I am not sure why and not sure who... but while on a 3-day getaway to the Carpathian Mountains with the family I got a call from Lubomir, our assistant pastor, saying he arrived at 10 am to work on Friday morning only to find the front door had been badly burned. See photos in album.

 

As far as we know we have no enemies, it could have been just a random act of vandalism. We doubt it was attempted burglury because it is clear to most that the door is made of metal and the wood is simply the facade.  We all have our suspicions of who it might of been, and all have a good arguments to counteract those suspiscions. Regardless it was someone who is hurting for some reason, so we lift up prayers for that hurting soul.

 

We will need $100 to repair the wood facade on the door, and aproximately $50 to do some repainting in the hallway. In general the hallway was in bad condition so added smoke damage doesn't make it look much worse. The hallways in these Ukrainian cities are the responsibility of the city super, but rarely get cared for. Perhaps another $20 will be needed to replace the welcome mat, some cleaning supplies, and spruce things up a little.

 

Overall we are very grateful that the whole building did not catch on fire. It could have very easily as the wood steps leading up to the door still had burning embers in them when the fire dept came to inspect on Friday afternoon. We are also glad that we invested in a metal door 15 months ago when we moved in.  We have seen colleagues get broken into recently, and should the arsonist been able to enter he could have done extensive damage as well as stolen much needed equipment.

 

We pray, of course, that this was in no way related to our confession of faith, and that we have not wronged anybody in such a way that they felt they needed to retaliate.  This may simply have been an act of kids in the building playing with matches, or any number of men who drink to much but reside in the building. We are quite confident that what someone meant for evil God will use for good.  We are not frightened and suprizingly have been able to keep a good and humorous attitude about us.

 

We would appreciate your prayers that such behavior would not continue. We offer thanks to God for the protection of His saints and this humble ministry!  

 

 

   

I completely forgot to mention the Phosphorus spill which occured after a train derailed near Lviv about 2 weeks ago. 
 
I wasn't aware that you all were hearing news of the spill in the states. I know it did make it on the BBC but didn't know it got back to the USA. We actually have some students who are from this area and even have some live footage on a cell phone camera of the massive dark cloud above the villages in the region. One of our students took the footage as they were evacuating.
 
What we hear is that their is no immediate threat to us in Lviv.  It took place in the Lviv oblast (State) but some 70 kms from the city and the wind was blowing away from Lviv that week.  Of course some government official got his name in the news for calling it worse than Chernobyl but this was a huge exaggeration.  The word still isn't out yet on what harm has been done to the soil and water in the area. Residents are welcome to move back in, as is my student, but they honestly don't know who to trust in terms of safety - when one official says all is well, and others say it couldn't be worse.
 
As for our Student residing directly in the area, Vova Paskiv, he has gone home to pack up a few things and bring the back to Lviv. During the school year he lives in Lviv so he will just come back a little early.  He too is clueless as to who to trust regarding the safety of the area.

 

We have been advised not to eat products coming from this area so already we know the economic impact will be significant until this gets cleared up. The US Embassy also reports (unofficially) no immediate threat to the population of Lviv.

 

Ukraine, as always, needs your prayers.
Thanks for your interest. 

 
Be blessed,
Fred

 

Andrij Tachin, a recent graduate, incredible fencer and trainer, and strong methodist lay leader here at "Youth To Jesus" is off to Moscow for an entrance interview at our United Methodist Moscow Theological Seminary. 

 

He is on a 24 hour train ride from Lviv. I have been sending him text messages of encouragement as he travels. He replied to one of them with the following words:

 

"You are a really good pastor, I'm really appreciate your care. And i will hardly try to do my best for the Glory of God. Be blessed!"  

 

"Hardly try" struck me funny.  I am 99.6% sure that he meant "Try hard" :)

Just another day in the world of language barriers. :) 

Last night we closed our pilgrims meeting as we often do - in a circle squeeze prayer. As the chance to pray aloud is passed around, students make thier petitions known to God. We have done this a million times but last night it just really struck me just how often they pray specifically for us, Stacy and myself. They thank God for us, and pray God's protection, guidance, and strength on our family. Honestly I never really absorbed how beautiful this is until last night. But while they were praying, I thought to myself, have I ever prayed for my spiritual leaders in thier presence ever... ever? What a blessing!

