That is a strange title, I know – ORPHANS HELPING ORPHANS. Please allow me to explain. In the summer I received a call from Greg Conway, Director of Tulsa Boys Home. The Home has been in existence for decades in our home city, Tulsa, OK. Greg has been Director for 25 years. He told me he heard about us through a lady who works in their accounting department. She told them about House of Joy orphanage in Kahovka, Ukraine that we founded in 2005.
The boys got word of this and, at their own initiative, asked Greg if they could host an Art Fair to raise money for the orphans in Ukraine. Greg said it was their idea, not his. We both agreed. What an amazing gesture by these young men who had themselves experienced rejection, loss, separation, and disappointment in their own lives. Yet, they wanted to help other children experiencing the same heartache while enduring the hardships of war in Ukraine.
One would have to say Greg and the team at Tulsa Boys Home are doing an outstanding job teaching these young men great life skills and character. Thanks Greg,Tulsa Boys Home team, and all who facilitated this, especially the young men!
FIRE BIBLE
Our ministry Administrator in Ukraine, Yulia Nikishenko, recently made her first trip to the USA. She was accompanied by her 14-year-old son, Zhenya, who is spending this school year in Tulsa because of the on going war in Ukraine. He is living with a wonderful family who are dear friends, the Kendall and Rachael Hatley family. While Yulia was here Pam’s Mom, Betty Calabrese, said it would be great if you could get her a Fire Bible in Ukrainian language to take back with her. The Fire Bible, formerly called the Full Life Study Bible, is considered by many to be the most widely distributed Study Bible in the world. It has been translated into Ukrainian. Tom Greene checked for us and there were none available in the US, as they had all been previously distributed. Through his efforts, one was located in Springfield, MO, but it was a display copy in the Fire Bible offices. The director literally took it off the wall and shipped it to where Tom was speaking that Sunday, Cross Point Church in Sand Springs, OK. Cross Point pastor, Luke Crain, presented the Fire Bible to Yulia.
It is now in Kiev! We then learned that a reprint of the Ukrainian Fire Bible had been ordered. This inspired me to pursue purchasing 1,000 of them to give to pastors and Bible schools students in Ukraine. Fire Bible agreed to our request. We purchased 1,000 Bibles at $20 each. They have been printed and are due to arrive in Romania any day now. We have a team in Ukraine prepared to go to Romania and get them. The pastor coordinating the pickup for us pastors a wonderful church in Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine. He said, “I need 100 of them for our Bible school students.
Generous partners have already covered all of the funds needed to purchase and transport the Bibles. I ask that you pray for protection for the guys going to get the shipment, as the war continues in Ukraine. Also, pray that this much needed resource tool quickly gets to the ones who need it most. As for Yulia and Zhenya, Yulia returned to Kiev September 20. Although Zhenya loves and misses his family, he is settled in Tulsa and greatly enjoying his new additional family. He is doing very well in the local Christian school that he is attending.You can imagine how difficult this is for Zhenya and his parents. When this door of opportunity opened, they felt it was the best choice for this season with the ongoing war. Please remember them all in your prayers. And, thanks to the Hatley’s for hosting Zhenya!
