Monday, December 22, 2014

November/December updates

Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers and support of Kiev Evangelism Ministry!  November was a difficult month for most Ukrainians, as most struggle with job loss and financial insecurity.  Our family is extremely grateful to God, that, while at times we were short on cash, we always had exactly enough to make it.  

In November, the biggest obstacle in our ministry is that we are still seeking the resolution to, is our car problem.  As many of you know, our car was hit by another car on the way back from the October mission trip to Eastern Ukraine. Here is the picture right after the accident. The car is currently not drivable, and we don’t know whether to repair the car, or just to sell it as it is and save money to buy a better car later.






At the time of the accident, we only had liability insurance, which means that unless the court rules that the accident was the other driver’s fault, we will not get any compensation for the damages to our car.  We also see that there is still immense corruption within the judicial system here, and it’s very possible that the other driver bribed the police officer or the judge to rule in his favor.  Right now we are currently waiting for the final court date, which they have still not notified us about.

For our family, and for the ministry of public evangelism, our car is essential, and without it, we are not able to do as much as we used to do.

Would you please pray for the court date to come before the new year, and for us to receive some financial compensation for the damages to the car? Please also pray that we would make the wisest decision about whether to sell this car and buy another car.  We do not sense clearly what God wants us to do right now.

However, even without the car we have still been busy with great ministry opportunities that God has provided.
Oles's ministry responsibilities for this winter are the following:
  1. Oles has the opportunity to preach and be a chaplain to basketball players in the Hibel Christian Basketball league, which actually consists of unbelieving players. He plans to keep being a chaplain and evangelizing there until the end of the season.
  2. Oles will lead four home groups this winter, and if the Lord wills, he may lead a new home group in the spring because our current home group is over-crowded and can't meet the spiritual and community needs of the people.
  3. Oles preached a harsh and rebuking sermon recently to the older group of kids in our church, and he thought that they would not love him after that, but we understood later that the kids actually loved it.  Oles's mentor for the kids ministry told him that his sermon was not typical for the kids.
  4. Oles also read a book about evangelizing to the Orthodox culture. After talking with our pastor Nikolay, Oles believes that soon he will start to organize a new conference to train believers how to better evangelize to the Orthodox culture here in Ukraine.


Also, this weekend, our church Almaz will host  the conference “Don’t waste your life.” The conference had so many people registering, that they ran out of space and had to permanently close registration!  What a blessing, to run out of space because so many people eagerly want to come and seek God and a life that glorifies Him more!

Friends, it is not too late to make an end-of-the-year donation to the work that GCM is doing through our ministry in Ukraine.  Would you prayerfully consider making a special gift or recurring monthly donation to GCM on behalf of Kiev Evangelism Ministry?

To give, please visit GCMweb.org/give and search for “Kiev Evangelism Ministry” and click give now, or contact us for more detailed instructions.

God bless and thank you for keeping Kiev Evangelism Ministry in your prayers.

In Christ,
Oles and Jessica Skakalskyi
(Here we are last Sunday at our friend's wedding!)

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Baby-friendly Berry Quick Bread

I've recently tried out a quick bread recipe I had lying around because my baby loves bread, but I want to give her the healthiest kind, which I believe is home-made.

The recipe is very versatile, and has several key elements to why I think it's baby friendly.
- no butter, and no oil - which makes this bread low in saturated fats
- no eggs - experts disagree about whether babies under 1 year can handle cooked eggs, but my daughter is over 1 year now so I don't worry about it.  Still this might be a plus for a baby whose eating finger foods who is less than 1 year old.
- low in sugar - yes, babies will love sugar if you give it to them, so I make this bread's sweetness come from the berries I add.
- high in fiber - you can completely substitute whole-wheat flour or use a percentage of rye flour if you want instead of regular flour to add fiber.

Here's the loaf I cooked yesterday, with blueberries. I've also tried it with raisins, raspberries, apples slices, and banana slices. All options are delicious, just make sure you only add the fruits you know your baby does not have an allergy to, and that she/he will not choke on.


Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Prepare two baking loaf pans by lining with baking paper or foil.  Don't use butter or oil, you don't need it.

  • 2 cups sour milk (butter milk, or 2 cups of milk with 2 tablespoons of vinegar, left to sit for 5 minutes until little curds form)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup berries, banana or fruit of choice. (be careful, raisins or large pieces can cause your baby to choke)
  • 3 cups flour ( you can mix flours o use all whole wheat here)


Make the sour milk first, then add the salt, soda, brown sugar, berries and mix well.  Then add the flour.

