Odessa Mission
November 2003 Newsletter
Preeviet ('hey there') From Odessa!
Wow, where do we start? Well, as I mentioned in the last newsletter, we finally
got to see our friend Alyosha in Crimea. He's an adorable five-year old who lost
his mother to cancer last year. Since his father abandoned him just before her
passing, Alyosha was taken in by grandpa and uncle Vanya. Regretfully, grandpa no
longer lives with them due to a drinking problem. So Vanya, in his early twenties,
is working hard to pay off their debts and make ends meet for the both of them.
We wish you could have seen the expression of sheer disbelief on Vanya's face when
we told him that you wanted to pay off the debt on their apartment in Jesus' Name.
After the candy and cake we gave little Alyosha, we had $32 leftover from their
designated fund, which we'll save for next time. Vanya, after asking tons of
questions about the kind of Christians you are, even penned a short note to you:
"Thank you so much for the help you've given us and may God bless you all!"
The love that you've shown their family is priceless and we're confident that
the Lord will produce fruit from it. We also see meaningful results at the
cancer unit in Odessa. I was recently visiting with our friend Natasha, whose
two-year old son Daniel is there. As always, before parting, I told her that
we were praying for she and Daniel. "Thank you so much John!" she replied.
"For what?" I asked. "Just thank you," she paused, "for everything!"
Well, we have some good news that's actually good news couched in bad news, or
maybe vice versa(?). Either way, I'm glad we're writing in English instead of
Russian; I'm sure that's mutual too! We got a six-month extension on my visa
through the Baptist Union and also found potential worship facilities. Unfortunately,
we can't officially assemble for worship until we are registered with the
Ministry of Religious Affairs (MRA). We're presently working through that
process, which will hopefully be completed before 2004. Furthermore, even
after registering our church, I will not be able to function as their minister
until they officially invite me to do so, allowing me to obtain the correct visa.
Therefore, some of you will see us in January. The visa that the Baptists got
for me was simply an extension of my current visa. Let's just say that our first
mistake was assuming that our Baptist "friend", with whom we've been associating
the last four months, was sincere. In fact, he even went so far as to concoct a
story about the "unstable political situation here." The MRA indicated that that
statement was entirely false. Although his motives weren't very clear to us, his
opposition was. "Where's the good news?" you might ask. Well, again, I think any
spiritual opposition is a positive sign at this stage in the game. Moreover, this
delay has given us a greater sense of direction for our church, especially in regards
to the hospital ministry. That ministry is special for a number of reasons, a prime
one being the fact that most of the patients there are from other cities in the
Ukraine, giving us the chance to love them without the obstacle of ulterior motives.
"Pure religion" (James 1:27) allows everyone to benefit, especially those
ministering. Finally, God indirectly used the Baptist contact for His purposes.
In warning us about all the difficulties we'd face in ministry here,
our "friend" constantly criticized American missionaries by stating
that none of them had ever left a lasting impression.
"After they leave," he remarked, "things always fall apart!" Thankfully, Ira
came up with one of the primary reasons we believe the Lord working through us
won't fail. "Much of the time," she noted, "Americans start a church here and
eventually depart without ever purchasing a building. So, of course things
unravel because any substantial rental payments become a Chinese wall in this
Ukrainian economy!" Hence, in due time, with your help, The Odessa Mission
intends to break with that tradition. Yes friends, we're here for the long
haul to do His will.
Alla Nicolaevna is a precious woman who has worked at the cancer ward for about
twenty years now. She does not claim to believe in Jesus Christ, but her heart
for people certainly causes me to wonder. She has done so much for the
children there, even though we have known her for just over six months we
see the tremendous work she is doing. I'm happy to say that she also
does a lot for the neighborhood children. She's assembled a group of
about 12-15 kids from her block, and has asked me to tell them about
Jesus Christ. This past month was our first gathering at her apartment,
and I think we all hit it off extremely well. Please do keep Alla in
your prayers because I think she might become a very special part of
our ministry, in God's perfect plan and timing. In any case, it's
encouraging to see our amazing God using unlikely individuals, as
usual, to carry out His purposes. I should know since I'm one myself.
I've been concerned about my limited Russian becoming a hurdle in the
pulpit, but Ira's been getting some surprising feedback from our worship
team concerning our ongoing Bible studies. The team has expressed to
her how much they're absorbing because my Russian is so easy to understand.
So, even though the thoughts may be somewhat foreign to them, the
language I speak brings it down to their spiritual level. Thus,
God is transforming my restricted language skills into an asset
instead of a detriment.
In closing, I'd like to include an email I got wind of recently. It's from
Jerry and Laura Williams at one of our supporting churches in Florida: "Last week
we had a missionary visit Winter Haven. The husband/wife are working with a
campus ministry. The wife was baptized by John in Ukraine. The names are Geoff
and Tanya Lucas. They have the cutest little boy and asked if John had any children.
I thought John would be interested in hearing that. They work with the
University of Florida." It's satisfying to see that, from Ukrainian fruit,
God is even planting seeds on American soil.
Mwe Vas Lubem (We Love You All)!
Love In Christ, John and Ira - The Odessa Mission