Voice of Ukraine

From Lyuda (Day 218): Dear brothers and sisters, Thank you very much for congratulating Sergey. He is very touched.

We had a good day yesterday, sunny and warm. We went to a small café on the river estuary. It was nice to be there and it’s good that this café works. We used to come there with our grandchildren before the war and there always were many people and many children who played and ran around. Now it’s empty and quiet. But it was nice to be there.

We had a little celebration and it was also some rest for Sergey. Now there is more stress and work for him not only because we have to do many things that we didn’t do before but also because many things that happen today are unexpected and he has to make immediate decisions. Before, all events in our church were planned and there was time to prepare. Now we have new people who come to the church every day with very different needs and problems, we have many calls and many requests. It’s very important now to give attention to new people. New children come to our Sunday school and we need to show attention to them and meet their parents.

Sergey has a heart for elderly people, he loves to talk to them, to listen to their stories he spends much time visiting them, helps them with different things. We have many elderly people in our church and they all are pretty active.

One lady, Maria, (she has a very unusual patronymic – Olimpievna and we like it and call her by her patronymic) called Sergey to congratulate him and talked to him for about half an hour sharing many things she has on her heart. Olimpievna is about 80, all her relatives live far away and she was all alone in our town. But about ten years ago somebody invited her to our church and since then her life changed so much. She never misses any event we have and is so helpful. It doesn’t matter for her whether it’s a meeting for adults or youth, she is always there and is ready to help.

Another lady, Yevgenia, used to be very sweet and pleasant. She was also very wise, at some point of her life she asked Sergey to help her to make plans for future, because she lost contacts with her children and understood that very soon she would need care. Two years ago she stopped coming to the church because of health problems and something happened to her mind, I think it’s some mental problem. She became very angry and aggressive and it’s very hard to be with her. Sergey organized our church ladies to take care of Yevgenia and encourages them to be patient and loving with her.

Now, during the war the elderly people are especially vulnerable because they need protection and care like children. And it’s so good when they have church. Unfortunately, in our society there are many old people whose children don’t take care of them. It’s a big area for ministry.

Please, pray for this problem.

In Christ,
Lyuda