After those first years of difficulties and political problems we have now enjoyed an entire decade of freedom and open doors for ministry.

We got lots of historical photos together and had a few laughs as we got to remember those little kids that are now adults serving in the church.

Afterwards we had a church picnic in our backyard and then we went down to the local lake and had a baptism.  I’m always thrilled when the church body comes together like this.  I suppose I’m like a proud parent.  And it’s great to see new faces appearing and getting serious about God and His family.

Many milestones have taken place over these last ten years.  We have a wonderful church body and are looking to build on the foundation that has been built over our  early years.

Admittedly, there was a sad point for me seeing all photos of the people that had been baptised over the years.  Many are no longer walking with the Lord.  It is hard when you know how faithful God has been and the miracles that He has done only to stop from actively following Him. I pray that the Lord, who is faithful to complete what He started, would draw them back into fellowship with Himself and His body.

• Ukraine has a negative growth rate:  -0.62% (227th out of 233 countries)

• Ukraine’s death rate is the 10th highest in the world.

The next numbers are to do with Ukraine’s economy, taxation and bureaucracy. They may may help you understand what we are up against as we labour to expand our biodiesel enterprise.  Hopefully, they’ll help you to pray more effectively for us in our calling to bring real change to our region.

In the international report, Doing Business 2010, category:

• Ease of Paying Taxes - Ukraine placed 181st out of 183 economies.   An average a medium-size company must pay taxes an incredible 147 times per year.   (In Australia: 12 times)
  
  • This complexity drives a large portion of taxable income into the shadows: estimated around 50%
  • It also breeds an environment for paying bribes. In the Corruption Perception Index Ukraine is ranked tied 146th with countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Russia & Ecuador.
• Dealing with Construction Permits. Ukraine continues to be outright last.  (twice as many permits, taking 3 times longer and costing 25 times proportionally higher than in the average high income economy)

Some facts from the CIA World Factbook (2009):

“The drop in steel prices and Ukraine’s exposure to the global financial crisis due to aggressive foreign borrowing lowered growth in 2008 and the economy contracted more than 14% in 2009, among the worst economic performances in the world” 

• GDP real growth rate:  -14.1 %  (210th of 214 countries).

• Inflation rate (consumer prices):  12.3%     (205th of 222 countries).

• Industrial production growth rate: -25.4% (165th of 167 countries)

Please pray for our biodiesel enterprise as we enter new complexities with the tax authorities and an increase in the dealings with governmental bureaucracy .

Kaharlyk & Ranbaxy Team Photo

Unfortunately, a couple key Aussie players weren’t able to play. So, I was really concerned when our depleted team took to the field.  Thankfully, we were able to ring in a couple Pakistani players to make up for the loss.  It turned out to be great combination with Asad opening the bowling and Wasim opening the batting.

Our opponent was last year’s champion, Ranbaxy XI.  So, only a miracle would see us through to the finals. We bowled extremely well and fielded better than I expected.  The atmosphere on the field was very positive which was aided  by the regular fall of wickets.  We had the champs at 3 for 40 odd after 6 overs which is excellent. A couple bad overs saw Ranbaxy post a solid score of 175 for their twenty overs.

Man of the Match- not enough to win the game

Knowing the lack of depth in our batting, it was imperative that we get off to a good start.  And that’s exactly what happened.  We got to the 10 over drinks break with a score of 1/72.  What was meant to be a walk over had the potential of becoming an real upset. But with the score on 115, I was caught behind for 58 (off 37 balls).  Massive cheers went up as Gavin and Yura both hit sixes.  Yura’s six was the first ever by a Ukrainian.

Yura hitting a 6!

But after their dismissals the game was all but lost.  All our younger guys got a bat and I’m proud to say that they played with a straight bat.  This was also noticed by the Indian players.  Ruth our Kiwi girl remained 1 not out when we finished on 9/144 of 20 overs.   Those watching the game were extremely positive about our team’s first performance. I’m sure that in the next few years some of our Ukrainian boys will put in solid performances and maybe even win matches for us.

We still have a few friendly games ahead in the weeks ahead as the Kyiv Post League starts up.  I’m sure that match experience gain will be invaluable for our young fellows.

Spot the Aussie

This exhibition game was also the launching of the Kyiv Post Cricket League (in which Kaharlyk will be entering the first team in Ukraine with Ukrainian players). It is also first step in a drive towards bringing cricket to new level in Ukraine.  The game was played at the fantastic Obolon football stadium.  The luscious grass was a pleasure to play on but the very short square-of-the-wicket boundaries encouraged big hitting.

Besides the game itself which we won comfortably(201-140), I got to meet the British Ambassador, Leigh Turner and the legendary pole-vaulter Sergei Bubka, President of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee.

Check out:  Ambassador Turner’s blog

Kyiv Post article: Spreading the joys of cricket in Kyiv

P.s. I was also awarded Man-of-the-Match for my quick-fire 44 off 20 balls and my wicket keeping effort.

Orphanage ministry: With Micah in the USA, I’ve been able to plug into  visiting the orphanage.   I can really see the fruit of the the love that Oksana and Alyona have been pouring out on these kids. I was able to click right in.  It nearly brought tears to my eyes when a couple of the boys came up and hugged me as I was getting into the car.  All I did was showed them some interest and played backyard cricket with them for a couple hours.

Involvement in ministry to the poor: Oksana & Alyona have plans to reach out too many of our region’s poor and needy in Jesus’ name.  They have big hearts and a BIG LIST! Recently, I drove them to a village taking a large supply of disposable nappies and some clothes to a Christian couple with 5 kids (three of which are handicapped).  Chatting to the husband and wife probably encouraged me as much as it did them.

