Gospel News · January - April 2016

19
Carelinks | Ukraine
they can meet with others and gain some
sense of the body of Christ. We’re pleased to
report the baptisms of Elena, Tatyana, Vika
and Sasha. Here are a few highlights:
Elena
It’s hard being deaf and a single mother in
rural Ukraine, relying upon a tiny Government
pension which now has very little purchasing
power as the war in Ukraine has caused
runaway inflation and the collapse of the
currency. This led Elena to search for God and
His Son online, using her very slow telephone.
She was sent an? NEV Bible and soon grasped
the wonderful, liberating truth of Jesus. She
has shared the message with some other deaf
folk in her area and they are meeting with her.
This would make a great place to visit for
pastoral and further teaching work- although
it’s quite remote.
Our sister had never been to Kiev before. She
left her home, with her 3 year old daughter,
in the late afternoon. She got to Kiev at 6:30
in the morning. But she couldn’t figure how to
get from the railway station to the? Bible
School venue. After taking many wrong trams
and walking many kilometers on city streets,
she handed herself in to the Police, who
kindly took her to us. She arrived in a Police
transport late that evening.
Her tenacity was wonderful,
but it was no fun for a deaf
village woman to be lost on the
streets of a big city with her 3
year old child and no money at
all. But this was how much she
wanted to be baptized. Cindy
took good care of her as soon as
she arrived; she was able to
have a shower [quite a luxury
for her] and wash her and her
child’s clothes. She wanted to
be baptized immediately, in the
bath tub, but she waited till
the next day, when Cindy and
Maxim baptized her in a lake,
as this was her special wish,
once she realized there was
open water nearby. Despite the signs that
warned ‘Do not enter the water! Serious
pollution!’. Here she is, pictured above, on
arrival, and then at her baptism. Do pray for
Elena and her deaf contacts. She fitted in with
us all intuitively and naturally; for this is the
fellowship of the Spirit.
~ continued ...