Pour into 2 baking loaf pans lined with foil and bake in the oven at 325 F for 1 hour.

That's all! Be careful not to give this too often, or at the beginning of a meal, or your baby might demand it all the time like mine does now. I try to reserve this for snacking on-the-go or for "dessert"

Have a blessed day!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Kiev Evangelism Ministry in Action


Hey friends!

Check out A video of Kiev Evangelism Ministry in Action!

On this day we had a small team of 3 people go to the central train station to evangelize and Pass out the Gospel of John to people. 

This is one aspect of our ministry, spreading the Word of God, and talking to people About Christ! 

If you would like to support our full-time ministry, please contact us for more information about how to give or to be added to our monthly prayer letter!

God bless!







Monday, September 1, 2014

And the Ministry Team Development Begins!

As I mentioned in my last post a few months ago, we are on track to begin the Ministry Team Development process.  We've had our Great Commission Trainings last week and our ministry fund is officially open on the gcmweb.org/give website.

Our ministry is called "Kiev Evangelism Ministry "Gospel of the Kingdom", which is based on Matthew 4:23 "And he (Jesus) went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people." 

Jesus's example of teaching in public places is what we have based our ministry upon.  This means we take the bible, a loud speaker and a team of people ready to share the gospel with passerbys and we go to the streets of Ukraine to preach the gospel.  This ministry is difficult, but not without rewards, and we are really excited that God has allowed us to come to this point in our life!

We need a lot of prayer from our friends and family so that we'll not become discouraged or bogged down with negative thinking during the process.

Will you please say a prayer for our ministry and support raising (Ministry Team Development)?

ps Here's a picture of our family from recently.




Monday, May 12, 2014

Full Time Missionaries

We will soon be starting the journey to full-time service to the Lord.  So far we have received the blessing from the pastors of our church Almaz to become full time ministers, and they agree and confirm our vision to spread the gospel in Ukraine through street evangelism and public bible reading.

We need to figure out the logistics about setting up an account for supporters to donate to our ministry, and then we will begin the support raising process.

Friends and family, for those who are interested in seeing first hand what we do, please look at our youtube channel  here .

In most of the videos Oles or another team member is reading the bible and preaching publicly about sin, salvation and the Lord Jesus Christ, while other team members distribute the gospel of John and talk individually with interested people who want to hear about Jesus.

Our major goal is this: to fill this city with the word of God, and thereby glorify God and see the salvation of people.

in Acts 25:27-32 Peter and the apostles are brought before the high priest and the council and the high priest accuses them:

 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.”29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

We see that Ukraine needs the word of God desperately, and this is our goal, to boldly bring it to the people.

We would ask you to please pray for us that we will trust God to provide everything along the way.

Please also spread the word about our ministry and refer us to your church and friends who are interested in supporting the spread of the gospel in Ukraine during this hard and needy time in our country.

Thanks friends and may God bless you this day!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Birth in Ukrainian Birth House No. 6

My daughter is 6 months old now, and I still remember her birth very clearly, the good and the bad parts. Mostly, it was a good experience compared to most women I suppose, considering how fast it all went, that I didn't have any complications, and that she came out perfectly healthy.  I know God was with me and helping me a lot.

I'll start from the beginning, as you know women traditionally give birth in birth houses, separate from hospitals, and generally they give birth in the house of their region,we were recommended to go to the 6th house by several people, and wee blessed that it was our regional house, only a 10 minute drive and as our regional house meant that we didn't need to pay extra money for it being out of our region.

So, at week 38 of pregnancy you need to go on either Wednesday or Monday to the house, and wait in a huge line of pregnant women to be "signed" or registered to give birth there. You need to bring your "obmina Carta" with all the tests and permissions in there for you to give birth from your prenatal doctor.  If you want you husband to birth with you he needs to take a TB chest exam and you should give the paper when you get "signed" so that they will allow him to be there in the room with you.

