Wayne's Blog

Misha & B100 bowser

Meet Misha. He is 21 and IS as short as he looks!  Nevertheless, he’s faithful and is learning all the tricks to the trade of the biodiesel production.  Now that Misha is coming up to speed, I’m beginning to feel my work load pressure decrease.  This is a major answer to prayer.

We’re also proud of our B100 biodiesel bowser.  Filling up vehicles from a working metering pump like this makes our job much easier and more precise.  It also adds so much to the professionalism of our operation.  As usual Micah did the design.  I’ve also tickered around and figured how to reset the numbers at 0000 after each fill up!

We’ve really only  got a couple more months of warm weather to create a clientele for local biodiesel sales.  This is really important. Thank God we now have a couple of truckies filling up regularly.

We have our first major biodiesel order coming through.  36tonnes over 3 months.  The deal won’t make us much money up front but will bring us one step closer to

Yura fueling local truck

becoming a partner in the bigger game of selling blended biodiesel.  By selling a B20 blend in the summer and B5 in the winter, we’ll be able to increase profits and avoid winter problems like fuel clogging.  So, once again we are praying for increased sales.

Prayer points:

• increased biodiesel sales
• clients for blended biodiesel
• purchase and safe hassle-free arrival of a special resin from England
• God’s mercy concerning safety and corruption
• finding the right vehicle for oil collection
• salvation of our 3 (4 tomorrow) workers

I know it sounds crazy but just accept it!  In Ukraine, you CAN own a building WITHOUT owning the land it’s standing on!

Enjoying the backyard - part of our church culture

In 2000, Calvary Chapel Kaharlyk acquired two buildings SMACK bang in the centre of our town.  Very strategic location and worth many times more than it did back then too.

God has been very gracious to us for the last 9 years. We’ve been renting 1944m2 of prime land at a very low price.   The yard at the back of the church is the only undeveloped piece of land in the our town’s centre. Many MANY offers have been made to buy this land but God has kept greedy hands off church land.  Now it’s time to eliminate that i once and for all.

It’s now official, we have been given permission to purchase this block of land.  The price is $16500 and we have been given one year to pay it off.  It will be a major coup to have this property legally owned by us, thus securing it for the future enjoyment and development of our congregation.

Working bee - sowing seed for new lawn

We already have one-third of the money needed.  Another third has been pledged.  That leaves about $5100 to seal the deal.

Please pray.  If you would like to contribute to us reaching this strategic goal please do!

The next stage will be to finally put up a fence that shows that we do care about our property.

Wayne & Olya

I was struck by a strange thought — that I am older than Jesus!  Now, I haven’t been around for Eternity but I must admit that as a child 34 sounded so far away.

Now, that I’ve reached that milestone, I’ve become more circumspect. Jesus was only given 33 years to complete everything that the Father had for Him to do.  In a way, I suppose it is a privilege to get more time than the Lord had. On one hand,  I’m seeing that there simply is no end of visions and projects.  Even the little projects are stretching into years.  I’m not in a vanity of vanities depression like state.  I just wanted to say that I’m also enjoying some of the simple pleasures of life… like taking strolls walks with Olya (now 23 weeks pregnant) and cuddling the boys. I also love being the ‘coach’ when neighbour boys come over and play backyard cricket with Mark & Matthew.

Micah's van runs on B100 biodiesel

Micah, proudly supports our biodiesel production. He regularly buys B100, which is 100% undiluted biodiesel.  He also designed stickers for us and has them on his van.

Biodiesel Update: We have now been collecting McDonalds’ oil regularly for a few months months.  That’s amounts to 3 or4 tonnes every week.

Unfortunately, low fuel prices are affecting the growth and profitability of our biodiesel operation.  Until prices rise we’re trying to keep afloat and minimize expenses.

The ideal situation would be to blend our biodiesel with normaly ‘dino’ diesel and sell it as B20 to trucking companies.  We are working towards this goal but it still may be some time before this becomes a reality.

We do have a few local buyers happily buying our fuel but we really need to get our biodiesel certified. This will take time and money… both of which a undeterminable in country of systematized corruption.  So, we are praying for God’s continuing Mercy & Grace while we go through the licensing process.

Prayer needs:

• Obtaining a licence for our biodiesel (approx. $3000)
• A major buyer to regularly purchase our biodiesel and/or blended product.
• We are still looking for the right vehicle for oil collection. (This will cut production cost down considerably.)
• Specialized heating tank to separate water and oil.  (approx. $2500)
• Faithful workers (I had to fire the last two a couple weeks ago. This has dramatically increased my work load.)
• Protection from corruption, greed, foolishness, evil.

Team game - Blind leading the blind

It was a long time in coming.  But we finally got our very good friends, Oleg and Lena, to come to Kaharlyk to run a team building day for our church ministry team.

Oleg is the founder and president of  Radooga, a ministry that has for the last 15 years had a profound impact on Ukraine’s youth.  Radooga majors on week-long camps.  Last year something special happened, when the Ukrainian government allowed them to ministry to hundreds of orphans over the summer.  You can learn more about their amazing ministry by checking out their website http://www.radooga.com

Apart from their huge conferences and other events, Oleg and his team have started taking their expertise to local churches to teach them team dynamics.

This was our first taste.  It was lots of fun and many of our 17 team members had new ‘revelations’.  Certainly new cogs are turning.  We enjoyed team games, discussion, Bible studies and VERY factual critique, + lots of great food.  God has given us a great team and we plan to develop it further for the Lord’s glory.

