NEWS from Ukraine, September 2002
by David & Judy Tinney
Subscribe to Newsletter
Stan Crawford and I arrived in Ukraine Saturday evening, September 28th, tired after nearly 30 hours of travel. Pastor Anatoliy met us at the airport for the short drive back to the FAI apartment along with Yuriy Yurchenko, our main interpreter.
Sunday morning dawned bright, clear and cool, a beautiful fall day in Ukraine.
Our first meeting was held at the Word of Grace church where Pastor
Anatoliy and his wife Nadya are pastors. As we entered the cinema building,
we could hear the lively music drifting down from the upper level where
the church meets regularly. This church has a great praise and worship
team, they write a lot of their own songs and are extremely talented.
Stan and I both preached. Don't worry, there was plenty of time, as their services are 3 hours long. When its time to end, the director of the cinema turns the lights off in the hall where they meet, effectively ending the service.
After lunch, we attended the afternoon service of Embassy of God, the largest
church in Europe with over 20,000 members. The hall where they meet will accomodate 8-9 thousand people, depending on how close they stand on the sides and back. At this service, there were around 6,000 present and lasted 4 hours.
Monday was a day of rest and meeting with various people who had scheduled appointments to meet with us. Stan coined the phrase, "Meetings with the Godfather." I have found it easier to schedule appointments at our office rather than racing all over the city to meet with people. He found it amusing for a steady stream of people coming and going on the hour. Its an inside joke now between us.
Tuesday afternoon, we met with business leaders of a local church in Kiev, a new contact, and afterwards, held a mini-business seminar for business people who attend this church, Christian Hope. They received us enthusiastically and invited us to return in the future.
Early Wednesday morning, we left Kiev for Mirgorad, about 3 and half hours by car east of Kiev. That evening, we held a business seminar with around 75 people present.
This city is of special interest because later this year, the equipment for an entire dentist office will be shipped from the USA to this city. A Christian couple who are both dentists will use this to set up a private practice in this city of 60,000 people.
After spending the night in Mirgorad at the local spa (its not what you think), we departed for Bakmach. I had figured it to be a 3 hour drive. Wrong. With the roads in the condition they are in and little or no road signs, it took around 5 hours to reach this small city.
We were supposed to meet with the Mayor of the city, who is only 30 years old and a Christian, but he was interupted and could not meet with us until after the Buisness seminar held in the local community building.
After the seminar, the mayor met with us for dinner at the pastor's church office. We enjoyed one of my favorite Ukrainian dishes, peelmeenie. That is obviously not the way it is spelled, but that is how it sounds. Its a mixture of meat and who knows what, wrapped in a pasta, very similar to Italian ravioli, except it isn't spicy. It is boiled until the pasta is soft and the meat mixture cooked.
We talked for a long time discussing the adverse economic situation there. I asked him what was his most urgent problem. He said they had 55 orphans, living with families as there is no orphanage there, who are really suffering. The school contacted him and informed him some of the children were fainting at school because they were hungry. He asked if we could possibly help.
We are and if you want to help also, contact me. I have decided to make a special trip to Bakmach when I am in Ukraine next month to deliver any and aLL funds that have been designated for this special project.
It was after midnight by the time we arrived in Konotop where we were to spend the night. It was raining, getting colder when we checked in and to our amazement, our rooms were unheated and had no hot water plumbing. In fact, the cold water is turned of from 11pm to 6am to conserve. I guess they are having a shortage. With the temperture continuing to drop, Stan and I debated the temperture of our room. We finally agreed it was somewhere between 45-50 degrees. It has been a long time since I have slept in my sweatsuit.
I usually do not talk about the conditions we exeperience in Ukraine because typically they are not bad at all. However, this particular day, it was unusual. Maybe because this trip was my 20th ministry trip to Ukraine. I can hardly wait for the 25th! Just kidding. Well, I like hot showers and running water when I need it.
So, the next morning, while we were meeting with the mayor's assistant, we casually mentioned the condition of the local hotel and he graciously made arrangements for us to spend the next night in a 2 room apartment with its own electric water heater.
Wonderful. However, the city has not turned on the hot water supply that provides heat for the buildings, so I once again slept in my sweats, this time utilizing the hooded sweatshirt. I must have looked really funny, but I did sleep well and warm. We asked when the central supply of hot water would be turned on and they replied that October 15th is the usual target date but since it had cooled off earlier than usual, they were hoping to provide hot water to the city in a week or so.
Anyway, Friday before the seminar in Konotop, we met with the mayor and other officials who are extremely interested in cooperating with us. I have never had the favor in any city as I have experienced here in Konotop. They are progressive minded and not at all suspicious of us, which is usually the case with the political leaders in the smaller cities.
The two day seminar was conducted in the city government building, which before 1991, was the center and headquarters of the Communist party. Out front a large statue of Lenin still stands. I could not help but laugh to myself. Here I am, a Christian, teaching capitalistic business principles in the former Communist party building. I told Stan, "I bet Lenin and Stalin are turning over in their graves". I am still smiling about it.
The seminar went well, that first evening, we had about 200 present and most of them were university students. The following morning, the numbers were down a little, but I'm sure some had to work or something. To keep warm (still no heat and the temperture that morning was a chilly 32 degrees), I would have them stand up and I would lead them in, well, I guess success cheerleading! They really joined in saying, I'm a winner! I'm a success! I'm a solution to the problems of Ukraine! I have never done that before, it was fun and now maybe I am a motivational speaker, too. It did get the blood to circulating and warmed us up a bit.
We returned to Kiev Saturday evening in order to attend the Embassy of God church service the next morning. Incredible, the place was packed and there must have been 9,000 in attendence. It literally takes your breath when the whole place raises it voice in praise to God. For me, the high point of the service occurred when Pastor Sunday commissioned a missionary couple who will move to Miami, Florida, USA to pioneer a church later this month. Can you believe it? Ukraine sending missionaries to America and this church is only 8 years old. Last year, they sent a missionary couple to pioneer a Russian speaking church in the Sacramento, California area. The church is growing and already has 400 members!
Its an honor and privilege for Family Aid International to be connected to this church and its network of churches throughout eastern Europe.
Pastor Anatoliy, our national director was saved under the ministry of Pastor Adelaja and was the first administrator of the church. He now serves on the church's Spiritual Council of Twelve and also in their missionary department. It was through my relationship with him that I met Pastor Sunday.
After church, we returned to the FAI office where Stan finished packing and preparing for his flight from Kiev to London that evening. I conducted another Christian Business Seminar in Kiev which was well attended considering it was a Sunday night. It was a great time, around 200 people were present and Pastor Anatoliy's praise and worship team kicked the meeting off with music.
Because we advertise the seminars in Kiev in the churches, we have almost 100% Christian attendance. So its much easier to speak to a crowd of believers and probably because I was pretty worn out by the overall trip, I taught with much more humor than normal.
We appreciate everyone who supports Family Aid International with words of encouragement, prayers and support. It truly is a team effort, without everyone contributing their part, whatever that part is, we couldn't do this. I am truly thankful to God for His Grace working in each of you.