John and Stella White - Developing Church Leadership in the Russian Speaking World DCU, Prospect Ilicha 106-A, Donetsk 83059, UKRAINE December 2008 011-38050-567-6550 jwhite@alumni.princeton.edu http://www.marucheck.net/jw
On August 10, John White and Stella Kuhtaryova became husband and wife. We had a wonderful reception and ceremony and then celebrated our honeymoon in Kiev. Unfortunately, we've had a few health difficulties since then (like John getting pneumonia!), but we believe that God just wanted to work on our vow to love each other 'in sickness and in health!' In general, we've been very blessed in our first four months of marriage, with God working out getting the visas that we needed (Stella to the US and John to Ukraine) and in Stella being able to travel to America and be appointed by WorldVenture as a new member of the mission. But that's the next part of our story...
Stella took her first airplane flight on our trip to the US in October, and we enjoyed three weeks in Chicago and Denver. Stella was able to meet a number of John's relatives and friends while visiting John's parents in Chicago (and a few more in Denver). For some reason, lots of people wanted to see for themselves that John actually got married. Well, we've at least proved it to some of you!
Stella was officially appointed to WorldVenture in Denver and we both went through two weeks of training to learn more about the mission and how to raise support. Ironically, this was Stella's chance to 'cross cultures' in learning about an American mission and American churches. We enjoyed the group of new missionaries that were appointed with us (there were 10 others) and felt very blessed by our time at WorldVenture, though it was a lot of English for Stella (we had meetings from 8:15 to 5 each day!).
How did you like flying for the first time?
- It was cool! I like the window seat!
What's different between Ukraine and the US?
- US roads are much better than ours.
What most surprised you about America?
- I couldn't find a t-shirt for my brother that was actually made in America!
Just because we've been so busy doesn't mean life has stopped at DCU! After a couple of years with student admissions being down, DCU was glad to accept a new class of 14 full- time and 22 part-time bachelor degree students. This class is unique in that it includes five students from Kyrgyzstan. John's been teaching two different groups of students 'Introduction to Missions' between his travels and Stella has been trying to balance her part-time studies with her PR work at DCU. As you might imagine, it hasn't been easy!
In the meantime, Ukraine has been a country in turmoil, struggling both economically and politically. We recently read one news article claiming that of all of the countries affected by the global economic crisis, Ukraine is one of the most severely affected due to it's already unstable economy and constant political infighting. To give you a couple of examples, many people are losing their jobs as factories are making big cutbacks and the exchange rate of the hrivnya to the dollar, which was 4.5 to 1 in the summer, has jumped to 6 to 1.
We understand that in these difficult economic times, it may not be easy for many people to help with special needs, but we thought that you would want to know about our situation for prayer and possibly financial support. DCU is struggling to make ends meet with the increased costs of winter heating bills. In addition to cutting costs wherever we can and asking both local churches and graduates to help, DCU still needs about $8000 more to make it through the winter months.
In considering long-term needs, we need to raise about $1000 per month more to cover our increased expenses with WorldVenture as a couple. Would you please prayerfully consider these needs?
Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership, and we wish you a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you!
Serving with you,
John and Stella