Gavin and I met up with a couple of our team mates at the train station in Kiev.  We were selected to represent the Kiev Pioneers in a cricket tournament in Kharkov over the Victory Day weekend.

Wayne posing with team manager Tom -- the driving force behind Ukrainian cricket

It was like the Ukrainian version of the Indian Premier League! There were eight teams competing and the quality of play was very high.

After a winning a couple of tight matches we crashed out in the semifinal.

My only wish would be to extend the boundaries by a  good 8 to 10 metres on each side.  That would change the dynamics of the game considerably and make the batsmen think twice before risking the big shots.

Highlights of the trip:

• The quality of the trains… no kidding (new, fast, comfortable & CLEAN!).
• Getting to know my Indian team mates much better. I had some really good conversations and got to share a lot about my life.
• playing on grass (the field was covered with dandelions) !
• Celebrating my birthday Indian style.
• The massive Victory Day fireworks display.
• Scoring 38 (off 25 balls) in the semifinal.
• Taking a couple really good catches.

Low lights of the trip:

• suffering a dog bite that required first aid and a tetanus shot.
• breaking two cricket bats in one innings.  I’m now looking for a new bat.
• Being away from Olya and the twins on my birthday.
• Tummy bug.

The Kiev Pioneers

Delapidated stadium hosted a great cricket contest

Every weeked there’s a training/game in Kiev. I’ve been taking Yura there and he’s been doing pretty well.

There will be another tournament in July in Kiev. We hope to eventually put a team together made up of expats (Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans) and a couple Ukrainians to give the Indians and Pakistanis a run for their money…

I also see an opportunity to use cricket as a way to reach local lads from Kaharlyk.  In particular, I’m thinking about boys from Mark & Matthew’s class where it seems that most of the boys don’t have much quality male adult imput into their lives.   Wayne the cricket coach in rural Ukraine?  We’ll see.  I’ll leave that up to the Lord. Stranger things have happened though.  I mean celebrating my birthday with an Indian cricket team while eating hot Indian curry in a far away city was quite surreal.

While enjoying my morning coffee and watching the news on Ukrainian TV, it was announced that Yulia Timoshenko would be coming to Kaharlyk in just a few hours.

Yulia Timoshenko congratulates local Chernobyl heros

It was all very exciting…  and she arrived with all the pomp, security and fan fare that you would expect.  After all, it’s not every day that the Prime Minister of Ukraine comes to town.

Yulia gave a spirited speech about progress achieved by the current government despite heavy resistance.  She then proceeded to award chosen residents with deeds to new apartments for their selfless service during the Chernobyl disaster.

It was quite a unique event for a little town.  Maybe next time she’ll drop by for a cuppa

Planning trip to Australia

G’day all!

Olya and I are tentatively planning a family trip to Australia for December 2009.

The thought of Christmas with the family, enjoying the beach and seeing you, truly warms our hearts. The time is right also, although Mark & Matthew’s school will keep our time in Australia down to  about 5 weeks.

It is a step of faith for us.  We’ll have a 3 month old baby and we do not have the money for the tickets.  However, the Lord has done miracles before to arrange airfares.  So, we are trusting Him to come through this time also.

If you would like to contribute to our airfares, your prayers and finances would be greatly appreciated.

Kiril shows off his pigs

It’s taken four tough years but our friends from the drug rehab are ready to expand.  Kiril, their fearless leader, has bitten the bullet and decided to stay long term.  Drug addicts first come to a city centre where they hear the Gospel and leave their drugs behind.  A month or two later, they are sent to a village rehab like this one for life skills training and a deeper grounding in life as followers of Christ.  Up until now, leaders have only lasted one year each but Kiril’s decision not only paves the way for the rehab to become self-sufficient but also to increase the intake of  ex-addicts.  Kiril showed us the mini barn where they currently raise a few pigs.  We then visited hut #2 which has recently been bought.  Here they can take in another half dozen candidates and plan to build a big barn and raise up to 50 pigs.  This ministry is tough going but bearing real fruit.  We are praying that they can get hold of building materials for the new pig barn by summer’s end.

Prize pigs

Nearby derelict mud hut

Inspecting Hut #2

Men praying for Sergei

On Sunday, men and boys of our church prayed for Sergei.  Sergei is locally born and breed. He and his younger brother, Vova, have basically grown up at the church.  Sergei has been actively in leading children’s ministry and recently became my faithful lab assistant and production technician at the biodiesel factory.

Now, Sergei’s life is about to enter a new stage.  He is being drafted into the Ukrainian army.  In times past, this was when a boy became a man… but not now.

Now, for the most part, only poor boys that couldn’t afford to pay off the examining doctors get drafted. Sergei was informed that he could count on an income of about AUD$9 per month (more than 10 times below the minimum wage!).  We have also been told that we might need to send him food to help feed him!

Human rights groups have repeatedly claimed that conscripts in the armed forces, are commonly employed to refurbish and build private houses for army and government officials. Thankfully, the length of service has been shortened down to 12 months.

We believe that the Lord will take care of Sergei during this next year and that He will teach him things that he’ll need for his future life of ministry.

Some statistics:

Upon gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine inherited the second largest armed forces in Europe, having 750,000 troops, most of them conscripts. The Ukrainian government has embarked on a transition plan to a professional army. The government aims to gradually increase the number of professional soldiers in the armed forces and to abolish conscription by 2015. However, the transition into a professional army does not seem to have developed as scheduled, as the Ukrainian armed forces seem to have problems attracting sufficient contract soldiers.

The armed forces comprise 300,000 troops, including 250,000 conscripts. Every year approx. 380,000 young men reach conscription age; approx. 20 per cent are recruited.