Author Archives: Yura Popchenko

January–February 2010 Prayer letter

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Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings in our Lord’s precious Name from Ukraine! Spring is already in the air, leaving the long, hard winter behind us. This winter was especially severe with lots of snow, making driving very difficult since snow is not plowed in this country (at least not where we live). We are looking forward to the time when we can drive on asphalt instead of rutted ice, several inches thick.

For those who do not yet know, we finally found a suitable house not far from Kyiv and our church. On the 15th of January, we signed a rental agreement and the next day four men from our church, one of whom had a large truck, helped us move. During our move, Yurko’s forehead was accidently gashed and the wound needed to be stitched. Fortunately, my friend was able to take Wendy and Yurko to the hospital as I needed to drive my car to take the movers and lead the way to our new place. Right now he is doing fine. After living in the house just one day, we discovered that the gas furnace had problems and could not be legally operated for safety reasons. The landlady would not replace it since she believed the furnace was just fine, so we ended up replacing it at our cost, spending $920. Replacing the furnace was a nightmare since the guys did pretty sloppy job, plus ruined our sink, toilet and a lot of tile with the welding. We are still waiting for them to replace those items. At present we are basically settled in. The reason it is taking a while is because no matter what we touch in this house, it needs to be fixed, so I’ve been remounting curtain rods, repairing furniture, installing a shower, changing out old electric outlets that do not fit modern appliances, and a million other little things.

Putting boy’s bunk bed together

 

Helping Daddy put his bookcases together

 

Do you need me to measure something?

 

Guys replacing the furnace

In spite of that, Bible translation work is going full steam ahead! Having missed it for almost ten months, I am now fully absorbed in translating the book of Romans, which is to be published later this year, Lord willing, together with the gospel of John. So far, I have been able to translate, by God’s grace, ten and a half chapters of the first draft! Besides that, I have had great opportunities to work on building my translation team. In December, I met with Anya, who agreed to join me as a translator (formerly, she was only a consultant). We discussed plans for and principles of translation work. As soon as Anya finishes writing her doctoral dissertation in Greek, she is going to start working on the book of Mark. She has very little to finish, so please pray she can do this soon and start translating the Bible. In January, I met with Bro. Nesteruk, the president of the Ukrainian Baptist Fellowship which adopted my translation. We talked about plans for translation work and the team of three consultants that the Fellowship supplied. I already had a chance to talk to Bro. Romanyuk, who is going to head up the team, and discuss the practical side of how we are going to work together (all three men live in different parts of Ukraine). In February, I met Bro. Melnychuk, the president of a Christian university in Ukraine. He is very excited about my translation work and since he knows many Christians with biblical training, he offered to look for those with knowledge of biblical languages who can assist me in my work. He already mentioned two professors at his university, one of whom knows Greek and the other Hebrew. Bro. Melnychuk invited me to come down to Donetsk (a city in Ukraine where the university is located) some day to meet them. Finally, on February 24nd, I met Taras Dyatlyk, a potential translator and/or consultant. Taras has studied in Europe and is doing his doctoral dissertation in New Testament Greek right now. Taras has agreed to join me as a consultant but at this time is not sure his time would allow him to start translation work. It is great to have him on my translation team, at least as a consultant.

Translating again at last!

When our pastor was hospitalized with a very serious case of pneumonia in January, I was asked to continue his study of the book of Philippians on Sunday nights. I picked up at chapter four and have taught for the past month using my translation of this book. Praise the Lord, the pastor is doing much better and is back in church again. I will continue teaching Philippians while he regains his strength.

Teaching on Philippians

Sashko celebrated his 8th birthday just two days after we moved into our house. He had been praying for a yard to play in for 2 or 3 years and God answered! What a birthday present it was for him! Living in a house means more work and Sashko has jumped right in, shoveling snow and working along side his Daddy. With all the snow this year we gave him another present he has been wanting for a long time: skis. Sashko is doing well in school and making progress on the piano. The boys have been healthy lately, for which we praise the Lord, and an allergy breakout on Sashko’s face has been diagnosed and is being treated successfully.

Happy 8th birthday, Sashko!

 

I got skis for my birthday!

