Report 12 | May 14, 2010
Today was my last full day of work in Ivano-Frankivsk. Tomorrow (Saturday) we will be with the Ivano-Frankivsk church of Christ and enjoy a picnic and cookout at a local park. Tomorrow I will take the early (and only) plane to Kyiv where on Monday I have the Department of State conference to attend and then on each day of the week will be going to various locations where we will ship containers (Zhitomyr and Chernigiv are two of these locations).
The last full day of work in Ivano-Frankivsk was another full day. Here are the highlights…
Three immersed into the Lord!
This morning we planned to meet at a swimming pool and see Volodya put on his Lord in baptism. When we arrived, Ivan told us that there would also be two others joining Volodya in obeying the Lord’s command to be immersed. These were Andrew’s mother and sister who has been visiting us during the lessons.
Those who read the reports from last year’s trip will recall that Andrew lived in the city of Krivyy Rog and had heard that I was coming to conduct classes in Ivano-Frankivsk (Andrew had graduated with a degree in international law). Andrew asked Ivan if he could come over to visit and attend classes. Ivan arranged for Andrew to ride the bus for hours and Andrew was lodged in a very cheap (and inexpensive) room. Andrew obeyed the gospel and decided to remain in Ivano-Frankivsk and last year he and Marina married (her husband had died from cancer leaving her and her 4 year-old son, Sasha, alone). Marina was later immersed by Ivan. Andrew and Marina have become a solid family in the church here.
When our classes were scheduled, Ivan and Andrew invited Andrew’s mom (Hannah—a trivia bit here…“Hannah” is the Ukrainian name for “Anya” in Russian) and sister (Natasha). Since we have bought a flat in Ivano-Frankivsk that we are using for the office and Bible study and also there is lodging available, Hannah and Natasha had a ready-made place. They arrived the day before I did and have attended every session.
Ivan said that on his trips to Krivyy Rog Hannah has always attended his classes and Natasha has always had questions to discuss. So Ivan has been studying with these two for some time. All week Andrew and Marina have been talking and studying with his mom and sister. All they needed to commit to obeying the gospel was a little encouragement and that happened with Volodya’s decision Thursday night to obey the gospel.
Volodya is an 18-year-old that has been attending services for two years. He is always present and attentive in classes. He speaks some English.
Following the immersions Ivan was talking with Volodya, Hannah, and Natasha. Ivan looked at Andrew and told him that he was now only lacking a brother-in-law and a nephew until all were New Testament Christians in his family. Hse believed the remaining ones will soon obey the gospel because he has been talking with them. Ivan said that Volodya faced a greater challenge in that his mother was a very strict follower of the Orthodox Church and because she was very religious it meant that she would be more committed to man’s traditions than to the Scriptures; so Volodya’s best avenue of influencing his family is through a lifestyle that is devoted to God.
Yesterday morning these three—Volodya, Hannah, and Natasha—put on their Lord in baptism! In the mission trip report I will have video of the immersions as well as snippets of the conversations following the immersions.
Hannah and Natasha are leaving to return to Krivyy Rog on Saturday and will not be able to attend the church picnic.
Conference
We did attend the Conference that we had been invited to attend. They had us a special gift bag and a name tag hanging from a ribbon. We laughed when we saw John Durham’s name—they had him listed as “John the Germ” (the way they misspelled his last name was pronounced “germ”). Of course with my last name they easily got it spelled correctly! :) At the beginning of the conference there was all sorts of news media present. Ivan said that we were on the TV news and the cameras zoomed in on the visiting American delegation.
Friday Night Bible Study
Our Bible study attendance tonight was the highest yet. It was good to see Dmitry and Hannah present. Because of illness they had not been able to assemble with us—first it was the paralysis in their daughter’s arms and then Dmitry’s liver problems caused fluid to collect in his abdomen and the only hospital that could draw off the fluid was in Lviv and they have been over there. Our attendance was 19 for each class session and afterwards we enjoyed the customary tea. I concluded my study on Ephesians after only getting through Ephesians 4:16. Our discussion tonight was on what makes the church grow and we examined the church growth in God’s designs—not by hiring some eloquent and fashionable public speaker, not by hiring out the work that each member is to do, not by building some fancy church building, not by some enticing “program” BUT it is by every member doing what they can do to help the church. True growth is only possible by every member serving as capable! John D’s class continued the study of 1 Peter and the class continued discussing chapter one.
