Brother Benjamin Outlines Greatest Needs

Brother Benjamin, the leader for the Baptist churches in the Chernivtsi oblast (as oblast is like a state), pointed to the mountains when I asked him Tuesday where the greatest need existed for the churches in the region.

He asked if we would consider sending teams to the mountain area to help spread the gospel there. They already have local missionary teams in place helping the three churches already established.

As you can tell by the map there are a number of churches spread over the region, but in the close-up map you'll notice that there are only three stars representing churches in the left-hand portion of the map.

There are not any hotels in that area and mission team members would have to stay with families, which is something that some of the younger members have talked about.

The summer would be the best time to visit the area. Last year a few of us had a chance to go to the mountains one afternoon. While we went to a tourist area in the next oblast, this area is more rural and is generally located in a valley that doesn't have much direct connection with the rest of the oblast.

For those who have gone to Africa, the Carpathians should be a breeze.

The last picture shows one of the existing small churches in the mountains. The finger in the picture belongs to Brother Benjamin.

[UPDATE: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007]
Irene, Brother Bob's interpreter on previous trips told me tonight that there are hotels in this area she thinks as the tourist business is increasing. However, the prices are high.

Hopefully I'll find out more tomorrow or Saturday.