Prayer Letter

November 17, 2014

Dear Pastor and Prayer Partners,

“I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.”

  It is amazing how the Lord works in our lives to bring to pass His will for our lives!  So often we don’t understand, but His way is perfect and His timing is always on time.

  

When Jessica and I surrendered to go to Ukraine 10 years ago, never once did we think or consider that we would ever go anywhere else.  We thought surely we will be lifetime missionaries.  We had surrendered our lives to preach the Gospel in Ukraine and we planned on being buried there.  But God had different plans.  We can plan and organize our lives the way we think He would want them, but nonetheless we must still be surrendered to His plan and His will for our lives even when it doesn’t go with our plans.

  When we came home from Ukraine this time, something different took place in my heart that I had not experienced before.  Every other time I had come back to the States, not only did God give me a peace and a desire to go back, but I really wasn’t happy being here because I knew God wanted us in Ukraine.  I just wanted to be back in the land of our calling.  This time, every time I have sought to buy plane tickets, God has hindered me and not given me peace.  At the same time, He has given me a desire to come back to the USA and serve here in the land of my fathers.  Every time that I would pray about God’s direction for our family, it seemed that God directed me to verses about Jacob and the Patriarchs going back to the land of their fathers.

  

   For such a long time I wrestled with God about this, telling Him that I was a “lifetime missionary”.  Finally I started praying about where God would have us serve.  God laid on my heart a particular church.  They are a good, solid, Fundamental, Bible believing church and their former pastor surrendered to the mission field of South Africa and announced his calling to the church in March.  This is the same month that God brought us home.  I started praying that if God wanted me to pursue being the pastor of Victory Baptist Church, that He would have the former pastor to call me, and I really had no reason to expect him to call me.  The very next day, he called me.  From that moment I started pursuing being the pastor of Victory Baptist Church.  I did not share this with many people because I did not want to share this until God confirmed that this was what He was doing. 

About 2 weeks ago on November 2nd we candidated, and this past Sunday, November 16th, they voted to have us come as their pastor’s family.  We have whole heartedly accepted for God has confirmed over and over again in our hearts that this is what he wants for our family.

   It is really quite amazing to me how God has worked out all the details.  As God was starting to move us to pastor, God was moving in the hearts of Mark and Donna Kuenzi to go to Vvedenka, Ukraine.  Our prayer was for them to come work with us and their plan was to be our co-laborers. I shared with them what God was doing in our hearts and he said although it wasn’t what we had planned, God has called them to go and we are going to go.  In fact, Mark and Donna are already in Ukraine.  They left on November 6th.  They have already had 2 Sunday services.  They had 6 Ukrainians out for the first service, which is very good since they do not have a car to pick people up with.  We have told Mark and Donna that our van (currently in Western Ukraine), our house, the church building, everything there we own will all be left for them.  This is our best means of helping them do the work that God has called them to and also to help them continue the work which God allowed us to start.  God has made it very evident that He has called them to Ukraine and that He has called us to the States for such a time as this.  Despite the difficulties they have faced and the ongoing violence in Ukraine very close to where they are at, they have said “God has called us and we are going to go.”  Mark and Donna have left for the field with almost no regular financial support.  They have sold most of their possessions and their houses and plan to live off of this money, trusting that God will provide a more permanent means of financial support.  The reason I am sharing this with you is because I would like you to prayerfully consider supporting the Kuenzi family in our place, as they will be continuing the ministry that most of you have already supported through us for the last 7 or more years.  They are being sent from our sending church, Grace Baptist Temple.

   We will be transferring into the pastorate by the end of this month, so we ask that you would discontinue our support the end of this month. Our email will remain the same.  My telephone number will remain the same for at least another month.

   Again, we would like to thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us and support us financially over the years of our ministry in Ukraine.  We have grown to love you all and to greatly appreciate each of you as you have teamed up with us to get the Gospel to Ukraine.  May God richly bless each of you as you continue to faithfully serve our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 Eric, Jessica

Anna, Lydia, Samuel, Daniel & Abigail

July 2014

Our newest prayer card

Dear Pastor and Prayer Partners,

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25

   Though the news coming from Ukraine right now is not always good, we have been encouraged by the news we have from the believers in Ukraine.  Vasily has a very good report among the believers and from our neighbors.  He opens the church doors every week.  Vladamir Vonovich comes every other Sunday and meets with him.  It is hard for any of the others to come without us there to transport them, but Vasily goes to their homes an meets with them.  They have been encouraged by his knowledge in the scriptures and said that he even councils them with scripture!  Hearing this was definitely “cold water to a thirsty soul..”.

   July 3rd, we received news that the train tracks 2 stops from our village had been blown up.  Many of our church people, including Lina and Max, used this to get to church.  We also used it to get back and forth from the city.  Gala, who lives near there, seemed in good spirits and not bothered by it.  She said everything was quickly repaired and the train was running as usual.

