Featured Photo: We loaded project #503 and here’s the loading crew!
WE ARE BAAACK!! The website has been fighting malware that shut us down. Just when we thought it was cured more infected files popped up. BUT NOW it seems we have cleared the virus and are back online! We have missed sending you updates and news on the Lord’s successes!
It seems incredible that another December is in the present! We continue being involved in a number of actions that are used to sow and water the gospel seed knowing that God will give the increase in His time. As annual budget evaluations are underway, let me ask that you consider financial support for the works you read about in these updates.
THANK YOU to all who support our efforts!
Here are a few of the recent highlights I want to include in this update.
Ivano-Frankivsk Telegram Site Update
We have been working on a Telegram site for the Ivano-Frankivsk congregation and will soon leave the FaceBook site. This change will accomplish a number of objectives regarding security, unwanted members in the posts, and eliminate the funding of ungodly evil. Here is the most recent reply about the site’s development: “Peace be with you Brother John! I apologize for not answering the letter right away, as I do not often read letters in gmail. I am writing a link to the church website telegram, so it is ready for use only for our congregation.” Permission access to the private communication pages for the members only will be evaluated for special approval. The general information pages will be viewable by anyone. It seems that the current FB page was set up and no one knows who is a member on that page. The “public” access to some pages where teaching articles and news of the congregation will be posted, but communication from those not members of the congregation in Ivano-Frankivsk will have to “pass muster” to be allowed.
From the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Oncology Hospital
Readers of this site will recall the oft mentions of our assistance to the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Oncology Hospital. Recently a plaque was posted where weekly 1,000 patients PLUS their family, friends, and staff will pass by and read it. This plaque thanks the Ivano-Frankivsk Church of Christ for providing furnishings to the new radiology wing.
Recently the hospital sent Gif this communication:
“Hello Andrew Gifford. We are finishing the renovation of the wing where the new linear accelerator compartment will be installed. We expect it to arrive this month, but we still have to furnish the wards. You and John Kachelman discussed about this with Director Igor Dmytrenko during your last visit. We spoke about future plans and suggestions! As we discussed we prepared the list of our needs. We will appreciate so much if you will have the opportunity to help equip the department with some of those listed.
“Our oncology center and the chief doctor Igor Dmytrenko are grateful to you and to John Kachelman and the Ivano-Frankivsk Church of Christ for your willingness to continue helping our center. Many displaced persons from eastern and central regions of Ukraine moved after the full-scale invasion and continue to come for treatment to the Ivano-Frankivsk Cancer Center. In now the 22nd year, we served a population of 1,300,000 in our region, and now the load on the only one treatment machine Cobalt60 is 1,500,000 of the population of the region, which continues to increase. I want to emphasize the fact that according to the IAEA norms one device can serve only 300,000 people. The Linear Accelerator that Germany provided will improve the quality of treatment for our patients! Your help is very important now. Thank you for not being indifferent and helping to build our tomorrow with incredible zeal!”
The scope and impact of this action is immeasurable. We have developed a good relationship that invites us to come and present Bible classes to patients and families. When has the Lord’s Church had the open door to share the gospel to OVER ONE-MILLION souls!
We are excited about this opportunity to help further this hospital and how it will open doors of opportunity for the Lord!
Wonderful Communication!
I am thankful for so many that send a quick note validating our efforts and joining in the Lord’s successes by contributing the funds critical to operations. Here are just two examples.
Email: “We’ve been following the work in Ukraine and are happy to help financially. The Lord has richly blessed us to be able to do so. We will continue to keep you and Ukraine in our prayers! In Him! Dave & Erin”
Phone Call: I received a call from two dear friends (Brent & Linda) asking about the Lord’s work in Ukraine (Brent & Linda). They called asking what was the greatest need and then stated they were sending a “little” donation BUT it turned out to be very generous!
Snail-mail: “Thanks for your love for the souls of men and women. God Bless! Jeffrey. PS–A real Thanksgiving Blessing for you all.”
