"Excuse me, are you English?"
The voice came from behind the crude barriers in the dimly lit
Immigration Hall at Chop Railway Station.
I turned to face one of two young Englishmen who looked dishevelled and
distressed. The intonation in the voice
was somewhat pleading. It was
approximately one o'clock in the morning and at the time, Anton Bernick was busily persuading one of
the Immigration guards that he did not need to see inside our suitcases. This could never happen anywhere else in the
world, but Anton was virtually refusing to allow the border guards to open our
cases. He and Maranda had come to meet us, after
what had been a 19 hour train journey.
Whenever I arrive in the
While Anton virtually wrestled with the border guard over our
cases, I acknowledged the voice who had spoken to me. The man was in his mid-twenties and from
The young men had no visa so they were denied entry. Colin used this to great effect in his
preaching over the next ten days or so, holding up his passport and pointing to
the visa, telling people that it isn't enough to own a Bible or to attend
church, but to get into heaven they need to have their names written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. He told the story
of the two Englishmen, sat in a dark, unwelcoming place, unable to find entry
and challenged people to make sure that they don't find themselves in a similar
place after death, wanting to come into God's presence but being refused
because whilst on earthy they hadn't taken time to apply for the necessary
visa. It was a graphic illustration - I
wish I had thought to use it first!
We constantly pray about where God would have us go, what he would
have us do, and which people and projects we should be involved with. We are so conscious that although we might
have our agenda, it is important to find out what the Lord wants. This
visit to the western Ukraine, mainly to Veliki Luchki and Chernivsty, has been in some ways a
fact-finding exercise, done with care and prayer, to try and find out what God
wants us to do in the future in this area.
The Bernick
ministry is now changing. The members of
the singing group are now married and Mary Bernick has moved to
Veliki Luchki
The church building at Veliki Luchki
is now virtually finished and almost packed to the doors. This is great to see. The worship is very traditional and the
meetings last for two hours. There is often 3 or 4
speakers. I was asked to given an altar
call, which is not something which I am normally used to, but part of the
custom in the
Stercha
Two years ago we visited the church in Sturcha, where the pastor, Danni-Luk had borrowed
money off a business man (probably Mafia) in order the finish the church
roof. He felt he should do this from the
Lord, although the terms of the loan were that it had to be re-paid within
three months. Failure to repay meant
that the man would re-possess Danni-Luk's motorcar.
When we arrived he only had four days to repay the loan. The money we gave came from the Dennis Boxall Memorial
Fund. Danni-Luk stood and told the whole church
that the money we had just given was exactly the right amount to repay his
debt, of which the church had been wholly unaware. We re-visited Sturcha and were greeted very warmly
by the whole church and particularly the elders and deacons. They were extremely proud to show us the new
roof, which is pictured in the insert below.
We had a great time of fellowship in Sturcha. Once again, the church is very vibrant -
times of open prayer go on and on, as one person after another in the
congregation gives thanks to God or makes a petition and they eagerly await the
message from God's word. I am unsure who
gets more blessing, us or them. We feel
so at home in churches like this and although we can't speak the language we
are conscious that we have one Lord, share the same Holy Spirit and are
challenged, blessed and thrilled by things that are shared from the word of
God. Thousands of miles apart, a
different culture, yet fellowship is the same - for this I can do nothing other
than say with all sincerity - Praise the Lord!
On our mission we discovered two new churches, quite close to Velicki Luchki, where both
Colin and I felt strongly we should have input for the future. The first is Shalamononova.
Shalamononova
This is a small village right on the border with
This is not a charismatic church and was founded three years ago
by the pastor I previously described.
The church was founded because this man says that he heard an audible
voice telling him he had cancer.
Because of his profession he went to a colleague in the hospital and
asked for an investigation. Bowel
cancer was found. He has since had an
operation and had a large part of his lower intestine removed. He now has a colostomy. This experience galvanised him into action for God
and so with his own money he purchased the first church building and has begun
a work which is progressing well in a village which has previously had no
church.
