Of Books, Baptisms, and Blessings

Joshua Steele · September 24, 2024

A couple of years ago, I was visiting the Pearls in Tennessee, and Mike made a comment that, for some reason, stuck in my head. I don’t remember his exact words, but the gist was this: “As you mature in the Lord, you should reach a point where things can be flying at you from all directions, and yet you are at peace.” The implication was trusting God amid chaos and tribulation. I remember being sobered by that thought and silently hoping things wouldn’t come to that. They have.

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First, there was COVID, then war broke out in Ukraine. We spent almost a year and a half in Slovakia, followed by a return to L’viv in mid-2023. Then, in early 2024, Mom’s health began declining sharply as a result of her cancer. I made more trips back and forth across the Atlantic than I ever had before in a single year, trying desperately to balance family, ministry, and war. At times, I felt frustrated and, at other times, helpless. Often, I would lock the door in my office (or whatever room I was staying in at the time), drop to my knees, and cry out to God for wisdom and strength.

One of my most frequent prayers in times of trial is that God would use me up to bless my family, to bring souls to Christ, to glorify His name on the earth, and that He would take me home as soon as my work is done. I don’t say this lightly: 2024 has been a year of sorrow for me, and yet God has given peace and joy despite the fires. Our family is still in Ukraine, we’re still serving Christ, and we are excited to finally be sharing with you an update about what God is doing in our lives!

Seven Baptisms

Just a couple of weeks ago, seven people were baptized here in our church in Ukraine! And of particular note for our family is that two of the baptizees were our kids! Hosanna and Kathryn have both professed faith in Jesus as their Savior and have now followed Him in believer’s water baptism. We are thrilled with the path they have chosen, and we are excited to see how God will lead their lives in the years to come. Please pray for them — and for all the new believers here — that God would continue to draw them closer to Himself.

Good and Evil Outreach

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, No Greater Joy funded a new printing (15,000 copies) of the Ukrainian edition of their Good and Evil comic book. Knowing that we would now be working at a much larger scale than we had done previously, we established our Good and Evil Distributor Program here in Ukraine.

Today, we have over 100 registered distributors who are helping us get this amazing Bible comic book into the hands of Ukrainians everywhere. Unfortunately, as of this writing, our supplies are nearly exhausted. We have about 900 books left, and new requests come in almost daily. The books are going out to the far reaches of the country, often making it to areas hard-hit by the horrors of war. When the local school is bombed out, and there’s no electricity or internet, a glossy comic book is a real attention grabber.

We hope to be able to print more books in the future, and we are grateful to everyone who has made this ministry possible: donors, distributors, prayer warriors, and, of course, Mike and Debi, the creators of Good and Evil. Please pray with us that God would continue to use the many thousands of these books that are now in the hands of the Ukrainian people and that, if it is His will, we could print more.

Remembering Mom

It’s now been nearly two months since Mom went home to glory. Not a day passes that we don’t miss her and long for her smile. But as He always does, God has shown Himself faithful, bringing comfort and joy in the midst of our grief. The lessons Mom taught us live on in our hearts, and we are so grateful for the years God gave us together. I wrote recently in a text on our family message thread, “These days make me long for eternity so much.” What a reunion we will have on that day!

Bible First, CMO, Etc

As you may have guessed by now, we have more going on than we have room to report here. When you’re six months overdue for a newsletter, it’s hard to fit it all in! But here are the cliff notes for now…

Our Bible First correspondence course is still going strong, and we still have new students signing up regularly here in Ukraine. Even though we haven’t talked much about it lately, Bible First remains one of our core ministries, and we have big plans for the future! Stay tuned!
CMO is a question mark for our ministry right now. We love CMO, and God has used it in exciting ways over the years. But at present, the landscape in Ukraine has changed, and this has demanded changes in the way we minister. We have some ideas about next steps for CMO, and we’d like to ask you to pray with us about this. For now, it looks fairly certain that there will not be a 2025 CMO project. We hope to bring CMO back in God’s time!
Local church ministry continues to be a significant area of outreach for our family. The baptisms were exciting, and there is also preaching, music, teaching and discipleship. We look forward to bringing you more detailed reports from these areas soon!

How You Can Pray

Pray that God will continue to bless our Good and Evil outreach in Ukraine.
Praise the Lord for those in our church family who have believed the Gospel and been baptized. Pray for continued growth in Christ.
Pray for my dad, Mike, and for all our family as we learn to live without Mom.
Praise the Lord for the return of our teammates, the Day family!
Pray for the Chepara family as they navigate a time of intense grief. Serhii Chepara, a dear Ukrainian friend and former ETO staff member, is missing (likely killed) in action. He leaves behind his wife Natallia and their two children, Francishka and Julian. We will bring you more details on this in the future.
Pray for health, safety, wisdom, and courage for our family.
Pray for peace and liberty in Ukraine.

Keep scrolling for more photos and video! First up, the baptism…