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Brethren, pray for us. Field AddressA/R 60 Glavposhtamp 65001 Odessa, Ukraine Phone: 011-38-048-533-1818
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Email: ruemissions@yahoo.com www.ruemissions.com
Dear Praying Friends and Family, November 2011
I hope this letter finds you all well in the Lord and looking for His return. The Lord blessed us in the month of November with two people coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior. Ukrainian custom requires that you greet someone the first time you see them each day. It is considered an insult not to do so. This is what led to Sveta receiving Christ. I was on my way to Sunday evening service and stopped to pick up some of our church members who were talking with a woman and her two daughters. The mother’s name is Sveta and her two daughters used to come to our church, where one of them was saved. It was a little dark, but I rolled down the window and said, “Dobri Vetcher.” They just ignored me and walked on by. This is considered an insult, but I figured that she was upset for some reason. I drove on down the street to pick up some other members and upon turning around I saw Sveta waving frantically for me to stop. She was apologizing profusely for being so rude and that she did not see that it was me. We invited her to come to church, but she refused because she and her girls were in pants. We convinced them to come anyway, and, to make a long story short Sveta responded to the invitation to receive Jesus Christ. This was the last opportunity that I had to win her to the Lord, for she was just days away from immigrating to the United States. In the past I tried visiting her twice to win her to Christ and was only successful in engaging her in light conversation because she was always in a hurry to go somewhere. She is now already living in the United States. Please pray for her and her daughters as we try to help them get into a Bible Believing Church in Oregon.
It was again a blessing to gather our youth with those of other missionary churches in Ukraine for a one day Youth Conference. Missionaries Perry Demopolis and Mike Ireland preached to the youth. We still rejoice in what God has done in the past in these meetings and work and pray that they will help our youth “sell out” to God.
It was my privilege to be invited to take part in an ordination service of Pavel Ivanovich, who is now pastor over a church that was started by Missionary Mike Ireland. I preached the charge to Brother Pavel, Brother Richard Maher preached a charge to the church, then we laid hands on him. The Lord’s presence was definitely felt and testified that God is going to use this young pastor. While I was away at this meeting a man visited our church on his way to a rehabilitation center. He heard the Gospel and responded that morning. He came back that evening before his train left. He has since contacted us to let us know that he is doing well.
The church is preparing a Christmas presentation for the town of Razdelnaya. We have a choir and a children’s choir of bells. We pray that the presentation will soften hearts for the Gospel. Brother Casey Kline has been a big help to us with this and is also showing improvement in his Russian. Please pray for him and Sarah in their language studies.
We are again facing some tough decisions regarding our visa situation here. Naomi and I renewed our visas just two days before the new visa regulations were enforced. No one knew the details of the new laws. It is a trickle down set up where the top makes the laws and it takes about six months to a year before the details move down through the ranks and everyone is on the same page….then they change them again! Joshua, our eldest son, will be turning 18 this April and will need a visa. Our original plan was to purchase a multiple entry visa and then Joshua and I could leave the country together for some father/son time as a graduation gift. Our plan is for Joshua to stay one more year with us at home before we all go back to the States together for a furlough, where we can get him settled into American life and a good church home. In the meantime he can take online courses in preparation for college or university. We thought it was a good plan, but there is one glitch. The new visa laws state that all existing visas will be automatically cancelled once one leaves the country. So, we are praying about what we need to do. On the one hand it would be better for us all to do this at the same time during the winter months while there is a lot of down time. The new visa laws require us to produce over 16 different documents and only allow 45 days to complete the task once entering the country.
For us to split this up into two trips would mean that I could potentially be doing nothing but running documents from office to office as a full time job for three months. The flip side is the expense we would incur for us all to leave the country. It is not an option for Naomi and me to leave the country without our children anymore. Please pray for God to show us what He wants us to do and for perfect peace with the decision.
This past month has been a little hard on the family by way of illnesses. Christopher seems to be getting the brunt of it all. He came down with something that resembled salmonella and was very sick for about a week. He also injured his tailbone and maybe his spine after a pretty bad fall. Praise the Lord everything is okay and he is back to normal.
It was again our privilege to host a Thanksgiving meal for all the missionary families in the Odessa area. This year we had some from Kiev as well. We ate, sang hymns in ENGLISH, and prayed for our families, churches, and country. The Lord is good!
Thank you for your prayers, support, and friendship. God bless you all as you serve the Lord and celebrate Christ’s First Advent! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, September – October 2011
New School Year Underway. We are glad to say that the Rue Family Home School finally began another school year. Joshua is a senior this year which places us on the threshold of some major changes in the near future. Miriam is a sophomore, and Benjamin and Samuel are finishing up elementary school. Travelling abroad to renew visas, putting up food for winter, “winterizing” the house, etc…keep us busy this time of year. In addition to this is the problematic task of selecting, ordering, and shipping the homeschool materials. We are trying to work out some problems with the curriculum we ordered. The Ukrainian Customs Dept. stopped our shipment and sent it back to the States. This is a huge setback and financial problem because the company we ordered from will not offer any help to replace the materials. In the meantime it is approaching winter and my children do not have some of the courses they need. Please pray that we can solve this soon.
Church Update. Ukraine has come a long way in some areas. It is especially obvious when you compare today’s Ukraine with the one in which I began my family and ministry back in 1994. Ukraine still seems to be about ten years behind several of the other former Soviet countries in the Baltics, but I sure am thankful for the progress. I’d give it all up in a moment for the people to be as receptive today as they were then. We had 80 to 100 people showing up every week. Souls were saved weekly. Visitors came every Sunday and Wednesday. I took it all for granted. Today, all of that has changed. The Lord, however, gives us “handfuls of purpose” along the way and encourages us in the thought that we may be ‘the last hour laborers’ of the church age. A young man named Svyatoslav came to visit our church from Odessa. He is the son of the lady who bought our old house in Odessa. I’ve witnessed to her on several occasions and she even came to Bible Club with her little girl but she still doesn’t “get it.” She is steeped in superstition and astrology. She is convinced that God hears my prayers so she thought I could help him with his eyesight. He is in danger of losing one of his eyes. The doctor here thinks that he needs to remove the one to save the other. I dealt with him after church for over an hour. Knowing him and his mother I figured that this might be my only chance to really deal with him. I didn’t push him into a decision but I certainly did ask if he would like to receive Christ as Savior. I explained the Gospel and asked do you understand. “Yes,” he said. “Do you want to pray and receive Christ right now?” He answered, “Wait a minute, what does this mean again…” After three times going through the Gospel he finally got on his knees and prayed asking God to save him from sin, not failing eyesight! He rode the train from Odessa for three weeks to attend services, in spite of the fact that it takes about two hours of travel time to get to church. Then he stopped. His mother was a little spooked by it all and, I think, began to influence him. Naomi and I visited her and did what we can to sow some more seed. Natasha is a self-made success story. She owns several jewelry stores in Odessa and has a lot on her plate. We have an open door to go back. Please pray for her salvation. Sometimes I get such a blessing just looking at our church members. I remember who they were and what they were like before they got saved. It is just a blessing to see how far they’ve come. The Lord has shown me that I can often miss such a blessing by concentrating on the problems. Believe me, we’ve got plenty. Our folks are witnessing, praying for the salvation of souls, singing loud, and still hang around after services for up to an hour. What a blessing and a privilege it is to serve Jesus Christ here in Ukraine. We are trying to saturate a town about an hour away with Gospel tracts. We’ve been there twice and still have to go back again to finish. We are praying that God will give us some open doors to start a Bible study.
