Saturday was the second and final day of our Young Men’s Conference. Thank you to all of you who were praying about this. We had a great turn out (over 30 guys), and I believe that these young men were encouraged and God was glorified.

Young Men's Conference - February 2010

Our theme was II Timothy 2. The conference consisted of four sessions, each deriving it’s subject from a verse in II Timothy 2. (see topical overview below) All four sessions were recorded on video, and Jonathan Steele is putting them onto a DVD. If you would like to obtain a copy of the DVD, please contact Jonathan via e-mail: jonathancalebsteele@gmail.com.

Bill Bell gives a demonstration on tactical firearms.

Teaching from II Timothy 2

Attendees had fill-in-the-blank handouts that went along with the session topics.

Singing hymns between sessions

The last session included an onscreen demonstration on how to study the Bible using SwordSearcher Bible Software.

The following is a topical overview of the conference:

SESSION 1 – Chosen to be Soldiers
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 2 Timothy 2:3

• On Tactical Weaponry
• About YOU
• Whose side are you on?
• The Essence of the Gospel
• The Bottom Line: Righteousness
• Believing vs. Asking (Rom. 4)
• Professing Christ

SESSION 2 – Depart from Iniquity
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19

• Addiction
• Reformation or Destruction?
• Romans 6: The Free Man’s Manifesto
• Understanding Physical Drives
• Freedom is not related to your experience
• Something to know
• Something to do
• A Warning

SESSION 3 – Avoid Entanglement
“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:4

• What are Entanglements?
• Learn to Treasure a Tender Conscience
• A Call to Sobriety
• Strive to be Crowned (II Timothy 2:5)
• Remember that Christ is Conforming You
• What if I fall?

SESSION 4 – A Workman not Ashamed
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

• The Bible is your Final Authority
• You need to search the Scriptures
• The Key to Understanding the Meaning of Scripture

The latest issue of Overseas Field Report has now been posted to our blog. Hard copies will going out in the mail this week, so if you’re on our regular mailing list, you should be receiving a copy soon.

Carpathian Mountain Outreach 2010 will begin on June 1st. Exciting things are happening, and we look forward to what God will do in Western Ukraine this summer.

CORRECTION: After mailing out the printed version of OFR, we realized that part of the last sentence on page 3 was cut off. The entire sentence should read: “Whether you support us in prayer or join us in the mountains, help us do what believers have been doing for 2000 years: go and tell others what Jesus Christ has done for you.” This has been corrected in the PDF file below.

Download the latest OFR here » January/February 2010 (888.94 KB)

If you would like to subscribe to receive Overseas Field Report by mail, please send us your name and US mailing address. We appreciate your interest in overseas missions.

As many of you know, God recently opened the door for our family to purchase a house here in the States. We plan to live in the house until our return to Ukraine, and then rent it out. The house needed quite a bit of work when we bought it, and we have been very blessed by the many believers who have come forward and volunteered their efforts to help with repairs. Last Wednesday, Rob Spivey organized a group of about 25 people from our church who worked with us all day painting, caulking, scraping floors, installing siding, and much more. Before that, we had the entire Courter family here from Tennessee for a whole week. Several members of our family – my mom especially – have also spent many hours assisting us with this project.

We are eternally grateful to everyone who has given of themselves so freely in order to help us finish this project. May the Lord bless you richly for the kindness you have shown to our family.

Our house in White Settlement

Anthony Courter repairs drywall in our kitchen.

Rebekah Courter paints the exterior of the house.

Painting the kitchen cabinets. From the top: Aaron Courter, Jeremy Steele, Steven Nguyen

Aaron Courter caulks the new siding at the back of the house.

The Courter Family

Rick Howard (right) and his son put up masking tape in preparation for painting the walls.

Jerry Balding rented a floor scraper for us and did a great job cleaning off the old glue in preparation for our new floor.

Tristan Nugent (left) and Ross Atherton (right) installed new siding on our storage building in the back yard.

We had a quite a few ladies from the West and Howard families along with Jackie Atherton who did a fabulous job on the paint crew!

Alex installs a new ceiling fan.

Yep, this is me running around and trying to be useful with my new toy - a Bosch impact driver.

My brother Josiah poses for this shot with the, uh, appliance dolly. That came in handy later when we rolled in the new refrigerator that was given to us by the Gerhart family.

The latest issue of Overseas Field Report has now been posted to our blog. Hard copies will be going out in the mail soon.

The main article in this issue of OFR is a reprint of a blog post entitled, I Met the Martin Luther of the Carpathians. There are lots of people on our regular mailing list who do not access our blog, and this story was so powerful that we decided to publish it in the print version of our newsletter. But don’t despair: there’s lots of news in this issue that hasn’t yet appeared on the blog. So be sure to download the PDF if you’re not on our regular mailing list.

Download the latest OFR here » October - December 2009 (693.15 KB)

If you would like to subscribe to receive Overseas Field Report by mail, please send us your name and US mailing address. We appreciate your interest in overseas missions.

It’s hard to believe, but as of Friday, September 25th, our little Abigail is four years old! We are unspeakably grateful for her little life and for the privilege of being her parents. Here are few pictures from her birthday party with our family.

Abby's first present was a new Bible. She always wants one to follow along during our family Bible time, and now she has one.

The next present was a biiiig one...

"Wow! A dollhouse!"

Mommy helps with the setup. Definitely a winning idea for Abby's birthday.

