A Missionary Trip

My wife Pat and I went on a 10-day Missionary Trip to Belarus and Ukraine on behalf of NGJ. It was during the time of one of the worst heat waves the region has ever seen.

The pace was frantic from beginning to end. Our travel time from leaving our house here in TN to arriving at our hotel was over 27 hours. Most days were 16 hours or more with the evening meal taking place after 10 pm.

We ministered with 13 others from the U.S. in Churches, hospitals, orphanages, a tent meeting, and a Jewish Community Center. Prior to the tent meeting we passed out tracts in the streets and asked people to attend the tent meeting.

I spoke a total of three times in three different venues, and Pat spoke once at an eye hospital.

The Community Center was the main reason I was there. For 3 years the Belarusian Ministry (www.ByelorussianMission.org) was trying to have a time at the Jewish Community Center. They were constantly turned away. Earlier this year they were told, “If you bring a Jewish speaker, we will allow you in.” I fit the bill!

It was a remarkable time. The music was phenomenal—the members of the community center had magnificent musicians and singers and so did our group. We took turns alternating groups as well as performing together. I spoke at the end of the music time.

It was a tremendous beginning for Believers and non Believers to work together. The leader of the community center invited us back and stated that we should go on tour together throughout Belarus.

On the day we left to fly home we worked with the Printer that is printing Good and Evil in color in the Russian Language. The printer was in a building that was designed by the communist party to print anti-Christian propaganda about 20 years ago.

UKRAINE

About 14 years ago Mike put on a Mission Conference. One of the attendees was Joshua Steele. He was 17 years old at the time. Just 3 years after the conference he went to the Ukraine as a full-time Missionary and has ministered there for 11 years. In the meantime he married Kelsie and they have had two children. They live like the Ukraine people in one of the all-concrete high rises.

Joshua, Nathan, Jesse and his team have put together a curriculum for new Believers. He asked NGJ for help in putting it together for the marketplace, so NGJ sent Pat and me to help them meet that goal. We taught them how to get a Barcode and ISBN number for identification, retail and wholesale pricing, distributor networks, how to submit to Amazon and other online booksellers, and more.

We then went over some record keeping principles and talked of ways to grow their Ministry. It was a fruitful time for them and a Blessing for us.