In the above photo you see those attending the Bible study at Kramatorsk, Ukraine on Thursday night (Vlad is taking the photo).
After another all-day bus ride it was really nice to be greeted by two Volodya’s at the Kramatorsk, Ukraine bus station!
The morning awakened to the sound of an autumn drizzle and the cool dampness that accompanies such a climate. As usual Alexander was early to pick us up and take us to the bus station in Zaporozhye. I brought my stuff out to his car and was delighted to find that General Svetlana had come to see us off. After arriving at the bus station Yuri (“George”) joined us. George brought a jar of raspberry jam and some of his dried goby fish so we would not get hungry on the all-day bus ride. And we had a BIG bus today!!
After arriving in Kramatorsk and hurriedly putting the luggage in the rooms it was time to grab a quick meal and then off to the mid-week Bible study. I arrived at the Kramatorsk church meeting place and Oksana was finishing up the “A, B, C English” class that the Church uses as an outreach. I had the opportunity to go in and greet the students and they practiced their English on me for a brief time.
The Bible study tonight was a survey of the prophecy of Daniel. I love the emphasis that Daniel has on the fact that God is in control no matter the problems faced or the evil people that obstruct. This is a lesson that brings great encouragement in the times of our current civilization. The class stimulated good discussion and I felt it was encouraging.
Today I received a follow-up email from our brother in Nigeria who is to receive the container we recently loaded. He is having big problems in getting the Nigerian government to approve the shipment.
Here is a summary of his letter:
“Dear Brother John,
“Greetings. Hope you had a safe trip to Ukraine.
“We discovered that our NGO has been enlisted for an interview for this quarter. The date for the interview is yet to be fixed and we are yet to receive an invitation for the interview. We have been reliably informed that even the interview could be delayed till early next year. Hence, the possibility of getting the certificate this year is very slim.
Since the container has already sailed, we should have a Plan B. And we are at work on this. God is already working against the devil’s attempt to stop the container.
“To enable us act on this new directive, please we need you to make the necessary changes in the relevant documents and send them to us as email attachments.
“I’ve been asked to rush to Abuja immediately and submit the new applications and copies of the relevant documents at the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“I’m optimistic that God will not allow us to lose the container.
“May God see us through.”
So upon arrival in Kramatorsk it was urgent to get my mind reoriented to Nigeria and go back and revise the shipping documents and try to contact the shipper so the Bill of Laden will have the proper information. Please remember this in your prayers!
It has been a very tiring day and as I write this report it seems I have to pull out each letter from the keyboard onto the monitor! So I’m signing off and will be ready in the morning as we begin meetings and trips in the region where our containers have been distributed.
Thank you for your prayers and concerns on this mission trip.
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Zaporozhye, Ukraine
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