WeLoveGod RallysPublic Newsletters: hope4kyiv (LUMglobal)Hope4KYIV #067 ---- May 31, 2008

You need to log in to create posts and topics.

Hope4KYIV #067 ---- May 31, 2008

#1 · June 1, 2008, 5:49 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on June 1, 2008, 5:49 pm
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
              Hope 4 Kyiv

                                            Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

                                                 Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

                                              Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine

                                                             Number 067

                                                            May 31, 2008

Dear Family, Friends, and In-Pact Supporters:

Greetings from lush and green southwestern Missouri! We're back in the States for a few weeks, and are already enjoying the comforts of our little bungalow in the forest. Forgive us again for being almost a week late from our preferred writing date, but this has been one hectic few weeks. Fortunately, whereas last month's letter was longer than usual, this one will hopefully be shorter than typical.

What's Been Happening:

+ Early May was spent trying phase out our personal involvement in KIBC ministries for the Summer, and also getting ready for our trip to the States. Vitaliy Babych will chair the Pastoral Leadership Team and several of our guys will handle the preaching responsibilities.

+ We then caught our flight from Kiev to Stockholm, Sweden via Warsaw, Poland on May 13th. After most of the next day sight seeing in Stockholm's "Old Town", we caught a late afternoon flight to Skelleftea, Sweden where our wonderful Cuban Tania met us at the airport with Elin, the wife of the youth pastor at Tania's church. Unfortunately, we'll not fill this letter with Stockholm pictures that don't do the city justice. Suffice it to say that "Old Town" is one of numerous areas in a beautiful city.

When we got off the plane in Skelleftea to drive to Tania's home in Ursvikin, our first reaction was awe over the sunny freshness and brilliance of the sky and the crispness of the air. Bob began to sneeze and wondered if he might have allergy problems . . . until he realized that what was making him sneeze was the fresh air! No pollution! It has been many months since we've seen such clean and brilliant skies and breathed such invigorating air. Of course, this should come as no surprise when you realize you're in one of the most pollution-free countries in the world, and you're only 80 miles from the Arctic Circle! The left picture was taken at just after Midnight, and it's still mid-May! Imagine what late June and July will be like!



+ What a time we had with Tania and her friends. Even though she had told us earlier about it, we were still blown away with the friendliness and warmth of the Swedish people. We surely must have shocked some people on the streets when we, out of bad habits formed the past few years, failed to patiently wait or step aside in deference to others. And, the people at church were amazing. Skelleftea, where Tania goes daily for language study, is a city of about 35,000, while Ursvikin has perhaps 3,000 or so. She rides a bus between the two every day. Since we wanted to see the sights, we did the same thing, meeting her in the city center around Noon, having lunch, and then doing some shopping or sight seeing. Then it was back to her apartment for supper and an evening to visit or watch a movie on her new DVD player.

+ Tania's apartment is absolutely beautiful. It's open and spacious feeling, on the second floor with its own balcony, and one of only eight apartments in the entire two-story building. Most of the people living there are older, so it's very quiet. The pictures below give you an idea. You can see Tania and Jo Ann on the balcony of her apartment. It's quite a difference from apartment life in Kiev.



+ While our trip was primarily to take Tania her Summer clothes and other things she had left with us when she emigrated, it turned out to be a ministry opportunity as well, and perhaps even with future ramifications. We enjoyed a wonderful Swedish meal with one of the families who has taken Tania under their wing, and we attended services on Sunday where Bob was asked to share KIBC's story. As he told the story and shared some thoughts based on Psalm 2:8, the people's eyes began to light up. As a result, this little village church is making a commitment to begin ministering to the internationals living in their town and surrounding areas including Skelleftea several miles away. The pictures below show the sanctuary and the leadership with whom we met over lunch Sunday afternoon before flying back to Stockholm to continue our journey to the States. The youth pastor is on the near left with the pastor next to him.



+ God opened our hearts to the people of Sweden while we were there. The unbelievers are generally very secular and satisfied with a lifestyle in which nobody bothers them and the government takes care of their every need. After all, when the government provides everything because you pay pretty high taxes, who really needs God? The believers we met, on the other hand, have a deep love for the Lord, and many of them have a real vision for seeing great revival come to the once-vibrant Swedish church. Several in Tania's church suggested that in the future we might spend some time in the country urging the Body of Christ to carry out the Great Commission and "reach the nations" there. Obviously that sounded very appealing to us.

