Tag Archives: Gospel of Mark

September/October 2011 Prayer Letter

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings in Jesus’ Name from Ukraine! After finishing the final draft and spending many hours of painstaking work on the layout, the gospel of Mark is ready for printing. In an effort to ensure high quality results, we consulted with two other designers throughout the process and conducted another survey. I believe we achieved our goal in making a layout that is unique to this translation which at the same time is both very readable and pleasant to the eyes as far as fonts, their size, etc. One of the reasons for this is the fact that many Ukrainians, especially those in the villages, who really should wear glasses, do not have them. There are a few purposes of this publication: first of all, we want to raise awareness of this new translation; second, we are looking for feedback from a wider audience; and third, we would like to find more men who are qualified to assist with the project. We are planning on printing 1500 copies and distributing them among Ukrainian-speaking Christians, asking them to fill out a questionnaire. A good friend of mine with whom I studied at a Bible institute back in the early 1990s is supplying us with the mailing addresses of pastors, preachers, and students. Our publisher will be taking care of mailing out the gospels, as well as receiving and processing the questionnaires. This is a tremendous blessing as it will allow me to focus on my main calling to translate the Bible. Speaking of translation, in between working on the layout of Mark, I continued translating the gospel of Luke and by God’s grace the first draft of 20 chapters of Luke is ready.

As I near finishing the translation of this wonderful gospel, I would like to point out one more unique feature of it. It is universally recognized that salvation is the central theme of the third gospel. Moreover, Luke is the only gospel that focuses on one particular aspect of salvation – the doctrine of justification. Neither Mark nor John ever uses the words “justify” or “justified” and Matthew uses them only twice. Luke uses them nine times, in addition to giving clear pictures of God’s justification without mentioning the term. The most evident teaching of justification by faith versus justification by works is contained in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee relied on his works to obtain God’s favor and forgiveness as he enumerated his religious achievements in prayer. The publican relied on God’s unmerited mercy, and it was him, the Bible says, who “went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14). Justification is also beautifully pictured in the parable of the prodigal son, where this wretched sinner comes home with no merits or worth and his father puts the best robe, shoes, and a ring on him. This is what justification is: taking an unworthy sinner who belongs in the pigpen and clothing him with the robe of righteousness.

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy)

Reciting at the Ukrainian “Harvest Day”

 

A dream has come true for Sashko and Yurko… they have a playhouse of their very own! Yura got the boards a while back but it wasn’t until this summer that this dream started to materialize. Yura helped the boys to prepare the materials and build one wall and then a missionary-contractor friend stayed with us for a few days to help them finish it. Countless hours had gone into sanding the rough boards, sawing, measuring, and planning, but without Daddy Yura and Mr. Yura Gula they never would have been able to put it all together. These men are both heroes to our sons. I loved the fact that Sashko and Yurko saw that passing out tracts, translating the Bible, memorizing scripture, and talking about deep, theological subjects didn’t keep these two servants of the Lord from having time to help a couple of little boys. (…“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Mt 25:40b)

Daddy helping the boys prepare the boards
Roofers at work
Yura Gula with his construction crew
Multipurpose playhouse: a workshop, a coffee shop, you name it

 

Andriy and Matviy are growing up fast and keeping us smiling with their antics. Andriy has been learning memory verses and phrases along with his big brothers, however he still gets mixed up sometimes. He knows “Jesus loves me”, “God is love”, and 1 John 4:19, repeating it after us one word at a time. A few days ago, it began to look as though he knew the verse by heart, so we let him try it on his own. Well, the word “first” really confused him, so he said, “We love Him because He first John 4:19″. The next day he confused it even worse by adding a phrase to it: “Jesus loves me because He first John 4:19″. It sure is hard to keep a straight face at times like that. Matviy loves his Johnny-jump-up that we hung in the doorway. It is impossible to watch him bouncing and squealing without laughing.

 

 

Prayer requests:
1. Pray for the soon printing and distribution of the gospel of Mark.
2. Pray for a good response and more laborers to rise up as a result of this publication.
3. Please keep praying for Yura’s health issues, especially for the reflux and his back pain.

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

July/August 2011 Prayer Letter

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from the Popchenko Family!