 

Thanks to the special support of the MN Annual Conference, I was able to visit the Holy Land with fellow pastors and Laity of UMN in MN.  We had a 10 day trip with the Society Of Biblical Studies which was very well organized and included not only a highly informative pilgrimage of holy sites, but also an instructive look at the modern conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

 

I went expecting to be blessed by the scenes of biblical stories, and, in all honesty, prepared to block out much of the discussion on the contemporary conflict, but in fact, I found myself deeply engaged. A person can’t help but be engaged when you see the size of the wall that cuts through the west bank, and you see poverty incurred by the economic sanctions on Palestinians.

 

It was all very powerful and I am still processing what I learned. We often refer to these tours as “walk where Jesus walked tours” but one person commented that for only ten days I better slogan would be “run where Jesus walked tour”.  That’s for sure.

 

I must admit too, I was prepared to see much of the Holy Sites as “touristy, shrine-y, and over commercialized” but I was in fact very awed by the shear vastness of the Dead Sea, the beauty of the desert of the Qumran community, and the splendor of desert monastic living along the wadi between Jericho and Jerusalem.  And I was simply impressed by how quickly the topography changes in the region in general. It was worth seeing. I recommend it to anyone. I especially advocate traveling with The Society For Biblical Studies, under Rev. Peter Milano.  http://www.sbsedu.org/

A couple weeks ago we had the great privilege to learn under Adam Hamilton from Church of the Resurrection.  A group of 10 or so joined him outside of Kiev, Ukraine, and they led us in a workshop and evangelism seminar for Pastors and Laity of the UMC around Ukraine and Moldova. Stacy and I were grateful to attend along with Lubomir, Andrij, and Olya all from our ministry in Lviv. 

It was hands down the best conference we have been apart of in terms of practical helps for church growth.  Adam provided many tools that are useful not only for ministry in Ukraine but for ministry in general. We were very blessed to have been able to glean from his experience and practice.

I have been meeting daily with Andrij as he prepares for seminary entrance exams. On one particular day we were discussing the importance of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. 

 

Within Judaism there is also a holiday of Pentecost, in fact, that is why so many were in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came. I wanted Andrij to grasp the significance that folks from all over were already in the city for the Jewish holiday and thereby Peter’s message reached a wide audience. So I him something like, “keeping the Jewish holiday of Pentecost in mind, what can we learn about this event?” His response was “so, we can see that God works on Holidays.”  

One of the pluses of missionary life is the incredible hedge of prayer we know we walk in because of so many believers back home keeping us in prayer. We know its true, and we know so many people who have never even seen us face to face lift us up. We get cards and letters from United Methodist Women's groups who saw our names in the UM prayer calendar and wanted to let us know they prayed for us.

 

Another huge bonus is the care packages!!! Woo hoo! 

 

The thing about care packages is not the stuff but the stuff behind the stuff. Yes we love the tortilla chips, and the peanut butter cups, but its not that we only love them, we love them because they remind us of home.

 

In one of the last boxes though we got something interesting. A bar of soap called Natural Scentsations. A little card reads "congratulations! You have just purchased a pure and natural bar of handmade soap! There is no greater pleasure than bathing in its silky, fragrant lather." I cracked it open and to my suprize what y'all call Natural and Handmade soap in the USA is just called soap here. Kind of funny. This bar of soap was selected by a very compassionate person. That person wanted us to experience a real pleasure. To pamper ourselves a little. But little did she know the markets are full of this kind of soap.

 

But you know, I like the soap I got better, because it reminded me of home. Now, I have never used that kind of soap at home, but it reminded me of how gracious you all are back home. 

 

Thanks for the CARE that comes in the packages!  

Before coming to Ukraine we alwasys called Kiev, Kiev or pronounced "KeeYev" but in fact, Ukrainians speaking Ukrainians call it Kyiv or "KeeYeev". Now it seems the US State Department has decided it will too. So its official. Check out this news article. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_ukraine_capital_1

 

By the way Lviv is also spelled many different ways in English. Lviv, Lyviv, Lyvyv, and in russian it is called Lvov with its many transliterations. But we are sticking with Lviv.