+ Our trip continued on May 19th as we flew from Stockholm to Springfield, MO. As always, Dallas had our car waiting for us at the airport, so we hopped in and headed north to Collins after we stopped at Wal Mart in Bolivar to pick up some groceries. As we drove up the long driveway in the dark, we noticed a number of trees were gone and an entire section of wooded area completely stripped bare. Apparently during the big tornado invasion in early May when so many people were killed just south of us in Arkansas and Oklahoma, strong winds or possibly a tornado went over our house and took down many limbs and trees.

Lots of damage had been done previously last January during a giant ice storm. While the pictures below are not of our actual property, local neighbors tell us this is exactly what our place looked like last January. The heavy storms three weeks ago caused many of those trees and limbs to collapse, so you can imagine what Dallas faced a few weeks ago when he tried to drive back to our house.  Even though he worked for hours cleaning up the yard area immediately around the house, there are still many, many trees in the forest around our house that are toppled or stripped of limbs. Bob can see at least 30 or 40 trees that need to be cut down in order to make the place look nice again. There will be lots of firewood for heat this winter.



The next morning, waking earlier than desired, Bob immediately spotted a wild turkey feeding in our yard. Before the day was over, Jo Ann saw two or three wild deer in the edge of the trees perhaps 100 feet from the house. Since then we've seen more turkey, deer, rabbits, and squirrels . . . and of course an abundance of birds including the Cardinals decked out in brilliant red, the Indigo Bunting, and the Blue Birds. It didn't take us long to adjust to the time schedule; apparently the six-day stop over in Sweden helped us significantly.

+ The first Sunday back we attended Wellspring Church, one of our supporting churches about 25 miles away in Bolivar. Arriving unannounced, Bob was still asked to give a brief report of the work in Kiev. People were amazed at what God has been doing, particularly in the Persian and Spanish works. This church probably has a clearer picture of missions (over 60% of their income goes to missions and evangelism) than any church around us. We really enjoy their ministry, so much like KIBC's. While the setting is different, the patterns are almost identical. They have a plurality of leadership, they have many university students, they use a broad range of music in worship, they use several men preaching in their services, they train leaders, and they are firmly committed to missions. We're praying about possibly identifying with them in the future, and talked briefly with a couple of the leaders about that.

+ We're "up to our eyeballs in alligators" as we deal with things like house and car insurance, getting supplemental hospitalization insurance, making doctors' appointments, finishing up writing assignments, and facing other very important matters that require our attention before we return to Kiev. We already suspect the possibility of having to delay our return to Kiev by a few weeks. However, we won't know that for certain until we can get our doctors' appointments, which cannot be done until after July 1st. We've also found that our two vehicles are no longer roadworthy for long trips, and have already had to do minor repair work on both of them. Of course, it's logical to assume that vehicles fourteen and seventeen years old will begin to do that. It would be nice to have something more reliable, but as long as we live in Ukraine, it doesn't make sense to buy anything newer.

+ Daughter Deanna and her family came down Memorial Day week-end, and we had a great time visiting. Bob was able to get Jim to take a few of his books off his hands. Only 5,000 more to go! We also had a chance to visit briefly later that day with KIBC's former worship leader, Brent, as he came through our area on his way back to Kansas City where he's been attending school. It was great to visit with him. We tried to tempt him to return to Kiev.

+ This is our first occasion as a church where we are experiencing a time of major transition and membership shift. The Lord impressed us last December that 2008 was a time of major changes. We have already seen some of that as we have discontinued certain ministries, changed others, and have seen new ones surface. These changes involve not only activities and strategy, but also people. Having already lost close to 20% of our 2007 attendance average as students have returned to their home countries and others have moved to other ministries, we find this is likely to continue through the Summer. This year will prove to be an exciting year in which our vision is refined, our strategy is fine-tuned, and the body of Christ matures as it continues saying good-bye to some and welcome to others.

