Report by Glen Rickard
For the second year in a row we brought rain and
after several months of drought and temperatures of up to 40c this was no small
blessing for them. As you know they rely on food produced from their gardens. Nadya grows everything. Chilli pepper, onions, tomatoes
potatoes, beetroot and so on.
The widows project is going well and four ladies from
the church in
We visited several widows and interestingly many have only come to faith after
the death of their husbands. One lady had come to faith after her husbands'
death and also after loosing a daughter! Needs vary.
One widow has Parkinson's yet displays a bright faith and we had a great prayer
time and sang. Another lady is almost bedridden and we suspect needs washing
and feeding. A lovely christian
woman called Vera calls daily. All the four ladies are in their sixties and
older I suspect. The christmas
widows lunch went down well and dozens attended. We were able to leave money
for this years lunch and money to support the project
thro 2009. They love this lunch! Nadya and the team
in the Church treat them to really nice food ( for
Ukrainians!! ) and it's such a great evangelistic opportunity. Some take doggie
bags home.
We visited schools and orphanages where Colin is a star with his teachers way and musical ability. I tend to be musical but
in a different way to Colin. Wendy usually sings solo and they love her
ministry.
We preached in the Baptist Churches ( 4 ) and were
able to provide some financial support for all the pastors. These men are
wonderful godly men who receive no financial support form their churches. I
still can't believe this. John and Nadya particularly
work extremely hard. The phone rings continually often after 10pm. They
minister to many needy people and while we were there, they took a phone call
asking would they accept a 13yr old girl, a runaway, and locate and reunite her
with her family. From what we could gather, they were given little option,
despite having a house full with us.
Miranda is pregnant and due in December. This was a surprise to us when we
arrived. She is married to Vassa who has now finished
Bible college and has almost completed a year trial
period in his church. He will be appointed as pastor in November. They live in
the west of
The Church in Nicopol
is due to celebrate it's centenary in November. Many
of the pastors over the years have been imprisoned and even been martyred for
their faith. We meet people regularly who have suffered and I was
speaking to one man who spent 7 years in siberia
for being a professing christian. Communism to these
people never seems far away and they do fear
Much Love
Glen
Report by Colin Dickson
On Friday September 12th I rose
at 2:00 a.m. and was picked up by Glen at 2:45 a.m. who took me to his house
where we were met by Tom Goodfellow who took Glen,
Wendy and myself to
We were met at Kiev Borispol
airport by Maranda who informed us that she was six
months pregnant! Praise the Lord. We had
a meal in
Saturday 13th September – a quiet day of preparation.
Sunday 14th September – our first meeting was at the
Monday 15th September. At midday we had a meeting with the leaders of the
Widows
Tuesday 16th September we visited two more widows, Nadia and Maria. We visited the Nikopol Babies Orphanage and
gave a gift for the work of the Orphanage.
We then had lunch in a Pizza restaurant in
Wednesday 17th September. We
travelled by minibus for one and a half hours to the Alexander Old Peoples Home
in Solonnye.
We preached the Gospel and Wendy sang, there was much interest from both
the old folk and the care assistants. We
prayed with several people. In the
evening we spoke at the housegroup at the home of
Nikolai and Marsha. The meeting was lead by Pastor Vladimir. Afterwards we had a meal.
Thursday 18th September. A long minibus journey to Zaporage. Rain and slow journey. We
met the translator Leona, and a local Pastor Nickolai. We had a good afternoon speaking with the
children at the Matveevka Orphanage. Leona and Nickolai
faithfully visit this orphanage every day and several of the children are
born-again Christians. It was good to
encourage the people and to preach the gospel.
We then visited Pastor Nickolai’s Church in Zaporage.
We arrived back in
Friday 19th September. In the
morning we had a meeting with 150 children from the Skola
Internat. The gospel was clearly
preached and we left sweets for the children and money for the school funds.
In the evening we visited the Nikopol
Rehabilitation Centre and had a meeting with the leaders. It was encouraging that both Glen and I had prepared
messages suitable for Christians and we were able to encourage and challenge
the leaders in their work of the Lord.
Saturday 20th September we went to the market to buy gifts,
then visited the
Back at John & Nadia’s home we recorded a video greeting for the
centenary celebrations then went on to Nikopol High School No. 3 where we spoke
at the Kids Club.
That evening, back at John & Nadia’s we had a barbecue supper and
fellowship with John’s brother and wife, Vassa and
Vera. Valick, the choir director from Dniperptrovsk gave an encouraging testimony of how the Lord
has worked in his life.
Sunday 21st September – up early to the
That afternoon we said goodbye to Maranda, who had helped us constantly throughout the
week. She had to return to her home town
of
Monday 22nd September – breakfast 9:00 a.m. We left about 10:30 a.m. in
torrential rain for our journey to
Tuesday 23rd September. Breakfast in restaurant then on to the Bible League. We were able to purchase 10 Russian Childrens Bibles and a Russian Adult Study Bible for the
next visit of Chernobyl Children to Billinge.
That afternoon we caught the flight from
We had been able to give gifts to several Pastors,
including John and Vladimir and Nikolai and others and also to Maranda and Vassa for their work
in Tachiv. We
were also able to give gifts for the Widows Project, to continue the work for
another year.
Thank you for your prayers,
Colin Dickson.
October 2008
Widows Report by Colin Dickson
The
Widows Project was set up one year ago (September 2007) with the twofold aim of
helping the many widows in the
On the
first Monday, 15th September, Glen and Wendy Rickard and I, with
Nadia had a meeting with three of the helpers, Paulina (the leader),
Three
of the helpers,
Tatiana,
right, with Nadia.
We spent some time explaining that we wanted the helpers to receive a wage as we wanted to bless them as helpers. (They did not accept a wage during the first year and the money was spent on food or clothes for the widows).
The
helpers explained that many of the widows live in apartments and some are
disabled and in bed all the time. The
pension in
The
widows are so grateful. The Widows meal
in January was a great success and a bag of food to take home was also
provided.
The helpers
explained that about 30 widows are visited, some weekly or fortnightly and the more needy several times a week or even every day.
On
Monday afternoon we visited three of the widows.
Lorissa
was very ill and there was little response.
We prayed, read Psalm 23 and Wendy sang.
Olya
used to be a nurse. She was very pleased
to see us. Again we prayed, read Psalm 23 and Wendy sang.
Olya
Nina,
80, used to be a cook but now has Parkinsons. Her husband and son have both died. She has a
daughter, but she was made redundant shortly before retirement so receives no
pension. She steals from her mother.
Nina was
delighted that we came. She is a very cheerful and lively Christian.
We
prayed, read Psalm 23 and Wendy sang.
Tatiana,
left with Nina.
On
Tuesday 16th September we visited two more widows.
Nadia,
83, has one leg and had a heart attack/ stroke and is a bit confused. Nadia was
very pleased to see us and is a committed Christian. We prayed read the
scriptures and Wendy sang.
Nadia
Maria is
visited every day by Vera who cooks, cleans and gets her shopping.
Maria,
right with Vera.
Maria is a
happy Christian and was grateful to God for the help received. She was pleased
to see us and thanked us for our care and prayers. We read the scripture and Wendy sang.
We felt
that the Widows Project had got off to an excellent start and gave money to
continue the work for another year.
We gave
gifts for the project which provided for the wages, the Christmas meal and
included some money for emergencies, food and clothes.
Colin
Dickson
1st
October 2008