Dear friends,

Greetings from the Ukrainian UMC and from all of us who are involved in the Street Children ministry here in Kiev.

Annual Conference 2003 this year was held in Voronezh in Russia, a 12 hour train ride south of Moscow.  This meeting was the first of the new Southern Russia, Ukraine and Moldova Annual Conference.  As you may remember, in 2002 the Russia Annual Conference voted to divide into four annual conferences due to the continuing growth of new churches and the geographic enormity of the old conference stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and spanning 11 time zones.  Our district alone has grown from 3 churches to 15 since 1996!   Our new Annual Conference consists of the Voronezh area in southern Russia plus Ukraine and Moldova.  Another first was that the Annual Conference was held at the newly purchased Methodist campgrounds.  The campgrounds are located just outside of Voronezh which is central to all four Annual Conferences of  our Eurasia Episcopal area. 

At Annual Conference we officially welcomed the addition of four new churches to our district from the Uzhgorod region.  As mentioned in the last newsletter, these four churches,  located inside Ukraine near the Hungarian border and formerly belonging to the Hungarian Annual Conference have been in existence since the 1920’s and were the sole surviving Methodist churches of Ukraine from before WWII.  They have participated in district activities since 1999 and now have officially joined our conference. 

After submitting the paperwork in October, we received the official registration of the United Methodist Church of Ukraine.   Now, the denomination is recognized throughout Ukraine and we have the right to not only open new churches, but humanitarian institutions, a publishing house and other church related organizations.  The denomination can also issue invitations for citizens of other countries to come and minister in Ukraine. 

At our church in Bila Tserkva, we held our first Family Summer camp.   Our church ministers to disabled people and we had nine people in wheelchairs at the camp.  For many, this was their first camp experience.  Though the camp was not built to be accessible to wheelchairs, we build ramps on the spot and all pitched in to make sure everyone could participate in the camp activities.   Our church was introduced to a little bit of Americana as we roasted marshmallows and made S’Mores around a bonfire.  The marshmallows made it all the way to Ukraine (you can’t buy them in the stores in Ukraine) and combined nicely with Ukrainian chocolate and the Ukrainian equivalent of graham crackers.   The combination of bible study, swimming, sports, kite flying and relaxation in the tall pine forest made everyone look forward to next year. 

After church this past Sunday, we visited one of our church family’s home.  Living outside your own culture often helps you appreciate the abundance we often take for granted in the West.  The Petrov family, one of our most active families, lives in a one-room apartment.  A one-room apartment has a kitchen, bathroom and one main room.  These apartments were built during Krushchev’s administration in the early sixties.  The Petrovs, Ivan and Maria have two children, a 12 year old son, Petya and a disabled 7 year old daughter, Lyuda.  The main room of the apartment is only 150 square feet.  The kitchen, perhaps 25 square feet.  When we expressed to Ivan and Maria how tough it must be to live all together, Maria said, “Oh, this isn’t so bad, Ivan’s brother used to live here with us!”  Ivan said, “Yeah, we used to joke that in the cemetery you get 2 square meters (20 square feet) per person and we have 3 per person, (30 sq. ft.), so we’re lucky!”  Ivan and Maria sleep on a pull out sofa, their daughter on a single bed which can fold into a chair and Petya on a mattress in the kitchen under the table.  They dream of a three room apartment which would have 450 square feet, but with such apartments costing around $20,000, Ivan’s income of less than $100 per month and  ¼ of his income going for medical treatment for Lyuda, the dream seems unattainable.  The 12 year old son, Petya’s “room”,  a place where he can store his clothes and other belongings, is the space under the sofa.    When I (Bill) was 12, I remember my father speaking of how “poor” we were while the three members of our family lived in a home with two stories, three bedrooms, three baths, living room, den, two car garage and an acre of land.  I believed him because he constantly refused to put in air-conditioning.  What a different perspective makes.

Today we want to share with you some good news about the Street children ministry here in Kiev.

We have had our first day in our new center near the first of June. The repair work is virtually complete.  The grand opening will happen later this Summer. Thank you to God and to all of you who have supported us in different ways.

Our street children ministry has just celebrated one year of continuous work. Our daily program started May 2002. It has been an amazing year with a lot of joy, happiness, sadness, frustrations and thanks and glory to God and all of you who have supported us this year. 

