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.

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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!)