Bob & Peggy Kuest

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EUROPE – 2009

September 3 – 17, 2009

Bob & Peggy Kuest

Purpose

During these two weeks we will seek to accomplish similar projects in two different locations. The focus of this trip does not center on teaching; however, our time will most likely include some. Our primary reason for travel centers on encouragement of two servants that we have grown to love deeply. We want to come along side them in their ministries and help wherever we can for this short visit.

Hannover, Germany

September 4 – 7, 2009

For the fourth time we arrived in this German city to work with Spanish-speaking leaders. It seems to be an anomaly, but a large number of emigrants from Spain, South America and Mexico live here. Our friends, Armando and Anita Contreras, struggle to be God’s servants in a very transient population. In the past Germany has had a very open-door emigration policy,including a generous welfare plan. Even though this is changing those who are here have no roots. Therefore, they move from city to city to find jobs, to reunite with relatives or to return home.

We met Armando Contreras in 1994 when we were seeking a leader for the new Spanish-speaking congregation we hoped to plant in Anaheim, CA. At that time he had been invited to Germany, but chose to join us because he wanted the opportunity to work with an experienced church staff. He did an outstanding job in getting the new congregation established. In 1997he traveled with us to the Ukraine when the AFCC church choir came to participate in the June Festival of Evangelism.

Sadly, when we returned from the festival, it was discovered that Armando was involved in activities that were not conducive to his ministry which resulted in his leaving Anaheim. I felt very strongly that God had a plan for Armando and that once he worked through these problems, there would be ministry awaiting him. We formed an accountability team to help him through a trying time as he sought God’s correction and plan. After four years the invitation came once again for him to go to Germany. He responded to that call and the rest is history. He married Anita, a Russian/German girl introduced to him by Brian and Linda Smith, missionaries in Herford, Germany. They now have three beautiful daughters.

We arrived Friday morning and were put to work Friday night. Armando picked us up at the plane and went directly to his home. The reunion with Anita at the door was so sweet. We fell in love with her when we first met her six years ago. Alicia and Lottie were in preschool, but we got to meet Terza, the newest (four months) edition to the family.

During our last visit we encouraged Armando to follow his vision to move Amistad de Hannover to a newer location near his home. This seems to be the area where most of the Spanish-speaking people locate. An opportunity opened in a very nice community building associated with one of the apartment complexes. It was there that we began teaching Friday.

Armando had told me that he was hoping that, instead of teaching on leadership, I would share encouragement with the people. With the constant turnover of people, leaders tend to get discouraged. During the past year I have been developing some lessons on getting reacquainted with God. I feel that most Christians have allowed themselves to begin believing wrong concepts about God. I want to help believers return to biblical teaching and see God as a loving father who delights in His children, rather than the judgmental ogre who sits on a throne striking lightning wherever He sees sin.

I decided to share two “God Is . . .” lessons during Friday’s three-hour session. However, I never got past the first. There was so much discussion and sharing after the first half, that we never went on to the second half. Ministry must involve more than the presentation of information; it includes helping people process that information into their lives. Friday night’s sharing was so very rich in this way.

We were all pretty slow in getting around Saturday morning. We were not too active most of the day. However, Armando has challenged his leaders to a series of seven sessions taking place on successive Saturdays. Saturday night was number five of that schedule. Each week they gather for worship, short teaching and long prayer. It was an incredible night. I taught another lesson on “God Is . . .” and then we prayed. I had forgotten how fast an hour and twenty minutes of corporate prayer could go. During my lesson I taught about how God delights in us and shared that the word delight means to circle in joy. When the people sang after the prayer time they pulled out all the stops and let their feelings move their muscles. Armando said that he had never seen his people so free in the seven years he has been here. I am sure that God was dancing with us.

Every other Sunday the congregation has breakfast before the morning worship. During this fellowship time people talk and get to know the newcomers. Many German-speaking people have found their way to this Spanish-speaking church. A recent attendee is a man from Turkey who speaks no Spanish. We sat next to him at breakfast and he speaks a little English. He is especially interested in Martin Luther and has read everything he can about him. He is always smiling and even though it was only his second Sunday, he jumped right in and helped with all the set up and clean up.

Wherever Armando has worked he has had an A-1 music program. His musicianship attracts excellence. For a small church of fifty (large by German standards, especially for an ethnic group) they have a quality praise team. I shared the last of the three messages in my “God Is . . .” After it was over a young lady thanked me. I noticed her when we arrived this morning as it looked like she had been crying. However, when she talked afterwards she was all smiles. She said, “I almost didn’t come this morning. I had very bad news on Friday. What you said this morning was exactly what I needed to hear.”

