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November/December 2011 Prayer Letter

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Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The end of the year 2011 was marked by significant progress in our Bible translation work. To start with, by God’s grace the first draft of the Gospel of Luke and eight chapters of the book of Acts are translated. Thus, 59% of the New Testament is ready in various stages. Also, we were able to print 1500 copies of the Gospel of Mark, distribute them and carry out a survey. The copies were distributed at two pastors’ conferences, in several churches, among the students of a correspondence Bible Institute, among the subscribers of a Ukrainian Christian magazine and among friends and relatives.

Family devotions in the newly printed Gospel of Mark

The results of the survey exceeded all of our expectations. First, we received a high percentage of responses from a wide variety of participants from all over Ukraine. Of these, 62% have a Bible teaching position in their churches: pastors, preachers, evangelists, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, missionaries and prison and hospital ministries. Second, the responses were very favorable: 98% of the respondents liked the translation and 87% of them are likely (with various degrees of probability) to switch to it when the whole Bible is ready. The latter number is very encouraging considering the fact that almost half of the respondents mainly use the Russian Bible, so they would be switching not just to another translation but to a different language.

You may wonder what people meant when they said they “liked” the translation. In the questionnaire, they were asked to indicate what they liked the most. The three most common answers were “good Ukrainian”, “clarity” and “readability”. Let me explain the first one to you. Prior to the country’s independence in 1992, Ukrainian was limited in use. As a result, many speakers today have a narrow vocabulary, not always being sure what pure Ukrainian is. Further, because of the failure to employ standard Ukrainian, none of the existing Ukrainian versions have set the pattern of what the Bible in this language should sound like. They lack uniformity of biblical and common words, as well as contain awkward sentence structure. These issues posed a serious challenge for me in producing a new translation in “good Ukrainian”. From the very beginning, my aim in translating the Bible was to unify Biblical terminology and to use a language form that would be both true to the standard and satisfactory to the speakers of all Ukrainian dialects. The prevailing comments in the questionnaires like “good standard Ukrainian”, “pure Ukrainian”, etc. confirm that I was able to achieve my goal with God’s help.

Two other characteristics, “clarity” and “readability”, are more reasons for rejoicing. Let me explain these as well. The advocates of dynamic-equivalence translations argue that formal-equivalence translations can not possibly be clear and natural. Being convinced that this is not so, I strove to produce a translation that would be literal, while being clear and readable. Again, the frequent remarks in the questionnaires like “completely understandable”, “very readable”, etc. confirm that the Lord allowed me to attain my goal. Many people expressed their satisfaction with the translation in various forms but these three statements stand out: “A fine translation, distinguished by accuracy, clarity and good literary style”, “Among the available Ukrainian versions, this Gospel of Mark is the most clear in reading. It is a pleasure to read it” and “(It is) a translation understandable to children” (by a mother of six). One Sunday school teacher said she was going to use this Gospel of Mark in her class. Many people were excited about this translation and wished God’s blessing on the work.

We definitely appreciate the critical comments we received. Suggestions included: using a different word for the one utilized in the text, hyphenation, punctuation, one typo, the spelling of biblical names (one of the biggest difficulties in Ukrainian) and an instance of ambiguity. A number of remarks had to do with some textual and translational differences of this translation compared with the existing ones. In many cases I was able to contact people by e-mail and explain my translation choices, as well as which underlying Greek text was used and why. My assistants and I will discuss the most common suggestions and will decide where corrections should be introduced.

As with the text, 98% of the respondents liked the design and printing quality. We took great pains with choosing the right font and were pleased with the results: quite a few people indicated that they liked the font and many of them commented on how readable it is. People also appreciated the “convenient and detailed cross references”, “appropriate and clear footnotes”, “good section headings with cross references to parallel accounts” and “convenient arrangement of the text”. I believe the time and effort we spent on the design was well worth it.

