Lutsk Ukraine 4th February 2012
With no electric and that my only form of heating and no water as all the pipes are frozen life is tough! My car is frozen and will not start as nightly temperatures are below -30 and the daily temperatures are approx. -27. (I have it better than the Ukrainians – I can afford to take a taxi and go the other end of town where there is a café with electric, heat, an internet connection + plus cups of cappuccino)!! The weather forecasters say these extreme temperatures will last until 14th February though the cold will stay until the middle of March.
In the assembly we have only 3 believers out of over 40 who earn more than £127 ($200) per month – the most are trying to survive on less than £56 ($88) per month. When we get a winter like this they do not have the money for extra wood to burn or extra electric to use and therefore it is my duty and privilege to help. This I have done with 5 families over the past 4 days.
Do also pray for the parents of Michael (Mykola) whom we had shown in our yearly update. Michael, who was severely paralyzed since birth and mentally sick died on January 15th only 17 years of age. He has gone to Heaven and what a change! Thankfully there were believers like yourselves who cared enough to enable us as an assembly to make his sad short life on earth just that little bit more comfortable.
We would appreciate your continued prayers for the building of the new Gospel Hall in Lutsk. We have not been able yet to afford to buy a wood burning stove and radiators and even with electric heaters on at present the ice is thick on the inside of our windows and doors. The builders would like a week off as it is so cold in the building but I have said no as I have a target to try and get the main hall finished before our 10th anniversary on the 22nd of April. If I can get up at 06.00 (6 mornings a week) and be at the hall before 07.30 so can they! I am 20 years older than they so I don’t allow any excuses for holidays!!! We still have the lighting to do, finishing of the wall surfaces, 130sqm of carpet to get, 150 seats, the baptism tank to tile and 5 doors to buy and install. I have the sole responsibility regarding the financing of our new Gospel Hall and I am confident the Lord is able to meet our needs.
One of our builders did go home on Wednesday for 1 day for the funeral of his 23 year old nephew. The nephew left home on Tuesday to walk to the bus stop to collect his son coming home from school. He sat down at the bus stop and froze to death before the bus arrived. Pray for the builders. They are coming into contact with the gospel every day and we have had many an interesting conversation with them.
The cold does affect many aspects of the work but that does not mean we don’t have anything to do. Ukraine Christian Publication Centre is the name we use for the printing of literature. Over the last 10 years we have printed 230,000 Ukrainian gospel tracts, 60,000 Seed Sowers, 20,000 “Who we are and what we believe” brochures not to mention books etc. We are now in the process of printing 6 new titles of gospel tracts (5,000 of each) and 2,000 each of the 10 “Focus On” booklets. 3 translators and 4 proof-readers from the Lutsk assembly are involved daily in this work. New Hymn Book – Rhoda and a Ukrainian sister Oksana who is a gifted musician from Lutsk Gospel Hall are in the process of producing an assembly hymn book. This is a big task and will involve 100’s of hours of work in translation and proofreading.
Over the last 20 years we have only had cold winters. I remember back to the winter of 1994 when Rhoda and I were walking to language school in Norway. We woke one morning and it was -54. We thought the school would be closed due to the cold but felt we should ring just to make sure. The woman at the other end was amazed we even thought the school would close and said – “There is no such a thing as bad weather there is only bad clothing”!! The winter of 2006 in Ukraine was really bad and we managed that one and this winter won’t beat us either! With over 100 Ukrainians dead due to the cold we would really appreciate your prayers!
Yours in Christ
Timothy & Rhoda
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