Tracts and Literature. I am thrilled that we finally have a good supply of quality tracts to pass out. We finished the translation of the Chick tract “Mad Machine.” It is well received. People immediately identify with the title. The tract, “Moving On Up!” is translated and is being printed. We are now working on “Who Is He?” and “The Bully.” Please pray that this work will be used of God to bring people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I am also very glad that we have begun the translation of the book, “Sure Word of Prophesy” by Dr. Ruckman. Please pray for its translation, publication, and distribution here in Ukraine.
Church Planter’s Mission Society. In the area of church planting we’ve had a few, what I’ll call “good attempts.” This is not including our church in Razdelnaya. It is doing very well and has weathered many a storm over the years. So, with the exception of Razdelnaya, each time we have tried to plant churches in other towns they’ve failed when I’ve completely entrusted them to national leadership. The question that has bothered me over the past five years has mainly been whether to turn this church over to national leadership and move on or stay and use it as a base for a larger church planting ministry. In the past, each time that I got ready to turn it over, the Lord stopped us. The problem is that I’m not happy concentrating all my efforts on one church. After some prayer and consideration I believe we have found an answer to the problem. We are currently in the process of organizing a Ukrainian missionary society for the sole purpose of training and equipping nationals in the work of evangelizing and starting local churches here. It is nothing new to what we’ve been doing here over the years. It is just a different approach. So, I’ve already begun the process of organizing it and I’ve already had a meeting with our first “candidate” who is eager to get to work. He needs a little more training and direction but he has the heart to serve Christ and see sinners saved. Please pray for God’s blessings and provision as we try to get more churches planted.
Let me close with a word of testimony of God’s goodness and answered prayer. When it came time to purchase the curriculum to home school our kids we ended up doing something that I don’t like to do – go into debt. It was a big order. We also ordered the extra workbooks to go with the textbooks so that we could reuse the textbooks with our other children. (They are always putting out new editions to make you buy more books and workbooks!) It was weighing on my mind a bit and then I realized that I hadn’t asked God to provide for that need. I actually felt ashamed for not asking. So, I prayed for God to help us pay off the curriculum. Some friends contacted us a few days later asking how they could help. The rest is history. What a blessing it is to watch the Lord use the body of Christ to answer prayer. Thank you for your prayers, support, and friendship. God bless you all as you serve the Lord.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, March – April 2011
I hope this letter finds you all well in the Lord and rejoicing in His salvation.
Family Matters! It is a funny thing that we have birthdays each month beginning in January and continuing through July. In April we celebrate two birthdays, Joshua’s (now 17) and Christopher’s (now 4). I turned 44 this past January and celebrated my 23rd year serving the Lord Jesus Christ on February 18. Samuel turned eight in February; and Naomi had a birthday in March making her…still a young woman! We will celebrate Ben’s birthday in a few days when he will turn ten. I wish to thank all of you who sent us birthday wishes and words of encouragement. I want to testify and say that the best thing that I ever did, besides getting saved at the age of eight, is selling out to Jesus Christ at 21 years of age. The Lord has been very good to this unworthy sinner. The Lord has given me a remarkable wife and six children. Everyone is in good health and all but the two youngest are saved. Best of all, I’ve had the privilege of serving Him on the mission field for the past 17 years, preaching the word of God, leading people to Christ, watching them grow and do the same. The Lord is good!
The Lord has provided us with a great house and yard that helps us live more and more efficiently off the land. We are debt free. Our chickens give us fresh eggs every day and we now butcher our own cows every three of four months. We have a calf that stays on one of our church member’s property getting fat for his appointed day. We have fresh milk, straight from the cow, delivered every morning by a neighbor lady down the street. Naomi makes our own cottage cheese and yogurt from it. She also bakes our own bread.
Well, I guess it has happened, I’ve become “Ukrainianized.” The Lord sure does have a sense of humor taking a city boy like me, born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and putting him out in the outskirts of Odessa Ukraine. The Lord is good.
Church Matters! With the coming of spring we have had several work days on the church property getting things in shape for the upcoming services. Please pray with us about our neighbor who has been trying to steal a big piece of land that gives us access to our property. When we purchased this property he had already claimed this land and put up some gates through which we needed to pass to gain access to our church property. He is a surly man and should have been named “Nabal.” We’ve been praying for his salvation and have tried to witness to him, but, he just needs to be put in his place. Some people understand nothing but force. He once put sharp rusty spikes in the ground where children walk to keep them out and he also once shot a dog that wandered on our (not his) property when the gates were left open. He started putting locks on the gates, which I busted off and told him I will do it again if he tries to lock us out. He threatened me with his gun, but backed down when he saw that I would not be intimidated. I finally sent one of the men in our church, Sasha, who runs a business dealing with privatization of land to find out what’s up with this land situation. It turns out that the land is supposed to be a road joining two streets and he and the neighbor have taken and fenced it off for their own. The city came and took a look and sent him a written notice to take down his gates. Please pray for Slavic to get saved.
Missions Conference. In April we held a mission’s conference for our church to kick off the establishment of a Ukrainian Mission Board for supporting nationals who are engaged in church planting here in Ukraine. Missionary Perry Demopolis was our guest preacher and we had three nationals present their work. Each night our church took up a good love offering and pledged support for these men. Please pray for more laborers!
Bible Study in Odessa. I met with the dean of the Christian University in Odessa, who graciously offered us the use of one of their rooms for weekly meetings in Odessa. He also asked me to teach Theology once or twice a year to the students there. We haven’t discussed the details, but if I can teach anything I want I will jump at the offer. Most of the students are unsaved! What an open door! Please pray for these meetings which start in a few weeks.
Chick Tracts. The Ukrainian customs are holding our order of Chick Tracts until we pay customs tax on them. It involves a trip to Lviv, commissioning a broker, paying the taxes and fees all totaling around $1000. Chick Publications graciously agreed to pay for the fees. It is a good thing and just in time because we would not have had the funds to get them released. Everything has been taken care of. Now we are waiting for their delivery so we can pass them out. The tract, The Empty Tomb, was very well received around Easter time here.
