Our mission team returned from Moldova to Ukraine on Nov. 21 by overnight train. The next afternoon most of the team flew home from Kiev. Pastor and Nancy stayed on for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving with our missionaries Mike and Rachel Gustafson and friends Vladimir and Maria Sagadeyev. Pastor and Nancy returned home the next day with their grandson Mishael. The entire team worked together exceptionally well. Thanks to all who prayed and supported this ministry.

The next few weeks will be given to preparing for our Living Nativity Dec. 9 and 16 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. See our Ministries pull down menu for more details.

While our mission team traveled in Moldova we had the blessing of having this excellent local youth choir assist us in the various evangelistic meeting we were in. Thanks to Vasiliy Kaletnik who arranged this group who sang dozens of good Christian songs inside and even outside in freezing temperature. They are pictured here singing in a rental buidling in a small village during one of our evangelistic meeting. Following the service four people came forward to give their lives to Christ.

Vasiliy Kaletnik met us in Odessa and escorted us to Moldova safely but very tired from traveling by bus all day. The boarder crossing was easy since we didn't actually go through the unrecognized and still very communist country of Transnistria. This country had a war with Moldvoa about 5 years ago so relations are not good between countries and neither are board er crossings. We understand that our trip to Kiev Sunday night by train will go around this country in order to avoid the crossing. Rail traffic through that country is not allowed. This means the train trip is 14 hours or more.

We have found Moldvoa to be poorer than Ukraine. Vasiliy Kaletnik's church has an attractive facility. It is in the center of the city of Falesti which has a population of 7,000 people. This is the central point for ministry in surrounding small villages.

The main church in the city of Falesti. Team members get water from the village well for the activities of the day. The well serves the church and other homes and businesses in the area. Note the new addition on the back of the church.

The village ministry the last two days has revealed more horse drawn vehicles than cars.&n bsp; P eople are extremely poor and glad to get about anything. Our team distributed clothing after one meeting and the people took every stitch within minutes including tghe boxes we brought them in. The new believers are obvious by their bright smiles.

Our team is doing well and has had a wide range of stretching experiences. Food is different most meals but very good....most of the time. Here in Moldova we have had fewer desserts and less meat. Water is drawn from a well by bucket.

Friday evening Nancy spoke to a "Sisters Meeting" with about 25 ladies there. I spoke to a "Brothers Meeting" about leadership with about ten men. Two young men repented and trusted Christ by the end of the evening. Thanks for praying. Almost all of the believers here are new believers.

Vasiliy organized an evangelistic meeting on Saturday in one village where a small group of people have been saved and a new believer (an older man) has given his small house for church meetings in spite of opposition from the Orthodox priest. (See pics) The Orthodox church is only two houses away from the man's home. The service was held outside in 40 degree temperatures in the yard before dusk. A group of 25 teens from a city church did an hour musical program first with a sound system to draw attention. Children and a various adults showed up. All went well until the Orthodox priest rang the noisy church bells for over half an hour to try to drown us out. Later the power went out during my message. People said the priest had someone cut the village electricity to discourage us. Yet one ma n did step forward to repent openly and pray to trust Christ. As we were leaving a rock was thrown by a young person at one of the two vans we were in.

Sunday we had a four hour morning service in which 5 people repented. This also included a baptism and communion service and an hour and a half concert...Wow!. Sunday night we had another village evangelistic service where some new believers have gathered. There were about 50 people there and 4 repented. The youth choir was also there for a concert.

We leave for Kiev at 2 a.m. Monday morning by overnight train and arrive the next evening. Thanks for praying for our mission trip. It has been a wonderful experience to all and we are excited to report in person.

Pastor Mark

We traveled to Makarovo (95 miles north) on Thursday and settled into our three host homes. This was a wonderful experience for all of us. The homes are simple...no running water. Wood heat in brick wall stoves kept everyone cozy. Our hosts provided breakfasts then for lunch and dinner we went to different home. They fed us like kings and we hardly had a square inch of free space on their small tables. There was one in door shower in one of the homes which was just installed. The others had to take outdoor showers in freezing weather. Interesting!
The men worked on installing a wood stove furnace system which we helped purchase. The first day we made a floor out of sand and old bricks in the furnace room and then moved the furnace in (heavy). Then several of us went to work fashioning duct work out of sheet metal. With duct tape and pop rivets we got it together and all connected in a week. By the end of the week we had a chimney built and an asbestos pipe hoisted in place. The team also installed tongue and groove flooring in two of the three upstairs class room. Dave was amazed to see the natural insulation that they had put in earlier made of straw and mud. It works. We also were able to mud and tape most of the upstairs sheetrock seams. All of this will make the church an attractive and "warm" place for people to come to worship and for evangelistic medical clinics which are held here every few weeks.

