Teaching Ministries Intl Sept 2014 news

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Teaching  Ministries  Interna onal PO  Box  1483 Snellville,  GA  30078 770-972-2205  USA

[email protected] [email protected]  (LaVerne)

September  5,  2014

S imfe ropol Crimea Ukraine

Our  Mission To  open  their  eyes  and  turn  them  from  dark-­‐ness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  God,  so  that  they  may  receive  forgiveness  of  sins  and  a  place  among  those  who  are  sanc-­‐fied  by  faith.  (Acts  26:18  NIV)

September  1  is  the  tradi onal  first  day  of  classes  from  Kindergarten  through  graduate  school  in  the  republics  of  the  former  Soviet  Union.  Our  staff  has  been  planning  for  the  new  school  year  even  before  our  retreat  in  Kiev  in  June.  On  Saturday,  August  30th,  they  welcomed  the  new  and  returning  residence  of  our  guest  house.  To  build  community  and  get  the  rooms  in   p-top  shape  and  train  the  students  how  to  care  for  their  floor,  everyone  was  instructed  by  our  team  leader.  Olya,  a  true  teacher  of  the  21st  Century,  used  PowerPoint  to  instruct  the  stu-­‐dents!  Olya  writes:

We  had  the  most  busy,  produc ve,   resome  and  awesome  day  today.  The  whole  house  was  like  a  hive  full  of  bees  --  everyone  buzzing  and  working.  Everything  went  really  well.  The  majority  of  the  new  students  were  there  today.  Three  boys  came  to  help  with  moving  sofas  and  heavy  things  to  clean  the  floor  beneath  them.  We  deep  cleaned  two  floors  where  the  students  live.  Everything  is  squeaky  clean  now.

Can  you  catch  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  even  in  this  event?!  There  is  much  more  excitement  about  the  clas-­‐ses  and  events  planned  for  residents  and  other  students.

The  Center  classes  start  a er  the  first  two  weeks  of  uni-­‐versity  classes.  Shannon  is  preparing  for  her  “English  &  Bible”  course;  Olya  is  planning  English  and  Chris an  Doc-­‐trine  classes  two  evenings  a  week.  The  team  is  planning  community  building,  discipling  and  outreach  events.

The  CIU  Center

Our  Summer  

Report!

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Meanwhile,  we  have  faced  some  unexpected  hurdles.  Though  Crimea  is  now  governed  by  the  laws  of  the  Rus-­‐sian  Federa on,  there  is  a  lot  of  lawlessness.  So  called  ‘self-defense’  units  have  considerable  authority  but  minimal  supervision.  When  a  busload  of  these  camouflaged,  bala-­‐clava  clad  ‘mili a’  raided  our  college  building,  they  claimed  to  have  come  on  a  mission  at  the  direc on  of  the  head  of  Crimea’s  government.  They  could  have  been  put  up  to  it  by  our  old  nemesis.  Our  staff  is  trying  to  find  out  the  truth  so  that  we  know  how  to  proceed.  (It  is  prudent  that  I  do  not  share  here  what  we  know,  what  we  have  done  and  will  do  to  seek  to  recover  our  property.)  The  chances  of  ge ng  our  building  back  are  probably  non-existent,  but  we  will  try  and  hope  to  at  least  get  some  to-­‐ken  compensa on.  

Allegedly,  one  of  the  jus fica ons  for  taking  it  is  that  we  are  a  sect  and  our  ac vi es  are  illegal.  According  to  Rus-­‐sian  law,  as  was  the  case  with  Ukrainian  law,  there  is  free-­‐dom  of  religion.  In  prac ce,  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church  enjoys  the  status  of  a  state  church.  

We  are  s ll  trying  to  discover  the  laws  we  need  to  comply  with  before  we  can  be  charged  with  non-compliance.  The  general  climate  is  s ll  that  a  lot  of  people  who  should  be  

Summer  Time  and  the  Living  is  (not)  Easy

We  had  far  fewer  camps  than  usual,  but  we  are  thankful  for  the  ones  we  could  serve  in.  Russian  laws  are  much  more  re-­‐stric ve  on    camps  than  Ukrainian  laws.  Even  so,  it  was  easier  to  have  one  of  the  damps  in  Russia  than  in  Crimea    -  for  one  thing,  easier  for  the  foreign    leaders  to  get  visas.    