 

If you have not received our "October 2006 FOR ALL ITS WERF" e-newsletter please download it here. http://www.cc-um.org/christchurch/fred_and_stacy_vanderwerf . You can find any of our past newsletters available for down load there as well. If you would like to receive them by email then please let us know at werfsagain@hotmail.com.

 

Just what happened? Seems like Stacy and I just packed up our 10 pieces of luggage (including guitar, and purse) and made are way to Ukraine to start out our lives as young missionaries. I remeber the 10 bags contained pretty much everything we owned that we couldn't squeeze in Mom's closet in Windom, MN (it still is there, thanks mom).

 

We had no idea what we were embarking on. We got to Lviv, and after the initial culture shock (3 months of begging God for some kind of injury or illness that would allow us to return home with dignity), we some how found a groove. Still we were so free. Yes, we couldn't keep our eyes from twitching after 8 hour days of looking at cyrillic, but we had so much free time. 

 

After language school we got up the nerve to invite some students to our home for discussions on religion, Christianity, bible, missionaries, grace, faith, and "do aliens exist" and "does God know it?". 

 

But what happened. Now my kids come with 10 bags any time we travel just 50 kilometers. And why do I say "kilometers"? Man, we got real messed up. And what happened to the free time?

 

I remember when we signed on, the GBGM encouraged us to do nothing that first year besides language learning. Note to self-that's a good idea. I couldn't imagine trying to learn it now - too busy. One of those first students is now working along side us as a pastor and we still don't have enough time in the day to get everything done.

 

And then their is just the culture changes. We had nothing but reruns of Walker Texas Ranger and Alf on the tube with Russian dubbing. Now we can get Season 2 of Lost in Ukrainian.  When we got here students dressed in one color - black. You never saw a pair oh Khakis and cargos were for the military only. That's changed.

What happened? I don't know, but its fun. And man, have we seen God at work. Somehow this became our home, and God filled it with not only tons of students, but two boys of our own. We be blessed, that's fo sho!

 

FYI - Lviv now has sliced bread. And well. Its the next best thing to well, sliced bread! Never thought I missed sliced bread, but it turns out it is rather handy. I am heading a little lake trip with Levi and a handful of students and, man, sandwhiches are so much easier and thiner when you have pre-sliced bread. Sweet!

Man what a bummer. I went to get a normal hotdog. You know cabbage, corn, carrots, beets, and all I got was a dog with cabbage and mayo.

Durning the first week in May we were hosted 3 folks from First UMC, Sugar Land, TX. The leter below is some thoughts from their visit.

 

Dear Friends and Family,

When I wrote the letter to ask for your support and prayers for our Ukraine Mission Trip, I had no idea that my life would be changed forever.  It was a blessed trip from beginning to end and before I go into details, I want to thank you again for your prayers and financial support. It would NOT have happened without you.

Lviv is a city of 800,000 people mostly living in connected 3 and 4 story apartment buildings. While some of the wealthiest people live in houses on the outskirts of the city, for the most part people do not live in houses, but in apartments. Large families of 2 or 3 generations might all share a small one bedroom apartment. Space is at a premium. Running water is available only from the hours of 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Water storage tanks are used by some to increase water availability, but many do not have that luxury.  The average meal we ate cost $3. While a can of Pringles, imported from the U.S.A. cost $3.40.

Missionaries Fred and Stacy Vanderwerf’s ministry is for university students and some high school students. These students are very familiar with ritualistic worship, but for the most part don’t have a concept of bible study, prayer life, and a personal relationship with Christ. The Student Center is the new facility where Fred and Stacy carry out their ministry. It has just been purchased and is on the fourth floor of one of the apartment buildings. There is no elevator. It has 2 large rooms, 1 small room, 1 small bathroom, a kitchen, and an entrance area. It is in need of renovation and while we were there, we did a great deal of cleanup to get it ready for the Open House. In the near future, both the kitchen and bathroom must be completely replaced as well as all of the walls scrubbed for removal of the old Soviet chalk paint.

