Voice of Ukraine

From Lyuda (Day 341): Dear brothers and sisters,
Today is the start of the new week and we wake up with the sound of the alarm. I’m trying to imagine the missiles and drones that fly to our cities and the people who launch them, then I start praying and soon the message comes that the alarm is over. No other messages, it means that nothing happened. Praise the Lord!

It was a cold and snowy day yesterday. There was no electricity in the church and it was rather cold in the sanctuary. We all were in our coats but it was still cold. The generator we have gives enough power to have light, and have our music equipment on, but it is not enough for heating. That’s why people can’t stay in the church guest rooms – there is no heating. We are thinking of buying a more powerful generator to be able to heat our church building. We know that the church of our counselor Roman in Odessa has the same problem.

Nevertheless our worship was good, Sergey preached about drinking from the cup of Jesus and we had communion. We missed some old ladies, probably they could not come because of the slippery roads and sidewalks.

A new woman came and sat next to me. She came with a big thermos and asked if she can get a hot water. She stayed for the worship and I could see that she was following and understood what was said. She prayed during the prayer time. I talked to her afterwards.

Her name is Oksana and she is in a difficult situation. She worked in a small store selling clothes. The business was not very profitable but it was OK. At some point the owner of the store proposed her to become his partner and the co-owner of the store. She invested all her savings and worked hard to get profits. When the war began the other owner left the country leaving her with a big debt. Right now she lives with her daughter and elderly parents in a house that is cold, she can’t afford to buy wood to heat it. I told her that her situation is difficult but it does not mean that it will stay like this, she made a very right step when she came to the church. I advised her to think over her situation and write on a sheet of paper all problems that she has now, then the people who can be her support in the situation, and try to make a plan how to solve her problems and divide it into steps. We prayed with her. Sergey talked to her and invited her to come to the Bible study. I hope we will talk more with her and we will think how to help her with wood.

Yesterday we called Nadya to find out about Sasha. Sasha was moved to another hospital in Ivano-Frankivsk. This is the city in the west Ukraine. We don’t know why he is moved from one hospital to another, maybe there are too many wounded soldiers in the hospital in the central part, maybe they took him to the place where they gather soldiers with similar wounds. Nadya told that he feels better, he can talk without pain, his appetite is good. But his hemoglobin level is still low and he can’t move his legs. Nadya sounds better, she says the attitude of the staff in the hospital is very good. We told her that we are taking care of her children. We buy them food and ladies in our church cook for them twice a week and on Tuesdays and Saturdays they all eat with us in the café.

Please, continue to pray for Sasha’s recovery.
Thank you very much for your donations for the generators, we think of buying more.
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