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LUMglobal #098 ---- 12/4/11

#1 · December 3, 2011, 10:33 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on December 3, 2011, 10:33 pm
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>



           (formerly "Hope4Kyiv")


Bi-Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

             Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

                 Life Unlimited Ministries

        "Touching Nations Here and Abroad"

                           Number 098

                      December 4, 2011

Dear Friends, Family, and In-Pact Partners:

Greetings from a warm and sunny southwestern Missouri. We pray this note finds you enjoying the bustle of the approaching Christmas season. It is a wonderful time of year when we can continue our sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord for His ongoing blessings this past year by focusing our attention now on the greatest blessing of all, the visible entry of God Himself into the world of humanity through the birth of Jesus Christ. We suspect that you are already caught up on the activities of the season.

In this letter we want to limit our report to four simple areas and bring you up to date on them:

Trip To Colombia:

For several years Cindy and her family have wanted us to spend Christmas with them in Medellin, Colombia, where they serve as missionaries. We have been there several times before, but never during the Christmas season. Our other children will have plans with family and relatives on the "other side" of the genealogy, and since Cindy's won't be back in the States for another three years, we decided this would be the best year to do so.

So, . . . forgetting Christmas decorating and activities here, we leave this coming Wednesday, December 7th, to spend five weeks in the "summer season" of Medellin. The chance of snow there is less than zero since the temperatures this time of year are some of the hottest of the year, generally in the 80's and low 90's.

While there, we'll renew fellowship with a number of believers we've known from past trips, and Bob will probably preach a number of times in various churches around the area. We also hope to do a little sight seeing in the area. Bob also hopes to make some headway on some much-neglected writing. Our biggest goal, though, is to simply enjoy the time with Cindy, Kevin, and Christopher. (BTW, Christopher is now 15 and a tall slender young man taller than both his parents). We won't be back in the States until January 12th, at which time we will begin the next aspect of our ministry.

Our Future Ministry:

Many of you know that we've been praying about the next chapter of our ministry since the two-year interim pastorate has come to a close. Several elements are still developing, but one opportunity has begun to solidify, and that is the opportunity to be involved in a multicultural church planting ministry in northeastern Kansas City, MO. We've made three trips there in the past four weeks, talking with the Director of Missions for the area, pastors, and church planters already ministering in the area.

It now appears that the Lord is leading us to accept that invitation, and we will begin the work there during the latter part of January, though will still honor previous commitments we have for revivals and conferences. This decision comes about as several developments emerged during our visits.

First, a local church in the KC area offered their missionary house for us to live in up until the first of August. This will enable us to have time to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhoods and housing market over a period of several months before making any decision as to exactly where we will live.

Second, we had the opportunity to meet with not only the Director of Missions but also several pastors and church planters already living there. They are all young, visionary, energetic guys who have been led by the Lord to move into the area for the purpose of impacting the area with the Gospel. One of the pastors is completing his seminary degree, and is actually married to Janna, one of the young women who was part of our second missions team to Croatia way back in 1997. (Imagine our surprise when we "connected the dots"!) Five of the church planters are bi-vocational, holding down other jobs. They are all young families with children, and we feel that, as we see how the Lord develops our own ministry, we can partner with them, support them, and encourage them out of our 55 years of experience in ministry and working with people from many countries the past 16 years.

Finally, even though the status of the church we helped plant in Kiev (KIBC) remains difficult, the Lord has released us from any sense of returning to Kiev in the near future to try to rejuvenate that work. Knowing that it is highly unlikely that we will return to Kiev for extended stays, we feel much more confident that Kansas City is to be our focus for the indefinite future. We arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of people both here in the U.S. and in Kiev. Even though KIBC is not anything close to what it once was, it has three "daughters" that are growing and impacting people in Kiev, in Ukraine, and in numerous other nations around the world. If nothing further ever happened with KIBC, the church's fruit is extraordinary and abundant. We still feel there are great days ahead for the church, but we are not to be part of it in any extended way.

What, then, is your organizational connection?

