Dear Prayer Partners:
What does 300
eggs have to do with medical ministry?? My philosophy of ministry
involves partnering with local church pastors and leaders to draw people to
Christ in their villages through compassionate medical care. Part of that
partnership is encouraging and helping pastors. Tuesday, my clinic team was in Valentinovka, not far from Makarovo,
where Volodya was ordained as pastor last November.
His wife Maya sells dairy products, which my clinic assistants love to
buy. Her hens were laying eggs like crazy this spring, so Maya arranged
to send eggs to friends in the Peresyp Church in
Odessa. We bought eggs from others in the church as well. So we
ended up carrying in our van 300 eggs back to Odessa that day!
Partnership involves helping others in every dimension. We made a lot of people
happy and enhanced the poor economy of that village!
We also saw 25 patients in Valentinovka, one of whom just received Christ as her
Savior last October after going to the Zhatva in Makarovo. We hold clinic in the village government
building that houses the library, nurse's office and auditorium. Only the
library and nurse's office are heated in the winter. So my clinic
assistants are very cold where they set up the pharmacy in the lobby. I
see patients in the nurse's office and have a very good relationship with Ina,
the nurse. She is so relieved to have my help as there are many patients
she does not have the training to treat. She and Tanya (librarian) and Valya (another government employee) all came to Zhatva. It was Ina's grandmother who was saved.
Please pray for the salvation of these other ladies, who are so much more open
to the gospel now after interacting with our clinic staff for 3 years.
One patient, Lydia, is very interested in learning more about salvation, and
several others expressed interest in studying the Bible. Pray for Volodya as he contemplates starting a regular Bible study
in that village. He found an empty house in the village whose owners live in
the city and are willing to let us use the house for ministry free of charge,
if we pay for utilities and repairs. What a wonderful opportunity! Then
we would have a warm place for clinic in the winter (it was still chilly last
Tuesday). Ina doesn't want us to move, so pray that this change will not
interfere with the good relation we have with her and the other government
employees.
Христос воскрес!
"Christ is risen!" What a wonderful celebration of Jesus'
Resurrection we enjoyed in Krasnosyolka April 4, then
services in Kubanka and Shamanovka
Monday and in New Kubanka Tuesday. The Thursday
evening prior to Easter, we held the Lord's Supper, then
Friday evening was a special service reflecting on Jesus' Crucifixion. It is thrilling
to hear a regular greeting for a couple of weeks replacing a simple Hello as
one person says "Christ is risen!", then the other person responds
"He is risen indeed!" Even nonbelievers use this greeting,
which is a great opening for sharing the gospel, when you ask them if they
believe this and understand it. Pastor Lonya
shared some stories of how he has challenged people's thinking when they use
this greeting perfunctorily.
This was the first time Shamanovka had ever had an Easter service! Maria
invited several children to say poems and one girl was dressed in traditional
Ukrainian folk costume. About 50 people (out of a population
<100) came out to hear the children and the youth choir from Krasnosyolka. When the preaching began, a number of people
left. But about 15 stayed for the whole service. Sasha, the young man for whom
you have been praying, read a hymn called "Forgive Me, God". He
later told us that came from his heart and that he is ready to accept Christ as
his Savior! Lonya and I are continuing to lead
the Bible study on Wednesdays with the core group of Sasha and his
relatives. We are praying about when to start a general service for the
whole village. Sasha, Roma, their younger brother, their mom, Sasha's
daughter, sister-in-law and mother-in-law all piled into my Honda CRV for the
trek to Krasnosyolka on Easter Sunday evening. I was
on the rugged road for 1 1/2 hours both before and after the service, but
their joy was worth the effort!
A major praise was receiving my registration
to live in Odessa for one year. There had been several problems with the
paperwork, so it was God's intervention that allowed OVIR--the immigration
office, to at last give me the official stamp in my passport! Before
January 10, 2011, I will have to leave Ukraine for a short time to get a
new visa. That is the disadvantage of a religious visa, that
it only lasts one year. But praise the Lord for a year worry-free!