Child Training Seminar. The Lord opened gave me another opportunity to teach a child training seminar in Dnipropetrovsk at Pastor Dema Pishenetski’s church. We had about twenty young parents in attendance who all seemed to get something out of the teaching. We were able to give everyone a copy of our book “Growing Up God’s Way” by John Stormer and “To Train Up a Child.”
Prayer Requests. Please pray for a young man named Maxim. He is a former Jehovah’s Witness and has been coming for the past couple weeks. I spent a lot of time dealing with him last Sunday. He has a lot to think about now. Please pray for his salvation.
Also, please pray for our upcoming trip to Kiev to renew four of our family’s passports.
Of course, a big part in our ministry is the body of Christ that supports us in this work. Thank you all for your prayers and financial support that enable us to serve the Lord here in Ukraine.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, January - February 2011
I hope this letter finds you all well in the Lord and rejoicing in His salvation. It is hard to believe that two months have already passed in the “New Year.” It seems like we just winterized the house and now it is time to get ready for all the work of Spring. The past two months of winter have been somewhat of a down time but we thank the Lord for the opportunities He has given us to minister here in Ukraine.
Child Training Seminar. For the third time, the Lord has opened another door of opportunity to teach a Child Training Seminar in yet another church – the Trinity Baptist Church in Odessa. In addition to teaching the seminar Pastor Masato Funakoshi asked me to write a syllabus and prepare a quiz at the end. He wanted to give those that scored well a free book that we translated and published with European Missionary Publications entitled “Growing Up God’s Way” by John Stormer. The seminar took about five hours and went very well. As usual, the time for questions and answers revealed what the average Christian family faces trying to raise a family for God. The challenges here to do it by the Book are many and complex. This society, set up by atheists, is an enemy to the biblical institutions of church and family. Their system of control frustrates parents and makes it very difficult to train their children up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” During the days of the Soviet Union, the fad in child training was the teachings of Dr. Spock. The results were in many cases catastrophic and the “fad” persists to this day. Most give in to the collective pressure of society accepting the mentality “That’s just the way we do it.” However, there is a remnant of Christians that take their God given responsibility seriously and do not want their children to end up like that average child in Ukraine today. We thank God for them and do what we can to help.
Sunday School Seminar. I received another opportunity to minister from my good friend colleague, Richard Maher, who asked me to teach a Seminar at the Lakeside Baptist Church. He wanted me to introduce and instruct them in the use of the Sunday School program we’ve been working on for the past four years. We are very pleased that the Lord is getting this program into other churches. That’s exactly what I want and pray for – for God to do the work. The program is still pretty much in “rough draft” form, but usable. We have already given it out to three other churches that use it in their Sunday Schools. It consists of 150 lessons which cycles every three years. It was originally geared toward three age groups, then I added lessons for an Adult Class. The parents of our kids began saying that their kids knew the Bible better than themselves. We also hope that the adult lessons will be useful in planting future churches. We have about 15 lessons left to write, along with worksheets for each group, then the project will be finished. Please pray for God’s blessing on this important project.
Youth Conference. In February we hosted a one day Youth Conference. It is always a blast spending time with our youth. Missionary Casey Kline was the guest preacher and he did a fine job dealing with them where they are. We have no high pressure invitations for them to make their “decision for Christ” just to report numbers and such. In fact, our building is too small to even give an invitation to “come forward….” I can practically reach the first row of chairs from the pulpit! It is enough to know that we had about 75 young people whom the Lord dealt with and that some responded to Him. Many of them are at that age when they are looking for “the one.” We pray they marry in God’s will. These Youth Conferences provide a place where they can be with other believers and just be comforted in knowing that they are not the only nuts in the woods. Please pray for this upcoming generation of Christians in Ukraine, they do not have an easy time here going against this world system.
Sweetheart Banquet. Well, we did it. We had our first “Sweethearts Banquet” hoping to encourage and be a blessing to the married couples in our church. Missionary Jeff Christian and his wife Helen were our special guests. It was a good time and, of course, the ladies enjoyed getting dressed up and going out with their husbands. Our church youth served the banquet which was an added blessing. One of the best things about it was that sister Nadia’s husband, Dema, came. Brother Jeff preached a great salvation message and you could tell that the Lord was dealing with him. There was a time when he said he would never ever “cross the threshold of our front door,” but he came! Sister Nadia has completely changed in her new found Savior Jesus Christ. Dema, on the one hand, loves having a changed wife; but on the other, hasn’t yet made up his mind to get saved himself. The biggest hindrance is “the offense of the cross.” More and more, there is a stigma attached to those who are anything but Russian Orthodox. Please pray for his salvation.
Bible Study in Odessa. We have submitted the paperwork to begin a Bible Study in a university in Odessa. Please pray that it will be approved by the Dean and council. This would give us access to more young people and begin planting the seeds for a Bible Believing church in north Odessa.
Prayer Requests. We are still waiting for our shipment of Chick Tracts to arrive. Please pray that they make it here safely and soon; and that they will be used of the Lord to bring souls to Christ. We have some prayer requests regarding the formation of a Ukrainian Missionary Society for the purpose of enabling young men to plant churches here in Ukraine. We are also praying about starting a Bible study in a town an hour away called “Velika Michaelivka.” Please pray for God’s blessing, guidance, power, and wisdom.
Thank you all for your prayers and financial support that enable us to serve the Lord here in Ukraine.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, November – December 2010
A Ukrainian Sister Goes Home. One of our long time church members, Luda Ghiroon, went home to be with the Lord. She was a simple sister with an interesting testimony. Several months after she got saved she told me that she watched me for almost two years before she finally believed that I really was a Baptist Missionary! She was convinced that I was a spy for the USA! She could not figure out why anyone would leave America with wife and children and come live in a place like this! However, the preaching of the Book got to her and she received Christ. Two of her children were saved, but manifest only a little growth. Her oldest son, Ruslan, has come to church and heard me preach the Gospel for over a year. Sometimes, it looks as though he got saved on his own, but he is naturally very quiet and shy and does not like attention. He and his younger brother, Dennis, now work out in the Russian Tundra and had quite a time trying to travel back home for the funeral. We preached the Gospel as plain and simple as we could trying to undue all the superstition and unbelief of what happens to one’s soul when they die. They learned of the difference in the destinies of Christians versus unbelievers. The details of the funeral were handled by an unsaved friend of the family and, as usual, some Orthodox traditions crept in. An Orthodox cross led the procession to the cemetery. Like a boxer who obviously lost the match, but raises his arms in victory before the final announcement, I knew it was the desperate attempt of my enemy pretending he won her soul. Oh to the contrary! That was a victory for Jesus Christ! Sister Luda is with Him in glory right now!
