Photo: Gif is teaching an evening Bible Class to the congregation.
The trip continues to be amazing in so many ways. The newly arrived group has enjoyed clawing their way through jet lag and are feeling good and making a significant impact. Perry is doing his invaluable and usual good job(s) in so many aspects of the work. I am away most of the time in travels to meet with those who have received commodities from our shipments and to get distribution reports. For the next few days I will be in Lviv meeting with a number of people.
From Gif –
The last couple of days have been very full! Recovery from the flights has been slow for all of us but we have not really had time to think about it as we have stayed busy nearly every hour. We have had some great opportunities to interact with some of the schools here and teach the kids English by using the Bible. Jared has taken the brunt of the load on that, but we have both been able to have great conversations with the students after! Whitney has also been able to use her biology expertise to teach these classes and explain the mission of the Church here. In the evenings, I have had the great opportunity to teach the members of the Church in Ivano-Frankivsk the Bible’s emphases on peace-making and leadership. We have provoked some really good discussion! The remainder of the week will be devoted to much of the same, so we are just starting to hit the groove!
From Whitney –
Tuesday…Another wonderful day in Ukraine. We started the day by visiting the church building that is still under construction, it is coming along very nicely and it will be a wonderful help to this community! Right now, it is storing a lot of humanitarian aid that we have sent including our most recent shipment of medical supplies. They have some items set aside to send to soldiers on the front lines and the rest just for people of the community. They only have seven buckets left in their building so we definitely need to get more! One of our translator’s husband is fighting on the front lines so she got some electrolyte packets to send to him.
After that we met with the school to talk about our teaching arrangements. As it turns out, I am teaching two upper level biology classes every day now. Prayers for me and for those students. We wrapped up today with a great Bible study by Gif then I came back to the hotel to write my lesson.
Wednesday…Today I taught my first two Ukrainian biology lessons. I was very nervous going into it, but it turned out great! We had an introduction where I spoke about myself and what we do in America. One of the students asked why I came all the way to Ukraine, and I told her that we have been sending aid over here for the last year so we needed to see what is needed in the future. They all thought that was very kind and “cool” of all of the people involved in donating items to the warehouse and the people packing it and sending it over. The teacher, Oleg, says that there is some very nice medical equipment that no one here has even seen before, like special wheelchairs for children and fancy incubators for newborns. I told them that we support them and their country and we give them all of our love and all of God’s love and the students were very encouraged by that. So many people love plants here also! I really like that.
After our first class in our second session we were swarmed by students who were eager to have a conversation with us to practice their English. The interactions were wonderful and we made friends quickly! We are excited to go back tomorrow and teach more! Please remember to pray for these students whose future is greatly impacted by this war!
After school we came back and rested, then we had a Bible study about leadership taught by Gif that was very well attended. Now I am back at the hotel, in my pajamas ready to try some Ukrainian chocolate, then I will get some sleep and wake up at 7 tomorrow for biology class.
From Jared –
Yesterday was a full day in Ivano-Frankivsk! Partly because we ate a lot of food the other reason was our day was filled with many good people and things.
We visited the Church in Ugorniky today, and saw all of the amazing things the Church is working towards over here. The brothers and sisters in Christ are so creative in the ways they serve the Kingdom of God. The people in Ukraine know the Church here for all of the good works they are doing for the community in Jesus’ name.
Today we began introducing ourselves to some Ukrainian students, please pray that we will be able to speak better English than they can, so we will be able to teach them valuable things in our English lessons. We have heard that the students over here are very bright so we hope they will not only pick up on English but also the Bible stories we are using to teach them!
From Perry –
It was wonderful to worship with our brothers and sisters in Ivano-Frankivsk again and seeing Jared, Whitney and Giff. As usual Giff delivered a relevant lesson that encourages the church during these difficult times. We were able to share a meal together with a few of the Church members including Bogdan and Galena before they drove back to Zelena. I cannot say enough words of kindness for this hospitable Christian couple who have become dear friends.
In the evening we meet with Ivan and made plans for the week.
We started the morning at the church building where the men were loading a van load of hospital equipment for Ugorniky. Some men were doing plaster work while others were sanding. Jared and Whitney were very impressed.
Later we went to the school where Oleg Basarab is Biology, First Aid, CPR and Tactical training teacher. He also helped unload the container of medical equipment. Oleg set up the meeting with the director and other teachers to discuss the classes that Gif, Jared and Whitney will teach. I am sure they will send a report. (Reread #6 and there is more information on Oleg–as I have time I will send a more complete report on this good man).
Whitney will be teaching two biology classes each day at 8:30 and 10:00 am. Gif and Jared will tag team Bible classes. The director and teachers were excited. This took a large part of the day
At 4:30pm we had a bible study class on leadership conducted by Gif.
This morning, Gif, Jared and Whitney went off to school while Ivan, Inna and myself picked up Andrew and drove to the shop where the van was having the interior done and windows reinstalled. We brought it back to the church building to have the wooden floor put in. The wood shop is making it in one piece but was not ready because of short staffing. Vova will be installing the floor when it is completed along with the seats. This work is being done to fully rustproof the van so it will last a long time.
We left the church building and were heading to where Andrew’s wife works to meet refugees that have been displaced. As we were driving there, she called and told us that they had volunteered to work in the fields preparing for the soil for planting. May be tomorrow.
We drove back to the school to pick up everybody and had our second class on leadership.
As you can read, the work is constant and the scope is limitless! There is soooo much more that could be reported but constraints prevent that from happening. I hope these snippets help to reveal just how much activity is on-going!
THANK YOU to all who financially support these trips and are in constant prayer for the Lord’s successes as He uses us in the work!
Continue praying for our efforts! “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it.” (Colossians 4:2-4)
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (Dalraida Church of Christ, Ukraine Missions, P. O. Box 3085, Montgomery, AL 36109
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