The second church has a completely unpronounceable name but is
also in a small town, again close to the Hungarian border. We were shown to an upstairs room in a
dilapidated building where a local pastor is reaching out to the youth. This man and his wife are in their
mid-twenties and have taken over a local church which has been dying. The previous minister had thrown away all
the baptism garments because he believed that no-one else would be baptised in this
church. The new pastor has baptised eight
people so far this year and the church is starting to grow. We were greatly encouraged by his vision and
energy, in not only rebuilding the church that has declined, with less than a
handful of people, but also starting an outreach work to the youth. Once again we felt at real oneness and
warmth in our fellowship with the pastor and his wife, who invited us back to
their home for coffee. Their home
consists of a kitchen and a small room at the back of the church, which
accommodates all their belongings. They
also have a one year child. I am not
sure what touched me more, their passion and energy for God or their
poverty. Once again, we feel that we
should be involved with this work and have been able to gift money through the
Natasha
Our regular readers may like to have an up-date as to Natasha's
progress. The news is not good. Her health continues to decline and we do
not think that she has long to live.
John and Nadia in
In August this year, the Bernick family came over to
Elections in the
We understand that in the early part of next year, (probably
March) there are to be elections in the
One tactic that the old communist guard employ during elections,
is to have a ballot paper with the name of the ex-communist leader, along side
which the name of the alternative candidates are listed. However, the number of alternative candidates
may be eight or ten, all with the same name.
This is deliberate. It is
therefore impossible to know which "Smith" or "Jones" you
are voting for! The vote is diluted and
weakened and the communist candidate almost invariably becomes elected.
We were asked time and again to ask the people in
Time
We thought you may like to know a little of how people live and
time is something that puzzles us i.e. the time on the
clock. Most of the
At the time of our most recent visit to Velicki Luchki it was harvest time
(September) and as almost everybody in the villages, apart from the elderly and
the infirm farm their own fruit and vegetables, it was a time of high activity
in respect of harvest. The actual
farming falls largely to the ladies of the household, who are in the field by 4
am, often working through until dark, whilst at the same time accommodating the
cooking, cleaning and washing for the family.
The men appear to have an easier time, and if we try to help in any way e.g. offer to wash-up, we are
firmly rebuked by both ladies and men alike and told that that is women's
work! Very different society indeed to our own. As a result of the very heavy manual work done by the women, they do
tend to age quickly. When
Vera Bernick
saw a photograph of herself and Anton, which I brought for her, she made a
comment that I thought worth recording.
She gave a pleasing gentle smile and said that "Women age more
quickly than their husbands because they gift their beauty to their
children." I greatly admire her
attitude.
That's it for now. Please
keep praying for us. To all those who
have sent gifts we extend our thanks and our assurance that expenses are kept
to a minimum so that as much as possible goes to work in Ukraine. Gifts to specific people or projects are
used entirely for the purpose given.
May God bless you all.
Glen Rickard
Report by Glen Rickard
Regular readers of our
Newsletter will be aware that last April Colin and I made our first visit to Nicopol (Southern
Ukraine near the
During this visit we learned that John
and Nadya
were hoping to purchase a building a small remote village called Key-Rove-Oh (I
am unsure of the Russian spelling). At
our request we visited the prospective building (a detached bungalow in two acres
of land) which would cost approximately £2000 to purchase and renovate. Over the last 12 months and due to many gifts
from our supporters East-West Fellowship have
managed to raise monies well in excess of this amount. Many thanks to you all.
We are happy to report that this new church is now open for worship and
during our most recent visit in April this year Colin and I had the privilege
of both visiting and preaching there.
The congregation is approximately 20 people and growing. On the Sunday that we attended the weather
was bitterly cold (I suspect sub-zero) and the only heating was a one bar
electric fire. Colin and I were frozen
to the bone. In the congregation, just
to my right, sat two elderly ladies I suspect in their early seventies. We began to talk with them via our translator
and were informed that one lady had journeyed 17 kilometres to come to the meeting and
her friend had journeyed 10 kilometres. The lady who had journeyed 17 kilometres had
ridden by bicycle the distance of 7 kilometres to her friend’s house and then they had both
walked 10 kilometres
(6 miles) to the meeting in sub-zero conditions. Believe it or not the lady who had come the furthest
was wearing a pair of ordinary bedroom slippers. Such is the desire of these people to attend
the meeting, I felt very small.
