HOPE4KYIV "IN-PACT" E-LETTER #002 ---- 12/25/02
Posted by: btolliver <btolliver@...>
The In-Pact Prayer Newsletter of
Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine
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Dear Friends and Family:
Today our minds and hearts are an upheaval of thoughts and emotions, as we know you must understand. For the first time in six years our entire family has been together for Christmas, albeit a day or two early. That included twenty-one people, grand children outnumbering the rest. Our oldest daughter and her family, missionaries to Colombia, SA, were here because of a conference later this week. Our second daughter and her three girls came from Texas. Our third daughter and her husband, from St. Paul, MN, brought their five kids adopted from Russia, and our youngest daughter and her pastor-husband came with their two from LaGrange, MO. Then, of course, Bob's father was with us. What a privilege to have four generations together for the final time before we leave for Kiev, Ukraine one week from today.
God seemed to add His special affirmation by blessing us with nearly ten inches of fresh snow. It began Monday afternoon and snowed constantly until Tuesday afternoon. What a time everyone had either engaging in snowball wars, snowman building, or watching and picture taking. We discovered some sinister sides to some of the "uncles".
It was not a pleasant experience Tuesday night when we had to begin our farewells by seeing our youngest, Deanna, drive off into the snowy darkness with our two youngest grand children. Then Wednesday the other three families headed different directions. Next week we'll say good-bye to Bob's father, as we finally make our move to Kiev, Ukraine.
We had the special privilege of having ten of our eleven grand children sleep at our house while we sent the parents to a motel. Tuesday night we had a very special time with the remaining nine as we shared our "favorite thing" about this Christmas together, and then prayed together "Ukrainian style" (all in unison at the same time). It's hard to admit this will not happen again for a very long time.
Important information:
1. Please remember to use the following e-mail addresses when you write to us ---- Bob: lifeunlimited@pobox.com; Jo Ann: grandma11@pobox.com. Do not use our @myexcel.com addresses any longer. Those accounts have been terminated.
2. While we will be living in a very safe environment where Americans are generally appreciated, it is important for us to be wise in our use of e-mail. It is commonly understood that e-mail letters are often screened and monitored by officials. So it will be important that you not make derogatory remarks about the Ukrainian people, religion, or political structure. It is good to remember the role we have been given, along with hundreds of other GCC'ers (Great Commission Christians), and not make remarks that could jeopardize the work we have been called to do. As you write to us, please use wisdom in honoring those guidelines.
3. If you want to mail something to us, you should remember it will take three to six weeks for delivery. The address you should use is on our prayer card. For those who don't have that, it is 3-A, L. Tolstogo St., Kiev-4, 01004, Ukraine.
Upcoming Schedule:
The next month will be incredibly busy, and, in order for you to pray knowledgeably for us, we want to give you some specific dates and activities we face. You might want to print this off and post it where you do your praying. Because this is a monthly letter, it is necessary to include the entire month as we know it today. As you pray for us, remember that in Kiev we are eight hours ahead of Central Standard Time.
Our primary focus during January will be split between working with St. James Bible College and the International Baptist Church. At times the team will be all together and at other times we will split up, depending on the need. Our major objectives are to work with the school during and after classes (probably less of this than originally anticipated), minister in a government operated homeless shelter, do some strategic prayer walking, build up and encourage the students at St. James, do evangelistic ministry with IBC, work with several local pastors of new church starts, and bring encouragement to the believers. This period of time will require spontaneous flexibility built on total mental, physical, and spiritual preparation.
Dec 28: Meet with attorney for finishing up legal documents.
Dec 29: Speak at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Bolivar, MO in the morning and at FBC in Eldorado Springs, MO (our home church) in the evening.
Dec 31: Load the van and drive to Kansas City to spend the night before flying to Kiev.
Jan 01: Meet our team of students from SBU at 8:00 a.m., check in at the airport, and fly to Chicago, then to Washington D.C. and on to Vienna, Austria.
Jan 02: Arrive in Kiev via Vienna Austria, arriving early afternoon. Travel to our lodging arrangements, get settled in, and crash for a good night's sleep.