Baptismal Service. In November it was my privilege to baptize two more Ukrainian believers and receive three new members into our church family. We hold classes for candidates for membership and water baptism, which takes about four hours. In the classes I go over the Gospel with them making sure that they are saved. We also review the meaning of water baptism in addition to covering who we are and what we believe as a local New Testament Baptist church. This gives me the opportunity to deal with people on a more personal basis and gives them a relaxed atmosphere to ask questions. It also helps me deal with those who may embrace heresy – usually baptismal regeneration. Nadia and Galya both gave a good testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ before being baptized and the church was overjoyed to receive them in addition to Raya into the church family.
Thanksgiving. It may be odd but the celebration of Thanksgiving always seems so much more meaningful when observed here in Ukraine than in America. We again had the privilege to host a missionary get together in our home on Thanksgiving Day. We always enjoy the time with other missionaries. We sing hymns in English and set aside a special time when the head of each home prays for our families, ministries, and especially our country. Of course the food is good too! I still love and thank God for America as she was founded. However, anyone who understands Daniel chapter seven knows how she will wind up. In the meantime we continue to thank God for her and pray that He will continue to keep the doors open for the churches there to send missionaries across the globe until the Lord comes.
Christmastime ministry. Every year during the Christmas season our church looks for ways to witness and minister to others in the name of Jesus Christ. Our children’s Sunday School put together a play about the birth of Jesus Christ and presented it to our church, the local children’s orphanage, and the local nursing home for the elderly. Slowly, the local orphanage is warming up to us in spite of the obvious interference from the local Russian Orthodox priest.
The first time we offered to help the children at Christmastime we were told that we could do a small skit about the birth of Jesus Christ and sing some hymns but we were not to pray with the children! That was due to priestcraft! We continue to request access to these children once a week or even a month to talk to them but we keep getting the run around. The response is always “the authorities forbid it!” Nonetheless, the Lord gave us a good time with the kids this year and we were able to give each one of them the Chick tract “The Greatest Story Ever Told!” Our church took up an offering and gathered toys, candy, and shoes for them. The kids were thrilled to get all the good stuff and I was overjoyed to watch our church members get excited about giving and doing things for others in Jesus’ name. Our church also gathered together and bought material to make warm blankets for the elderly in the local nursing home, which is visited by our members several times each month and presented the play of Christ’s birth. We continue to pray for their understanding of the Gospel so they can be saved. They are all on the brink of going out into eternity without Christ and their 70+ years of Darwinism, Atheism, and Communism doesn’t make it easy explaining the Gospel to them.
New Year’s Eve Watchnight Service. We again brought in the New Year with our annual watchnight service. All the preachers took turns preaching, we had some great fellowship and food. At 11:00 p.m. we have testimony time of God’s goodness to us over the past year and end the year with prayer for God’s blessings on our church and families in the coming year.
Chick Tracts. I am so glad that the Lord has and is answering my prayers concerning the provision, publication, and distribution of Chick Tracts. So far we have edited and/or translated the following: The Empty Tomb, Creator or Liar, The Word Became Flesh, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and The Mad Machine. Most of them have been printed already and are on their way here. We are looking forward to passing them out and will pray that God bless us with the fruit of many souls saved. It is our prayer that the Lord will provide us with 10,000 tracts each month in 2011 and that we will get every one of them into the hands of the Ukrainian people who so desperately need the Lord.
Prayer Requests. Please pray for our upcoming events and meetings. We are hosting a one day Youth Conference in February. I will also be teaching a four hour seminar for raising children in another church in Odessa as well as a Sunday School Seminar for teachers. Lord willing, it looks like we will finally be able to hold weekly Bible studies in the university in Odessa. I am really praying that this will turn into another church plant in the future. Please pray that the Lord’s will be done.
We want to thank you all for your prayers for us as we serve the Lord here in Ukraine. God bless you in the New Year as you pray, read and study the Bible, witness, support your local church and pastor and missions; in addition to fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. Keep looking up. Maybe today!
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, July – August 2010
Family Update. School is out! Those words were spoken by my wife with a sigh of relief and shouted by my children with joy. Naomi now has a little time for canning before beginning to plan next year’s curriculum and ordering all the materials. Michael, our youngest, turned two in July and looks like he is going to be the biggest of them all by the time he is 10! He is already as tall and heavy as Christopher, who is three! I’ve decided to start doing pushups and pull-ups in anticipation of his 14th birthday! The kids are all enjoying the summer break and are a big help with daily chores of life in Ukraine. Another blessing we had this year was a visit from Naomi’s mother, Sarah Witter, for several weeks. This is her second visit with us and she is always a help with the kids during the busy summer days. She also helped with the daily devotions with the English speaking girls during the youth camp, which she really enjoyed.
Youth Camp. The Lord tremendously blessed this year’s Annual Youth Conference in Odessa. We had around 120 in attendance representing about ten churches. We were privileged to have Missionary Gerald Sutek from the S.W.A.T Team for Christ, along with Missionaries Perry Demopolis and Paul Hamilton as our guest preachers. The Lord dealt with many youth during the week and many made some life changing decisions to sell out for Jesus Christ. For many of these young people, the Annual Youth Conference is the highlight of their year. That is all they talk about during the rest of the year!
New Recruits Have Arrived! I remember praying many years ago for help with the ministry. It did not matter to me if the Lord sent a young Timothy or an older Paul, I just wanted help! Well, it has pleased the Lord to send us Brother Casey Kline and his wife Sarah and their newborn beautiful girl Kayla. We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do with the combined effort of our lives lived for Him here in Ukraine. Casey is presently looking for a place to live that will serve him over the next several years. Please pray for the Klines as they make the transition from American life to Ukrainian along with language study and all the bureaucracy that goes with life here.
Visa Renewal. Please be in prayer for us as we return to the US to renew our visas. We decided to go ahead and do it early because our entrance into Ukraine would set a precedence as to the timing of future travel, seeing that we now must leave the country every year to renew. We could have waited until December, when our visas expire, but we did not want to interrupt the school year with a long trip, nor did we want to have to travel in winter with six children and all the extra bulky luggage. In addition, we are not sure what we will be facing when we return because it is not clear if the new law for work visas, requiring foreigners to stay outside Ukraine for three months for every two years spent in Ukraine applies to those with religious visas. We were told the last time we left the country and came back in a few days later that if we leave and come back again they may deny us entry for three months. Most problems with the passport officials that other missionaries have had, however, have been reported as taking place in the Odessa airport only. So, I have arranged to fly to Ukraine via Kiev and then take a domestic flight to Odessa. Please pray for God’s blessing on our trip and paperwork.
Prayer Requests. Please pray that the Lord will continue to bless our work here to the glory of Jesus Christ. Please pray for the people that are witnessed to by our church folks daily, for the tracts that have gone out, and for the Lord to bless the ministry in our absence. I also have a very important personal unspoken request that would bring some comfort knowing that people are praying to God on our behalf. Thank you for your friendship, prayers, support, and help. May God bless you.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, March - April 2010
Ministry Update. Sensing the need for more emphasis on soul winning, I put together a series of Sunday School lessons on the “how to” of bringing people to Christ. The whole church was included – all ages, all classes – even the little ones! For those who wanted more training we added soul winning classes on Saturday before visitation. The effort has yielded some fruit and I hope there will be more for the glory of Jesus Christ.
