Dear Prayer Partners:

I have a quiz for you! Yes, I hear those groans. Many of you have been hearing about Zhatva for the 11 years I have lived in Ukraine.
What does the word "zhatva" mean?
a. prayer
b. thanksgiving
c. harvest
d. autumn
Have your answer ready? If you said "Thanksgiving", you get some credit. But you score 100% if you said "harvest"! You have been reading those prayer updates. Each church chooses a Sunday in Sept/Oct to celebrate Zhatva, and it is a day of thanksgiving to God for His gracious provision at Harvest. There is lots of special music, many guests, poems read, preaching, and a big meal. It is a wonderful time of celebration. Pastor Lonya often reminds the church that during the Soviet era, the collective farms celebrated Harvest but gave all the glory to the State and to the workers. Now we can openly give glory to God, the true provider! I have enjoyed Zhatva at Krasnosyolka 9/27, Makarovo 10/4, and hope to be at Limaniy 10/10 and Sahanskoye 10/18.

It was a great blessing in Makarovo to see many patients from that village, and from Valentinovka and Sahanskoye. This was the first time this group from Valentinovka had come to a service. Valentine has been a believer about 5 years, but his wife Tanya was opposed to his involvement in the church. But since we started the clinic there, her heart has been softening. My clinic assistants and I have built a good relationship with her (the town librarian), the nurse Ina, and another worker Valya. They were all at Zhatva! Tanya is now supportive of her husband's faith and is listening to the gospel herself. Ina was thrilled with the music and asked if we could have a concert in Valentinovka! Ina's grandmother (another Valya) told Volodya, the church leader in Makarovo, that she wanted to talk to him about salvation. At the clinic in Valentinovka Tuesday, Valya asked Jesus Christ to become her personal Savior! How thrilling to see fruit after 3 years of clinic ministry in that village. Several other patients were very receptive to hearing the gospel. Pray for wisdom for Volodya as he seeks time to spend with these folks to develop their spiritual interest. He is going to try to work out a way to transport them to Sunday services in Makarovo.

A special treat for my birthday in September was the visit of Linda Cox from my sending church and her friend Barbara Ray. They were amazing in all they accomplished in one week! They pulled statistics out of 3000 clinic charts from 4 different villages. They cooked a big dinner for Pastor Lonya and Luba and their family for my birthday. Linda shared her testimony at Sunday services in Krasnosyolka and Kubanka. Two teen-aged girls in Kubanka prayed to receive salvation after that. Zhenya and Kristina both have very poor family situations, but they regularly attend Sunday School and were at camp in July. Zhenya's parents are both alcoholics. Pray that they would faithfully follow Christ. The Krasnosyolka youth group is providing transportation to bring them from Kubanka for the youth fellowship in Krasnosyolka Wed evening.

Yesterday was clinic at the new site--Shamanovka. When we arrived, no one was there! They are still not accustomed to counting on the clinic being held as promised. But as people saw our car at the "club", they started coming. Lonya had some amazing opportunities to share the gospel with many patients. He was talking nonstop the entire day! Roman is a 17-year-old guy who told me last month that he was very depressed, anxious all the time, and constantly fearful. We had a good talk about God's help. He has been reading the New Testament, and told me he felt much better! He asked if he could get a whole Bible! His problems began when his alcoholic father committed suicide 5 years ago. Now he is learning to trust his heavenly Father. I could see how much he respected Lonya and hung onto his words. Gregory is an older man who has been struggling with alcohol and was drunk at the first clinic and the first Sunday service. But since then he has been sober. He brought his Bible to clinic yesterday and was disappointed there was not a preaching service at the beginning as there was last time! But he too spent a lot of time with Lonya. Anatoliy came with his wife to talk to Lonya about help to stop drinking. May God intervene to protect this family with their two young children. Pray for this village that God would open their eyes to see Jesus Christ as the answer for their needs. Another pastor friend of mine pointed out the word "shaman" means voodoo priest and may mean this village (named Shamanovka) is steeped in spiritism. Pray for direction for the Krasnosyolka evangelistic team about how they can find time to lead a preaching service here regularly. Pray that the people will remember the clinic day to gather in the morning for a service.

After the Shamanovka clinic, we drove to Russkaya Slobodka to visit Tatiana and Stephan. We learned that Tatiana had gone home to heaven just a few days earlier. Stephan expressed his gratitude to me and Lonya for the several visits we had made to try to help and encourage Tatiana. He believes that she did trust Jesus Christ for salvation. He asked us to please come back to visit. Lonya would like to start an outreach in that village.

Bible Center Church of Charleston, WV, is sending a medical/dental team to Odessa Oct 16-24. They will get to participate in Zhatva at Sahanskoye Sunday then will travel to a different village each day to provide dental and medical care. Please pray for this group to show Christlike compassion throughout this busy and tiring week, so that patients may be open to hear the good news of eternal life through Jesus. They fly out of Odessa Oct 24, then I will hop on a train to Kharkov to work with another medical team there for a week. Pray for my health and endurance for two grueling weeks!

Thank you so much for standing with me in prayer for the needs of all the patients I serve. God has provided a car for me to use during my 2 months in the US. Pray that I will receive my letter of invitation in time before my Nov 17 departure from Ukraine, so that I can apply for a new religious visa in the States. May the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified!

Leaning on The Rock,
Miriam
Psalm 62:5-8