September/October News from Western Ukraine.

            Western Ukraine news from Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk Regions. September 24^th.

Dear Friends.

We would like to bring you up to date with happenings in the above regions, as there has been a long gap since Western visitors have been in the area. With the fact that no one can be there for more than 3 months on one passport, there are bound to be sometimes when no visitors are present.

Edmund and Agnes Johnston, working in Lviv have had to be away in Ireland for some time but have returned to Lviv several weeks ago. They have been working in the Lviv oblast, visiting schools, orphanages and poor families as well as having a weekly meeting in Ivano.

Dan Perez, who spends most of his time in Ivano when in Ukraine, decided to spend some of his 3 month away from Ukraine in Moldova, helping in an Assembly there and attempting to contact University. He went home to Chicago for a month and will be helping in his home assembly until he can return to Ivano in early November. He has now been officially commended from his home assembly to the work in Ukraine.

Howard Pratt from NW Ontario and myself hope to return to Ukraine on October 16th for 4

weeks. This will be my 20th visit to Ukraine. A week of Gospel meeting has been arranged in Lviv for our first week there. We are also to be with them for their Conference during the last week of our stay.

We are praying that the situation will soon settle politically in Ukraine and peace will soon come to the East of the country. Thousands have died in the conflict and, many men from Lviv and Ivano who either volunteered or were called up to fight in the Ukrainian army have also died.

Your prayers will be much appreciated as we go back; not knowing what particular needs will be evident. We know that the economy has suffered terribly and we are sure that many will be experiencing very big financial difficulties.

We are hoping that another brother and his wife will be able to come in the early winter months.

Your Brother in the service of the Best of Masters.

Malcolm Stanley.

mj@thestanleyshouse.com

Dan's time in Moldova in August.

First half of August in Moldova                                                                           

My last days in Ukraine were busy, one operating table came in from Canada but because of the weight Oleg thought it would be a good idea to have it delivered to his garage where he has an electric hoist, so we used this to get it out of their van. Then we called the head doctor at the maternity hospital and he had it delivered there, he was very thankful to receive this equipment!

One of the ladies that comes to the meetings named Halla had a stroke, her granddaughter asked me if I could visit her at the hospital and so I did. She didn’t look at all well and said she didn't feel well. We have talked in times pass about her salvation and she told me that she knows she is going to heaven because of what Jesus did for her on the cross. My time there was short because she was weak and tired but I was able to help her with some of her prescriptions that she needed. Others also came asking for help with prescriptions and was able to help them as well.

My friend Taras picked me up early the next morning to drive me to the train station; there we bid each other farewell. I'm still feeling a little sad leaving the people but trust that God will continue working in their hearts with all that they have heard from His Word! Took the train for the first time to a town closer to the Moldovan border, trying all I can to reduce the long uncomfortable bus ride. From that town another eight hour bus ride to Chisinau the capital of Moldova then another three and a half hour bus ride to Cahul. Yes, both buses were small, crowded, hot and sticky and most of the people are afraid to open the windows, go figure?

Once getting to the house in Cahul I could see how things had changed; on the outside weeds have grown from underneath the cobblestone throughout the backyard and the garden that Gabriel have planted was now a jungle. Inside the house spiders and spider weds were everywhere even as you first walked into each room your face seems to find all the webs. Was glad that the spiders thought to protect the house in this way but even then the house had been broken into, not good!

 Spent the next few days cleaning inside and outside the house. The weather has been very hot an average of 90-97f (32-36c) and high humidity and mostly sunny all day. At night time the animal kingdom comes alive and you hear many different sounds plus hundreds of frogs spring to life all over the place, one of these frogs made it in the house I discovered it in the bedroom before bedtime, and they say this is not Africa?

Almost each night since I’ve been back one of the neighbors have been stopping by to talk, one night when he came he had his bible in his hand and the first words were “I want to talk about marriage”, I think he has a girl in mind. He is a young Christian man and has express a desire to be obedient to the calling of God where ever it my lead, he is hoping to find a women with the same desire.

