Ukraine

Hello to everyone
It is often so hard to know exactly what to say and what to update everyone on. So much is happening, but it becomes such a part of "normal" life for us, that it often seems trivial to us.

It has been somewhat slow getting started this year because of the holidays and so many friends in the midst of end of the year or beginning of the year exams. Things are done so different here in the education system that we are still trying to figure it out and follow the schedule:-0 And also we have 2 holidays for Christmas and also 2 New Years Days because of old calenders. We did only celebrate 2 of those holidays but it does affect everyone's schedule.

We have decided that we will begin to meet every Thursday evening from 6pm-9pm, with our group that we started meeting with just over a year ago. We used to meet at different days because of different work schedules etc, but much has changed and we decided this is best.
Part of the vision for the discipleship group was to begin an outreach where the "kids" we disciple can reach out to the larger community, build relationships, and bring them into a deeper relationship with Christ. We believe it is time to begin this outreach. We are not sure when or where it will be as of yet, but when it begins we are planning on having this outreach every other week.

We are also still staying with Oleg and Jenya, which has really worked well for us and we hope for them:-) Actually they have not had any complaints with us that we know of. If you know otherwise please let us know:-) We will begin looking for our own apartment soon, but as prices have gone up it is taking considerably more time to find. We also want to wait on the Lord on this. If this is the arrangement that the Lord has for us we want to accept this as His provision.

Prices here have gone up about 25% on food and transportation. It has also gone up about 50% for housing. We also have more expenses in way of ministry. We are in the process of proofing the pre-marital material and then sending it to press. Please pray Gods favor will be on this material. We do have a possibility of at cost or even free printing. Please pray that this will be so. We have been working on this for well over a year and really want to see this to completion.

David's Mom has taken a turn for the worse just lately. She was visiting her daughter in the state of Washington and noticed that she was increasingly finding herself becoming short of breath. She decided to go home about 2 weeks early and has since seen a doctor and gotten a chest x-ray. It seems that the fluid has increased on her lung but rite now her blood is too thin to take the fluid of her lung. So she has decided to rest and take some supplements to build the blood back up and will have the procedure done next week. Please pray that the doctors would find out why all of this has happened.

Christine is beginning Russian classes on Tuesday Jan 29. Because of finances she will be taking the lessons and then do her best to teach David what she is learning.

There is so much to pray for, so as usual let the Holy Spirit guide you because he knows far more what we need and how to pray then we do. Pray that we would have the strength to continue on the path that the Lord has laid out for us.

If anyone has any questions for us please contact us at ukrainecd@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer all emails.

Marching on!!!!
David and Christine

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have arrved here in Kharkov safely. We are currently staying with Oleg and Jenya and what a blessing it is to us. Jenya is quite a housekeeper and cook. Their apartment is sparkling clean and we have already had food cooked for us. We will probably be so comfortable here we will not want to look for a place of our own.
Our first day here we have done nothing but sleep and we are starting to feel a little more normal after the 24 hours of travel. Our friend Vova Sukhov picked us up in Kiev in his van with Jenya, Oleg and Ollie and we made the best time ever from Kiev to Kharkov :-) He is a very fast driver but we felt safe as he is a good driver.
Once again we are sitting here with friends wondering if we ever left. It is amazing how we just pick up where we left of. Must be the favour of the Lord! The weather is quite gloomy rite now and we got a little snow today. Went with Jenya to the water truck to get water (obviously) and it was one of those things that reminds you where you are. Those are the little things that help remind you of the differences but there really is no culture shock to speak of.

Here it is November already and we have not updated this website since the end of June. I do believe apologies would be in order. We are very sorry that we have not gotten around to doing this until now. So many things have happened since arriving in the USA, it is hard to know where to start.

Considering that we are writing from the USA it is obvious that we arrived here safely since we last updated this website. The latest news is that we are going back to Kharkiv on the 5th of December which is very soon and we are feeling the pressure of getting ready to leave. Always seems like there is more to do the closer it gets to the time of departure. We will be coming back to the USA at the end of July 2008 which is one month longer than what we usually plan because of our late start this time. We usually try to return to Ukraine somewhere in the middle of October but for various personal and family reasons we have not done so this year. We would like to take this opportunity to update you on the status of David’s mother. For those of you who have kept her in prayer we would like to thank you and let you know that she is doing very well and responding very well to the treatment that she is on. We would like to ask you to continue to pray that all cancer would be eradicated from her body!

Here we are looking at less then 4 weeks until we return to the States for a 3 month visit. It is so hard to believe that we have been here for 9 months. Actually we have been here just over a year if you include our summer in the States. We arrived in April 2006. We are no longer calling what we are doing “trips” but this is our life until the Lord shows us otherwise. It has gone by so quickly. We have no idea how to really “wrap up” what all has happened during this time. What a huge blessing to be here and serve the Lord. We read somewhere the other day that “Love is the root and obedience is the fruit”. Once again God has blessed us so much just thru our obedience to Him. It was pointed out to us the other day that the last thing that Jesus told His disciples was “Go and make disciples” and thank God for the opportunity He is giving us. Sometimes it is so hard to tell people exactly what we are doing because it often just doesn’t make sense to anyone unless you can see the results in peoples lives. Sometimes it seems so simple but the precious lives that He is touching would never agree. There are so many stories we could tell but it just isn’t the same as seeing them respond to Gods love and the freedom He brings with it. Breaking the “religious spirit” in Jesus name!! It gets us excited to see those that were rejected because of various things, being brought back to Jesus! Just like Jesus’ disciples were the rejected or “outcasts” it seems that is who the Lord is asking us to disciple. Some of them would revel in the label and others, well they might not appreciate it but for us it is a good thing. We are coming “home” with Joy in our hearts and we intend to let no one steal it from us!