First and foremost, our ministry is centered with our own organization that many of you have faithfully supported, Life Unlimited Ministries. However, we will also be working directly with the Kansas City Blue River Baptist Association directed by our long-time friend from Kiev days, Rodney Hammer. Rodney was the regional leader of all of central and eastern Europe consisting of 27 countries with the IMB, and was our general supervisor two levels up. He returned to the States several years ago to assume the leadership role of this association of over 100 churches. We will work as part of a larger multicultural evangelism/missions/church planting strategy. Finally, it is also possible that we might find ourselves plugging into the overall strategy of the Missouri Baptist Convention. All of this has yet to be formed, and will probably evolve over a period of months.

So, then, . . . what is the KC area like?

Well, the "Independence Avenue Corridor" stretches through the northeastern part of Kansas City between Interstate 435 to the east and the northern side of downtown Kansas City. It is an area once filled with beautiful homes, prosperous businesses/industries, growing churches, and successful families. However, over the years, due in a large part to natural demographic changes and the declining economy, it is now a deprived and struggling area characterized mainly by an extraordinary multicultural populace from literally 50 or 60 different countries. To its south is a major African American community. Beautiful houses lie in decay or disrepair, many of them vacant. Most churches in the area are either maintaining a small status quo, are declining, or have completely left the area. The few remaining are seeing little growth, and in general are not addressing the multiplicity of ethnicity surrounding their buildings.

There are heavy concentrations of emigrants and refugees from African and Asian countries, along with a sizable concentration of people from eastern Europe as well. There are also many Latin Americans living in the area. Add to that some of the older communities of Italians, Polish, and others that came decades ago, and it's a fascinating mixture. Most recently there has been a growing influx of white young professionals who are moving in and taking advantage of the bargains in the housing market and choosing to live closer to their jobs in the downtown area. Countries having a larger populace in the area include Somalia, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italy, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. We've also been told there is still a sizable remnant of Russian speakers remaining in the area.

And, what will we be doing?

That's a very good question. This type of ministry, much like what we did in Kiev, is usually long in development and often takes unexpected turns. Our initial goal is to do the same there that we did in Kiev . . . reach into various people groups, share the Gospel, disciple and train leaders, and equip them to go back to their respective people groups for the purpose of planting churches. However, it is not likely it will look exactly the same as what we saw in Kiev.

At this point, we see this new ministry functioning in three possible ways: first, be available to help the pastor and leadership of an older existing Baptist Church strengthen and expand their ministry; second, be available to help and encourage this team of five church planters carry out their vision for further developing the newer community "church" and the home groups they have begun; finally, begin developing our own personal relationships with unchurched people living in the area and find ways to share the Gospel with them. Because of our years of ministry experience, we also anticipate being used in the greater Kansas City area to help motivate other churches and pastors in increasing their efforts in evangelism, missions, and planting churches, both locally, nationally, and globally.

Where will we live?

At least for the time being, we will be living part of the time in the missionary house in Independence, about 15 minutes away from our ministry area, and part of it right here at our home in the woods. We have no indication from the Lord that we are to sell it. The Immanuel Baptist Church leadership enthusiastically offered the house for our residence up to August when another missionary is schedule to live there. We will probably spend four to five days a week in Kansas City and two to three days a week at our home in Collins. During the time we are in Kansas City we'll also be looking for more permanent housing in the area where our ministry will be focused.

+ Financial Needs:

Needless to say, this new ministry is creating the need for a significant increase in our monthly financial support. If that doesn't happen, it will not be possible for us to undertake this new ministry with its enormity. Our personal retirement income is adequate to cover our personal needs, and our current Life Unlimited Ministries (LUM) support base is sufficient to cover ongoing LUM costs, but there is not enough available to cover house rental, utilities, extra ministry driving, ministry resources, expressions of mercy, and so forth.

While we don't have specific figures on each item, we do already know that to rent a house or apartment adequate for our personal and in-home ministry needs, it will take at least $800 to $1,000 per month. We think perhaps another $500 a month would cover other ministry-related expenses noted above.

The vast majority of those who receive our letters do not support our ministry financially. We are praying that God will raise up many of them, along with other friends and family, to partner with us in this new venture, even if it's a few dollars a month. This is not only because we need to increase our financial support base, but more importantly, we know that people who invest materially are also more likely to undergird us in prayer.

This need is immediate. If you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to be part of our "In-Pact" partners, contact us and we'll tell you how to do that. FYI, Life Unlimited Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit evangelistic association, and financial contributions are tax deductible when filing tax returns.