 

We have a special prayer request regarding our youngest son. Andriy, who is now 18 months old, was diagnosed last week with “hip dysplasia”, which is the deformation or misalignment of the hip joint. Although this is usually diagnosed by the age of three months, somehow our previous orthopedist missed it. Corrective treatment is only possible up to the age of eight months. After that (unless Andriy grows out of this problem) hip surgery is the only alterative. To make matters worse, the hip-joint angles are not the same (162 degrees and 150 degrees…. 135-140 is normal), therefore, if uncorrected, Andriy could end up with one leg being longer than the other, which would in turn affect his pelvis and spinal development significantly. Further, as a result of (or in addition to) his hip dysplasia, Andriy’s feet are turned inward. We hope to complete all the required tests this week and then we’ll be taking him to the Institute of Orthopedics here in Kyiv for a consultation. Please pray for us and the doctors to have wisdom in dealing with this.

Prayer requests:
1. Pray for me to have wisdom and protection from the devil’s attacks, as I translate the book of Romans.
2. Pray for Anya to finish writing her doctoral dissertation soon and start working on the book of Mark.
3. Pray for Taras being able to do translation work.
4. Pray for productive cooperation from the new members of my team as we develop our work relationship.
5. Pray for my health (I am currently experiencing some health issues).
6. Pray for the doctor’s visit concerning Andriy’s hip problem and that he would not need surgery.
7. Pray for the general health and protection of our family.
8. Continue to pray for the health of our friend William who has cancer. He is still not feeling well even though his tests are apparently fine. In April, he is going to have more tests to see why he feels so poorly.

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and financial support. May God bless your families, churches and ministries as we each labor in our corner of the harvest field.

Your fellow-servants for Jesus’ sake,
Yura, Wendy, Sashko, Yurko and Andriy

Finally a place to call home!

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After a long search, we finally found a house not far from Kyiv and our church that would suit our needs. On the 15th of January, we signed a rental agreement and the next day four men from our church, one of whom had a large truck, helped us move. This move was certainly our most dramatic, with an emergency trip to the hospital right in the middle of all the activity. As one of the men was carrying a heavy electric oil radiator down a ladder from the attic, he lost his balance and fell against Yurko, who was watching from the hallway below. Yurko’s head was slammed against a cement wall, gashing his forehead. When we came running to see what happened, blood was all over his face. My brother-in-law stopped the bleeding immediately by applying ground red pepper directly to the wound. It was obvious that Yurko needed stitches, but how could I take him to the hospital? The truck was loaded and I needed to drive my car to take the movers and lead the way to our new place. ‘Coincidentally’, a friend was visiting when all this happened, and he offered to take Wendy and Yurko to the hospital. They got in to see the doctor with virtually no wait and about thirty minutes later they were on their way home to my sister’s, with Yurko all stitched and bandaged up. After we unloaded the truck, I picked up Wendy and the boys and took them to our new home.

Taking furniture apart

 

Preparing to move the piano

 

In our new place

 

Happy boys playing in the snow

 

After living in the house just one day, I discovered that the gas furnace had problems: it’s automatic thermostat and safety features did not work and it had no draw, which is dangerous. The gas man who came the next day said that by law, he should cut off the gas to the furnace. I asked the landlady if she would replace the furnace but she said she could not afford it. We even offered to pay for it up front and she could subtract it’s cost from our monthly rent but she would not agree. She was conviced that since there has not been an accident so far, that there would never be one. The landlady said if we did not like the way it is, we could just move out. (Real estate in Ukraine is rented ‘as is’. If you don’t like it, you either don’t rent it or fix it at your cost.) Being concerned for our safety, I began (or should I say, continued) to look for another place. After several days of fruitless searching, I began to get the idea that Lord wanted us to stay here. I called the landlady and offered to replace the furnace at our cost. She insisted that we “really did not need to go to all that expense”, “the furnace is just fine”, “there is no reason to panic”, but we knew that legally it should not be operated for safety reasons. I insisted that we are willing to pay for it and she agreed. We have already had my friend-contractor come do the estimate. The price will depend on the type of furnace we buy and will be between $600 and $800 (we are still looking). It can be installed in two days without cutting the heat off for more than a few hours. This is very important considering the fact that we are experiencing an unusually severe winter, with temperatures running -2°F and even colder. So, by the end of this week, we should have our new furnace. It will not only give us safety but will also give us fresh air (this furnace does not burn the air which is in the room but sucks the air from outside) and save on gas (the present, soviet-type furnace is very uneconomical), so if we live here a few years, the furnace will pay for itself. My friend also offered to install an emergency valve with carbon monoxide and natural gas detector which cuts off the gas if it senses carbon monoxide or natural gas in the room, but that would cost an additional $100. The reason he offered this extra precautionary feature is because the furnace is in the house (kitchen) not in a separate room. We have not yet decided if we want to spend money on that since the furnace itself has some safety features. Please, pray we can have the furnace replaced and settle in soon.