Charley and Melissa's trip to Ukraine--October 20-29, 2007

Greetings.

Charley and Melissa have just returned from a ministry trip to Ukraine October 20-29, 2007, having visited the cities of Kiev, Irpen, Cherkassy, and Odessa. This trip included times of ministry with missionaries, nationals and the EAAA conference, as well as a trip down memory lane for Melissa as she saw many familiar sites from when we lived in Odessa from 1991-1999. She wanted one last trip to Ukraine before she heads to college next year.

Here's some pictures from their trip.

Enjoy.

Charley and Cheryl
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We began our trip in Kiev staying with Ray and Cindy LeClair, Eurasia Directors for ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International). We had stayed with Ray and Cindy for a week back in July 1991, on our way to moving to Odessa; Melissa was 16 months old at the time.

This is Melissa in the Maidan or Independence Square in Kiev. This is where the Orange Revolution happened in Ukraine in 2004.

The 10th anniversary General Meeting of the Euro-Asian Accrediting Association of Evangelical Schools (EAAA) held in Irpen, Ukraine (just outside of Kiev). We had 44 of the 55 member schools in attendance with over 120 participants.

As the EAAA International Assistant, Charley helps with the administration of the conference, especially with foreign guests as well as...

...giving a report to the conference on the EAAA's international relationships and partnerships.


This is Olga Zaprometova, the Academic Dean of the Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow, Russia. We first met Olga in December 1989 when we lived with a family in Moscow for three months. At the time Cheryl was 7 months pregnant with Melissa. This conference was the first time Olga and Melissa had met.

Also at the conference was College Church in Wheaton missionary Chad Wiebe who serves with SEND International in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), Russia. We first met Chad's wife, Lena, in Odessa in the early 1990s before we had met Chad! It's amazing what a jar of soup can do.

After the conference was over the EAAA Board met to discuss accreditation visits, projects and other Association work. Charley is in the yellow shirt and tie on the right.

From Kiev we traveled 2 1/2 hours southeast by minibus to the city of Cherkassy, Ukraine where we visited with one of Charley's former students at the Odessa Theological Seminary, Victor Sinelnikov, and his family. Victor is assisting Charley with his English-Russian Glossary of Theological Terminology. Victor's children were some of Melissa's playmates when we lived in Odessa.

From Cherkassy we took an overnight train to Odessa. While on the train we enjoyed one of our favorite foods--pelmeni--which are like meat-stuffed ravioli without the tomato sauce. In this case, we added ketchup. Delicious!

After we arrived in Odessa we had lunch with Sergei and Tanya Sannikov at the EAAA offices in Odessa. Sergei founded the Odessa Theological Seminary and is the Executive Director of the EAAA. We first met Sergei at a theological education conference in Vienna, Austria in August 1990. Melissa was 6 months old at the time and loved to pull on Sergei's beard! We praise the Lord for the 17 years (and counting) of ministry partnership with Sergei.

Melissa in front of the recently remodeled and reopened Odessa Opera House. The decorated limosines are in the photo because we were standing next to the wedding palace. The light blue flags in the background were part of the beginnings of a protest about the rededication of a monument to Catherine the Great who ruled Russia in the 18th century.

Our trip came to an end on Monday October 29th with a 5:15 AM flight from Odessa back to Vienna. God has been faithful all these many years both in our family and in our ministry. Thank you for your ongoing prayer and financial support.