MTW Missionary
I live in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, Ukraine, about 80 kilometers southwest of Odessa) and have been a part of the MTW Ukraine team for 10 years. There is a small church and medical clinic in Belgorod. Though I don’t work as a nurse at the clinic, my nursing knowledge and experience often prove very helpful – whether I am trying to help someone with a spiritual problem, assist the clinic staff in shaping their ministry or help them improve care for patients with physical problems. I seek to disciple in my everyday relationships and to support both the church and the clinic as they grow and develop in living out their faith in Christ.
Some of the ways I seek to serve are:
- Communicating with those who support the church and clinic ministries (prayer letters, website, videos)
- Coordinating the visits of short-term teams from the US
- serving on the clinic’s administrative council
- developing teaching materials for translation
- overseeing the financial support that comes through MTW and communicating what is going on here in Belgorod with the MTW Ukraine team
- helping in the weekly Bible club type ministry in the state orphanage near the clinic
- serving on the executive board of the Life Care Center, a crisis pregnancy center, in the city of Izmail
- teaching women’s Bible studies and seminars, participating in other Bible studies
- meeting with several for prayer and discipling – formally and informally
- tutoring in English;
- help as a translator when needed
- most of all, trying to help my Ukrainian brothers and sisters to have a deepening love and understanding of God’s word, so that there would be a strong connection between what they say they believe with what they do, and to have a true reliance on His Spirit.
Prayer Requests:
Ukraine as a nation
We so very much need your prayers that God’s Spirit would work in the hearts of people, for only He can cause them to consider the state of their souls, only He can convict of sin and give living faith.
MTW team, church leaders, ministries/businesses:
Please pray that leaders especially will be humbly reliant on the Spirit’s power to serve. Pray that these churches and ministries will be firmly established on God’s word, and that they will be used by the Lord to be bright lights for the Gospel throughout Ukraine, other Russian speaking countries and the world. Please pray that the Ukrainian believers, our team and I will be growing deep in our faith and in repentance, and that God’s truth will continue to shine in our hearts.
Belgorod- Dnestrovsky
(church)
Please pray for the Lord to help this church grow in love for Him, His word and for one another. Pray for the developing leaders that the Lord will give them humility, wisdom and understanding in how to shepherd the church as it is today and vision for the future. Pray that their love for and trust in Him would grow and that they would hold out the bright light of God’s love in their families, in the community and the world around them.
(clinic)
Please pray that the Lord will help the staff members who are believers to see their great need for His word and power to live a life of faith that reflects Him. Pray that the clinic ministry will be a bright light in our community, and that it will testify of His mercy. Pray that the Lord will use it to help people come to know Him (patients and our unsaved physicians/coworkers) and that He will use it to strengthen the local church.
(me)
Pray that in my ongoing relationships with people that I will have opportunities for witnessing, teaching, learning and discipleship in everyday circumstances, opportunities to love and understand. Pray that I will be one who abides in Christ, and that He will make ways for my relationship with Him – (faith, fear, failure and success) to come into my relationships with the people around me. Pray that I will be faithful in prayer - so often the circumstances I find myself in are far beyond my power to change.
(short-term ministry teams)
Please pray for the Lord to be glorified through these teams. There is an incredible need in Belgorod and throughout the other church plants for discipleship, the presence of mature believers that the Holy Spirit can use to help people truly grow deep and grow steadily in their faith in Christ. Please pray that the Lord will call people to serve in this way.
