Thank you so much for your wonderful support and help. We appreciate your kindness and generosity immensely.
As you know for the past 4 years – two years of Covid and the two years of the war with Russia, we’ve needed to buy food from other nations and bring it into Ukraine to feed the needy in the Odessa province and in bombed sectors of Eastern Ukraine where we have access.
Our drivers have a well-worn driving plan when evacuating adults and children from Ukraine. Our small 10-seater vans take them on the forest roads to the Moldova border – to avoid being conspicuous to the Russian drones who fire missiles at vehicles on the main roads. There is always the risk that these roads can have been mined with explosives too. They then cross the border at secret places and report to the border guards.
The tired and very nervous refugees spend a night in a hostel by courtesy of the Bishop of Moldova (a good friend of ours). After a meal and a good night’s sleep our drivers take the refugees in our two big 26-seater vans across Europe to Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. Then the drivers pack up the small vans with food and basic medicines and return to the House of Hope, to distribute the provisions to the locals in the bombed and devastated areas. This cycle has been repeated, again and again over the last two years to many thousands of needy people, most of whom have come to a personal faith in Jesus through the ministry of our faithful drivers and workers. We have lost two of them in bombings, and we miss them so much. I know if we could communicate with them in Heaven, they would say that they didn’t want to leave and come back to earth.
The basic medicines that we get in Germany, are saving lives. People coming to the House who’ve been sick for some time because their immune systems had run so low, are recovering. Your gifts meet a lot of these needs. As a result of providing firewood, we are seeing a marvellous response to the Gospel. So many are coming to the Lord and requesting Bibles and counselling from our drivers. You helped us magnificently with that crucial need.
Most of the adult refugees who have been evacuated from Ukraine to Germany and Norway over the past two years have been attending local churches and language learning-classes. They have grasped the basics and have requested Bibles in the local languages so that they can share their faith in Jesus with the locals instead of having to bring in an interpreter. Of course, the children and teenagers have been learning the local languages at school and are already conducting conversations with the locals and doing their school subjects in the local language. They have been remarkably adaptable.
They treasure the first Bibles they received from the House of Hope rescue teams over the last 4 to 5 years. It’s been encouraging to see how those Bibles are now worn with extensive personal use and sharing with others in their old neighbourhoods, which they may never see again.
The House of Hope in Odesa, Ukraine still has many people and children in it, and we have just completed an “Art Therapy Course” to help people recover mentally and emotionally from the effects of war and death that they, especially the children, should never have seen. We’ve had 35 people who completed the course. It was a marvellous success, especially with the children and teenagers. Some of the single mothers were a bit apprehensive of asking for prayer for the horrific experiences that have caused them so much distress.
Family of an injured Ukrainian Soldier needs to be evacuated to Estonia
A family reached out to us from Vinnytsia, who want to go to Talinn, Estonia. The father is in the Ukrainian military and cannot leave Ukraine. He was injured in battle, but he is really concerned for his wife and two daughters and wants them out of the country.
From reports in the Odesa media and also the Ukraine official media outlet the invading forces are scanning social media for information confirming results of there attacks and to adjust their tactics. They have also been posing as representatives of foreign media for the same purpose. With this in mind we will not publish on the website photographs that either identify people or locations, similarly towns, other than those regularly mentioned by the media will not be named. Some names have also been changed in this report.
If you receive a direct copy of our news letters please do not re-publish any part to social media. Thank you for your understanding.
Pastor Andrey Zalukis from Bauska in Latvia, (I’ve ministered often in his church in the past). He has access to preserved food and tinned meat, and with our help, he and the van driver, Pastor R—– from N—-, Eastern Ukraine risked their lives to deliver 20,000 kgs of essential food and medicine to the needy in Eastern Ukraine, as well as many who reside in the Bible School there. This will feed people for approximately 3 months. They had a very emotional time distributing food and medicines to hundreds of very grateful people who were starving, and many were sick.
Sasha and the local teams are struggling to keep up with the care and counselling of refugees at this time. We try and meet their financial needs, as they do this work full-time. I keep auditing the work and supplying the funds to do all the groundwork, rescuing of families in Ukraine, getting therapy courses to traumatized people and children, and caring for many in the House of Hope. I’m also concerned for the refugees in Germany and Norway – their settling in will take time – the registration with the local authorities, finding accommodation for them, registering them at local banks for government benefit purposes, signing them up for language courses, getting the into local churches where our teams have Ukrainian or Russian language spoken, and arranging transport for them (we need to purchase a 10-seater minibus for these purposes).
Remember the old building that we were renting for the House of Hope kids in Dusseldorf. The rent was just for a year, and we were going to have to find another big place to rent. We’ve just received wonderful call from our lawyer friend in Germany who has been dealing with the government on this issue. It was a longer ordeal that we anticipated, with copious phone calls and letters of request, but God helped us through the maze of political issues, and the decision was made in our favour. The youngsters get to stay another 12 months at the same house. Praise the Lord!
Misha, Natasha, and their son, Lubomyr, recent Refugees into Norway, who come to our refugee church services in Trondheim, have approached us for used furniture. They have accommodation, but because they were amongst the later refugees, they did not get same “relief package” as earlier refugees. They were not given any allowances for furniture. So, Misha needs a bed for his son, a wardrobe, a desk and chairs for around $700. He was embarrassed but asked for our help. Sasha has been checking but there is very little that people give away. However, there are a number of options to buy second hand furniture. Please stand with us to meet this very practical need.
The war goes on. An Evangelical Church in Odesa was bombed a few days ago. It’s not known how many people were injured or killed. Ukraine is bracing itself for renewed Russian offensive in the east. Last week, Russian forces struck a city and 15 surrounding villages with missiles and mortars killing Ukrainians as well as many of their “own people” who live there. “Unfortunate casualties of war” they call it.
Our Plans
And for us, finances are running low due to the huge amounts we’ve had to outlay in providing food and medicine packs, and Bibles to so many devastated families, and then making provision to evacuate many more to safety. Please continue to help us if you can, with our budget.
Current Budget
| $ | |
|---|---|
| Purchase of Bibles for the Ukraine | 7,000 |
| Salaries for the workers & drivers per month | 4,000 |
| Esther Missionary support | 1,500 |
| House of Hope utilities and maintenance | 3,000 |
| Maintenance of Rescue Vans | 3,500 |
| 10-Seater Van for transport of Refugees in Norway | 8,550 |
| Melitopol Music Group – Ministry in Norway | 1,700 |
| TOTAL MONTHLY BUDGET | 29,250 |
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