Summary

Natalka  spoke  at  a  Union  of  Chris an  Students  conference  in  Simferopol,  then  went  to  Russia  to  facilitate  a  camp  for  

French  language  students  (which  is  usually  in  Cri-­‐mea).

Shannon  par cipated  in  a  camp  led  by  and  for  Crime-­‐an  Tatars.

Olya  a ended  a  great  leadership  seminar  and  Bible  and  Culture  classes  near  Berlin.

Viktoria  went  to  mainland  Ukraine  to  get  a  new  Ukrainian  passport  and  to  visit  some  of  our  former  team  members.

in  the  know  do  not  know  the  applicable  laws.  Na-­‐talka  was  told  that  she  could  only  be  in  Crimea  for  90  days  and  then  would  have  to  leave  for  90  days  before  being  able  to  return  for  another  90  days.  But  now,  ‘they’  say  that  a er  90  days  she  only  has  to  cross  the  border  of  Crimea  and  then  she  can  re-­‐turn  for  another  90  days.  Natalka  is  about  to  test  that  ‘law’.

CIU  and  TMI  are  no  longer  able  to  work  under  the  non-profit  organiza on  that  we  set  up  in  Crimea,  nor  the  two  for-profit  organiza ons  we  previously  had  to  set  up;  now  we  must  create  yet  one  more  for-profit  business!  

I  share  these  “meanwhile,  back  at  the  ranch”  issues  for  you  to  understand  what  the  staff  is  working  through  for  the  sake  of  the  gospel,  for  the  oppor-­‐tunity  to  be  used  by  God’s  word  and  Spirit  to  reach  students  with  the  Good  News  and  to  help  believers  be  be er  equipped  to  serve  the  Lord  no  ma er  what  their  occupa on.    

Please  pray  regularly  for  me  and  our  staff  and  the  complica ons  we  face.  Pray  that  God  will  con nue  to  use  or  dwindling  team  to  touch  lives  to  his  glory.

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Anastasia  worked  in  a  children’s  camp  on  mainland  Ukraine.

The  staff  conducted  a  Summer  English  Camp  a er  every-­‐one  was  back  in  Simferopol.

Keep  praying  for  the  team  and  their  outreach  to  students,  including  orphans.

Natalka’s  CCX  camp  report The  con nuing  CCX  (Union  of  Chris an  Students)  is  a  fruit  of  our  ministry  as  well  as  a  fruit  of  CCX’s  na onal  ministry.  Just  observe  who  was  there.  Vitalik,  one  of  our  constant  English  and  Bible  students;  he  was  one  of  the  main organizers.  Alyona,  our  key  Bible  student,  was  a  leader  of  a  small  group.  Katya,  our  dorm  resident,  was  a  cook  and helped  with  everything.  Ira,  another  one  of  our  English  and  Bible  students,  was  a  par cipant.  And  I    was  a  speaker  for  two  days.

I  taught  about  what  it  means  to  serve  God.  I  tried  to  show  the  main  point  of  ministry,  which  is  to receive ministry  from  God  and  to  have  Him  as  a source of  our  ministry.  My  main  goal  was  to  encourage  students  to  a  deeper  rela onship  with  God  and  because  of  that  to  be  used  by  Him  in  His  ministry  for  His  glory. Students  seemed  to  be  very  open  and  recep ve.  I  really  have  hope  that  the  CCX  ministry  will  con nue  and  with  coopera on  with  our  ministry  will  bring  lots  of  fruits  among  the  students.

