The Beal Family Blog

Dear Brethren,

Well, Christmas is over for another year, and today is a perfect day to relax, have a hot cup of decaf, and sit inside and write a “Beal Update.”  It’s 18 degrees outside, the landscape in Ukraine has recently turned a beautiful white (depending on your perspective) and today it happens to be white horizontally and vertically.  Hence… a prayer letter.

So much has happened in ministry and our family during the past couple of months I’m not sure where to start.  The most exciting thing has been the new English Club-Bible Study.  We have been praying for some time about the possibility of beginning an English Club as another outreach for our ministry in the city of L’viv.  Jessie and I very often meet Ukrainians that are interested in learning English when they overhear us talking together.  We’ve made several friendships this way.

Of course, Josh and Kelsie experience the same when they are heard speaking English and recently, a young man by the name of Roman asked Joshua to start an English club, so, Josh made a deal with him.  If Roman would assemble a group of 10 people that were serious about learning English, we would begin a club with one hour of English conversation followed by another hour of Bible study in Ukrainian.  Well, to our surprise, Roman was easily able to find eight people serious about learning English.  He then called Josh and asked if he would consider starting with only eight instead of ten. :>)

A few weeks back we got started, sure enough eight people showed up and spoke English for an hour and again, to our surprise everyone stayed for Bible study!   The next week there were eleven people, mostly men, and again everyone stayed for Bible study.  This past week, Roman brought a Bible.  And even though it is the holiday season, six men still showed up for English and Bible study.

Every week, the Bible study in Ukrainian is recorded and put on CD for the benefit of the students in the Correspondence Bible Course (CBC).  The Bible study specifically answers questions that are most often asked by Ukrainians enrolled in CBC, for example, “Was Peter the first Pope?”  “Is it ok to pray to Mary?” and on the list goes.  This week, Taras, one of our English students, called to tell us that he couldn’t make it to Club and then asked if he could have a CD so he could listen to the Bible lesson that he would be missing!  Please pray for Taras’ salvation, and also for his wife, he really wants her to come to the club.  Please also pray for the “English” Club to grow.  We are really excited to see how the Lord is using this to very quickly reach the hearts of Ukrainians with Bible Truth.  This week, Joshua taught from John chapter 15; in Christ is LIFE, and outside of him there is NO life.  Although the attraction may at first have been English, it has rapidly changed to the Bible Study becoming the main event and not visa-versa!

During the month of November our family was treated to a trip to Ireland to attend a mission conference.   Many thanks to Lionel and Bernadette Smith for their wonderful hospitality during our stay in the town of Cork.  We were spiritually encouraged and so enjoyed the fellowship with their family and the believers we met in their church.  During Brother Smith’s conference, we met another missionary family, the McKinley’s, that invited us to present our ministry to their church which is farther north.  The Lord enabled us to rearrange our travel plans; we took a train up to Dublin, made the transfer to another line, and then embarked finally at the small village of Mullingar.  It was quite an adventure for us, especially for our girls! :>)  We were so blessed to spend time with the McKinley’s and their church.  Cassia and Alexandria had a wonderful time getting acquainted with their children and we were all sad to say goodbye.  It’s so amazing the things that God does in our lives when we least expect it, who would have guessed that our family would go to Ireland for two weeks???  It was a special treat from the Lord and we are so grateful to the Smiths and McKinleys; God bless you!!!  Lord willing, we will have some young Irishmen join us for our future Carpathian Mountain projects!

Our day at Blarney Castle

Well, time is marching on and 2009 is almost upon us.  We’re looking forward to beginning another year in Ukraine; 2009 will mark our 10th anniversary in Ukraine, and our 20th anniversary of marriage!  (Are we really that old???)

We are so thankful to the Lord for our time in Ukraine, the time that God has granted us that we may serve Him.  Please pray that God will use us to bring many souls to our Savior, and that many more Ukrainians will hear the truth of the Word of God this year.   God bless you as you serve Him in the upcoming year!

