After many weeks of preparation, the Steele family is finally departing for America! As we travel, we would greatly appreciate your prayers in the following areas:
- A smooth border crossing out of Ukraine (We don’t expect any problems, but you never know.)
- Strength for the children
- Safety
- Health (No one is sick at the moment, but international travel is quite stressful.)
- The safe arrival of all our luggage
Beka and Abby are growing all the time! Abby will be four in September. Beka is 19 months.
Nathan Day will be traveling to America a few days after we do. As many of you know, he will be getting married to Katelin Rebsch on November 7 of this year. Please pray for safe travel for Nathan and Katelin and for God’s blessing on them as they begin their new life together in Ukraine. Also, be sure to check out their new wedding web site!
The 2009 ETO staff team
Ministry Status
Although we will be in the US for several months, the ministry will proceed. The Beal family, Denise Hutchison, and Bryan Shufelt remain in Ukraine and will continue ETO’s many outreaches and projects in our absence. The following is a brief overview of our primary ministries and their goals over the next few months.
Chronological Bible Course (CBC)
Our team recently completed our final draft of Lesson 15 of the course. This lesson will be sent to our translator soon and later formatted before going to press. Lesson 14 is being translated right now. While in the US, we will continue writing new material for our course. At present, we have about 380 students enrolled, many of whom are advancing quickly through the lessons.
The first phase of our course will consist of 17 lessons, covering the entire book of Genesis. We are very excited to be nearing the completion of this phase. The following is a topical overview of Phase 1:
- Introduction of the Bible
- Who is God?
- The Spiritual World
- Creation Part I (Gen. 1)
- Creation Part II (Gen. 1)
- Adam and Eve (Gen. 1, 2)
- The Fall (Gen. 3)
- The Curse & The Promised Deliverer (Gen. 3)
- Cain and Abel (Gen. 4)
- Noah and the Great Flood (Gen. 5-11)
- Abraham I (Gen. 12-14)
- Abraham II (Gen. 15-17)
- Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18-20)
- Isaac (Gen. 21-22)
- Isaac and His Family (Gen. 23-26)
- Jacob (27-36)
- Joseph (Gen. 37-50)
Audio Bible Studies (ABS)
Our Audio Bible Study sessions continue to progress well. We hold weekly meetings here in L’viv which consist of a one-hour English Club followed by a one-hour Bible lesson. During English Club, Ukrainians are invited to practice their language skills on various topics. We also make heavy use of No Greater Joy’s Good and Evil, which the students practice reading aloud in English. All of our students have copies of the book in Ukrainian, and we encourage them to compare the two languages and ask questions about what they read.
We have a handful of people who have been coming on a regular basis, and most opt to stay for Bible lesson as well. Over the past several weeks, we have been teaching through the book of Romans, recording every message in digital audio. Last week, we completed Romans 8. The Romans series will be on hold while our family is in the States, but English Club will proceed as usual.
Carpathian Mountain Outreach (CMO)
We had a great summer in the Carpathians this year. We showed Fireproof in several villages in the mountains were encouraged by the positive responses we received. Our team also passed out quite a bit of literature inviting Ukrainians to enroll in our correspondence course. As a result, we have gained many new contacts over the last couple of months. Click here to view the CMO 2009 photo journal.
Plans are already being laid for next year’s project, CMO 2010. We hope to have updated information available on our ministry web site in the next couple of months.
We are very grateful to all of you who faithfully supported this outreach in prayer. Please continue to intercede for those who were introduced to Christ this year in Western Ukraine.
Summary
We will continue to post ministry and family updates throughout our time in America. As always, we are grateful for your prayers and support as we strive to publish the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Ukraine.
