Mercy Trucks and Dr. Ina

The Mercy Trucks web site is now up and running http://www.mercytrucksua.org/ . Jeff and Greg Colker will be in the US for almost two months and during that time will be talking to churches and organziations in order to help raise support for the Colker Family www.colkerfamily.org and for the Mercy Truck ministry here in Ukraine. Richard and I will also be in the US for three weeks and during that time will talk to a couple of churches. There will be a fundraising picnic in Cle Elum, Washington on September 10 in support of the Smile House project. Please keep these projects in your prayers and if you are impressed to help with any of them, donations can be made through Smile Alliance International P. O. Box 240 Cle Elum, WA 98922.

Dr. Ina has been helping get the Mercy truck ready for ministry when we return. In the August 1 post I told some of her story. God has provided some funds for her support but the monthly pledge of $220, although really wonderful, is a small amount to live on in this inflationary economy. Please keep her situation in your prayers as well.

August 15 Pictures and Update on Smile House

Last Tuesday, our friends Ted and Virginia, took us out to the Smile House project so we could take pictures. The builders are really going to town. They are doing an excellent job and have the front section almost built. They are raising the roof a little more than a meter. You can see this in the pictures. It is always great to see the progress.

We just found out that we have to buy a transformer for electricity and it is needed ASAP. It will cost almost $11,000. The funds for the building hopefully will pay for a roof. If you have any ideas of how we can get funding or if you feel inspired to help, please write to me at smilealliance@yahoo.com or Smile Alliance International at P. O. Box 240 Cle Elum, WA 98922. Donations to SAI are tax-deductible.

YWAM Dental Ministry Update

Today we had a very interesting and productive meeting with Jeff Colker who is going to head the dental ministry for YWAM in Ukraine. Both Richard and I feel that Jeff's organizational skills and business sense are God ordained. We also feel that God has orchestrated this long ago. The ministry will be run efficently and effectively so more underserved people can be helped and God's love can be spread in this land. Praise God!

SAI Dental Projects in Ukriane as of August 2006

Here's an update on our dental projects in Ukriane at this time. Smile House is being renovated. The final architect plans are done and a new addition and a new roof are being put on it. (See the last post.) Then we will see what happens as the funds are running low. In the meantime, God has been putting a lot of things together. YWAM (Youth With a Mission) was given a dental van. When our June team came from Loma Linda and Pennsylvania, we used it in three villages in the Zhytomer area. (See http://smilealliance.blogspot.com ). We spent yesterday getting it ready and organized. This van really needs some basic dental instruments and handpieces as well as supplies. All the dental work at Smile House will be free of charge and will be only on orphans and underserved children when our clinic is done. For now it will still be free but YWAM includes adults who cannot otherwise have treatment done. We’d like to do that at Smile House but we will be swamped just with kids. The needs are so HUGE. But we serve a very big God and He is doing phenomenal things to put this all together so He may have other plans.

Last week, God brought a wonderful lady dentist, Dr. Ina, who is a committed Christian. We heard about her through another organization who heard about her from a friend of a friend. This is the way God works. She worked in a children’s clinic and then quit to go for nine months of Bible training at the Hillsong Church in Kyiv. Her heart is to serve the children of Ukraine and although she is a young, single mother, she is willing to work for very little. She says that God has been providing for her and will continue to. She speaks some English and loves children. There has been $220 committed each month for a dental assistant. She is going to work with Richard assisting and also doing dentistry on the van a day or two a week as the funds permit. Legally, he has to work with a Ukrainian dentist until we can get him licensed here—that is being worked on as well.

Also, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has been given a building for medical outreach and they have offered to let us use one or two rooms in it for a clinic if all the details can be worked out. We can use the equipment we sent over on the container. Also, they partner with a church which sends out a medical van and twenty or more physicians, two or three weekends a month all over Ukraine. The YWAM van may accompany them if we can help schedule dentists to go along. We would like to help them organize this.

So Richard can work on the kids even now until Smile House comes together. We have talked to many organizations and people are eagerly waiting for us to have a regular schedule. There are a number of dentists from the US ready to come on a short term basis when we have places for them, and we have met a number of Ukrainian dentists who may volunteer a day or two a year. We do have portable equipment we can work with as well. We still need supplies and instruments although we have some—our main instruments either disappeared in shipment or didn’t get shipped. We will look for them when we visit the US. We will be in Oregon and Washington during the first three weeks of September. If anyone is interested in having us talk to a club, church or just individuals about Ukraine, we would be happy to if we can schedule it. Please let us know ASAP if you are interested.