Two wedding have taken place this month one in Ukraine just after I left and another here to which I was invited by a young man from the assembly in Roshu. It was my first Moldovian Christian wedding. There were two speakers both live in Romania and one of them is a commended worker from Scotland. They both gave very good and clear messages on God’s design of marriage and the role of the husband and the wife. Then at the reception more and more scriptures and wishes were given for them to have a blessed marriage!! It was a very nice wedding and it was on a very very hot day, no one told us there will be a free sauna along with the wedding!

I went to a town called Orac for a two day bible reading. Two men from Germany were the main speakers. The bible reading was on 1Corinthians 12 where the chapter starts off by saying “Now concerning spiritual gifts”.  Many good and practical things were said about this chapter and strong reminder on v22, that even the smallest gifts are necessary or how another version put it “indispensable”, all the gifts of the church are to be used and are needed and they were given by God to glorify His Son!!! Had a good time with the saints there and yes, another hot and sticky two days!

           This will be my last update before going home to Chicago. I hope to make it back as soon as I can if the doors are still open! It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord in this capacity by the grace of God!! Thank you all for your continued prayers for the Lord’s people and his work in these foreign lands!!

In Christ our Lord!

Dan

Dan's report for July

July 2014                                                                                        

Met with a couple for dinner Ruslan and Anna, Ruslan works mostly out of the country and Anna works too thus they haven’t been out to any of the meetings lately. This is not a good thing because they are getting no spiritual encouragement or food from anywhere and they are Christians. They are thinking of leaving the country due to the political problems Ukraine is in, like the war in the East. Had plan to spend the evening together hoping to give them some  encouragement but that was cut short when he got a call from his boss to leave right away to Poland, he did not want to go but his boss gave him no choice. I drove him to the bus stop and may not see them again in this trip.

 I was brought into contact with a young family from East Ukraine that needed some help. They came over for some clothes for their little 2year old girl, a very cute little girl. I also gave them some food to take with them and drove them to where they are staying. They are here as refugees leaving the war in the East but the government stopped helping them and now they find themselves in need. They have been coming to the meetings regularly and seem to like it and are hearing new things that they were taught different about like good works for salvation. Hope they continue to come to the meetings and hope for their salvation!!

Visited the sanitarium in Yassen, after a ½ hour drive I remembered that I had forgotten  to put the New Testaments in the van so had to turn back to get them and push back our appointment. This is one of the reasons for our visits, to give each person a N/T so they can read the word of God on their own time! Made it to Yassen in good time where we met with about 150 kids in a hot room that might be for half that amount of people. Some were sitting on the floor close to me and others were laying on the floor while listening to me. There were times when we had to raise our voice to tell them to quieten down, even though, under such conditions they did very well!  They all received N/T, Bible text with a tract and some sweets. Then met briefly with the director and gave them some boxes of clothes for the poor families.

The next day we loaded up the van with some more boxes and headed back up to the mountains in Verhovena. There we met with the director of the school/orphanage just for a short time. We were able to give her some funds to continue the work on the two rooms so the children can get the benefit of these classes this coming school year. We then met with the social worker and visited some of the homes of the children who live in very poor and sad conditions. When we see them at school they look like some of our own children back at home but going to their houses their living conditions are so much worse! Truthfully I was a little embarrassed to be in their homes but they were not, some of these kids do not even know that they have it so bad because it’s all they know. Some of the homes we visited were very high in the mountains.

We drove till the end of the roads then from there another 30 minute walk up hill to get to their houses. We were hoping to meet the parents but none were home so talked with some of the kids and some came back to the van for clothes.

 We were there for two days; the first day had dinner with the director and her husband and nice couple. Her husband thanked us for all we have done for the school and for the children and wanted to assure us that many have benefited from all that has been done and they too are very thankful!

