Following is a letter written by a pastor from New York and friend of ours, Penn Clark, who visited Dave in Ukraine a few weeks ago. One of the things he writes about is a concern for lots of us when we travel into Ukraine.  I remember one time carrying $12,000, and it is a scary thing!  Another time as I carried money for ourselves and for other missionaries I had a rough time in New York. I had 13 bags to carry and the airport spot I had to go to was pretty empty when I got there.  The ladies at the customs checkout counter made me take off my belted purse and then saw I had two on which the second one had lots of money in.  The young man who was helping me with my bags had told me he does anything to get money for drugs as we were going up the elevator, and then the lady took the money belt and handed it to this young man to put on the belt to go through the Xray machine! 

Times of traveling can be pretty scary, but we thank the Lord for His blessing for the many times that He has kept His hands of mercy on us. 

This is a true story and we encourage you to pray for ones who carry the GOSPEL to a FAR AWAY LAND.

Carole

 

Trip Report from January 15-25, 2002

 by:  Penn Clark

      One of my concerns in preparing for this trip to the Ukraine was having to carry in $9,300 in hundred dollar bills. Usually this amount would be spread out among many team members who would pass through customs with little notice. One person coming in with this kind of cash could draw attention. 

     After September 11, we had cancelled a Camel Team that was scheduled to go to the Ukraine. Since that time, this was the first opportunity we had to take in money to support our national partners, pay for a heating system in a new church, buy several horses, and cover the cost of a number of other relief projects that we are involved with there. I also had financial gifts from some family and friends back in America. By Ukrainian law, a person is allowed to take in $10,000 without special permission, but with customs officials looking for a quick buck, there are risks involved. Every level of law enforcement in the Ukraine seems to be corrupt. We have been stopped by police officers that said, “Leave your fine with me.” We call this feeding the Bear. Once we were stopped and, without even giving a reason for pulling us over, the police asked our driver how much money he had, then set the fine accordingly.

     As it turned out, my passing through immigration was uneventful and my bags passed through the x-ray equipment without being stopped, then a customs agent waved me into his booth. This was right in front of the automatic doors that open to the main waiting area of the airport. Just as I pushed my baggage in front of the inspector the doors opened, exposing a large crowd patiently waiting for the passengers to emerge. Among them was my contact Peter, his face beaming as he waved at me. He only had time to mouth the words, “Praise the Lord”, before the doors closed again. Kurt, who was my travel partner for this trip, was standing near him. When Kurt saw that Peter recognized me, the two of them connected.

    When the doors opened again and they could no longer see me at the customs desk, they knew something was wrong. The officer who waived me in noticed how much money I had declared. He was astonished. He asked if this was my personally money. Before I could say anything to explain, he told me to follow him. I hesitated, but he insisted that I follow him and shut down his booth. We went into a back room where he asked to see the money. Again I hesitated, wishing there was at least another guard in there with us as a witness. All I could think of was how one of our Camel Teams had been pulled into the customs office recently and the garden seeds they were taking in were confiscated. This was a big disappointment to the team as it is one thing the people really like to receive when we do outreach into remote villages. A short while later, while the team was loading the van in the parking lot, the same customs official came out and offered to sell the seeds back to them for $45.00.

     I got all the money out, which was neatly arranged in envelopes, each one labeled with the name of the person it was designated for. The officer opened an envelope and began to count each dollar. There was quite a stack of envelopes, and I did not want him to handle all that money, so I showed him how each envelope had the amount marked on the corner. He began to itemize the amount on the back of my declaration sheet. As he did this he looked at the names on each envelope and noticed that many were written to Voloyda, who does most of our relief work in the Ukraine. He smiled, cocked his eyebrow and said, “Voloyda is a lucky guy”. I laughed and said, “Actually, Voloyda helps a lot of people”.

      As he continued to itemize the amounts, he asked if I had a calculator. I looked at the long list of amounts that he had to add up and said no. He sighed as he finished. Then he set the pen down and put his hands behind his head. He looked at me and stated that the amount I declared did not match the amount I was taking in. I said that was impossible. He said I had declared almost two hundred dollars less than what was in the envelopes. He then said that he wanted to go through my bags.

     On the bottom of the declaration forms it says that they can confiscate your goods if you make a false declaration. I had known one other person who had not declared the right amount. Not only was the money confiscated, they had to remain in the country in order to appear in court. They had to hire a lawyer and I believe they paid a fine.

     I began to pray as I opened up my briefcase. He went through every little compartment. When he did not find anything he asked me to open my travel bag. Inside he found a spare wallet. He held it up in my face and smiled as he arched that old eyebrow again. He thought he had found more money. I said it was empty. I was surprise at how disappointed he was.

