News from Ukraine April 1, 2023

April 1 ( Day 402)

News from Ukraine

It’s a cloudy morning and we miss the sun. A cloudy day somehow makes our mood sad. Sergey and I start the day with prayer and we pray for our soldiers. We pray by name for everyone we know and in general for all our soldiers who are at war. We pray for those who perhaps have no one to pray for them. Bakhmut is the place of the hottest battles. The weather is still cold there with frost and snow. The military units from our town are sent there now and we see the soldiers from there come here. It’s the process of rotation. We pray for Ivan, we are so thankful that he has been serving in our town and is able to be in the church and continue his music ministry and youth group ministry in a free from his service time, though it’s extremely hard for him to carry all this load. He is still here with us and we pray and ask the Lord to let him stay here.

The soldiers who come from the front line looks tired and weary. Our volunteer Vika told us a wonderful story. One soldier came to the store where she works and as she talked to him she began to witness to him and gave him the Bible that she always had with her. He was very thankful and told that he was not a believer but few weeks ago he was in the battle where all soldiers of his detachment died, he was the only one who survived. After it happened he realized that God saved his life and did it for a purpose. Vika told him about the life that Jesus gives us and he with a great joy received the good news. He did not want to leave the store, Vika walked with him to the front door and invited him to the church.

Our days this week were cold and windy and the sea was story. It means that enemy ships could not approach and shoot rockets. But they sent drones and planes to shell us. Kherson and Nikolayev, our southern cities, are constantly bombed. The churches in Kherson were asked to stop massive gatherings because the groups of people become the targets for the enemy and they purposely shoot the places where there are a lot of people. This way they want to spread fear and panic and force Ukraine to surrender and capitulate. But it will never happen.

Sergey and I went to the beach zone few days ago. We could not come near to the sea because the beach is mined, but we were able to watch the sea from the distance. It was sad to see the ruined hotels and feel the emptiness of the place, which we remember as cheerful and crowded.

We are preparing an Easter program. I enjoy spending the time with our youth as we have rehearsals. It helps me to know them better and minister to their needs. Yesterday we had fun we went to the movie theater to watch an animation film that was inspired by the classical Ukrainian story. It was so nice to be with them.

Our counseling center continues its intensive work. Our new counselor George got sick with a virus, we hope he will recover soon and will continue his work with veterans.

It’s a year as our center has been working with refugees. We are leading support groups and do a lot of individual counseling every day. We are moving closer to our dream of a Refugee Center. It looks like God is showing the way we should move. We found a nice building to organize such a place for refugees where we can implement all our projects. We feel it’s an answer to the prayers.

Dear friends, thank you for your prayers and support.

In Christ,
Lyuda

P.S. There are photos of the soldiers from our town who are in Bakhmut now, our church keeps contact with their unit and sends them parcels with the things they need. There are photos of our youth group cleaning the street around our church building and the photo of them in the lobby of the movie theater. And there are photos of the support group of veterans that our counselor George is leading. And the photo of the building which we are going to buy for the Refugee Center.