Your Missionaries for Jesus’ Sake

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia, and Alexandria

P.S. Wanted: Prayer Warriors! Joshua and Kelsie have already asked their friends and family back home if they would stop for just a few minutes and pray just as we’re beginning each Tuesday night session. We are seeing God’s blessing on this ministry and would love to have the prayers of the saints behind it.  If you would be willing to participate in prayer for us consistently in this way, please send us an e-mail and let us know that you’re praying!  Our English Club/Bible study starts at 7:00pm every Tuesday; that would be 12:00 noon eastern time, and 11:00 am central time.  (You easterners can put a note on your fridge!) :>)

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from Ukraine! It’s a blustery fall day; there are two loads of wash on the line under a beautiful blue sky with big fluffy clouds passing overhead. This is the wonderful, sunny day that the Lord hath made and we are rejoicing in it!!! Fall came early this year; August finished with the hottest, sultriest weather we had all summer. Enter September: a sudden drop from mid 90’s to low 40’s accompanied by cold, miserable, bone-chilling rain, rain, and more rain for almost three solid weeks. There was actually a day when the sun broke through for a moment; Jessie called from L’viv just to say he could see the sun! I was already out in the yard facing up, looking for signs that it would last, but alas, it was to be but a glimpse, and then another 10 days of sunless sky.

Well, we have much to praise the Lord for besides today’s weather so I’d best get to it. Our first GREAT news to report is that I’m writing you from a warm house! That’s right! My fingers that are usually half numb at this time of year while they hit the keys are nice and toasty-comfortable! Actually, this is the first time in three years that our house has been warm for us and there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t bow our heads and thank God for what He has done. We also thank the Lord for all of you that had a part in giving towards our heating system. We are now able to keep the upstairs at 68 degrees (instead of 40) and we also were able to purchase insulation for our attic— Jessie’s next project— right after he repairs the walls, more on that later…

You may remember from our last letter that we were searching for a “maester” to reinstall all the piping system throughout our house. The piping that was originally used was too small, making it impossible for our radiators to maintain heat. Well, to make a long story short, Jessie searched all summer long, the only “maester” he could find wanted $8,000, a figure way above our budget. We kept trying to get in touch with heating firms, they would never call back or they were booked for months in advance etc. etc. Finally, we were on a count down towards colder weather with no maester when the Lord put us in touch with a man named Julian. Not only was the price right, this man seemed very responsible, he was on time (!), and we liked him! :>) Sure enough, Julian delivered the pipe on the day appointed and said one of his crew would be there the next week to begin the work.

Now, you would think that after living in Ukraine nine years, we would have some idea of what “beginning the work” would entail. I confess I had this nice little mental picture of them sort of “chipping” out nice little lines in our walls, running the pipe and being finished. Ha, ha, ha. The Lord truly has a sense of humor.

The day dawned for our “work” to begin and in walked a young man with what resembled a jack-hammer and began drilling not lines, but TRENCHES, running down the entire length of the living room, through the wall into the school room (too bad about that wall-paper), down the length (again!) of the school room, and through the wall into Jessie’s office, around the entire room, and finally through the wall ending in the kitchen. It took several days just to complete the first floor. Oh, and by the way, when they run the pipe up to the second floor and also attic, they have to make trenches that run from floor to ceiling too! And remember, houses in Ukraine are brick, so RED dust began seeping relentlessly into the nooks and crannies of every closest, drawer, bookcase, and cabinet, it covered the walls, the furniture, the floor, and us; it was EVERYWHERE.

Well, that night after several hours of cleaning, we moved the furniture into the center of each room and covered everything in sheets (we figured we could at least wash those) and the next morning early Jessie ran to town to find plastic so we could cover everything up without the use of our bedding. Of course, that was the day that the temperature dropped to 40 and that bone chilling rain began. :>) Soooooooo….. For the next two weeks, we lived in a demolition zone, covered in dirt, cold and damp. The girls couldn’t do school because of the jack hammer tearing out the walls, we couldn’t do laundry (remember all those sheets?) because of the dust, and our meals had an unusual “crunch” to them. And, as usual the story doesn’t end there.