     Then he came to my Bible. He asked what it was, and I told him. He began to leaf through the pages. I was thinking about how I was there on a visitor’s visa, not as a missionary. I was concerned that he might nail me with this. He went through all my teaching notes. I just told him it was my personal Bible. He went through every paper carefully and then went back to the money spread out on the desk.

     I began to zip everything back away while he put his pen in the corner of each greeting card I had been given, peeking in to find more money. I said that they were Christmas cards and showed him the paper that listed the amount they contained. I began packing up the money, like I was finished with him. Finally, he said again that there was a discrepancy in the amount I had declared. I knew it was the moment to negotiate, but I was not going to give him a penny.

    Finally, with some improvised impatience I said, “Let’s count again, because there is no mistake.” He stared at me and weakly insisted that his count was right, but I could see that he doubted his own math. I leaned forward and, with an open face, said that I was not good at math and he had not used a calculator, but my wife, who made up the envelopes, never makes a mistake. He could see how carefully each envelope had been marked. He finally laughed and said, “Ok, you may go”.

     He walked me back to the point where it all began. The doors opened and there stood Peter and Kurt again. They had been praying during the half hour I had disappeared. Bless the Lord!

 

INSERT:  On one trip Carole was making to the States, Customs tried to make her turn in her passport.  She refused to give it to them.  They told her next that her ticket was not good. She worked her way through that one and still refused to give the passport to them.  In the end they admitted she had the right ticket, the passport stayed with her, and she was allowed to continue to travel.  The reason she was so determined to hold onto her passport is because a young man from Ethiopia had a similiar experience just a few days before and they took his passport and left it at one of the customs desks, but when he went back for it the desk was closed and no one knew about his passport, and he never got it back and could not leave the county. 

 

PLEASE PRAY FOR PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL OR LIVE IN FOREIGN LANDS FOR SITUATIONS LIKE THESE MENTIONED IN THIS LETTER!

 

RETURNING TO PENN CLARK'S LETTER:

 Recently, it had snowed heavily in this part of the Ukraine, leaving the roads in rough shape. There are not many snowplows there, nor sanders or use of road salt. The roads were deeply rutted, with frozen snow and slush leaving innumerable potholes in the packed snow surface. A little rain makes getting around very interesting. With no traction, big trucks are helpless even on the slightest grades.

 

 Once our car slid sideways towards a bus that was waiting for us to pass. The driver was able to correct this just before we kissed its big broad face. Another time, we suddenly spun off the road into the ditch. Everyone just laughed, piled out, and pushed the car back up on the road. Within a few minutes we were on our way again.

    A fog had come into our area the day we arrived, leaving everything covered with frost. It was beautiful, but made it feel colder than it really was. I never feel warm here in the winter months as the houses have little heat. The school has even less and our car had none.

 

INSERT:  WEATHER IN THE WINTER IS A SITUATION TO PRAY ABOUT ALSO.  IF YOU TAKE A TRAIN THEY ARE VERY COLD IN THE WINTER AND VERY HOT IN THE SUMMER.

 

RETURNING TO PASTOR CLARK'S LETTER:

The Caves of Kiev

 

     As we made our way back to airport in Kiev, some of our new Board of Directors traveled with us in order to meet with an older American missionary, named David Nicholson, who has lived in the Ukraine since the fall of communism. He has been there since 1992, which is an amazing thing to me, considering how difficult this place is to work in. We spent an evening listening to his stories about dealing with the crooked officials and crazy bureaucracy that he faces as a fact of life everyday. David told us how once some customs officials had deliberately held some medicine back until it passed its expiration date, making it officially unfit for distribution. The medicine was still good and would be worth thousands of dollars on the black market. They set it aside to sell themselves, rather than getting it to the people it was intended to help. David simply got in his truck and drove over the cases of medicine, shattering it all over the warehouse floor. The customs officials became irate. He simply told them that if those who needed it could not have it, they could not have it either.

     He shared with us about his relief work and we could sense his deep commitment to the children with cerebral palsy and the street children.  He also made sure we left with boxes of useful supplies, such as cough medicine, soap and toothpaste. Voloyda will see that these are given away up north. 

    David could teach us a lot about how to function orderly in the midst of disorder, and we all enjoyed his hospitality. This dear brother lives in a large apartment complex. His flat is homey, but the complex itself feels foreboding and unsafe. The apartments are rough, poured concrete cubes, ceiling, walls, and floors, with poorly lit halls and rickety elevators. I called them the caves of Kiev. As remote and backwards as our villages are, they are much more desirable than these places. Two of the brothers decided to sleep in the van rather than seeing it disappear into this vast concrete tangle by morning.