It was my privilege to lead Maria, the mother of one of our members, to Christ. Her daughter, Oksana, has been praying and fasting for her mother’s salvation. During a visit I spent three hours explaining the Gospel to her. Maria had tears in her eyes when she finally prayed to receive Christ. She has a lot of baggage from the Orthodox Church but she’s been reading her Bible every day since. One of our young men led a man to Christ who was recently paralyzed in an accident. His wife has also gotten right with the Lord and started coming to church again. A couple members continue to visit them every week for prayer and Bible reading. One of our young ladies has taken on the ministry of visiting the elderly in the state-run nursing home. It is a blessing to see Olya’s burden for souls and faithfulness to win them. We are also encouraged by the addition of two young ladies and a young man that come every service and are very close to receiving Christ.
The Lord gave more fruit during our revival services with Missionary Paul Hamilton. One young lady named Nadia has been coming to church for almost a year but never truly understood the Gospel. What finally opened her eyes to her condition was when one of our Sunday School teachers used the soul winning lessons to show her that, though she prayed to God for temporal things, she was not His child. She was trusting in her righteousness, not Christ’s. She thought she was saved just because she believed in God’s existence and prayed to Him for help in life. Oksana explained to her that the prayer God would receive is the prayer of calling on the name of the Lord to be saved from Hell. Only then would she be His child. Nadia received Christ during the revival services and now trusts Christ alone for salvation! She is a big blessing to us, while watching her take persecution without flinching from her friends and family to confess Christ.
For a long time I’ve wanted to try something here that the Lord used in my own life years ago. Shortly after rededicating my life to Christ I found a way to witness to my co-workers using Chick Tracts. I worked for a small company in Cincinnati that had about 75 employees. Every Wednesday night before prayer meeting I would buy 75 copies of one title from our church’s bookstore. Every Thursday and Friday I would pass them out to the employees as we passed each other during the day. I promoted it as the “Tract of the Week.” I said those words over and over again till it caught on and they started coming to me every Thursday asking for “The Tract of the Week!” There are so many different titles that I was able to do this every week for over a year. You should try it at your workplace!
After years of opposition, we are trying, again, to find a way to order 10,000 copies of one title each month. Several issues need much prayer to see this through: translation, financing, and shipping. We are going over the translations, one tract at a time to make sure they are good and will be well received. For example, we tried to pass out “The Empty Tomb” but the title was mistranslated to “The Empty Coffin” and resulted in people being “creeped out” and refused to take them. We talked with Chick Publications and they agreed to change the name to “Christ is Risen!” which is on every Russian tongue on Easter Sunday. Since the US post office discontinued the cheap “M-bag” option, shipping costs have doubled the cost of the tracts themselves. We plan to ship the orders to Mt. Hope Baptist Church in Ohio which has so graciously agreed to store them and ship them to us here, in boxes of 1000, as we need them. Please pray for this project. I’m looking forward to passing out “The Tract of the Month” in Russian!
Family Conference. The Lord opened a door for me to do something that I’ve never done before. I was given an invitation by two churches to teach an all-day seminar on raising children. It was a good time and several families and parents appeared to get some real help in their callings as parents. As is usually the case, I think I benefited the most from the preparation time and thinking about my own family.
Guests! We have been blessed the past few months with the rare privilege of having guests in our home and ministry. A young missionary couple from Selma, CA, Joshua and Adrianna Breazeale, stayed with us for about a month, while preparing to go to the country of Georgia to start a new work there in Batumi. We greatly enjoyed the few days the Lord allowed us to have with Missionary Paul Hamilton, who stayed with us during our revival services. We also enjoyed a day of fellowship and preaching with Missionary Richard Maher and his family, before their return to the States for furlough. We all were edified by his preaching and will miss him and his family. The Lord also gave us the privilege of having Sister Debbie Meyers spend two weeks with us as she prepared her things to return to the United States. She was a great blessing to the missionaries in the Odessa region and will be greatly missed. We pray that the Lord will continue to use her there as He did here. We are especially excited about Brother Casey Kline’s soon arrival with his wife, Sarah, and new baby girl to work with us. Please pray for them as they prepare to come this summer.
Future Plans and Prayer Requests. We are meeting a lot of resistance trying to find a place to rent for holding meetings in the town of Yakovlevka. We approached the town’s community center, called a “House of Culture”, who said that new laws have been introduced that give all local town councils control over access to them. We submitted a written request and were rejected with no real reason given. It is obvious that our enemy has used the Orthodox Church to make these buildings inaccessible to evangelistic efforts, as they were the main building being used for all religious groups for the past fifteen years. We need prayer for wisdom on how to proceed.
Please also pray for our upcoming children’s Bible Club in July and Youth Camp in August. We are also preparing to attend a combined youth conference in Odessa with several other missionary churches in May. We are praying for those of our youth who have not “sold out” will do so and for some of them who need encouragement in their struggle to live separated lives for Jesus Christ amidst the temptation of this time and place. Odessa is a port city. Enough said.
I also need prayer about an important decision regarding the future of the ministry here. I am really struggling with this and could use wisdom and light that only God can give. In a nutshell it involves the decision to stay here in this town and use the church as a base and the need to build an addition on to the church building. Or, turning the work over to a national pastor, but I don’t have any peace about it and it is putting a strain on my relationship with one of my best men that I’ve invested years into. Please pray.
We want to thank each every one of you for “staying by the stuff” during these hard times. God bless you for your burden for souls, for your prayers that hold us up, for your generosity in giving to enable us to be here. Keep looking up, “in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, May - June 2010
On the Home-Front. The last few months on the home front have been busy with finishing up school for the year and getting ready for the summer’s activities and work. Joshua turned 16 and is now in his Junior year, Miriam just turned 14 and will be a Freshman, Ben turned 9 in May, and Sam 7 last April. The youngest pair, Christopher (“Critterpher”) and Michael, bring us all much joy. We are looking forward to the needed break from school and a visit from Grandma Witter for a few weeks this July. Our chickens are giving us about a dozen eggs each day and we patiently wait for our goat to begin giving milk. We had a bumper crop of apricots this year and the cherries were wonderful. We thank God for the blessing of raising our kids out in the country with plenty of fresh air, open space, and physical work!