Prior to all of this, we had already committed to baby-sitting Josh and Kelsie’s little girls, Abby, three years old, and Rebecca, about nine months. Josh and Kelsie had made arrangements to celebrate their anniversary in Poland for a week. There was no way to cancel everything, and no way for anyone else to take the girls, so, here they came. :>) Jessie and our girls picked up the two little ones in L’viv and brought them out to the village. It was about supper time so I had stayed back to fix dinner. Enter the two little girls who had previously NOT been exposed to a hammer drill, were without mom and dad, and were in a very topsy-turvy environment. (At that point the men had finished drilling in the kitchen so we were pretty much living in there with plastic covering the door-way in order to maintain some sort of organization and cleanliness.) Well, Rebecca who had already decided that she did NOT like all the noise was promptly deposited in my lap wailing. Shortly after, Abigail also decided this noise posed was life threatening and set up a howl. (I was sort of surprised that I could still hear both of them over the hammer drill, heh.) Just as I was beginning to rehearse in my mind, “ You’re saved and God really does still love you… You’re saved and God really does still love you…” Jessie walked in, took in the general mêlée and began to chuckle, and of course this got us both started, which was a really good thing, as laughing is always better than crying. :>)
Well, praise the Lord, as I said, the house is now warm, and our “remont” is over. In spite of the hammer drill, we had a great time with Abby and Rebecca and were very sad to return our little sweethearts back to their mommy and daddy. (We’re trying to talk Josh and Kelsie into going away again real soon.) And though our walls are still looking a little like modern art, Jess assures me that there’s hope for a return to normalcy in our near future. So, that is the update on our latest adventure ala Ukraine, now for the ministry…

We can’t praise the Lord enough for such an incredible summer. The Carpathian Mountain Ministry was a great blessing to us personally this year, due to the fantastic group of guys that we had. They were super workers, troupers when the going got a little rough and just plain ole fun to be around! We’re missing them!

The CMO guys were involved in a multitude of activities this year. They all received hands on experience in collating mountains of literature, city-wide tracting, tracting in mountain villages, and vacation Bible school ministries. They experienced what it’s like trying to get around in a foreign country using various modes of transportation, i.e., trains, buses, trams and taxis. And when those modes of transportation were often less than adequate or unavailable, they learned to just plain “hoof it” and not complain. They got a small glimpse of studying a foreign language and the frustrations of trying to communicate in that language.

They experienced what it’s like to have to move from apartment to apartment in a foreign country at the drop of a hat, and have to “quickly and efficiently” remodel that apartment and make it habitable for a wife and two small children. Some learned how to pour and level concrete, always a good skill to have on the foreign field!

The CMO men saw the Lord open the door in nine villages this summer to show The Light of the World and preach the gospel. They saw the Lord work in the heart’s of villagers that had never before heard the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ. After going through chalk art training, they took to the streets to proclaim the Gospel; each young man had several opportunities to draw and preach in front of open air crowds. And, they met a few English-speaking Ukrainians and were able to witness about the Savior one on one.

Praise the Lord, because of their efforts, 800 Good and Evil pictorial Bibles were distributed in mountain villages. Over 134,000 tracts and invitations for the Correspondence Bible Course (CBC) were passed out. And we have over 100 new enrollees that are eager to begin studying the Word of God. The Lord gave us a great summer, and the all the glory goes to Him.

As you can imagine we are already in the planning stages for next summer, revamping and updating all our information. We’ve begun the endless task of writing and editing more lessons for the CBC. And soon, Jess, Josh and Nathan will begin visiting our enrollees that are in the mountain regions, attempting to make personal contact with them. Please keep these ministries in prayer.
As always, we are so thankful for our many dear friends and supporters that keep us on the mission field. Thank you for making all of this possible!

Your Missionaries for Jesus’ Sake,

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia and Alexandria

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from Ukraine! Finally, we are back home and “settled” in… I think! Thank you so much for your many prayers regarding our border crossing, we experienced only some minor inconveniences and very little trouble with our documents. The Ukrainian officials never mentioned our out-of-date van registration, praise the Lord!

Speaking of the van, it is now registered and all the documents current. Since it had not been necessary to register the van since our move to the village, the van was still registered in the city of L’viv. Upon our return from the States, we became aware that we needed to register it in the small town of Zhovkva, as our village is located within that region. (This would be comparable to counties in the US.) Well, every time we do something like this over here we are amazed at the red tape (hence money!) that we have to go through in order to complete what inevitably becomes a lengthy, draining process. You see, in order to register the van in Zhovkva, we had to first “unregister” the van in L’viv to the tune of $600. Yes, that’s right; we had to pick ourselves up off the floor too. And, we were told that it could have been more, but we were very fortunate to “know” someone that worked in “DMV” who was able to help us out. After an additional $500 or so in order to put the van back into registration in Zhovkva, our van is finally legal again.