One of the most exciting results of the survey is that one person expressed a desire to assist with this project. Svetlana has an undergraduate degree in Ukrainian and a PhD in history. She is an active member of her church and teaches at a secular university. I hope that a fruitful partnership awaits us. Also, she asked for more copies of the Gospel of Mark to give to her students. Please pray that the living word of God touches their hearts and that many of them would come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Thus, we were able to achieve all three of our goals for this survey: raise awareness of this new translation, get feedback from a wider audience and find more people who are qualified to assist with the project. To God be the glory, great things He hath done!

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy)
Life with boys is always exciting… sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. In the past few months it seems like we’ve had one calamity after another. Andriy fell off the jungle gym and cut the top of his head. Sashko got hit in the forehead with a broom handle. A quick trip to the surgeon’s office and 3 stitches later he was all patched up. Not to be outdone by his brothers, Yurko managed to get a long, nasty thorn stuck in his shin… right through his snow pants. Matviy is ‘all-boy’ and at age 9 months he gave himself a black eye, falling against a metal pole. Andriy went for ‘seconds’, taking a nose-dive off of his tricycle and busting his lip on the sidewalk (the trike did not survive the spill). The fun just never ends around here!

For a Thanksgiving project this year, I challenged the older boys to each memorize a parable. Sashko learned the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20) and Yurko memorized the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). We were very pleased at their diligence in studying such long passages and I think they were surprised at how much they could learn in just a few weeks. Music is heard almost all the time at our house. Guitar music has been predominate lately since Sashko has upgraded to a ¾ size guitar. Yurko inherited Sashko’s ½ size one and even Andriy has joined our group of guitarists with Yurko’s old ¼ size guitar. Yura leads the group on his guitar as they play together. The big boys are doing well at learning the chords for a variety of hymns and carols, while Andriy strums along, mumbling the words and trying to copying his brothers’ technique (it is just a little too cute).

Guitar quartet

Speaking of Andriy, we have a need. At age 3½, he has really outgrown his car seat; however we have not been able to find basic booster seats over here. If anyone has a booster seat that your child has outgrown and would like to ship it to us directly here in Ukraine, please contact us at ywpop@mail.ru for the Ukrainian shipping address (and to confirm that the need has not already been met). Thank you!

My new assistant on his first day of work

Prayer requests and praises:
1. Praise the Lord for a good response to the Gospel of Mark.
2. Keep praying for more laborers to help with different aspects of the translation ministry.
3. Praise the Lord, we all have enjoyed comparatively good health for the past year. Please pray for Yura’s reflux treatment to be effective.

May the Lord bless you all with a wonderful 2012. We pray for your families, churches and ministries regularly and trust that the goodness of God will be seen in your lives more than ever before in the coming year.
Your Fellow-servants for Jesus’ sake,
Yura, Wendy, Sashko, Yurko, Andriy, and Matviy Popchenko

May/June 2011 Prayer Letter

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Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings in Jesus’ Name! The translation work has been making steady progress. By the grace of God, I was able to do the first draft of 9 chapters of Luke. I must say that I have been immensely enjoying translating this unique gospel. First of all, it is the longest gospel and therefore it is the most thorough and complete. 41% of Luke’s material is unique to his gospel. For example, out of the 35 miracles recorded in the gospels, 20 are mentioned in Luke, 6 of which are not found elsewhere. So, if it was not for the third Gospel, we would have not known of the miraculous draught of fishes, the raising of widow’s son in Nain and the healing of the ten lepers. Out of 50 parables that Jesus taught, 19 are found only in Luke. If Luke had not recorded them, we would not have the parables of the Good Samaritan, the rich fool, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son and the Pharisee and the publican, as well as the teaching of the rich man and Lazarus. Also, Luke records about 30 events in the life of Jesus which no one else does. So if we did not have Luke, we would miss the birth of John the Baptist, the birth and childhood of Jesus, Jesus’ forgiveness of a sinful woman anointing His feet, the repentance of Zacchaeus and Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus.

Second, writing to Theophilus who was most likely a Gentile, Luke portrays salvation as being universal, for everyone. He traces Jesus’ genealogy to Adam, the father of all men, and focuses on Jesus’ compassionate attention to foreigners (Syrians, Romans, Greeks), showing that salvation extends to all nations. In fact, Luke sees the gospel as being not only for all nations, but for all kinds of people. No other biblical author is concerned as much with social outcasts (tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes, beggars) and includes as many women or children as Luke does. An interesting observation is that Matthew and Mark never use the word “salvation” in their gospels and John uses it only once. Luke uses it five times in his gospel, plus six times in the book of Acts. He emphasizes salvation and that it is for everyone.