   Vasily said someone also sent some men to search our home for “contraband”.  Vasily was cordial with them, and after searching from top to bottom, they left apologizing.  We are praising God for protecting Vasily as sometimes the officials can be pretty corrupt.  Continue to pray for his protection and growth.  

   Our furlough has been going well.  We started in Maryland and have traveled down to Georgia and are now in Maine.  God has truly blessed us with some good churches and it has been refreshing to visit with them again.  We have meetings scheduled in New England until the end of August.  The Lord has even blessed us with a few new contacts.  The Kuenzi’s are continuing to sell-give away-and pack things.  They are hoping to fly back with us when we go.  I know they would also greatly appreciate your prayers.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Update on Where We Are

It has been a busy few weeks for us.  The first two weeks was spent tending to sick kids.  They all picked up a stomach bug somewhere.  Then Jess’ parents came down to visit for 2 days.  On Tuesday, we headed down south.  We are now in Blackstone, VA and are keeping busy and filling up our schedule.  We are trying to keep in contact with our people in Ukraine and are excited to hear that they are still meeting together to encourage one another.  As far as the country situation, things still don’t look good and they have advised us to wait a little longer.  We are anxious to get back but know the Lord has a plan.  He has already blessed us so much this past year.  We think particularly in that we did not have to leave the country last year so had money for tickets.  Please continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and us as we minister here during our visit.

Prayer Letter

October 27, 2012

Church

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6  What a blessing it is to be able to be used of God!  He definitely does not need us, but chooses to let us take part in His plan.  Over the past few weeks, multiple people have come forward acknowledging their need of salvation.  We are unsure how many have prayed, but among those were Valodia (the man we did Bible lessons with and who came faithfully for years), Ruselan (the man we did Bible lessons with in the prison) and Baba Maroosa!  Slavic has grown abundantly over the past year and the others who came forward were a result of his witnessing.  One lady in particular seemed to be greatly burdened over her need of salvation and Slavic himself had the opportunity to lead her to the Lord!  Her name is Olya.  Although we had met her and given her tracts a few times, she did not start coming to church until recently.  She has been quite faithful during the time the Whites were there and appeared 

greatly convicted after every sermon as Mike White clearly presented the Gospel each week.  The others that came forward were Olya’s sister, Nastia and her daughter Naomi, Tonya, Olya’s friend, and Arteum and Sergay, friend’s of Slavic.  We are excited to get back and talk with these people.  Since the Whites were required to leave the country, the church is without a Pastor for two more weeks.  We praise the Lord that He allowed Brother Mike to stay there two weeks longer than expected!  Do remember to pray for our little church.  Especially with so many newly saved, we know that Satan will try to hinder their growth.  Even with no one there, the church is continuing to see around 20 people in attendance.

We also ask for you to pray for Slavic as Yuri has sent his nephew to persecute him, trying to get money from him, threatening to beat him and throw him in prison.  Satan does not like Slavic’s witness and we are praying for God’s protection on him during this time.  They will think that without a missionary there, Slavic will be more vulnerable, but God is still there!

 Family

We have our passports, visas and plane tickets and are ready to be home.  We fly out of Washington, D.C. November 8th at 5 pm!  We have said goodbye to our family and friends, though Jessica’s parents may be making one last trip up to see the kids before we fly out.  You all have been a blessing and encouragement to us.  Some of you knew about Daniel’s ER visit due to 3 days of fevers around 105 and we greatly appreciate the gifts you sent in for that.  We also appreciate the money sent in to replace our transmission.  I don’t know if we could begin to express our gratitude for the blessings you all showered over us during our furlough.  We came, intending to be a blessing to you and leave overwhelmed by your love.  Thank you all for your prayers and support over the years!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Visa Update

We received our visas!!!  They only issue 45 day visas now, but that can be extended up to 2 years (a year at a time) depending on the registration office.  We ask that you be praying even now about our registration process as they can sometimes be difficult.  Thank you all for your prayers concerning our visas.  We know you are rejoicing with us.

Visa Update

We received a call yesterday concerning our visas from the postal service.  The lady said if we checked online, it would say that they were returned then AGAIN delivered to the Pakistan embassy.  She said the man who typed it in said that he knew it went to the correct embassy, and it was just a 'typo'.  All we could do was wait and see (she said 2 weeks).  Today we received a call saying that we had a package from the embassy waiting for us in VA.  We had our pastor pick it up and waited anxiously to see if we had gotten approved.  We are excited to say, WE HAVE OUR VISA!!!  Thank you all for your prayers!  We do ask that you continue to pray as they only give out 45 day visas now.  If we are able to get registered, we can stay a full year.  We ask that you be praying about this even now.  Again, thank you for your prayers!!!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

We have further tracked our visa applications and passports and have discovered that they were delivered to the Embassy in Washington...but not to the Ukrainian Embassy.  Instead, they were delivered to the Embassy of Pakistan.  Pray as we try to get everything worked out.

Link to Update

Jessica made an update talking about our visas and the White's registration.  You can read that here.  Thank you for your prayers!

