Thursday, October 11, 2007
Today Luis Leonor of ShareHim, Yuri Kuzmenko from the Ukraine Union office, and I drove first to Vasilkov, south of Kiev, where Pastor Jeff Paisley (view video clip 1) (view video clip 2) is speaking at two sessions per day in a rented hall. Jeff has a lively preaching style matched by his translator, and he says several people will be baptized this Saturday.

As we drove into the dusty factory town, with its dingy multi-story apartment buildings, open-air bazaars, and busy streets, we had to slow for an accident. One car was stacked upon another, and both had crashed into a parked van. From the skid marks, it looks like the car underneath was attempting to pass his own lane and ran head-on into the oncoming car.

Have I mentioned that it’s considered discourteous and insulting to the driver to wear a seat belt in this country? One wonders which will kill this Odessa motorist first: the fact that he’s smoking a cigarette while riding his motorcycle, or that he’s riding without a helmet?

On this very chilly day, we visited the Vasilkov Adventist church, which, like many other buildings in Ukraine, is under construction. The inside looks finished, but the exterior and yard around it are a construction zone. Outside in the street, industriously scraping dirt and pebbles off a mysterious square concrete block in the middle of the asphalt street, were three little boys, cute as could be.

As Luis and I took their pictures and showed them the images in the screens of our digital cameras, the boys enthusiastically repeated, “OK. OK. OK,” and other words parroted from us foreigners. The pastor’s wife tells us that they are three of eleven children in the same family. Now there’s a patriotic family dedicated to reversing Ukraine’s negative population rate!

Jeff Paisley is staying with the Vasilkov pastor’s family during his two-week evangelism mission, and enjoying it, he says. He’s ready to go on more short-term missions whenever he’s called, because he loves evangelism. We were shown the kitchen and living room of the pastor’s home, and there was a tabby cat, worshipping at the radiator-god. You’d think an Adventist cat would know better.

An hour’s drive through agricultural fields and tiny villages brought us to Fastov, where Pastor Reggie Phillips of Texarkana (view video clip), Arkansas, is holding evangelism meetings in the church (also under construction). His son Stewart Phillips (view video clip 1) (view video clip 2) is giving family dynamics talks, and Mrs. April Tracy (view video clip 1) (view video clip 2), a nurse from Kentucky, is doing a children’s program. They humbly count it a privilege, a gift from God, to be able to be here in Ukraine serving Him and the Body of Christ.

April, a nursing teacher, goes on two mission trips a year, usually to Latin America, and usually with student nurses from Southern Adventist University. This is her first time to be associated with The Quiet Hour or ShareHim. Her husband, who doesn’t like to travel, says she could afford to retire if she didn’t spend her income and vacation time on mission trips. But there’s a glow on her face, and tears in her eyes, when she talks about serving God as He enables her.

Friday, October 12, 2007
Kiev, Ukraine—Yuri Kuzmenko, the evangelism coordinator for the Ukraine Union Mission, drove Luis Leonor (ShareHim) and me from Bucha into the large city of Kiev, capital of the country. Luis was taken to the bus station to catch a bus for Cherkassy, where we were two weeks ago. He wanted to be there for Friday and Saturday end-of-evangelism series, when the majority of baptisms would take place.

I was moved into a fifth-floor guest room. This is high-altitude living, especially when there’s no elevator. There’s no heater in here, and about 6 guests are sharing a couple of toilets and one shower. The kitchen ladies either make hot food or leave a meal out for our convenience.

Pastor Daniel and his wife Lyudmilla (director of the Voice of Hope television program in the Euro-Asia Division) led Mike and Karen Porter and me on an adventure at mid-day. We descended our five flights of stairs at the conference office, traipsed through the construction of a new Adventist church on this property, then picked our way over cobblestones, potholes, and asphalt sidewalks on our way to the Metro subway. Along the route, we crossed several streets and alleys.

We continued through the busy, smoggy streets, to the Metro entrance. There are about two stories worth of steps to descend. One side has a wheelchair ramp at the same pitch as the stairs. If one were to attempt that ramp in a wheelchair, one would certainly be gravely injured. At the bottom of the steps we entered a long tunnel filled with sidewalk vendors and some stalls, including a pharmacy, pots and pans, shoes, coats, blue jeans, hub caps, and household cleaning chemicals. Finally we reached the subway, put in our tokens, and got on the next train. It was crowded, so we remained standing in the aisles. At the first stop, we hopped off and walked up two flights of stairs to street level. Um, then there were two stories of stairs to climb over the street and back down. Then we walked about half a mile to the riverboat (view video clip), our destination, and down about two flights to the dock—then up a flight to the boat’s top deck. Out of breath yet? No need to worry about our cardiac health!

The boat carried us maybe two miles up river and back, past the Motherland statue, the largest in the country, the memorial statue to St. Vladimir the Baptizer, and the Lavra Monastery. It was a windy, overcast day in the low 50s or high 40s.

Thank goodness, we didn’t have to repeat our steps, because our union secretary (similar to a vice president) Pastor Leonid arrived with a van to take us to our afternoon appointment, at a church in Irpin, maybe 30 miles outside Kiev.

In Irpin, we observed the evangelism team in action at the last meeting before the evening baptism: Pastor James Mangum (view video clip), Ann Pittman (view video clip), and Edith and Don Beans. The team are all from Florida, and say they’re so honored to be a part of changing lives under God’s power. Their meeting place didn’t have a baptistery, so they bused the group a few miles to the Adventist college in Bucha (where I stayed for the last seven days).

At the college meeting hall/chapel, they removed floorboards in the stage to reveal a baptistery (view video clip). The students placed rose petals around the edge and in the water, and lit candles around the stage (view video clip 1) (view video clip 2). After much preaching by several pastors, several songs by the college choir and some soloists (view video clip), instructions on Christian life and baptismal vows, the candidates left to change from clothes into satin baptismal robes. The pastors descended the steps into what appeared to be about four feet of water. There were no grimaces by the pastors or the baptized, so one may assume it was at least tepid, if not warm.

The service was both solemn and joyful. Pastor James Mangum’s (view video clip) sermon in English (the only part I understood!) and translated to Russian for the audience, was Holy Spirit-inspired. He talked about John the Baptist and the point at which Jesus, the Messiah, came and asked for baptism. He reminded us that Jesus’ baptism is not only an example for believers, but may be claimed in faith if some are unable to be submerged. One of the new converts was accepted into membership by faith because he recently had abdominal surgery. He will be immersed when he is physically able (view video clip 1) (view video clip 2).

The music, all sung in Russian, was outstanding. When the soloist sang with her MP3 track, the audience hummed along and eventually sang with her on the last stanza and chorus of “The Power of Your Love,” by Geoff Bullock. That isn’t usually done in America, but it was kind of nice to know that the audience was involved in the song, and were worshipping God by taking part spontaneously.

After a delicious light supper at Pastor Leonid’s home, we were driven back to Kiev, and ascended the five flights to our guest rooms. These rooms are so lofty we almost need to chew gum or yawn to clear our ears!

Read October 13-14 reports