Email: “I just wanted to tell you, the elders and Mission Team that Gif is nothing short of a Godsend. He is doing what I have been praying for and working towards for 10+ years. I do have a couple of ideas on ways to help him so he doesn’t get burnt out. Let me know if you are going to be in Tennessee any time soon and we can discuss this and the plans for our Galaxy Clinic that is quickly taking shape. God bless! John”
Requests Continue Coming…
Our dear John and Tatiana! We hope you are doing well. We think of you often and miss you. We would like to tell you about what is happening here—in our region, in the city, in the organization. Perhaps you know that the situation has become very tense. The city is under fire almost every day, and the countryside is also suffering. We are all under stress, especially children. We, as an organization, have a number of grant projects aimed at the elderly, seriously ill, and people with disabilities. Meanwhile, winter is approaching. It promises to be hard. The electricity is already being cut off every day on schedule. But we are being prepared for the possibility that there may be no power at all. People are desperate and scared. But life must go on. No matter what, children must learn, grow and enjoy life at least a little. We have numerous requests from communities and local governments (we are adding some of them, but this is only a small part). The New Year is coming soon and we realize that it would be nice to support children in these terrible times. Unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity. So we are appealing to you, hoping that you will be able to help children from the communities at least a little. We will be grateful. If it is impossible, we will understand. In any case, we are always happy to see and hear from you, because you are our great friends. Migulia Evgen (Zaporozhe)
Gif’s Report
Here is an abbreviation of Gif’s most recent report. Read and rejoice in the great good that is being accomplished! The full report is in the PDF embedded at the end of this section.
GIF-November-ReportSorry I’m a couple of days late on this but we’ve gone back to several hours per day without power now…The past few months have been quite a whirlwind full of visits to government offices, doing paperwork, re-doing paperwork, translating that paperwork, doing more paperwork, and visiting more offices…All of this was done for two purposes: first, so that I could finally receive my residency card that allows me to legally stay beyond 90 days. All of the work for that is complete at last, and now we just wait for the physical card to come in from Kyiv (which will then involve yet another visit to a government office)…The church has experienced some good things with the major biblical foci being on how we worship and why we worship as well as working through the Sermon on the Mount in our Wednesday classes…Vova (Volodya) has also taken turns preaching, with his lessons focusing on the meaning of salvation and how to attain it. He and his wife, Natalie, are very evangelistically minded, and they want to reach and teach as many people as they can, which is obvious through their participation as well! Though many of members might still be considered new in the faith, you can really see their growth and their interest, especially in the Wednesday lessons…As far as day-to-day evangelism goes, our visits to the rehab clinic continue…Every three weeks they rotate patients, so once a week we go to offer encouragement, pray, and have Bible discussions with those who are interested. One thing to note though is that one of the doctors at the clinic has not missed a meeting—he is quiet and doesn’t often contribute to the discussion, but if he sees that we are there, he always comes into the room. Clearly, there is something he finds important there and we are glad to interact with him…I’ve also been invited to King Daniel University on a regular basis to be involved with their teachers and students in the English department so that they have a native speaker with whom they can practice…any time I have a day without an interpreter available, I arrange to go to the university because there are endless possibilities there. The time there has already produced two separate Bible studies as well as an opportunity to tell Bible stories to students in the classes, and several different conversations about who we are as the church and why we are different…Two weeks ago, I was even allowed to tell the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection! This has been my favorite thing to do so far and it seems to be fairly productive. Plus, every teacher who invites me to their class buys me multiple cups of coffee when I arrive. How could I say no? Gif
Container Loadings Continue
We continue to load and ship benevolent items for distribution by the Lord’s Church. The shipping funds have almost “dried up” but thankfully we continue to receive some funds that help us pay shipping costs. In recent weeks, the Montgomery, AL warehouse has loaded a container for the Lord’s work in Panama. Brother Larry Brady coordinates this action. While in the USAF Larry would be with flights going into Panama. Through his military service he was able to connect with various contacts and began working with brethren. His involvement has continued and each year he coordinates a shipment taking Christmas boxes to the children there. This year over 900 boxes were loaded and shipped!
Another container was loaded for Ukraine. This container had a complete dialysis unit, numerous medical equipment, and over 600 boxes of medical disposable supplies. This container was valued over $500,000.00 and shipped a total of 17,540 pounds of supplies! This container will be divided among a number of hospitals in Ukraine according to greatest need.
THANK YOU to all who are partners in this amazing work for the Lord!
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ukraine Missions, Dalraida Church of Christ, P.O. Box 3085, Montgomery, AL 36109
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