Natalka’s  French  camp  report  from  Teberda,  Russia It  was  a  good  camp,  although  shorter  than  when  we  have  it  along  the  Black  Sea.  More  days  were  needed  for  travel. Ben  said  my  mission  was  to  save  his  money  :).  It  means  managing  finances  and  communica on  with  the  hotel.  To  that  I  would  add  my  usual  mission  -  to  observe  the  stu-­‐dents  and  communicate  the  Gospel  when  I  see  their  ears  open.  As   me  was  short,  not  much  of  the  mission  was  accomplished,  although  I  had  a  few  talks  about  spiritual  ma ers.  One  thing  I  have  no ced,  Russian  students  have  some  spiritual  hunger  and  are  looking  for  sa sfying  it  in  the  Orthodox  Church. Also  this  year  there  was  another  the  third  mission  for  me  and  it  was  to  understand  Russian  students,  to  love  them  and  to  speak  to  them  from  my  Ukrainian  heart.  Due  to  the  poli cal  situa on  it  was  not  easy  to  be  in  Russia...  especially  when  people  in  Russia  have  lots  of  misunder-­‐standing  and disinforma on of  what  is  going  on  in  Ukraine.  Quite  a  few  talks  were  about  that  topic.  Person-­‐ally  for  me  it  was  the  experience of  figh ng  within  my  soul  to  forgive  the  na on  which  is  now  at  war  with  my  country.  It  was  painful  to  talk  to  Russians  about  poli cs...  but  anyway  it  was  good  in  some  way  to  open  their  eyes  to  some  things.

We  cooperate  with  French  without  Borders  to  reach  Rus-­‐sian  speaking  university  students  who  study  French.

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Shannon’s  Crimean  Tatar  camp  report  from  Crimea

I  was  put  with  the  youngest  group  of  kids  to  assist  two  main  leaders.    The  kids  were  around  the  ages  of  10  and  11,  and  we  had  about  20  in  our  group.    So  I  tried  to  help  maintain;  helped  with  projects  such  as  cra s;  played  games;  sang  songs,  assisted  as  dorm  mom,  etc.

This  was  a  Chris an  camp  specifically  for  Crimean  Tatar  kids.  Most  of  the  kids  were  not  from  believing  families.  Sev-­‐eral  of  them  were  returning  for  a  second  or  third   me,  be-­‐cause  they  really  love  this  camp.    

During  morning  sessions  they  were  taught  Bible  stories  and  had  to  memorize  Bible  verses  in  both  Russian  and  Crimean  Tatar.    In  evening  sessions  they  learned  Chris an  songs  in  Tatar,  played  compe ve  games  on  the  stage,  and  listened  to  lessons  by  various  leaders,  such  as  why  smoking  is  dan-­‐gerous  and  why  we  can’t  live  a  whole  day  without  sinning.    A ernoons  consisted  of  usually  swimming  in  a  nearby  lake  or  going  hiking  in  the  mountains  or  playing  sports  games  and  compe ons.    On  the  last  day,  we  passed  out  Tatar  children’s  reading  materials  to  those  who  promised  to  read  them.  These  reading  materials  were  translated  by  PBT.

And  all  went  away  with  knowing  Bible  verses  and  Chris an  songs.    Seeds  were  definitely  planted  this  week!

I  personally  made  two  new  adult  friends,  both  Crimean  Tatar.  

Summer  English  Program  at  the  Center  

We  had  seven  students;  four  of  them  said  they  would  like  to  con nue  coming  to  Shannon's  classes  in  the  fall.  Shannon  taught  on  various  themes,  including  the  vocabulary  and  prac ce  of  cooking!

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An  interes ng  hinge  of  history:

Russia  could  have  been  economically  greater  than  US  [except  that…]

We  have  completed  one  full  year  in  what  we  call   the  CIU  Center  (and  what  students  call  the  House   on   the  Hill).   In   that   year  we  have   con-­‐sistently   and   periodically   interacted  with   over  100   different   students.   Some   are   in   English  classes,  some  in  Bible  Classes,  and  others  are  in  English   classes   that   use   the   Bible   in   hopes   of  reaching   unbelievers.   Addi onally,   we   have  held  conferences,  seminars,  retreats  and  other  events  at  the  Center  which  are  not  counted   in  the  100+.  The  center  has  been  a  mee ng  place  for   various   local   ministries,   including   at   least  one  orphanage  outreach  ministry  and   the  Un-­‐ion  of  Chris an  Students  in  Ukraine.  Our  ‘Guest  House’  residents  have  been  impacted  for  Christ  as  we  seek  to  create  a  Chris an  community   in  our  House.  It  is  a  community  designed  to  make  unbelievers  not  only  welcome  but  a racted  to  what  we  have  to  offer.  

In   spite   of   obstacles,     with   faith   in   God,   we  have  great  expecta ons  for  this  new  academic  year.    