OK, so I started having this feeling like I was going to give birth soon on the 24th, I saw brown color in the underwear, and in the evening saw the "bloody show" which is not very bloody at all, just some mucus with a tinge of blood in it.  I never remember my water breaking, but I started having really random and short cramping feelings throughout the day on Sep 24th.  We had guests that night fr dinner, and I cleaned and cooked and went to the store and did everything as usual that day.  Around 12 am I was laying in bed and started having irregular cramping feelings in my uterus.  I at first ignored that they were contractions because I was convinced that God would not make me give birth when I should be sleeping, but I kept going back and forth between the bed and bathroom, thinking maybe it was a stomach ache, and the cramping was getting more painful and frequent so I woke up my husband when I was sure they were contractions, around 4 am, and we waited to call the ambulance at 5:00 am when the contractions were every 3 min or so.  They came by 5:30 and thank God I had all the essential medicines and things packed already, because in Ukraine you need to bring not only all your personal items and sheets, but also all the possible medicine and disposable blankets you will need in case of any birth situation (vaginal or Cesarean).

So this marks exactly 39 weeks, and I knew she was coming out anytime in the next 24 hours!

We got to the hospital, the ambulance driver and tech were very kind and gentle with me, and the nurse checked my Obmina Carta and signed me into the hospital.

Side note, in Ukraine you must either pay a doctor a "fee" (which is actually a bribe) before hand so that they will agree to come deliver your baby even if they are not on duty, or you must put your birth in the hands of whatever doctor God chooses to be on duty at that time.  We chose the second option because as Christians we didn't want to bribe beforehand.  At this point we've only paid about 550 UAH for the registration in the hospital.

God answered my prayers, and the doctor on duty was an english speaking doctor. He even had a sense of humor and would make jokes throughout the whole time...which sometimes I thought were a little irritating, but then again, anything was irritating when I was going through labor.

So, they bring me to a room and hook me up to a fetal heart rate monitor..minutes later I throw up in a bucket, all the contents of our late evening dinner, and feel much better :)

The doctor tells me "we need to speed up your contractions" which I suppose means he was going to give me and IV with pitocin.  Originally I thought I didn't want this, but I agreed to it, because hes a doctor and I was already exhausted not even in the transition phase yet.  I'm almost positive they gave me pitocin, but I don;t know for sure what thy gave me.

Anyways, the contractions kept coming fast and furious, and we moved to another room where I would give birth.  I kept feeling like I needed to pee and poo so I tried to go to the bathroom a few times, but I only peed a little (sorry for TMI, but it's true).

I need to note that the staff was very kind and gentle the whole time, maybe because they knew I was American, or maybe because that's just the was they are with everyone.
Around 6 or 7 am is when we moved into the other room.  The Doctor checked how dilated I was and when I started feeling the urge to bear down, which honestly is an irresistible urge to push like you're pooping, they waited a few contractions and then moved me from the bed to the birthing table...YES, I had to walk across the room to another table and climb up there, which I was not happy about since the contractions made me almost unable to move.

OK at this point I wish I had bought glucose tablets, because I threw up my dinner, was only drinking water and I was really low on blood sugar.

So, I manage to get on the birthing table, which has you seated in a slightly reclined position, with your feet slightly propped up on pegs that you can push against, and there are also bars for you to hold onto with your hands.  I must admit, they should have told me faster how to push, but after one or two ineffective pushes, he told me to use my abs, squeeze my hands, and push my feet against the foot rests.  So I don;t remember how many pushes I did before he told me "we might need to make a small cut if the baby's head is between your pelvis for too long" Anyways, after he said that I asked "why?" and he said "because it's not good for your baby to be stuck down there with so much pressure on her head" I should have known better and refused for them to make a cut, but I was too mentally weak to oppose, and I willfully agreed.  I suppose I had pushed through about 10 contractions or so before they actually made the cut.  The way the cut worked is they did it without telling me when they were going to do it, and the nurse cut me during a contraction/push.  I will tell you that was probably one of the most painful moments in my life, and next time I will insist that they let me keep pushing to try to get her head out. During my pushing I kept praying out loud "Help me Lord Jesus!"  The staff thought I was so strange ;)

So, with the cut, after 2 pushes her head was out, then after 2 more pushes her shoulders and the rest of her body just fell out.  They immediately placed her on my chest, and I saw tons of brown hair on my small little crying girl.  I just kept crying and saying "thank you Jesus" over and over again.

Then they asked if I wanted to wait for the placenta to come out on its own or give a medicine to help it come out faster. I opted for the medicine, they scratched my arms with the needle to test if I would have an allergy, and after I had no skin reaction they stuck me, maybe in the arm with the needle, and a few minutes later I pushed the placenta out.

