Greetings, dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Thank God nobody in the church was seriously hurt by the pandemic and the brethren who were infected are all better now.
In November all classes in our Bible Institute were online. The numbers of sick people were climbing up every day and we decided not to put anybody at risk, neither students nor Instructors. The Government announced closed doors policy for all educational institutions and noncompliance was punishable by fines. In the beginning of December, the situation slightly improved and some restrictions were lifted. So we are cautiously making plans to return to the classrooms during the last weeks of December.
Online studies had some advantages as well. We were still connected in spite of the ban for gatherings and other people from different regions of Ukraine could join our studies. These guests were very encouraging to our students.
Thus, last month our second year students had the Book of Acts (Instructor Vladimir Paziy, the preacher from Kramatorsk) and 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Dennis Sopelnik).
We are working on the next school year recruitment. We have found a few people who would like to join the program next year. However, they are not fully committed because of the fear of the virus. It's a challenge for us but we are not giving up and continuing the Lord's work.
Last weekend my family went to Lviv. The local congregation celebrated its first 5 years. Moreover, the congregation was established by three families who had been our graduates. I was very proud to see the Lord's work in the city. It's the largest city in the Western Ukraine but there was no congregation of the Church of Christ there before 2015. And now they have 20 members congregation. One of the ministers there is our Instructor as well. God keeps working through our faithful brethren.
We are thankful to all of you who support our ministry. We appreciate your prayers and financial help.
May God guard and keep you safe.
Your brother, Dennis Sopelnik