We have about 20-25 children coming every day. We have used a lot of time to build trust, to show the children that we are here, that  we support them. We have done that by giving them food packages every day, talking with them, teaching them how to stay away from drugs and alcohol, giving  them to medical treatment, playing, taking them on trips, sewing up old clothes and providing new.

A couple of days ago there was a TV program about the situation for the children here in Ukraine. One of the boys who told his story was one of our children. The program leader asked him if he has any kind of support, adults who care for him. His answer was: Yes, Svetlana (the daily director of our program)!

Thank you to all of you for providing us the opportunity to be a neighbor for Alexander, Natasha, Sergey, Karina and the rest of the children of the street we have an opportunity to serve.

Now, when we have our center we will have a teacher and a doctor connected to our theme. The children will be able to wash their clothes, take a shower and store what little personal belongings they have.   We will provide basic education and health care along with Christian teaching.

Svetlana our daily program leader of our street children ministry wants to share some of the children’s stories with you.

Here is Svetlana's greetings to you, translated from Russian:

Many children of Kiev live on the streets. Many of them don't have a house, some of them leave their homes because of impossibility of living with parents. We have children in our program "Street children of Kiev" who suffer from loneliness and the terror of being unwanted, even though they have parents. For example, Alina has mother and father and grandparents, however, her mother is divorced from  Alina's father who has rejected Alina, claiming she is not his daughter. Her mother drank for a long time, forced Alina to collect bottles, and brought a string of strange men to the house, eventually causing Alina to start spending the night away from home.  Initially, she stayed at the neighbors' apartments, but after they stopped letting her in, she spent more time on the streets. When her grandfather learned about it, he succeeded in taking away custody from Alina's mother and becoming Alina's guardian. But he didn't allow Alina to live in his house citing his age and inability to take care of Alina, although he is still a relatively young grandfather in his late fifties. He sent Alina to a state-run orphanage, however Alina protested against it and ran away. As a result, her grandfather involved the police, so if they catch Alina, she'll be sent to a "special" orphanage which is like a juvenile prison.

We also have Maxim, he's 16. He has a mother and father. Maxim loves his Mom a lot and periodically calls home, but he hates his Dad. Maxim didn't tell us anything for a long time, but recently he said that his father spent a long time in prison. After being released from prison, he started drinking and "teaching discipline" to Maxim and his mother. His father has beaten Maxim's mother and he also tried to beat Maxim, but Maxim always managed to evade his dad's beatings by running away. One day, Maxim left for good, and he doesn't want to come back.

We also have children without parents. They are required under state law to be placed in an orphanage, but because of abuse between the older and younger orphans, lack of staffing and poor supervision, the children sometimes feel it  is easier for them to survive on the streets. Although street has its own laws of survival too - older street children rule over the  younger children, making them  beg money for them or worse. The principle law: Might makes right.

We take joy in the fact they come to us. They pray with us, play with us, and communicate with us. For them, we are adults who are not turning away from them, not shouting at them, and not angry about their looks. For them, we are adults who are patiently telling what's bad and what's good. It's hard for them to understand the fact that they were created by God not for a life like the one they lead. But we hope that the seeds we plant into their hearts will grow into a harvest. It's good that they think even a little bit about God, about Salvation. They tell about their dreams where they see angels with excitement. One boy, Oleg, who abstained from inhaling glue for a week, told us that one night he saw an angel in his dream who asked him questions about his life and asked where Oleg would like to go: "to heaven or to hell?"  Oleg woke up very scared and couldn't fall asleep thinking about it. However, with time, the temptations of this world took over on him, and he's inhaling glue again, though not as bad as before.

            Sometimes, we get very tired from hopelessness, but coming to serve the children and seeing their joyful faces help us to deliver the news about the way to be saved in this evil world through Jesus Christ. And only with Him they can change themselves and their lives. God bless!"  -- Svetlana Tolstonok, daily director of the Kiev Street Children Program.

Bibles and Discipleship Resources: Advance Special number 014052-6. This fund is used to buy Bibles, Sunday School Literature and other Christian literature for use in our churches.

New Church Start-up and Ministries Advance Special number 014053-7.  This fund is to help in the planting of new churches and evangelism ministries in Ukraine.

Street Children Ministry  Advance Special 014054-8.

Thank you for your support. May God bless you as He has blessed us through you!

Greetings from

Bill and Helen Lovelace