Dear brothers, sisters in Christ and churches,
All of a sudden the whole world took a break. Unfortunately, we are dealing with the situation when God shows the whole world that they were not moving in the right direction. Whether or not people will learn anything will be up to them, but as far as we are concerned we will continue praising the Lord. This was the bottom line of the Sunday sermon delivered by one of our local brethren. The fact is the pandemic influenced every aspect of life, and our Bible Institute as well as the Lord's church in Ukraine are no exception.
Beginning March 12 due to the rapid spread of the corona virus in Europe our authorities enforced some radical measures that limited some basic human rights. Firstly, the freedom of movement. All borders are closed for all kinds of transportation, except automotive. Thus, buses and local trains between cities are banned. Municipal buses got limits on the number of passengers. Secondly, the freedom of assembly. Any political or cultural events with more than 10 attendees is banned. Thirdly, the freedom of religion is limited. No more than 10 people at a time is allowed to be in the church building. Fourthly, the freedom of entrepreneurship. Only grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations are allowed to continue business. Fifthly, the right to receive medical help. All preplanned surgeries are canceled.
The students of the Bible Institute are currently at home. They had returned home just before the travel limitations were enforced by the government. The studies continue on-line, via social media chats, such as Messenger, Skype or Zoom. Since all people are staying home, the speed of Internet connection gets slow and we have to choose which one works the best. So far we manage to teach the students and give them the load of everyday work. This way I currently teach Corinthians to the second year students, and Vitaly Rodichev teaches Jeremiah and Lamentations to the first year ones.
The evangelical practice our students had to conduct form homes, mostly training to evangelize the unbelieving relatives. There were some instances when we would talk to the parents of our students for hours discussing important subjects from the Bible.
Commentaries to 1 and 2 Samuel's are typed and ready for our return but we can't get them printed. The publishing house is closed and all personnel is sent home with no pay.
Lock down is officially in place till the end of April but the government has mentioned a few times that it can be extended till the end of May if the situation doesn't improve and people will continue getting infected. So many people lost their jobs and lost their income. I'm sure the whole world is effected this way. But it will be extremely difficult in the countries where the government can't provide some financial aid.
We didn't change the schedule for the Bible Institute courses, we just had to find substitute Instructors among Ukrainian teachers who will temporarily work instead of American Instructors. It's great that we have enough qualified Instructors. And we had to postpone the Master's program till fall. The graduation day is scheduled for the last Saturday in May, Lord willing.
We keep you in our prayers. God is merciful, He has solutions for all of our problems.
We appreciate you for all the blessings we have thanks to your sacrifices. May God keep all of you.
Your brother,
Dennis Sopelnik