Many of you already know about our heater situation that also “welcomed” us home. :>) It seems that even though Jessie very carefully drained all the piping before we left for America, there was still condensation that formed in some of the valves and our hot water heater was damaged beyond repair. To shorten what is a very long story, in the process of purchasing and installing the new water heater, we were informed that our heating system was never properly installed to begin with. We are going to have to redo our entire heating system throughout the house OR, be completely without heat this winter. The purchase of the new water heater, plus the recently incurred van expenses has very much depleted us. Praise the Lord, many of our supporting churches have responded to our need! Thank you ever so much to those churches that have already helped us with this expense and thank you in advance to those that have committed to helping. After much prayer, the Lord has directed us to a “maester” that comes highly recommended and seems to be very professional. He has given us an estimate of $6,000 to replace all the piping and add six much needed batteries in some of the rooms that are especially cold; our bedrooms upstairs average about 40 degrees in the winter. Most of the cost will be for materials as the prices here continue to skyrocket and the dollar falls. Please pray with us that everything will be done properly this time around! And please pray that those that have committed to help will be able to do so in the near future. We need to start this work in just two weeks as this will be the only time this summer that the “maester” is free. This will also ensure that everything is finished and thoroughly tested before the cold weather sets in. We have been praying for quite awhile that the Lord would show us why our house is so cold and it seems that this is a direct answer to our prayers.

CMO has officially begun and it’s off to a great start! Before the guys got here Jessie, Joshua and Nathan went on a week-end survey trip to the Sambir region. It’s a new area for us, a two-three hour drive and definitely more remote. That first weekend they were able to make contact with village heads for 38 villages, praise the Lord. This gives us a good number of villages in which we can attempt to show The Light of the World. The guys arrived a week later, at this time there are six young men, and we’re expecting one more to join us later in the summer.

Wednesday, June 18th the Steele family and friend Mindy Mullins, Nathan Day, all six guys and our chalk art instructor, Christie Ballmann “moved in” to our house for a week of chalk art training. The guys pitched their tents in our backyard (not sure what the neighbors thought of that one!), the ladies took over the upstairs and Jess and I boarded up in our room, heh, just kidding! We had a great time, LOTS of cleaning; (chalk dust gets EVERYWHERE!!!) I have a new understanding of Ecclesiastes 3:20 “…all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again…” :>) Before long the team was inhaling large amounts of chalk as they drew trees, rocks, mountains, and people, all major components of most chalk drawings. Christie did an awesome job teaching! And this year, Cassia was able to join the class. She did great for her first time at drawing; we’re excited to see how the Lord uses this in her future!

The weekend afforded everyone a break from “chalking.” Jessie and I spent Saturday stocking up on groceries for “round two” of chalk training while the team headed to the mountains on a train. They spent Saturday and Sunday distributing Good and Evil booklets and invitations to the next film showing. All in all they hiked about 15 miles. By the time Jessie met them Sunday afternoon, the van was a welcome sight!

Everyone piled in and drove to Strilki, where they were scheduled to show The Light of the World at 5 pm. They set up all the equipment in Strilki’s community center and waited for the villagers to come. There seemed to be an unusually large volume of people walking past the building, but none of them were coming in. Finally they asked someone where everyone was going. It turned out that the championship game of the local soccer league was going on, and our film showing was scheduled right in the middle of it. If you’ve ever been anywhere in Europe you know that a soccer game is pretty much like the World Series and Super Bowl rolled into one (even if it’s just the village!) so of course, no one showed up to see the film— our second no-show in three years. We plan to return to Strilki later this summer when we don’t have to compete with a soccer game!

The team was scheduled to resume chalk training at our house on Monday evening but due to a severe storm in the region, our entire village was without electricity. Of course for us, that also means no water, hence, showers, clean dishes and even “flushing” becomes quite a challenge… especially for 18 people! Needless to say, we told the team to stay put in L’viv until our electric was restored.