The girls held day camp for two days (Sort of like VBS). We were able to advertise in the school. About 40 kids showed up early when they heard it was going to happen. Most were from unbelieving families outside the church. Some aspects of the children's camp were held outside (see below). One of the kids got into trouble for coming. The mother walked in and threatened to punish her when she got home in front of our group, then proceeded to let here stay. One drunk father forbid his child from coming again also.

The girls also held and English Club in the local public school. Three of the teachers in the school are from the church so that helped. We toured it also.
Friday we traveled to the village of Valentinovka to have dinner with a family and see the area. This is a possible area for a Bible study to start and for a medical clinic.

Saturday Mike and Rachel and the team girls held a youth meeting in the church with games, pizza and teaching. It was a lot of fun and a good group came.

Sunday we held three two hour services Ukrainian style. I held a communion service in Makarovo and both Norm and I preached, Dave gave a testimony and the girls sang. We had a quick but big dinner at the Paley home then headed to another village. In the afternoon we held services in the new church in Sahanskoy where Styopa and Tanya live. Meanwhile the girls held a Sunday School type class in a small two room house in the village of Nikamarovka. Here kids show up almost daily to visit with the grandmother who lives here who is very ministry oriented and has been reaching out to these children for six years. We returned to Makarovo for an evening service with several seminars we held.

Monday we we worked on the building and then the church held a going away party for us with sandwiches, cookies, candy and tea. We showed slides of our church and what God has been doing at Discovery. This was the first time they have seen a PowerPoint slide presentation.

Tuesday we packed out bags, finished work on the chimney, did some counseling and met at the church to say good bye. The team had become so attached to our hosts that many of us shed tears on leaving. Most of the church came to say goodbye and sang us a song about fellowship as our van drove off. It was a wonderful and touching experience. We returned to Odessa to rest, get cleaned up and head for Moldova.

Today, Wednesday Nov. 15, we depart for the country of Moldova by bus. Pray for us as we travel there and minister with Vasiliy Kaletnik through Sunday. We have to travel across two boarder check points and through an unrecognized communistic country which can delay us today Sunday night we will board an overnight (14 hour) train to Kiev and eventually return home.
Pastor Mark 

We arrived in a snowy Odessa a week ago Tuesday to meet with missionaries for two days before going to Makarovo. Mike, Rachel, Nancy and I slept pretty well on the overnight train but the rest of the team didn't. Norm and Dave also were not feeling their best. Travel can be hard on you here if you are not used to it.

We also had a lot of extra luggage with us for humanitarian aid. It looked like we were moving to Siberia with the mountain of baggage we had. Security is an issue so we were careful not to forget anything...we thought.

We spent the day seeing Odessa and meeting some friends. Rachel arranged an excellent tour of the history of the area.

Mike lost his cell phone while here and it was important to find it because of all the numbers he had saved. So he called it and a railroad cleaning lady answered. She heard it while cleaning the train for the return trip to Kiev. He had left it there when we got off earlier that day. Rachel arranged to meet the lady on the cleaning track in the afternoon. She left our group, caught a trolley and went to the rail station. These stations are huge (like Seatac) with thousands of people coming and going and dozens of trains. She was told to walk to the end of one of the many platforms then keep going a long way down the tracks to the train cleaning area. She walked past several trains. Finally she stopped to talk to one train engineer about the location of the train she was looking for. She continued another long walk and eventually found it and the lady doing the cleaning. She gave the lady and reward for finding it (expected here) and then returned. Then on the walk back the train engineer in his engine passed her, waved and asked if she found it. It was a picture of the unusual nature of missionary life as well as an answer to prayer.

Wednesday we spent time in meetings with missionaries and a local pastor, and getting an update from the Church Ministries Institute director, John Taylor. The Institute took a loss with the fire two years ago but now has repaired the usable part of the facility. A new church plant in Odessa pastored by Peter Rodoslovov also serves as a class room for the institute. We were encouraged as we discussed our mutual interest in what God is doing in Ukraine. Peter Rodoslovov is a long time ministry friend and local pastor. He is head of the association of Baptists churches in Ukraine.