Bible Club 2010. This year’s Children’s Bible Club was probably one of the best in terms of spiritual fruit, but the least in attendance. Average attendance for the week was around 50 children every day. Children’s ministry can be quite a challenge. On the one hand I’m against “easy believism” and don’t want to pick the fruit before it’s ready. On the other, I know that children can be saved (I received Christ when I was eight years of age), and I don’t want to make salvation hard to receive, or, like some, not even give an invitation in fear that they haven’t yet understood all points of Soteriology. This year fifteen children responded to the invitation to receive Christ as their personal Savior. We dealt with each child personally to make sure they understood the Gospel’s offer of full and free salvation through receiving Jesus Christ as personal Savior. All the workers were of one mind and heart and served the Lord with a good spirit. We thank God for this year’s little harvest of souls. Please pray for us as we try to now win the parents to Christ.
Ministry Update. We are very glad to have our first order of Chick Tracts on their way here and looking forward to passing them out. God wonderfully answered your prayers with Chick Publications contacting me to inform us that they want to provide us 40,000 tracts free of charge! Thank you for praying! We had a visit from one of our missionaries, Ghenya, who is serving in the Republic of Altai. It was a blessing to see how their work is planting roots in that very needy country. We had a one day Youth Conference which was a blessing to our youth. Our Wednesday evening prayer meetings are full of testimonies of people witnessing for Christ and asking prayer for the salvation of souls.
Future Plans and Prayer Requests. Please pray for us as we make all the preparations to host another five day Youth Conference. This year we plan to have around 120 in attendance and look forward to the preaching of Gerald Sutek, Perry Demopolis, and Paul Hamilton. Please pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in all that is done. Please pray for the salvation of Victor, Natasha, Sergei, and Nadia’s husband.
Thank you for your prayers, friendship, and support. We thank God for all the good memories we have of serving with many of you, ministering to some of you, and being ministered to by most all of you. Keep looking unto to Jesus.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, January-February 2010
There’s a new name written up in glory! We rejoice to say that a young woman, named Vika, came to church and received Christ a few weeks ago. One of our young men, who is trying to get his life straightened up, brought her to church. She didn’t respond during the invitation, but called on the Lord later that night to save her. She is really being attacked by her family for attending our church. Her parents threatened to kick her out of their house if she continues to attend. Please pray for her and for Alosha. They want to get married and are seeking God’s will in it all amidst a lot of temptation and testing.
Yakovlevka. Times have changed quite a bit here. Evangelism did not used to be monitored and controlled like it is today. The local “Houses of Culture” (Civic Centers) used to be easily rented for meetings. Now, you must submit a letter to the town council, for evaluation and permission to use these facilities. They only meet once every three months and most of them are afraid of the political backlash for allowing Baptists to meet in their towns. We have filled out the proper paperwork for renting a hall for meetings in Yakolvevka and need prayer that God will give us favor. If not we will do what we can and try to find another way to begin meetings there. The Lord has already given us two families there and another woman interested in attending the meetings.
Youth Conference. Missionary Richard Maher hosted a one-day youth conference in February. It was a great time for our youth to get together and fellowship during a long winter. The Devil sure seems to be working several of our young adults over in the area of relationships. We are trying to help them through this difficult time and pray that they will find God’s perfect will for their lives in the area of courtship and marriage.
Ukrainian Elections. The Presidential run-off election in Ukraine resulted in Yanakovich’s election as president. He is pro-Russian, as opposed to the pro-west counterpart. Being pro-Russian means “Pro-Orthodox.” It is still early to see just how serious his threats were to the Baptists in particular. There has already been some “Anti-sect” legislation being debated in the Ukrainian Parliament that was drawn up by his party. If it passes, Ukraine will adopt the same laws that exist in Russia and Belorussia that practically make it a crime to serve Jesus Christ by being a soul winner. It especially targets pastors with heavy fines for proselytizing. It would also require notarized letters from parents for all underage children to attend Sunday School and Bible Clubs. Please pray that God will continue to give us liberty to preach without hindrance.
Family Update and Prayer Requests. January was the month of my 43rd physical birthday and February that of my spiritual. God’s faithfulness is amazing! Please pray for: 1) an upcoming trip to Kiev to renew Joshua’s passport; 2) several writing projects I have begun to be used in our work here; 3) God’s provision of Chick Tracts; 4) upcoming revival services in April; 5) God’s blessings on our soul-winning efforts; 6) upcoming Family Conferences in Odessa and Limonski. Thank you and God bless you for your prayer and financial support of us and the work here.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, October 2009
A Death-bed Conversion.
Before church one Sunday morning Valya, a long-time church member, asked for
help with her ex-husband, who abandoned her and with three children to join the
ranks of the many town drunks. Eugene has been an alcoholic for many years but
would never admit he had a problem. He had one spell of sobriety while he worked
daily with another church member, but when he relocated Eugene went back to the
old crowd and eventually lost everything. Valya said that he was on his deathbed
and had contacted them to ask someone to bring him a bottle of water. All his
“friends” were gone or broke and he had no one else. She said that their family
had prayed about it and wanted to bring him home to do what they could to make
his last days comfortable and asked if I would talk with him about salvation. We
found him in the home of another alcoholic who was not home. It was not a pretty
sight. Flies, filth, and a basin of human waste permeated the room. Eugene was
lying alone on an old bed, weighing half what he used to weigh. I sat down and
talked with him for a while. He didn’t know if he was saved or not. One thing he
knew, that he was done with alcohol; rather, alcohol was done with him. The
autopsy later revealed that cancer had eaten his entire esophagus and stomach. I
asked how he felt. He said, “I’m thirsty. It burns all the way down my throat.
All I want is a drink of mineral water.” I carefully went over the Gospel with
him and asked if he wanted to be saved. He prayed and asked the Lord to forgive
him and save his soul. He was so surprised that his family wanted to take him
home and care for him. The scene reminded me of Mephibosheth. I bought him some
mineral water and transported him home.
His ex-wife and children cared for him for about two
weeks before He died. He slowly starved to death. They tried taking him to the
hospital, but the socialized medicine of Ukraine knew it was a lost cause and
even refused to give him an I.V. for dehydration. It was there he pleaded and
confessed, “Have mercy, I’m an alcoholic.” Eugene’s family, a few drunks, and
co-workers attended the funeral. I preached on “What the Dying Thief Believed.”
The funeral of a town drunk, who abandoned his wife and kids, among many other
depravities, is not the time to go on about how good a man he was. Therefore, I
simply told them that even a man like Eugene could be saved and go to Heaven by
placing his trust in Jesus Christ, just as the dying thief had done. At the
gravesite, I asked his son, Arthur, one of our Bible Institute graduates, if he
would like to say something. He was bawling. I did not think he could get
through it, but he got the attention of every hardened drunk, funeral home
worker, and gravedigger there. He said he still loves his father no matter what.
He told how ONE TIME his dad took him fishing and he cherished the memory. He
always prayed and hoped that one day his dad would get right and they could have
a Christian family but “it just didn’t work out. I’ll see you in Heaven, Papa.”
After that, I preached again and exhorted these hardened men to beg God’s
forgiveness and get saved and then go home and asked their families to forgive
them as well. We passed out tracts and continue to pray that some will respond
to God’s offer of salvation.