Visas and Church Fines

Just a quick update to ask you to be praying for the White's and also our little church in Ukraine.  We received news that the White's were told they had broken the law and would be required to go to court and pay a fine.  The church would have to do this as well.  Lina said the fine could be anywhere from $300 - $1,000.  The reason?  When you go into Ukraine, you are required to register. When they went to re-register this time, they were told they had broken the law because they had not UN-registered before their last registration expired.  This is something new and we ask that you will be praying for them and also pray that it will not cause problems for us when we go to register.

Concerning our visas, we have sent in the paperwork and are just waiting to see if they will be accepted.  Pray that God allows everything to work out as we have been hearing of other missionaries who have had their request for visas denied.

Chosen Frozen

An email from Mike and Joyce White in Vvedenka Ukraine:

 

  Hello to all,

We just got back from church. It is about -15F. We are not able to heat the church building, so we closed

off the large room and met in the hall way. It is about 10' x 12'. We have 3 electric wall heaters which brought the temperature up to about 38F. Even though it was freezing a lost man that has already come twice before came back again today. He seems to be truly interested in knowing more about Jesus. Please pray for him, his name is Anatoly.

 

We've attached a few pictures. In one the door way to the regular meeting room is closed off with a

blanked. We call it the Lion of Juda. One is two of the heaters. The bottle of water in front was frozen even though we keep one heater on all the time. The other is of Bro. Mike with a few of our chosen frozen men! We need heat! This is our major prayer request.

Trust you all have a good day in the house of the Lord and enjoy not only the warmth of the Word of God but the warmth you receive from the central heating system!

Christ our Saviour,

Mike and Joyce White

Your missionaries in Ukraine

We received an update that it had warmed up to around 20-30 F.  We are praying that the worst of winter is past.

Prayer Letter

As most of you probably have heard, we are now in the states on furlough.  Because of computer problems, we are just now getting around to posting this prayer letter.  We will hopefully have things fixed soon.  Thank you for your patience!

December 16,2011
Visas & Family
First, we'd like to apologize for missing a prayer letter.  We have had a lot happen since our last prayer letter.

We had mentioned that they were making some new visa laws, which we were told would not affect us.  Even so, I visited our Ovir about 2 times a week for two months with the same response...everyting would be fine, just come back next time and we will tell you what to do.  Four days before Lydia and Samuel's registration was to run up, they told us they would not renew their registration and they had 4 days to get out of the country.  The Lord worked miraculously and allowed Jessica and the kids to make it back to the states safely around the end of October.  I stayed behind to get things a little more in order.

During this time, we were contacted by a former missionary to Russia who wanted to visit us and help for a little while.  When I told him our situation, he said he would be willing to fill in for us while we were stateside.  This was a huge answer to prayer as we did not wish to leave our church without a teacher.  Brother White has applied for his visa, but it still has not been approved.  We ask that you pray with us that God will get him to Ukraine quickly.  My prayer had been that he would be able to be there before I left, but I returned the 2nd of December so that I could be here with Jessica when our baby is born.

Jessica is doing very well and the Lord has blessed us iwth a wonderful, Christian midwife.  The baby is due December 31st.  Please continue to pray for a safe deliver.

Before we left, we installed a new water filration system in our home which seemed to be greatly helping our parasite problem.  It seems like the Lord has completely cleared us of the parasites and we are praising the Lord to be through that.

Ukrainian Church
The Lord has greatly blessed the ministry the last few months we were there and we are excited to share with you the news that Slavic got saved and baptized!

Valodia is still working, but comes when he has a day off.  Zenieta, a lady who visited twice when we first moved to the village in our home, has also been visiting on Wednesday nights.  She asks a lot of questions about what we believe.  She has been attending a Baptist Union Church in a different village.  We believe that she is saved and it has been a blessing to have her when she visits.

Baba Maroosa has not been attending services an also lost her son the beginning of November.  I am not sure how much contact our church people will be able to have with her while we are away, but we are still greatly burdened for this woman.

Many of you have asked frequently for Pasha, my translator.  When I found out that we were going back to the states, I gave him his notice.  Although we are sad to say that he did not trust in Christ, I believe God is still working.  He told me when he left that I treated him better than he could have expected from any Ukrainian employer.  I would have loved to have been used to lead this man to the Lord, but I know that some plant, some water and some harvest.  I pray that one day God will save this man and use him for His honor and glory.

In our absence, the church has continued to meet.  Until Mr. and Mrs. White are able to get there, Yuri is reading sermons.  Please pray for this young group of believers that God will protect them from the many wolves that may sneak in and also that they will continue to grow strong in the faith.

Furlough Plans
We are planning on taking a ear furlough and are looking forward to visiting with some of our supporting churches.  Our plan is to be in the southern states February - June 2012 and in New England July - November.  Please contact me as soon as possible if you would like us to come in for a meeting during the time we are in the states.  You can reach me at (207) 249-0731.  Also, please send all mail to either our sending church in VA or our mission.