The month of May started out with our annual all church meeting. We are required by law to meet once a year as a church, but the law does not say what we need to discuss. Therefore our once a year meetings are a yearly overview of ministries within the church, as well as a time for the main leaders to give a short report of where they see the Lord leading their individual ministry within the next year. The Lord had been speaking to me for quite some time in regards to the women’s ministry, so I was not taken by surprise; my main prayer as I spoke before the church, was to be as concrete as possible. Thanks to your prayers I was able to keep my vision concrete and to the point. The scripture the Lord had given me regarding women’s ministry was from 2 Cor. 8:10-11 What does that mean to me and in regards to women? It’s been a joy, as well as humbling and a great challenge to teach the women these past two years. I have grown and I know the women have grown as well. I will continue in the same manner, (teaching the Bible inductively) but added to that the women will do some teaching as well, as we study His character, His great love for us more in depth, and how we can apply these truths to our lives, applying what we have learned to the situations in our lives that He brings about.
Also in the scripture it says that there may be a completion of what you have. In this the Lord is pressing on my heart to train up a leader from within Borodyanka, from within our church to lead the Women’s study, to not look outside as I have been doing, but from within. “Completing it out of what you have”(emphasis mine). I will be doing this more aggressively than I have done last year, training the women more in depth as I give each of them the opportunity to teach, assisting and discipling them in this area. This all sounds so easy, but I know that there will be trials and a shaking up of the character that He has given me as I teach on these themes, allow the women time to teach, disciple them and press into Him more. As women, we have finished Psalm 23, coming to a fuller realization of how much the Lord loves us and cares for us. Just as a shepherd lays his life down for his sheep, so our Lord lay down His life for us. We had a wonderful time studying Psalm 23 and have now begun the book of Joshua. We are eagerly looking forward to how the Lord will work in each of us individually as we learn to obediently follow Him and His calling on our life no matter what other people may think. We will learn that victory comes to people who faithfully trust and obey the Lord. I warned the ladies that just as during Joshua’s time there were wars physically, so during our time of studying this book we can expect wars spiritually. But, through studying the book of Joshua, we can learn from Joshua and the children of Israel how to have victory in these wars. The same night that I taught on this subject, the warfare began in my life, I hit my head really hard on the edge of my kitchen cupboard while leaning over to unplug my blender that had just blown up when I was making powdered sugar (the engine of my blender whirred strongly, smoke spew out from the bottom, and then there was a “pop” and all was silent)! If this is how it is going to start, oh what will happen when we are in the middle of studying the book of Joshua?! Stand Firm!!!
A few days after our all church meeting, I headed south, not for the winter, but to rejoice with friends at their wedding as they began a new life together with Him. These was a blessed time, as well as tearful, as the parents of the groom, whom are good friends of mine since my days in Kyiv, were preparing to move back to America at the end of May, as well as the Pastor and his family (the church was to be turned over to a Ukrainian Pastor). I knew this may be the last time I might see any of them for a great while, so I extended my stay after the wedding to enjoy some fellowship with friends.
Also, the Lord surprised me, at the wedding were many of my friends from Poltava, we enjoyed a great re-union together, catching up on lives and what the Lord has been doing in Poltava since I had left. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow-this wedding was both-joy in the couple getting married, sorrow to say “until we meet again” to very good friends and fellow laborers for Christ here in Ukraine.
After the wedding I returned to Borodyanka with enough time to wash clothes, make food, and head off to Kyiv for our annual all church conference. This is a time when all the Calvary Chapel churches in Ukraine (and this year our new church in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan joined us) gather
together under one tent to fellowship, worship and study the Word together. This year’s theme was, taken from Philippians chapter 3-4. We were exhorted to serve others through the love of Christ and that our focus is always to be on Christ and out of that love and serve others. Circumstances, situations will come into our lives, but we must not lose our focus or our joy that comes from Him. As situations come and go in our lives, we need to continue to trust God with our problems and know that He will provide. As we focus on Him, our needs become less, and we are better able to serve others (putting others and their needs ahead of ours). These were some of the truths that were shared during the conference, truths that I (we) need to continually come back to each and every day, each and every second, as the enemy will try to rob us of any and all of these. Stand firm in the Lord.