     My return home was wonderfully uneventful, allowing me to savor the blessing I felt upon every aspect of this trip. Kurt was a really good travel partner, which also made this trip special. I am especially grateful for everyone who prayed for me. One family was assigned just to pray for the money that I was taking in. Obviously, God honored their prayers with His protection. Others said they would be praying for our meetings and negotiations, while many others supported me through generous giving and much encouragement. All of which, redounds into thanksgiving to God, from many of our brethren in the Ukraine. Blessings, Penn

 

David and Carole need helpers to come to Ukraine for different projects.
 
The dental project is being worked on at present and we could use several teams to help meet the needs in this department.
 
If you would like to go with a team to the Ukraine to help with a project, please go to our Web site:
 http://www.Anchored in Zion.com and/or email us: Nicholsons@AnchoredinZion.com.  Maybe you have a special area that you would like to help with. Let us know what you can or want to help with.
 
Email us also if you would be interested in going to help train children with Sunday School Bible material in July or August. 
 
Thanks for reading and responding to the needs in Ukraine!  We love you! Please pray for the things you can't do that God will send someone who can.
Ukrainian officer raised from the dead

36-year-old Boris Pilipchuk, Senior Lieutenant in a police unit in Ukraine's Khemlnitskij District lives with his wife and three children in Novaya Siniavka in the Starosiniavskij region. After doctors diagnosed his death, he shocked everyone by returning from the dead. The following is an extract from his report:

"I grew up a strict atheist. In 1996, I became a Christian after hearing a sermon by Mariopol's pastor Nikolai Ivashenko. As a Christian, I had difficulties in my profession, but after a while, my colleagues liked to listen to me tell of Jesus during breaks. I was physically very healthy. On 27 July 1998, after returning home from work, I was suddenly unable to move, and lost consciousness. I was taken to the hospital, where I lay in a coma for several days, after which I was transferred to the Khelmitskij District Clinic. The doctors diagnosed a hemorrhage affecting 95% of my brain. All nine tests confirmed that I was clinically dead. My police colleagues were shocked, and started to collect money for my coffin and burial. My wife called pastor Nikolai, who organized many Christians to pray for me. The doctors fought for my life for another 2 1/2 hours, but were finally forced to diagnose both clinical and biological death.

I saw everything from above, and was suddenly in heaven. I saw a fantastic light, and a huge city, like a cube. Jesus met me:

'You have a wife and three children. Return to them - it is not yet time for you to be here,' he said.

I instantly returned to my body, which was being taken to the mortuary. My wife stood next to the stretcher, crying. As I sat up, the staff fell to the floor, shocked. They fled in all directions, screaming 'Who are you? What do you want? Leave us in peace!' I told them not to be afraid, and asked for clothes, and was then allowed to return home.

Over the next two weeks, I was examined by 15 different medical committees, including neurologists and psychiatrists. They told me that if they had not performed the diagnosis themselves on the evidence of the x-rays, cardiographs etc., they would be unable to believe what had happened. They advised me to keep the events secret, because people would otherwise consider me crazy. They refused to record my resurrection officially, but have all decided to follow Jesus in the meantime."


A Ukrainian Folktale
with true facts woven into the tale
 
Bogdon is a little boy who lives with his Babushia.  He is happy for his lovely small wooden home with one bedroom.  The house has a warm fire place but Bogdon must stay close to it to keep warm.  At night he sleeps on a bed that has a portion of the fireplace right under him.  If you were ever in his house as a guest, you would get this bed.
 
In our city it is sad because everyone does not have a house like Babushia and Bogdon and they must sleep on the cold sidewalks.  Many boys and girls that we work with are street children because they do not have a home or parents.  They never smell the bread that cooks from the fireplace like Bogdon does.
 
Bogdon wanted some white mittens.  Grandma said, "If you drop a white mitten in the snow, it will be hard to find." 
 
But Bogdon wanted white-snow mittens and kept asking Babushia to make him some.
 
Many Grandmas or even Mothers make mittens and sweaters for the family.  It is easy to buy homemade socks to keep your feet warm in the winter in Ukraine where the snow usually falls thick from the sky.  This year of 2001 the snow has not fallen much and the farmers will have trouble getting the wheat to grow.  The wheat is needed by Babushia and Bogdon and all the people to make bread.  The wheat is pounded and flour is made and flour is important to make bread.
 