On the same day Colin and I attended
two other villages where John has opened churches (in fact John has opened 4
new churches in villages within the last 12 months !) and during our visit we
were able to preach in each one seeing a number of people repent and open their
hearts to the Lord Jesus
Life in these villages is quite bleak,
particularly in the winter and although they do have electricity the service is
unreliable and can be turned off without notice, sometimes for weeks at a
time. Needless to say, the people are
very poor. It isn’t unusual, for
example, to find that the children only have one set of clothing. These people are self-sufficient, growing
their own vegetables, breeding hens and probably a pig and often sharing a cow
with several neighbours. At the close of one meeting a lady began to
question me as to whether I lived in a village or a city. I said that I lived in a village and she then
began to ask whether my wife was at home at the moment planting potatoes and
did I own my own cow. It is almost
impossible for these people to imagine life in the U K. They have no access to medical aid and I strongly
suspect that many of the older people have never left the village during their
lifetime. The
John now looks after six churches and is helped by a team of deacons, most of whom we met and were greatly impressed by their knowledge of the bible and the fervency with which they prayed for revival in their nation and for us.
We were also able to attend other
churches in the Nicopol
area and meet a number of pastors.
Although communism is meant to be dead they all tell us that the spirit
of communism is still very much alive amongst many of the officials within the
communities e.g. the Town Mayor, Chief of Police etc. They feel that the Church is very much
tolerated by officials. The ordinary
people of the community, in general, tend to welcome the new freedoms that they
have found since the “fall of the wall” and there is great interest in the
Church. One pastor told us of the
comments of the Russian leader, Nikita Kruschev, who stated publicly on
television that in the year 1987 he would parade the last living
As you aware John and Nadya are not paid
at all and somehow seem to live (the Lord provides all their needs). I find this an amazing challenge. Apart from this people come to us constantly
during our visit telling us how John and Nadya look after them! One example was a very poor orphanage we
visited, which looks after children with “special needs.” The support to orphanages of this type from
the State appears to be minimal, the staff however are obviously very caring, often working
without pay and are quite clearly loved by the children. We inquired of the Principal as to any particular
needs that we could help her with and she began to share with us how only a few
months ago the State had stopped all financial support, even for food, John and Nadya had kept the orphanage supplied
with food for three weeks. Needless to say that they weren’t
present during our conversation with the Principal and unaware that we know
this. However, as a
consequence of all that we have observed over two prolonged visits within the last two years Colin and I intend to
propose to the Trustees of East-West Fellowship at our next Trustee meeting
that we provide financial support on a regular basis for John and Nadya. We will keep you informed. Our last visit to the
Small Frail Giant
During our visit we were privileged to
be taken to the home of Paulina, a frail elderly lady (91 years old), who had
been helped out of bed to meet us.
Although we took our cameras no photograph was taken, as we considered
this would be indiscreet. Paulina was,
indeed, very frail but a giant in God.
Her husband was a pastor who, under Stalin, had been sentenced to hard labour in
Natasha
Very early in our visit Nadya made us
aware of a lady who the Church are
ministering to, her name is Natasha. She
has three children, a daughter of 12 and sons of 9 and 5 years old. A few years ago Natasha moved, with her
husband, to be part of a “collective farm” in the Nicopol area. Her husband was to work on the farm and in
exchange for his labour
they were given a very small two roomed house, food etc. Natasha became pregnant with their fourth
child and was beaten and kicked so badly by her husband, who was an alcoholic, that the
baby died. By the time she as admitted
to hospital ovarian cancer had started.
The operation was to cost approximately £100 and this was raised by the
people on the collective farm and given to her husband. He never visited Natasha but after receiving
the money he promptly sold whatever belongings they owned and left, leaving the
three small children. His departure came
to light some days later and the children, now starving, turned up at a neighbours
door. Natasha is now at home with her
children but is in danger of losing her accommodation and has no money at
all. Her home is beautifully clean and
the children appear well cared for. She
is, however, painfully thin and has an unhealthy colour. Despite this she looks quite cheerful and
became a
Miranda Hoogland
We wish to introduce Miranda. She is 25 years old and comes from
Miranda comes from a
“Miranda Salad”
Boiled potato (cold)
Tinned crabmeat
Sweetcorn (tinned)
Red Onion (finely grated)
Mayonnaise
Cheese
Method
Grate the potato on to a small plate and cover in layers with sweetcorn, crabmeat, onion etc finally completely covering with mayonnaise so that none of the ingredients can be seen. Top with grated cheddar cheese.
This layered salad is a Ukrainian dish that is simple to make and delicious to eat. Miranda made it for Colin and I several times during our last visit!
Glen Rickard