There are two families and two single adults who drive over seventy miles (one way) every time they come to church. One single mother, Ingrid, does not speak any Spanish; she started coming with a friend from work. She attends church in the morning and then spends the rest of the day with Anita. Anita is ministering to Ingrid as she grows in her young faith.

When Armando and I are together I know it will involve some late night hours. He has always been an owl and nothing has changed. But it is during these times that we can go very deep in encouragement and vision casting for his ministry. All three nights of our visit ended after midnight, but these were probably the richest hours.

The church has never been able to support him full-time. Therefore, he has returned to school on a government grant to study Social Welfare.The German government does not consider ministry in a non-state church as a viable occupation; any schooling toward ministry is considered worthless if you are looking for employment. Because of this attitude, they consider Armando unemployed and unemployable. But, it has resulted in free schooling.

Armando was gone all day Monday. Anita kept us entertained. I am teaching a HIU class and they had papers due Sunday night. So, I spent most of Monday grading papers.

Berlin, Germany

September 8, 2009

Armando took us to the train Tuesday morning and we were on our way to Berlin. When we made the arrangements for this trip we did not think we were going to be able to visit anyone. However, our schedule changed at the last minute. When I emailed it to our PrayerPartners I attached the new schedule. Dale and Barbara Mallory, friends from college days who have ministered in Berlin for nearly forty years, called and invited us to dinner. We had planned on sneaking into town late Tuesday. Because our plane to Ukraine was so early Wednesday we were going to get a hotel near the airport, but they would not hear of it. We had a wonderful evening with them.

While with the Mallorys we were reminded about an important decision we made before we began this ministry – never go anywhere uninvited. Prior to our beginning we knew some of the problems missionaries had with people who called/wrote and said, “Hey, I’m coming to you, can I teach?” or “Can you put me up?” These people expect the missionary to drop everything they are doing to entertain them and pay the expenses. We did not know that Dale and Barbara’ last minute invitation came in spite of their experiencing such an intrusion. An American man planned a trip to Berlin, called Mallorys and said, “I’m coming to town, can you put me up?” Because they are nice people they said they could not put him up because of their schedule; but they made arrangements for him at a local hostel. This man, who had served several years as a missionary in Europe, arrived with no money and no plans. Barbara said he was a little miffed when he found out that they had said no to him, but pulled out the hide-a-bed for us.

This decision we made ten years ago explains why it has been twelve years since we visited the Ukraine. Even though we had been here in 1993, 96 and 97, we have never received another invitation to return. We have had many people, even Ukrainians, who have asked us why we had not returned. We have always told them, “We will when we are invited.” Some even went as far as to say, “We will get you an invitation.” However, it never came. Now we are going so that Peggy can make a Field Advisor visit to Alys West, to see her ministry and be her encouragement. The day before we left Germany Alys wrote to tell me that the Ukrainian leaders heard I was coming; they want me to teach Friday morning. I am excited about the opportunity.

Kherson, Ukraine

September 9 – 16, 2009

We came to Kherson in June 1993 as a part of the Kherson Christian Consortium, a group of US churches committed to encouraging churches emerging from behind the Iron Curtain. Ukrainian leaders requested training and financial assistance for church planting. I was just finishing my first year as Senior Minister at Anaheim First Christian Church (AFCC). The Ukraine trip was already in the planning when we moved there. It was the elders of AFCC who insisted that I go. Our team of eight people who joined others from the consortium. The main focus was to be a Festival of Evangelism held in the City of Kherson. Our team, however, was asked to cross the Dniper River to the Village of Tsurapinsk to assist a new church being planted there. We were to work with them in evangelism and encouragement, with the possibility of an ongoing partnership. (The events of those ten days are recorded in another journal.)

Peggy and I stayed with a family on the outskirts of Tsurapinsk. One morning before breakfast a couple knocked at the door wanting to meet the American Christians. Nick and Svetlana Balanenko were unknown to our hosts and to us. Svetlana was an English teacher who had taught high school English for ten years – but had never heard English spoken by an English speaker. We could understand her, but she could not understand us. The purpose of their coming was to invite us to their baptism in a neighboring village. They claimed that this would be the first public baptism in their village in seventy years. We were excited to be asked to be a part of that ceremony to take place on the banks of the Dnieper River. I delivered one of the two sermons as seven adults were baptized. Following the baptism we went to a home where we celebrated the first public communion service in seventy years.