Coming Up:

+ Our time in the States is also filled with a much too busy schedule. This coming Monday, June 2nd, we go to Iowa and then to Minnesota to see Cheri and Bob and see a couple of our grandchildren graduate from high school. We'll also get to see our first great granddaughter, Anya Marie, for the very first time. Then on Friday we'll drive down to Deanna's and Jim's for the week-end and speak in their church about the work in Kiev. They are one of our two remaining supporting churches. We'll return to Collins that Sunday afternoon. We're renting a car for all of that traveling. We'll probably cover around 1200 to 1400 miles.

+ The following Friday, June 13th, we hit the airways again, traveling to Medellin, Colombia via Houston and Panama City, Panama, to teach "The Wonders Of Israel" study to students in the Bible school where son-in-law Kevin is administrator. We had not planned on this trip, but Kevin has been after us since we first developed the material last year to come and teach. Bob will also be preaching in some churches in and around Medellin on June 15th and 22nd. Since they will not be back in the States on furlough until 2009, this will be a good time to go, and it will give us a chance to have a few days with them as well. We return to Collins on June 25th.

+ We're also looking at annual physicals, medical tests, and other health matters that we've put off far too long. We'll be starting that when Bob's Medicare supplemental insurance kicks in on July 1st. As you recall, he was scheduled for tests last Summer, but at the last minute discovered his insurance wouldn't cover it. So, it's important to get that done this year.

+ We also hope to see some friends and visit in some churches while home. However, we have only three Sundays remaining the end of June and first of July in which to do that. It seems that no matter how long we're here, we never have enough time to get important things done. We're currently scheduled to fly back to Kiev on July 15th, but that could change if further medical tests or treatment are needed.

Prayer Requests:

This portion of our letter is of extreme importance this month as we face special issues normally not part of the picture. So, we do ask you to pray about these things. Don't pray "carte blanc" in generalities, but ask God for specific answers and actions.

+ Pray for Jo Ann as she battles severe allergy problems, an issue that is present whenever we are in our house here for long periods of time. Hickory trees, forest mold and decay, "empty house" smells, and the like always give her a very hard time. When she takes enough medication to get relief, then she feels like a sleep-walking zombie out of touch with the world around her. She really needs God's intervention.

+ Bob has been experiencing pretty intense back pain from chronic instability in his lower back. Heavy lifting or a new bed always aggravate it. Because spinal columns always try to adapt to one misalignment, it eventually affects other spots. Currently that lower back problem has caused a disc between his shoulder blades to slip out, creating pain and limited mobility throughout his upper torso and chest. That, in turn, has caused an area at the base of his neck (injured in the late 1980's while working on the ministry center there) to begin pinching nerves that go down his outer arms and create pain in the outer elbows and finger tips. He's had enough experience with chiropractic care that he pretty well knows what the problems are, but we've not had the time to get anything done yet.

+ Bob is trying to finish up the syllabus for the "Wonders Of Israel" class he'll begin teaching June 16th. He still has one section to complete so it can be translated into Spanish. This also puts him one step closer to possibly having the material published in book form, something many people have been urging him to do. He also is working on documents and statements pertaining to KIBC and its future, so that when we return to Kiev, the Pastoral Leadership Team can begin putting in place concepts and plans that will assure a smooth transition and a focused future when the time comes for our release from the ministry there.

+ Pray for KIBC during these Summer months. Of our six PLT members, one leaves permanently the end of June and three of us are gone through several weeks of the Summer. Pray especially for Vitaliy, Mohammad, and our new PLT "intern", Maxim as they carry the bulk of the load. Pray for Alan as he travels most of July doing language study. Pray for Stan as he spends most of the Summer on furlough with his family in the States. Pray for Jim as he and his family relocate to Washington, D.C. Other key leaders and members are also traveling.

+ Perhaps one of the most important prayer requests for us personally regards financial needs. As you know, most medical insurance and even Medicare and its supplemental programs do not cover citizens when they're outside the U.S. So, since 2005 we've had to buy medical insurance on our own. Thus far, it hasn't been too difficult; we'd just buy insurance for the times we were out of the country. However, now that both of us must have two levels each of Medicare supplemental insurance to cover us when we're in the States, AND we also have to purchase insurance when we're outside the States, our monthly insurance payments are going through the roof.

