Sparks Family Serving in Kiev, Ukraine
NEWSLETTER
Sparks Ministry in Ukraine
 March / April 2012
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Family at Retreat
Sparks Family!
Praise and Prayer Requests
 

Our most urgent request right now is for Dawn & Stevie as they fly back to the U.S. on April 11.  Please pray for smooth connections and help if/when needed! 

 

Pray for the Seminary staff as they meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss vision and plans.  Pray for wisdom and unity as they consider what they should do.

 

Please continue to pray for Stevie as he gets the chance to spend time with his grandparents and as he adjusts to life with a baby sister and then transitions back to Kiev.

 

We are so thankful for the Medical Care we have gotten so far here in Ukraine. Pleae pray that the transition back to our U.S. doctor would go smoothly and we will get all necessary information communicated.

 

Pray for Steve as he remains in Ukraine for a month without the rest of the family.  He will be traveling quite a bit as well as needing to complete his class from Covenant Seminary. 

 

Pray for our unborn daughter and her 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 and adjust for medical and related travel expenses.

 


Support Report

 

Our support has been in minor flux over the past couple of months. We appreciate your continued personal sacrifice and pray and ask for your continued dedication to our mission.

 

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.  

 
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 

 

Dear Friends!

 

It has been an exciting month and a half since we have had the opportunity to send you a newsletter. We hope to recap for you both our family activities as well as some ministry activities that have happened over the last 6 weeks. 

 

This newsletter includes: 

     1. Dawn and Stevie Medical Travel

     2. Spring Seminary Session

     3. Our Work in Ukraine

     4. Thanks for the Support

 - Prayer Requests on left

 - Cold, Cold, Cold

 - 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
USA Address & Temporary Transportation Need 
While we are staying in the USA (see details below), our mailing address will be 

Steve and Dawn Sparks
c/o Kathy Sparks
8932 North Plaza Ct.
Austin, TX 78753

Mobile Phones
Dawn - 512-426-4085
Steve - 512-947-0963
 
We have found a vehicle that we can use! There are some complexities in the the details so all options are always open. We are so thankful for how the Lord has provided through our extended church family. We appreciate your continued prayers. 
Dawn and Stevie standing in front of the Lenin statue in Kiev. She worked at this intersection for over 6 years. It was never even on her mind that someday she would be standing there with her son and pregnant with her daughter. Wow!
 
Dawn and Stevie Medical Travel

Dawn and Stevie leave for the USA on the 11th of April. This likely is the first and last time a pregnant Dawn with a 2 year old will need to make multiple international flights and connections. She needs to go back to the USA at this time because travel is not recommended or generally permitted much beyond this point in her pregnancy. They will be staying with Steve's mother in Austin, Texas. We would appreciate all the prayers, encouragement and any love you can send her and Stevie during this time of travel and transition. Steve will remain in Ukraine until May 8th and then travel to Austin for the birth of our baby in late May. After the birth of our daughter and all the extensive paper work is completed we will return to Ukraine on August 1. This process is turning out to be complex with factoring in the medical, all the paper work with Ukraine letters of permission, USA documents and logistics of travel. We also have some concerns about expenses with all the travel, medical and living in the USA. We appreciate your support, and your continued prayers. Please pray for Dawn and Stevie as they travel, and for all of them as they are separated while Steve remains in Ukraine without Dawn and Stevie for a month. 

 

 

Spring Seminary Session

This past month the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine had a session where we had over 30 students and staff participate in a course taught by Dr. William A. Vangemeren who is an Old Testament professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The course was well received and a theological challenge for many students. This was a detailed review of the Old Testament Prophets. Much of the challenge to the students were some of the differences in addressing the Bible from Systematic Theology approach as well as a Biblical Theology Approach. 

 

Upcoming Travel and Ministry Activities

Steve is busy working with many members of the MTWUkraine Team. This next weeks he will be traveling to:

 

Odessa - Meeting with Clay Quarterman who is the President of the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine. Clay is also the most senior person in Ukraine. He has tremendous knwledge of this mission and history of missions here in Ukraine.

 

Belgorod-Dnistrovsky - The Ukrainian Presbytery is meeting right after a church planter evaluation conference. Steve will be attending the presbytery meeting as well as listening to the reports from the small group of men working on recruiting new Ukrainian Pastors for church planting.  

 

L'viv - Steve will be visiting the Lviv team, getting a chance to see Lviv, Ukraine, for the first time. His visit is in parallel with a MTW Leaders conference, and the MTW Ukraine Team bi-annual team meeting that helps the team maintain focus on our church planting vision.   

 

Kviv - Yes! Steve will be able to spend a few days at our apartment packing and preparing to leave for the USA.  

 

All of this is during the time after Dawn leaves for the USA and before Steve leaves to meet Dawn prior to the birth of our child.  

 

Additionally, Steve is engaged with his Distance Education from Covenant Theological Seminary in the USA continuing his work on a Master's in Religion and Culture.  

 
We survived the winter in Ukraine despite the record -27F temperature we experienced for much of Feburuary. We welcome Spring and look forward to days with much sunshine!

Our Work in Ukraine
There is much going on with our ministry here in Kiev as well as our logistical support of the entire mission in Ukraine. There are many needs for prayer and the work that needs to be done at times seems endless. Success and progress depends on many levels of communication between the MTW Team, Ukrainian nationals, and other missions that are here in Ukraine. There is much that needs to be reviewed and communicated with many outside of Ukraine as well. The details are very specific but it all depends on everyone being open to each other and listening carefully. We ask for your prayers that ears are open, people can sit down and listen, and our teams are able to communicate effectively. 
 
We continue to define and redefine how we can best minister to the mission as a whole as well as the seminary. It is a constant challenge for Steve to face the complex nature of communications that is well established here in Ukraine, but often in ways where people are excluded from key details. This is a challenge for Steve as his role to provide assistance in many ministries depends on these detailed communications. We need prayer that these doors would be open and that relationships can grow. Steve has met with men from other missions as well as leaders from our mission. 
 
Dawn, even at this time of her growing pregnancy, has been very active in her financial coordinator role for the MTW Ukraine Country Team. There is a little stress for her as she will need to take a break from this work as she tends to the business of being a mother of a newborn. Please pray for her being a Mom of a new daughter and pray these concerns would be little. 
 
Sparks Ministry Blog

www.sparksministry.org

 

Keep watching our Blog as our family changes and we move from one side of the Atlantic to the other. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. These next few months as our family grows and we continue to work hard on our ministry goals from both sides of the Atlantic will be very challenging. 

Sincerely in Christ,

Steve, Dawn and Steven
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Please make check payable to:
Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284