Voice of Ukraine

From: Lyuda Betina (Day 915)
It’s already the end of summer. At the weekend, we celebrated Independence Day. Now during the war – this holiday has a special meaning.

On Saturday, we had a festive dinner in the church. It was nice to be together, sing hymns, share testimonies and pray for our soldiers and for our much-suffering country. We are glad to see that people who came to our town as refugees are now an active part of our church. In September Sergey will start a new course of communicant classes for the people who are preparing themselves for the church membership.

The start of the new week is not very good. We were woken up early in the morning today by the sounds of alarm and found out that the enemy started a massive attack on our cities targeting energy generating objects. There was a big hit in Odessa and a big part of the city has no electricity now. Over the last month we kind of relaxed because, the number of alarms has decreased and there have been far fewer hits. We thank our partners and friends for their help and support. But the enemy is still strong and insidious.

As always we have a lot of plans for this week, individual counseling, group meetings, home visits, distributing help, transportation of disabled people, etc. It’s more than a month as we started ministry in the local orphanage.

This is a joyful and exciting project for us which united different people in one friendly team. Nika, a teenage refugee, is busy preparing crafts. She carefully studies the Bible story and prepares materials for crafts, Valeria plans games and chooses inventory for them, Zhenya prepares music.

Four new teenage boys started attending our church recently, we invited them to go with us to the orphanage. At first, they were reluctant, but when we came there all ice broke immediately and they began to play and communicate with the kids and by the end of our meeting they became good friends with many of them.

One of the things that supports our spirit and gives us strength in our ministry is a joy to see how people’s hearts respond to the Gospel. I want to share some stories.

Julia.

Sergey is counseling Julia who is going through a deep grief, her husband died in a battle in June and she feels so lonely in her grief. Julia was seeking God she went to the Orthodox church but she was standing all alone there and it seemed that the people around did not care and she had a feeling that God forsake her in her sorrow. She quit her job, and stayed in her apartment all the time, she did not talk to anybody. She was referred to Sergey by a friend who told her she needs to talk to a pastor. She revealed her story, they got married right before the war, her husband joined the army during the first month of the war. All this time they communicated through the phone. In June he was supposed to have a vacation and come home for a few weeks, they both were looking forward to long-awaited meeting. But he died two days before his vacation… Sergey had several meetings with her already and he is glad to see her revival. It’s a miracle that in her grief Julia began to discover God as a loving and caring Father. She said that now she feels as if her Heavenly Father hugs her. Please, pray for her in her journey of healing and pray for other women who lost their loved ones.

Olena.

Olena’s home was in Zaporizhya, she had to leave because of the constant shelling and it was the right decision because soon after she left her house was destroyed. Now she lives in Odessa. Olena has always been an Orthodox believer following the rules and rituals that she was taught. Some years ago her son became a monk and went to live in the monastery. Olena always saw God as a strict father, who punishes people for their sins. Though she regularly attended an Orthodox church God was very distant for her, she never felt His love. The evangelical church that meets in Odessa Christian university was distributing help to the refugees and Olena came there. She was surprised to hear simple and sincere prayers of people who were talking to God as to a close person, then she had a talk with our counselor Victoria. Olena had many question and Victoria shared Scripture with her. It’s surprising that Olena who was a believer all her life, never knew and never knew about the great love of God to His people and never felt it.. Yesterday Olena brought her friend to the church with her who also had many questions and a big desire to know God.

Tatyana.

Last week I had a session with a woman from a nearby village who came with problems of insomnia and panic attacks. She was very tense and nervous. After a short conversation with her when I explained her the interconnection of body, mind and soul, I asked her how her soul is doing. She answered that her life is very busy and she has no time for spiritual things like church. I suggested her to relax and asked if I could read her one of the psalms. She agreed. I started reading Psalm 23 and I saw how she changed. Later she confessed that it was like a warm wave of comfort and peace. I was able to share with her a good news about Jesus who loves her so much. I helped her to download Bible in her telephone. We will meet again this week. Please, pray for the Word of God to fill traumatized hearts of people and bring them healing.

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 our visit to the orphanage (you can see how the big boys that came with us are playing with the kids), the photos of our church dinner and the photos of Odessa this morning.