Then as if I hadn't had enough, I had to lay there while they gave me a pain reliever ( I think locally down there) and stitched me back up.  I was so impatient, I wanted it to be over faster, and it was still painful even with pain killer, but it took about 10 minutes of stitching up and cleaning before I was allowed to get up and walk over to the bed and lay down with my baby girl and husband.

I had watched tons of videos about birth and breastfeeding, but with your first baby it is different than you expect it will be.

I needed to lay for 2 hours after the birth in order not to hemorrhage I believe, but they gave me a catheter so I could pee, because after drinking so much water, I peed so much lol.
During that time they brought me a cup of tea, and some plain white porridge.  It was so tasty after being so tired and hungry.

After my 2 hours they lifted me onto a stretcher, and laid her on top of me, and wheeled us to another part of the hospital where I waited for a few hours until they had a free room for me and the baby to stay.  Those first few hours after birth were like heaven, my hormones and emotions were so high that I think that numbed the pain more than the pain killer itself.

The waiting room was essentially a bunch of small rooms with no doors, and one nurse watching about 4 women with babies.  This room has a twin sized bed, a bed on wheels for baby a chair and a sink.
That bed was horribly uncomfortable, drooped in the middle and was very uncomfortable, so I didn't rest during that time, but my husband did, as he seemed more tired than I did.

Later in the day we were moved into a private room, which has a high bed, a table for changing, a baby bed, a sink with mirror and a small table side dresser for storage.

I'll list some things I liked about my birth/ the room I stayed:

  1. The doctor spoke English, and a few other people did too who observed my birth, and spoke encouraging words to me
  2. The staff was generally helpful and kind
  3. This seems obvious, but in Ukraine I think it isn't - they asked my permission before medicines, pain killers and the cut.
  4. The doc told me how to push
  5. Encouraged me not to waste energy by screaming, but to control my breath and concentrate my abs on pushing
  6. I had a private room not shared with other moms (considering Ellie was so quiet and other babies cried so much, I was glad about this)
  7. Doc followed up with me every day to see how my stitches felt
  8. 3 meals a day, although they were pretty bland, not salty or sweet
  9. One thing I am so glad I brought was a spay bottle, I used to clean myself instead of wiping, because the stitches were so incredibly painful.
  10. They didn't ever ask for any payment or bribe - we were treated just like everybody else in the hospital.
  11. They let me go after only 2.5 days stay.  I birthed on Wednesday morning an went home Friday afternoon - thank God I was so happy to come home early and be with my husband and sleep in my own room/bed!

I'll list some things I didn't like about the room/process:

  1. The bed - old and stained mattress with the blood from other women was pretty disgusting to me, but I reasoned with myself that I didn't have a choice, and I put two sheets of my own on top anyways, so it didn't touch me...but still, that was just gross
  2. The showers/toilet - no hook to hang my towels or clothes and no bench or table to put anything, so I hung everything over the curtain rod.
  3. The walls - literally I heard all the cries of the other babies.  I wish they would invest some money and sound proof them a little better.
  4. regular nurses taking my temp, cleaning my stitches with iodine 2 times a day didn't know any English, but I wasn't expecting them to, it just made it more confusing for me with my little Russian.
  5. They should give you a more detailed list of stuff to pack, other than medicines, especially my personal items like more than 1 towel, a pillow case and more than 1 sheet, blanket cover, slippers, and things for the baby (towel/receiving blankets, oil, cotton balls, saline solution to clean her nose, etc)
  6. The cut/ episiotomy that they convinced me was necessary. I'm convinced now it wasn't necessary, that my baby would have come out fine without it, and I could not sit for literally 11 days! Orders were, only stand or lay! Breast feeding was so hard to learn only laying, and my back was killing me!  Not to mention the cleaning after every pee, and the night time cleaning care regime that took about 20 minutes! (You don't have 20 minutes when your newborn is screaming for you. The pain from the stitches lingered long after they were taken out, at least 6-8 weeks I had sensitivity at that spot. Even after 2 months I still had some discomfort at that spot occasionally.