A Prodigal Daughter Returns. Vika, Eugene’s daughter, grew up in our Sunday
School. She made a profession of faith several years ago but I suspected that
she was merely tagging along with a friend who truly received Christ. When she
went away to school in Odessa, she quit coming to church and ended up marrying a
Muslim, Ali, who eventually took her to Lebanon and Syria. She was able, by
God’s grace, to leave Syria and come to Ukraine for a visit with their son
Daniel. After being exposed to Islam, she now has truly received Christ and has
a great burden for her husband’s salvation. The change in her is remarkable. She
asked if she could be re-baptized since she was never truly saved the first
time.
I asked her to give a testimony to explain to the church why
she is getting re-baptized and for the sake of the other teenage girls in our
church who may be tempted to marry unsaved men. Her testimony was amazing. I
wish I had recorded it for every young Ukrainian girl to hear. Vika is the first
person I’ve ever baptized with tears. I could hardly say the words. Needless to
say, there was great rejoicing in the church that she had come back to the Lord.
She returned to Syria the day after her father’s funeral. Please pray for Vika
and her son’s safety and for her husband’s salvation. Little Daniel is a very
cute kid. I always made sure to carry Tic-Tacs with me to give to him at church.
I’d always ask him, “Who loves you?” The first time he said, “You do!” Then I
taught him to answer, “Jesus loves me!” I’d then give him a “high-five” and some
Tic-Tacs. I’m sure no one but his mother is going to tell him that Jesus loves
him in Syria. We gave Vika some Sunday School materials and books to help with
his upbringing in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Please pray for his
soul.
Two Boys Saved in Sunday School. Our Sunday School curriculum is coming
along well. We began covering the subject of Future Events, which touches on
Heaven, Hell, the Judgments and Resurrections. Two nine-year-old boys, Pasha and
Dema, received Christ after the lesson on Hell and confessed Christ in their own
words before the church. Pasha’s mother is, of course, very glad and rejoicing.
Church Planting Bible Institute. Our Bible Institute classes are going well.
We began by laying a good foundation for beginning our work in reaching out to
other towns in the region for planting churches. Now we are meeting to put
together a plan of attack and lay out the logistics and strategy with prayer. We
plan to begin again in Yakovlevka where we had once had weekly meetings but put
it into the hands of a preacher who eventually dropped the ball. We really need
God to work and prepare hearts in this town. Please pray that there will be
souls saved and a church born.
Open Door to Preach in University in Odessa. Several young people in our
church attend a Christian University, which is not very Christian at all. It was
founded by an ecumenical Reformed group, which means that they are steeped in
Five-Point Calvinism, while allowing Orthodox priests to teach classes. The
Reformed and Russian Orthodox get along pretty well, because they both hate the
Catholics and believe Israel’s promises have been forfeited to themselves. After
prayer meeting one Wednesday night, I asked a young lady from our church why she
was a little down in the mouth. She said that there was a teacher that she liked
very much at the “Christian” university that made a remark that really
disappointed her. During the lecture the teacher said, “What difference does it
really make whether Jesus Christ had an intimate relationship with Mary
Magdalene or not?” Very little can really shock me anymore in this depraved age,
but, I have to admit I was a little surprised at that comment from a “Christian”
university teacher. Anyway, I kind of half jokingly told our young people that
if they will set it up I’ll come and preach. I would have never thought that
they would allow a preacher like me in their school. They jumped on it and
already met with the director of the university to set up weekly Bible studies.
I am very excited about this open door to work among some young people in
Odessa. We are praying and planning to begin meetings after we renew our visas
in December.
Visa Renewal. We have submitted our paperwork for renewing our visas and
already purchased our tickets to go outside the country. We made the tough
decision to leave our children here in the care of a single missionary lady,
Deborah Myers, along with another lady in our church who will come every day to
help her. As much as I do not want to leave my children, the costs of taking
them with us and the hardship of travel on the little ones, lead us to decide
that this would be better. We’ve never done anything like this before and I
cannot tell you how much apprehension I have leaving them. My mind wonders,
“What if they close the borders and airports because of swine flu?” “What if
there’s a problem with getting a religious visa?” “What if something happens and
we can’t be there to help?” Most of all, I keep thinking about little
Christopher and Michael, who are too young to understand, and how they will be
looking for mommy and daddy and can’t find us. I’m getting depressed just
writing this! Please pray that God will bless us during this time and that the
kids will be safe and that we will have no problems with our paperwork and
visas. We will be gone from November 30 through December 7. Thank you for your
prayers and support, which enable us to be here engaged in the greatest calling
ever – serving the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you for your desire to win
Ukrainian souls to Jesus Christ.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue
Phil. 3:10"...Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." John 4:35
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Dear Praying Friends and Family, September 2009
David’s
Funeral.
We received the sad news early morning on Monday September 27 that David passed
away after his long fight with lupus. He was eighteen years old. The last three
months have been very hard as his lungs slowly shut down. He needed a whole tank
of oxygen a day to live. Ukraine has socialized medicine which put the burden of
locating and purchasing the oxygen on the shoulders of David’s father. It almost
became a full-time job to just have enough oxygen on hand to keep David alive,
not to mention the hardship of the cost, which was not covered by the
socialistic system. I met David about five years ago in the hospital where I had
gone to pay him a visit. I remember sensing the Lord’s presence in a strong way
in the room. At the time, I didn’t exactly know what it meant, only that it was
obvious that the Lord was working through the life of this sick boy. It has been
my privilege to watch the Lord work through him over the past few years. He
believed that his sickness was from the Lord designed to help unite his parents
who were separated. He would tell his mother, “The Lord let this happen so that
my daddy would get saved.” Upon hearing of David’s sickness, his father returned
to the wife and children he had deserted after first giving his heart to the
Lord. His brother and sister both got saved and his mother has been forced to
reconsider the teachings of the Pentecostal church here who teach baptismal
regeneration. I’ve been dealing with her on this subject for several years now.
We held the funeral on Tuesday and were able to preach the Gospel again to a
very mixed crowd of Russian Orthodox, Pentecostals, and Atheists besides our own
church family. The Gospel seed was sown and we pray for the Lord to give the
increase. I was very pleased with our church which has supported David’s family
like I’ve never seen before. While David was in the hospital, each day one
family from our church volunteered to prepare a meal for David’s family who were
taking turns sitting with him and doing all the running to get the medicines and
oxygen. Our church has been happily doing so for the last month. We have also
taken up several offerings to help the costs of the oxygen and tried to help
purchase four more tanks so that he could have extra on hand.
Bible
Institute.
