Our International Networx

MUSTARD SEEDS

2008-08-29T10:10:00.013+03:00

GOD WILL USE WILLING AND OBEDIENT SERVANTS TO CREATE MIRACLES...no matter what gender!

God is blessing us and helping us to build churches, orphan outreach centers, mission training bases and houses in Ukraine. These are unique because Ukrainian men are building with their indigenous forestry materials rather than traditional bricks and concrete. They were trained by American Christians and are flourishing today on their own.

We call all our projects "Mustard Seed" because they've grown from that small amount of faith that a strong-willed, single, Texas girl and Borkholder Buildings from Indiana started with in the neighboring country of Belarus in 2000. A thousand times I was told it was impossible. I will go to my grave declaring that with God all things are possible! After many years of blood, sweat, and tears, we humbly give glory to God for the fruit we see today:

Missionary Training Center - Youth With A Mission in Kiev, Ukraine.

1st dorm unit for Youth With A Mission in Kiev, Ukraine.

500-700 missionary trainees will go through this base every year when it's completed.

Church in Central Eastern Ukraine.

Residential home for Christian church member in Northeastern Ukraine.

Pine Branch Christian Camp Orphan Lodge, Director's Cottage and Bath House
A year-round camp being built for orphans in Ukraine
Missionaries Andrew & Jenny Kelly: Jeremiah's Hope

Yemelchino Pentecostal Church
Pastor Nikolai & Helen Yarashinko

Apostlov Pentecostal Church
Pastor Pavel Golub

YWAM Missionary House/Ministry Center
Missionaries: Yuri & Tatiana Sokolovsky

Townhouse Model for Foster Care families
built for Christian business man Oleg Moshkovski

Pentecostal Christian Life Church
Pastor Vladimer & Rachel Savchuk

Ministry House built for
Pastor Sergei & Victoria Gardinski

Church of Evangelical Baptists
Pastor Vadim Parfilo

Christian Hope Missionary Church
Pastor Sergei & Irina Muchak

Abundant Life Church
Pastor Vladimer & Nadezhda Shkira

If you feel led to help any of these ministers to finish their buildings, you may click on the online donation button to the right. We'll make sure your gift gets to them.

As the scriptures described the mustard seed trees creating necessary shelter for all kinds of birds, I envisioned that God wanted to create dwelling places for displaced congregations who were being evicted from their rented government-owned facilities.

God was faithful to help us build that first indigenous project using wood rather than traditional brick and concrete. It was difficult all the way through! Pioneer efforts are that way! At the end of it, my mustard seed of faith had been buried in the ground and I had nothing left to give! Exhausted, spent, angry, having had our tools stolen 3 times, truck-loads of land stolen from our 2nd nearby property, and overwhelmingly discouraged, I determined to pack it all up, throw in the towel and call it quits. Pastors, whom I truly with all of my heart had wanted to help, were no more interested in the model house than when I started 4 years earlier by shipping a model rehab center in containers from the USA. Their political battles occupied all their minds and hearts, and they were not embracing wood-frame construction as a viable means to build churches in Belarus.

I packed my 5 boxes and after 8 years of labor, I prepared my heart to leave...for somewhere. God sent 2 pastors, 2 businessmen, and one missionary from Ukraine to see the Mustard Seed. They had heard of this miraculous phenominon built by a crazy Texas woman.

I guess it was prophetic that this group was sent by God to touch this house, push on the wood-frame walls, jump up and down on the 2nd floor, and take their coats off in the warm house that was being heated only by a small electric heater. In one 32-hour weekend trip, they were convinced that this kind of unique, unfamiliar method of construction could work in their country to build their churches, ministry centers, and houses.

From a dark fog of uncertainty, I sent 2 of my packed boxes with these godly men back to Ukraine, saying that "by faith, I will come to help you. But only God knows the outcome." I informed this little group that I was not an engineer, nor a builder, nor a business woman. But rather I am a missionary with a unique calling to help build cooperative bridges of relationship between groups and individuals who are called to fulfill the Great Commission.