So here's the timeline of how it all went again:
Morning of 24th, noticed brown color in underwear
Evening of 24th, noticed bloody show
12 am ish 25th, contractions were starting to be noticeable
5:00 am - we call ambulance
5:30 am - they pick us up
5:45 am - we arrive at hospital
6:00 am they finish my check in and first cervix check
6:10 - arrive in first room and hook up to fetal heart rate monitor
6:40 -7:00 ish - they check my dilation again, and decide they need to give me pitocin to speed contractions - I agreed
7:30 ish - I move to the birthing room
8:00 ish - I start feeling the urge to "bear down" / push
8:05-8:10 - I move from bed to birthing table/bed
8:25-8:27 - they make the cut/ episiotomy
8:30 - she's here!
8:31 - they clean me, cut cord, etc
8:34 - they give me the shot to detach and help deliver placenta
8:38 ish - I deliver placenta in 2 pushes
8:38 - 8:45ish the nurse washes me and cleans me
8:45-8:55 - doctor stitches the cut
8:55 - 9:00ish - nurses washes cleans for the last time
9:00 ish I move from birthing bed to other bed in the room
9:30 they bring me breakfast
11:00 they  move me to the first temporary room
2:00 pm on the 25th - they move me to my permanent room.
I go home on the afternoon of the 27th.

Any questions about the rest of my experience at hospital 6, just write below! Check out my friend's blog all about birth in Ukraine!   http://birthinukraine.wordpress.com/

Monday, March 31, 2014

Things I appreciate in Kiev

Anytime you move to a new place its easy to notice the bad things, and complain to God about the things you don't like, but it's not so easy to stand back and appreciate the way that God has made that place, and the good things it has to offer you.  These are just some things I like about Ukraine, and Kiev more specifically.

1. Cheap transportation anywhere in the city

2. The desire of people to make the best with the old/broken stuff they have, like these essentially decrepit benches outside our home...still sittable!


3. Awesome variety of milk products, except skim milk
4. Spring time and all the fruit trees all over the city - we choose a healthy tree and pick the fruits when they are ripe :)
5. Bad roads like this make me really appreciate the scarce smooth roads throughout the city
6. Tire garden and playground decoration - creative and not wasteful!
7. All the fresh fruits and veggies - so tasty, although I'm still getting used to the fact that I can only eat them when they are in season.
8. Markets like this where you can pretty much find anything you could ever need at cheap prices

9. The Dnipro River - its just beautiful in all seasons
 10. Ukrainian Chocolate - it's inexpensive and amazing
11. Ukrainian ice cream - I have never tasted better ice cream, and its so cheap!

12. Ukrainian grandmas - like this sweet woman, Nina
13. The Darnitsa region, because of the many parks!

And many more when I think of them later!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

psalm 107 - relevance for today

Today I read a psalm, 107, and noticed the pattern.  See if you notice it also. 
From verse 1-16 there is this pattern:
1. People are suffering and troubled because of some circumstances
2. The people cry out to God in their distress
3. God saves them because of his great love
4. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!5. For he...lists the work of God


From verse 16-32 there is a pattern of a few events:
1. Poeple do something to turn away from the Lord and sin against him
2. The Lord brings some kind of punishment or distruction on them
3. The people cry out to God in their distress
4. God saves them because of his great love
5. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love for his wondrous works to the children of man

Verses 33-43 tell about how great is the Lord in his saving works toward people who turn to him for help.

Take note of the last verses as a summary:  
Oh give thanks to the Lordfor he is good,
Some wandered in desert wastes,
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Some were fools through their sinful ways,
Some went down to the sea in ships,
He turns rivers into a desert,
When they are diminished and brought low
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;

I'm praying today that I will constantly consider the steadfast love of the Lord and call upon him day after day. May God bless you today.

Psalm 107
Oh give thanks to the Lordfor he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    whom he has redeemed from trouble[a]
and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.
Some wandered in desert wastes,
    finding no way to a city to dwell in;
hungry and thirsty,
    their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
    till they reached a city to dwell in.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he satisfies the longing soul,
    and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
    and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
    they fell down, with none to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
    and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
    and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,
    and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they loathed any kind of food,
    and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
    and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
    and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
    doing business on the great waters;
24 they saw the deeds of the Lord,
    his wondrous works in the deep.
25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
    which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
    their courage melted away in their evil plight;
27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men
    and were at their wits' end.[b]
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
29 He made the storm be still,
    and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad that the waters[c] were quiet,
    and he brought them to their desired haven.
31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
    and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
    springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty waste,
    because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
    a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
    and they establish a city to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards
    and get a fruitful yield.
38 By his blessing they multiply greatly,
    and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
    through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40 he pours contempt on princes
    and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction
    and makes their families like flocks.
42 The upright see it and are glad,
    and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
    let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.