Our men toured the ABWE Ministry Training Center and were updated by the director regarding progress made after the fire a year and a half ago. A third of the building was burned. The building is being repaired and this has forced a few changes. The number one thing to pray about is the need for privatization of the land which has never happened. Please pray for this important step because for the last ten years the facility has never received a permanent occupancy permit. Government issues have prevented this.

Please pray

Here is a brief report from Kiev with Snow. We awoke Sunday morning to fresh snow on the ground and freezing temperatures. Everyone enjoyed the beautiful white covering as we walked to church. We went to the new church plant near Mike and Rachel's apartment. Mary Grace sang and Deb played the piano and I spoke on Ephesian 4. This church is growing and has a congregations of about 60 or so.



Following church we went to downtown Kiev to eat in a good Ukrainian restaurant. Not everyone ate all they took but we all enjoyed our food. Then we climbed a small mount and toured St. Michael's Church, one of a number of orthodox churches in this historic area. Here we are standing on the steps shivering as Mike took our picture. Inside the church is it extremely ornate with gold paint and much art work on the wall. It was amazing how many vendors had their tables set up on the sidewalks in 0 degree C. weather to sell tourists things. We also went by the apartment where Georgi Vins lived. Pastor Vins was well known for his books about being persecuted and in prison for his faith. Just down the street were KGB offices. Our teens are staying with the daughter of Pastor Vins who is now with the Lord.
Monday we will take another tour of a part of the city we have not seen. Then in the evening we will board the sleeper train to Odessa. Pray for us as we travel again. We'll spend a day in Odessa and then travel to Makarovo for our week of ministry. We will also be installing a wood heat system into the Makarovo church, install ducting and painting...if it is not freezing. We hear there is indoor plumbing and a hot shower in one of the houses. This is the second one in the village. We'll try to send you email later when we have access which may be awhile.

Thursday morning we caught the express train to Kharkov in far eastern Ukraine. The trains are much better now and very comfortable. Many of the rail stations are being repaired and upgraded and platform areas are well lit and look nice. This is a sign of some economic improvement. There is still very much to do though in all areas.

Kharkov is the third largest city in Ukraine. This once was the capitol of Ukraine and a center for communist control. Here we met with the Ferrari family (missionaries) and attend a night service in Pastor Sasha's church near by. The church has been meeting in the unfinished basement of their beautiful new building under construcion. Nancy and I gave testimonies to a small group of adults and a large group of teens.

We returned on the night sleeper train to Kiev late in the evening. Unfortunately Nancy and I were in separate compartments from Mike and Rachel. A Ukrainian couple had the lower bunks and Nancy and I the upper bunks. Mike briefed us on the ins and outs of Ukrainian train travel...most people travel this way here. We retired as the train left the station.

During the night I arose to go to the restroom down the hall. As I slid off my upper bunk my cotton mattress, pillow and blanket also slid off onto the lady in the lower bunk. Not good! I think she didn't notice in the dark as I quickly scooped it up and put it back in place. Next I tried to open the door but it was locked tight. For several minutes in the blackness of the moving compartment I tried pushing and pulling on the lock and latch handle. In my desparation I used my wrist watch glow light to see the latch. It resisted all atempts. I tried to wake the other man in the compartment. Finally he sat up in bed and unlatched it for me without a word. I just didn't know the right twist of the wrist. Suffice it to say, it was a relief as I said "spiceba" (Thanks)!

Later in my bunk I recalled stories of Soviet citizens and Christians during Stalin's time who were arrested for little or now reason and hauled off to Siberian camps in prison trains. There were up to thirty people jammed in a compartment like ours meant for four. Often the trip took weeks on end with only one bathroom privilege per day. Many died in route.

We arrived on time this morning and relatively rested. Today (Friday) we will sort humanitarian aid clothing for evangelism in the villages. Our team of six others arrives on Saturday. Keep all of us in prayer as we minister this weekend at Mike and Rachel's church in Kiev and meet others.

Arriving In Kiev

Nancy, our grandson Mishael and myself have arrived in Kiev, Ukraine safe on Wednesday. We did have split flights the last leg from Amsterdam, so Mishael and I came three hours behind Nancy. Mike and Rachel had a great dinner ready for us in their apartment which is very nice. The next afternoon Mishael climbed on toys in the playground as Nancy and Rachel looked down from the 9th floor apartment.

We met with Christina's parents Vladimir and Maria for dinner and to take Mishael, their grandson also, for the time we are here. We also met with the Carters, veteran missionaries in Kiev.