So, what am I trying to say? It has been a custom for many Bible printing ministries to print John (typically coupled with Romans) for evangelistic purposes. While there are good reasons for that, Luke appears to be better suited for this task nowadays. We live in a day and age in which so-called “Christian nations” are being rapidly secularized, so fewer and fewer people are familiar with basic Bible facts, the earthly life of our Lord in particular. This is even more true for unreached peoples where Bible knowledge in nonexistent. Luke understood that the knowledge of the earthly life of Christ is necessary for Christian faith (1:4) and he presents the works and teachings of Jesus that are especially important for understanding the way of salvation. Complete in its scope (from the birth of Christ to His ascension) and arranged in order, this gospel would be more readily understood by present-day readers.

Considering all these things, we decided to act on the suggestion of a friend of this ministry and publish a children’s edition of my translation of Luke with illustrations by a Ukrainian artist. This edition is designed for parents to read to their children, with pictures to help the stories come alive. So often children grow up on Bible storybooks and do not hear the ‘adult’ Bible read until later in life. Our desire is to give children an illustrated ‘real Bible’, not just a storybook. This undertaking is still in its earliest stages but we would really like to have it done by Christmas. Please pray for this project.

The past month we began to work on yet another project. We are planning in the near future to launch a Ukrainian web site dedicated to our translation. Our main objectives in doing so are to broaden Ukrainian awareness of the work and to receive feedback. Also, we are going to put the plan of salvation there – something I have never seen on a Ukrainian or Russian Christian web site. As for the feedback, we will post my translation of the gospel of Mark (since it is the shortest) and ask people to fill out an on-line questionnaire. To make this gospel ready for posting, my assistants and I have been recently working on its second draft. I am glad to announce that after a break due to her heavy teaching load, Anya has rejoined us again. Please pray that we can finish editing Mark and launch the site within the next month or two.

In June, our van was sideswiped. Just as I eased to a stop at the side of the road to let an entourage pass, I heard a loud scratching sound. Apparently the man who was driving behind me was not maintaining a safe distance. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the van was not terribly banged up. The police arrived within minutes and the process was taken care of in record time. Now we just have to wait for court’s decision (a formality) and then for the man’s insurance company to pay for the damage. Please pray the body shop does a prompt, decent job (this is asking for a miracle).

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy)

Between wrapping up the school year and taking care of summer projects, we have been keeping quite busy. Yurko and Sashko also finished their first year of violin lessons. Both boys passed their music exams, receiving the highest score of ’12′ and Sashko was invited to play for the school’s end-of-the-year concert. Andriy has made quite a name for himself by his impeccable public conduct. He is the perfect little gentleman, sitting almost motionless through 2-hour church services, soberly shaking hands with all who notice the pint-sized member of the congregation, and then quietly waiting at my side until it is time to leave. (Nobody believes me when I tell them that he is a regular little boy who likes to run and yell and play!) Matviy is 4 months old and continues to be the sweetest, happiest baby anyone could ever hope for. At mealtimes, he sits by us in his little seat, smiling at Daddy until Yura notices him and starts talking to him.

First recital

Hi, everybody!

Happy Birthday Yura and Yurko! What do you do with a Bible translator on his birthday? Get him away from his office! The six of us drove over to the town of Myrhorod on June 8th and spent a relaxing day sightseeing and visiting a horse ranch. I praise the Lord for my husband who is such a good father and provider for our family. May God bless him with health, wisdom and many more years as he continues to translate the Bible. Our second son celebrated his 7th birthday on June 17th. We had a wonderful day at the park as a family and then enjoyed some fellowship in the evening with our Christian neighbors. Posters and cards, packages from his grandparents, and a remote control boat made for quite a festive time! Since last year the boys were all in the hospital on Yurko’s birthday, Yura and I were particularly eager for this year’s birthday to be special…. and it really was. We are so thankful for to God for our son. Please join us in prayer as he continues to grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Our greatest desire for Yurko is that he love and serve the Lord throughout his life.

