JUNE-JULY 2016
My Dear Praying Friends,
The summer this year is not hot at all: June was rather cold and we had just a couple of hot weeks in July. This is a great blessing as I travel to village churches in the summer months and being in meetings in sweltering heat is at times unbearable, especially if I preach in the big tent. (Old fashion me still comes to preach in a shirt and tie). Some churches in the region have summer camps for kids and some have tent revivals. I get invited to participate in both and pretty much every other Sunday (and sometimes from Friday night to Sunday night) I am in those villages. I’d like to mention one of them especially – a newly started church in Pokrovskoe (which is my birthplace) and I have a special place in my heart for the church and the preacher there since I participated at the start of this church four years ago holding tent meetings and then working with the new converts afterwards, often preaching there (my aunt, who recently passed away, was brought to that church and got saved there). Recently the church has been building a new building and God has blessed our Family to participate in the cost as well as the personal support of the pastor (Kriachek Ivan, pictured to the right). I am so thankful to the Lord that there is a Baptist church in the village where I was born, where many of my relatives still are as well as friends from my childhood. All these various abovementioned summer events comprise a big part of my ministry during the summer months.
In the month of July one of my supporting pastor-friends: Dr. John Waldrip (Calvary Baptist church in Monrovia, CA) with his wife Pam visited us on their European mission tour for a week and we had a great time travelling, preaching, teaching and fellowshipping. From giving out Jewish gospel tracts in the streets to preaching in four different churches we had from hundreds of people in the audiences to single individuals we witnessed to and praying God would use our time and effort for His Kingdom. We thank Calvary Baptist church Family for giving us their pastor to minister with and enjoy! (The Waldrips flew out of DNK to Istanbul, Turkey at 1 pm and then left Turkey for Bucharest, Romania at 5 pm the same day. A couple of hours following Turkey had a military coup and all the airports were closed for a couple of days. They got out just in time, which could not be said about their luggage, which came days later). We sure live in a dangerous world with terrorist acts in Nice, France; Munich, Germany, others – that’s just in the past one month. Europe welcomed Syrian refugees and now advising its citizens against all the dangers Muslims brought with them. (And who wages war in Syria where all refuges are from? Right, it’s Russia, which still wages war in Ukraine).
For the past 10 years JEM conducted evangelistic outreaches in the countries of Costa-Rica, Mexico, Guatemala and especially Cuba. Olga and I were blessed to participate in some of those events since 2012 and out of all those countries only in Cuba God especially impressed upon our hearts the spiritual and physical needs of the precious people there allowing us to be involved in the life of a rural church in El Central (Pastor Ernesto Hernandez). We could not go last year due to our third Furlough and being in America for almost five months but this year out of three trips Dr. Benach and his group are taking to the country of Cuba we prayed and agreed to go on one of them the dates being October, 18-31. There will be other pastors and preachers from USA on the team (Dr. Tom Wallace is one at the age of 83). We plan to hold four nights of evangelistic preaching in four different locations simultaneously and work with the God-given converts as well as Olga and I plan to spend 3-4 days in El Central helping pastor Hernandez with his work on a newly built church as well as preaching in special meetings he is setting up and teaching his church various Jewish lessons. We should have a great American team of about 10 people as well as a great number of Cubans and churches lined up to assist us in helping their work. (I am studying Spanish these days to be able to converse with no translator, hehe).
We have been saving funds to make this travel possible but if you’d like to help us go and minister in Cuba this October it will be much appreciated and everything we may receive will be strictly used for this trip (which includes our round trip airfare to USA and Cuba and all expenditures along the way, estimating around $4,000-4,500 for both Olga and I). If God allows you to give please send any contribution to JEM marked “EK Cuba’16 Fund”. Let the Lord bless you for being a blessing to His ministry and our Family!
Our Family is doing fine. In the month of June I took Olga and two youngest kids to the seaside (Azov sea) for a week while the older kids and I continued in DNK. In July Olga and two young ones stayed in a cabin in a pine forest outside of DNK while two older ones spent 10 days in a Christian Camp (with Dasha working in the kitchen there). I joined Olga and the kids for a couple of days at each place and in August I will take 10 days joining the Family in Truskavets (western UA city where natural springs of healthy waters are and where they will be for three weeks) around the 9th of August – when I will turn 42. God has been super good to all of us and we praise Him for His mercy and thank you for faithfully standing with us in this ministry to the Jews and gentiles in Ukraine and around the world. Let the Lord bless you for all you have done and are going to do. We love you and appreciate so very much your friendship, prayers and support!
Your Ambassadors in the Ukraine,
Eugene and Family
Acts 20:21