Vera Sopelnik September-October 2015

Hello dear brothers and sisters.

I want to share with you some news.

1.Bila Tserkva.

As you know, we moved to Bila Tserkva. It’s a town with long historical heritage. There is a river Ros’ that runs through the town. It’s a very nice and clean town. The most important thing is that Christians from the local congregation welcomed us.

2. Visit of American brethren.

There is another good news. Our American brethren come to teach at the Bible institute and to support us in our work. In September and October we had Denton Landon, Patrick Gallagher and Jim Sherman visiting us. We are grateful for your prayer support and care. It’s very valuable when Christians are willing to overcome the difficulties of travelling; who leave their families and visit their brothers and sisters in Christ, encouraging us by their example.

3. Bible classes for kids.

I have started ministry for kids in Bila Tserkva and restored the work of the Bible school for kids “Sunflower”. Each time I try to tell children about Christ. The class usually consists of a Bible lesson and crafts. I get help from several Christian ladies. Lindsey, Jim Sherman’s granddaughter, visited us, and she taught several wonderful Bible classes. That was a wonderful time together.

4. Bible classes for ladies.

The congregation in Bila Tserkva has lots of women who love to do crafts. I decided to start with them another ministry – it’s Bible class and crafts. We meet on Fridays, chat, have some tea, do crafts and talk about God. There are ladies who are church members and some other ladies. We make presents for the congregation and for one another. That makes us feel closer. Ladies help me with teaching the classes. I hope our work will be useful.

Thank you for your continuous prayers. My family and I feel your support. I pray God to bless your families.

With love in Christ,

Sister Vera.

ABC Bible School - Kramatorsk (and Konstantinovka), Ukraine

Greeting to you our brothers and sisters in Christ!!!

The ABC Bible school year has started successfully. We are having about 120 children according to the last counting. It was so relieving when we saw them coming: the new ones and the old ones. They have been enrolling since August and continue to come up to this moment. A great joy we have in our hearts when we see new students come by the recommendation of their friends who showed loyal attendance in previous years. We also would like to admit that for the last sever-al years we have not had the opportunity to teach senior students because it was their last years of the high school so they were busy preparing for the future tests. This year we have those students back and it is so good to have this age (15 -16 years old) with us again. Our state educational program included English test on their finals so this is the reason the seniors started to look for the opportunity to study English, we do appreciate that some of them showed the interest in our ABC school.

So the age groups what we have now are:

5-6 years old – preschool education, Bible stories and crafts

7-9 years old – Bible and English

10-12 years old – Bible and English

13-14 years old – Bible and English

15-16 years old – Bible and English

16+ years old – Bible and English

We have five teachers, plus preachers are helping us with the Bible classes.

Our schedule for different age groups is:

Monday – 15:00; 16:00; 17:00

Tuesday – 15:00; 16:00; 17:00

Wednesday – 16:00; 17:00

Thursday – 15:00; 16:00; 17:00

Friday – 15:00; 16:00; 17:00

Every year we try to have something for the parents of our students. This year is not an exclusion. October 16, 19-22 we had parenting session on “Train up a child in the way he should go…” Jeff Abrams was the main speaker.

A good news that this year we have new teacher from Konstantinovka on a regular basis (last year she had been helping some), her name is Kate Gladkih and she is the one who used to come to study at ABC herself. She is 20 years old and she is so good with children.

Some of you used to help the girls from Konstantinovka for the summer VBS to go to Svyatogorsk. So two of them are teaching in Christian school (one of them— Julia, teaches in Dnepropetrovsk) and Kate teaches in Kramatorsk and Konstantinovka. It was very good investment and such a great help! Thank you!

We want to thank you for your prayers and help, please greet the brethren there and let them know that Bible is taught in Ukraine and the children are so receptive. Let’s pray they will remember it when grow older, practice it and teach their children in turn.

Thank you very much. In Christ, the teachers’ staff of ABC school.

Jackson, Kentucky Meeting October 16-18