+ Special Report on Farsi Work:

We are amazed at how the Farsi ministry in Kiev continues to expand under "M"'s leadership. Bob talked with him twice in the past week on Skype about the work, and it seems that almost every day something else exciting takes place. Please read "M"'s most recent report below:

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners:

Here is our most recent report of what God is doing through the Farsi ministry.

        > Reaching Iranian Muslims in Germany and Sweden

As you might remember, the Lord's been opening more and more doors for us toward the vision of reaching Iranian Muslims worldwide. One of the recent doors is the opportunity of making a mission trip to Germany and Sweden. It all began when "F" moved to Germany and began a ministry there. He also continues doing Evangelism among Iranian refugees and students. Many Iranians have heard the gospel through his ministry.

At the same time, one of our Farsi church members ("Ha") that had gone to Sweden has started a home church there, and also leads a weekly Bible study along with his wife.
He told me that more than 15-20 Iranians already gather for Bible studies. He is also looking for ways to gather more Iranian Muslims.

So our church in Ukraine (Father's House Persian Church) is thinking about making a mission trip to Germany, and from there to Sweden. I'll be the one going on the mission trip since I have Ukrainian citizenship. The purpose of my trip is to join "F" and "Ha" to reach out to students by playing worship songs on the guitar, preach the Gospel in dorms, campuses, refugee camps and one on one meetings. "F" has mapped out places where we could go and do Evangelism in Germany. Our goal is to invite those Iranians to the Bible studies "F" is leading during the week and Sunday services he translates.

After staying in Germany for few days, "F" and I will then go to Sweden to join "Ha" in reaching Iranians. In Sweden, we may hold a small concert, do some street Evangelism and go where Iranians hang out and reach out to them. I'm planning to take my guitar with me on the trip, and prepare worship songs to play in meetings in Germany and Sweden.

I'm now in the process of getting my Ukrainian foreign passport and Lord willing, I'm thinking to make this mission trip in mid February or early March. The Lord has already blessed us tremendously because IBC (International Baptist Convention) has agreed to send me an invitation letter for receiving a visa in embassy of Germany.

We are praying about the financial aspects of this trip. If you have on your heart to help us financially with the trip, please feel free to drop me a note.

        > New Year Outreach in Dorms

We are planning a New year/Christmas outreach in 2-3 dorms in Kiev. As part of that, we prepare small gift packages including a gospel of John, a chocolate bar, a gospel tract and a small Christian post card. We then go door by door, and give those packages to students. We are thinking about writing our website URL or email address on the post cards in case people would like to get back to us to hear more about the gospel.

        > "F" is doing much better

Thank you so much for praying for "F". He went home from the hospital on Saturday, and is doing much better now. Here's a little note from "F":

"I was healed knowing and hearing from my best friend that many Christians were praying for me. Praise the Lord that He was once again with me helping me to go through this difficult situation. I should really thank you for all the prayers that helped me to be healthy again.

I still have a little worry about the hospital bill, because I was in the middle of deciding and thinking about the good insurance company and doing the complicated bureaucracy that this happened, so I have no insurance. Very soon they are going to decide and sum up about my hospital bill. I heard from one of the doctors on second day in ICU that, until that day, the bill was around 3 and 4 thousand Euros! I'm not sure how much would be the total amount.

I still don't know why this happened to me, and why at this time! I should be alone and think more and pray about the reasons!! But I'm sure that I knew the necessity of being healthy and was always thankful about it! I also know that God is caring and he healed me and always took after me. i pray for wisdom and right decisions and i ask you desperately to be praying for me about this."

        > Prayer Requests:

1-    Please pray for the mission trip to Germany and Sweden. Please pray that the Lord would provide the money for the trip.

2-    Pray for "F"'s recovery. Pray also that his insurance situation would work out.

3-    Please pray for the New Year outreach in dorms.

At the end, we'd like to thank you our friends for your faithfulness, love, care and support for this ministry. We thank God for the presence of people like you in our lives.

His Grace be with you and your family,

"M"

+ Our Thoughts on "F":

Since we received "M"'s report above, we've learned more detail about "F"'s hospitalization. The bacterial attack was an extremely rare case that the doctors had never seen before. "F" had no pain or other indication that anything was wrong. Suddenly in the middle of a Bible study, he vomited approximately three pints of blood. He lost strength and most of his vision and was rushed to the hospital. He was rapidly approaching death, and the matter was so critical that the surgeon was flown in by helicopter. The surgeon discovered a massive bacterial attack on the wall of his stomach the size of a hand palm plus attacks in numerous other areas of his digestive system. Following surgery, "F" was put on antibiotics to eradicate the bacterial attack. He is steadily recovering.

