prague, Czech Republic?  In October we were in our routine here at the Center.  I went to the orphanage every week, and we had our fellowship meeting with the young adults as well as my ladies' group.  Frank started his Bible study with another group of ladies, finishing their work with the book of Hebrews.  He also worked on the treasurer's books and helped out in small jobs as needed.  In November we went to the U.S. for three weeks to check up on Frank's mother.  She is getting more and more frail and we felt that it was important for us to go home and assess her situation.  For now she is staying in her small assisted living apartment, but it is getting more difficult for her to get around.  Frank talks to her on the phone several times each month.  This picture was taken in late November while we were there.

We came back to Berdyansk at the end of November expecting to be met by extreme cold and snow.  But you know what?  Our winter has been very mild for the most part.  Many days have been in the upper 30s and mid-40s with lots of sunshine and very little wind.  And we've only had three or four snow showers, after which the snow quickly melted.  We've often said that we are glad we weren't in the U.S.  Even Oklahoma has had some rough weather, cold, windy, and snowy.  Now, having said all that, I have to admit that last week and this week are more normal for Ukraine.  The temperatures are down in the teens and lower at night, the wind is very brisk during the day, and it feels like winter here.  But we still haven't had snow and the sun is shining.  February is supposed to be the worst month of the year, and it is just about over.  March is around the corner and we are thinking about spring, although that won't really arrive until early April. 

I think most of you know that in December the Ukraine field received a wonderful Christmas present in the form of money to finish the Home of Hope building.  Since late December the place has been busy with workmen in the new sanctuary and in other places.  We are excited about seeing how the place will look when everything is finished.  Some work outside will have to wait until warmer weather.  The parking area in front needs to have more cement poured and the guttering outside needs to be finished.  When it is I promise that we will have lots of pictures to show you. 

I think that's all for now.  It won't be long until we get our February update written and posted here.  Thanks for reading this. 

JANUARY 31, 2011, UPDATE

We ended the calendar year with Christmas, and we opened the New Year with another Christmas! Many of the Protestant churches here, particularly those with ties to Western groups, have some celebration on December 25. And so on the 26th, Bethel, the church we attend, had a special program involving their children and teens. But most churches also celebrate Christmas on January 7th, which is the birth of Jesus according to the Eastern calendar. So that afternoon we watched a program at the sister church in Primorsk (about 20 miles away), and came back to participate in a short program and then a meal at Bethel. We also went to the First Stage Orphanage to see the kids practice a short Christmas program which they presented later downtown in the city hall. They love to show off their acting, singing and dancing abilities! We loved watching them do it. Then we distributed pretty boxes of candy to them.

In our home we had a Christmas get-together for our young adult group. We insisted that they had to sing some Ukrainian Christmas songs for us, and the music was good. We ate a lot, talked a lot, and played some group games for fun. It was a great evening.

Work on completing the construction on the Home of Hope (where Bethel Church meets) is progressing well. Almost all of the interior work is now done. Some of the exterior work (plastering the guard and storage unit, painting, and finishing the concrete parking area) will have to wait until winter is over and temperatures are suitable. In the meantime there is work to be done on the guttering and some other outside metal work.

I (Frank) recently finished up one course I have been teaching, and have now started a new class, this one on the Acts of the Apostles. There are five ladies from the church attending it.We are encouraged because the number of people in the class has increased, and interest is developing about the opportunity to study God’s Word.

The treasurer’s work keeps me busy, especially now that there is construction going on. I make several trips to the bank each week, and soon it will be time to finish the financial year, and get all the books up-to-date and ready to close for a new financial year to begin.

In our December up-date, we had mentioned our trip to the capital, Kiev, for passport business with the American Embassy. That trip went well, though it was much colder there than down here in Berdyansk. Then in January we made a trip to our district headquarters to renew our local registration, so we are legally here for another year. We’ll probably not travel far from home for a while now, since the worst month of winter is February, when we get most of our snow and bitterly cold temperatures. Brrrrrrr. . . . .

The group of church ladies who meet in our home had to postpone their Christmas visit to our apartment to January 9th, but Chris had a good time with them. She prepared a few American Christmas dishes for a tasting party----roast chicken and dressing, cranberry sauce, and fruitcake. In the serious part of the evening she has been discussing issues related to Christian families, from a Biblical point of view. One of the ladies made the suggestion that they should share with each other the names of their children, so they can pray for each other’s families. We believe that they will follow up on this idea, and that is also an encouragement because they initiated this themselves. You can see a few of the ladies below wearing knitted scarves that were sent to Ukraine by a lady in California. They had fun choosing which one they liked the most.

