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April 22 (Day 789)
Dear brothers and sisters,
We want to thank the US government, all our friends in the USA, and all our partners. We thank you for raising your voices “ for those who are appointed for destruction”( Proverbs 31:8). We thank for the help that your country is giving to Ukraine. This is vitally important for us, especially in such a difficult period that we are living through now. It is very important for us to know that we are not alone in the fight against evil. It’s a great encouragement for us as well as an example of how we should help others who are in a difficult situation. All the people here with whom we crossed paths yesterday and today are filled with gratitude and talk about it.
And of course we thank God first of all for His faithfulness and constancy. Yesterday during our worship service we prayed and thanked God and rejoiced that we have hope. We keep contacts with many soldiers, send them parcels, provide them with various types of help, and often receive messages from them. We usually read during the worship the testimonies of soldiers about how the Lord protects them and how He gives them strength in hopeless situations. We are so thankful that our church members who are fighting in the army now are alive and not wounded – Paul, Dima, Anya, Vadim and Denis Dudkin from Odessa church. They are not only fighting for our land, but are also a witness to other soldiers.
Our counseling center continues its work. We have completed another project that we have been planning for a long time. In a situation like this our counselors not only give counseling and different kind of help to people, but also we want to help them learn self-care skills and other things that can help them cope with difficulties they often face today. We planned a conference, but since it is not safe to gather large groups of people now, we made a series of small meetings.
One of the meetings was with the students of the high school. Our counselor Vika talked to them about their vision of future and about their dreams. The students shared their dreams, they all dream of a peaceful life, some of them have fathers fighting at war and they are very much looking forward to the end of the war and their return home. Before the war I worked as a teacher and I see a big difference in children of this age who were usually easygoing and cheerful. Now they are much more serious and tensed. I hope the time we spent with them helped them to look into the future with hope and think about the steps they can make to realize their dreams.
We made something special for the volunteers of local defense centers. The women there make camouflage nets and garments for scouts and snipers, they work very hard and often forget about rest and self care. Aroma therapy and art therapy was a good activity for them. Different smells brought a lot of memories and pleasant association, they made bracelets and necklaces and it brought them back to a peaceful life when they were thinking about fun.
We also met with the workers of the local library, Irina, the librarian whose son is in the army shared with us her fears and worries. We spent some time with her and her colleagues and could see their emotional relief.
Another group was the teachers of the kindergarten, we talked about the problem of burning out, did some exercises to help them relax.
We also did questions and answers with the group of refugees.
We see benefits from these events, people calm down, release negative emotions, feel support and care, learn self care and become ready to help others.
Thank you for your prayers and for your support. We thank God for each of you.
Please, send your donations to Pathway Ministries
E. Langston Haygood,D.Min.,Ph.D.
Pathway Ministries, Inc.
288 Huntington Parc Circle
Birmingham, AL 35226
(205)835-3325
http://www.pathwayministriesinc.com
In Christ,
Lyuda
P.S. There are photos of Odessa suburb, the enemy attacks Odessa every day and night, there are photos of our meetings with different groups last week.