In talking with "M" following conversations he subsequently had with "F", we learned that there is no answer as to how this happened. However, a number of facts make the two of us wonder if this may have actually been a deliberate attack by someone, similar to what happened to President Yuschenko in Ukraine and the dissident against President Putin a number of years ago. "F" ate his meals in the same place as hundreds of other students, yet nobody else got sick. He was around the same people, yet nobody else got sick. The only thing that has been different with "F" is that he has been witnessing to Muslims and sharing the Gospel both individually and in small groups. By his own report, a number of those Muslims have become extremely angry toward him, accusing him of being a traitor, a heretic, and an enemy to Allah.

As a result of these facts and other elements, we've wondered whether or not this might have been a deliberate attack because he's a witnessing Christian. We certainly don't know, but having such a rare bacterial attack that the doctors had never seen before, and knowing that nobody else has been affected even if being in the same environment just makes us wonder.

We don't know if "F" has the latest actual figures of the cost for his treatment, but we do know he did not have the paper work completed for insurance, and he is probably looking at around 10,000 Euro's in cost. That's around $13,000 to $14,000 in U.S. dollars! We have been trying to raise some funds to help him in this, and we have the mechanism in place to get the money to him. If you'd like to help out, please e-mail us at lifeunlimited@pobox.com and we'll tell you how to do it. We are most anxious to help him as much as we possibly are able.

+ Finally:

There are many other things about which we could have written, so thank you for letting us focus on these four . . . our Colombia trip, our new ministry opportunity, our subsequent financial needs, and the Farsi work that is becoming more global all the time . . . and especially sharing about "F". There are many things embedded herein for which we ask you to pray . . . and pray constantly. All of these are bigger than we are. But they are matters before us, and we ask you to stand with us in prayer, encouragement, and undergirding. Most of all, thank you for your faithfulness and friendship in the past. God's blessing on our ministry in the past has largely been the result of faithful partners. A day never goes by without our thanking the Lord for you and the others.

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

Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
With the Nations At Our Fingertips

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Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

(formerly "Hope4Kyiv")

Bi-Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

Life Unlimited Ministries

"Touching Nations Here and Abroad"

Number 098

December 4, 2011

Dear Friends, Family, and In-Pact Partners:

Greetings from a warm and sunny southwestern Missouri. We pray this note finds you enjoying the bustle of the approaching Christmas season. It is a wonderful time of year when we can continue our sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord for His ongoing blessings this past year by focusing our attention now on the greatest blessing of all, the visible entry of God Himself into the world of humanity through the birth of Jesus Christ. We suspect that you are already caught up on the activities of the season.

In this letter we want to limit our report to four simple areas and bring you up to date on them:

Trip To Colombia:

For several years Cindy and her family have wanted us to spend Christmas with them in Medellin, Colombia, where they serve as missionaries. We have been there several times before, but never during the Christmas season. Our other children will have plans with family and relatives on the "other side" of the genealogy, and since Cindy's won't be back in the States for another three years, we decided this would be the best year to do so.

So, . . . forgetting Christmas decorating and activities here, we leave this coming Wednesday, December 7th, to spend five weeks in the "summer season" of Medellin. The chance of snow there is less than zero since the temperatures this time of year are some of the hottest of the year, generally in the 80's and low 90's.

While there, we'll renew fellowship with a number of believers we've known from past trips, and Bob will probably preach a number of times in various churches around the area. We also hope to do a little sight seeing in the area. Bob also hopes to make some headway on some much-neglected writing. Our biggest goal, though, is to simply enjoy the time with Cindy, Kevin, and Christopher. (BTW, Christopher is now 15 and a tall slender young man taller than both his parents). We won't be back in the States until January 12th, at which time we will begin the next aspect of our ministry.

Our Future Ministry:

Many of you know that we've been praying about the next chapter of our ministry since the two-year interim pastorate has come to a close. Several elements are still developing, but one opportunity has begun to solidify, and that is the opportunity to be involved in a multicultural church planting ministry in northeastern Kansas City, MO. We've made three trips there in the past four weeks, talking with the Director of Missions for the area, pastors, and church planters already ministering in the area.