We have received a number of Christmas cards and greetings from friends in the States, and wish to thank all of you who have sent them, as well as those of you who have been so faithfully remembering to support us with your gifts, prayers and encouragement.

MINISTRY DEVELOPMENTS, PART 2

I want to continue talking about what we are actually doing here in Berdyansk.  I have written about the difficulties in getting a lay education program started and the Berdyansk Training Institute up and running effectively.  But we wanted to get to know people and become involved in their lives in a positive way, and this was also slow to develop.  Our first four months here (December thru March) were mostly spent in settling in, adjusting to weather and cultural issues, learning what was actually going on in the WGM work here, and finally moving into the bigger apartment and Frank's learning the treasurer's work.

I was determined that we needed to take the initiative in meeting people and developing relationships.  Keep in mind that we still have the language issue that is a barrier, but some folks do know English and like to talk to us with the little they know.  And Frank is growing in his ability to understand and slowly communicate, much better than me.  And since Ukrainians tend to be reserved until they get to know you, it was up to us to take the first steps.

So in April we started in a small way to invite people to our home for a meal. Our first guests were some young people who work here at the center, Igor and Vika, a young couple, and Inna, a young woman who works as a translator and part-time accountant.  Igor works in maintenance although he likes to be involved with the youth and other ministries, and Vika was working at that time in the youth ministries. 

Inna and Vika

Vika and Igor

I love Igor's smile!  It's like a little boy, and he has the ability to laugh at himself and with others.  He is a Bible school graduate, but hasn't found the right place for ministry.  Bill Brower and ourselves want to encourage him to keep working here, but also to make attempts to get him involved actively in ministries that he enjoys.  He is a wonderful woodworker and does beautiful plaques and signs.  A very talented young man who also likes to sing and play the guitar.  Vika worked with the youth center and the orphanage ministry for a while, but she has moved on to other jobs.  She was really helpful to me when I first started going to the orphanage, sometimes translating, sometimes making suggestions.  Inna has become a good friend.  She and I go to get our nails done together.  The manicurist, Larissa, works from her home and she and her husband and two boys attend Bethel Church.  Inna is the translator for our missionary friend, Don Norton.  He has ESL classes in the Ministry Center and is helpful in many ways.          

We have also had Pastor Sergei and Pastor Arkadi in our home for a meal, as well as discussions about how to develop a lay training program.  When they came for a meal a few weeks ago they brought along Sergei's mother, Lena.  She is very friendly and was really interested in my needlework and quilting.  She encouraged me to try and get the ladies together sometime to work on teaching them some of my skills.  I am working on this, trying to find the right time and the right way to go about it.  Perhaps I'll write more about this in September.

Pastor Sergei and his mother

Pastors Sergei and Arkadi  (I wonder where Arkadi's sweatshirt came from?)

But our major focus has been in continuing a small group which was started by our missionary friend, Don Norton.  He had been meeting it two or three times a month for food and fellowship.  We wanted to start something, but we didn't want to be in competition with him.  Well, the young adults were ready to have as many meetings (and free food!) as we could provide.  But we worked with Don and now we have a fluid schedule that alternates meetings at his place and ours.  So we have a small group once a month, usually on Saturday evening.  So far it's been basically for food and fun, with games.  But we want to expand it into something more meaninful and serious, keeping the games but wanting to have at least a half-hour of discussion, prayer and/or devotions. 

Mexican train dominoes

Another young couple who are in our group is Sasha and Oksana.  Sasha is the young man who was being mentored in Church history by Frank.  His wife Oksana is lovely to be with.  She has a wonderful sense of humor, and I love to hear her talking about "my Sasha."  They are both Bible school grads, but are working full-time jobs to make ends meet.  He is currently working in a factory which makes farm equipment, and she works as a hairdresser, doing senior citizens' haircuts at the centers where they meet or live.  She has also been cutting my hair and Frank's.  (It's nice to have the person come directly to your home to cut your hair.) 