On the way back from Verkovena we picked up 6 young campers that are from Lviv who needed a ride to Ivano. We had some small talk but after a while they all were sleeping. Dropped them off at the train station then canceled my plans to go to Lviv on Sunday because the van didn’t feel just right! I took the van in on Monday and as they put the van on the lift and began to raise it, the spring just fell to the ground in two pieces and the top part of the shock had broken off and was not even attached to the van. The men that were there all looked at each other wondering how the van continued to drive but I was just so thankful for God’s mighty hand to provide and  protect us!!

We were very thankful to all the saints that have been keeping us in their prayers, truly God hears and answers prayer!! Ended up getting two new springs and shocks and could easily feel the difference now!

Had some of the people over for clothes, would like to thank those how have put so much time and care in preparing , packing and sending these boxes to help with the Lord’s work here in Ukraine! We made some plans with one of the ladies that were here for clothes to visit her village and have a meeting and distribute clothes with the people there on the Saturday before I leave Ukraine, do pray that the hearts will be open to the gospel message!

 Sasha our Interpreter has improved much and is doing much better and has shown some interest for salvation of his own soul. I do pray he continues to seek and to search for Him who is the lover of his soul, the Lord Jesus!

I will be leaving Ukraine next week and am feeling a little sad for leaving these people but I trust that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts and minds of the people through the gospel message! The Lord hears the prayers of his people, thank you so much for all your prayers!!

In Christ our Lord!

dan

Dan's Perez Report for the last part of June 2012

Dan’s report                                                            

I met with the head doctor at the Maternity Hospital, here in Ivano and brought him a padded stretcher that was sent to them from Canada. I had a good talk but he is a busy man so I tried to make it as brief as possible. We did get a chance to talk about the situation in the east he said that some women are being brought to this hospital to deliver their babies because of the fighting that continues to get worse.

We then went to that Region’s Hospital and delivered some wheelchairs and walkers. There were about five nurses that came to meet us and they were very thankful for the needed wheelchairs and thought one of them looked so good that they were calling it the Cadillac of all their wheelchairs. We had no time to talk here as the hospital was very busy and I had to move the van out of the way as soon as possible but hope to have a chance to talk with them at some point if the opportunity arises!

We had dinner with Oleg and his family to celebrate his daughter in-law’s birthday, earlier this month we celebrated his son’s birthday. This is a young couple that have been married for about two years and though they do believe in God, it is only a religious belief. Spending too much time reading the bible or at church is viewed as being too fanatical, a view that many of the younger generation have.

I did go on a few bike rides with this young couple. The bike ride was organized by the students at the Medical University about 100 would show up each week. The ride would go through town and one of them would talk about the history of each place we stopped at. It was very good I thought, to know a little more about the town and to spend time with this couple. I also had them and Sasha over to the apartment, we played a few games and spent time together, and it went very well!

There is another couple that I have spent some time with. They too believe in God but only in a religious way; this applies more to his wife. He is making an addition to his garage and I was helping mix and pour the cement for the foundation though he did most of the work. We have talked many times about salvation but it still seems difficult for him to understand. He said he would like illustrations to make it easy for him to understand. I told him we can look at those that Christ gave; he thought this was a good idea. It looks like his wife thinks the talks that I have with him are good, but for him only. Not too sure if she things much about salvation for her soul, I hope the desire will come soon!

Visited the Sanatorium in Yasan, there were about a hundred kids there and as always they listened very well! Because these kids are from different parts of the country I think for most this is the first time they have seen a foreigner and this could add to why they listen so well. Each of the kids received an N/T, a bible text with a gospel tract and some sweets. The director met us when we first came in and again after the meeting then led us to the dining area where we had lunch. He had to leave for a meeting but wanted me to see him before I left. He wanted me to meet two men from Kiev who were doing their inspection. They were from the new government and the director explained to them what we do there and how we speak to the children about God. One of the men then looked very serious and asked who we were. The director said missionaries, the government man then asked if we were JW’s. This part I understood without any interpreting and jumped in and said we are not JW’s or Mormons or any other group like this. That is all it took and the man’s smile came back and they both shook my hand. We left them with N/T’s and bible texts, it was good that they took them.

