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July 24, 2024 (Day 882)
News from Ukraine.
A lot of things have happened in the last 2 weeks, sadness and joy often go together these days. We've had a great heat wave, which has been aggravated by the fact that the lights are being turned off and we can't use air conditioning and we have problems with water. It’s hard to bear the heat, especially when you need to do something, but every time we want to complain, we remember our soldiers who are dressed in all their ammunition in this heat and protect us no matter what.
I was upset because all flowers in my mother’s garden died. I tried to water them but it was not enough because we have water only few hours a day. Another sad news is that there have already been two strikes on our town. It happened in the suburb and it was very loud. Praise the Lord nobody died.
But, there is a lot of good news, so there is always a reason to rejoice. We began two projects for children and from the very beginning we see that they are going to be very successful.
Our children are suffering a lot now during the war, they have no entertainment, they cannot travel, they cannot play as they did before. Many children left Ukraine at the beginning of the war but there are those who could not leave. Children with special needs are in a difficult situation in the current conditions, it is hard for them to get help and parents are often in despair. We equipped a room for children in our Refugee Center and Svitlana, the refugee that studies to become children’s psychologist, began to work with such children. First three kids came last week and were so glad that did not want to leave. Their parents are very grateful for this opportunity to develop their children.
At the beginning of the war, all orphanages were evacuated to Europe. But there are many new orphans now and therefore an orphanage has opened in our town recently. We organized a team for this ministry and were very glad that the refugees from our group volunteered to help us. We regularly visit the children in the orphanage now, we spend time with them telling Bible stories, we do crafts, we play games, we sing and dance. It’s a lot of fun. On Monday morning, a ballistic strike occurred not far from the orphanage building. There were broken windows and the noise of the explosion really frightened the children. We visited them in the afternoon, spent time with them and the children returned to normal. It was nice for them to be out of the bomb shelter to play, run and chat. We have many plans of interesting activities and therapy for these kids. We pray for their safety and new opportunities to minister them.
We are very glad that our brother Paul Lukoshkin is at home now, he has two weeks of vacation and can relax and spend time with his family and church. Last Sunday with great joy he led the worship service. His quoting of Scripture and words of encouragement were special for us. He said that the war that started two years ago is not something new for us, in fact this war started a long time ago in the Garden of Eden. And we are all soldiers and we are all fighting in this war and we have a wonderful Commander In Chief.
And another great joy for us was the two organ concert that our dear friend, Jean-Marie Leroy, played for us over the weekend. Jean-Marie Leroy comes to Ukraine from Paris, France every year and sometimes twice a year. His concerts are a real gift for us, especially now when we don’t have much opportunity to listen to live music. What’s great is that Jean Marie always invites young musicians to participate in concerts. A young saxophonist, Zhenya Shamota, from our church played with Jean Marie. Many people were able to attend the concert and enjoy the wonderful sounds of music by Bach and other famous composers. It was a real holiday for the people of our town.
Dear brothers and sisters, we thank you very much for your prayers and for your donations. You helped us to start new ministry for children, we can buy toys, food and meet their needs. May God bless 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
There are photos of the kids in the orphanage, the photo of Paul leading the worship service, the photo of our church congregation that we made after the Sunday worship (we were so glad to have our soldiers Paul and Ivan with us), the photo of the concert and the photo of the room for children in our Refugee Center.