The past two months I have been working hard on the second and final drafts of Mark to make it ready for publishing. The main purpose of this publication is to receive feedback from a wider audience. My assistants and I spent dozens of hours discussing their criticisms and suggestions. Then, I spent even more time analyzing all of their input and introducing corrections to the text. Not infrequently, as I was doing that, I would come up with different translation decisions than those which were suggested by my assistants and I would consult again with them. So, editing a translation is a multiple stage process. At the same time, I was working with a Christian print designer on our page layout. Our goal is to make a layout peculiar to this translation which would also be very readable as far as fonts, their size, etc. In order to ensure this, my designer and I developed a few different layouts using different fonts and conducted a small poll. Based on the results, we chose a working draft and are improving it. We will be including cross references and section headings in this edition of Mark. In between working on Mark with my consultants, while waiting on their analysis, I continued translating the gospel of Luke and by God’s grace the first draft of 12 chapters of Luke is ready.

As usual, we faced opposition from the devil but this time it came from an unexpected source. The designer started working on the layout two months later than was asked, he worked sluggishly and then, right in the middle of the project, he refused to work at all. All this time he had been reassuring me that he was very interested in developing a great layout. After he quit, I arranged to have another Christian designer do it, but since he was using a different design program (more dated) it soon became evident that it had some significant limitations. So, I had to part with him also. My Christian friend suggested another designer. Hopefully, this one will be able to start working on the layout very soon and we will have no problems with him. We hope to have the gospel of Mark ready for printing in about two weeks. Please pray for that to happen.

This past June, the Russian Bible Society released the first complete dynamic equivalency Russian Bible based on the critical text (the translation theory and the Greek source text behind translations like the NIV, GNB, NLT). It caused a very hot discussion on Russian-speaking Internet. I was encouraged to see many people exposing the errors of this new translation both textual and translational. It is obvious that awareness of the issue of corrupt Bible versions is rapidly growing in post-Soviet territory. As a direct result of this discussion, I recently received two interesting communications via email. One of them was from a student of the Christian university where I taught back in April. Publication of the new Russian Bible revived his interest in textual issues which we discussed back then and he wrote me asking for literature defending the Textus Receptus. Apparently he is planning to write his thesis on the subject and I am happy to help him any way I can. The other email was from a man who came across my website in search of a current Ukrainian Bible translation based on the Textus Receptus. After some study he came to the conclusion that the Bible should be translated literally not dynamically and from the Received text not a critical text. Also, he discovered that there is no modern Ukrainian Bible that meets those requirements and he was excited to find out about my work. It is such a privileged to work on providing the pure Word of God for my own people.

About a year ago, I mentioned in our prayer letter that my old stomach problem, reflux, has returned. Since that time, I have had two treatments for it but they were not successful. I did have some relief but my main symptom (constant nausea) did not completely go away. So, when we planned our family vacation this year, we chose a place in the Carpathian Mountains where they treat different stomach problems with mineral water from local springs (bottled mineral water is filtered in the process and is not the same). After drinking the water for just one day, my nausea almost completely went away. We were able to take some of it home and I still have another 10 days to drink it. Now the question is whether the result will stay with me after I stop drinking this mineral water. Please pray for my healing from this problem.

While on vacation, we were able to distribute some gospels of John and tracts among the many vacationers. One particularly good opportunity was to place the literature on the windowsill of the pump-room where all the people came to drink mineral water. There they would find the living water which springs up into everlasting life.

‘Living water’ at the mineral water pump-room

Another effective way of witnessing was our magnetic scripture signs that we had on our van. In our back mirror we saw many, many people stop and read “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. On one occasion, a gas station attendant came up and said, “I see that you have interesting signs there”. This led to a 30-minute conversation about spiritual things. Please pray that he would repent and be saved. In the village we stayed at, we found a small Baptist church which had no pastor. Upon learning that I am a preacher, they invited me to speak and I had an opportunity to preach in both the Sunday morning and evening services.

Filling the pulpit while on vacation

 

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy)

While on vacation in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine, we celebrated Andriy’s 3rd birthday with a 6-seater bicycle ride. Although his feet couldn’t reach the pedals, he enjoyed sitting between his brothers in the back seat. Sashko and Yurko got creative and began to build him a sandbox in our yard for his birthday. As with all of our boys, we ask that you join us in prayer for his relationship with God. Our supreme desire for Andriy is that he would become a child of our Heavenly Father and then dedicate his entire life to His service.