The Student Center Open House was a great success. Fred was hoping for 30 and instead, had 55 (standing room only!). We sang worship songs which one team member, Roxann, helped to play, sing, and lead. We heard personal testimonies from three students. The slide show and lyrics were projected onto a new screen, which we made for the center out of cloth, a few of my humble stitches, and good old American ingenuity.  I talked about our support for their center trying to express the concept that God requires our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service as the reason for our visit.  Fred gave one of the funniest and most meaningful messages I’ve ever heard. We provided lots of food at the close of the event and like U.S. students, Ukrainian students love to eat. (We brought some Texas pecans and Jelly Bellies to go along with native cookies, veggie trays, and chips.) We also shared some gifts from our church with the students, both pens and mouse pads, which identify our church by name so the students can pray for our membership. We also gave them all miniature cowboy boot key rings which were a big hit!

Other events we participated in included guitar lessons, testing for English class placement, small group bible study, and English Club. Each event was a blessing and wonderful interaction with the students. Each team member, Debbie, Roxann and John gave of their unique talents in order for these events to be a success.

Overall, Lviv welcomes and is very friendly to Americans. The students are all very anxious to learn English and the Vanderwerfs’ ministry offers a number of opportunities to learn and practice English. Since their independence in 1991, the Ukraine is more welcoming to and inviting of Western ways. We were privileged to be in Lviv for a national holiday. The students asked us to attend a festival which included traditional folk songs rewritten for modern dance interpretation (one of the students in the ministry is a part of this dance troupe), and very loud rock music, rap music and Euro Pop. Roxann, John and I stood shoulder to shoulder with the students dancing and enjoying the hilarity of youthful fellowship. It was a wonderful time of laughter and joy.

There is so much to tell you. I wish I could go into detail about

• the students that I got to know;
• the holiday celebrations we got to be a part of;
• the tour to the village and farmlands;
• the ornate churches;
• the cobblestone streets;
• the merchants in the local stores;
• the surprising water restrictions;
• the delicious food, paprika chips, apple fizz drink.
• the beautiful weather;
• the powerful devotions with the mission team and Fred and Stacy;
• the delightfully fun craft and vegetable markets;
• the dear lady on the bus who shared her sausage;
• the outdated hospital facilities and the sadly ill premature babies;
• And the bustling subway in Kiev.

I learned so much in just six days. (Four of the ten days was spent traveling.) As it is when God is involved, I gained far more blessings than I gave. Next year, we want to send a team of 10, including college students, to conduct a summer camp with the Ukrainian students. The thought of that event holds so much excitement for us all. Please continue to pray for the Vanderwerfs and their student mission in Ukraine. So many of the students are standing on a precipice, about to take the leap and ask Jesus Christ into their lives. Imagine the impact on our world if each of them becomes a disciple!

Thank you for your prayers and your gifts. You allowed me to be the hands and feet of Christ for which I am ever grateful. May God Bless and Keep you, and Make His Face to shine upon you, until we meet again.

Love Always,

 

Debbie (Roxann and John)

No, I'm not going to do it! I am not going to work this weekend, tempting as it may be. You would think living a bi-cultural life I would be able to celebrate both American and Ukrainian holidays. ie. I would get more days off. But, for some reason I find myself working on American Easter weekend, because no one is celebrating it on this part of the world, and now today begins the Easter holiday on Eastern side of the church, and I am still tempted to work, because its not the Easter I grew up with.

Same story at Christmas time. But no. I am taking a three day weekend! Its not as if I don't have anything to do, but I need this. Renovation work, moving work, preparations for a team visiting - NO,  I am taking it! See you Tuesday AM.

 

We still have not yet moved into our new Student Center, we are about 3 weeks behind schedule. What's keeping us? Well I have been advised to install a new steel door, new locks, and grates on the windows. All of the above are for security measures.

 

The woman assured me that she hadn't been robbed in the 30+ years she lived there, but my construction advisor assured me that unlike our student minitsry, the woman had nothing worth stealing.  So, though I dread it, we are installing grates on fourth floor windows.

