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Thursday Nov7/ Friday Nov8

Travel from GSO to EWR to Munich was all on-time, smooth and comfortable.

Upon arrival in Munich we learned that Lufthansa Airlines flight attendants had just gone on strike and hundreds of Lufthansa flights were cancelled. We viewed the flight boards and saw that the situation was grim. Our flight to Lviv was not listed at all. We went to the Lufthansa Service desk and it was a mob scene, so we decided to get coffee. HAHA!

Finally the Lviv was listed but stated to check the board at 9:45am. We had 2 hours to wait. At 9:45am, the flight was listed and displayed an ON-TIME departure. Hallelujah, PTL!

We made it.

Upon arrival we were greeted by the Lviv team and I made a special handoff to Bogdan from UBTS. He signed the official Scott Reed document and all was accomplished.

Check-in at the Delice was all smooth and routine. We settled in and a couple hours later Andriy and I met at the Chamber to organize chair/table set-up. It was there that Andriy revealed the new banner declaring TRIAD SUCCESS PARTNERS. Andriy was happy!

Saturday, Nov. 9

After breakfast at the Delice we went to the Victoria Garden Mall and joined current and past class members for a bowling experience, which was fun, filled with laughter and humiliation. There were plenty of videos which I will not share because most of them are not pretty; essentially gutter balls.

Following the bowling extravaganza, we enjoyed a terrific group meal:

Our final experience ended at the Saturday evening gathering of the Message of Hope Church, where we met Pastor Gregory Ryasny and learned about all the different avenues of ministry that they are employing to reach the lost. It was impressive and looks to be another point of contact for our ministry teams.

Our team got a chance to lead in the ESL class by speaking to their current vocational expertise.

Sunday, Nov. 10

What a privilege and honor it was to attend the Sunday services at Grapevine Church, pastored by Igor Granatuik. The church was full of energy, excitement, joy, fellowship, children, multi-generational adults …

We had the chance to see old friends, Julia, our beloved ESL leader, and meet a new friend, Juliana, a Josiah Partners Missionary from California, whom we will work with on Thursday night in a new Business/Bible ministry she has started.

Our team was so blessed to participate and speak a good word for Jesus during the services.

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In the afternoon, we got a private tour of the Lviv Arena in connection with the MAY 2020 speaking tour of Dr. Chapman. Needless to say we were very impressed. Only GOD can work out these details.

After an evening debrief session on the teaching schedule for Monday and the days to follow, now it’s time to say Goodnight Lviv.

Monday, Nov. 11

The first session went superb. We were all very pleased and enjoyed great interaction from the class.

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Monday dinner at the Ukrainian place out by the mall. We stayed away from the duck stomach, testicles and intestines although it was tempting. Pavlo highly recommended we give it a try, but…

Tuesday, Nov. 11

Today our fantastic team of instructors led the participants through the details in Module 2. Terry, Joe and Roger carried the entire session.

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After lunch, Joe and Roger headed over to HEBRON Academy for a meeting with Ihor and Liliya. They got a tour of the new office building in addition to the academy site. The report coming back from their visit was impressive reactions and positive ministry impacts being realized at Hebron. Ihor stated to Roger that it was because of Roger’s testimony in our visit two years ago that Ihor fully accepted Christ.

Slava bogo!

Terry stayed behind and met with all of the out-of-town class participants and engaged in a nearly two hour consulting session. There were many varied questions and expert advice was given.

Rick had the opportunity to meet with David Karcha from Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary and talk about ministry in Lviv and other things. There was also a special delivery of a new laptop to help David do his work.

Later in the afternoon Rick met with Andriy and Pavlo to discuss all of the details for Dr. Chapman’s May 2020 visit. this is shaping up to be an impactful visit to Lviv.

We finished our Tuesday with a meeting at Ukraine Baptist theological Seminary with Slavik and Russ. We spent quite a bit of time hearing the impact and growth of the seminary. We talked through multiple points of connection for interested parties from Calvary. We had dinner with the students in the lower level and enjoyed a great visit.

