Catching Up & Looking Forward  

Catching Up:

The last time I wrote was on March 11^th. Michael left on the 12^th and got home yesterday after a few days in England and France. We all miss him! He did a great job of starting things up!

On Saturday, the 16^th, we had a fun night at my place and we had 19 people – including 6 kids I think! It was a lot of fun!!

On Sunday, the 17^th we had 13 for Class and Worship.

I decided to have my Bible Class – Series on Growing A Christian Family and my sermon – Series of Growing In Christ – translated and handed out. It was well received! I also started a new newsletter/bulletin. The newsletter was kind of rough but I think this weeks will be better!

On Monday morning I left with my friend and translator Sergey for Krakow, Poland to get my Visa. This is so I can get my Temporary Residency which is good for one year. Then I can get my Permanent Residency, which sounds a whole lot better to me! With some trials and extra costs, which we didn’t expect, we got the Visa! We returned to Kremenchuk around 4pm on Thursday. The last day and half have been real busy working on lessons, bulletin, add for future Bible Clubs and now this!

Looking Forward:

Sunday we will have a new look bulletin and outlines (you can have copies for the request!) for Sunday.

Next Sunday the 31^st, will be election day for President and many people will work extra for extra income on that day.

Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7 we will have our first young single Ukrainian man, come and be considered for the Lord’s work with us. His name is Ivan. Please pray for him and for us.  We may have a 2^nd man ready to come on the 21^st. We’ll see.

April 13^th and 14^th we will begin our Bible Clubs!! I have been working on an advertisement to take to the schools and distribute other places. 

One step at a time, right? Things are going pretty good but the busy level is about to escalate! 

God bless you always!

Love in Christ,

Doug

Busy First Week!

My flight arrived into Ukraine on time without my luggage! We had been delayed over an hour in leaving from Atlanta to Paris and so my luggage did not make it the last leg of my flight to Ukraine. Nickoli, a friend and brother met me at the airport and drove me to Kremenchuk. I hadn’t slept but an hour on the plane, so I was really tired and slept about 1 ½ hours in his back seat as we made the trip to Kremenchuk in about 4 hours.

We were greeted by 19 people over the next couple of hours at my flat! It was so wonderful to meet so many great friends again! The next couple of days are kind of a blur as I was getting over jetlag. I changed some money, did some food shopping and a few other needed things. On Thursday night we had our first singing night and had 10 people present, which is a nice start! On Friday, we met with the owners of the flat and it went great! They support us using their flat (apartment) for how we want to use it. It was a very friendly and encouraging meeting!

Sunday was a very good day but different. With our services not starting until 12:30, it was a morning of preparations and rest. We had 17 people present all together, even though 5 had to leave early for different reasons. Our neighbors across the hall, who we know, came over mid-day for a few minutes of nice visiting. Then 2 ladies, who are sisters also stopped by for about an hour. They also are old, great friends!

The hardest thing to adjust to is the money. With such a large difference in the value of the money, it’s hard to figure out how much I’m actually spending. It will be ok, I’m sure. It seems like I’m spending so much, when in fact it’s not so much at all!

I’m really never on my own because of 3 things. One, God’s great presence with Jesus and the Spirit are always with me. Second, I have so many Ukrainian friends that lovingly support me. Third, I have such easy access to my family and friends in the USA.

If you want to dial me direct, you can call +380 66 481 4586. You need all of that to call. You can download the app, Viber and contact me that way or you can use Facebook Messenger to reach me too.

God bless! I’ll talk to you soon!

Doug