Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ! It is so wonderful to come to you in the name of our wonderful Savior. What a privilege it is that we have a throne of grace where we can all meet. One day of God’s choosing we will never part from it! We know that you intercede on our behalf for the ministry and our family here in Ukraine. I thank you for your never ending support for us. It is such blessing to serve our Savior with you in the field that He has called us to! We are persuaded through the manifold blessings that are poured out upon the work here that your prayers are heard on high. Thank you for your faithfulness to us. May our Redeemer be glorified in you as He is in us.

God truly is the fountain of all blessings in our churches. We had a great Thanksgiving Day with all four churches coming together for one service in praise to our God and Savior for His magnificent miracles in our lives. There isn’t a national Thanksgiving Day in Ukraine, but we gathered together on a Sunday in October to give thanks to God for what He has done for us this year. We had over 100 in attendance. We had several lost people who attended as well. What a wonderful outpouring of God’s Spirit as people gave testimony and praise through songs and hymns. The topic of the preaching was God’s unsearchable riches in the Lord Jesus Christ, both for the lost and saved. Pasha, Alek and I preached. How great it was to see so many lifting up the Lord in worship. I hope your Thanksgiving Day was one of praise and worship to the Lamb.

At the beginning of November my family and I were invited to preach and teach at family conference in the Odessa region which would be to the south of us. Brother Chris Rue and two other missionaries, Mark Priem and Richard Mayer, organized the conference and it was held at Brother Chris’s church. We had over 90 attending each day for three days. I was given the opportunity to preach and teach ten times in those three days. What blessing to speak about God’s plan for the home and marriage. Robin taught the ladies in several separate meetings. Many of them came up and thanked Robin for her wisdom that was so clearly evident in the themes that she spoke on. I always take time to talk to the men about them being leaders in their homes and the dangers of pornography. During the last service on Sunday night, many people, young and old, gave testimony of decisions that they had made during the conference. We also had a tremendous time of fellowship with Brother Chris, his wife Naomi and their five children.

At the end of November we held our first Race with Grace in Fastov. This is done by our home church in order to open the door for the gospel. We held a race of 3, 5, 8, and 10 Kilometers for all that wanted to come join us. For the first time, and maybe for the first in Ukraine’s history, a church sponsored such an event. We had about 20 people participate. Pasha, one of our preachers and a coach in Fastov for track and field, organized everything. We had 12 unsaved runners and spectators listen to us sing some hymns, and then I preached a short gospel message. One of the men that ran with us that day came up and introduced himself to me and thanked me for the event. He told me that he had run both the New York and Boston Marathons and swam in Lake Erie. Pasha told me later that was a former Soviet champion. All that participated thanked us and asked that we would do it again. We are planning another race in the spring and I want to upgrade our equipment plus have tee shirts for all that run. As God is opening doors into the heart of people I want to show them what can be done with when He is in control!

God has opened the door for us to preach in many different places such as the kindergarten in Pytie Gorie and in schools around Ukraine. We look for every open door to communicate God’s great gift of salvation. We have been a sponsor of a disabled group here for several years and they invite us to come to their awards ceremony every year. They give us the opportunity to sing some hymns and to preach the gospel message. This year we gave each participant a ‘Thanksgiving Basket’. Each basket contained some staples that they put to good use. This year we joyfully had the opportunity of preaching to over 50 people. Praise the Lord for your prayers that open such doors for us.

I want to wish all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God give you the greatest year ever for Him and maybe this year He will return and will all meet in the air. May the Lord’s blessing be upon you for they truly have been upon us.

Prayer Requests:
1. For souls to be saved and God would continue to open doors to preach His message.
2. For Pasha, Alek, Maxim, Gregory, Sasha and Edik as they preach the Word of God with me. That God’s protective hand would be upon them.
3. For our evangelistic news paper “Vesnik” that it would continue to open hearts. We receive many letters how God has touch hearts through it.
4. For our furlough this spring. Our plan is that we should be returning sometime in March-April. As we prepare to hand off the works into the hands of nationals that they would continue in the grace of God