• I have applied for my Russian visa to be able to continue my work at the House/Center.
  
• The RF laws have reduced and threatened our ministry in you know where (am I getting paranoid?) to the extent that we really need to close it before we risk losing another building to those with the might to take it. 
  
• We are looking for ways to continue some ministry there but not dependent on owning facilities. We are open to supporting our staff to serve in Ukraine but thus far no one wants to move.
  
• We recently reduced staff to fit the level of opportunity that we have at the Center now. Pray that they find other employment and opportunities for ministry. May God opens some windows and doors for them. It will be difficult for them to find employment in ministry, but TMI is open to supporting part time ministry or projects if the Lord provides the opportunity.
• I really hope it will be possible for the summer camp ministries to continue. Pray for Natalka who was our campus minister and has been the key evangelist for the French camps. Pray for Anastasia (Nastya) who would love to continue with summer children’s camps and even spend full time working with children — but it could mean moving from ‘home.’
  
• We had a buyer in August for our House on the Hill but he reneged and dropped his offer by 50k and in other ways seemed untrustworthy, so we are still looking for a buyer in a depressed market. Some say that the market will increase considerably in 2018 when a key bridge is completed. 
  
• My schedule for 2018 is still under consideration. I will continue to make administrative visits to the House and teach in Ukrainian seminaries but maybe not as frequently (10 days out of 30-40 the last academic year). I plan to be at the House either in December or late January. In April I am to teach near Kiev during an event that includes Pioneer Bible Translators. In the spring, I may make it to Berlin (finally) do do some teaching and seminars like I did in Prague.
  
• I was due to teach near Kiev this month but due to a number of factors, including the timing on my getting a Russian visa that meant I would not have a passport for traveling to Ukraine, I am going to the International Conference on Missions (ICOM) instead — 16-19 November in Peoria, IL. Pray that networking at ICOM will open more doors for TMI to use its resources for the Lord in ways we have not considered. 
  
• I will teach two online classroom courses for Summit Christian College (NE) this next semester: Cultural Anthropology and Introduction to Missions. I have never taught these courses, so there will be a lot of time spent in preparation. 
  
• Our TMI board meeting is December 12 in Melbourne, FL.
• Pray for our TMI board members who have health issues: Ken Miles and his wife Pat, and Morris Little.
• Joel has been overseas for most of this year; he returns Nov. 15 and will be with us in FL till the end of the year. 
  
• Tiffany’s friend Eric has completed chemotherapy and will start on radiation treatments soon. (Colon Cancer)
• Pray for national ministries that have property in Crimea and are concerned about their maintaining ownership in the face of various threats. Most missionaries have sold their apartments or houses by now, but a few are still trying. Pray for them. 
• Pray for Mulberry International, directed by one of our first CIU (CAC) graduates. Natasha is focusing on people affected by the war in East Ukraine, serving a town where shelling can be heard in the distance. Pray for a man from Ukraine who lives in Toronto that I met by phone via one of our bank officers. I am linking him with Mulberry in hopes he can help with supplies from time to time. He has family not far away from where Natasha is assisting and his wife has family not far away from where Natasha is from.
• Pray for our partner ministry, the Christian Center for Science and Apologetics as they continue to work under the handicap of limited travel between their centers. Praise the Lord for all the teaching and publications that Sergei does out of Kiev. Thank God for his partners, Good News Productions International (GNPI, media as a means of evangelism and equipping) and Literature and Teaching Ministries (LATM, funding publication of books). Praise the Lord that some of my graduates are still serving as translators for many of these books for so many years now. Sergei and the CCSA serve as my base for teaching in Ukraine. TMI continues to provide US bookkeeping and forwarding services for them. 
  
• Praise God for the continuing outreach to the students and young professionals in our Hostel (Center/House on the Hill). The staff hosts dinners for the residents, a room or two at a time. Now they are preparing for a Thanksgiving event. Pray for lives to be touched, one by one. They are a pretty resistant group, but recent meals have lowered that resistance. 
  
• Thank you for your prayers and financial support. 
  

In September, We enjoyed traveling with LaVerne’s best friend Dianne and her husband Dave. 

LaVerne and Dianne go back before Joel was born. Dianne wanted to see where Joel was born

and where so many of LaVerne’s stories centered. We were in Vienna on my birthday, 
which is where Joel was born. TCM’s Haus Edelweiss (above, top floor) was Joel’s first home. 

 

 

Why does Putin want to control Ukraine? Ask Stalin.