Dear Friends, I hope that you are preparing for the upcoming holiday season and looking forward to time with friends and family! We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and hoping it will be very joyful for you too.
Last week I asked some of you to please pray that Russia would not hit the Kharkiv energy/electrical grid and thankfully this hasn’t happened yet, but other areas of the country are being hit hard to their electrical systems, etc. In another serious move, the US just gave Ukraine the freedom to hit further into Russia with ATCAMS missiles. This could be a huge escalation that may pull NATO and the US deeper into this war – this is a very serious escalation and seems contrary to what incoming president Trump is wanting, I would assume. Prayers are definitely needed.
Below is an update on one of our ministry partners and also about our Christmas Outreach this year. As many of you know, we have engage in a Christmas outreach for many years -- earlier years we focused on blessing orphans with toys, games, the Christmas story/play and an invitation to accept Jesus as Savior. Most orphans are now living with families (similar to our foster care system in the United States). Since the beginning of this war, we have concentrated on reaching many children who have been impacted by this war with coats, scarves, gloves, and shoes. This year we have sent money to six churches for sweaters, toys for smallest kids and candy. All the churches will still celebrate within their church family with a Christmas service, food, and celebration for the season.
We sent money a couple weeks ago because we know that things are escalating again and we are not sure how things will progress inside Ukraine over the next few weeks or months. Again, we have sent money to six churches for these sweaters, toys, and candy. Our ministry will also be sending money for firewood at the end of November to one church (New Life Church – Kharkiv) who is still very active in helping with food and hygiene supplies for many of the areas near the front line. We will be asking this church to purchase firewood for the most at-risk families. If you would like to partner with us for Christmas or Firewood, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you for everything you do!
Below is an update on regular ministry activities from one of our long term ministry partners in a town about an hour away from our city of Kharkiv. We have helped this church with various ministry outreach events over many years, but not during the war, until recently. Pastor Victor Zaruba of Good News Church – Nova Vodalaga shared the following:
“Dear friends in America, thank you for asking us how we are doing since the war began. As Ron knows, our little church was about 50 active members before the war began in 2022, with an average age of about 30-50 years old. We are like so many other churches in that we had worship services on Sundays and other church events throughout the week and year for children, youth, etc. Our church loves to have picnics together during the summer and we have enjoyed being the light of Christ in our area that desperately needs Jesus.
But on February 22, 2022, life changed for everyone in our town. We immediately called a church service and had around-the-clock prayer and support for everyone in need. All people in our town were seized by panic and fear! Families from the community called us, hoping to find consolation, and we supported and comforted our community to the best of our ability.
About a month after the war, our church began serving displaced people from Kharkiv and other locations. We helped provide families with food packages, personal hygiene products and other supplies, as each family was deciding to stay or flee. Many people who came to our town had nothing with them, so we provided bed linen, warm blankets, clothes and food, to go with the gospel message of hope in Jesus! Our parent church (Good News Church – Kharkiv, that Slavic Christian Ministries supported with an enormous amount of money), delivered aid to houses where displaced people lived. Many of these refugees and people from our own town and church fled the country, but some people evantually returned home.
Almost three years into this war, our church has grown significantly and is now more than 70 people. These are local residents who turned to Christ during the war and refugees who remain from the nearby affected regions of the Kharkov region. Unfortunately, all the young families and ministers who were part of the youth ministry left, but we trusted in the Lord and new helpers have stepped up. We continue to serve, believe, and pray to the Lord for peace in Ukraine and an end to the suffering of the people.
Recently, Slavic Christian Ministries has partnered with us directly to help with food packages to people in our community; thank you very much with this help. Thank you also for the recent donation to buy sweaters, toys and candy for children in our church. Since the war began, the local school closed and we opened our church facility so these kids have a place to have school. We will try to bless these children this Christmas too. Thank you for all of your help!” – Pastor Victor
Friends, before re-engaging this church in recent months, I should inform you that we did help one of their families evacuate the country two years ago. We offered help to two other families from this church too, but they didn’t accept or need our support. One reason why we are helping this church directly is because the food packages (for all churches) have dwindled dramatically since United Nations stopped providing food about a year ago. Your donations have been going to help Good News Church in Kharkiv, but now that they are primarily focused on helping their church of about 1,000 people, we decided to add this church since we have had a long standing relationship with pastor Victor. Good News Church in Nova Vodalaga was not in the budget for 2023, but we had discretionary money built into the budget for emergencies that was used to help them with the food packages. The board approved Good News Church in Nova Vodalaga with a budgeted amount for 2024.
In January, we will update you on the Christmas outreach and the firewood distribution. Thank you for all of your prayers and gifts throughout the year. We love you all – Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. God bless you!
In Jesus’ love,
Ron
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