Kremenchuk, Ukraine Newsletter

Doug Berry, Missionary    Volume No. 4    Issue No. 4    Date April 1, 2006

Greetings from Ukraine!

     As I write this at the end of March, much has happened in our lives and work since our last newsletter. Most of it is, as one of Christian sisters is likely to say when you ask her how she is, “Best of All!”  We are building towards several new big steps in our ministry and I am honored to be the one to tell you about them!

Plans for the Future Months

Newest AIM Team!

    I will start by introducing to you Kelli Himebaugh and Amber Smith. Kelli is on the left and Amber is on the right.  They are TRYING to look Ukrainian, I think!

     Kelli is 24 and has her BA degree in English.  Kelli is an experienced worker in Ukraine as she has spent her last 4 summers working here with us!  Her supporters felt she needed more mission training, and so she went to AIM (Adventures in Missions) to get that training.  Kelli has been in the Church all her life – I went to York College, a Christian college, with her dad, Roy!

     Amber is also 24 with a BA degree in Music.  Amber is an accomplished musician and recording artist who decided she wanted to put missions in service to Christ before her carrier.  She is accomplished in piano, flute, guitar and voice.  Amber has also been raised in the Church and her father is a preacher of the Gospel in PA.

    Both of these young ladies are conservative, dedicated Christian sisters that I can already tell are going to be a joy to work with!  They will arrive in Kremenchuk on May 12^th and they plan to live and work here for the next 2 years! We are looking for an apartment for them to live in, even as I write this.  Please be praying for our new work together!

A New Place to Meet!

     Over the last several months we have come to realize a growing need for a bigger place to meet than my apartment.  In the last several weeks, a very likely possibility has presented itself.  The Church of Christ in KY that is the sponsoring Church for the Bible College here in Kremenchuk has built a new building for this college in the center of Kremenchuk, about 1 ½ blocks away from one of Universities.  It is a 2 story building and is nearly all finished, but they have no plans for the 2^nd floor which has 5 large rooms.  So we asked about it and we are going to be able to use this, just for the furnishing of it!  We estimate that we can furnish it for about $4,500.00.  Some of the ways that we plan to use this new building are:

Ø      University Class outreach to 2 universities and many technical schools in Kremenchuk.

Ø      Increase our Bible Clubs for more ages and for greater outreach to more schools (many won’t come to a home, but would come to a study center like this will be).

Ø      Be able to offer children’s classes to all children from the 5^th-7^th grades for all schools that won’t let us come and teach in their buildings.

Ø      Create a Bible Study Center for deeper study of God’s Word.

Ø      Have a place where we can easily have room for all who want to come.

     This spring we are going to begin to aggressively advertise this new facility, new classes, and new spirit of teaching the Bible first and also English!

New Summer Workers and Classes!

     We will have 4 MAP (Master Apprentice Program) workers from York College and the East Hill Church of Christ in York, NE coming to us this year on June 3^rd. 2 of them have  worked in Ukraine before.  Later in June, Kellie Lovelady will make her 3^rd trip to Ukraine and stay with us until the end of June.  Also in June, Roy Whitingham from Auburn, NE is planning on coming for his 2^nd visit to Ukraine.

     We will go to many schools this year (there are 31 in Kremenchuk) and invite them to our summer classes from May 22 through June 16.  We will have 2 younger classes (5^th-7^th grades) and one older class of 8^th – 11^th grades.  Our AIM, MAP workers, and I will teach these classes.

New First Ever All Ukrainian Bible Camp!

     This is a new adventure for us and for other churches.  We are making the attempt to invite churches of Christ from all over Ukraine to come and join us in this Bible Camp.  Our goal is to have 150 in camp.  We have been given the use of the facilities of one the orphan homes that we work with for free!  So our main cost will be for food and hired cooks.  We will be about 25 kilometers from Kremenchuk on a pretty and clean river, the Psol River.  The facilities are decent and we will have a lot of room for classes and for play.  We are very thankful for this gift from God!  The camp dates are June 27 - July 10.