Bogdon wanted the white mittens so much that Babushia started to knit them for him.  When Bogdon was handed the mittens he was very happy.  Out the door he went and soon one of the mittens fell off as he played.
 
There is the mitten - white - laid in the snow. A small mole found it and crawled inside.  It was just the right size and it was very warm, so he stayed there.
 
Our street children sleep on cardboard some nights and if they are in the wrong place and the policemen do not want them at the train station or other important places than
these children are hit with a stick till they can hurry and get away.
 
Next,  a rabbit came hopping past the white snow colored mitten and saw the mole wiggle.   The rabbib decided to squeeze right inside the mitten with the mole.
 
Not to often do you see a street child that does not know another street child come and sleep on his peice of cardboard with him.  AND yet we have four children whose parents were so poor that they had to leave these children on the street. And these children know Jesus Christ.  Jesus said to us, "You will always have the poor with you."  But one wonderful thing that these four do is pray and they have not forgotten Jesus is the only one who will be able to help them.  They are strong in what they believe about Christ and know when they die, if it is from the cold or something else that they will live eternally with the King of kings.
 
Wow!  Have you ever heard of a hedgehog?  Well if not you may want to look on the web page to see a picture of one.  The web site is at: http://www.neontrim.com/mission
That hedgehog just wiggled in with the mole and the rabbit.
 
Well, the owl didn't want to be left alone in the cold.  And the mole, the rabbit and the hedgehog wanted to move over and make room for him too.
 
Some people want to help the street children.  Right now someone is giving us a dentist office set to take to Ukraine to help with teeth problems.  When we asked for a van to take food to these children we did not get enough money and so we do not have a way to take food to them late at night. We like to do this because they do not come out some times in the day.  When the children come out they get their food any way that they can.  Sometimes it is in a garbage can that they find a small bite to eat.  No one wants the children to come into their place to go potty and they have to go on the street or by a tree.
 
But the little mitten was now getting full and packed tight with mole, rabbit, hegehog and owl.  However, there was a badger who looked out of his tree house and saw the mitten.  He did not even ask but he crawled right in with them.
 
The snow started to come down.  Big snow flakes all white and soft floated down from God's snow storeroom in heaven and this pretty red fox came along and he to pushed his way into the little snow-white colored mitten. 
 
We can buy a lovely peice of property with buildings on it and give these children a home who walk the streets.  We would like to take some of the Babushias into this building and make it a home for the street children, and I think these Babushias will give some hugs.  Boys and Girls, I know it would be hard for you to gather money.  But I ask that you would pray that God will speak to churches, businessmen or whoever He wants to and give the $350,000 needed for a home like Bogdon has with a Babushia who might make a mitten.  There are many Babushia' who do not have a home or money for bread, and they could help us at Anchored in Zion, and we could help them.
There are some Grandpas who live on the street and they need prayer.  Maybe a Grandpa would live at our home with the children if we get it and teach the boys to do wood cutting or something. 
 
There is one woman who would like to have a special spot in the children's home in Ukraine because her husband did lots of wood carving.  She is interested in helping, and this would teach the children to have a skill.  Lots more want to help; could you trust God for this building that is needed to be provided?
 
BEAR!  I think I hear one coming and yes,  here he is!  He is black and he is sniffing away at the mitten.  Already the animals inside are packed in so tight.  The bear did not care, he wanted to be in the little snow-white mitten too.
 
Bear started to crawl in and the mitten was getting larger and fuller and ready to break all of Babushia's knitting yarn into peices.
 
WHOOPS! Hang on!  Here comes a tiny mouse.  Where will tiny mouse go?  Where do you think?  He jumps up on big black bears nose.  Yes, and his whiskers tickled the bear's nose.  The bear sneezed, KaKaKaKa-chew!  Out of the mitten and in all directions the animals flew.
 
This is how the boys and girls run to get away from the policemen so they don't get hit.
Some of the boys and girls steal because they have nothing.  Jesus still says, if you don't have something you are not to steal.    One day David (my husband) and his friend Martin were with me (Carole) riding on a subway.  Martin put his gloves in his pocket and he saw a young boy.  Martin told us to be careful as the boy would try to steal something and the subway was so full of people.  You probably know what happened, Martin's gloves were stolen.  Children are really cold and they take things to get warm or to sell.
These children need to hear about Jesus and invite Him into there hearts.  We try to give the story to the children, the policemen, the government people that we work with and the cerebral palsy children that we help also.
 
Bogdon looked and there was his snow-white mitten sailing through the air.
 
Babushia was outside, like many Ukraine women, feeding the ducks or walking the cows  or goats and she saw the snow-white mitten floating down to Bogdon.  
 