Jo Ann's supplemental insurance has already been in effect since February, and on July 1st, Bob's begins. That means that, from now on, no matter where we live, we have an additional expense of several hundred dollars a month we must pay . . . even when it gives us no coverage. Added to that, in mid July we will also begin paying for overseas insurance, again several hundred dollars more. So, we're looking at a monthly expenditure increase of a minimum of $400 or $500 over what we've already been paying, and perhaps more. Pray that God will touch hearts to help provide for this shortfall. If this doesn't happen, then it will be only a matter of months before we'll have to return to the States permanently. We've already been supplementing our support base since 2005 by using Bob's retirement income and his father's estate funds, and there's simply not a lot left. So, as you can see, this is a big prayer request, and we thank you for praying.

+ Pray for KIBC and its leaders as the process continues in which we progressively phase out of primary leadership roles. This is all part of the plan from the beginning, but we are surely drawing closer to the time when our work there will end. Pray that our replacement will be found soon, and that the transition will be both smooth and exciting as KIBC moves to the next level. Also pray for the two of us as we begin envisioning the future and how God may want to use us in the next chapter of our lives. We may be "retired", but we have no intention of retiring from kingdom work. There are numerous opportunities both overseas and also here in the States. We want to be missionaries and equippers until the day the Lord takes us home.

+ Continue praying for our young leaders. Pray for "M" and "F" as they lead the Farsi work. Pray for "F" as he anticipates a visit to his home country, that he will be safe. Pray for "M" and Ira as they continue refurbishing the apartments damaged by water, and for them both as they go through the process of adjusting to a recent miscarriage. Pray for "U" as he continues to give a bold witness to his Persian friends. Pray for Raidel and Margarita as he considers a job change that would take him to Brazil. It is a matter of major importance, as his job affects the future of the Spanish church. He has some very big decisions to make.

Finally:

We again thank you for prayer support and, to you who support us financially, thank you for your faithfulness. We ask God's blessings upon all of you.

In His Bond, By His Grace, and For His Kingdom,

Bob and Jo Ann

The Tollivers

Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine

Bob's e-mail: lifeunlimited@pobox.com

Jo ann's e-mail: grandma12@pobox.com
http://community.webshots.com/user/KievIBC?vhost=community
www.praykiev.org
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Hope 4 Kyiv

Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine

Number 067

May 31, 2008

Dear Family, Friends, and In-Pact Supporters:

Greetings from lush and green southwestern Missouri! We're back in the States for a few weeks, and are already enjoying the comforts of our little bungalow in the forest. Forgive us again for being almost a week late from our preferred writing date, but this has been one hectic few weeks. Fortunately, whereas last month's letter was longer than usual, this one will hopefully be shorter than typical.

What's Been Happening:

+ Early May was spent trying phase out our personal involvement in KIBC ministries for the Summer, and also getting ready for our trip to the States. Vitaliy Babych will chair the Pastoral Leadership Team and several of our guys will handle the preaching responsibilities.

+ We then caught our flight from Kiev to Stockholm, Sweden via Warsaw, Poland on May 13th. After most of the next day sight seeing in Stockholm's "Old Town", we caught a late afternoon flight to Skelleftea, Sweden where our wonderful Cuban Tania met us at the airport with Elin, the wife of the youth pastor at Tania's church. Unfortunately, we'll not fill this letter with Stockholm pictures that don't do the city justice. Suffice it to say that "Old Town" is one of numerous areas in a beautiful city.

When we got off the plane in Skelleftea to drive to Tania's home in Ursvikin, our first reaction was awe over the sunny freshness and brilliance of the sky and the crispness of the air. Bob began to sneeze and wondered if he might have allergy problems . . . until he realized that what was making him sneeze was the fresh air! No pollution! It has been many months since we've seen such clean and brilliant skies and breathed such invigorating air. Of course, this should come as no surprise when you realize you're in one of the most pollution-free countries in the world, and you're only 80 miles from the Arctic Circle! The left picture was taken at just after Midnight, and it's still mid-May! Imagine what late June and July will be like!