It now appears that the Lord is leading us to accept that invitation, and we will begin the work there during the latter part of January, though will still honor previous commitments we have for revivals and conferences. This decision comes about as several developments emerged during our visits.

First, a local church in the KC area offered their missionary house for us to live in up until the first of August. This will enable us to have time to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhoods and housing market over a period of several months before making any decision as to exactly where we will live.

Second, we had the opportunity to meet with not only the Director of Missions but also several pastors and church planters already living there. They are all young, visionary, energetic guys who have been led by the Lord to move into the area for the purpose of impacting the area with the Gospel. One of the pastors is completing his seminary degree, and is actually married to Janna, one of the young women who was part of our second missions team to Croatia way back in 1997. (Imagine our surprise when we "connected the dots"!) Five of the church planters are bi-vocational, holding down other jobs. They are all young families with children, and we feel that, as we see how the Lord develops our own ministry, we can partner with them, support them, and encourage them out of our 55 years of experience in ministry and working with people from many countries the past 16 years.

Finally, even though the status of the church we helped plant in Kiev (KIBC) remains difficult, the Lord has released us from any sense of returning to Kiev in the near future to try to rejuvenate that work. Knowing that it is highly unlikely that we will return to Kiev for extended stays, we feel much more confident that Kansas City is to be our focus for the indefinite future. We arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of people both here in the U.S. and in Kiev. Even though KIBC is not anything close to what it once was, it has three "daughters" that are growing and impacting people in Kiev, in Ukraine, and in numerous other nations around the world. If nothing further ever happened with KIBC, the church's fruit is extraordinary and abundant. We still feel there are great days ahead for the church, but we are not to be part of it in any extended way.

What, then, is your organizational connection?

First and foremost, our ministry is centered with our own organization that many of you have faithfully supported, Life Unlimited Ministries. However, we will also be working directly with the Kansas City Blue River Baptist Association directed by our long-time friend from Kiev days, Rodney Hammer. Rodney was the regional leader of all of central and eastern Europe consisting of 27 countries with the IMB, and was our general supervisor two levels up. He returned to the States several years ago to assume the leadership role of this association of over 100 churches. We will work as part of a larger multicultural evangelism/missions/church planting strategy. Finally, it is also possible that we might find ourselves plugging into the overall strategy of the Missouri Baptist Convention. All of this has yet to be formed, and will probably evolve over a period of months.

So, then, . . . what is the KC area like?

Well, the "Independence Avenue Corridor" stretches through the northeastern part of Kansas City between Interstate 435 to the east and the northern side of downtown Kansas City. It is an area once filled with beautiful homes, prosperous businesses/industries, growing churches, and successful families. However, over the years, due in a large part to natural demographic changes and the declining economy, it is now a deprived and struggling area characterized mainly by an extraordinary multicultural populace from literally 50 or 60 different countries. To its south is a major African American community. Beautiful houses lie in decay or disrepair, many of them vacant. Most churches in the area are either maintaining a small status quo, are declining, or have completely left the area. The few remaining are seeing little growth, and in general are not addressing the multiplicity of ethnicity surrounding their buildings.

There are heavy concentrations of emigrants and refugees from African and Asian countries, along with a sizable concentration of people from eastern Europe as well. There are also many Latin Americans living in the area. Add to that some of the older communities of Italians, Polish, and others that came decades ago, and it's a fascinating mixture. Most recently there has been a growing influx of white young professionals who are moving in and taking advantage of the bargains in the housing market and choosing to live closer to their jobs in the downtown area. Countries having a larger populace in the area include Somalia, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italy, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. We've also been told there is still a sizable remnant of Russian speakers remaining in the area.

And, what will we be doing?

That's a very good question. This type of ministry, much like what we did in Kiev, is usually long in development and often takes unexpected turns. Our initial goal is to do the same there that we did in Kiev . . . reach into various people groups, share the Gospel, disciple and train leaders, and equip them to go back to their respective people groups for the purpose of planting churches. However, it is not likely it will look exactly the same as what we saw in Kiev.