Three years old!

 

Birthday bike ride (note Matviy in the front)

Sashko and Yurko loved it in the mountains. Besides getting lessons from Daddy and Mama in badminton, ping-pong and frisbee, we took plenty of long walks in the woods (one of which took us all the way to the Romanian border!). I think the chief attraction there was the vast selection of sticks available to fit their vivid imaginations. Weed-eaters were the object of interest and so we watched (doubled-up with laughter) as the boys started the “motors” and went to work hacking down every green thing in sight. Matviy reached a number of milestones this summer with the arrival of his first tooth, receiving his first haircut (no, I didn’t cry), and taking his first long trip (8 hours with a baby in a car is a LONG time… but I must say that he did better than we had anticipated).

 

I squeezed a birthday in between all the summer doings. Yura and the boys planned a special day for me and I was reminded once again of how blessed I am. God has given me all that I ever wanted in a family and much, much more. Now all I desire is to show my thanks by helping my husband and training my sons so that they can serve God to the fullest.

Surrounded by my treasures

Thank you for all the birthday cards and kinds wishes that we received this summer. We appreciate you remembering us in this way. In the future, to expedite delivery and cut down on postage, please note our correspondence address.

Prayer requests and praises:
1. Praise the Lord for a restful family vacation.
2. Pray for the soon printing of the gospel of Mark.
3. Please keep praying for Yura’s health issues, especially for the reflux and his back pain.
4. Pray for Sashko and Yurko (and Mama!) as we start a new school year.

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

March/April 2011 Prayer Letter

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Friends and Family in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from the Popchenko Family! We are excited to write that another landmark has been reached in my translation work: with God’s help I was able to finish translating and proofreading the first draft of the Gospel Mark. From here I will be moving on to the Gospel of Luke. At the same time, I have been discussing the Gospel of Matthew with my assistants and am very pleased with the constructive input they have been giving. Recently we have introduced an important change to our means of communication: instead of meeting personally, we now use Skype. Not only am I able to save time, money and effort on traveling, but it also allows for more frequent discussion sessions since I no longer have to wait until an assistant is able to set aside a whole day. This, in turn, furthers the progress of our work. Please continue to pray for the translation of the Bible into Ukrainian.

With some students in Donetsk

A few months ago, I was invited to speak at Donetsk Christian University in eastern Ukraine. In April, I took the overnight train and spent two days there. I had a great opportunity to give three lectures to theology students on “Two Approaches in Bible Translation”. Giving examples from different Russian Bible translations, I pointed out the fallacies of dynamic equivalency (the theory behind translations like the GNB, NLT, NIV) and argued that the belief in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Scripture strongly favors formal equivalency (the method behind literal Bible translations) since it results in translations that are faithful and transparent to the source text. Once again, it was a great encouragement for me to see from the response of the students that formal equivalency is what the average person thinks of as true translation. In fact, the founder of dynamic equivalency, Eugene Nida, himself admits that it takes time for those attending his seminars to accept his theory, both intellectually and emotionally. An exciting part of my trip was the presence among the students of a lady from a Central Asian country (a former Soviet Union republic) who participated in translating the Bible into her native language. They produced the first and only Bible in their language. In a conversation after classes, I learned that they used the Russian Bible as the source text and, for the most part, formal equivalency as the method. Back-translation of various verses of this Bible into Russian showed me some problems and I encouraged the lady to work on the revision after she finishes her theology studies in Ukraine. Please pray for the many Bible-less peoples of the world to have the Word of life made available in their native tongue.

Besides teaching, I had the privilege of preaching at the University’s chapel hour. Speaking from Colossians 1:9-10, I challenged the students to use their time in school to get to know God more deeply, since the knowledge of God and His will precedes Christian living. It is impossible to “walk worthy of the Lord” without knowing who the Lord is and it is impossible to please Him without being “filled with the knowledge of his will”. Also, the academic dean arranged for a meeting with the staff, giving me the opportunity to tell more about the project and for them to ask questions. One question was why I use the Textus Receptus as my base text and not a critical text. I was glad I did my homework years ago so that I could answer this question.