Final note for the Troika team members. A new building is going up between the Delice and the Chamber.

Additional final note, headlines from Kyiv Post:

Wednesday, Nov. 13

Presented two modules today; Session 3 in the morning, Session 4 in the afternoon. Needless to say it was challenging, but we did it. We designated the day as a “Work Day” and everyone wore jeans and came casual, for the most part…

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Much planning and promotion for Dr. Gary Chapman visit to Lviv next May 2020 has occurred during this visit, including making a copy of the new Ukrainian version available to all our class participants:

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Thursday, November 14

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Friday, Nov. 15

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Home stretch Friday began with prayer and a devotional. Today Luke 17:18,  “Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?”  As foreigners we’ve returned to give glory to God in Lviv this week. Today was the finale to a week of intensive exchange of information…us to our students and them to us. Bill had the wrap up assignment finishing Day 4’s module and moving into Day 5 following the break. He/we were challenged to conclude the class on time since another group had been booked into the classroom in the afternoon. The special awards and recognition ceremony followed. Setting the stage was a raffle for some really great digital media books. Bob had the class write down numbers between 1 and 100. Then asked who had the closest number to 77 without going over. The class cheered and carried on with the announcement. But wait…there’s more! Next came a showing of the four in-class commercials from Wednesday’s class. What a hoot!

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Then we moved to the large assembly room for a midday heavy hors d’oeuvres banquet and farewell party. Several students, returning alumni and teachers offered their thoughts on the week and how they feel about their time spent this week.

Emotions were running high. A week of bonding, giving and getting, exchanging parts of our lives and experiences bubbled up. Perhaps a follow up debrief will unpack this.

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A quick change at the hotel then off for a walkabout in center city of Lviv. A traditional stop at the Chocolate Factory for a touch of chocolate, some shopping for loved ones and we exited the traffic choked downtown stopping by a very special cemetery.

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Our evening ended with a dinner visit with our in-country facilitator Andriy and family. Back at the Delice we’re packing for Bob and Bill to Cairo with Herb and John return path to Winston tomorrow.

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See you soon back in Winston-Salem.

Thus began the longest teaching day of this tour with prayer and devotions. Key Scripture today, “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”. Thursday class began with Bob at the helm finishing up with “Filling the Customer’s Need” Bob passed the baton to Bill who led the class in learning about “Positioning the Offering” until the class had an unexpected visit from the Lviv Chamber of Commerce President Dmytro Aftanas.

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As the morning progresses Herb added a dramatic video clip demonstrating how Digital Media can be used in the furniture business to help potential customers change certain features of furniture available in a theoretical furniture store.

Class broke for lunch a 13:00 and returned an hour later for the next two hours of intensive work. By 16:00 (4PM if you live in Winston) class ended and the team made a quick trip back to the hotel before heading out to the new worship facility of Disciples Church (we attended their worship Sunday afternoon at the Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary. Team contributed toward starting the sand blasting and we saw the results of three days work.
Photo after and before newly uncovered brick and the old yuk on the corner. The church was planted by Elisey Pronin and Russell Woodbridge whom we were blessed to share dinner.

Team met with Russell Woodbridge from UBTS and Elisey Pronin for a tour of the improvements to the interior as the God has been blessing the growth of the church. Pastor Elisey expanded on the rapid growth and the vision for the new facility including use not only for worship but for a community center with a vision for Youth, Medical, Language, Rehabilitation ministries in the mix.
The team prayed for the church, the future of the new facility, wisdom from heaven and God’s provision for money, membership and ministry (not necessarily in that order.)
We all had a late dinner to continue our conversation and networking mutual connections between this emerging church and ministries we know about back in the states.

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Herb had an opportunity to reunion at dinner with former students Zen, Lilia, Nina, and Sergey. Herb and Susan hosted these couples on their visit to the United States.