We returned to Kherson in 1996 to encourage some of the new churches and to introduce two other US leaders to the Ukrainian work. Plus, Becky Ahlberg, Worship Minister at AFCC, had a vision to bring our entire church choir for the 1997 Festival of Evangelism. The set up for that to happen was a big part of our responsibility. While here we once again met Nick and Svetlana and were thrilled at their growth in the Lord and leadership. We saw them again in June 1997 when we returned with thirty-five people from AFCC.

In 1999, the Ukrainian leaders had a vision to begin a Bible college to train leaders for Ukraine and Russia. They approached Hope International University and asked that a steering committee be established to help in planning curriculum, governance and support. HIU would also attempt to raise finances to send professors to teach short-term courses. When Tavriski Christian Institute began, Nick Balanenko was its first Principal. What a joy we felt with that connection.

When Peggy and I began our mission work in January 1999 we truly believed our teaching would focus in Europe with our contacts in Ukraine, Germany (Smiths & Mallorys) and Poland. However, God had other plans. Soon we were enmeshed in the need for teachers in Asia and Africa.

In the summer of 2006 Peggy and I stayed stateside. Our son, Scott, had just had open-heart surgery and we did not want to be out of the country. It provided an opportunity for us to participate in New Mission Systems’ C.O.A.T. program,an eight-week curriculum design to introduce new affiliates to NMSI and to give some training before they deploy. We wanted to experience the program because we were recommending it to potential affiliates. It was during that time that we met Alys West; a young lady who felt called to the Ukraine, to work alongside Nick and Svetlana Balanenko. You can imagine our immediate interest in what she was doing. Beyond that, Alys and Peggy bonded in a very special way. Peggy has been a guide and encourager to her from that time to the present.

At the 2006 National Missionary convention, we were reacquainted with Renee Florey, a young woman from Southern California that had worked in Kherson. Renee was at a crossroads in her life and was looking for a support system. We introduced her to NMSI where she affiliated and today uses her artist skills designing and maintaining the NMSI website. Renee has kept close touch with Ukraine and has kept us updated on happenings.

In the fall of 2008, NMSI asked Peggy serve as Alys’ Field Advisor. She is responsible for monthly contact with Alys for prayer, encouragement, counsel and accountability. One of her requirements as a Field Advisor suggest that she visit Alys on the field to see her work and provide what encouragement and counsel she can. For this reason we have returned to Kherson twelve years after our last visit.

Alys made the thirteen hour train trip from Kherson to Kiev to meet our plane. We had about six hours to kill before returning with her. Our trip was worth everything just for our two Ukrainian greetings – first to watch Peggy and Alys at the airport and then our meeting with Nick Balanenko at the Kherson station (Svetlana was ill). Nick took us to Alys’ apartment where we tried to recoup from two short nights of sleep.

I have to admit that I felt very strange arriving on the campus of Traviski Christian Institute on Friday morning. After having put so much time, support and heart into the beginning of this institution; after no response to offers to come and teach; after all this time I literally came through the back door. Not only is the bus stop closest to the back gate, I was not there at the invitation of a Ukrainian leader, but because Peggy was coming to visit Alys. I believe everything happens according to God’s plan and timing.

One of the first people we met as we walked on campus was Yuri Mark who served as the Youth Pastor at Kherson Christian Church. We met him on our first visit and maintained correspondence with him for several years. He even spent three days in our Anaheim home while visiting the states. He is now the Professor or Old Testament and Christian Ethics at TCI.

I was quite shocked at the size of the property and its location. Nick found this abandoned sanitarium several years ago. It sits on the shores of the Dnieper River and most of the buildings were in total disrepair. However, over the past four years they have done a good job attacking one building at a time. Much work remainsbefore completion. They have faced a major crisis over the past couple of years. Someone in the government finally woke up to the fact that this prime piece of riverfront property had gone. They petitioned the courts claiming previous title to the land. It has been a battle of TCI vs government corruption (the government people want to use the land for a large casino). I am glad to report that it seems that TCI is winning their case.

I was asked to teach a class of about twenty-five students for three one-hour periods. When I began it was obvious that they were not happy about missing their regular classes (plus I found out that an American was in Kherson teaching Monday and Tuesday and they had missed classes to hear him). I prayed for help, I had an excellent translator and the students began to pay attention. Some of them even took out paper and began to take notes.