Rick & Pam Barry Prayer Letter - November 2005

 

Dear friends and family,

 

The past few weeks have been hectic ones, but we want to pause long enough to bring you up to date on all that we have been doing.

 

Back in September, when Rick wrote to a pastor in Wisconsin that he would be in Chervona Sloboda, Ukraine, and volunteered to hand-carry any cards or letters to the church planter that church supports, that pastor phoned the office to ask if he could go along. But his schedule wouldn’t let him go overseas at the end of October. As a result, both he and Rick scrambled to squeeze a trip into the first half of October. But it worked out well. The weather was warm, and Pastor Howell from Madison was greatly blessed to visit personally many of BIEM’s ministry workers on the field. It really opened his eyes.

 

Just before this trip, our office received a Russian concordance from a church in New Mexico. Their VBS kids had collected coins to purchase a concordance for someone ministering in Ukraine. Rick got the privilege of taking it along. While overseas, he was asked if he would visit and encourage a small group of Christians (about 15) in Novograd-Volinsky. These Christians have no pastor and no building, but love the Lord. The Ukrainian man who normally leads in preaching to them used to be a boxer, but while boxing in Israel he and his family heard the Gospel and got saved. Now, back in his homeland, Sergei met this group of believers and has taken the responsibility of holds worship services with them. When Rick saw that this man has very few books to help him prepare sermons, Rick gave him that concordance and explained who it was from. With wide eyes, Sergei expressed thanks over and over, then sat down at the kitchen table for the next hour to examine the book and to see how to use it. Since an average income is about $200-250 per month, he probably would not have been able to afford a $25 concordance on his own.

 

When Rick was visiting church planter Igor Fomichov in Goncharivske, an informal meeting for unsaved teen boys had been planned. That evening, at 7:00 no boys showed up. At 7:10 they prayed that the Lord would remind the teens of the get-together. Within five minutes a number of boys arrived! They had a good meeting as they snacked and talked about life in America, life in Ukraine, and life in fellowship with God. That night one boy (who hadn’t even been invited) couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking of what would happen when he died. The next day he came back to talk to Igor, our local worker, and asked God to save him!

 

For two weeks, Rick was kept busy as he also visited BIEM workers in Lutsk, Ternopil, Desna, Zoria, Chervona Sloboda, and in the capital of Kyiv. While passing through Dubno, he was invited for a meal in the home of a preacher who insisted on giving him an interesting souvenir—one of the old “Messenger of Salvation” magazines that the underground church printed on homemade printing presses during Soviet persecution. We praise God that we no longer labor under those conditions.

 

There are always many requests for Rick and BIEM’s other American co-worker to visit far-flung areas and to preach. It really encourages people to see that we know about them, care about them, and are willing to visit and spend time with them. In Chervona Sloboda, two elderly ladies not only shook Rick’s hand after his Russian sermon but also kissed his hand on their way out the door! (Try that at your own church if you want to surprise the pastor.)

 

Here in the States we continue to receive invitations here and there for missions conferences or other meetings. Most recently, on October 23 the Missions Committee of a church in northern Indiana that we had previously visited to present the ministry invited us back to share more details about BIEM and ourselves to consider us for possible support. We sincerely enjoyed our visit.

 

Meanwhile, the administrative work in the office must go on. Rick enjoys pulling together photographs and information for the ministry newsletters and has recently been developing our 2006 calendar, which is now at the printers.

 

In our local area, Pam is busy with what is called WRE here—“Weekly Religious Education.” Public school children are actually bussed (during the school day!) to local churches for Bible lessons, and Pam is involved in that. Sixty-four kids come to our church, so they are divided into several classes. Pam loves teaching them!

 

Our praises and prayer requests:

1. Praise: for 17-year-old Andrei, who accepted Christ in Goncharivske.

2. Praise: for the Lord’s help as Rick preaches and conducts ministry business in Russian. The Lord is also increasing his Russian vocabulary, which helps a lot.

3. Praise: for the invitations we are getting from churches. (We could use more!)

4. Please pray: that our support level would rise. It’s a slow process for most missionaries, and we are no exceptions. The average missionary requires 2 to 2.5 years to raise support. However, we are not discouraged, and we want to use this time to bless others. Financial gifts from friends and family are helping to keep us going.

5. Please pray: for a spiritual awakening in Russia & Ukraine (and America too).

 

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers! Those are the best gifts you can give us.