“Go West, Young Man” (February 2016 Update)
Heading to Lviv …
Those were the words of Horace Greely encouraging young veterans of the American Civil War to go west to find a place where they can be useful. Many did and it opened the westward expansion of the United States. Well, I’m not a young man but I’m headed west again to teach in Lviv. I am excited about the growth of the new seminary there and I am looking forward to teaching there again next week.
Be praying for me as I gather everything I need for the class, finish lecture preparations and try to 
get everything ready here at home so Katya and the kinds will have everything they need while I am gone. I will be teaching Christology and Soteriology and I have not taught either for over 4 years, so I have some brushing up to do! I’ll be traveling by train so I have about 5 hours to read and get ready for Monday morning’s class. Thanks for praying for me as I teach!
More Classes Ahead…
February is just the beginning for teaching for me. March will be a very hectic month since I will be teaching 3 classes. This means February will be busy too just getting everything prepared.
At the beginning of the month, I will be teaching English Clubs with our Campus Ministry here. This is a great ministry. Last year, this group presented the gospel to over 500 students and saw at least 10 really solid conversions! Be praying for the leaders and students as they put together the details for this outreach. Also, pray for us, that the Bible lessons will open the hearts of some who will be willing to follow-up with conversations and Bible studies.
In the middle of the month and the end of the month, I will be teaching two classes at Kiev Theological Seminary. First, I will teach pastors and church planters a course on the Theology and Practice of Prayer. Then I will be teaching a Master’s level class on Research and Writing to the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling Group.
Time in the States …
We had a wonderful, though hectic, time visiting in the states over Christmas. We were able to make it to Florida in time for Thanksgiving with Joel and Debbie’s family. We also got to spend some wonderful time on the beach relaxing before we headed north to Connecticut. In Connecticut, we were blessed to spend time with Harry and Rosie Ong and were able to visit (and preach) at Shepaug Valley Bible Church. We were even able to be at the Christmas tree lighting ministry conducted by the church on Saturday evening. From there, we headed to Ohio to see my father. He was moved here to a nursing home last spring so this was our first time to see him this year. While in Cincinnati, we also visited the Cincinnati Zoo and the Festival of Lights there and had a great time showing Kristina all the animals and lights (as well as eating Skyline Chili and Frisch’s Big Boy hamburgers!). We even were able to stop on our way through Dayton to visit with Ross and Emily Uhler and their family.
From there, we headed to Arkansas. We had less than a month in Arkansas this time and spent most of our time in Fayetteville with Sean and Meredith Cooper. The best part was spending the Christmas holidays with all my children and grandchildren at Sean and Meredith’s. It was crowded but we enjoyed having everyone together! We were also able to visit with a very few friends and we wish we could have seen many more. We also visited a number of churches including The Bible Church of Cabot, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, Grace Baptist, The Summit Church and New Heights Church (Fayetteville). Then we headed back to Florida to spend a couple days with Joel and Alyssa and the MacKenzies before heading back to Ukraine. The travel with 2 small children was exhausting for me but we are all glad we had the time to make the trip.
Family …
The girls are growing rapidly. We can’t believe the changes that took place just during our time in the states. Nadia is now crawling and sitting up some. And she is developing quite a personality. Kristina continues to amaze us with her understanding of both Russian and English. She often combines the two languages so that only someone who knows both could possibly understand her! Once time, she even helped translate her English for me. We were coming out of the petting zoo and Kristina said, “I wanna seep.” I responded, “You want to sleep?” And she looked at me very seriously and said, “No, sheep! BA-BA, sheep!” Kristina just celebrated 2 years and we are looking forward to seeing her grow!
Continue to pray for Ukraine…
Things continue to be stable for now but we are never sure what Putin is planning. It appears that the sanctions and the dropping oil prices (Oil accounts for as much as 67% of Russia’s GPA) have combined to slow down Putin’s support of the mercenaries in Eastern Ukraine. But it also does not look like he intends to pull. There are over 8,000 regular Russia troops in Ukraine now. Putin has finally admitted to having troops in Ukraine, but he says they are only observers! We know it could be a long time before this war is finally over. Continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and for peace in Ukraine! Also, pray that we can train many ministers of the gospel who will be able to give the hope of the gospel that can truly change them!
Thanks again for your support and prayers for us.
By His Grace,
Jim, Katya and Kristina and Nadia
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