Jan 03: "Orientation Sight seeing" at Chernobyl Museum, World War II Museum, and other places in Kiev. Prepare for special services and activities in village next week.
Jan 04: Same as day before.
Jan 05: Travel to Brussilov, participate in church services.
Jan 06: Village ministry in and around Brussilov.
Jan 07: Village ministry in and around Brussilov. Annual Christmas program at the church.
Jan 08: Village ministry in and around Brussilov. Community-wide program.
Jan 09: Travel back to Kiev. Because Pastor Vlad has tuberculosis, the four day ministry in his village has been cancelled. However, we will find important things to do in areas of prayer walking, working with children, etc.
Jan 10: Unknown
Jan 11: Possible services in village two hours from Kiev.
Jan 12: Depending on circumstances, we may attend services at IBC in Kiev. SS is at 1:00 pm, worship at 2:00 pm.
Jan 13: Begin classes at St. James Bible College. Entire team will attend this day. Morning at St James to get acquainted. Lunch. Afternoon, meet with a local pastor to get familiar with some Church planting goals for Kiev.
Jan 14: Bob teaches class at St. James. Team Prayerwalk and Evangelism in some strategic areas in the city. Three evangelistic ESL classes at 5:30 pm with International Church in Kiev.
Jan 15: Bob teaches class at St. James. Team will meet with local Pastor for Prayer walking Street evangelism in strategic areas.
Jan 16: Bob teaches class at St. James. Team will work at a boarding school with 300 children that have cerebral palsy, providing program and will pass out fruit to the kids. Choir practice at IBC at 7:00.
Jan 17: Bob teaches class at St. James. Team will work with one of the new Pastors from a recent Church plant, doing evangelism in and around the community where the Church is located.
Jan 18: Ministry area uncertain. Final sightseeing, buying, and possible fellowship time for IBC to meet the new pastor and his wife (that's us!) and Team.
Jan 19: Lead SS classes ---- children, youth, and adult Bible studies, and worship services at International Baptist Church. Depending on time schedule, possibly go to other churches in Kiev.
Jan 20: Work with another New Pastor of another recent Church Plant. Spend evening at the Taylor's, Rochelle McDanel to share her Journeyman testimony.
Jan 21: Pass out flyers for that evenings three ESL classes with IBC at 5:30 pm.
Jan 22: Half the team to a village to work in an orphanage and the other half to the Homeless shelter.
Jan 23: Final day and finals day at St. James. Take team back to Vienna for their return to States.
Jan 24: Sight seeing in Vienna with team
Jan 25: Team flies home to States, we fly "home!" to Kiev.
Jan 26: Services at IBC
Jan 29: Our wedding anniversary. We've now celebrated the occasion in Seattle, Kiev, Budapest, and Vienna, as well as home.
Somewhere in the process we will begin language training and start putting together a strategy for the International Baptist Church.
Tidbits About Our Ministry Field:
1. The International Mission Board's field of service is world-wide, divided into fifteen major regions. Ours is Central and Eastern Europe (or CEE).
2. CEE, the newest region of IMB work, was begun in 1992 with one couple. It now has over 400 IMB missionaries. It includes 28 countries and twelve time zones! Draw a line along the west border of Finland, go south to include Poland (but Not Germany and Austria), Slovenia, down the Adriatic Coast to include the Balkan countries, Albania and Greece, then go up toward Russia including three of the "Stans" countries who speak Russian, then encircle all of Russia back to Finland. That's us!
3. BUSS is one of several smaller divisions of CEE. It includes Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the three "Stans". It takes longer to go from Kiev to the farthest ministry point in this area than it does to go from Kiev to Richmond, VA.
4. Ukraine is our country as part of BUSS. Bordered by seven countries, it sits on the north shores of the Black Sea just southwest of Russia. It is almost like two countries and two cultures. Western Ukraine (west of the Dnipro River) is more akin to Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania, and has a strong Roman Catholic influence. Russian is spoken by most people. Eastern Ukraine is under more control of the Russian Orthodox Church and, except in the cities, most people speak Ukrainian.