Can you hear Bogdon calling? "See Babushia, I have both my mittens!"
Can you hear the cerebral palsy, the Babushias and Grandpas and street children calling? "Send help to us, we really need you!"
 
The one Folktale ends but the true story continues.  Pray for us as we continue to help the people as you help us.    

This letter is from a woman who served the Lord in Indonesia in the early 1980's. We just came in contact again, and, surprise! She was in Russia!
Because Russia and Ukraine are alike in what our friend has written, we will put it up here for you to see and enjoy.
-Carole Nicholson

September 2000

 

Volhov, a city of 50,000 with 3 churches (evangelical, Baptist and Russian Orthodox). We arrived at our sister church to a “pot luck dinner” celebration that included traditional Russian music and dance, the ceremonial presenting of homemade bread and salt (we all ate a token piece), and an enthusiastic praise and worship time. For people who have nothing (most work several jobs and do not get paid… bartering is teaching them much about self-responsibility and free enterprise), we found them rich in the joy of the Lord.

 We also divided up and stayed as guests in their homes. (Money had been sent ahead to pay for our meals, etc). I stayed with a family of 4 in a 3rd floor 1-bedroom walk up (about 350 sq. ft.). They were fortunate, because their concrete apartment building had hot water. The husband, Sergey, had cheesecloth covering the windows to keep the fierce mosquitoes out. He made a huge point to describe how hard his wife Toinya had scrubbed the bathroom (they have few cleansers and no way to repair worn out fixtures).

 For ministry we worshipped with them, held training seminars, and visited around homes at a “progressive tea”, swapping stories of what God is doing in our lives. They always provided me with the best they had and treated me as a queen, as they served tea with formality and respect. Russian culture exhibits class and dignity that Americans entirely lack.

 While some went to the banyan (Russian sauna where people are beaten with leafy willow branches to make them all red, followed by cold showers), a group of us instead walked the cliff above the large river to a traditional place of prayer. What a precious time of prayer and singing we had. Then on the way home we stopped at a local artisan’s home to buy some souvenirs and I realized there was a demon in her house. (The Lord later showed that the demon was there before the lady moved in… The house is in a gypsy neighborhood where drug dealing ringleaders live. Please pray that this woman — and her neighbors — be delivered and saved, and that the strongholds over Volhov be broken). I learned through this experience that my discernment of spirits (which I had thought for decades was a normal part of the Christian life) is actually a gift from God. He revealed that He wants me to study about it, pray and learn more because He wants to use this gift more frequently in the future. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME.

Another way the Lord spoke to me was during a teaching about the women in Acts. Rhoda persisted in making her voice heard (when Peter was knocking at the door and the people inside were not believing). Please pray that I hear God when those times come and when I should persist under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit to make my voice heard.

After another evening of seminars in a Baptist church in St. Petersburg, some sightseeing (the wealth of the Czars and beauty of this cultural center is Europe’s best kept secret), we headed home. We had an overnight in Amsterdam, staying in a YWAM hostel that was a former Nazi HQ with a watch tower prayer room that had once been a torture and killing chamber for Jews. I got up very early and spent two glorious hours praying and singing in that tower. What a treasured time! 


 
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE OFTEN FACE THE SAME THINGS.  THIS
HAPPENS TO BE FROM MOSCOW, RUSSIA
 
 CHURCH HECKLING BACKFIRES
 
This is what evangelicals face in Russia.  They are often faced with harassment from the Orthodox Church, but it doesn't always turn out badly.  
A volunteer team travel to Luhovitsi for an outreach in august 1999 was greeted with this situation.
 
The local pastor had arranged the required permis for the group to perform at the local "cultural house," but a gang of hecklers met their mini-bus as it pulled up to the auditorium.
 
"These young people were carrying communist flags and placards that said, 'Yankees, go home.'  They were shouting their disdain for the presence of this group."
 
Asked by the pastor and local cultural affairs director to respect the town's guests, the protesters replied, "We did not invite them.  We are Orthodox.  We don't need their religion."  The group finally dispersed, but local police officials decided the Americans' tourist visas did not permit them to do religious work, and fined them.
 
Later that week, a local television station broadcast interviews with the Americans and with the hecklers.  "During the interview the young people first said they had acted on their own, but then later they admitted they had been paid by local Orthodox leaders."
 
The Orthodox subterfuge backfired.  Through this all, the local cultural affairs director--who is a Christian sympathizer--was gracious and went to bat for the group, and said, "Since then the local major has given the green light for future work with this pastor and groups from the United States.  What Satan meant for evil, God turned into good." 



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