Lets start with Tima. Since the October newsletter we've found the hydrocephalus was never very serious, but was an indication of another problem – cerebral palsy. It hasn't been easy accepting this fact, nor understanding why God has allowed it, but we continue in faith, knowing that whatever happens its never God's fault, and relaxing when we remember that God always works everything out for good.
Due to this unexpected problem, we have decided to go 'home' to NZ. Although modern medicine doesn't hold much hope for cerebral palsy children anywhere in the world, at least the attitudes of doctors and physiotherapists in NZ are significantly better, and public services more advanced and comfortable. Having said this, it does appear at this stage as if Russia (and consequently Ukraine) were moving ahead in the field of cerebral palsy where the western world had largely given up. Using metabolic therapy and amino acids they have had some successes, so we're giving that a try (which involves a 12 hour drive east each time – not an easy trip on roads full of pot-holes and lacking in signs).

We've been in a range of different hospitals and done a heap of different tests which involved travelling to Kyiv once or twice a week with Tim – not at all easy. Vita and Tim spent three weeks in a hospital in Kyiv just before Christmas (that's their room in the photo). I was allowed in to visit them as much as I wanted (as long as I took my winter jacket and hat off and cleaned my boots, and as long as I got to Vita's room without being seen by the charge nurse who only checks the corridors – one time I wasn't quick enough and she saw me and shouted at me till I left), the temperature was a constant 27 degrees (minus 5 outside), the doctors were friendly (one said she would like her daughter to marry a foreigner, too), there were only two beds per room but the walls were mostly glass, and praise God because Vita's room-mate was a 15 year old girl who was responsible enough to look after Tim when Vita needed to run down to the supermarket. Still even in such a nice place they had a coupla strange practices, for example Vita was told she's not allowed to use the kitchen under any circumstances, so when Vita asked where she can sterilise Tim's bottle the nurse said, "In the kitchen of course." They have a practice of wrapping arms and legs in warm parrafin wax to make you sweat – a muscle relaxant similar to a sauna. Tim hated it the first time, screamed so hard the sweat was flowing off his scarlet face, but then he got used to it and fell asleep.

Meanwhile my computer classes have continued to grow, here's a shot of me and my staff: Oles, on my right, is taking over from me responsibility for this ministry; Tanya, on my left, isn't doing many lessons these days because she's very busy working on mushrooms in the basement; and Ira (pronounced 'ee-ra') is doing most of the actual teaching. We currently have 60 children and four adults attending weekly lessons, and the waiting list is again starting to grow. Some children are already attending Sunday school as a result of the contact made, and there's often a bunch of young guys standing at the back of the hall by the end of the church meeting on Sunday, hoping I'll be merciful and open the computer room for an hour's play. Due to the fact that when I leave there'll be no more financial support, most services are now chargeable (including games, document services, internet), the only thing remaining free being lessons for school-age children.

Our apartment saga continued after I sent the last newsletter. We had to leave the place we were in but were unable to find anything other than the following two choices: living in a big house with a grandfather and no bathroom, or a tiny house with Vita's Mum and Grandma (also no bathroom). We chose the smaller option, and while we were all very squashed it was comfortable enough for a month. Then a lady from Kyiv heard we were looking for a place and she'd just bought an apartment as an investment so we moved in there in November. She's a nice landlady and said we're welcome to live there for 5 years if we want, especially if we'd like to do the place up (our rent just covers the utilities so it would be a reasonable deal). We're further from the centre than we've ever lived, but its only a 20 min walk, and this is the 11th place I've lived in in Kaharlyk. We're on the first floor which is ideal for getting the pram in and out, and we have HOT WATER!!! The colder it is outside, the hotter the water gets, because its also used to heat the bathrooms in our building (I've heard the people on the 5th floor don't get it so hot – sometimes the pressure is so low they don't get it at all). The only building in Kaharlyk with running hot water and we're in it! God is very good (c:
Here's a couple of shots showing our bedroom on New Year's Eve, and Tim in his snow-covered sheepskin pod (at first we overdressed him, he's so warm in his pod that he often sweats if he's not sleeping).