Oksana and Sasha

Sasha is now in the process of beginning a church in his neighborhood.  It started as a church he attended and helped to pastor, but through various issues he is now spearheading a drive to reach more of the young families who live close to him.  And he is taking over the role of pastor.  He is a thoughtful fellow who loves the Lord and wants to be involved in ministry.  He and Igor are not so interested in the games.  Usually they sit and talk while the ladies play!  One thing Oksana told me was that young couples crave good Christian fellowship and want to have activities on the weekend to fill that need.  We want to help them find that fellowship.

MINSTRY DEVELOPMENTS

Well, I've talked a lot about life here, the things we've seen and places we've visited.  But we're not here on a tourist trip, we're here to work.  So I want to spend some time talking about what we are actually doing in ministry.  It's interesting in many missionaries' lives that they often end up doing things that they hadn't thought they would do and they don't do things that they had prepared to do.  I think we can say that is the case with us in Ukraine.  Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility.

We had been planning to develop a lay education program in the church.  When we visited Ukraine in 2007 that was presented as a great need.  And we had the qualifications to do that.  When we were asked to start this, we were eager to do it because it got us out of an institutionalized frame of mind and would get us into practical, everyday ministry in the church.  Well . . . . . things didn't turn out quite as we expected. 

First of all, we were extremely slow in getting to the field.  Ernie Smith, our friend and previous Field Director, rightly felt that he couldn't wait forever for us.  So he put Bill Tarr in place, here in Berdyansk, to begin the lay education program.  Bill and Betsy moved to Berdyansk from western Ukraine after the Wesley Bible School closed because of lack of funds and students.  Bill was very experienced in education and began to work on developing classes which would be taught at the Home of Hope ministry center.  A name was given to this:  the Berdyansk Training Center.  Our vision had been that we would be out in the churches teaching these classes, but since we weren't here Bill did what he thought was best at that time.  The classes were very slow to begin, the interest among the lay people was low, and the churches didn't seem to have much interest to move in this direction.  Consequently, the BTI has not been successful.  Frank began teaching one class in January with only two students.  And for various reasons, that class discontinued in March, although Frank continued to tutor one young man, Sasha, in Church History once a week.  (And I must add here, Frank has learned a lot from Sasha about the Ukrainian church and people.)  The Tarrs left the field in early March because of Bill's health problems and Frank was put in charge of the BTI.  At this time, Frank is trying to develop opportunities to meet with various pastors in Berdyansk, get to know them, and talk to them about developing BTI for the needs that the Ukrainian churches feel that they have.  It has been extremely slow, and a little frustrating.  But we don't want to rush into trying to develop something that will immediately die off when we leave the field in a year or two.

Frank's main job at this time is Field Treasure.  Betsy Tarr capably filled that position for a number of  years, but she is now gone and Frank is still on the learning curve about what is expected by WGM accounting and by the IRS, etc.  Banking, expense reports, budgets, expenditures and receipts, etc.----all these things fill much of his time.

I (Chris) had planned to teach also, but that hasn't worked out.  The BTI library is in the ministry center and needs work done on it, but we are waiting to see how things develop before I spend hours and hours working on the books, cataloguing and classifying them.  Betsy Tarr turned over her responsibilities has ministry center hostess to me, but that job is fairly easy at this time.  If work teams return to Ukraine next summer, I will be busy, busy, busy.  I am also the official mentor for Oksana Brower.  This is a WGM program that was developed to help new, young missionaries fit into the ministries of the field and the expectations of what a missionary should be.  I'm sure I learn more from her (since she is Ukrainian) than she learns from me.  My favorite day of the week is Tuesday, when I go to the orphanage in the morning and spend time with the little ones.  I love it when they run to me and give me big hugs when we walk in.  I helped with the VBS/Kid's Club in June, teaching some lessons and just being available to do whatever was needed.  My current dream is to get a women's ministry started.  Some ladies have shown interest in my knitting and crocheting, and even my quilting which I don't do hardly at all here.  I'll let you know how this develops as time goes by. 

In my next posting, I will write about our entertaining of friends and young people in our home.  We started this is April, and have continued to develop it through the spring and summer.  I'll put up pictures and tell you all about our Ukrainian friends.  And I will also share about an unexpected new ministry that is developing---that of helping Americans who are in Berdyansk in the process of adopting Ukrainian children.  More on that to follow.