MISSION'S
Welcome to our Mission site and the work that we are doing in Ukraine. We are working in the Khmelnitsk Oblast Region. I took my first trip in ’94 with a team from Sweetwater Baptist Association. I was overwhelmed by all the poverty. The Country was so run down, even the airport. We rode from the airport to the terminal on something I would call like a hay wagon. The terminal itself was an old plain building, with paint peeling from the walls, and the floor was dirty. It was such a strange and weird feeling to see soldiers holding automatic weapons where we checked in. There is so much I could write about. But I need to get back to our work.
In ’96 I met and worked with Pastor Boris Kotik, a great young man of God. He had started a church in the village of Lyaskiutsi. As you will see in the pictures they were meeting in a house. As I visited their meeting on Sunday, he shared with me that they were wanting to build a church building in order to have respect in the village because the Orthodox church already had a building which was provided by the government. They already had a foundation which they had used dug up rocks. They had prayed and prayed for the money to build the walls that they still needed. (Keep in mind, before leaving, my church had given me $1200 to use.) When I asked Boris how much it would cost to build the walls, his reply was $1200. Is God AMAZING or what? I wish you could have seen that group of believers when I presented Pastor Boris with the money. They praised God and praised God. It was wonderful! What a privilege it is to be part of what God is doing.
The next year ’97, we sent money for the roof of their church. I’m going to speed things up a little more. In ’98 we put in the windows, and then the year of 2000 I got the opportunity to preach in their new building for the first time! We also helped with some of the inside that year.
In 2002, we helped them get a sound system to use. This could also be used in the outdoor meetings. They have a lot of outdoor meetings. We get to use this system when our team is there too!
In 2004, we helped them start Sunday School rooms and a kitchen. They do all the work themselves. They do not have very much money to give to anything, but they are growing. The Youth has really grown. It is great to see all the young people come. These are just a few of the pictures. Pray for this work that God will continue to have his hand on it and keep blessing. If you would like to give they would gladly receive it. Anything you give will go to the work on the building unless you request otherwise. Send your offering to South Liberty Baptist Church and mark it “Ukraine Mission”. Thanks for your prayers.
My wife, Roxanne, will be going with me this year. This is her first time. Also, Rick Neeley and Randy Gryder are going. They are preachers from our church. We will be doing evangelism while we’re there. Pray for our spiritual power & anointing, travel, and health. (The food is very different.) Please remember our families here at home. God Bless You. Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Pastor Greg -- August 28 -- September 8, 2006
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