Snapshots from Ukraine
December 2003 update from Bob & Andrea Burnham, serving in Odessa, Ukraine
Packing Up!
It's 11:30pm right now, our flight to America leaves in 12 hours, things are scattered all over our living room, and it looks suspiciously like we may not be able to pack it all into our remaining suitcases. We're not quite in that frantic stage yet, but we're getting a little nervous. So, with all this going on right now, why in the world are we worrying about a newsletter?!! Has the Ukraine cold gotten to us? Have we lost our minds?? Actually, the first draft of this letter was written a couple of days ago and we hadn't gotten around to editing it yet. So what you're receiving is pretty raw. Before we move into our next phase of ministry, however, we wanted to make sure everyone knew what was going on with us. Plus, we thought it fitting to send our last missive about the closest friend we have in Ukraine -- Snezhana Popova.
Unforgettable
Shezagne? Snezhila? Sneeze on ya? No. Her name is Snezhana (sne-ZHAH-na), a derivative of the Russian word for "snowflake," and I've yet to meet an American who can correctly pronounce or remember her name -- that is, until they get to know her. Once that happens, you'll never forget Snezhana. She was actually one of the first people we met when we moved to Ukraine in July of 1995. We needed translators and she was one of the best we had seen. She was also hungry to know spiritual truth, but that hunger began long before we arrived.
Growing up, Snezhana's family never talked about God but they loved books. Among their collection was a very rare book that few people in the Soviet Union possessed: a Bible. On occasion Snezhana tried to read the Bible, but confessed that when she started with the New Testament she lost interest in the genealogy of Matthew, and when she began reading in the Old Testament she reached Leviticus and decided it was just too weird. She did find it interesting, however, that the Soviet Manifesto borrowed about 70% of their information regarding ethics from the Bible. In fact, due to their exposure to the manifesto, she explained, many communists believed (and still do believe) that a person will be judged favorably in heaven according to the amount their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds. Not having anyone else to explain God's gift of grace to her, Snezhana went through her twenties believing God's acceptance of her was based on how "good" she was.
Shortly before the Spring of 1995, two women approached Snezhana and asked her if she was a Christian. She knew she wasn't a Buddhist, and most everyone in Ukraine is Russian Orthodox, so she said yes. They then asked her if she wanted to study the Bible with them. "I was afraid and wanted to say no," Snezhana told me, "yet, almost surreally, I heard myself telling them, 'yes, I'd like that.'" Finally, she was able to learn from someone about the Bible! After three months of studying with these women, Snezhana learned the name of the new group she was joining -- Jehovah's Witnesses.
She continued to study with these women for an additional three months but became suspicious of their Bible knowledge because the answers they gave to her "just didn't sound right." Her grandmother was a Russian Orthodox believer and prayed to Jesus as God. Snezhana also believed that Jesus is God but these people kept insisting that He isn't.
By summer of that year she heard about a group called CoMission arriving in Izmail to work. This group was made up of Americans who needed interpreters. Since she needed a job, Snezhana applied and soon began to work with them. Unfortunately, Snezhana was tired of hearing people talk about the Bible and suspected that, just as every woman in Ukraine has her own version of "borsch" beet soup, each new group she encountered would have their own version of the "truth." As an interpreter, though, she had no choice but to hear and communicate this group's truth. She soon discovered that the CoMission's interpretation of Bible scripture was, indeed, different from the Jehovah's Witnesses' interpretation, and she couldn't discern who was correct.
Though her spiritual senses were dull, Snezhana's natural senses worked well. Being a people person, she started to observe everything about the relationships she was developing. The following six months allowed her to see the actions of the CoMission Americans toward each other -- how they respected one another, showed love to one another, could laugh about everyday things, and acknowledged their weaknesses openly to one other. She was also greatly influenced by how they treated her. She had studied with the Jehovah's Witness group, but those women had never shared their lives with her, or desired to know more about her life. She finally decided that her grandmother had to be right.
After half a year of serving as a CoMission interpreter, Snezhana put her full trust in Jesus Christ. As she tells it, she experienced a dramatic change in her life. Her motives, world perspective and attitude toward others began to reflect the loving God she now desired to serve. Those who worked on that early CoMission team, including the two of us, also saw the changes in her life and in her family members' lives. Today she is a pillar of strength and grace in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Izmail. For the first years of this young church she has served faithfully as a facilitator of a weekly women's Bible study and is now organizing a teen group in order to encourage and reach out to Dasha's (her 12 year old daughter) many friends. Snezhana is also a part of a weekly English class outreach in her community, and will soon be graduating from seminary!