+ What a time we had with Tania and her friends. Even though she had told us earlier about it, we were still blown away with the friendliness and warmth of the Swedish people. We surely must have shocked some people on the streets when we, out of bad habits formed the past few years, failed to patiently wait or step aside in deference to others. And, the people at church were amazing. Skelleftea, where Tania goes daily for language study, is a city of about 35,000, while Ursvikin has perhaps 3,000 or so. She rides a bus between the two every day. Since we wanted to see the sights, we did the same thing, meeting her in the city center around Noon, having lunch, and then doing some shopping or sight seeing. Then it was back to her apartment for supper and an evening to visit or watch a movie on her new DVD player.

+ Tania's apartment is absolutely beautiful. It's open and spacious feeling, on the second floor with its own balcony, and one of only eight apartments in the entire two-story building. Most of the people living there are older, so it's very quiet. The pictures below give you an idea. You can see Tania and Jo Ann on the balcony of her apartment. It's quite a difference from apartment life in Kiev.

+ While our trip was primarily to take Tania her Summer clothes and other things she had left with us when she emigrated, it turned out to be a ministry opportunity as well, and perhaps even with future ramifications. We enjoyed a wonderful Swedish meal with one of the families who has taken Tania under their wing, and we attended services on Sunday where Bob was asked to share KIBC's story. As he told the story and shared some thoughts based on Psalm 2:8, the people's eyes began to light up. As a result, this little village church is making a commitment to begin ministering to the internationals living in their town and surrounding areas including Skelleftea several miles away. The pictures below show the sanctuary and the leadership with whom we met over lunch Sunday afternoon before flying back to Stockholm to continue our journey to the States. The youth pastor is on the near left with the pastor next to him.

+ God opened our hearts to the people of Sweden while we were there. The unbelievers are generally very secular and satisfied with a lifestyle in which nobody bothers them and the government takes care of their every need. After all, when the government provides everything because you pay pretty high taxes, who really needs God? The believers we met, on the other hand, have a deep love for the Lord, and many of them have a real vision for seeing great revival come to the once-vibrant Swedish church. Several in Tania's church suggested that in the future we might spend some time in the country urging the Body of Christ to carry out the Great Commission and "reach the nations" there. Obviously that sounded very appealing to us.

+ Our trip continued on May 19th as we flew from Stockholm to Springfield, MO. As always, Dallas had our car waiting for us at the airport, so we hopped in and headed north to Collins after we stopped at Wal Mart in Bolivar to pick up some groceries. As we drove up the long driveway in the dark, we noticed a number of trees were gone and an entire section of wooded area completely stripped bare. Apparently during the big tornado invasion in early May when so many people were killed just south of us in Arkansas and Oklahoma, strong winds or possibly a tornado went over our house and took down many limbs and trees.

Lots of damage had been done previously last January during a giant ice storm. While the pictures below are not of our actual property, local neighbors tell us this is exactly what our place looked like last January. The heavy storms three weeks ago caused many of those trees and limbs to collapse, so you can imagine what Dallas faced a few weeks ago when he tried to drive back to our house. Even though he worked for hours cleaning up the yard area immediately around the house, there are still many, many trees in the forest around our house that are toppled or stripped of limbs. Bob can see at least 30 or 40 trees that need to be cut down in order to make the place look nice again. There will be lots of firewood for heat this winter.

The next morning, waking earlier than desired, Bob immediately spotted a wild turkey feeding in our yard. Before the day was over, Jo Ann saw two or three wild deer in the edge of the trees perhaps 100 feet from the house. Since then we've seen more turkey, deer, rabbits, and squirrels . . . and of course an abundance of birds including the Cardinals decked out in brilliant red, the Indigo Bunting, and the Blue Birds. It didn't take us long to adjust to the time schedule; apparently the six-day stop over in Sweden helped us significantly.

+ The first Sunday back we attended Wellspring Church, one of our supporting churches about 25 miles away in Bolivar. Arriving unannounced, Bob was still asked to give a brief report of the work in Kiev. People were amazed at what God has been doing, particularly in the Persian and Spanish works. This church probably has a clearer picture of missions (over 60% of their income goes to missions and evangelism) than any church around us. We really enjoy their ministry, so much like KIBC's. While the setting is different, the patterns are almost identical. They have a plurality of leadership, they have many university students, they use a broad range of music in worship, they use several men preaching in their services, they train leaders, and they are firmly committed to missions. We're praying about possibly identifying with them in the future, and talked briefly with a couple of the leaders about that.

