Above Photo: Gif is teaching an evening Bible Class in Ivano-Frankivsk. Natasha is interpreting for him. He presented a basic lesson on the inspiration and message of the Bible explaining the divisions and chapters and then how all combine for the good news message!
Tuesday was spent visiting and meeting and working on the preliminary actions for the Dalraida group that is arriving on Saturday. It was a day filled full and the three of us were busy in three different directions. We met for the daily planning meeting and Ivan had arranged for a TV reporter to be present. There is going to be a documentary style program produced and then aired on the Regional television station. The centerpiece will be the various locations in which Dalraida will work but then expand to include our humanitarian aid efforts and the family buckets that we shipped out of Montgomery. Paval says the last time he checked, the buckets were not expected in Port until early November.
After the meeting we went to Ugorniky and met with Mayor Lubov. We discussed a number of items and especially the classes that are planned while Dalraida is here. After Ugorniky I went to Snaityn and met with one of the contacts there about next week’s activities. While I was on the 4-hour trip, Gif and Simba were at the storage/distribution site. They were stamping the 500 Bibles that Eastern European Missions had sent. They placed the church stamp with the address and then had to write in the contact telephone number. We intend to give out all Bibles during our activities.
I had hoped to be back from Snaityn in time for a meeting with Gary Jerkins and one of medical institute’s directors and then get to the evening Bible classes that had been requested for Gif and Simba to teach, but things did not work out as planned and I missed all other appointments for the day.
The Bible class went well. We had been told that several had requested a Bible class and part knew some about the Bible but others had “zero knowledge” about the Bible. After I returned Ivan said the class went very well and several commented on how helpful the study had been for their understanding of the Bible.
Wednesday looks like another full day going in three different directions! We will start with the daily planning and briefing meeting then split up in three different directions eventually rejoining for an 11:00 visit to Starry Lysets. Starry Lysets is celebrating its 602 year birthday! It is impossible for me to grasp that I can stand in the middle of the village and stand where there has been a community living for 602 years!
Simba’s note… “The last two days I’ve learned a lot about trust and then need for a translator. You never know the true meaning of putting your life in someone’s hand until you go to a restaurant and the only thing you know about what you’re going to eat is that it’s from Ukraine. We had the opportunity to see the construction of the church building and it’s very exciting. The church’s impact on the community is clearly seen by the people who we’ve met with. Today Gif, Andrew, and myself stamped 500 bibles with the information for the church. We had to hand write the phone number, so we collectively wrote 5,000 digits. After the exchange rate, that’s only 178.57. Gif taught bible class this evening and you could tell that everyone was fully invested and very appreciative. I’m excited for the rest of the group to get here so they can experience the wonderful city and people that we’ve been lucky enough to get to know.”
Continue to pray for us as we continue in this mission.
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