We began
holding Bible Institute classes again for the purpose of preparing young men for
the future church planting campaign. A few men from Missionary Richard Maher’s
church also wanted to join us, making 12 men who are getting ready for future
ministry. I am teaching this institute in “pods” or stages, giving them just
enough information to prepare them for the first stage of church planting. Then,
Lord willing, after we have some new converts to work with, we can gather again
for further instruction on discipleship, and organizing them into a local
church. I’ve been praying about this for several years. I am so excited and
thankful to finally make progress in the work of church planting.
Future
Evangelism.
We are praying and making preparations for holding evangelistic services again
in the town of Yakovlevka. We began holding services there a few years back and
tried to get something permanent planted there, but I turned the work over to a
man who just didn’t have a burden to keep it going. The Lord has given our
church treasurer, Sasha, a burden for Yakovlevka, his home town, and we are
laying the plans for helping him in the work of holding evangelistic services
within the next few weeks, before the cold weather hits. Talent, wisdom, and
skill in presentation cannot replace the power of God that comes from prayer.
Please pray for this town, that God would prepare hearts to receive the message
and that God would prepare us for the work.
Prayer Needed for Visas.
We were recently informed about some changes made in Ukrainian law regarding
foreign visas and registration that have put some hurdles in our way. They are
no longer allowing registrations to be extended beyond one’s visa term. Now we
must leave the country, apply at a foreign Ukrainian embassy, and return with
new visas. The OVIR office will then give registration for as long as the visas
term. This could not come at worse time for us financially, not to mention the
upset in our ministry and home school schedules. It is not cheap traveling with
a family our size. We know other missionaries who have left the country without
their children and put them in the care of other missionary families to save
money. However, we do not have any peace of mind leaving our children in Ukraine
alone with anyone. I know that the Lord has something planned for us and will
provide. Our visas expire in December and we need prayer about where to go to
apply for new ones.
Family
Update. After finishing summer with a
wonderful Youth Conference we began getting ready for another school year. The
Lord has blessed us with a house large enough to dedicate two rooms to the
important task of educating our children. We are glad for the extra help from
the Maher and Funikoshi families with whom we have combined our children into
one school. Mrs. Maher watches the little guys (her son David, and our two
youngest boys, Christopher and Michael) while Naomi spends most of her time with
the three younger students (Elizabeth Maher, Benjamin and Sam). Joshua and
Miriam are much more independent and do not need as much attention. The
Funikoshi’s are missionaries from Japan, whose son, Yuki, comes once a week to
be tutored by Naomi while Mrs. Funikoshi teaches our children piano. I dedicated
the first two weeks in school to act as principle to help implement some
necessary changes to the schedule and rules to insure Naomi’s sanity! She is
doing a great job. So, we have eight children everyday to teach, train, and feed
along with the work of putting up food for the winter. The Lord blessed us again
with a great harvest of grapes, tomatoes, pears, and apples. We had a surprise
when 13 of our 21 hens turned out to be roosters! They are in the freezer now
and afforded a great lesson for the kids as they watched the process of killing,
cleaning, and plucking.
Thank you for your prayers and support. May God bless you for your desire to win Ukrainian souls to Jesus Christ.
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10
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Dear Friends and Family, July 2006
Since our last prayer letter (May-June 2006) was dedicated to updating you on the blessings and fruit of our translation and publication ministry we will use this letter to bring you up to date on the family and rest of the ministry.
Early May, Naomi returned from spending two weeks with her father who has been fighting cancer. It has been a blessing to see Naomi’s faith strengthened over the past few months. It seems that the enemy keeps dealing us blow after blow, but we know that it is all from the hand our loving heavenly Father for our good. The task of getting settled back into life after deputation during one of the harshest winters in fifty years, the miscarriage of a longed-for baby, trying to get the kids caught up in home school, worry over Naomi’s father, along with other problems with the church left us both asking the Lord a lot of questions. During the trials Naomi came to the point where she decided that she could choose the joy of the Lord or she could choose bitterness. Praise God she made the right choice. Those two weeks during Naomi’s absence were very hard on the whole family. Trying to take care of the house, kids, and home school, while keeping up with my ministerial responsibilities almost pushed me over the edge. I was excited as a little boy to pick her up from the airport safe and sound. May was also the month of our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The kids worked hard and finally caught up with their home school studies and are now enjoying summer break.
We have been reorganizing and restructuring many aspects of the ministry over the past few months. We restructured our discipleship program and began holding new converts classes once a month. We have had an average of 12 to 14 new converts and potential members attend. In June, we baptized three new converts who also joined the church. Our annual Children’s Bible Club was the highlight of July. We had around fifty children attend every day with five children making a first-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We also had a special Graduation service for several of our members who graduated High School. It is sad to think that they all are getting ready to be scattered to the four winds to continue their education. We are very concerned for them during this very vulnerable period of their lives and are praying about starting another church in Odessa to help.
After years of praying and considering what we can do for a children’s Sunday school program, the Lord finally gave us the light we needed to begin. My prayer is that our labor in developing and writing the curriculum will not only benefit our church, but others throughout Ukraine. I am very excited about it. It is challenging to come up with a Sunday school program that will work in Ukraine. There is only one curriculum available in the Russian language. It has no apparent goals in what it is trying to accomplish and it is obvious that the group that developed it is far from being “likeminded” with us. Our new program is thoroughly Bible believing with definite goals. It is also easily adapted to any church and is certainly affordable. It does not consist of expensive full-color workbooks. It is a structured program that gives the teacher freedom, within guidelines, to get the lesson across to the student on his own level. We are holding weekly meetings for training our workers, who are also excited about it.
Paul’s words to the Corinthians have been on my mind a lot lately. “…I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon (I Cor. 3:10).” It has been said that the true measure of the success of a missionary is not that which he accomplishes while on the field, but the work that still stands after he is gone. I have watched the ministries of dozens of missionaries in the former Soviet Union over the past thirteen years. I know of only two who have successfully been able to turn a church over to national leadership while remaining financially self-supported. With these things in mind, I’ve begun concentrating our efforts on taking the remaining steps necessary to help our church become truly indigenous, regardless of whether the Lord leads us to begin another building project or not. We have begun holding Bible Institute classes once a week to further train our men. The classes also give us the opportunity to discuss the details of the steps that we must take in order to turn the church over to national leadership. Please pray about this important phase of our ministry.
Our youth group is looking forward to our annual Youth Conference in August. Please pray for their safety as they travel and that the Lord will work in their hearts during the meetings. All of them have some very important decisions to make in the upcoming months. The most important being where they are going to put Jesus Christ. Our prayer for them is that they will all put Jesus Christ first in their lives.
We want to especially thank those of you who have written notes of encouragement over the past few months. They meant a lot to Naomi and me. I have been too busy to answer all the letters we have received. Lord willing, I will get around to it in a month or two. Again, we thank you all for your prayers, help, support, and friendship in the ministry. Until our next prayer letter or our meeting in the air!
That Ukraine May Know Him, Christopher Rue Phil. 3:10