Olya’s  two  leadership/educa onal  experiences  near  Berlin

IFES  has  sponsored  several  of  our  staff  for  leadership  develop-­‐ment  and  Bible  study  and  teaching  mentoring  seminars.  

This  summer  Olya  a ended  two  separate  events  near  Berlin  (for  those  who  like  specifics  and  use  maps,  the  IFES  center  is  at  Woltersdorf  near  Rahnsdorf).  One  is  the  leadership  program  sponsored  by  Crosscurrents .  The  other  is  IFES’s  famed Bible  and  Culture  course,  which  students  can  take  in  segments  or  all  at  one   me  at  the  center.

These  programs  enhance  Olya’s  leadership  and  teaching  skills.    We  are  blessed  that  Olya  and  Natalka  have  been  chosen  for  several  different  programs  that  are  fully  funded  by  IFES.  

Some  of  our  graduates  work  with IFES  in  Ukraine,  where  it  called  by  its  Russian  ini als,  CCX  (Union  of  Chris an  Students)

Commonwealth  Interna onal  University’s  

Center  in  Ukraine  is  a

Disciple-making  student  ministry  

Bible  degree  gran ng  school  

Ministry  &  outreach  center

Send  dona ons  to  TMI,  PO  Box  1483,  Snellville,  GA  30078.  TMI  is  a  non-profit  501(c)3  which  quarterly  provides  tax  deduc ble  receipts.  Make  check  payable  to  TMI. Some  contributors  have  their  monthly  gi  automa -­‐cally  sent  by  their  bank;  if  you  prefer  that,  let  us  know  and  we  can  tell  you  how  to  do  it.  [email protected]

For  a  collec on  of  our  videos,  click  here.  

We  hope  to  have  a  video  of  the  life  and  work  of  TMI/CIU  in  Simferopol  next  month.  

See  TMI/Carillets' Newsle ers  and  Reports

A  story  from  CIU’s  new  students

Three   students   from   Sevastopol   are   now   residents   of  our  CIU  House  on  the  Hill.  They  were  enrolled  in  a  mod-­‐ern   college  which  actually   forbade   the   common   system  of  bribery  to  get  in  and  bribery  to  get  good  grades.  Fur-­‐thermore,   their   dorm   had   nice   rooms   and   furnishings  with   private   bathrooms   (maybe   between   two   rooms).  The   facili es   in   Sevastopol   were   owned   (and   probably  founded)  by  a  bank  (sorry,  do  not  know  the  na onality  of  the  bank)  but  it  was  raided  and  taken  over  by  “Russians”  and  will  be  used  for  other  purposes.  The  students  had  to  enroll   in   a   Simferopol  university   and   face  bribery.   They  checked   out   dorms   and   were   shocked   with   how   sub-­‐standard  they  are.  They  are  pleased  with  our  rooms,  but  they  do  not   compare   to   the   ‘state  of   the  art’   rooms  of  their  sacked  Sevastopol  school.  These  three  girls  are  very  outgoing  and  like  to  be  engaged  in  life,  so  the  staff  is  ex-­‐cited   about   their   addi on   to   the  House.   Pray   that   they  will   be   drawn   into   the   student   Bible   studies   and   find  Christ  at  our  House  on  the  Hill.

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Anastasia’s  Chidren’s  camp  report  from  Poltava,  Ukraine  

The  EEM  (Eastern  European  Mission)  camp,  team  “Mayak”  (“Lighthouse”)  worked  at  a  camp  in  the  Pol-­‐tava  region  of  Ukraine  this  year.  The  team  of  20  members  (10  Americans  and  10  na onals)  worked  with  around  150  children.  But  these  are  just  the  num-­‐bers.

It  is  always  hard  to  start  telling  about  a  camp.  Any  camp  is  more  than  just  numbers;  it  is  even  more  than  telling  children  about  Christ.  Every  camp  is  pre y  much  the  same,  but  at  the  same   me,  it  is  always  different.  A  camp  is  always  sharing  one’s  life  with  oth-­‐ers;  it  is  always  about  rela onships  and  bonding.  To  know  a  child’s  name  and  his/her  story  is  always  more  important  and  precious  than  any  ac vi es  you  do  to-­‐gether  or  gi s  you  bring  with  you.  It  is  always  about  every  single  child.  And  it  is  always  children  that  make  the  whole  difference.    