+ We're "up to our eyeballs in alligators" as we deal with things like house and car insurance, getting supplemental hospitalization insurance, making doctors' appointments, finishing up writing assignments, and facing other very important matters that require our attention before we return to Kiev. We already suspect the possibility of having to delay our return to Kiev by a few weeks. However, we won't know that for certain until we can get our doctors' appointments, which cannot be done until after July 1st. We've also found that our two vehicles are no longer roadworthy for long trips, and have already had to do minor repair work on both of them. Of course, it's logical to assume that vehicles fourteen and seventeen years old will begin to do that. It would be nice to have something more reliable, but as long as we live in Ukraine, it doesn't make sense to buy anything newer.

+ Daughter Deanna and her family came down Memorial Day week-end, and we had a great time visiting. Bob was able to get Jim to take a few of his books off his hands. Only 5,000 more to go! We also had a chance to visit briefly later that day with KIBC's former worship leader, Brent, as he came through our area on his way back to Kansas City where he's been attending school. It was great to visit with him. We tried to tempt him to return to Kiev.

+ This is our first occasion as a church where we are experiencing a time of major transition and membership shift. The Lord impressed us last December that 2008 was a time of major changes. We have already seen some of that as we have discontinued certain ministries, changed others, and have seen new ones surface. These changes involve not only activities and strategy, but also people. Having already lost close to 20% of our 2007 attendance average as students have returned to their home countries and others have moved to other ministries, we find this is likely to continue through the Summer. This year will prove to be an exciting year in which our vision is refined, our strategy is fine-tuned, and the body of Christ matures as it continues saying good-bye to some and welcome to others.

Coming Up:

+ Our time in the States is also filled with a much too busy schedule. This coming Monday, June 2nd, we go to Iowa and then to Minnesota to see Cheri and Bob and see a couple of our grandchildren graduate from high school. We'll also get to see our first great granddaughter, Anya Marie, for the very first time. Then on Friday we'll drive down to Deanna's and Jim's for the week-end and speak in their church about the work in Kiev. They are one of our two remaining supporting churches. We'll return to Collins that Sunday afternoon. We're renting a car for all of that traveling. We'll probably cover around 1200 to 1400 miles.

+ The following Friday, June 13th, we hit the airways again, traveling to Medellin, Colombia via Houston and Panama City, Panama, to teach "The Wonders Of Israel" study to students in the Bible school where son-in-law Kevin is administrator. We had not planned on this trip, but Kevin has been after us since we first developed the material last year to come and teach. Bob will also be preaching in some churches in and around Medellin on June 15th and 22nd. Since they will not be back in the States on furlough until 2009, this will be a good time to go, and it will give us a chance to have a few days with them as well. We return to Collins on June 25th.

+ We're also looking at annual physicals, medical tests, and other health matters that we've put off far too long. We'll be starting that when Bob's Medicare supplemental insurance kicks in on July 1st. As you recall, he was scheduled for tests last Summer, but at the last minute discovered his insurance wouldn't cover it. So, it's important to get that done this year.

+ We also hope to see some friends and visit in some churches while home. However, we have only three Sundays remaining the end of June and first of July in which to do that. It seems that no matter how long we're here, we never have enough time to get important things done. We're currently scheduled to fly back to Kiev on July 15th, but that could change if further medical tests or treatment are needed.

Prayer Requests:

This portion of our letter is of extreme importance this month as we face special issues normally not part of the picture. So, we do ask you to pray about these things. Don't pray "carte blanc" in generalities, but ask God for specific answers and actions.

+ Pray for Jo Ann as she battles severe allergy problems, an issue that is present whenever we are in our house here for long periods of time. Hickory trees, forest mold and decay, "empty house" smells, and the like always give her a very hard time. When she takes enough medication to get relief, then she feels like a sleep-walking zombie out of touch with the world around her. She really needs God's intervention.

