Personal victory is won when we see ourselves as having been used by God in some small way as He triumphs over enemy strongholds and brings someone into a living relationship with Himself.
In the Ukraine, we [IBLP staff] were encouraged when we received a report from the owner of a company who attended a recent Financial Freedom seminar. His business partner and another employee had taken a Basic Leadership Training course in previous years, and, to his utter amazement, they returned different persons. One of his employees came to know Christ during that seminar week and her life and work ethic changed. The business owner also heard about other lives that were touched. Although he had been reluctant to attend the training course for three successive years and remained skeptical, he decided to finally come. Afterward, he was able to publicly give testimony to his own transformation in thinking. He dissolved his partnership, creating two companies and both companies prospered. He called with a follow-up question: “What do we do with the money we are making?”
We are limited in where we can minister in Ukraine, but the seminar work continues on. A remarkable and faithful woman, Lydia, leads a gathering of about fifty women in an area we cannot visit, and continues the teaching of Biblical principles. She is an alumnus of all three seminars and says, “All I need besides the Bible are the truths I learned at the seminars.” Using the study calendar we provided, she wrote out by hand and circulated the Scriptural passages. The locals love the calendar, but it is challenging to get it to them. This year we provided an electronic copy for that region which enables some to receive the calendar monthly. Some have turned to the Lord due to hardships they face, and the situation has spurred the growth of the church in that region. Last summer there were a number of baptisms and now they are constructing a new church.
The Foundations of Marriage and Financial Freedom Training Courses were given recently. One university student chose to forego a final exam to attend the last session because the seminar was of far greater practical value than any of the studies she had undertaken.
Please pray with us as we continue to minister to the church in Ukraine.
