Sparks Family Serving in Kiev, Ukraine, Update
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Sparks Family in Ukraine Update
| October / November 2011
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Praise and Prayer Requests 
Praise that we continue to be strong in our call to the mission here in Ukraine.
Praise that Steve's Dad will be visiting us over Thanksgiving. Pray for safe travel for him.
Please pray that we would continue to learn language, adjust to culture and face the challenges of living here with our family as well as all the new things that seem to come up everyday.
Please continue to pray for Stevie that all his needs are being met as well as that he will have time to spend time with other children and have good times of play and fellowship.
Pray for wisdom as we pray about specific needs such as the need for a vehicle, Dawn's medical care and our growing family.
Pray for good health as we all are suffering from colds and Steve has had a sinus infection for a while and it is making day to day items difficult.
Pray for guidance as we approach Dawn's pregnancy and understanding we we learn the Ukraine medical system and the process here.
Pray for Steve as he continues his language study. He has been working on country level items now but will soon be looking for a language helper and a language tutor and would pray that the perfect person would be made available to fill these roles.
Please pray for Dawn as she adjusts to being a wife and mother in Ukraine. She has many adjustments to how she previously was able to care for her family in the USA as well as how she is accustomed to live here in Kiev.
Pray for safe travel over the next few weeks as team members as well as Steve travel throughout Ukraine on church and mission ministry and this can be taxing on health and sleep.
Pray for Steve for continued clarity concerning how he can work well with national staff and how he can best present his ideas and recommendations to the leadership over the months ahead.
Pray for our unborn child and its health and well being and that Dawn's pregnancy will continue to go well.
Pray for our finances as we look forward to a new child, adjust for medical and related travel expenses.
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Wedding Plans
It is exciting to consider that as far as I know the first Ukrainian couple that met each other at our church plant as well as came to know Christ through the English camp outreach projects will be getting married very soon. This is a true blessing to the Church as we we see new families beginning their life together as part of their commitment to faith in Christ.
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Sparks Ministry Blog
www.sparksministry.org
Need more? Keep in touch with our progress and other news tidbits posted on our blog.
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Support Report
We continue to appreciate the faithful donations of our prayer and financial team. Support is always on the edge and we thank you for the continued giving towards our ministry. You sacrifice is what allow us to continue to serve the Kingdom. We feel honored and blessed by your trust in us to serve well. If you need more information about giving to our ministry please don't hesitate to ask. We would love to talk to you about how you can help. If you have any difficulty with getting support payments or need more information on our prayer needs at anytime, please feel free to email us. If you need help getting a checking or credit card set up you can also call MTW at 1-866-373-6133. The donations address is: Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284 The #10572 is our account number and needs to be included on the check. |
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Dear Friends!,
Happy Thanksgiving! While the American Thanksgiving holiday is obviously not celebrated in Ukraine, we and our team are looking forward to a celebration next week. It will be especially American this year as our team has received as a gift from the the US Embassy, a Butterball Turkey!
This newsletter has lots of new information, about both ministry and personal family events. I'd suggest grabbing a beverage, sitting back and enjoying all our news from Ukraine!
This newsletter includes:
1. Family, Family, Family, Family
2. Seminary - To Be Continued.
3. Plan to Purchase a Vehicle
4. Presbytery Report
- Prayer Requests on left
- Wedding news on the left
- Blog Address on left
- Support Report on left
- Pledge Card at the bottom
Our Mailing Address in Ukraine is:
Steve and Dawn Sparks
Prospect Pobedy 105, Kb. 55
Kiev 03115
Ukraine
Our Skype Contact Skype # - 512-879-9900 Skype ID - stevenssparks Email: SteveandDawn@sparksministry.org |
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Family, Family, Family, Family (That add up to 4?)
 | | Our Family: Steve, Dawn and Stevie |
1. Family Life - Dawn, Stevie and I continue to adjust to family life here in Ukraine. The shopping and daily living is somewhat different than my past experience. Simple things like getting to the store always takes much more time. Not even considering the walking and other forms of travel time, the process is more complex to get something. If you factor in the few times the bus driver refused to stop at my stop (yes, it was clear I needed to stop), or changed the route of the bus due to traffic., that adds even more adventure! We enjoy much that is unique about Ukraine. Much can be purchased from a kiosk on the street, and my favorite kiosk is one that bakes fresh bread (Lavash). You get the bread right out of the oven. Even on a cold day (below freezing) sometimes the bread is so hot it can burn your hands when you are putting it in a package to take home. Since it is so warm the bread can still be warm after I traverse the 1/2 mile distance between the bakery and our apartment.
One top of the continued adjustments and all the other excitement we just celebrated Stevie's 2nd birthday.
We had a great party at our team members' home where Stevie was loved, given lots of gifts, and had his recently favorite pumpkin cake in the shape of a "Blue's Clue" paw print. We are very appreciative of the package sent by one of his grandmothers with the "Blue's Clues" themed banner and a few special gifts.
2. Family and Friends - A big event in the past month was our team leader's son having a medical emergency and need to be evacuated to Germany for a medical treatment. Everyone is well and Zachary's finger is healing. It was not the outcome we had exactly hoped, but Zach is an amazing and resilient boy and we expect he will continue to do well. The entire process was one I pray I will never need to use, however I do sleep better knowing that as part of our mission we have insurance to meet these emergency needs. We are very thankful for Zachary.
