Odessa Odyssey

Please forgive my long silence of not keeping you updated on what is happening in my ministry. Since January, I have been looking for someone to take over getting out my prayer letter and recently my friends, John and Denise Faulkner, agreed to take on this responsibility. Things seem to be changing in my life and I decided to change the name of my blog to "Odessa Odyssey". Odyssey means a long series of wanderings or adventures; especially when filled with notable experiences, hardships, etc.; a series of experiences that teach you something about yourself or about life. I have been serving in the Odessa region for the past 16 years and many of you have been a part of my adventures in Odessa and have prayed for me through the hard times and have celebrated with me in the good times. I pray you will continue to pray for me in this continuing Odyssey in Odessa. Thank you for your faithfulness and your encouragement to me.

Odessa is on the Black Sea

Potemkin Steps - Entrance to Odessa

Odessa Opera Theatre

Ask-Seek-Find

Matthew 7:7 tells us, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." My new teammates and I have been asking the Lord for the opportunity to begin ministry in Petrovka since October of last year. We have been seeking for the right location and every time we thought we had found a place it would fall through. We continued to seek and finally found a house for our new ministry. We were able to purchase the house on Tuesday, June 5. I thank the Lord for all of you who prayed and gave to make this possible. Please pray for our team as we begin to share the love of Christ with the people in Petrovka.

Lena, Denise, Oleg, Nastya and Zinove with the keys!

Petrovka Castle

In 1820, in the village of Petrovka, there was a castle which served as the summer residence of the Kuris family. The owner of the castle, Ivan Kovalevsky Kuris, was a Privy Councillor and Chief of Staff at Suvorov Military School.  He had a brilliant military career and was granted land in Ukraine for his military service.  When Ivan built the castle in Petrovka, he was inspired by Turkish architecture using minarets and Moorish architecture common in Spanish palaces. After the war the Castle Kuris became an Agricultural Technical School.  In 1990, there was a terrible storm and lightning struck the castle and was damaged by fire. The government decided not to do restoration on the castle.

Petrovka Castle

A Chair and a Prayer???

We will soon be starting our ministry in Petrovka and at the present time we don't have any chairs. I would like to ask my supporters to purchase a chair for $18.00 and then say a prayer that God will fill that chair with a person seeking Him. We are asking that God will provide us with 50 chairs. You can send your donation to TEAM, P.O. Box 969, Wheaton, Illinois 60187 and mark it, "A Chair for Petrovka".

What's Up?

I'm sure many of you are wondering what has been going on in my life and ministry. My teammates and I spent every Wednesday praying and fasting for our new ministry. We met on Saturdays for fellowship and ministry preparation. Every Sunday we would visit a church in the Odessa region and take part in the service and share about our desires to see a church planted in the town of Petrovka. Every church promised to pray with us and for us and to be involved in our ministry by sending teams and people to help us. We understand that God has been preparing us for ministry and preparing the people in the town of Petrovka to receive the Good News. Every week I would travel to Petrovka and search for a place for us to meet. Our team traveled there together many times to put up signs asking if anyone wanted to rent or sell a place to us. Several times we thought that we had found a place but every time it would fall through. I admit we were discouraged at times, but we all wholeheartedly believed that this was the place God was calling us to do ministry. We didn't give up!!! God rewarded us for our prayers and faithfulness.

I have continued to have Bible classes each week with my Monday group and every Wednesday I taught a Bible lesson for students in an advanced English class.
In March, I had the privilege to be involved in a conference for women leaders who live in Central Asia. I met many new friends and helped in Russian translation. Many women left this conference refreshed and encouraged to return to their difficult places of ministry.
In May, I had to leave the country to renew my Ukrainian visa. The visa laws in Ukraine changed last September and the Ukrainian Embassy is only allowed to issue a 45 day visa for workers who would like to stay in Ukraine long term. According to the law, once you return to Ukraine you have 45 days to get a temporary residency card that allows you to live in the country for one year. The process is long and stressful, however, Lord willing, I will receive my residency card on Friday, June 15. I will then need to register my car title which is issued once I have my residency card.

Bible Study Celebration

Easter Celebration
Lena, Ira, Nadiya, Natasha, Youla, Margarita & Sveta

Our Monday Bible study group met this past week to celebrate the completion of our latest study, "3:16". It was great to see each other and make plans for our Bible study in the fall. Please pray for all the ladies in our group to come to know Christ.

What's Next?

Starting Monday, June 18 we will begin to remodel our house in Petrovka. We plan to remove a wall to make one big room. In order to do this the ceiling will have to be reinforced with metal. In the middle of the week we will have new plastic windows put in because the current windows are rotted and can't be opened. There is lots of work to be done and we would like to invite you to come and help us. If you can organize a team to paint, put up sheetrock, pour concrete or to just help us - we would be so grateful. Please contact me at deniseinodessa@yahoo.com and let me know if you are interested. We hope to get a lot of the remodeling done by the end of August, however, we would be happy to have teams come in September and October as well. In August, we plan to have a VBS for the children in Petrovka.

Our First Church Member



Luda from Petrovka

Some of you know that one of the reasons I felt led to Petrovka to start a church is because of Luda. Luda was the first person who came to know Christ in my last church plant. The week after Easter her son, Nicoli, fell and broke his kneecaps and his collar bone. He has been at the hospital in Odessa for almost two months. Lord willing, Nicoli may be able to go home in about 10 days. Please pray for his complete recovery and for his kidney disease that requires dialysis three times a week. Also pray that God will open his heart to the Gospel. The week after Nicoli’s accident, his uncle, Sasha, repented. He has been attending my last church plant for the past four years. Now Luda and Sasha are preparing to be baptized in August. Luda told me she will be our first church member in Petrovka!!! Isn’t that exciting how God works?