The church has been working though some interesting stages with interpersonal relationships. Wayne has been ready to throw it all in a couple of times, frustrated at people's attitudes. The upshot is both of us constantly reminding people to get into their Bibles and that its not at all normal to drink nothing but milk all your life. It was sobering recently to find that only about four people in the church were reading their Bibles every day.
Last Sunday I brought to people's attention the relevance of manna (Ex 16 – the 'angel's food' that God fed a coupla million people with for 40 years in the Old Testament). Paul mentions in 1 Cor 10 that among other things the spiritual food they ate was a type of the spiritual food we should be eating. Interesting, therefore, to note that they couldn't gather enough to last the week – by the next morning it was crawling with worms and stank. Doesn't that say something about how often we should be gathering our spiritual food? Another interesting point is that it had all melted by lunchtime unless it was gathered. I don't want to knock people who read their Bibles in the evening, but its something to think about. And finally, it made no difference how much a person gathered – if he collected for 2 hours he had the same amount as someone who only collected for 10 minutes. In the same way, it's not too important how much you read – the key is to go gather or starve!
Another thing Wayne noticed was missing was a lack of interest in ministry – people too focused on themselves. I'm sure most Kiwi pastors can appreciate this problem. Wayne began to get people into little groups and is spending a huge amount of his time 'sharing the vision' as we work up to another summer full of potential for reaching out to lost wanderers on dark spiritual roads. This is already bearing fruit – the women who had started visiting the hospital in summer last year but gave up after a couple of months have revived somewhat and last week they prepared a drama and presented it in one of the wards. The head doctor refused us entry a few years ago on grounds of spreading 'propoganda', but since then was quite happy for us to visit and cheer people up, pass out ice-creams, pray, and have lively discussions about how much power an icon ('holy' picture) really does have. However over the last couple of weeks he has again been putting his foot down, stating that he's Orthodox (interesting that he's a former communist party member) and won't allow anything else in his hospital.
Here's a thought for your day: what rights did someone give up – rights to sleep, eat, watch TV, relax, make money – in order to pray for you and tell you the good news of salvation? Think back to the person or people who brought you to reality – what did it cost them? Have you ever thought about that?
One of the places where relationships are getting tested is in the mushroom business downstairs. Its an enterprise that requires 24 hour care, and if just one person misses one point on their list of responsibilities they can lose the whole crop. This happened to the last harvest to such a degree that a significant financial loss was made. This produced a hot-house for BLAME. Wayne found himself once again trying to teach people the correct responses of Christians in such situations.
I'm sure you can find some good prayer points in here for us and these faithful believers who have that universal problem: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

A number of those suffering from alcohol abuse have turned up lately asking for help. Unfortunately, they don’t turn up sober and don’t return when we agree to meet them again. Almost all of the men in the church had to be set free from alcohol problems. Please pray for these guys.

Recently Wayne brought up the topic of littering in the streets to see how the Bible students would respond. After some discussion it was found that everyone is bothered by the level of rubbish in the streets, and everyone believes something should be done about it. But where do you begin?
We have been praying and seeking the Lord as to practical ways to reflect the character of God in our community. We came to the conclusion that if we had the resources we would gladly commit ourselves to making our town a clean place. We believe that it may just be one of the strongest witnesses that we as a church could do in our community.
One of the biggest reasons in favour of cleaning up the town is the huge response we got to last summer's lawnmower ministry. People thought we were crazy. The Mayor thinks we are remarkable and lavished us with praise. The two poor little 3.5hp push mowers, however, took a real battering and despite our best efforts didn’t even last out the season. They simply weren’t designed to handle the work load or the terrain. We’re left scratching our heads about what to do this coming summer. Why? Because over a coupla short months a coupla guys pushing lawnmowers caused more people to think about God than handing out hundreds of Bible tracts. We would dearly love to take up that banner again this summer only this time with equipment that will last. Realistically, to make this endeavour a worthwhile on-going effort we need a good ride-on mower, so there's our goal.
We started well last year and the vision amongst the church members for impacting our community is growing. We live in a culture where words mean nothing. God has called us to show the reality of our faith by our works. Please pray for these areas of potential ministry. May God bless you.