As she prayed about how she could best use her gifts for God's glory, Snezhana found that God chose to use her strengths as well as directed her to show His compassion through her weaknesses and the painful events of her life. Though she and her husband, Sasha, have a beautiful daughter, it had been difficult to become pregnant and Snezhana miscarried many times. They still desire to have another child but for many years now have been unable to. Growing up in Ukraine, Snezhana knew about the common reality of abortion used as birth control. In fact, the average woman in Ukraine will have eight abortions in her lifetime. All public sector doctors are required to perform free abortions and more than half of all pregnancies in Izmail end in this way. Izmail's main orphanage has a capacity for 250 children but they currently only have 45. Having such a deep desire for a child drove Snezhana to question why so many other women choose to end their babies' lives. By God's divine appointment, Snezhana was exposed to the work of CrisisPregnancyCenter and resolved to organize a similar counseling program for pregnant women in her home city.
Everything came together rather quickly from that time forward! She received information from CPC, translated it into Russian and soon trained seven other women in Izmail to counsel expecting mothers and talk with teens and/or through school programs about abstinence. Just in the last few months money has been generously donated which will allow for her group to purchase a three-room flat and provide free pregnancy testing and counseling. Snezhana has plans for the center to also offer educational programs for these women. A library has been established to educate the women on what to expect during their pregnancy, delivery and post-partum. Sewing and knitting courses will be provided so they can make many of the things they'll need, and computer and English skills can be taught with the hope that they can get better jobs to support themselves. The women will be given points for every class they attend, and they can use their points to purchase diapers, baby clothing, medicine, formula, etc. from the center. While every volunteer is trained to counsel, evangelism is of greatest importance because the volunteers know that lasting hope is only found through the love of Jesus Christ.
It's amazing for the two of us to see how God has worked in the lives of so many people we've met here in Ukraine, and through God's grace Snezhana is a great example of someone who has gone on to impact many others. She's had a big impact on us too. It was Snezhana who asked us three and a half years ago if we would return to help the church-plants here in southern Ukraine! The rest -- as the saying goes -- is history.
Quick answers about the Burnham's transition to Career Missions status.
1. What will you be doing in America?
Our family is returning to America to begin the transition to Career Missionary status. We believe that God is calling us to continue in the church-planting work of this region and we want to do whatever we can to be used by Him. During this time in the states we'll go through additional testing and preparation, and then we'll visit individuals and our supporting churches, as well as raise additional support to continue our work. In our first term as Career Missionaries Bob will be responsible for helping Mission to the World teams throughout Europe and Eastern Europe fill strategic roles that are crucial to their church-planting goals.
2. Should I stop sending monthly support?
The short answer is, if you are able to continue to give, PLEASE DO CONTINUE. This is probably the most crucial time that you could give. Most of you committed to supporting our ministry for two years -- and we've been here for two and a half -- so thank you for sticking with us! We're genuinely grateful for every single one of you who have given so sacrificially during this difficult economic time. Now, as we begin the application and support raising process again, we will remain on support and will actually need to raise an additional amount. The sooner we are able to bring in the necessary support, the sooner we can get back to work. We hope you'll pray about whether God is leading you to continue supporting us in our ministry, and if you're not supporting us now, we hope you'll consider doing so. We'll be in touch!
3. When will you leave and where will you be?
We will fly out of Odessa on Friday, December 5th, and will be spending Christmas with Bob's family in Pensacola, FL.After the new year we'll be living in a mission house in Augusta, Georgia. During the month of December we can be reached at:
565 Gerhardt Drive / Pensacola, FL32503(850)432-5335
Note new email address:
Contest / Ministry
Congrats to Dan and Leslie Edwards who got the multiple choice contest correct. Actually, almost everybody got it correct -- way to go! -- but Dan and Leslie were the third ones to send in their answer. Leslie really wanted to make sure she received her gift, so she actually came to Ukraine to get it! She and some others from Covenant Presbyterian in Birmingham arrived end of October and were involved in numerous ministry outreaches including teen outreach, medical ministry, drug & alcohol counseling, home winterization, and a presentation of Bach's "B-minor Mass" to a sold out crowd at Odessa's Philharmonic Hall (conducted by Tom Saxon -- again!) Thanks to all who came and gave so much -- you can't imagine the impact you've had on this city.
Vuistovka! (Exhibition!)
It's Murphy's Law that things are always busiest when you have the least amount of time at your disposal. Well, Ukraine is not immune from Murphy's Law and the last two weeks have been a whirlwind. Our church's YAMers (Young Adult Ministry) had their annual conference last weekend and Bob was their main speaker. He spoke for three sessions on the theme of "seeing truth clearly in a world of lies." This week we also had the pleasure of opening the first-ever photography exhibition in the foyer of our new church! We thought it would be a nice goodbye / outreach to the community to display some of Bob's photographs of nature and pair them with Scripture. Several of our friends rallied around us to help us make enlargements, mat, and arrange 33 of our favorite nature photos. The presentation turned out well and will continue to remain in the foyer of our church for the month. With the beginning of the new year the exhibition will move on to the churches in Belgorod and Izmail.
We keep you in our prayers, and hope you'll continue to do the same for us. Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting us with your monthly giving and encouragement. We miss and love you all.
We pray that you'll have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS as you rejoice in the God who loves you beyond all comprehension!
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19
In His glorious grace,
Bob, Andrea, Abigail & Emily Burnham