From Lyuda Betina in Belgorod Dnestrovsky (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.
Voice of Ukraine 
4 responses to “9/25/2023 – Looking around today it’s hard to believe that we had there was a terrible night…”
Our prayers continue, especially for wisdom for Mila in the days ahead.
Dee and David
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Dear Lyuda,
Praying for protection over Odessa and BD!!
So sorry to hear the port was attacked!
Thank you for the update, continuing to pray for the ministry there. May God give you wisdom, as care for the refugees.
Love in Christ,
Jill
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Sharing your news with others at Northwoods Presbyterian Church, USA
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Looking back a year- Oct 2, 2022
Your message: (Day 221): Dear brothers and sisters, I want to thank you for your messages, sorry that I cannot answer each of them. But I read them with my husband, it’s a big encouragement for us. And sometimes you give us some good and practical advice, thank you. Thank you for your prayers and support.
We woke up with no electricity. I hope there will be electricity and internet in the church and I will be able to send my letter today from there.
Yesterday was a very warm day, even hot. Sxxx and I did some work in the yard and it was so nice to be outside. My parents have some nut trees that are big and give a lot of shade in summer. It’s time to pick up nuts and later when it gets colder we will collect leaves that will cover the ground.
Yesterday we had a support group meeting and a new family joined us – a couple and their 12-year-old daughter. They came few day ago and it’s a miracle how they got out of Kherson occupied area. They say that there are volunteers who risking their life regularly come to the occupied territory to transport people to the territory that is free.
They say that their village that is on the border with Crimea was occupied on the first day of the war. Russian tanks with Russian flags came like monsters and there was no peace since then. They stayed mostly at home all seven months hiding their daughter. They didn’t starve because in the village people have some food they grow in their gardens but they had to eat the same food everyday and missed variety. When they came to our town the first thing they did – they went to the supermarket and bought a lot of ice-cream.
They felt so well being in the group where people listened to them, asked questions and understood very well what they went through. They met people from the neighboring village.
Their daughter Dxxx who was in the youth group also shared some things about her. She loves spiders and she had ten spiders which lived in big glass jars. Each of them had names and she watched them every day, she knew what food they liked, how each of them behaved. When they were leaving she had to let them out in the garden. She misses them very much, especially Pampushka, which was her favorite.
At the end we suggested them to play scavenger hunt, which we had planned beforehand. The game was based on the topics that we discussed with them before – new reality, looking for the opportunities, overcome obstacles, belonging to the group, etc.
As they began to play they got so excited. The whole café was watching people of different ages running here and there, deciphering texts, solving puzzles, using special maps for direction. It was fun for everybody.
I wish you to have a good worship day! May God bless you!
In Christ,
Lxxxx
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