The Evangelistic Work of the Khust Church in Greater Ukraine

Report and Photos by Vasyl Mondich of October - December 2009 Journeys

Posted July 13, 2011

In August 2005 one family from Khust moved to Shishkino in the Kirovograd province which is about 600 miles from Khust. Their name is Vasya and Vita Bobochka, and they have two daughters. In Shiskino when they arrived there was no Christian church. The task was given to the family:1) to become a standart (model) of faith and 2) to prepare people for conversation, dialogue.

The Church of Khust  four times each year sent a group of brothers and sisters for a trip of about ten days to prepare people to accept Christ as personal savior, to explain what is water baptism and to confirm and  strengthen the faith of those who were baptized (four souls). Within ten days they were to conduct interviews with many families about God and the salvation of the kingdom of God and other themes. They take this trip four times a year.

God has blessed our work and in Shishkino established a community. Now it is composed of thirteen adults and six children. With God's blessing, the house of worship, purchased through donations from several churches, at this time they have almost completed the repairs it needed. The opening of the house of worship is planned in early June 2010. Also the issue of the ordination of Anatolia as pastor of this community has been addressed. My next trip to Shishkino is expected in early June. Purpose: 1) to conduct a service of thanks for the birth of the child, 2) to open the house of worship, and 3) to prepare the congregation for the ordination of an elder.  

The following are the names of some of the servants who can be frequently used in evangelical ministries. In 2009, God joined my evangelical ministry in various regions of Ukraine with Nikolai Merkulov and an ensemble group of singers with God's love from Messionerskoy Jewish community.

The group consists of four people - Gena Ivchenko, his wife Ira, sister of Ira and Maya, who in old age, God miraculously brought to Him. This wonderful group honors God. Praise God for them. They are ready to serve God always. They reiterated their willingness to participate in evangelistic trips and expect an invitation and directions from me. We pray to God that He has settled them in a Khust, and that they will be constantly involved in evangelical services. Also -1) Nikolai Merkulov from Kiev God has been placed at my disposal and now has the opportunity to send him to the various services in different places. 2) Mike Tirpak - Pastor Emeritus from Uzhgorod came to me and said: Vasya, I am now totally free for the Lord; my wife died, and a young man was elected pastor in Uzhgorod. Take me with you because you're traveling in the ministry or send me to work the fields of God. Praise God for him. In 2009, I took Tirpak to: 1) The prison service in the Chernigov province; it is almost 600 miles from Khust; 2) to the formation of new churches in the Vinnitsa province of 350-450 miles from Khust; 3) to the ordination of priest in the village Dashevo Vinnitsa  province. This year, he confirmed his willingness to travel.

Trip number 1. Upcoming trips are scheduled for 13-17 May 2010 in Vinnitsa. Purpose: 1) to take clothes gathered in the Mindel (Germany) to the families of the victims in a car accident. (Twelve people from the collection went on the bus; ten of them were killed in a collision with a cargo trailer); 2) to visit the newly formed congregation in Dashevo; 3) to see the possibility of formation of new churches.

Trip number 2 was in Chernihiv (600 miles one way), the purpose: prison ministry. Team: Mondich V., Tirpak M, Merkulov N, Shimonko M., Marek from Czech Republic.

Trip number 3. The trip from the second to the tenth of June 2010 to Shishkino (about twelve miles from the Khust made by Shimonkom Michael. He is also a  volunteer pastor. The church has also a young pastor who takes care of the  daily  needs of the community. Michael eagerly and gladly went with me on such trips in the second half of 2009, starting in August.

In addition to these visits,  there was in the Vinnytsya province a drought, and  we went with him also once or twice a month on Sundays in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in different villages and cities, for example in the city Dolina. Dolina is located eighty miles from the Khust. At present each Sunday to the services come twenty to thirty people.  The last three Sundays, I came to Dolina and participated in the service.Barabash Ivan from Ternopil is currently responsible for the formation of churches:    1) Berezhany Ternopil region; 2) Ivano-Frankivsk; 3) Kalush-Iv Frankivsk region; 4) Valley-Iv Frankivsk region. In 2010, at my request he arranged with the prison administration in Dolina (280 people) to carry out regular prison evangelistic ministry. In April 2010, they have already held their first service in the prison city Dolina. We often help each other in ministry. Results from trips to  Vinnitsa province in June-December 2009. In June 2009 after baptism [or Pentecost] in Shishkino in the Kirovograd region, we were invited to Gayser, a town 60 miles from the city of Vinnitsa, and then also to the village of Dashev, also located about the same distance from Vinnitsa. 

And then in the village of Kizhintsy, they wanted us to stay seven days.  Every day people came to me, Monditch Vacille and Mircolov Nicoli from Kyiv, and Ruslan, a young man from Khust to learn the Bible.  In the first day when we were in Kypchinax, a young family of a mother and father brought to us a two year old son who had a spinal disfunction and was in a cast. He had an infection and the surgeons had to remove two disks.  The parents asked about healing.  We made a prayer and anointed him, and God in His compassion heard our prayer, and the boy was healed. Praise God for this. We will go into more detail about this in another article in a special story with all the details. Five people asked about water baptism. And we set a date for August 2009 in the village of Kupchintsy. We left on the 20th of June. In July I sent the pastor from Irpen, Peter Tsymbal, to Kupchintsy.  The purpose of his trip was to prepare these people for baptism, and he was successful. In August we baptized these people.  Many local people came to see this event. Seven people were baptized, and we told them it would be good to form a church so that everyone could attend. Also fifteen people from  the village of Kizhintsy wanted to attend. One of them, brother Ivan, who believed in God from childhood, was well behaved, faithful, and quick to learn. I suggested that he should be a pastor, and everyone agreed.  It happened in October 2009. First, there was an ordination of the pastor and a deacon. Second, we had services in prison in Chernihiv City. Third, there was a wedding in the village of Dashev. 

On our next trip in December 2009, we made a special trip to the women's prison (800 people) in Chernihiv. The prison administration allowed us to have services at any time we liked for two hours because they saw the good results of our services on the women. The purpose of our visit was first, repentance and change in behavior; second, we wanted people to see real physical healing. 1) One woman did not have fingernails and toenails for three years, and after prayers in October the nails were growing  back. 2) Thirteen women were completely healed from AIDS (their blood tests were positive before and after the tests showed they did not have AIDS anymore.) 3) One lady had cirrhosis of the liver, and after prayers, her blood tests showed that here liver was completely healed. 4) Another lady had eczema on her knees and legs with big red spots, and God healed her completely. 5) And a lady had leukemia; God healed her completely. Praise God for all His healing.  We had many other answered prayers. Ten people repented, and we anointed eighteen for diseases. People from Shishkino asked to come see us because they had many who wanted to know about God.  We stayed with them for a week.  Every day we went to different houses to talk about God.  As a result, two people were added to the church. 

Here  are our expenses for the trips from 12 June  until 31 December 2009 - 26.600 hryvnia = $ 3,375.    Praise the Lord who gave us the opportunity and ability to perform these services. Let God bless everyone who has a physical (personal) or financial involvement in these ministries.

The cost of the trip in October 2009 was funded by the Scharpen Foundation.
 

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