3. Family of the Church - It was just a few weeks ago that I spent some time with a U.S. pastor visiting Kiev. It was a good visit as I was able to share my vision of our ministry in Ukraine and spend time listening and learning about his ministry in the USA. I very much appreciate the opportunity to spend time with others who are serving all over the world in building God's Kingdom and spreading the Gospel of Truth. I look forward to more visits from professors working with the seminary to teach and visits from church leaders serving other ministries in Ukraine. It is truly a privilege and a pleasure to be part of the team.
4. Family Growing - The big news of this newsletter is that Dawn is pregnant with our second child. We are extremely excited and nervous about the process. The excitement of a new child as many know can not really be described in words. The nervousness of the process of care here in Ukraine is an entire new level. I personally do not know what to expect. The medical facility is very nice and the Doctor even speaks a little English. It is a huge blessing that Dawn can speak Russian to communicate with the Doctor and staff, however all the materials and documents are written in Ukrainian. We signed a contract for prenatal care that fortunately was dual-translated but it was still a bit perplexing for me as I signed. Additionally the entire process is pre-paid, in a package type of purchase. So we had to pay for the entire process up front. The baby is healthy, and we are past 12 weeks. The third sonogram is in a couple of more weeks and we should have more news to report after that doctor's appointment. We are fortunate enough to have medical staff on our team who can help with knowledge of procedures as well as being able to consult by email with our U.S. doctor. The addition of a new family member means a little more complexity for getting around the city for the basic needs such as shopping, as well as being able to get to places like the doctor, and other team members' homes. We are happy about it, though, and look forward to seeing Stevie become a big brother!
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Seminary - To be Continued!
 | | Always proud of the recent graduation of students! |
Any time you enter a well established and functioning enterprise it is impossible to know how your presence will impact everything. I am happy to report that while I am working on learning Russian, spending time learning the country operations and adjusting to culture in Ukraine, that I am also making progress at learning more about the Seminary and how I can help with the next stage of the Seminary. The process of change is complex, and the process of learning the history of the operations here that run deep in the culture and run deep in the lives of the men serving the church here is complex as well. However I feel optimistic that as we continue to learn, to meet with the teams at the Seminary, the other teams serving here in Ukraine that we are working well and are making progress. It is not going to be a fast and furious process but one that will take some time to make adjustments and corrections along the way, but with the Lord's blessing and His continued presence we are moving in the right direction in our wanderings through this wilderness.
A big part of my job here is working with ministries that at times can be logistically difficult to get to at times. We have sessions in a location that can be hard get to when you don't have a vehicle and there are times when I need to be at several locations in a single day. For these reasons as well as for the personal reasons you read above, and from the advice of our team leader, we are hoping to purchase a vehicle. We ask for your prayers not only for the seminary but also for this process as it can be expensive and complex.
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Plan to Purchase a Vehicle
As previously mentioned, Dawn and I, after consulting with others on our team and speaking with leadership are in the process of looking for and purchasing a vehicle. The first step will be funding, then after enough funds are available we will work with people here who know the process, such as our Ukrainian Pastor, of purchasing, licensing and insuring a car. This is for both personal needs, as we are growing to a family of four, as well as for ministry needs as I need to be more mobile when working with so many different entities that can meet at out of the way locations. We had thought about a vehicle need when we first moved here but until I experienced the transportation requirements that I will need for ministry as well as for family we weren't sure whether it was necessary or not. Now that we've lived here for a few months, we see the need is pretty strong. We ask for your prayer for us as we move through this process. This is a big decision for us and our ministry. If you would like to know more please contact me.
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Presbytery Report
During a recent presbytery meeting a pastor completed his acceptance into the presbytery. He has been leading a church that was not part of a reformed denomination. After spending time studying and going through the transfer process, one that is of equal complexity and and as thorough as any US based Presbytery, he was accepted and approved. His specific situation is such that the ordination took place during the presbytery meeting. This is a picture of the other pastors praying for him and his ministry. It was very encouraging and exciting to see this process. The entire church just a few weeks later attended a conference on reformed teaching to continue learning the Presbyterian process and understand how they can be better members of the church and body of Christ.
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If you received this email because someone forwarded it to you, you can join our email list by clicking the link "Join our Mailing List" in the left sidebar of this email.
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Sincerely in Christ,
Steve, Dawn and Steven
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How to Set Up Support
We get asked at times how you go about supporting our ministry.
While we recently reached the needed level to move to Ukraine, we will always need additional support team mebers through the months and years!
The first decision is on a means of support. This can be:
1. Financial Support
2. Prayer Support
3. Both 1 & 2
The next step would be to notify us or Mission to the World (MTW) that you would like to be a ministry partner.
This can be accomplished by
1. Emailing us with how you would like to partner and, if the partnership involves financial support, include the amount and frequency. (You can simply reply to this newsletter.)
2. You can also print and mail the form at the end of this newsletter to MTW. You then specify the details as outlined on the form.
3. If you have one of our prayer cards then detach the bottom part and mail that card to Mission to the World.
When you begin financial support you can pay by check, bank draft or credit card.
Checks and Automated payments can be mailed to:
Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
The #10572 is our account number and needs to be included on the check.
Credit Cards can be set up on the MTW Website or by calling 1-866-373-6133
Additional details about donations can be found
here at this link
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Please
Join
Our
Team
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I would like to record my commitment to MTW/Short Term and Steve and Dawn Sparks (#10572) by:
( ) Receiving Prayer Letter ( ) My intent to contribute $_________
( ) Praying faithfully for them to their support:
( ) Daily ( ) Weekly ( ) Monthly ( ) Annually ( ) Quarterly
( ) Enclosed is my one-time Gift $_____________
Name:___________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________
City:_____________________________________ State: _____ Zip:________
Church:__________________________________________________________
Please make check payable to:
Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
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