Faithful friends,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Thank you to all who prayed for the Higgins family and our church family these past few months after the home going of our pastor, Brian Higgins.  It has been a trying time, but God is faithful, and His strength and grace have been evident and sufficient.  Our small church continues, and most have remained faithful to the services.  Dan Bardwell has done a great job stepping into the weekly pulpit, and we are praying for the day when a national man will be willing and able to take over the pastorate.  You may remember me asking prayer for Dan and a situation with the police here.  A local abortion doctor associated with the mafia brought charges against Dan for a car accident that the doctor instigated, and then hired a false witness to implicate Dan as the aggressor.  After much prayer and seeking the best way to deal with the matter, Dan and his lawyers followed legal paths and God blessed.  Dan won’t have to pay thousands of dollars in fines, go to jail, or leave the country.  He did, however, have to get rid of his van so the doctor couldn’t track him down and personally cause him trouble.  Until funds become available, the normal life of the Bardwell family of 7 (with one on the way) and their ministries will be put on hold. You can imagine trying to get into and around town with 5 kids and a pregnant wife on public transportation.  Please pray that God would provide them with a vehicle.

Sometimes we as Christians pass out tracts wondering if anyone really reads what we give them.  I was blessed this month to receive in our correspondence mail a reply from one of the tracts someone in our church gave to a man.  He returned the tract with his name and address, stating that he accepted the Lord and wants to learn more about the Word of God.  Praise the Lord! You never know onto what kind of ground your seed will fall.  Just be faithful and throw the seed.  God will give the increase.  The correspondence course continues to grow, and I have been busy this month with a mass mailing to a group of our students.  I am teaching Sunday school this month and giving Alla a break, as she just finished a unit with the kids on the fruit of the Spirit. They had a great time shopping at the “store” with points they earned from attendance and learning their Bible verses. 

On the 18th of this month I will be flying to the states for a short visit.  I will be attending the Missions Conference at FBBC and visiting with family and friends.  I hope that I get a chance to see each one of you who pray and/or support me financially in the ministry here in Ukraine.  Continue to pray for our church and its growth in the Word of God.  Soon we will be busy with the spring baseball season, and I will be organizing the summer’s Vacation Bible School.  Our goal in it all is to bring children and adults to Christ.  Thank you for being laborers together with me.  God bless you.         

Your fellowservant and missionary in Ukraine,

Denise Hutchison