Bryan Shufelt

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this, so I’ll fly over some of what’s been going on.

During July, the CMO team headed to Eastern Ukraine to the Dnipropetrosk area. We were there for 10 days and distributed a lot of literature. We are still receiving responses back from the area we blitz! Speaking of, today we just added our 500th student to CBC! We also had a Missions training Conference last week at the Beals. I returned to the USA Monday night, so that’s the reason I will use to excuse the randomness of this post.

To keep up with what’s going on with CMO, check out Euro Team Outreach’s website: http://www.euroteamoutreach.org/

Till next time!

Wanted to fill y’all in about what’s been going on over here. Last week was great, and this week should be as well! If you haven’t signed up to get the CMO E-report, you’ll want to click here and sign up so you can keep up with all the awesomeness going on over here! It’s in the upper right hand corner (It’s called the ETO E-report there) Week 2′s E-report should be up either right before or right after I post this (depends on who’s faster, Josh or me )

ETO (Euro Team Outreach) also has a Twitter account, Facebook page and Youtube channel. If you’re on any of these, feel free to follow, like, or favorite! I’m hoping that we can get the FB page up to 400 supporters by next week! (We’re currently at 379).

Last week was just hot. We hit highs in the upper 80′s and low 90′s with sunny days. Now, I know all you Texas people are saying, “Quit complaining, it’s in the 100′s here!” Allow me to explain a few things about the heat here. We don’t have air conditioning. Period. Whatever temperature it’s outside, that’s probably close to what your apartment is. Now, if you’re in public transportation, the temperature is probably at least 15 degrees higher then outside (Most Ukrainians don’t like a draft as some believe it will make them sick, so rarely are the windows open, and if they are, they’re usually only cracked). If you want to imagine what it’s like being on a bus here, think about going into a sauna, fully clothed, and add direct sunshine.  Then you start to get the idea . Also, during ministry, we are wearing collared shirts and pants. We’re usually outside from 9am – 4pm (includes the hottest part of the day) in this outfit, then we get home (after sweating to near death on the bus) to take a cold shower to cool down (that is if the water is running, which praise God it has been for the last few weeks!). So, when I say it’s hot here, I mean that Now that I’ve explained part of living in Ukraine, I’ll go back to CMO update…

Here’s a brief run down of what we did last week.  Tuesday, we were in some villages just outside of L’viv. We ‘passed out’ in about 3 of them. Wednesday, we went back to Chervonograd to finish what we couldn’t last week. Thursday, was back to the villages outside L’viv. Friday, Benjamin and I had language lessons, and we had Team Church in the afternoon. Afterwards, The Beal’s, Day’s and Denise stuck around for a team meal that Benjamin and I cooked. Teresa got a bit nervous before we finished, but once everyone started eating, they said it was good Saturday, Jessie, Nathan, Benjamin, Josh, Abby and I went up to Bookoovets to hand out invites for a second showing. Next Sunday we will be showing ‘Light of the World’ there. After passing out the invites, we went to this awesome campsite with a nice swimming hole next to it. It was good to cool down in! I even was able to give Abby a little swim lesson! It’s been a while and I forgot how fun it is to teach kids to swim! Sunday we showed in 2 villages and the latter one we have a second showing set up for 2 weeks.

Sunday was a really good day! ~20 people coming for the first showing (Not many were interested in it). The reception was nice but not really excited. When we went to the next village, the mood was very different! Before we started we had almost as many people as the first showing! By the time it ended over 40 people were watching and stuck around to hear Josh’s Gospel presentation! One guy even asked a question at the end. At the end of all of our showings we have a table with a CBC starter packet on it, Gospel of John’s (Yura Popchenko’s version), Good & Evil shorts, and 2 different types of tracts people can take with them when they leave. Sunday night God blessed me by allowing me to see one gentleman sitting outside the hall reading the Gospel of John he had picked up! Sometimes we get so caught up with what we’re doing we don’t see what goes on after we leave. It was a blessing to see that glimpse! I’m looking forward to going back there in 2 weeks!

Time has run by me again, and I’ve got to stop writing and post this. God bless, and remember to share His Light!

Looking at the calendar this morning, I realized that 2 weeks ago, the Steele Family and I arrived back in L’viv.  Simultaneously, I realized that I haven’t updated my blog either.  Whoops :-/  Sorry about that…

When I arrived at DFW International Airport Tuesday, April 27th, I was exhausted.  With minimal sleep in the days leading up to that day and the 2 hours I was able to grab that night in between my frantic packing of suitcases, I was ready to sit for a while.  After saying goodbye to my mom and sister (they dropped me off at the airport), getting through security, and meeting up with the Steele Family at our departure gate, I realize that I hadn’t noticed my first blessing of the trip.  I wasn’t charged for my second checked suitcase that I was taking to Ukraine!  I had to use a self check in system to get my tickets, and with the confusion of having to use those for the first time, I didn’t realize that God paid for my second bag.  That was a real blessing, saved me $50.

We arrived in Charlotte, grabbed the last meal of good ol’ American fast food for a while, and found our departure gate for Munich, Germany.  The Steele’s were able to board first as they had little ones, so I sat in the waiting area and found a free wi-fi signal!  I got totally absorbed in trying to sending out a few emails, check Facebook, and skype call home, that I didn’t hear the desk calling my name!  I got to the end of the line for boarding when my group was called (it was the last one), and found out that I had to get a different boarding pass then the one I had!  Thankfully, they were able to take care of it with no problems and I didn’t end up looking like that big of an idiot .  Blessing #2

Munich was uneventful, except the fact that we had to go through security.  Having flown several times by myself, I’m used to dumping my stuff on the belt, retrieving my stuff from the scanning machine, then heading off.  But, when you’ve got 3 adults and 2 young children, things take a little bit longer .  Not only are there more bags, you’ve got 2 inquisitive youngsters that keep things interesting .  Looking forward to having that happen to me several years down the road

Arrived in L’viv, got through Customs with only a few problems (visa and declarations, I love bureaucracy! -that was sarcasm- ), met Jessie, Nathan, and Alexandria outside, got loaded up in the yellow van (which is in need of being replaced – more on that later) and headed home.

I had a harder time this time adjusting to the time zone (Ukraine is 8 time zones ahead of Texas).  It took a few days of zombification in the afternoons, but I’m ok now

I’ve been working on trying to get caught up with all of the ministries we’ve got going on right now, and helping plan for the ones coming up.  Here’s a quick update.  Our Correspondence Bible Course (CBC) has over 450 students in it right now.  English Club/Audio Bible Study (ABS) has a core group of regular attendees, as well as several who come when they don’t have school.  There’s some other stuff, but for some reason my mind is drawing a blank…

CMO is rapidly approaching!  The application deadline is Saturday!  We have 3 men confirmed, and this week we heard from another 2 men who were interested in coming!  That being said, if you’re wanting to come over this summer, you need to get an application in asap  More info can be found at www.euroteamoutreach.org/cmo Looking forward to a very productive summer!

There are a few prayer needs that I would like to share with you.  We are still have some problems with visas.  Without going into tons of details, the L’viv OVIR (the office of registration) has decided that they don’t like the visas we have and will no longer register them.  We are in the process of finding out what we need to do to continue the ministry here.  It looks like currently all we need to do is get a different type of visa and everything will work out for the next few years, but that could change.  Please pray for wisdom in this matter as we are working on trying to figure this out.
Also, the Beal’s van that we have been using for CMO since ’06 and earlier is essentially on it’s last leg.  Prayerfully it will get us through this summer’s CMO.  Please pray about this situation.  Specifically, that Jessie will have success as he works on raising the necessary funds for a new vehicle and that the old yellow van will last until they get a new vehicle.  If you feel lead to donate toward this need, it would be much appreciated!

Until next time, God bless!

I ordered my airline tickets a few weeks ago, and this evening I realized that in less then 4 weeks, I’ll be back in Ukraine!   I’ll be leaving for L’viv on April 27th (2 weeks after early voting in Texas is over – BTW, remember to vote on April 13th Texans!).  I’ll be in Ukraine for 90 days (any longer and I would have to go throught the difficult process of registration).  I’ll be able to help get things ready for CMO 2010 (Registration deadline is April 15th!), and I’ll be able to help out for the first 2 months of the project!  My post will be a little more frequent once I get back to Ukraine

Thank you for your prayer support!

Just wanted to let y’all know what’s going on with me. I’ve been working for a state wide campaign near Austin. I’ll be heading back to Ukraine in April to help prepare for and participate in CMO 2010. Then I’ll be back in TX in August. If you know of a church that would like to have CMO presented as a mission trip possiblity, feel free to contact me! That’s all for now!

If you or someone you know is interested in attending CMO 2010, registration is now open!  For more info on our summer missions project in Western Ukraine (aka CMO) check out: http://www.euroteamoutreach.org/cmo

We’ve also got a Facebook event page as well! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=252638114146

Looking forward to an awesome year!  God bless!

Hope y’all had a great time of celebrating the birth of our Saviour! With only a few days left of 2009, what else are you going to do for Him this year?
God bless!

Praise God, I made it back to the States with all of my luggage Saturday night!  I have not had any major problems so far with jet lag either

Just noticed it’s been over a month since I posted!  Sorry about that…  To get you caught up with what is going on:

English Club has been going well.  Last Tuesday we had 9 Ukrainians come, 4 of which we hadn’t seen in a while, so that was a blessing.  CBC is continuing to grow with new students being added weekly.  We’ve added over 130 students since I arrived in Jan.  That’s awesome!  We’re still getting requests for Good & Evil’s though the flow has slowed down a bit as we get further away from the summer.  Last week, a request  came in from an invitation we handed out LAST YEAR! That was really awesome!

Saturday I fly back to the States!  I fly out of L’viv at 12:55pm (4:55am CST) and am scheduled to arrive in DFW at 10:57pm CST.  Please pray for my trip.  I have short lay overs (95 min in Munich and 105 min in Chicago), meaning that if one flight gets behind, the entire schedule goes out the window.  Pray that all the flights stay on schedule and that I will get through security/customs in time to catch them all.  Speaking of, pray about the Ukrainian side as well.  The immigration laws have changed and no 2 people agree on what the current law is.  Please pray that I will have no problem getting out of L’viv.

I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my family and catching up with some friends back in FW.  I’ll be in the DFW area until Jan 4, at which time I’ll be heading down to the Austin area for the next 2-3 months.  If you, or someone you know in South Texas, is interested in having our Summer missions project (CMO) presented to your church, contact me and we’ll try to set something up.  (BTW, I’ll be looking for a vehicle when I get back, please pray that God will guide me to one that I can put some miles on without it breaking down )  I’m planning on heading back to Ukraine in the summer of 2010 (late April – late July) for 90 days (due to registration restrictions and the headaches that go with that…) to help prepare for and work with CMO 2010.

I apologize for the scatteredness of this post.  It’s past 1am and my brain isn’t making really great sense right now  Lots to do before I head out on Saturday

God bless

Schools, cinemas, and public gatherings closed for 3 weeks!  Students, now free from classes for these 3 weeks now flock back to their home villages.  More and more people use masks, scarves, hats, whatever they have has masks!  Inter-region travel restricted for non-urgent travel!  Swine Flu has broken out in Western Ukraine! And yet, God is still on His Throne, and He is still in control!  Psalm 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Think that includes diseases, too!)

Today, I was invited by Jessie and Teresa Beal to go to Metro (kinda like Sam’s or Costco) with them.  I was excited, because Metro has some of the things that other store don’t.  I met them in Center, by Shevchenko’s statue.  As I was waiting, I noticed some strange things.  A few people were walking around with surgical masks on.  A few others were covering their faces with their scarves.  I really didn’t think anything about it, till I remember reading a tweet or FB comment about 30 some possible swine flu deaths in Western Ukraine.  I smiled to myself, and thought nothing of it.  Caution is good for some, I guess.  Spent the rest of the time staring at the beautiful American flag hanging in front of the Grand Hotel.  When we got to Metro, almost all of the employees were wearing face masks!  Oh well, caution for them is good too, I guess…  Got a bunch of goodies (salsa, tortilla chips, Heinz spaghetti sauce, special spices, etc.), checked out, and headed home.  Since it is Friday, I only had about 15 minutes before I had to head out to go my language lessons.  Got the groceries put away, grabbed my lesson books, and headed out the door.  Saw more and more masks…

My first lesson was with my Ukrainian teacher, Veronica.  We try to talk in Ukrainian and only fill in the gaps with English (so I can fully understand the conversation).  Of course, the topic of today kept going back to the ‘outbreak’ of the swine flu.  Since Veronica is also a college teacher, she was filling me in on what was happening with the schools.  This entire time, not even a bit scared of the dreaded ‘swine flu!’  In fact, as I was walking up the street to Veronica’s building, I was laughing to myself about all the cracks I could make in this post  We finished our lesson, then I headed over to my speech therapist, Dara.  She speaks no English, and as I speak Ukrainian much better then I understand it orally (neither is that good), or conversation is sometimes limited.  Dara is a grandmotherly type Ukrainian who is always trying to make sure I bundle up when it’s cold outside  Anyway, we get through our session, and we talk a little about the ‘outbreak,’ but not that much.  She makes sure I use my scarf to cover my nose and mouth when I leave her house  Get on the bus, and notice how empty it is outside.  Yes, it’s cold out side (high 30′s F), but not much colder then normal.  On the way back to my apartment, I see people using turtlenecks, hats, scarves, and a few masks to cover their faces.  All I do is make sure I breathe through my nose (mostly ’cause the cold area is not doing great things to the back of my throat).  Again, I’m slightly surprised at how unaffected I am.  I know I am where God wants me, and I know that nothing can happen to me without His approval, and nothing will happen to me that He will not turn out for His good (and mine in the end ).  I’ll stop rambling about the day now

So, now, due to the current crisis, I want to present a short devotional.  Thanks to David Grice and Alex Keeler (and who ever else posted it on FB) for the idea a few months ago.  The title of the devotional will be:  ’Swine Flu!’
Er…  Meant to say ‘Swine Flew!’  Sorry, it would have been better with audio
In the beginning of Mark 5, we read a story many of us are familiar with about Jesus casting legion out of a man into a ton of pigs.  Go ahead and read verses 1-20.  There are so many things we can learn from this story.  One thing that I always see is how much smarter then humans swine can be.  What happens when these 2,000 swine are possessed by demons?  That’s right!  Those swine flu er… flew into the sea! (Had to get that in there )  Seriously now, as soon as those pigs saw what was coming their way, they ran!  Even though it cost them their lives, they ran!  What do we do when faced with similar situations of temptation?  We run, but too often we run the wrong way!  And some times temptation doesn’t even have time to find us, because we are looking for it!  We should never take pleasure in the things Christ died for!  ”Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7  We can always be victorious if we rely on Christ and follow Him!  ”Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” James 4:8  So the next time you hear about the ‘Swine Flu,’ stop and check yourself.  Are you being smarter then the pigs?

We’ve had a GREAT week for the Correspondence Bible Course this week!  We had 29 letters in the PO box on Monday (that was from last week as well, though), 8 on Monday, and 9 today!  We have at least 5 new people that are being added to the course this week, with at least 2 Good and Evil Full Request coming in as well! (I haven’t gone through today’s mail, so the numbers aren’t fully accurate, yet.  They could still go up! )  And with the swine flu break out, more people will be staying home, and that means we’ll have a lot more  lessons coming in for the next few weeks! (There’s blessings in everything!)  I know this will be slightly old news, but it’s exciting nonetheless!  We got a note back from one of our students a few months ago, that told as that because of the Bible teaching and the questions we ask in the Bible course, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour!  AMEN!!!  That’s awesome!!  Please keep this aspect of our ministry in your prayers.  We will never fully know the impact of these lessons, till we’re in the Promised Land!  We’ve experienced several technical difficulties lately with the lessons themselves (misprints and the like) and with lesson development (future lessons), so I ask that you spend a little extra time in prayer about this the next time you are on your knees!  As Paul says, We are laborers together!  God bless!