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy)
Spring is here and we are busy getting our garden planted. Sashko and Yurko are thriving on all the “man’s work” that needs to be done with Daddy, and Andriy is right out there with them, hauling branches, digging holes (or trying to), and getting underfoot. School work and violin practice gets done in record time now, as the boys hurry outside to work and play.

Mixing business with business:
getting my exercise while tilling the ground
(poor boys… they are worked to death)

 

“And what would you do without my help?”
(this picture was taken the next day when it got cold)

Little Matviy is getting his share of fresh air and sunshine, too, as he naps beside us outside in his stroller. It is hard to believe he is already 2 months old! The Lord answered my prayers and gave me an ‘easy’ baby: he eats well and sleeps great (8 hours at night!), coos and smiles and makes all those cute little baby faces. His big brothers all love him and take wonderful care of him. Andriy, age 2 years and 8 months, always lets me know whenever Matviy is crying, by tugging on my arm and saying earnestly, “Mama! Wa-wee-ko! Wa-wee-ko!” (his version of Matviyko, an affectionate form of the baby’s name).

“Don’t you think I am irresistibly cute?”

Special prayer request:
My brother’s wife, Kathy, has been in the hospital on the mission field, bedridden and in serious condition, since April 22nd. At first the doctors thought it was idiopathic thrombocytpenic purpura (the condition of having an abnormally low platelet count for no known cause. Symptoms include bruising and bleeding.), but since Kathy is not responding to the standard treatment for ITP, everyone is starting to wonder if the diagnosis is correct. Please pray for her sickness to be properly diagnosed soon and treated effectively. Also, please keep Chris in your prayers as he is caring for her at the hospital around the clock.

Prayer requests and praises:
1. Praise the Lord for providing us with a good used minivan.
2. Pray for me to have wisdom and protection as I continue translating.
3. Please keep praying for my health issues.
4. Kathy’s condition is serious and we covet your prayers for her.

Our minivan

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

May/June 2010 Prayer Letter

Posted on by
Reply

Greetings in Jesus’ Name! We have a long-awaited answer to prayer: Anya has finished writing her doctoral dissertation and is now able to start translating the gospel of Mark. She will not have any teaching responsibilities in July or August and should be able to spend a considerable amount of time translating. I supplied her with the necessary reference tools, as well as my statement on the principles of translation, so we can ensure uniformity of quality and style. I, of course, will be overseeing her work and will have the final say in any translation choices. By the grace God, I was able to finish my revision of the gospel of John and get back to work on the second draft of Romans. John is in the hands of my consultants right now and when I hear back from them, I will work on getting the final draft ready for printing. Ephesians has not yet been discussed with all of my helpers but this month I was able to meet with one of them and get a feedback from him. Please keep all of the translation team in your prayers as we translate God’s word into Ukrainian.

Last time I mentioned encountering some computer problems, related to software. Well, my problems have not stopped but only increased. Right on my birthday (what a ‘present’!) my computer crashed. Apparently, an entire batch of these laptops had faulty graphic processors and many owners experienced this problem. The good news is that Apple is going to replace the entire mother board for free. The bad news is that I have to wait a month for the part to arrive from abroad. I am so glad that we have yet another laptop which a church in Washington gave Wendy (thank you again so much!) and I was able set up all the necessary software and continue my translation work. Speaking of my birthday, I thank the Lord for allowing me to live 37 years, serving Him and working to provide Ukrainians with the Book of books.

We continue to have numerous ministry opportunities. In late April, a brother from our church approached me asking to speak to the young families and address a problem that many of them had: wives complaining about their husbands working too much and not spending time with their families. As a setting for this occasion we chose a picnic on May 1st, since it was a holiday. The guys decided to do all the cooking so our wives could rest. We had a great time together fellowshipping, eating great shish kebabs, playing games, etc. I had a wonderful opportunity to speak on the God-given responsibility of men to lead their homes in following God’s will revealed in the word of God. It was something that some of the men had not expected to hear: some of them thought I would rebuke the wives for not appreciating their husbands working so hard. Everybody was encouraged as they returned home that day.