We would like to thank all of our family and friends who sent gifts and greetings to Abigail on her birthday. We appreciate so much your part in her life. Please pray that God will continue to guide us and give wisdom from above as we train Abigail up in the ways of the Lord.

Other Abby News
For the past year or more, Abby has shown a keen interest in music. She has demonstrated her talent by teaching herself to play familiar melodies on the piano. Songs she hears on her CD player during room time inevitably get plinked out on the piano later. Abby has also shown great interest in Kelsie’s violin. So, a couple of weeks ago, we bought her a small beginner’s violin. Abby was thrilled, and is already learning to play some songs with Mommy.

Abby practices her violin.

After many weeks of preparation, the Steele family is finally departing for America! As we travel, we would greatly appreciate your prayers in the following areas:

• A smooth border crossing out of Ukraine (We don’t expect any problems, but you never know.)
• Strength for the children
• Safety
• Health (No one is sick at the moment, but international travel is quite stressful.)
• The safe arrival of all our luggage

Beka and Abby are growing all the time! Abby will be four in September. Beka is 19 months.

Nathan Day will be traveling to America a few days after we do. As many of you know, he will be getting married to Katelin Rebsch on November 7 of this year. Please pray for safe travel for Nathan and Katelin and for God’s blessing on them as they begin their new life together in Ukraine. Also, be sure to check out their new wedding web site!

The 2009 ETO staff team

Ministry Status
Although we will be in the US for several months, the ministry will proceed. The Beal family, Denise Hutchison, and Bryan Shufelt remain in Ukraine and will continue ETO’s many outreaches and projects in our absence. The following is a brief overview of our primary ministries and their goals over the next few months.

Chronological Bible Course (CBC)
Our team recently completed our final draft of Lesson 15 of the course. This lesson will be sent to our translator soon and later formatted before going to press. Lesson 14 is being translated right now. While in the US, we will continue writing new material for our course. At present, we have about 380 students enrolled, many of whom are advancing quickly through the lessons.

The first phase of our course will consist of 17 lessons, covering the entire book of Genesis. We are very excited to be nearing the completion of this phase. The following is a topical overview of Phase 1:

1. Introduction of the Bible
2. Who is God?
3. The Spiritual World
4. Creation Part I (Gen. 1)
5. Creation Part II (Gen. 1)
6. Adam and Eve (Gen. 1, 2)
7. The Fall (Gen. 3)
8. The Curse & The Promised Deliverer (Gen. 3)
9. Cain and Abel (Gen. 4)
10. Noah and the Great Flood (Gen. 5-11)
11. Abraham I (Gen. 12-14)
12. Abraham II (Gen. 15-17)
13. Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18-20)
14. Isaac (Gen. 21-22)
15. Isaac and His Family (Gen. 23-26)
16. Jacob (27-36)
17. Joseph (Gen. 37-50)

Audio Bible Studies (ABS)
Our Audio Bible Study sessions continue to progress well. We hold weekly meetings here in L’viv which consist of a one-hour English Club followed by a one-hour Bible lesson. During English Club, Ukrainians are invited to practice their language skills on various topics. We also make heavy use of No Greater Joy’s Good and Evil, which the students practice reading aloud in English. All of our students have copies of the book in Ukrainian, and we encourage them to compare the two languages and ask questions about what they read.

We have a handful of people who have been coming on a regular basis, and most opt to stay for Bible lesson as well. Over the past several weeks, we have been teaching through the book of Romans, recording every message in digital audio. Last week, we completed Romans 8. The Romans series will be on hold while our family is in the States, but English Club will proceed as usual.

Carpathian Mountain Outreach (CMO)
We had a great summer in the Carpathians this year. We showed Fireproof in several villages in the mountains were encouraged by the positive responses we received. Our team also passed out quite a bit of literature inviting Ukrainians to enroll in our correspondence course. As a result, we have gained many new contacts over the last couple of months. Click here to view the CMO 2009 photo journal.

Plans are already being laid for next year’s project, CMO 2010. We hope to have updated information available on our ministry web site in the next couple of months.

We are very grateful to all of you who faithfully supported this outreach in prayer. Please continue to intercede for those who were introduced to Christ this year in Western Ukraine.

Summary
We will continue to post ministry and family updates throughout our time in America. As always, we are grateful for your prayers and support as we strive to publish the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Ukraine.

Since we posted out last update regarding our trip to the US, God has provided us a car free of charge! A missionary family  based out of Illinois contacted us to say that they no longer need their ‘95 Toyota Camry since they are moving to Japan. As it stands right now, we will be picking up the car when we come through Chicago on our way down to DFW.

We are, however, still in need in of housing for our nine-month stay in America. Please continue to pray with us about this need, and if you know of any available housing options in the Fort Worth area, please let us know.

Ministry News
I apologize for the lack of ministry updates lately. In short, there is so much ministry going on, that it’s hard to find time to write about it! God is blessing, and we are moving forward in many areas. Tonight, for example, is ABS. We’ll be starting Romans 8. We are excited to have the Romans series in digital audio, and look forward to distributing it to our CBC students in the coming weeks and months.

Below are a few pictures from CMO, ABS, CBC, and our other acronym-rich activities. FYI.

Our most recent Fireproof showing in the village of Tershiv.

Teaching Romans 7 at a recent ABS meeting.

Preaching the Gospel after a film showing

The ETO team edits our newest version of Lesson 1 from the Chronological Bible Course.

The CMO 2009 team. Thanks for praying for these guys!