Odessa Mission
July 2007 Newsletter
Our Neighbor Day Celebration
Most of you probably know that God recently provided a new facility for us, in
answer to your prayers. Well, given the new location, we thought we'd invite our
new neighbors to come and welcome us to the area on a particular Friday night
in June. (Actually, our new venue is only two blocks from where we were.) We
called the event "Neighbor Day," hung posters all over the immediate area,
and went door-to-door inviting folks to the celebration. We can't tell you
exactly how many apartments we visited but it was approximately 350 of them.
The reactions were pretty typical. Some jeered, some sneered, at least one
came close to threatening us, and then there were others who seemed somewhat
interested. Of course, it's always the ones who promise to come that you just
have to learn to ignore, which we usually do.
Nevertheless, three women showed up, one elderly man, and two kids. The elderly
man was very cordial and wished us the very best, although he didn't even stay
long enough to sit down or have a cup of coffee. The same held true for one of
the women, who was missing all of her front teeth, yet had lots of alcohol on
her breath to compensate. She evidently knew who I was and even remembered
my name, which probably means that she had been to our church for a previous
outreach event. She immediately told us that she'd invited a friend and had
to go right away to meet him, promising to return together. Well, she
basically flew the coop, which was certainly no surprise. However, another
woman came with her five- year old son, but she, too, had been drinking.
Apparently, the only thing that kept her from leaving was a kids' craft
designed by our girls (Tatyana, Ella, and Oxonna). So, she was basically
our prisoner for about thirty minutes until her son finished his
project. Finally, there was an elderly woman who chatted with me
for about an hour. She was nice, but, like 99.99% of the people in
Odessa, she was also EXTREMELY CONFUSED. She enthusiastically shared
about her theory regarding the falls of both the Roman and Soviet
empires, basically claiming that lead poisoning warped people's
minds enough to bring demise on both fronts. And, no, I didn't tell
her that she might want to change the paint in her apartment and
boil her water a little longer, but there sure were times when I
was tempted!
Our Book-selling Ministry
In our Power Point presentation on the website, you probably noticed that KRCC
has been experimenting with a book-selling ministry out on the street corner.
Due to other pressing demands, we haven't been able to devote much time to
this outreach. In June, though, we did get out there for several days. Sadly,
we only sold one book to a member of the local Baptist church. On one
particular day, we actually decided to try a location other than the one
we've been using and were rudely ordered to leave the premises. We then set
up shop elsewhere and got the same welcome even though we had every right to
be there, which left Oxonna in tears. Hence, we're right back where we started.
Please do pray for our continued protection in this regard because this sort
of ministry gets pretty intense sometimes.
Twenty Seconds With Stefan
"Okay, well, what about Stefan?" you ask. At the moment, he's growing leaps and
bounds and seems to be doing very well. He will be four months old on July 19th
and presently weighs about sixteen pounds. We'd like to say many thanks to Bruce
and Charlene Jaqua for the baby clothes, as well as to their friend who made
the beautiful blanket. We'd also like to thank Michael and Shirley Wetzel
(Shepherd's Purse) for their generous gifts to Stefan, as well as to John's
family members. Muchos gracias also to Community Christian Church and Gethsemane
Church of Christ, and Bill and Diane Ware, as well as to Diane's friend for all
of their wonderful gifts. We apologize if we've missed anyone here. Needless to
say, Stefan is not just growing, he's stylin' too!
Special Prayer Requests:
* For Ron and Linda Hammell (our webmaster) that Ron continues to be cancer free.
* For Linda Hammell as she carries all of her demands and gets our new site up.
* For Bill Ware as he continues to improve in his role as forwarding agent.
* For clarity of vision and a better understanding of God's will for the work here.
* For more supporters so we can meet both our budget needs and goals.
* For Okcana as she enrolls at Tavrichiski Bible Institute this summer.
* For Ira's Dad, Vladimir, who has been attending worship in Crimea for the last
two months, while reading three of Lee Strobel's books. YES!
* For John as he continues to minister both in Odessa and Crimea. John has been
traveling to Crimea (14 hours away) once a month to fill an empty pulpit in one
of our churches there. That's where Ira's Dad has been going lately.
* For ongoing relationship-building with those who played in May's b-ball tourney.
* For the success of our VBS program, scheduled for July 10-14th.
* For Oxonna's Mom (Nadia) as she prepares to be baptized in the near future.
* For the successful start of our ministry to the local Society for the Handicapped.
* Finally, for Stefan as he continues to grow and ESPECIALLY since he looks a
lot like his daddy.
Grace and Peace, John and Ira Murphy
The Odessa Mission, Ukraine