 

Your thinking fourth floor? Who would... how would... what kind of crazy... Well, Yura lives on the top of a 12 story building and he has been robbed twice through the windows of the balconies.

 

Pray for us and our wait to move, and pray for the center's security.

 

15 months since the Orange Revolution of 2005 and we have Elections underway for parilment. The results should be in officially sometime today. At stake is the position of Prime Minister. Ukraine government is uniquely designed having both a Prime Minister and a President. The president (currently Victor Yushenko) has five year terms. Since the Orange Revolution some former powers of the presidency were reduced in placed into the hands of the parliment and Prime Minister.

 

Yesterday people voted and it appears that the "bad guy" of the Orange Revolution, Victor Yanikovich, may very well be elected as prime minister. Definitely it appears that pro-Russian pms are coming out much more victorious this election as there is much division in the Orange camp.

 

Folks are very displeased here in Lviv with Yushenko for one particular reason. There is still no one sitting behind bars for fraud in last years elections and no one under the earlier Kuchma regime is behind bars for such heinous crimes as murder, particularily the murder of a prominent reporter.

 

The one success of this year's election though, is that they are fare and free. Though the country has reverted back some towards Russia, at least the people have spoken and their votes are being counted. For that reason alone the Orange Revolution made its impact on democracy in Ukraine.

  

I am sitting at the computer preparing for tonight's Thursday night Bible Study and Worship time which we call Pilgrims (in Ukrainian it is Piligrimi). I really feel the need to tell you the exciting news of what happened last week at Piligrimi.

 

Since we have been using the Purpose Driven Life books in small groups I thought I would also use it to help lay the purpose of our Piligrimi group. Last week was the last purpose - mission to the world through evangelism. We talked a lot about the words of Christ when he says "You shall be my Witnesses." What does that mean?  What does He expect from us when it comes to testifying.  I thought at the end the best way to give our young people in idea of what it means to witness I should do so myself. So I shared something from my past. When I was about their age.

 

Someday I will share it with you, but to make a long story short, I talked about how I understood God as a kid and how I wanted there to be so much more to my religion then the boredom I felt at church. Then a guy named Joel Erickson got to be freinds and through that freindship I got to know a college kid named Mark Weins who was totally a blaze with Christ!  They guy was and is a Jesus Freak!  To make a long story short one eveing at a Whiteheart Christian Rock concert in Minneapolis, a band member began to witness of his own life. Then he gave the opportunity to accept Christ in a prayer. He asked us to raise our hands if we had never prayed to do that before in our life. I hadn't so I raised my hand. Hoping of course my freinds wouldn't see it. Then he gave an opportunity to for those who raised their hands to come forward to the stage. I didn't want to go. Too embarassing. I was a good Methodist. It wasn't like I wasn't a Christian - or was it. I don't know still to this day. But then he said a freind could come up with us if we wanted. Joel looked at me and said "lets go!"

 

The was a special moment in my life. A time when I said I am going to follow Christ once and for all! I am going to let Him rule my life and no longer live for the world.

After I shared that with the group (in more detail then i gave you here) I said, you know what I think there might be people here who want to let Christ in, who want to pray a prayer of confession and ask Christ into their hearts.  We prayed and the Spirit led 3 of our Pilgrims to pray that prayer for the first time. It was a powerful moment in my life to watch how God woos His children to Himself.  It was a moment that reminded me what a pleasure it is to serve God! 

Many of you ask me what things cost on this side of the world, so I thought I would use an international illustration we can all relate to  - a McDonald's hamburger!

 

When we arrived in 2000 you could by a Double Cheesburger Exta Value Meal for $1.48.  Value meals here include the double cheesburger, a small drink, and a medium fries (so not quite as big as a standard american value meal which has a large drink and large fries, and no free refills).

 

Around 2003 I remember it increased to $ 1.90

In 2005 it was $2.33

And just last week it has raised to $2.47.

 

In terms of local currency, it was 8 UAH, then 10 UAH, then 12 UAH, and now 12.75.

 

The interesting thing is McDonalds is always full and average salaries in Ukraine are about $100/month!