This  year  camp  was  excep onal.  The  team  we  had,  the  ac vi es  we  did  and  the  children  we  worked  with  were  just  wonderful.

In  order  to  connect  with  each  other  more,  we  gath-­‐ered  as  a  team  two  days  prior  to  the  camp.  We  dis-­‐cussed  the  lessons,  played  games  and  said  prayers  about  the  coming  camp.

When  we  finally  met  the  children  we  were  more  than  ready  and  so  excited.  This  year  I  worked  with  “home”  kids.  These  were  the  children  from  mul -child  fami-­‐lies.  At  first  I  was  afraid  they  would  be  naughty  and  not  willing  to  do  anything,  but  later  it  turned  out  they  were  the  children  any  teacher  could  only  dream  about.  We  arrived  to  the  camp  on  Saturday;  the  kids  would  follow  us  everywhere  asking  just  one  ques on,  “When  do  we  start  our  classes?”  That  was  a  com-­‐pletely  new  experience  for  me.  We  started  the  camp  program  on  Monday.  The  children  would  gladly  learn  the  Bible  verse  of  the  day;  they  enjoyed  our  simple  cra s  and  they  did  not  want  us  to  leave  when  our  program  was  over.

One  of  EEM’s  missions  is  distribu ng  Bibles  and  Chris-­‐an  literature  all  over  the  world  free  of  charge.  So  

they  brought  Bibles  and  several  different  books  of  Bible  stories  for  children  to  the  camp.  The  children  

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were  so  happy  to  get  the  books!  You  see,  it  is  to  orphans  that  we  abundantly  pour  out  Chris an  liter-­‐ature,  but  home  children  do  not  have  such  an  opportunity.  So  our  kids  were  grateful  for  the  gi s  and  during  the  nap   me  I  could  o en  see  some  of  them  reading  their  books  of  Bible  stories  for  children.  And  every  day  before  the  class  started  they  would  tell  about  a  sto-­‐ry  they  had  read  earlier,  inter-­‐rup ng  each  other.

Several  words  about  the  war  and  the  children.  The  war  could  be  felt  in  every  day  of  our  life  at  camp.  There  was  a  girl  in  my  group,  Kira,  who  wanted  me  to  teach  her  some  words  and  phrases  in  English.  She  easily  coped  with  “Hello,”  “My  name  is  Kira”  and  “I  am  from  Ukraine.”  But  at  some  point  she  asked  me  what  was  the  word  for  “war”  in  English.  I  asked  her  why  she  would  need  to  know  such  word.  The  answer  of  the  8  year  old  girl  struke  me,  “I  need  to  know  the  word  because  there  is  war  in  Ukraine.”  Simply  so.

Now  and  then  I  could  hear  the  boys  playing  war  be-­‐tween  separa sts  and  Ukrainian  armies.  If  our  cra  involved  pain ng  or  drawing,  those  would  be  mostly  blue  and  yellow    -  the  na onal  colors  of  Ukraine.  We  did   e-dye,  the  first  two  dyes  we  ran  out  of  were…  again  blue  and  yellow.  

Once  we  made  a  flag  of  Ukraine  out  of  beads  on  safety  pins  as  a  cra .  At  some  point,  when  everyone  was  absorbed  in  the  process  of  making  their  own  flag,  one  of  the  boys  started  singing  the  anthem  of  Ukraine.  Other  kids  joined  

him.  8  year  old  children  knew  the  anthem  of  their  country!  (When  I  was  8,  I  only  knew  how  to  find  the  Princess  in  “Super  Mario.”)  We  sang  the  anthem  twice.  I  was  holding  back  tears  while  feeling   ngles  down  my  spine.

I  am  grateful  to  the  Lord  for  this   me  and  connec on.  The  people  on  the  team  made  those  weeks  special.  But  it  is  the  children  I’ve  met  that  made  those  weeks  unforge able.  As  our  team  leader  once  said,  “Our  kids  made  a  huge  impact  in  our  lives.  They  taught  us  more  than  we  taught  them.  They  were  open  and  real  in  everything  we  discussed  and  did.”