All right, last week of CMO 2019! It has not been easy, but definitely worth all the work. We started the week with our beloved day off, so we relaxed and did anything that needed to be done before the week. The Days very kindly had us over for lunch and a board game (Settlers of Catan).
The CMO guys enjoy an evening of fellowship, food, and games with the Day family.
Wednesday we went to Lutsk to pass out invites for Bible First, the correspondence course. However, when Joshua started the van in the morning, he realized that the dash lights, blinkers, and brake lights did not work. It looks like the van was in a bad mood during this CMO! Our mechanics (who fixed the van during week 2) had a look at the van but could not figure out the problem. So we hopped in Tolik's and Serhii's cars to get to Lutsk. Once there, we distributed tracts in P.O. boxes of apartment blocks, and got out a very good amount of tracts.
As usual, Nathan organizes the team into smaller groups, each tasked with a certain region of the city.
Kade and Nelson hurry off to their next building.
The second day of our literature blitz, as we call them, also went very well. Cornelius and I did have a lady run us off, but that is not uncommon when we do literature distribution. We just go to the next entrance out of sight and hope nobody will see us as threats! The total amount of Bible First invitations we distributed during the two days in Lutsk was 33,000.
Two days, 33,000 tracts. The responses continue to come in!
On Friday, we started by having devotions led by Cornelius, followed by book reports, which was altogether very interesting and encouraging. Joshua went to an automotive electrician and got the van fixed quickly, praise the Lord. The problem was a relay that was corroded on the inside. So we were able to get the gear in the van and go downtown to do surveys and street preaching. Several in the team had good conversations with people there. Then we set up the gear for street preaching, and Josh went first. As he was finishing up, we started having some rain. We waited it out and Nelson went on to preach, though he had to finish his message in the rain. Since it was pouring more and more and the street got mostly emptied from its passer-bys, we decided we would have Cornelius preach on another day.
Cornelius brought a great devotion! We had lots of good discussion afterwards.
Nelson conducts a Bible survey with a young lady near a university in L'viv.
Kade went with Joshua's three daughters to do surveys. Abigail got to practice translating into Ukrainian!
We did our last day of literature distribution on Saturday, where we distributed 13,375 invites in three smaller cities: Truskavets, Stebnyk, and Boryslav. Everything went smoothly, and I even got to do the very last set of P.O. boxes of CMO!
Ralph rings in to the very last "pid'yeezd" of CMO 2019!
We were able to go to church on Sunday, and enjoyed nice Ukrainian hymns played by the church musicians. We then drove to Yasenytsya-Zamkova, where our last film showing was. People started showing up as early as thirty minutes in advance, which is rather uncommon. By 17:00, when the movie started, we already had a significant crowd, peaking to twenty-three during the movie. Just as the movie began playing, we had a good rain outside, meaning the attendants were not in a hurry to leave the hall! The crowd was quite attentive, and even clapped after Josh did his Gospel presentation and outro message.
We were encouraged to have a very attentive crowd for our final film showing of the year in the village of Yasenytsya-Zamkova.
Once Josh had finished speaking, a man from the audience stood up and introduced himself as a regional government official. He was very complimentary of our presentation, and thanked us for our work. He then introduced a colleague of his who is running for parliament. This man was also very positive about the film showing. He spoke for several minutes about his campaign for parliament, emphasizing the importance of a strong family unit. At the end, we prayed for both men, noting the passage in Scripture which instructs us to pray for those in positions of authority.
On Monday morning the guys started packing their stuff, and in the afternoon we did our very last street preaching. Everything went very well, and we had great weather! Cornelius preached first, then Kade, and finally Nelson. The messages were great, and we had a several people fill out Good and Evil invites right there after the messages.
Cornelius preaches the Gospel in central L'viv.
Then the Steele's had us over to their home to have the last team dinner. We had wonderful food, a funny game, and a great time overall. Thanks to the ladies for making all of that possible!
This concludes Carpathian Mountain Outreach 2019. This CMO was simply amazing. The team I got to work with are some of the best folks I have met. God's hand in all of it was very clear. We had our share of obstacles, like rain, mechanical problems, or illness, but the Lord had a plan in everything that happened, and it truly worked out great and to His glory.
I will quote this from Cornelius: "Don't be sad that it's over, be glad that it happened." Very true.
Also, the team here will need more young men to come next year. If you think the Lord calls you or someone you know to this project, please come next year!
Nelson and Ralph accompany Cornelius to the airport to see him off.
The next morning, Nelson and Kade flew out.
How you can pray
- Praise the Lord for those who heard the Gospel last Sunday in Yasenytsya-Zamkova!
- Pray that God would open the hearts and minds of those who heard the Gospel this summer. This would include audiences at film showings in the Carpathians, open-air outreaches in L'viv, and those who received literature in the cities of Rivne, Lutsk, Truskavets, Stebnyk, and Boryslav.
- Pray for strength and wisdom for our staff team as we continue to process the many responses that are now coming in.
- Pray that God would use the Good and Evil books and Bible First lessons to bring many to salvation.
- Pray for wisdom and direction for the CMO men as they continue to minister the Gospel in the United States, Canada, and around the world.
- Pray that even now, God would begin raising up the team for CMO 2020!
View the full Week 4 photo album on our Facebook page!