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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, 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
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
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
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