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October 15, 2024 ( Day 965)
News from Ukraine
Cool and rainy autumn days alternate with warm glimpses of sunshine. We are again collecting warm socks and other clothes for our soldiers so that they can change into dry clothes when they get wet. In our church we regularly collect packages for the soldiers with whom we have contact in order to somehow support them in this difficult time.
The news is not optimistic. Our soldiers are retreating in the Donetsk region under pressure from enemy army. Dr. Anya’s group is currently on rotation. This means they are in a safer place to recover after a long time on the front lines. But they know that soon they will have to return to the front line again and they are preparing for this.
Few days ago we saw Dr. Anya in the news. It was an award ceremony. Dr. Anya and her battalion were awarded the Medal "For the Defense of Ukraine" and the Medal "Cross of Freedom" for their sacrificial service and preservation of God's gift of freedom and independence. We are so proud of them, we continue to pray for them and ask God to protect them and keep them safe.
It is very turbulent in our region now. Odessa is constantly under attack, the targets are its ports and energy facilities. Drones fly in every night. Odessa has experienced four missile attacks in the last week alone. The enemy wants to leave us without heat and electricity.
Our counseling center is growing, we are glad that our volunteers study to get the education and start counseling, too. We ask God to show us new directions. We see a lot of changes in children in the orphanage. During our 3 months of visits we learned their stories, we studied their characters and identified their problems. Children became more open, calmer and more positive. We enjoy spending time with them, at the same time we build relations with their teachers.
Our counselor Victoria every month travels with a medical group to frontline villages. In villages where almost all houses are destroyed there are still people left. For some reason they don't want to leave and survive as best they can. A group of volunteers brings them food, medicines, hygiene products. Each of the people who live there has their own tragedy. The loss of loved ones is the grief that many Ukrainians are experiencing today. When people came to receive humanitarian aid Victoria starts talking to them and they willingly respond, feeling that there is someone with whom they can share their pain. She groups some people, works with others individually, listens to them, prays, and reads psalms to them. Doing all this she silently prays for them and asks God to protect the villages because they are constantly under fire.
Our counselor George works with war veterans. He leads a group and does individual counseling. One of the men in the group is a soldier that spent more than a year in Russian captivity. He returned home as a result of a prisoner exchange. He experienced many horrors there. Our captives experience torturing, humiliation and abuse. But he has not lost his spirit and recovers well and is also a support for the rest of the people in the group.
In the midst of sad news , fear and loss God sends us moments of joy like oases in drought. Such an oasis for me and my friends in the church was the visit of our missionary friend Adeline Wallace. She spent 11 years in Ukraine as a missionary helping us to develop the ministry of Christian medical clinic, helping with a ministry in the church and discipling the women in our church who were young Christians. Two weeks with Adeline were full of joy and good memories, we remembered what happened 20-15 years ago, thanked God for everything.
We thank God for the missionaries who in this hard time come to support us, help us to lift our spirits and be filled with strength. We thank you all who pray for us, help us and support.
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 awarding of Dr. Anya and her group, the photo of our counselor George and his group, the photos of our time with the kids in the orphanage and the photo of my friend Adeline and me.