Odessa Mission
January 2004 Newsletter
S Novem Godem eez Odessey!!!
(Happy New Year from Odessa!!!)
The Odessa Mission keenly takes this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for helping to make 2003 a special year for the Kingdom of God in the former CCCP (USSR). Because of your eagerness to make the gospel known around the world, we are now on the verge of planting the first Restoration church in this particular region of Ukraine. There are presently fourteen registered Protestant congregations in the city of Odessa and it appears that ours will become number fifteen, all due to your sacrificial faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, due to your generosity, it also looks as though we'll eventually be able to purchase a building in the not too distant future, which will significantly enhance our ministry's effectiveness and give us a secure location for as long as we need it. And considering the current rate at which Odessa real estate is skyrocketing it's also the wisest choice for the sake of stewardship.
Many of you know that Ira and I will be stateside from January 23rd through February 15th. We're anxiously looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible in order to thank you personally and share some of our thoughts regarding this past year as well as the one to come. We also received a request to speak at Roanoke Bible College during our short stay, which always gives us the chance to inspire some to consider full-time missionary service and even possibly recruit potential helpers for our own work, in addition to broadening our prayer-support base. Another reason we'll be stateside is for me to obtain a faith-based work visa from the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, which will allow me to legally function as a minister here. My current visa denies me that right, but Andre Bakala, minister of the Word of Life Church in Odessa, has agreed to extend me an official invitation that will hopefully facilitate the process. As an added blessing, he also indicated that he'd issue the invitation without obligation. Please do remember our furlough plans in your prayers so when we return here we can hit the ground running and register our congregation, Kind Road Christian Church (Durogi Dobro Hristianski Tserkov in Russian).
A further potential development through Andre Bakala is teaching ministry outreach strategies, within the Muslim context, at their Christian institute. He told me that there are several people interested in becoming missionaries to Turkey who desperately need training in that area. Andre was more than pleasantly surprised to hear of my background as a missionary on the Crimean Peninsula and is currently studying my relevant work, Answers In The Book. By the way, for those wondering about the status of my latest literary project, let's just say that I'm slowly working on the final chapter whenever time permits. Since I'm so close to the end (of the book that is) I started looking for a translator for my book and the Lord provided one today. A couple of days ago I asked Sveta Damuth if she would consider translating my book and she finally responded, "Yes!", today. In fact, she even agreed to do it for a box of Russian chocolates. Not bad! By coincidence, or divine intervention, she's the same young woman who interpreted at Ira and my wedding. Now I'm searching for the best publishing options. Free English version hard copies as well as attached files will be available to all supporting individuals upon request and hard copies will also be sent to all supporting churches for use in their libraries.
"How's the hospital ministry going?" you might ask. Well, December was not only an interesting month, in that regard, but feasibly the most successful one too. For the most part, when we visit with the children we often get mixed signals from a number of nurses and hospital workers. Their smiles usually seem somewhat forced, for whatever reason, and their demeanor implies a tad of suspicion concerning our motives and intentions. Sometimes the snide remarks also slip out, just adding to the overall drama in the unit. Frankly, Russian pride is conceivably the biggest obstacle we face here. A few weeks ago, a particular doctor invited me to her birthday party at the ward. Unfortunately, it wasn't just her birthday bash but also her opportunity to bash America in front of all the workers at the unit. Of course, all Protestant forms of Christianity were hammered in the process until my voice cleared up some of their misconceptions. A few days later another Russian doctor also decided to lay into Protestant Christianity in the main office, probably just assuming that my politeness inferred a sheer sense of naivety automatically attributed to all foreigners. For Eena, being a highly subjective patriot like her colleague, it's close to impossible for her to see value in anything foreign. "The Russian Orthodox Church is all Russians will ever need!" she demanded. "Besides," she added, "you Protestants have ruined Christianity!" While my lengthy response to the contrary gave her much to consider, our New Year's program for the kids was the best argument because it unequivocally established our sincere dedication to the ministry there. Alla Nikolaevna, one of the workers at the hospital, claims that it was the best New Year's program she had ever seen there in her twenty years on the job. Now, even for our nationalistic friends, we're beginning to sense that authentic smiles in the ward are spontaneously cropping up just about everywhere.
Ira and I want to express our deepest gratitude for all of the genuine sacrifices you're making, the prayers you're praying, and the love you're sending, in order to make God's dream for this city come true. We appreciate you all so much and happily send our warmest wishes your way as we begin 2004 together. Hopefully, we'll be seeing some of you soon.
S Bogum (Go with God!)
John and Ira - The Odessa Mission