Praise the Lord, by Wednesday we were ready to go. We were up at 5am every morning to start the day’s cooking but it was well worth the effort. The team said they ate like kings, of course after a steady diet of Ramen noodles in the mountains young men will eat just about anything! :>) If I had to choose an overall theme for the guys this year I think it would have to be Ecclesiastes 2:25, “For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?” :>)

Saturday, Christie Ballman was still with us so instead of heading to the mountains as usual, we decided to go downtown and do some chalk art and street preaching. Christie did three drawings and we had a good crowd for each one, at one time, there were over 50 that stopped and listened to the gospel, and many took literature.

Sunday, Jessie drove the team to the village of Ctrelbychi where they had previously scheduled to show The Light of the World. In spite of encountering another village soccer game 25 people came to see the film and all of them stayed the entire time. After the preaching, their response was very positive, everyone went forward to receive a copy of Good and Evil, and, everyone took starter packets for our correspondence course. The people were also very excited to receive Bibles for their town library.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers for our family and for CMO! Please pray especially for our van, it’s taking an exceptional beating this year up in the Sambirski region; the more remote the area, the more inaccessible the roads. And, parts are getting increasingly difficult to find for a 1991 vehicle.

Please pray also for:

-The team’s safety and protection during our time here, both on a spiritual and physical level.

-The guys will be able to put their newfound ability from the chalk art course to work for the Lord.

-The village film showings coming up, that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the people.

-Those that have heard the gospel, that God’s word would work in their hearts.

-That God will continue to open doors for us here so that all we do will bring results for the glory of God.

God bless you for your faithfulness to us! Be sure to look over our website for pictures of each village, chalk art week, and more in-depth stories at: Euroteamoutreach.org

Your missionaries for His Sake,

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia and Alexandria

Dear Brethren,

I can hardly believe it is almost time to return to Ukraine! We are counting the days (we fly out of JFK April 24th!) and the girls are rehearsing over and over all the people they “can’t wait to see” and things they “just can’t wait to do”! We are so excited to get back and settle in our village before the Carpathian Mountain Project begins. We’ve been told that the mice have taken over our house but other than that it is in good shape.

Since leaving Rochester in January we have journeyed over 15,000 miles, we have been in or traveled through 36 states, reunited with family, fellowshipped with our dearest friends, and presented the ministry in 23 churches. We can’t praise the Lord enough for His mercy throughout our travels. As demanding and chaotic as our lives have been during the last several months, the Lord has more than made up for it with “showers of blessings” on our family. Many thanks again to all of you that helped to make our lives a whole lot easier while here in the States.

Well, as I said our hearts are intent upon returning to Ukraine, there is much to pray about and much to be busy about. First, upon our arrival in Warsaw we will need to have several repairs done on the van. We just barely made it to the airport to come home back in October! The van has been parked at a friend’s house outside of Warsaw and awaits our arrival. The Lord has already blessed tremendously and supplied the finances necessary (many thanks to our new supporting church in Texas!!!) to do all the repairs and some much needed maintenance that otherwise would have been put off for another time. Please pray that this work will be done honestly and WELL, and that parts will be available so the work can be done in a timely manner.

We also want to request prayer for our border crossing from Poland into Ukraine. Because Jessie’s visa expired while we were in the States, our van registration also expired. We attempted to remedy this situation BEFORE we went back, but there was just no way of getting everything taken care of. Please pray the border officials will simply issue us some type of temporary registration and let us go through. (As a side note: no worries for Jessie’s visa, it’s already renewed for five years, praise the Lord!)

Once we make it to L’viv I’m afraid we may have a few things to contend with in our house beside little creeping visitors! :>) Please pray that all our systems (water pump, electricity, heaters, gas etc.) will still be up and running, or at least that we’ll be able to get them up and running in very short order.

As we reported in our last letter, we are still in need of a ministry center in L’viv. The apartment that we are renting now is no longer suitable (due to increasing rent) and Nathan is currently undergoing the real-estate rat race as he hunts for an apartment that will meet our requirements for Bible studies, our ever growing correspondence ministry and CMO housing.

Since returning to the US, and especially since beginning our travels in January our family has experienced a great deal of sickness. We so want to be healthy on our return flight!!! Please pray for our health and the strength and wisdom to deal with getting back into Ukraine.

Lastly, please continue to pray for dear friends and neighbors that live in our village. We’re praying that our absence won’t hinder ministry amongst them— hopefully they’ve missed us! :>) And also please pray for the mountain ministry this year, there is still much to accomplish. Praise the Lord; we have six young men that have committed to coming this year!