Speaking in the open air

 

Solving the world’s problems while peeling potatoes

 

Playing volley ball afterwards

 

We thank all of you who prayed for evangelism in Gostra Mohila. After arranging for the use of a public building for the services, I began preparing for the evangelistic meeting. Coming up with a text for invitations and posters, looking for and buying follow-up literature, picking songs, writing music for our men’s choir, and singing practice kept me busy until the meeting. A week before the meeting, we drove to the village to pass out invitations to people’s homes and hang posters in public places. Along with the invitations, we put the gospel of John in every home. This way, even if people chose not to come they would still have the word of God to read. We were able to put out over 600 gospels. As the theme of the meeting, I chose “Returning to the Father’s House”, focusing on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Most of the songs our men’s choir sang, the youth’s recitation, the testimony of a deacon from our church (a true prodigal son), and, of course, the sermon were all based on that parable. We were pleased to see about 20 unsaved people show up. All of them heard a crystal clear presentation of the Gospel. At the close of the meeting, everyone received a book God’s Salvation by O. J. Smith) and a film (“God’s Story”). Also, a weekly Bible study was announced. One person, a village drunk, made a profession of faith and he has not missed one single Bible Study, coming every time more and more sober. We praise God for the opportunity of ‘glorfying His Name among the heathen’.

One of the deacons in our church had mentioned once how unevangelized the town of Yahotin is. A town of 21 thousand people, located about 60 miles from Kyiv, it has only one Baptist church of about 30 members, and it is not a soul-winning church. So we decided to ‘blitz’ it by putting gospels of John in people’s homes. One Saturday in May, we loaded our car with Ukrainian gospels and drove to Yahotin. The plan was to put the gospels in mail boxes of apartment buildings located on the first floor. Some of the buildings did not have mail boxes, so the boys and myself got our exercise, climbing the stairs of the multi-level apartment buildings to put the gospels by the doors, while Andriyko and Wendy kept us supplied with literature that they carried in the stroller. Sashko and Yurko were real troopers, keeping up with the fast pace and working hard. In just a couple of hours, we were able to put out about 700 Gospels of John with the address of a Bible correspondence course on them. (Missionary Joshua Steele in L’viv has an excellent Chronological Bible Course that he uses for both evangelistic and discipleship purposes.) Now that the seed has been sown, let’s pray for fruit in this unreached part of Ukraine.

Boys stamping and packing gospels

 

Putting the gospels in mail boxes

 

Putting the gospels in door handles

 

After the distribution, we spent some time at a local park

 

By the lake

 

Mama’s Corner (by Wendy). In June we had the worst health situation our family has ever experienced. It all started with Sashko getting some sort of gastrointestinal infection. One by one, the rest of the family got sick. All three boys ended up in the hospital for over a week (thankfully, I was able to stay with them around the clock). Sashko and Yurko were on IVs and antibiotics, Yura weathered it out at home and I came down with it last after everyone was on the mend. All this time Yura was making daily trips to the hospital to bring us food, medicine and whatever else we needed. Despite all the tests the doctors ordered, no definite diagnosis was ever pronounced. It was a scary time, but God was faithful and we thank all of you who prayed for us during these past few weeks.

It was such a pity that Yurko had to celebrate his 6th birthday in the hospital, feeling awful and hooked up to an IV, but at least we were able to have a small birthday party for him right there. He is growing up quickly, has finished his kindergarten work and is surprising us with his ability to pick out songs on the piano by ear! He puts in long days, trying to keep up with his big brother and teaching his little brother everything he knows. Sashko and Yurko’s orthopedic issues are still with us, but for now supportive shoes and exercise are all that we can really do to help. The hot summer is already here and our boys enjoy swimming in a small inflatable pool that we have in our yard.

It’s so much fun!

Praises and prayer requests:
1. Anya has finished writing her doctoral dissertation and started translating the book of Mark.
2. Pray for Anya and me to have wisdom and protection from the devil’s attacks, as we translate Romans and Mark.
3. Please, keep praying for my health (I am still experiencing some health issues).
4. Pray for the general health and protection of our family.
5. Continue to pray for the health of our friend William who has cancer.
6. Please pray for our support situation. Over the past several months we have lost almost a third of our monthly support.

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