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

6 Days!

Yes! 6 days and I will land in Ukraine about 2pm and be in Kremenchuk probably by 7pm or so!! You all have made this possible and I am so thankful to all of you for joining me in this mission and making this work come alive!

Right now, I’m sitting in my oldest son’s home (Butch – Doug Jr.) and writing this to you. Butch has gone to work, the kids are at school, except for Eli the youngest, which my daughter-in-law, Erin has taken to a Doctor’s appointment. So much has happened the last couple of weeks. I’ve sold most all my possessions that I could, have packed out my house with TONS of help from my brothers and sisters in Christ from the Ephrata church of Christ. Several also saw to it that not only was the house emptied out, but they did a tremendous job have doing most of the cleaning of the house so that I could get my deposit back. One sweet sister is still selling some of my things online for me! My family here, Butch and Erin are going to continue to sell my car. There has been so much to do, and I have had so much blessed help!

Saturday, March 2, about 1pm I fly out to Dallas where I will spend a couple of days with my oldest daughter, Jenise and family and fly out of there for Ukraine about 2pm the 4^th and arrive in Ukraine about 2pm the 5^th. It’s actually about a 16-hour trip with short layovers in Atlanta and Paris, France.

I will make a trip into Poland to get my visa (I can’t even begin to explain all the reasons behind this, but it is what I must do.) After I get my 90 day visa, then I apply for Temporary Residency which is good for one year. At the conclusion of that one year I will then be able to apply for Permanent Residency. These Residencies will allow me to come and go as I want or need to without any more visas! It is a hassle, but I think it will be worth it!

Once I’m back from getting my Visa, then I will begin my work in earnest. I will strive to pick up where Michael left of and build upon that. I will start going into the schools around the area where I live and offer my English and Bible services to those schools. I will also advertise our English Bible Clubs as free English lessons in the schools and Universities to be held at my apartment (church building for the time being). We will also advertise the English Clubs in newspapers and as World English Institute on line. We are setting ourselves up to be a contact source for the WEI.

We are striving to strengthen the Christians that we are working with and reaching out to the lost. I’m so excited to be involved with this work again!

I will be taking a lot of pictures as I go along and will post them here on my blog and I’m sure I’ll be posting them as well online. If you want, you can contact me on Facebook as Doug Berry. I’m the one wearing a blue sweater and holding my youngest granddaughter! Another way you can contact us is on the phone app: Viber. My phone number will be changing to a Ukrainian number, but if you connect right away with me on Viber you can find me at: 509-761-1375.

Ok. Bye for now! I will write a short blog, hopefully next Wednesday after I get up and around! I will be 10 hours ahead of PST, 8 from CST and 7 from EST.

God bless!

Doug

Beginning Again

In the summer of 2000 I made my first trip to Kremenchuk, Ukraine as a sponsor of 3 college girls from York College, York, NE. We were there for 6 weeks teaching Bible classes and at a Bible Camp at the Black Sea. I was invited by the Director of the School where we taught our classes to come back full time and teach Bible at their school.  After being there for 3 weeks I decided to return.

I did return for 6 years from September 2002 to the end of July 2008 to live and teach in Kremenchuk! Please go to my website to read more of the details of this work. It was some of the best years of my life!

After six years, I decided to return to the States. I have preached for 3 churches of Christ in the last 10 years, but have returned 6 times to Kremenchuk for short mission trips in the last 10 years, the last time being the summer of 2016.

I have felt a need for some time to go back and live in Kremenchuk and work there for the Lord full time. My dreams are about to be fulfilled! I am planting/starting a new church of Christ in Kremenchuk. I arrive back in Kremenchuk on March 5th and I plan for my first stay to be for about 9 months. As of now, I'm planning to be there about 9 months out of the year each year.

So, I am "Beginning Again" my life in Kremenchuk! I couldn't be more exited and happy about the opportunity that God has provided for me to go! Right now at this writing I'm just a little over a month away until my flight leaves for Ukraine.