The Lord gave us a special blessing this evening; we were invited to have dinner at a Ukrainian couple’s house. Actually, Victor’s wife Owstra is Latvian, she fixed us a wonderful meal and we talked and talked about the many Slavik peoples, particularly the differences and peculiarities between American and Ukrainian culture. Halfway through the evening Victor mentioned that their neighbors living across the street are also Ukrainian AND from L’viv! So, in true Ukrainian spontaneity, Owstra called and Roman and Oksana came right over to meet us. After talking for awhile about L’viv and how it’s grown, Jessie mentioned that we now live in the village of Citiheeve. Roman, looking completely astonished, sat straight up and with absolute correct pronunciation said, “You live in Ci-TI-heeve??” (Even Ukrainians living in L’viv have no idea where our little village is, and most don’t pronounce it like the people that actually live there.) When we heard Roman say “Ci-TI-heeve” like a native it was akin to a sonic boom in our ears! It turned out that Roman was born and raised in a very small village just two miles from where we live. We began talking about all the little villages in our area, calling them all by name. It was SO EXCITING!! What an example of the Lord preparing our hearts to go back! As if we weren’t already biting at the bit to get back to Ukraine, the Lord intensified our desire ten times more!!!

In conclusion, we have to say again: EVERY church that we were able to be in was such a blessing to us! We have been humbled again by God’s mercy, by the love of God’s people, and by God’s incredible provision. We can never thank you all enough. You have encouraged us in the ministry, you have made us want to go back and do more to serve the Lord, to proclaim His truth, and to represent Him and all of you in Ukraine. We are overwhelmingly blessed and privileged to be your missionaries.

Our next letter will come to you from UKRAINE!!!!! :>) :>) :>)

You’re Missionaries for Jesus Sake,

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia and Alexandria

Dear Brethren,

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” That is what keeps going through my mind when I think of our time back in the States. God has given us such a time of rejoicing amongst family and friends. We were able to spend Christmas with my mother and all three of my sisters, that is actually the first Christmas that all of us have been together since I was a baby. It was a great time, especially for Cassia and Alexandria. They have seldom been with so many family members at one time.

We arrived in Rochester, NY in October and were overwhelmed at the welcome from our home church and so many of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord provided so amazingly for us… an apartment, furnishings, stocked cupboards, a vehicle to drive and the list goes on and on. The Lord knew much better than we did that we needed a break from the field, and we have been so ministered to, so completely taken care of and blessed that we are just humbled and awed by His absolute provision. We could never begin to mention everyone that God has used during the past few months so we’d like to say a collective “Thank you!!!” from the bottom of our hearts to so many that have been a special blessing to our family.

Just a week after we flew into Rochester, we traveled down to Tennessee for two meetings. We were still getting over jet-lag, adjusting to American culture and I have to admit we were all more than a little homesick for L’viv. Well, the Lord had even prepared for that eventuality and had several people in place to ease our homesickness and help us transition back to life in the US. In the first church that we pulled into we met a pastor and his wife that had ministered in Belarus for eight years. It was like home away from home, we talked about Slavik foods, people and culture for two days, what a blessing it was to us! The next day we were able to stop in Nashville and meet up with Brea and Lindsey Blessing, they are the daughters of missionary friends in Ukraine. Brea and Lindsey grew up in L’viv and are favorite friends of Cassia and Alexandria. It was great to stop for an hour, have a Starbucks with them and do some reminiscing. Then we were on to Baltimore where we spent the night and saw Jason Moore, the brother that first pastored the Ukrainian church in L’viv where we attend. The Lord showered us with friends from back home during that first couple of weeks and they all helped us adjust to being back so much.

We’ve been in many churches since then, from Staten Island to Texas and all have been a tremendous blessing. We are so excited to see the Lord raise up such a huge response to the presentation of the Carpathian mountain ministry. Everyone has been excited about what we’re doing and of course that has been such an incredible encouragement for us. We already have three confirmations from men that have committed to joining our 2008 team. And, we have had 94 information packet downloads from our website! There is also a possibility of some church groups coming over this summer to help evangelize in the mountains. The more people we have, the more we can do, praise the Lord!