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Back to the hotel to prep for the final day of this course and the graduation and completion ceremony celebration following class. The week is nearly over, and our emotions are running high at what we’ve been blessed to see in the class and in the hand of the Lord throughout. The debrief at home will be something.

September 11…another day of infamy was top of mind this morning during breakfast devotions. Food notwithstanding, we prayed and shared where each of us happened to be when the twin towers and the Pentagon were hit 18 years ago. Since the day portended to be long, we had breakfast. NOTE: The buffet spread at the Dulice has greatly improved since visit in 2018. Wednesday-hump day began with a fun exercise which the students really excelled our expectations. This was the “Take and Make with Clay” exercise. This exercise has really drawn the members out. Giving them the freedom of expression without heavy structure so they would increase in emotional risk taking and out-of-the-box thinking.

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This exercise has really drawn the members out. Giving them the freedom of expression without heavy structure so they would increase in emotional risk taking and out-of-the-box thinking.

But wait! There is more.

Each of four groups rehearsed in front of the cameras and then we rolled on record to capture the clips. The most interestingly creative clip used props, costumes, live action and…. had the information about the HFI (mythical company used in the training exercises) company we asked to be included. It was a hoot!

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Bob Killmeier was teacher on-deck today and led the students in the material to complete the day’s session. Lunch followed.

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Lunch followed and with little time to change we were off to meet Bogdan Trojanowski, Director of Svichado Publishing. They have previously published three of Dr. Gary Chapman’s books in Ukrainian. Today it was to connect Svichado with Herb’s recent book Route 66 to have it published in Ukrainian.

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Next it was off to the construction site of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary’s classroom building now in Phase One. When we visited in 2018, it was two floors lower and in need of much repair and restoration. Today we saw the addition of two top floors, new floors inside where previously there were just timbers and wiring in final stages of completion. President Slavik met us there before hosting the team at his home for a time of fellowship and information.

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Back to Hotel Delice to prep for the longest day of our teaching week. Pray as we not only will go the full morning session but return after lunch for an added two hours.

Tuesday began with meeting in the Delice for a time of devotions and prayer. Today Bill shared from I Peter … But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Day Two students networking before the presentation by John Moormann began. Today- THE CUSTOMER. Herb gave the class a homework assignment using clay. John gave a second assignment which will entail student groups creating a short video presentation answering questions posed from one exercise from Wednesday.

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Bob visited Nuga Best a health care company featuring message equipment for improved blood flow.

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Afternoon business visit with Nadia Meleta class student with her husband Petro the owners of Liviv’s finest architectural restoration companies with instructor Herb Burns.

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Bill visited Hebron Soft, a technology startup offering programming and project management. This academy employs young men who have been released from the orphanage due to turning 18. Hebron Soft offers free programming training for these young men and employment when they are ready. It is a wonderful Way to help these lost men to flourish.

Ihor and Lylia also run Hebron- a residential home for these young men. They receive Bible training and Ihor has a vision for a small farm operation and a martial arts program. It was great to see what God has provided for this ministry in 3 short years. 6

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Rendezvous at the hotel at 6PM it was on to the English as a Second Language class sponsored by Picasso Church. The students were given a challenge by their teachers to create a business plan and present it to Bill, Bob, Herb and John serving as “The Shark Tank” for each of the three student presentations. A time of fellowship and visiting followed along with a memory picture of the evening and this event. The team made a gift of 25 small Bibles to the class to help them grow in their learning of English.

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Wednesday looks to be another busy day for the team. Class with two homework assignments, followed by dinner with the President of Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary. Keep us in prayer as we head into hump day Wednesday.

We begin the day with our devotions led by Bill Barr in the hotel restaurant then journey to the Chamber of Commerce classroom to begin our first day of marketing classes. Herb Burns introduced the basic concepts of marketing .

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After class our next stop was a meetings with the local Lviv Gideons. Testimonies where shared and old acquaintances rekindled.

