Summer is almost over, the harvest is well on the way and we have not written for some time. I suppose once we have all come home from Ukraine, there is not the usual news to pass on. Well, things are opening up with Flo already for 3 months, and then Howard and another brother are going in October followed by Eric Fowler and his wife in November. This should give good coverage until winter when it is not advisable to go as travel is not good.
I am not planning to go back until spring, God willing. As far as I know, meetings continued in Flo’s apartment with Brother and Sister Edmund and Agnes Johnson from Ireland now living in Lviv.
The meetings continued with a little interest after we left in the spring. Vadym did some Bible teaching from outlines I sent to him until the apartment got too hot for meetings when the temperature got to 40C outside at one time.
I want to share how difficult it can be for a Christian to get going in business when he or she will not work dishonestly. When we were there in the spring in Ivano Frankivsk, we realized we needed a vehicle, big enough to carry us and boxes to deliver to those in need. After we left, Vadym, our man there, located a van and sent us pictures. It looked good and was not a high price. Vadym had a Toyota car that he owned and had fixed up which the owner of the van said he would take plus $1,500 US.
In the meantime Vadym sold the Toyota and headed to Lviv to pick up the van with the $3,000 he got for the car and $1,500 we had supplied him with. When he got there he was not happy with something about the vehicle or the owner and decided not to buy it. While he was at the bus stop waiting to return home, he was attacked by 3 men who robbed him of the money for the van plus all his personal items, driver’s license, passport etc. They broke his arm and messed up his face. He spent 3 weeks in hospital but is now out and able to work again.
Your guess is as good as mine who tipped them off that he had money.
So goes Ukraine for many people. No recourse or help from police even though they come to the scene and take reports. They even called him in to identify 3 men but they were not his attackers.
Thankfully, he did not have the $1,000 that was to go to Tania’s mother who was having the surgery on her nose. Tania, with her mother, are returning to Kiev as soon as they know the date for the last surgery on her nose. The surgeon has done an amazing job already and I know she will be a lovely looking woman again. Vadym was able to deliver the money in time for their trip to Kiev for an appointment.
We don’t know what to do about a vehicle now; we are back to rock bottom and so will see what God has in mind. Vadym is trying to borrow or rent one for Howard Pratt's and Eric Fowler's visits in October and November.
Thank you for your prayerful interest in the work in the Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk region of Western Ukraine.
Your Brother in Christ.
Malcolm Stanley.