Joshua is in L’viv holding down the fort. We now have 381 people enrolled in the Correspondence Bible Course. The responses have slowed since the summer but still continue to come in, now it’s primarily by word of mouth. The Thursday evening Bible studies are going well, Josh reports that one of the ladies that began attending back in October was recently saved! She is really excited and already asking how she can serve the Lord.

We have a prayer request for our ministry center. The landlady is going trying to raise our rent from $300 to $400 per month. We are hoping to counter offer with $350 and sign a shorter contract so that we can begin to look for another apartment to meet in. We really need a good location where we can continue to hold Bible studies, store literature and house the correspondence ministry. Housing in L’viv is at a premium, very hard to find and the prices continue to escalate. Please pray for God to open up a good apartment with a good landlord.

Also, we have yet to officially welcome our newest “permanent” team member! Her name is Rebekah Praise Steele, born last week and weighing in at 8 lbs. “Aunt Teresa and Uncle Jessie” can hardly wait to get back there and introduce ourselves! :>) Congratulations Josh and Kelsie!

About two weeks ago, we had a meeting in Colorado not far from where Nathan Day lives. Nathan was still home for the holidays so we were able to stay with his family and fellowship for a couple of days. Nathan is the oldest of eight and we had a great time getting to know everyone. It was also a blessing to have him with us in church Sunday when we presented the ministry.

Just this past Sunday we had a meeting in the Fort Worth area at Fairpark Baptist Church. Four of our 2006 team members are from Fairpark and it was so good to see them, and also spend a little time with Joshua Steele’s parents and family. All the guys are “featured” at some point in the presentation and it was really fun reliving a bit of their mountain experiences.

On a more serious note, we need to report a tragedy that occurred in Ukraine this past month. You may remember us writing about missionary Brian Higgins. Jessie and Brian worked together for several years to build a church in L’viv. Brian very suddenly collapsed and died due to a weakened muscle in his heart. He was a vital part of the missionary community and will be sorely missed by all in L’viv. Please pray especially for Brian’s wife Tanya, and for his four children. Please pray also for Brian’s church, they will continue under the direction of missionary Dan Bardwell.

We would also ask that you continue to pray for us as we travel and present the ministry. We will soon be heading further west into Nevada and California. Please pray also for the Lord’s continued protection over our house in L’viv and also our van that is awaiting our return in Poland.

It has been wonderful to be home with friends and family. Many thanks again to all of you that have made our time in the States so special. To those of you that we haven’t seen yet, consider yourselves warned! :>) We’re on our way!!!

Your Missionaries for His Sake,
Jessie, Teresa, Cassia and Alexandria

Dear Brethren,
Greetings once again from Ukraine! Fall has arrived and it’s been cold and rainy for more than two weeks. We finally couldn’t stand the damp and had to turn our heater on. Our neighbors are struggling this year to harvest their potatoes as it’s been so wet. We have yet to dig our own potatoes out of the field. I’m thankful we don’t have so many this year. Since the main staple of a Ukrainian diet is potatoes and more potatoes, we were “strongly persuaded” to over-plant last year. But this time Jessie remained firm and planted about half of what we did the year before. We’ll still have enough to supply our family and some other fellow missionaries.

Well, we have some exciting news to report! The Lord has made it possible for us to return home for a six month furlough. We’ll be driving from L’viv to Poland, then flying out of Warsaw and arriving in Rochester, NY October 23rd. We are in the process of contacting all of our supporting churches in order to report on our ministry, and we’re endeavoring to make contact with new churches in order to raise some much needed support. We’ll be in the New England area until the end of December, and then we’ll head west to make our reports out there. The girls are so excited to see Grandma and their Aunties; it’s been four years since we were home for a short time when my Dad died. Other than a couple of emergencies, we have not been back to the States for deputation since 1999 when we first came to Ukraine. The Lord has met so many needs already, and answered every prayer to overcome each obstacle. We have so much to do within a six month period; we covet your prayers as we get ready to be gone from our home, and for all the preparations and work in the States!! We’ll be returning next April to be here for the upcoming Carpathian Mountain Outreach in the summer of 2008.