At this point, we see this new ministry functioning in three possible ways: first, be available to help the pastor and leadership of an older existing Baptist Church strengthen and expand their ministry; second, be available to help and encourage this team of five church planters carry out their vision for further developing the newer community "church" and the home groups they have begun; finally, begin developing our own personal relationships with unchurched people living in the area and find ways to share the Gospel with them. Because of our years of ministry experience, we also anticipate being used in the greater Kansas City area to help motivate other churches and pastors in increasing their efforts in evangelism, missions, and planting churches, both locally, nationally, and globally.

Where will we live?

At least for the time being, we will be living part of the time in the missionary house in Independence, about 15 minutes away from our ministry area, and part of it right here at our home in the woods. We have no indication from the Lord that we are to sell it. The Immanuel Baptist Church leadership enthusiastically offered the house for our residence up to August when another missionary is schedule to live there. We will probably spend four to five days a week in Kansas City and two to three days a week at our home in Collins. During the time we are in Kansas City we'll also be looking for more permanent housing in the area where our ministry will be focused.

+ Financial Needs:

Needless to say, this new ministry is creating the need for a significant increase in our monthly financial support. If that doesn't happen, it will not be possible for us to undertake this new ministry with its enormity. Our personal retirement income is adequate to cover our personal needs, and our current Life Unlimited Ministries (LUM) support base is sufficient to cover ongoing LUM costs, but there is not enough available to cover house rental, utilities, extra ministry driving, ministry resources, expressions of mercy, and so forth.

While we don't have specific figures on each item, we do already know that to rent a house or apartment adequate for our personal and in-home ministry needs, it will take at least $800 to $1,000 per month. We think perhaps another $500 a month would cover other ministry-related expenses noted above.

The vast majority of those who receive our letters do not support our ministry financially. We are praying that God will raise up many of them, along with other friends and family, to partner with us in this new venture, even if it's a few dollars a month. This is not only because we need to increase our financial support base, but more importantly, we know that people who invest materially are also more likely to undergird us in prayer.

This need is immediate. If you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to be part of our "In-Pact" partners, contact us and we'll tell you how to do that. FYI, Life Unlimited Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit evangelistic association, and financial contributions are tax deductible when filing tax returns.

+ Special Report on Farsi Work:

We are amazed at how the Farsi ministry in Kiev continues to expand under "M"'s leadership. Bob talked with him twice in the past week on Skype about the work, and it seems that almost every day something else exciting takes place. Please read "M"'s most recent report below:

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners:

Here is our most recent report of what God is doing through the Farsi ministry.

> Reaching Iranian Muslims in Germany and Sweden

As you might remember, the Lord's been opening more and more doors for us toward the vision of reaching Iranian Muslims worldwide. One of the recent doors is the opportunity of making a mission trip to Germany and Sweden. It all began when "F" moved to Germany and began a ministry there. He also continues doing Evangelism among Iranian refugees and students. Many Iranians have heard the gospel through his ministry.

At the same time, one of our Farsi church members ("Ha") that had gone to Sweden has started a home church there, and also leads a weekly Bible study along with his wife.
He told me that more than 15-20 Iranians already gather for Bible studies. He is also looking for ways to gather more Iranian Muslims.

So our church in Ukraine (Father's House Persian Church) is thinking about making a mission trip to Germany, and from there to Sweden. I'll be the one going on the mission trip since I have Ukrainian citizenship. The purpose of my trip is to join "F" and "Ha" to reach out to students by playing worship songs on the guitar, preach the Gospel in dorms, campuses, refugee camps and one on one meetings. "F" has mapped out places where we could go and do Evangelism in Germany. Our goal is to invite those Iranians to the Bible studies "F" is leading during the week and Sunday services he translates.

After staying in Germany for few days, "F" and I will then go to Sweden to join "Ha" in reaching Iranians. In Sweden, we may hold a small concert, do some street Evangelism and go where Iranians hang out and reach out to them. I'm planning to take my guitar with me on the trip, and prepare worship songs to play in meetings in Germany and Sweden.

I'm now in the process of getting my Ukrainian foreign passport and Lord willing, I'm thinking to make this mission trip in mid February or early March. The Lord has already blessed us tremendously because IBC (International Baptist Convention) has agreed to send me an invitation letter for receiving a visa in embassy of Germany.

We are praying about the financial aspects of this trip. If you have on your heart to help us financially with the trip, please feel free to drop me a note.