There are so many more patients I
could tell you about, who have been coming regularly to clinic and listening
attentively to presentations of the gospel. Pray that God will touch
their hearts, break down the barriers preventing them from salvation, defeat
Satan's attempts to keep them away from Christ, and give them eternal life!
We have seen God at work in Limaniy where there had
been so much gossip about the clinic. Anatoliy and Alla (pastor and wife) said they have not heard any more of
the vicious rumors. We had a very busy clinic there in April with lots of new
patients. Pray for God's provision for that church, as it is a financial burden
for Anatoliy to go there every week from Odessa to
lead the ministry. They are still working on repairs of the prayer house.
Holly and I spent a week in Kharkov
with Dave and Penny Winget. We did clinics for 4
days, then another day met with the director of a
pregnancy care center there, a very enlightening meeting. It is always a
privilege to work with the Ukrainian evangelistic team in Kharkov. One village
we served that was new to me had a church of 100 members and a Christian
school! That is very unusual since students cannot get a government diploma for
going to a Christian school. I saw many challenging cases that day, but was
impressed by the great fellowship there. A highlight was a gentleman who
reminded me of my dad--same age and same joy in the Lord. He borrowed an
accordion from a neighbor to play for us that afternoon! What a blessing as our
whole clinic team gathered to sing together with him that afternoon.
God gave me a whole month free of
vertigo! What a praise. It started again last week,
but I enjoyed the reprieve. April has been a very hectic month, so it was
a help to feel well for such a long period of time.
One dream that Holly and I share is
starting a pregnancy care center in Odessa. Holly served in Peru with ABWE for
2 years with Evelyn Stone who has started several centers in that country. What
a wonderful time to help young women who are facing a pregnancy they don't
want, to give them Biblical counsel and physical assistance to keep the
baby. A PCC can also offer counseling for women dealing with emotional
pain after abortion. Such a center has many opportunities to share the
hope of Jesus Christ with hurting women. Another missionary nurse in Odessa,
Susanna, is also interested in this project. We are hosting a meeting Friday,
May 7, for pastors and women's ministry leaders to explain the potential for
such a ministry in Odessa. Please pray for God's direction in this meeting, for
me as I moderate it in Russian, for these church leaders to understand and
embrace this opportunity, and for Holly as she will be functioning as director
until she trains a Ukrainian director. Our goal is to open the center in
the fall of 2012. That gives us plenty of time for all the organizational
details, formation of a Board, finding and training volunteers, preparing
an office, etc. Please pray for this endeavor to be led by God's wisdom
and to focus on drawing people to Jesus Christ.
Another endeavor I have been involved
in is the analysis of the Russian translation of ABWE's new evangelism tool
"The Story of Hope". We are hoping to finish this project in
the next couple of weeks and get it to the printer by the first of
June. This is part of ABWE's Good Soil project for enhancing evangelism
and discipleship. Please see the attachment for more details and how you
can help evangelism in Ukraine by providing financial assistance to this
project.
Please pray for two medical teams
scheduled for 2010:
July 27--Aug 6: Two dentists,
assistants, and children's ministry
November 1-12: Ophthalmologist
and health care providers with evangelists
One advantage of having a new ministry
partner of a younger generation is that Holly had already developed a web site!
Now she has generalized it for the medical ministry in Ukraine. Hopefully, my next prayer letter
will be generated from that web site, so expect a different e-mail
address. If you do not get another
prayer letter by the end of May, please let me know so I can check the address
list to be sure yours didn’t get lost in the new format. Please take a look at info, calendar and
photos at http://www.ukrainemedical.abwe.org
Leaning on The Rock,
Miriam
Psalm 18:1-2
Miriam R. Wheeler, MD
ABWE--Odessa, Ukraine
Vonage internet phone: 864-248-4845