I promised to introduce one of the pastor's church designs to our dear partner, and it would be up to God to touch their hearts to continue pressing forward to help our Eastern European brothers and sisters.

God did and the results are the above beautiful Ukrainian Mustard Seeds, sprouting up from the roots of that first seed planted next door in Belarus!

Orphan's Lodge Pine Branch Christian Camp

2008-07-24T00:30:00.004+03:00

Today at Pine Branch Christian Camp, the guys culminated 3 days of praying for a crane by seeing God's answer at 10 this morning.

The small town of Ivankov in Northern Ukraine seems to have a shortage of long-armed cranes that could reach the height we needed for installing the 23 hand-made trusses.

Here Victor & Kolya hammer bracing as one more truss goes into place.

We have a total of 5 Ukrainian men training to build these post-frame structures. Other men are members of the missionary's team or have come as volunteer trainees from other churches who also want to build in the future.

As the last truss goes up, children play in the fenced off playground at Pine Branch Camp. They said they had been watching all day long and this construction is amazingly fast.

L: Victor is our foreman-in-training. Pasha, our trainer, and Victor started the staircase late this afternoon.

At 7pm, all the trusses were installed. It's a miracle friends. This is Mustard Seed #13. All Glory to God!!!

Orphan Lodge: Pine Branch Christian Camp

2008-07-19T18:04:00.005+03:00

This week our Ukrainian builders, coming from all over the country, started the frame of the children's lodge at Pine Branch Christian Camp. This is a large building with one section being 2-story to house children on the second floor and kitchen facilities underneath. One section of the building will be shorter and will be the auditorium for worship/teaching and cafeteria. Children for many years to come will walk through the doors of this new center into the loving arms of people who have cared enough to invest themselves now for their future!

Monday the posts go up

Tuesday & Wednesday the parallel girts go all the way around the posts to add stability to the structure. The headers go on top of the posts in preparation for the big trusses to be installed later.

Thursday the 25 huge trusses are made by hand, one-by-one. Every plywood gusset is properly nailed and glued on both sides of the 2x6 boards seaming together to form the incredibly strong triangular roof pieces.

The 3-ply posts made from 2x8 pine boards for the center section are long and heavy. Our all-Ukrainian team of builders, some just learning on this project, are excited to see how fast this building goes up.

Victor, 19 years old, is learning to be a foreman. He attends classes through correspondence at a trade school to learn construction. He says his teachers have never seen wood-frame construction.

Pasha, 25 years old, is our senior team leader. He has been a part of training our Ukrainian builders since 2006.

By Friday all the trusses are built and the frame is ready for the crane to come next week to perch the trusses on top.

Please pray for all our builders and us as leaders. Pray for Andrew & Jenny Kelly, the project owners/missionaries. And please lift up the pastors from past and future projects as they all work through their details to get their buildings built and finished.

Slavic Missionaries in China

2008-07-06T15:22:00.005+03:00

This is my Ukrainian friend Ira, home to Kiev from her mission field in China. We have been catching up on all her journeys in China. Below are some pictures she brought to share.

This is Ira from Ukraine & Olga from Russia at a temple in a city in China where gods from all nations are represented by their idols.

This is a Chinese woman worshipping at an idol in a Chinese city.

At this Budhist temple, worshippers have brought sacrifices. Ira & Olga prayed for the people who go there to know the Only God, Creator of all, who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Ira climbs the many stairs where all the worshippers go to bow to Buda at this city in China. Of course her prayer is for God Almighty to reveal Himself to these who seek god.

Ira with Chinese students from her university. They study Russian while she studies Chinese.

At 6am, Ira buys her fresh produce at the farmer's market. Already by 8am, all food and sellers are gone. She's able to get the best prices for her missionary money at this early market.

Ira sometimes eats breakfast with the rest of the Chinese outside at 6am. This Manti is like a pie filled with meat and vegetables. She says it's very tasty.

This is the supermarket where Ira buys food in China. She is studying Chinese so she is able to communicate and do well in these situations.