At the horse ranch

 The Birthday Boy

Kathy is home from the hospital and doing really well. She recently wrote me and asked that I thank everyone for their prayers during her illness. More than once her condition was critical, but Kathy said that God comforted her through His word mightily. Not only was her life spared, but all of the procedures were painless and, with the exception of some cramps in her leg, she has had no side effects from any of the medications. “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad” (Psalm 126:3).

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support that help to make this ministry possible.

Your Fellow-servants for Jesus’ sake,
Yura, Wendy, Sashko, Yurko, Andriy, and Matviy Popchenko

Birthday in the hospital

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Monday night Yurko and Tuesday 4 am Andriy started having the same symptoms Sashko had had for number of days. Instead of waiting to see them getting worse we decided to take them to the hospital that morning. Wendy stayed with the boys to take care of them. The next day Yurko and Andriy felt already better and started having normal food but today Yurko and Andriy took a turn for the worse. It was such a pity since today is Yurko’s birthday and we wanted to have a small birthday party for him right in the hospital. When I arrived, Yurko hardly reacted to all the birthday greetings and presents. The doctor put him on an IV and after a short time he started feeling better so by the end of my visit he was able to enjoy his presents. After all the boys get out of the hospital, we will have a real birthday party for Yurko.

As for Sashko, he feels better but has been on an IV every day since his admission to the hospital. He definitely got the worse case. I am basically back to normal, still have some discomfort after a meal but rather than that I am fine. This is good since I have to run to the hospital every day and buy necessary medicine (in Ukraine you have to buy your own medicine if you want to be treated in the hospital), make and bring food and other things. Wendy is the only one who has not gotten the bug, or should I rather say, the symptoms.

The boys have had (and still are having) lots of test done to determine what caused this condition. Yesterday two test (for roto-virus and a bacterial infection) came back negative. Since one of the tests is not always accurate, the doctor ordered other tests. Please, pray for the speedy recovery of all our boys and strength for Wendy and me in taking care of them.

Wendy and the boys in their hospital room

 

The birthday boy on an IV

 

Yurko with his presents

January–February 2010 Prayer letter

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Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings in our Lord’s precious Name from Ukraine! Spring is already in the air, leaving the long, hard winter behind us. This winter was especially severe with lots of snow, making driving very difficult since snow is not plowed in this country (at least not where we live). We are looking forward to the time when we can drive on asphalt instead of rutted ice, several inches thick.

For those who do not yet know, we finally found a suitable house not far from Kyiv and our church. On the 15th of January, we signed a rental agreement and the next day four men from our church, one of whom had a large truck, helped us move. During our move, Yurko’s forehead was accidently gashed and the wound needed to be stitched. Fortunately, my friend was able to take Wendy and Yurko to the hospital as I needed to drive my car to take the movers and lead the way to our new place. Right now he is doing fine. After living in the house just one day, we discovered that the gas furnace had problems and could not be legally operated for safety reasons. The landlady would not replace it since she believed the furnace was just fine, so we ended up replacing it at our cost, spending $920. Replacing the furnace was a nightmare since the guys did pretty sloppy job, plus ruined our sink, toilet and a lot of tile with the welding. We are still waiting for them to replace those items. At present we are basically settled in. The reason it is taking a while is because no matter what we touch in this house, it needs to be fixed, so I’ve been remounting curtain rods, repairing furniture, installing a shower, changing out old electric outlets that do not fit modern appliances, and a million other little things.

Putting boy’s bunk bed together

 

Helping Daddy put his bookcases together

 

Do you need me to measure something?

