News from Ukraine September 25, 2023

September 25 (Day 579)

Our morning today is quiet and sunny. The trees are turning yellow and parks and gardens look beautiful. Looking around today it’s hard to believe that we had there was a terrible night.

At night, the enemy attacked Odessa with 19 drones, two Onyx supersonic missiles and 12 Kalibr cruise missiles. Air defense destroyed most of the drones and 11 Kalibrs. But there were some hits to the port infrastructure. The sea port, the building of the big hotel that is located right near the port, granaries, private houses and warehouse buildings were damaged. People in Odessa did not sleep, at the end of the attack our counselor Roman was texting all his friends around to find our if they were OK. Roman’s daughter with her two little children slept on the floor in the corridor, the explosions were so loud and little girls were very scared. It’s so sad to see the damages, the buildings that are destroyed. There is no electricity in the area close to the sea port. Odessa, poor Odessa!

Last week there were several attacks on the recreation zone near our town. They hit the building of one of the sanatoriums located there. We worry so much about Dr. Anya and her unit.. It looks like some pro-russian traitor leeks coordinates to the enemy and they hit again and again the area very close to where the military is based. But the unit changes its position not to stay at one place for too long.

Dr. Anya is doing a lot of training now with a medical staff preparing them for the work in a war zone. It’s good that she is nearby and can come to the church from time to time.

Some new refugees joined our group recently, one of them is Mila, she came with her daughter. They left a war zone a year ago and were staying in Odessa but then decided to come to our town because it is safer to be here. Last Saturday I was able to have a private talk with Mila. She told me that she found a job, she works as a clean lady, her daughter goes to school and she likes our town. I noticed that Mila did not talk to other people in the group and was sitting separately. This Saturday I talked to her again and she revealed her problem. Every evening she drinks alcohol, it helps her to relax after the working day and not to think about her home that is left behind. She feels guilty about it, but can’t stop. I thank God that she opened this problem and I hope He will guide how to help her.

We continue the renovation of the refugee center, Sergey spends some time almost every day there to help the workers, it took more efforts to do the work of the second living zone. The workers had to do more work than we expected. They changed the old windows, installed the new door making a separate entrance, equipped the bathroom, making plumbing and other things, puttied the walls. We thought it was all but then we found the problem with the floor and with the heating pipes. So it took much longer to renovate that part. This week the workers will do wallpapering and then the refugees will gather to do some cleaning and we will welcome a new family to live there. One lady of our group that decided to go back home wants to donate to our center her furniture that somebody gave her here.

Please, pray for our refugee Sergey, that lives with his wife in the first part of the refugee center. He has serious problems with his health, he has complications connected to his prostate cancer, his kidneys stopped working and he is having hemodialysis every few days. We try to support him and his wife Svetlana and take care of their needs.

Thank you for your prayers. Please, continue to pray for us, for our ministry and for the people we are ministering to.

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 the ruined hotel building in Odessa, the photo of Dr. Anya in the church, the photo of Mila in the café and the photos of the renovation in our refugee center.