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Tomorrow we begin module 2 understanding the customer and start our company visits. We would like to thank everyone for your continuing prayers for our success.

Devotions this morning were about attitude and how attitude is altitude. This began our day before we were off to morning worship at Picasso Church at the invitation of Pastor. Picasso Church actually meets in a nightclub they convert to church Sundays. A special youth music ensemble was rehearsing as we arrived. During the song service several tunes we sing at home. We joined in morning prayer, testimony and worship. Pastor Igor preached on “I want to believe God…” which for us, the Holy Spirit had linked to our morning devotional. Herb was invited to give a word of testimony. We have been invite to return Tuesday evening to help with the English as Second Language class. Nice add to our schedule. The it was off to experience a Lviv cafeteria featuring Ukrainian cuisine. The picture only tells part of the story but enough of the story.

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We arrived at Disciples Church meeting in the library on the Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS). Factoid: enrollment four years ago was just over 40 students. As of this afternoon over 800 are enrolled! That’s a God thing. The team was blessed to share communion with the church this day. Over 100 adults were in the overflowing library room and that was not counting the plethora of children from church families. Following service Herb presented the President of UBTS Slavik Pyzh with lithographs in Ukraine of the pictures in his new book, Route 66.

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While it was still daylight but with rain clouds on the horizon the team quickly visited two Lviv sites. Just as twilight fell a quick meal and back to post this blog. Tomorrow our work begins in earnest as we meet the class, now sitting at 30 students, for day one of Marketing. Tomorrow also include a return visit with the Lviv Gideon meeting.

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Saturday began with devotions and prayer and we were off to the country for a gathering of new and former students of the courses. Volodymyr Chubai arrived and presented Herb Burns with a copy of Our Perspectives which contained an article Herb wrote for their national magazine.

As morning progresses more students arrived and Andriy, our wonderful in country facilitator and cooking host prepared a great meal for everyone. We gathered for a great fellowship meal that included not only fresh cooked (beef-veal-or what???) and tasty condiments but was topped with fresh fruit, watermelon, and ice cream! Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus and he had ice cream for everyone! A time of renewing old friendships from past classes and meeting new students joining us Monday took much of the afternoon.

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A return to Lviv center city followed to change currency and get materials for an in-class exercise for the students. A walkabout on an end-of-summer evening through downtown Lviv brought the team into a dynamic mix of people enjoying the evening. A quiet visit to a Cathedral during evening worship. And we were off to dinner at Pravda which was a hoot. They had a live brass band playing everything from Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey to pure Ukrainian tunes. We were joined by Pavlo’s sister and brother-in-law he is a native of Cairo and Bill and Bob had opportunity to get great info for their extension into Cairo following Lviv. Bed was next and this blog will continue tomorrow.

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We will be in two churches offering testimony as asked and…help with an ESL class at one church before the week is out, some of the team will get to the Polytech institute and the Lord isn’t finished with answering your prayers. Please continue.

Landed in Lviv (after 45 minute delay in Warsaw) and our in country facilitators met us at the airport to drive us to Hotel Delice for our stay. Dinner at the hotel was tasty. And it was off unpack and prep for tomorrow. With light out we were asleep immediately.

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Thursday afternoon Bob, Herb and John joined by wives and fellow Troika members prayed before heading for Raleigh in a van provided by Calvary. Your prayers were answered several times en route.

The bus broke down just at the Guilford-Forsyth county line on I-40 as our driver was working to get us to RDU ahead of the stormy weather from the hurricane.

Rescue bus arrived in record time. We made it to the airport, joined our fourth team member Bill (past Calvary member living in Raleigh now). You prayed we would not have our flight cancelled by the pending storm. It wasn’t! Thank you Lord for hearing the saint’s prayers. The ticketing agent at the American counter was grateful to receive a personal workers testament from one of the team. Overnight flight was serene especially with noise cancelling earphones (the work even over hearing airs.)

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