We want to update you on CMO 2007; we have the final figures on everything that was accomplished this year. But first, I would like to tell you about our last film showing in Rosokhach. he Lord really blessed and gave the guys on our team a great “farewell.” Rosokhach was the furthest village that we had yet been to. Jessie drove the team down a little two lane dirt road and finally arrived at the community center an hour and a half early. Before long, the hall director came in with a couple of helpers to make sure everything was ready. She was very polite and insisted on cleaning everything properly. After Jessie and Nathan finished setting up the equipment everyone sat down to wait for people. We never know if anyone will come to these films or not. The starting time had been announced for 6:00 pm, and at ten minutes till, the hall was completely empty except for our team.Finally, just a few minutes before 6:00, a few older men stepped into the room. We could hear some others standing around outside, so Josh made an announcement over the microphone. “Good evening everyone! We’re about to begin our film tonight. Please come in and find your seats.” As he continued the introduction, more and more people walked in. When we started the film there were about 25 people. And… they kept coming! By the time the film was a third of the way through, there were over 50 people in the room, and more standing outside listening. Most everyone stayed right to the end and listened attentively while Joshua preached the Gospel. He then explained about our literature, encouraging everyone to get a copy of Good and Evil and a Bible Course starter packet on their way out. We gave away all the Good and Evil’s that we had, and all but two of our starter packets. Praise the Lord!

After they left Rosokhach, Jessie dropped off Nathan, Tucker and Andrew in another village, Korosteev. Last year we were denied permission to show the film there, so this year the guys went back to pass out Good and Evil’s. They spent the night in their tents, and passed out the G&E’s the following morning, then caught a bus back to L’viv. Please continue to pray for those who heard the Gospel and/or received Bible literature. Also pray for the young men who joined our CMO team this summer: Matthias Smith, Andrew Darbyshire and Tucker Mullens. We could not have accomplished half of what we did had it not been for their help. They have now returned to the US and are continuing their ministries there.

Here are the figures from this year’s CMO outreach. We were pretty excited when we saw them; all glory goes to the Lord! All in all, we distributed 147,774 pieces of literature. The breakdown is as follows: 
1105 copies of Good and Evil booklet 
73,975 invitations to receive a Good and Evil booklet
66,825 invitations to the correspondence course
5,750 Gospel tracts
119 Lesson 1 starter packets from the correspondence course
We showed The Light of the World in 6 villages and in one children’s camp for a total attendance figure of 251.

As far as responses go, they are still coming in; right now we have 312 enrolled in the correspondence ministry. That’s 79 new students since we reported to you in June. It is interesting to note that 22 of them heard about the course from an existing student and were signed up using a cut-out form from the back of one of our lessons. The other 39 can safely be attributed to this summer’s activities. Currently we have had 159 requests for the Good and Evil pictorial Bible booklets.

I also forgot to mention that one of our goals this summer was to “blitz” the city of Striy with gospel literature. Striy is pretty much the last point of civilization before you begin to drive up into the mountains; the population is about 70,000. We have used it as a base many times but never handed out literature there as a team. It took us three days in humid 90 degree weather, but praise the Lord; we distributed 19,000 tracts door to door.

Even as CMO 2007 is ending, we are beginning preparations for next year’s project. If you could look at a detailed map of the Ukrainian Carpathians, you would see literally hundreds and hundreds of villages, villages that have no Gospel witness whatsoever. Even if our team only focuses on villages within a three hour drive from L’viv, it will take many years to reach them all. Having said that, the more help we have the more we can do. As always, we are appealing to men to come and labor with us in this harvest field. Since the summer of 2006, hundreds of people in the mountains have heard the Gospel. Thousands are still waiting to hear. Please check our website in the coming weeks for new information on CMO 2008. If you are interested in participating, we encourage you to contact us right away. Our web address is: Euroteamoutreach.org My personal email address is jbeal4ua@yahoo.com. Or you can call me at 585-267-5603. This will reach me at my home in L’viv, but is billed as a call to Rochester, NY.

In closing, if you would please pray specifically for our family as we get ready to travel to New York. Of course, this will be a big financial undertaking and we ask for your prayers in that area. We are also in need of a reliable vehicle to drive around the country when we visit our churches. The Lord has already blessed us with a place to stay, and we know He will continue to meet all of our needs.

We can never thank you enough for your prayers and support. May God richly bless you!

Your missionaries for Jesus’ sake,

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia, and Alexandria