Our week of Bible study ended Friday night with 20 present. This trip has been marked by an increase of those in all assemblies—worship, Bible classes and fellowship gatherings! This is really encouraging as it shows the overall increase in the congregation is balanced.
The photo at the top of this report is the Friday night Bible class. Tonight’s class was truly international in that we had citizens from all of these nations present: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the United States of America, and Ukraine! Emmanuel is a medical university student from Ghana. He had begun his medical studies in Donetsk but when Russian invaded the medical school moved to Ivano-Frankivsk and Emmanuel became involved in the Church’s efforts. He has been encouraging his fellow classmates to come and join in Bible study and worship and tonight “Christian” from Nigeria, “Joseph” from Sierra Leone, and “Diana” from Ghana accepted his invitation and came to class.
Our attendance the past few nights has been down some because of the stomach virus that continues to infect some. Thankfully others have suffered through the virus and have returned. We are looking forward to Sunday’s assemblies and hope that most of those who have been ill are able to be back with us.
In Friday’s class we also had “Olga” visiting (in the photo at the top Olga is standing in the front, dressed in black and Andrew and Volodya are behind her). She is the Head Nurse at the Ivano-Frankivsk Maternity Hospital. She came not only to participate in the class but to thank me for all of the help that churches of Christ have sent to her hospital. She says that without our assistance the medical treatments would be impossible. She was very complimentary on the members of the local congregation and commended them for their visible faith and devotion to God. She remarked that in contrast to many others she can truly see God in the lives of those who are members in the congregation. Olga had specifically requested a hospital bed for an elderly lady who is dying of cancer. We were able to load that bed on a container we loaded for Ivano-Frankivsk on September 1. The bed had been donated by Harding University’s nursing school!
An interesting smile…yesterday I was purchasing some household items for some who have been displaced by Russia’s invasion and occupation. On the list was items to help with dish washing. A detergent dispenser was selected because it had on the box “made with German quality” (and it was printed in German!). When the box was delivered and the item removed I noticed a sticker on the bottom that said “Made in China.”
I stopped by the construction site yesterday and all is progressing very well. They have just about completed the preliminary work (removing 250 dump truck loads of the black top soil, drilling the well, running the power lines, setting the transformer, pouring the foundation for the permanent fence, setting the steel for the fence and painting it, digging lines for sewer, and a few other things that I cannot recall. They should set the fence panels into position Saturday and then on Monday begin digging the foundation for the warehouse/meeting room. If all goes as planned the warehouse will be completed, the security system installed and all functional by New Years! The brethren are working on letters to send out asking for your help to secure funds to complete this project.
We are looking forward to the Lord’s Day! We will join together for worship, Bible study and fellowship. After the assemblies are concluded I plan to host the congregation to a congregational fellowship meal.
Thank you for your financial support that makes this trip possible. Thank you for your prayers that makes the blessings of the harvest possible.
Pray for our efforts!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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