 

Guys replacing the furnace

In spite of that, Bible translation work is going full steam ahead! Having missed it for almost ten months, I am now fully absorbed in translating the book of Romans, which is to be published later this year, Lord willing, together with the gospel of John. So far, I have been able to translate, by God’s grace, ten and a half chapters of the first draft! Besides that, I have had great opportunities to work on building my translation team. In December, I met with Anya, who agreed to join me as a translator (formerly, she was only a consultant). We discussed plans for and principles of translation work. As soon as Anya finishes writing her doctoral dissertation in Greek, she is going to start working on the book of Mark. She has very little to finish, so please pray she can do this soon and start translating the Bible. In January, I met with Bro. Nesteruk, the president of the Ukrainian Baptist Fellowship which adopted my translation. We talked about plans for translation work and the team of three consultants that the Fellowship supplied. I already had a chance to talk to Bro. Romanyuk, who is going to head up the team, and discuss the practical side of how we are going to work together (all three men live in different parts of Ukraine). In February, I met Bro. Melnychuk, the president of a Christian university in Ukraine. He is very excited about my translation work and since he knows many Christians with biblical training, he offered to look for those with knowledge of biblical languages who can assist me in my work. He already mentioned two professors at his university, one of whom knows Greek and the other Hebrew. Bro. Melnychuk invited me to come down to Donetsk (a city in Ukraine where the university is located) some day to meet them. Finally, on February 24nd, I met Taras Dyatlyk, a potential translator and/or consultant. Taras has studied in Europe and is doing his doctoral dissertation in New Testament Greek right now. Taras has agreed to join me as a consultant but at this time is not sure his time would allow him to start translation work. It is great to have him on my translation team, at least as a consultant.

Translating again at last!

When our pastor was hospitalized with a very serious case of pneumonia in January, I was asked to continue his study of the book of Philippians on Sunday nights. I picked up at chapter four and have taught for the past month using my translation of this book. Praise the Lord, the pastor is doing much better and is back in church again. I will continue teaching Philippians while he regains his strength.

Teaching on Philippians

Sashko celebrated his 8th birthday just two days after we moved into our house. He had been praying for a yard to play in for 2 or 3 years and God answered! What a birthday present it was for him! Living in a house means more work and Sashko has jumped right in, shoveling snow and working along side his Daddy. With all the snow this year we gave him another present he has been wanting for a long time: skis. Sashko is doing well in school and making progress on the piano. The boys have been healthy lately, for which we praise the Lord, and an allergy breakout on Sashko’s face has been diagnosed and is being treated successfully.

Happy 8th birthday, Sashko!

 

I got skis for my birthday!

 

We have a special prayer request regarding our youngest son. Andriy, who is now 18 months old, was diagnosed last week with “hip dysplasia”, which is the deformation or misalignment of the hip joint. Although this is usually diagnosed by the age of three months, somehow our previous orthopedist missed it. Corrective treatment is only possible up to the age of eight months. After that (unless Andriy grows out of this problem) hip surgery is the only alterative. To make matters worse, the hip-joint angles are not the same (162 degrees and 150 degrees…. 135-140 is normal), therefore, if uncorrected, Andriy could end up with one leg being longer than the other, which would in turn affect his pelvis and spinal development significantly. Further, as a result of (or in addition to) his hip dysplasia, Andriy’s feet are turned inward. We hope to complete all the required tests this week and then we’ll be taking him to the Institute of Orthopedics here in Kyiv for a consultation. Please pray for us and the doctors to have wisdom in dealing with this.

Prayer requests:
1. Pray for me to have wisdom and protection from the devil’s attacks, as I translate the book of Romans.
2. Pray for Anya to finish writing her doctoral dissertation soon and start working on the book of Mark.
3. Pray for Taras being able to do translation work.
4. Pray for productive cooperation from the new members of my team as we develop our work relationship.
5. Pray for my health (I am currently experiencing some health issues).
6. Pray for the doctor’s visit concerning Andriy’s hip problem and that he would not need surgery.
7. Pray for the general health and protection of our family.
8. Continue to pray for the health of our friend William who has cancer. He is still not feeling well even though his tests are apparently fine. In April, he is going to have more tests to see why he feels so poorly.

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and financial support. May God bless your families, churches and ministries as we each labor in our corner of the harvest field.

Your fellow-servants for Jesus’ sake,
Yura, Wendy, Sashko, Yurko and Andriy