Land given to Church—docs in hand!
After tonight’s class Ivan asked me and John to meet with him, Andrew, and Dmitry. (Of course you never know what these requested meetings are going to discuss so I was apprehensive about some inner-turmoil within the congregation.) But it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Dmitry had received the official minutes from the Regional and City government saying that the one-hectare of property in the center of the city had been officially given to us! The only obstacle left in getting the irrevocable gift deed is that we have to get the paperwork completed and turned in to the appropriate offices. This paperwork includes a blueprint for underground utilities and a survey of the property. These papers must be turned in to a number of offices and stamped as approved. Dmitry said these papers must be turned in or the gift deed will be revoked. He said the only problem is that these papers will require payment. He said that he had tried to get the government to forego the payment but they told him they had already given us the property free and all of those people and offices required by law to do the paperwork had to be paid so the fee for the paperwork had to be paid. The first question was “How much does this paperwork cost?” and Dmitry said it would be 10,000 grievnas (about $1,200.00 US dollars). John and I asked Dmitry when this paperwork needed to be turned in and we were told they did not know but would ask and hopefully would have an answer on Monday. We were then concerned with the stipulation (that is reasonable) as to how long we would have to build the building once the paperwork was done. Dmitry shrugged his shoulders and said we could have some construction work to begin (maybe putting up a construction fence) and then take as long as we wanted, even 10 years! You may think this is a crazy idea but it is how things are done here. Every since I have been coming into Ukraine, there have been some buildings where construction is always going on and it seems the buildings will never be completed. We continued asking questions and Ivan said that he was very concerned that not one grievna be spent until we know for sure all is set in legal forms and all assurances are absolute. Dmitry said that he has been assured that the gift deed is an absolute deed and forever good as long as our purposes continue working at that location. Since Andrew is a lawyer he was tasked with the duty to find out if all legal points are clear and the assurance communicated verbally will stand under legal examination.
After talking we went to look at the land since John D has not seen it. As I looked at it this time I was really impressed with the size and location and future possibility. Ivan said that he could get Andrew (the man that helped with the flood repairs to the bridges and the renovation of the ER in Yaremche) to build the building. Andrew’s construction firm does outstanding quality work plus Andrew says that we are doing a wonderful work for the Lord and he wants to help us. This is another of those incredible developments that continue to astonish us in this work—we have been given a very expensive and incredibly situated parcel of land in the center of the city and we have the potential of constructing a very nice and modern facility at an incredibly negligible cost factor! And all of this is attributable to Ivan Skoleba and his tireless work in the community as he has reached out with kindness and concern to thousands by way of the benevolent aid that has been shipped into this area. Ivan talked about the construction of the facility and said he likes the simple designs of church buildings that he saw on his visit to the USA in January. As we were talking, I told him that if Andrew was going to construct the building to please make sure it would be large enough so that additions would not be necessary as soon as the construction was finished. Ivan said he had already thought of that and wanted to have an auditorium that would seat 500. I told him that we needed to make sure there were many classrooms and that some classrooms were designed and constructed specifically for children.
To be at the position we are in Ivano-Frankivsk after so many barriers and problems is really uplifting. Even though he and Sveta have been maligned and slandered by those controlled by selfishness or blinded by deceit, there is now real tangible evidence that the Lord is blessing their efforts. The flat was full tonight and John D’s comments were that there was only one problem with the flat we had bought—it was too small!
It is because of Ivan’s efforts and YOUR collecting, labeling, and loading of benevolent shipments that the community leaders recognize and respect Ivan and the congregation for helping anyone in need and this has translated into a reciprocity in their wanting to help Ivan and the church here. This is truly an exciting development and I am most eager to see how things continue to work!
Unless there is some unforeseen development, this will be my last communication from Ivano-Frankivsk on this trip. As I prepared to leave here in November you will recall that we were not certain we would be allowed to breach the quarantine barrier but we did and made the flight to Kyiv without problems. As we prepare to leave for Kyiv in the early morning we do not fear any travel restrictions but we will miss the wonderful association and the encouraging work the church here is doing!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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