These truths were put to test right away when I returned to Borodyank after the conference. I returned on a Sunday night, and Monday morning early I received a phone call that our worship leader (Tanya Belayshapka’s a good friend here in Borodyanka) twin sister Natasha (also a good friend) was hospitalized, with the doctors saying she only had about two more hours to live. Natasha for the last two years had been painfully battling cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis. On Tuesday morning the battle was lost to this world, but won in Heaven as she went home to be with the Lord. That day and the days following were and still are a whirlwind of activities surrounding Natasha’s passing and the grief that comes along with it. Tuesday afternoon was the funeral, and then the dinner afterwards, then according to Ukrainian Orthodox tradition the soul leaves the body after 9 days, and after 40 days the soul goes into the next world. At each of these “anniversaries” there is to be a meal to remember the deceased. At the 9th day anniversary, my Pastor Geoff Smith, was able to share about eternal life to many who attended that day (who are mainly of the Orthodox Religion) explaining that Natasha’s body is dead, empty, but her spirit is alive in Heaven. The moment that she died, her spirit passed on right away to be with the Lord. She is not dead, but has passed on, her address has changed, “moved”. We on earth can be sad because we miss her, but can rejoice that she is in Heaven, a much better place than here on earth. I will always remember Natasha’s jubilant spirit, her smile and her desire to live. Her family and I will miss her dearly, yet I rejoice in knowing that she is suffering no more. Since the phone call came informing me that Natasha was hospitalized, my close friendship with the family has included being Aaron and Hur to them, walking with them and holding them up through their grief. Pray for this family please; Tanya (Natasha’s twin sister), Sveta (Tanya’s 14 year old daughter – Natasha’s niece), Vika (Natasha’s daughter who just graduated from school), Roman (Natasha’s husband), Tamara (Natasha and Tanya’s mom), and Zhenya (Natasha and Tanya’s father) as they grieve the loss of Natasha. Pray for me that I will be the Aaron and Hur that the Lord desires me to be. Grief is hard, hard to watch, and hard on the soul as you go through it.
The day after the funeral, as a church we were blessed with hosting a group of college age students from Vanguard University. We visited the orphanage daily, doing a mini VBS with the children there, and also were able to do a “Mexican Fiesta” in our community complete with bean burritos and a piñata!!! The children had a blast trying to knock it down each child only being able to whack the piñata once. They were all cheering one for another, each making sure the blindfold was on correctly (no cheating allowed)! None of them knew that it contained candy until the piñata broke!! WOW, what fun!!! The children enjoyed their time at the festival, and we enjoyed playing games with them and getting to know some of the better. The following Sunday we had 25 new children in our Sunday School (usually we have 7 or 9). It seemed to me that perhaps all the children of Borodyanka now know about our church! As I walk through the town on my daily journeys to the market etc., more children recognize me, greeting me as we pass by. Some of them have asked when we are going to have another festival! Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, now that summer is here, most of the children have left for their summer homes, grandparents, or other parts of the country and won’t return till August when it is time to get ready for school again. In the meantime, we desire to continue to reach out to our communities to the children that have not left town as well as to the adults. This will keep all of us busy, but being busy for God is the best kind of busy there is!!
Now that June has come, and the calendar has turned, I pray that this summer we will have much laughter, joy and happiness; and that our tears of sadness will turn to tears of laughter. This can only be done through the Lord, but I know that our God is mighty and if He can move mountains, He can bring joy! Stand Firm!
Standing Firm in Him
BaHecca (Vanessa)
to Christ - in Christ - for Christ
