About Us

Yura is a native Ukrainian who has been preaching and teaching the Bible in Ukraine for the past 18 years. In 1997, Yura accepted the call of God on his life to translate the Bible into his mother tongue. Following 8 years of university study, Yura now works full-time to provide an accurate translation of God’s word for his people (for more details, see Yura’s Testimony and Calling).

Wendy is from California where she was active in a wide variety of her local church’s ministries. Wendy has made missions trips to Mexico, Ukraine and Southeast Asia. In 1999, she returned to Ukraine for extended missionary work. Yura ‘redirected’ her mission by asking her to become his wife. Yura and Wendy married on September 30th, 2000 (for more details, see Wendy’s Testimony).

Since Ukrainians lack a trustworthy and accurate Ukrainian Bible, Yura wants to provide them with one (more about it in The Need for the Ukrainian Bible). In order to equip himself for translation work, in 1998 Yura enrolled in Kyiv State Taras Shevchenko University majoring in Ukrainian, Greek, and Latin. In 2003, he graduated from this university receiving a master's degree in Ukrainian and Classical Philology. After finishing his studies in Kyiv, Yura was able to translate the gospel of John before moving to Russia to continue his education. (This gospel is currently in its second printing.) In 2007, he completed his Hebrew and Aramaic studies at Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. The Popchenkos have since relocated back to Kyiv and Yura has resumed translation work. At present he is translating the epistles of Galatians through Colossians.

The Popchenkos currently live in Kyiv, Ukraine, where they are actively involved in a local Ukrainian Baptist church. Yura and Wendy have 2 sons, Sashko and Yurko, and are expecting another child in August 2008. Wendy and the boys speak fluent Ukrainian and some Russian.