There are at least eight major cities with populations of over one million. In the larger cities, there are many modern conveniences such as new cars, good jobs, western goods, etc. Russian is the usual language. In the villages, you often go back to the Nineteenth Century. It is common to see horse drawn wagons and sleighs alongside vintage motor cycles and old cars. The majority of village residents will not have indoor toilets or running water. Heat will usually come from a small coal or woodburning stove near the enclosed entry porch. Rooms will be small and life very simple and basic.
5. Kiev is our city. With a population of over 2.8 million, it now boasts of three large "Price Chopper" type super markets. It has recently built several shopping mall areas, usually underground. Most people speak Russian, but Ukrainian is the official national language, so the signs are usually in Ukrainian. About 90% of the residents live in apartment buildings. The Orthodox Church is the predominant influence, along with strong influence by former Communist philosophy and also organized crime. Immorality, alcoholism, and passive hopelessness are rampant.
In 1995 there were about ten known evangelical churches. In 2000 there were over 100. It is a ripe harvest field for evangelism and church planting. All evangelical Christianity makes up less than two per cent of the religious population.
6. The International Baptist Church is our congregation. Made up of English speaking people from numerous countries including Ukraine, it provides an English worship service for those who prefer it. People from various Christian ministries, missionaries in language school, people living there because of jobs, and believers from various government embassies attend, along with some locals who come primarily to learn English.
It offers numerous discipling, mentoring ministries, along with music, English classes, and various benevolent and evangelist ministries not only in Kiev but also in outlying villages. It has recently started two new house churches, one of Persian believers and another of Ukrainian believers.
Bob's primary role will be to pastor the church, lead it to transition into the base of a rapidly growing church planting movement using the house church and cell church models, mentor and train future church leaders, and help it prepare to be led by a local Ukrainian or Russian pastor. He will also be involved in the development of regional training centers and, as time allows, teach a class or two at St. James Bible College and other places from time to time.
Jo Ann's primary role will be to disciple and minister to women, maintain a strong home base, teach English as a second language and English as a foreign language, and develop outreach ministries to places like homeless shelters for children, etc.
Together we will also serve as "pastor" to other missionaries and foreign Christian workers as needed, as "grandparents" to a whole bunch of MK's (missionary kids), and encouragers to missionaries in various parts of the CEE region as needed.
That's Why We Need Your Prayer!
1. Pray for safe travel and no problems as we wind down here and begin our journey next Tuesday to Kiev. There will be 17 in our group, 14 of them students from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
2. Pray that final details of our team ministry will fall into place. Numerous obstacles and changes have plagued us since November. These have been costly not only in planning and in ministry opportunity, but financially as well.
3. Pray that our family members, especially Bob's father who will be 88 on January 16th, will be encouraged, protected, and in good health as we leave and as we remain separated from them for two years.
4. Pray that all our luggage (fifteen pieces!) arrive safely and intact. Pray that we will have good success in setting up housekeeping in our little "Russian" 600 square foot apartment.
5. Pray that, from the very beginning, things will "click" as we go through the three-week transition from mission team to mission force, and that the team will be a major asset and blessing to the local believers as well as an effective evangelistic influence and witness to unbelievers.
6. Pray that we will learn how to use public transportation quickly.
7. Pray that we will learn "survival Russian" quickly and become "conversational" soon.
Well, there you have it!
Even though it's a long letter this time, we pray you will be blessed as you think about what we've shared. It has become increasingly clear to us that, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, our ministry may very well be about you more than any other person. You and/or people like you have blessed the two of us in ways too numerous to count. And we see the necessity of your prayers in our behalf more surely every day, even though we are not yet on the field. Never under estimate your importance in what we are doing. Quite honestly, we could not do this without you.
You are absolutely essential to the success of this work. As a result, this is as much your work as it is ours. Paul's exhortation regarding his various partnerships with other believers make so much more sense to us now. We trust that you will assume "ownership" and "responsibility" for it by being faithful to your church through your tithes, your attendance, your involvement, and your giving to missions, by praying daily for us, and by writing us so we can join you in your own pilgrimage with Christ.
We love you and appreciate you. Please let us hear from you.
In His Bond, and For His Kingdom,
Bob and Jo Ann
Bob Tolliver
Hope4Kyiv
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
btolliver@imb.org