Encouragement to other pastors: Last week a couple hours freed up in my schedule.  So, I packed little Nikita in and we drove to visit Pastor Sasha who lives, works and ministers in Rokitne, the next regional town, about 30 minute’s drive away.  That was fun.  It was also an important visit. I’m interested in Sasha. He is a pastor of a small congregation struggling through its early development.  Unfortunately, the only contact we’ve had over the last year has been a few short phone calls. It was great to sit down and talk face to face.  We’ll be doing this now, more regularly. I have other pastors on my “hit” list to.

Cricket: With a car I’ve been able to get together at short notice with our guys and do one-on-one (or two) training.  We have our first tournament coming up soon so every opportunity helps.  It seems that the boys are appreciating it too.  Also, every Saturday I take four or five of our number to the Kiev practice games.  It helps them get a feel of the real thing.  It also gives me extra quality time with the youngsters.  I always shout the boys large cokes with extra ice at the drive through on our way home .

Family Trips: It’s Wednesday, so in a hour we’ll be off our a family trip to Kiev.  Destination unknown… probably will involve ice-cream and a swim.

Our new car (view from home back window). Now we need a garage!

A couple days later, he called and asked what I thought about Skoda Superb…  So, now we have a big spacious car in immaculate condition.  The windscreen wipers (and sprayers!), handbrake, brakes, and heater all work! It has seat belts. The oil doesn’t leak and the low fuel warning light comes on too.  Yes, and there’s more. e.g.  Climate control, front seat heaters. We are VERY happy.

It still has not sunken in yet that we own our own car.  Mentally, I’m still on the look out for a car.  Every time I see a Kangoo I think, “I  wonder how much they’re selling it for?”

M&M checking out boot space!

This that have been put off for ages are now on the “TO DO” list. We are particularly enjoying family drives and taking Olya out is now a real highlight.

Thank you God.

Logo of British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce

Sometimes, I just laugh when I think about how my life is working out. This next adventure is no exception.

Tom, God father of Cricket in Ukraine invited me to attend a unique (at least for me!) gathering at the newly built Hyatt hotel in Kiev.  The occasion was the British-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce’s (BUCC) announcement to develop cricket in Ukraine.  I had been included along with another twenty of so, to a buffet dinner and round table discussion. It seems that amongst representatives of serious Western companies there are some keen and almost famous cricket players.

5* buffet dinner

The BUCC will be moving towards getting Ukraine officially recognised by the Internation Cricket ICC.

Although their immediate goal is to launch a ‘village green’ type league as a friendly social competition for foreign ex-pats, they are keen to see cricket develop amongst the youth of Ukraine.  This is where I kick in!  It may well be that in the next few years, I’ll have access to dozens of kids through cricket.

There will be a cricket tournament in Kiev in June.  I am working hard to put together a combined Ukrainian-Aussie-Kiwi team.  It’ll be the first time Ukrainians will be fielding their own team.  We may not win against the Indian & Pakistani teams but we put on a good show.  And it is only the beginning.  I’m already enjoying the one-on-one and small group work as trainer with local teenagers.  Lord willing this will become an avenue to bring many young boys into the Kingdom as well as mentor them.  We are looking for cricket players to help train and influence young Ukrainian lives.

We donated 1000 litres of biodiesel to fuel local government tractors during the Spring cleanup throughout our local community.

Mayor and Co. visiting our biodiesel facility

Just days before, I’d invited the Mayor and his close associates to come and see our biodiesel facility. He was very impressed.

I was able to share our vision of Kaharlyk becoming Ukraine’s first town to actively implement renewable energy on the official level.  In the future we are hoping that our town council will buy fuel from us containing  20% biodiesel.  This is a strategic goal but will mean big PR points for our local government.

The Mayor told me how the political crisis in Ukraine had left local governments stranded with no access to money until the financial budget had been passed by the new government. The only way to fuel his tractors for the clean-up was to beg local businesses to donate fuel.  So, we took a big step of faith and covered most of the council’s fuelling bill.

Mayor inspecting a cricket bat

Apart from the biodiesel minifactory, we also showed him our cricket room and gave a short demonstration.  We’re actively looking for  a suitable field to play cricket on. Hopefully, this will become a reality in the not so distant future.

Valentina has been a great encouragement to many individuals in our church.  A number people have shared with me words of wisdom that she had given them.

I also had been really blessed a couple times during pastoral visits to her home. Valentina, she shared how she was been really loving the ‘close-knittedness’ of our church and also the emphasis we place of servanthood and practical faith & love in action.  She used to be part of a very big church in Kiev. It was special to hear that from a mother in the faith who had seen much over years that she’d been in active service.

Valentina died of cancer last month.  This is the first death of a member in our congregation.  There were people from six different church at her funeral.

Please pray for Nikolay as he comes to grips with life with his full-of-faith wife, especially, as he is a fledgling believer.

Micah has been pouring himself into this project.  He’s been getting eager help from a number of the young guys in our youth too.  The room is 60m2 and will be even cooler than the guest room/kitchen we built a couple years ago.  It’ll be the youth hang out as well.  Praise God because the youth group is growing! The coffee shop idea first came up as a way to take our serving and hospitality gifting to the next level especially among our church’s youth.  I’m really glad that we have others gungho for projects like this.  It’s taken years so far but we are slowly growing into filling our building.

Planned  construction projects at the church for 2010-2011:

• Renovating children ministry room after arson attack. (We’ve been waiting for the snow to melt!… so we can do some cement work)
• Fence construction around church property. (We’ve now paid for the land and we’ll be putting a proposal to the local council very soon.
• Window replacement in church hall. We need 7 new windows to kick off the renovation of our worship hall expanision.
• Water mains and manhole replacement and insulation.