+ Bob has been experiencing pretty intense back pain from chronic instability in his lower back. Heavy lifting or a new bed always aggravate it. Because spinal columns always try to adapt to one misalignment, it eventually affects other spots. Currently that lower back problem has caused a disc between his shoulder blades to slip out, creating pain and limited mobility throughout his upper torso and chest. That, in turn, has caused an area at the base of his neck (injured in the late 1980's while working on the ministry center there) to begin pinching nerves that go down his outer arms and create pain in the outer elbows and finger tips. He's had enough experience with chiropractic care that he pretty well knows what the problems are, but we've not had the time to get anything done yet.

+ Bob is trying to finish up the syllabus for the "Wonders Of Israel" class he'll begin teaching June 16th. He still has one section to complete so it can be translated into Spanish. This also puts him one step closer to possibly having the material published in book form, something many people have been urging him to do. He also is working on documents and statements pertaining to KIBC and its future, so that when we return to Kiev, the Pastoral Leadership Team can begin putting in place concepts and plans that will assure a smooth transition and a focused future when the time comes for our release from the ministry there.

+ Pray for KIBC during these Summer months. Of our six PLT members, one leaves permanently the end of June and three of us are gone through several weeks of the Summer. Pray especially for Vitaliy, Mohammad, and our new PLT "intern", Maxim as they carry the bulk of the load. Pray for Alan as he travels most of July doing language study. Pray for Stan as he spends most of the Summer on furlough with his family in the States. Pray for Jim as he and his family relocate to Washington, D.C. Other key leaders and members are also traveling.

+ Perhaps one of the most important prayer requests for us personally regards financial needs. As you know, most medical insurance and even Medicare and its supplemental programs do not cover citizens when they're outside the U.S. So, since 2005 we've had to buy medical insurance on our own. Thus far, it hasn't been too difficult; we'd just buy insurance for the times we were out of the country. However, now that both of us must have two levels each of Medicare supplemental insurance to cover us when we're in the States, AND we also have to purchase insurance when we're outside the States, our monthly insurance payments are going through the roof.

Jo Ann's supplemental insurance has already been in effect since February, and on July 1st, Bob's begins. That means that, from now on, no matter where we live, we have an additional expense of several hundred dollars a month we must pay . . . even when it gives us no coverage. Added to that, in mid July we will also begin paying for overseas insurance, again several hundred dollars more. So, we're looking at a monthly expenditure increase of a minimum of $400 or $500 over what we've already been paying, and perhaps more. Pray that God will touch hearts to help provide for this shortfall. If this doesn't happen, then it will be only a matter of months before we'll have to return to the States permanently. We've already been supplementing our support base since 2005 by using Bob's retirement income and his father's estate funds, and there's simply not a lot left. So, as you can see, this is a big prayer request, and we thank you for praying.

+ Pray for KIBC and its leaders as the process continues in which we progressively phase out of primary leadership roles. This is all part of the plan from the beginning, but we are surely drawing closer to the time when our work there will end. Pray that our replacement will be found soon, and that the transition will be both smooth and exciting as KIBC moves to the next level. Also pray for the two of us as we begin envisioning the future and how God may want to use us in the next chapter of our lives. We may be "retired", but we have no intention of retiring from kingdom work. There are numerous opportunities both overseas and also here in the States. We want to be missionaries and equippers until the day the Lord takes us home.

+ Continue praying for our young leaders. Pray for "M" and "F" as they lead the Farsi work. Pray for "F" as he anticipates a visit to his home country, that he will be safe. Pray for "M" and Ira as they continue refurbishing the apartments damaged by water, and for them both as they go through the process of adjusting to a recent miscarriage. Pray for "U" as he continues to give a bold witness to his Persian friends. Pray for Raidel and Margarita as he considers a job change that would take him to Brazil. It is a matter of major importance, as his job affects the future of the Spanish church. He has some very big decisions to make.

Finally:

We again thank you for prayer support and, to you who support us financially, thank you for your faithfulness. We ask God's blessings upon all of you.

In His Bond, By His Grace, and For His Kingdom,

Bob and Jo Ann

The Tollivers

Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine

Bob's e-mail: lifeunlimited@pobox.com

Jo ann's e-mail: grandma12@pobox.com
http://community.webshots.com/user/KievIBC?vhost=community
http://www.praykiev.org

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org