In China, a Russian pastor and businessman visit these Slavic missionaries to see their work and to encourage them, bring finances, pray for them, and help them to continue in their service of God.

This is one of the means of transport which Ira and others use in China.

Thursday Day 8 Pine Branch Christian Camp Director's Cottage

2008-07-04T17:37:00.003+03:00

Many hands make our construction SUPER fast.

Since things were going so fast, Andrew decided to add an enclosed front and back porch to his director's cottage.

Andrew explains to Pastor Ira where the kitchen is going to be. I have a feeling Ira's husband, Pastor Sergei might be convinced that their little 1-bedroom home may need an upgrade soon. While Andrew's cottage is a simple 32' x 32' box, the 1024 sq. feet is tons of space compared to the cultural 500-700 sq feet in most Ukrainian apartments/homes. Next week our guys take a break and the following week we start the children's lodge at the camp.

Mustard Seed #12 in Ukraine

2008-06-30T23:23:00.005+03:00

Today's work on the director's cottage at the Pine Ridge Christian Camp for orphans went very fast. The trusses were all up in 2 hours.

I was told that our new foreman-in-training, Victor(Left), did a good job of keeping everyone busy, even the Americans.

Anatoly puts on one of the sheets of OSB.

At the end of the day this 10m x 10m little house is looking pretty good. This is Mustard Seed #12!

Some of my Favorite Ukraine Pictures

2008-06-27T21:03:00.009+03:00

P.O. Bag

Ukrainian village women

Kristina & Joseph take a sniff of mom's roses

The purlins on the roof in preparation for the metal cover.

This makeshift shower was used by the builders in the village where we built a church.

Builder Sasha using all his might to get that nail into the the right spot.

11-year old Elijah helping Vova to cut the gussetts for the trusses.

Three of our builders await the delivery of another truss

Sergei finds a unique way to keep the truss at the right angle 'till it's nailed in place.

Little Cara from USA and Little Tanya from Belarus with Pastor Volodia from Ukraine

They're all giants of faith.

At the end of the day, all the trusses line up so nice.

Church Construction in Ukraine using their forests

2008-06-25T20:29:00.009+03:00

People driving by on this main street in front of the church in Yemelchino, Ukraine witnessed this strange style of construction developing into a church within 2 short weeks. Some stopped their vehicles and shouted to our builders, "What's that going to be?" From the top of the trusses being set in place, a builder yelled back, "A church!" "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." Mt 5:16

I love this shot of the evening service after building all day. There's still a very diligent builder on top of the roof who wanted to get the last girt on before joining Pastor Yarashinko and the rest of us to Praise God. Since the builders are all living inside the itty bitty existing church building, we moved Thursday evening service outside.

Pastor Yarashinko has 5 sons and 7 daughters, many of whom were as much help during construction as the adults. Elijah, aged 11, ran for materials and tools and scrambled up the side of the building likidy split, saving our builders tons of time and energy.

If you'd like to help Pastor Yarashinko and his church family to finish their church, you may donate online at http://www.internationalnetworx.org/ or send your tax deductible check to International Networx, PO Box 346, Amarillo, TX 79105. They used all their funds to get the building to this point. Please be in prayer for them to finish in God's perfect timing.

Faux Painting Exercise in Kiev Ukraine

2008-06-25T20:07:00.007+03:00

We built this church in Kiev last summer. Pastor Vladimer & Rachel Savchuk have worked diligently with their congregation through the winter to collect more building funds to finish their church.

Oksana on the right was trained in faux painting during one lesson in Texas last December. She brought her lessons from the USA to Pastor Vladimer Savchuk's church in Kiev and taught 3 other people how to do during the hands-on painting exercise.

Above Pastor Savchuk on the left and Andre on the right use faux painting techniques on the back wall of the auditorium. It's their first time to try it and they did a great job.

The stage will be built in a few weeks by a visiting team from the USA.

After 2 days, the 11.5 m x 25 m auditorium was finished with faux painting. The next step in fund-raising is for the tile floor, lights, and labor.