May 6, 2020

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Ukraine. We are alive and well and enjoying good health. The country has been shut down for months now, but the government has announced that it will begin to ease some of the restrictions next week, but continue the quarantine for at least two more weeks.

The US Embassy here has been very good about sending out notices of changes made by Ukrainian government concerning regulations that have been put into effect. They even held a virtual town hall meeting last week with the Charge d’affaires and Counsel General addressing the regulations and policies of both the US and Ukrainian governments.
The Corona virus has not been too serious here. As of 5/6/2020 there have been some 325 deaths attributed to COVID-19. The economic impact, however, is tremendous because so many small businesses have been shut down. Restaurants have been closed, but they will be allowed to serve take-outs starting next week. Quite a few of our people have not been able to work for more than 2 months now, and this has put a real strain on them.

We hope that by the end of the month we will be able to resume normal meetings for the church. During this quarantine period we have been holding church from our living room via the internet. We have also been having Bible classes every night of the week from our home. It seems that people are willing to get online every night for Bible study and some social interaction with others in the church. What is interesting to me is that we have more people watching online than we have ever had in church. We even have people from several other countries joining us regularly. We pray that this will be a time of spiritual growth as people realize that God is the sovereign in control of all things, and that we are totally dependent on Him.

I had to cancel my annual pastors’ conferences in Zambia and Brazil due to travel restrictions. A couple of other conferences planned for Ukraine were also shut down because of regulations concerning the number of people who could congregate.

Our Bible college has continued with all of the classes being taught online. This has required some modifications since many of our classes are taught by Americans. The time difference between here and America is 6-10 hours, depending on the time zones. So, our students have classes in the evening while it is morning in the US. But we are glad for the technology that makes the distance learning possible.

We pray that the Lord will sustain you and keep you during this time of trouble, but most of all that He will continue to work in you, that you might fulfill His purpose for you at this time, and that He will be glorified through you.

By grace alone,
Jim

Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Psalm 46:1-2, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear …”