Charis Around
the World
Life In
Ukraine
Anne
Sokol
Visiting The United States
Dear Charis Family,
It’s so energizing to be sending in my Charis final exam
application, looking through my evaluations, and just seeing a
journey come to an end, a good end. So many memories! Teaching four
couples, being at their births, visiting a birth house then
participating in a birth there, writing an article for Midwifery
Today about that experience, being at the hospital with one of my
girls who was going through a miscarriage, working with a homebirth
midwife here . . . So many incredible opportunities opened up
through my Charis studies!
I’m having to shift gears now. We’re planning a trip back to the
States this coming March (when my parents will also be back from
Togo, West Africa, where they are missionaries).
The challenge of this trip is that we need to raise a lot of new
financial support. Vitaliy and I have always been here on the low
side of support, and in the last few years, our financial needs have
grown a lot. We moved from a village where we owned our own
apartment, to a large, European city where we rent; we bought a
second vehicle; have children nearing school ages; would like to
have more ministry funds to put to good use; not to mention the
inflation that hits Ukraine frequently and excessively.
So we have a wonderful opportunity before us! How marvelous it will
be to see God supply our needs as He always so faithfully does! And
it is a wonder to me how God does that. For example, one day I was
in South Carolina in a restaurant, and I saw an acquaintance there
with a friend from work. I briefly met that acquaintance’s friend
and gave her a prayer card. And now that lady has been regularly
supporting us since that time! And we are now a lot closer.
What a joy to see God burden and bring people along side us.
Vitaliy and I are in an “international marriage;” he is Ukrainian
and I’m American. Because of the nature of things, making contacts
with churches and people belongs to me simply because he doesn’t
know many people in the States, and it’s hard for him to make phone
contact with strangers because of his accent. With the way the world
is now, I’m really hoping I can contact a lot of friends and make
new friends online through my
blog, through
Facebook causes and our e-newsletter.
But in the end, it really is God’s power that supplies for us the
friends and financial support we need. Please pray with us as we
continue along our journey as God's servants.
Thank you! Anne Sokol
Vitaliy with a
former convict,
now a wonderful Christian man who trains Ukrainians how to
evangelize.
Eleven
people were baptized this summer!
Vitaliy
was ordained this summer as a pastor-evangelist.
Evangelism is his passion like childbirth is mine!
Our
family in front of our “new” van! I have wheels, and it’s changed my
life!
Our International Charis
Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your
safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!
'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them
from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child and The one who labors with child, together,
A
great throng shall return there...And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
©2009 Charis Childbirth
Services, All Rights Reserved
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October 2009
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