> New Year Outreach in Dorms

We are planning a New year/Christmas outreach in 2-3 dorms in Kiev. As part of that, we prepare small gift packages including a gospel of John, a chocolate bar, a gospel tract and a small Christian post card. We then go door by door, and give those packages to students. We are thinking about writing our website URL or email address on the post cards in case people would like to get back to us to hear more about the gospel.

> "F" is doing much better

Thank you so much for praying for "F". He went home from the hospital on Saturday, and is doing much better now. Here's a little note from "F":

"I was healed knowing and hearing from my best friend that many Christians were praying for me. Praise the Lord that He was once again with me helping me to go through this difficult situation. I should really thank you for all the prayers that helped me to be healthy again.

I still have a little worry about the hospital bill, because I was in the middle of deciding and thinking about the good insurance company and doing the complicated bureaucracy that this happened, so I have no insurance. Very soon they are going to decide and sum up about my hospital bill. I heard from one of the doctors on second day in ICU that, until that day, the bill was around 3 and 4 thousand Euros! I'm not sure how much would be the total amount.

I still don't know why this happened to me, and why at this time! I should be alone and think more and pray about the reasons!! But I'm sure that I knew the necessity of being healthy and was always thankful about it! I also know that God is caring and he healed me and always took after me. i pray for wisdom and right decisions and i ask you desperately to be praying for me about this."

> Prayer Requests:

1- Please pray for the mission trip to Germany and Sweden. Please pray that the Lord would provide the money for the trip.

2- Pray for "F"'s recovery. Pray also that his insurance situation would work out.

3- Please pray for the New Year outreach in dorms.

At the end, we'd like to thank you our friends for your faithfulness, love, care and support for this ministry. We thank God for the presence of people like you in our lives.

His Grace be with you and your family,

"M"

+ Our Thoughts on "F":

Since we received "M"'s report above, we've learned more detail about "F"'s hospitalization. The bacterial attack was an extremely rare case that the doctors had never seen before. "F" had no pain or other indication that anything was wrong. Suddenly in the middle of a Bible study, he vomited approximately three pints of blood. He lost strength and most of his vision and was rushed to the hospital. He was rapidly approaching death, and the matter was so critical that the surgeon was flown in by helicopter. The surgeon discovered a massive bacterial attack on the wall of his stomach the size of a hand palm plus attacks in numerous other areas of his digestive system. Following surgery, "F" was put on antibiotics to eradicate the bacterial attack. He is steadily recovering.

In talking with "M" following conversations he subsequently had with "F", we learned that there is no answer as to how this happened. However, a number of facts make the two of us wonder if this may have actually been a deliberate attack by someone, similar to what happened to President Yuschenko in Ukraine and the dissident against President Putin a number of years ago. "F" ate his meals in the same place as hundreds of other students, yet nobody else got sick. He was around the same people, yet nobody else got sick. The only thing that has been different with "F" is that he has been witnessing to Muslims and sharing the Gospel both individually and in small groups. By his own report, a number of those Muslims have become extremely angry toward him, accusing him of being a traitor, a heretic, and an enemy to Allah.

As a result of these facts and other elements, we've wondered whether or not this might have been a deliberate attack because he's a witnessing Christian. We certainly don't know, but having such a rare bacterial attack that the doctors had never seen before, and knowing that nobody else has been affected even if being in the same environment just makes us wonder.

We don't know if "F" has the latest actual figures of the cost for his treatment, but we do know he did not have the paper work completed for insurance, and he is probably looking at around 10,000 Euro's in cost. That's around $13,000 to $14,000 in U.S. dollars! We have been trying to raise some funds to help him in this, and we have the mechanism in place to get the money to him. If you'd like to help out, please e-mail us at lifeunlimited@pobox.com and we'll tell you how to do it. We are most anxious to help him as much as we possibly are able.

+ Finally:

There are many other things about which we could have written, so thank you for letting us focus on these four . . . our Colombia trip, our new ministry opportunity, our subsequent financial needs, and the Farsi work that is becoming more global all the time . . . and especially sharing about "F". There are many things embedded herein for which we ask you to pray . . . and pray constantly. All of these are bigger than we are. But they are matters before us, and we ask you to stand with us in prayer, encouragement, and undergirding. Most of all, thank you for your faithfulness and friendship in the past. God's blessing on our ministry in the past has largely been the result of faithful partners. A day never goes by without our thanking the Lord for you and the others.

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

Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
With the Nations At Our Fingertips

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