More Summer Workers and

New Campaigns!

     We will have 2 summer campaigns and lectureships in July.  The first will be Komsomolsk, a city of 100,000 people where a year old small congregation is.  The dates for this work are July 17^th – 23^rd.  The second campaign will be July 24^th – 28^th in Svetlovosk where we are planning to start a new congregation with the campaigns and lectureship. 

     We will have a second visit this summer from my overseeing congregation, the West Fayetteville church of Christ who will send 7 brothers and sisters in Christ.  Included in this group will be one of our Elders, Don Wallace.  I am very excited and pleased that they are coming our way to work with us in these campaigns!  They will come on July 15^th and return to the US on July 31^st.

     Another group of 4 coming to join us will come at the same time from Lubbock, TX.  They will have 3 young men and one young woman.  This group is headed up by Justin White, who worked with us 2 summers ago.

     We figure that we will have over 30 workers campaigning every day for several hours.  On Monday and Tuesday evenings, we are going to sing in the parks of the 2 cities we are working in.  We will sing Christian songs in English, Russian, and Ukrainian.

New Son-In-Law in April!

     My oldest daughter Jenise, who is 24 will be married to John Grottis on April 27^th in Las Vegas, NV!  I will be leaving Ukraine on April 21^st and returning on May 5^th. 

Let me give you some telephone numbers while I am in the US.  Janessa’s (my youngest daughter) cell phone is: 308-383-4567, and you can call me on it through April 27^th.  Then I will be with my oldest son Butch and his family from the 28^th to May 2^nd.  His phone is: 253-536-4668.  My last contact will be Arlyn Brantly in Duncan, OK for May 2^nd and 3^rd. His number is:

Doug’s Contact Information

Home Phone: 011-380-536-791-737

Cell Phone: 011-380-96-564-4311

Email:  doug_berry2001@yahoo.com

Web page: www.ukrainemission.com

Daily Pictures of Kremenchuk: www.kremenchuk.org

West Fayetteville Church of Christ

P.O. Box 456

Fayetteville, TN  37334

Mission Contact Person: Steve Jefferson, 931-433-0189

Review of February and March

         About February 1^st, a Church of Christ from Duncan, OK has joined us in our work.  From their support, we are going to be able to help to finance our campaigns this summer and hire a full time native worker to be the new preacher as we start the Church in Svetlovosk. 

     Most of February was very cold and difficult to get out in any more than we had to.  Even though I own a car, you still don’t run out to the car and from car to store wherever you go.  I still marvel at the way that workers in the open air markets work all day in near zero weather and survive!  In early March, the weather warmed up and then we got 6 more inches of snow.  On the 30^th, it was 56F outside!  What a GREAT improvement!!

     As you can see, we have been doing a lot of planning and working towards the future.  That’s definitely one thing that February and March is good for!  Oh, we have continued to have classes.  I have continued to have private study lessons with 4 people and they are going slowly, but are making progress.

     On April 3^rd, Jared Kendall will return to us.  He had been in the states for his brother’s funeral and for fund raising.  On March 24^th James Vaughn and Anya O. left for England so James could renew his visa.  They will be back April 10^th.

    Gregory’s work continues to go well.  On Thursday of last week, he brought me the picture that you see below of some of his boys in the prison. 

The boy, Zhenya, 2^nd from the left was just baptized into Christ.  2 other boys in the picture are Christians and Gregory says that 2 others will soon be Christians, too!

Prayer Requests

     Pray for Ukraine every day at 1pm Central time.

     Please pray for: 1) the strengthening of new Christians and the Church; 2) God to open hearts and the reaching of the lost; 3) upcoming summer plans and travels; 4) to find a qualified man to preach in Svetlovosk; 5) for me to be the leader I need to be!