Report #8 – March 9, 2021

Above Photo: We had 16 present for our first Tuesday night class and 13 present for the second class. More joined us through their telephones.

Today dawned bright & sunny but cold and colder! The snow is slowly melting although temps barely made it above freezing. While shivering in the cold and walking into a blustery Siberian wind, I continue receiving weather alerts that Montgomery is experiencing 20+ degrees ABOVE the average!

Today was filled full with various events and most were standing in line and waiting and waiting! But there were several highlights that I want to mention briefly. The first was a visit to Ruslan and Maria’s for a snack. She warned that it was not a full meal but only a snack of pancakes and fruit jams and sour cream. It was delicious. Maria had put up the preserves herself. There was strawberry, raspberry, and black current jams. There was also some sour cream that you could use. It is always a joy to be invited into their home!

The second spotlight focused on the evening Bible Classes. We had in-person attendance as well as those listening via phones. Our first class was a discussion class on how to build a GREAT Church and tonight the topic was “the Bible Classes.” This is a challenging topic because over here many have grown up thinking that religion was only for adults. So, any consideration of teaching children was ignored. Sveta has wanted to get a Bible Class program going and on one of her visits JOY CAMPBELL discussed some mechanics of an effective Bible Class Program. With enough teaching, prodding and suggested formats I think this will eventually be seen.

Our second class is on the Epistle to the Colossians. With it being the last and the day being long spent, I was pleased to see a good number remain. Because of the time of the classes I suggested that we provide some sandwiches and juices for those who came straight from work and were unable to eat supper. Ruslan and Maria are in charge of meals for the congregation and Ruslan had gone shopping earlier to get the food items.

Tomorrow will begin around 5:00 am my time. Plans are to go to the bank and open an account into which I can wire money for operations; meet with Mayor Lubov in Ugorniky’s White House, look at the construction site and see the benevolent storage facility; eat lunch with Andrew and Marina (she’s cooking varenikis!), meet with a group of lawyers who are registered as the “Corruption Hunters” (these attack the overt corruption in the various administrations in Ukraine—Johnny is on their Board), then teach the two evening Bible Classes (that will include THREE lessons)! Today I was told that Thursday will reveal if we have received the release of the two containers that have been hung up in Kyiv.

There are lots of moving parts and I think all are being addressed!

Thank you for your interest, concerns and prayers!

John L. Kachelman, Jr.
(Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)

PS – The favorate mask position, if you choose to wear one, is equal to or below chin!