For the first time I invited some of the kids that play in the courtyard of our apartment where we stay. A few came for some snacks and we played some games. Before the games they read a bible verse in English.  They did not stay for a long time but they seemed to have liked it, I hope this can build relationships in our area here at the apartment!

Please pray for these couples and for the weekly meetings and for each visitation and for this war torn country of Ukraine, much prayer is needed! Thank You!!

In Christ our Lord!

Dan

June Report by Dan in Ukraine.

 June in Ukraine, by Dan.                                                                                 

The end of the month has come very quickly. I was hoping to start some children’s meetings in the park somewhere in town but instead we were invited to go to a summer camp in Verhovena at the school/ orphanage that we frequently visit. It is always in need of help since the government gives barely enough funding for food. The repairs and updates would have to be paid out of the staffs own pocket or find some outside help.  They will get fined by the government if these things our not taken care of, even though it is the government who should be the one taking care of these things, very unfair! They have a present need in finishing two rooms for the students, the one would be teaching girls home economics and the other room would be teaching wood working for the boys. I can see how important these classes would be. Many of these kids are from the mountains and come from broken homes, some are not even wanted back home. If they do not get this type of teaching at the school most likely they will not get it anywhere else!

Some have left some funds and work has started on some of the windows in one room and cementing the floor in the other room but they will still need more funds if they are to have it in some kind of operational form for next year, which they are hoping to do if at all possible. The need is definitely there I  am trusting it will be met.

I decided to go for three days but saw the need to stay for two more day since we were told by the director that it actually went until the end of the week. Both the workers and the kids were also encouraging us to stay to the end.  I caved in and ended up staying there for eight full days Which was not in my plans but was sure worth the stay!

I focused on the kids and we played game together but I can soon tell that they were not used to playing by the rules. In each game they wanted to play it their way, which was wrong and this caused some conflict but, once they saw I was not going to play by their rules they began to listen.

We played together went on hikes together and ate together. It is too bad that most of the teacher did not pay any attention to these kids most of the time, it was just left up me and Sasha with the kids who were starving for attention. There were not many things organized for the kids to do, so I tried each day to have a time for memorizing verses or learning a hymn or giving a bible story. Each day and time was different and if any of the kids wanted to come then we would have a meeting, they came voluntarily. All in all I had a great time with them and though it was sad to leave I was glad to be back in Ivano-Frankivsk!

The Sunday before the camp trip we went to Lviv to remember our Lord.  Some from the Lutsk assembly were there which double the attendance. After the meeting we were heading back to Ivano where I got a flat tire on these lovely roads, could you imagine that? As I got ready to jack up the van I realized we were missing the wrench for the jack and rim nuts so there was nothing I could do but to wave down another driver to ask if I could use their wrench. One driver did stop and as I was using his wrench it broke, he complained so I paid for it. Another driver stopped and his tool also broke I offer to pay for it but he said NO it is drivers courtesy to help other drivers out, that was nice of him to view it that way. We ended up going to some house where two men took total responsibility and were able to fix the flat. One of the men was wearing a shirt that had in big letters CHICAGO, that was cool! I offered to pay them for their help but they gave me a dirty look and thought it and insult so I thank them instead. As we finally got back to Ivano three of the ladies said they were not going to come to our evening meeting. They did not say why but think they were too tired from the trip plus the flat that they just wanted to be home, can’t blame them I was also very tired!

I have been taking Ukrainian lesson once a week and would like to do more but do not find time to study much Ukrainian. It is still very difficult for me, I need God’s help to learn this language! The teacher who is trying to teach me Ukrainian works in a university in town, she teaches Ukrainian to foreign students and also teaches German, this is good but there is a small problem, she know very little English. Since the focus is to learn Ukrainian I am hoping this can help me more by leaning Ukrainian in Ukraine, might work with the help of God!!

Trust you will pray for the needs of the school/orphanage and their two rooms needed for school start this September. Also that they themselves would look to the one that can fulfill their needs even our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Christ our Lord!

Dan