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Dear Friends,
Last weekend was full of military activity with lots of sirens, no school on the Friday, and on Saturday a massive bomb in the area in a small nearby village. This bomb killed several people, destroyed the school, the hospital and power infrastructure. Once again, a reminder that the team in Lebedyn are working in very challenging conditions in their region.
This week has been Easter camp week. I will bring more news in next week’s update, but the camp is full and children are loving all that is going on. Games and activities, exploring the Easter story and enjoying time with friends, along with delicious bread that has been baked in the bakery are just some of the highlights. What has been a real answer to prayer is once again there have been no sirens in Lebedyn during camp at the time of me writing this update. Given recent months, this is the longest time this year there hasn’t been any and has meant the camp has been able to run smoothly. That is until Thursday morning!!!! Unexpectedly all the water shut off and there is no water supply to the Centre which is not helpful. We pray that this will get fixed and sorted quickly.
We had an unexpected last-minute visit from new friends that are part of several mission agencies working together. They bought gifts, comic books and things for the children at the camp and have access to aid which will be helpful in the future.
Even though the camp was taking part, Bohdan, “Farmer” Sergey and Rosie visited Larisa’s orphanage where numbers continue to grow with children that have been either abandoned or orphaned due to death because of the war. There are now over 20 children in Sumy and 55 in Austria. Bohdan and Rosie took sweets and gifts for the children. Bohdan also took some funds in to help put in a new boiler as the old one had totally given up. When you see the picture below your heart goes out to these casualties of war. The picture below with the children under blankets is when the air raid siren went off in Sumy whilst visiting. There have been requests for other help for the children from Larisa for things such as hygiene kits (toiletry basics), food and general help. We will do what we can and they plan to take the puppet show back there soon.
At the weekend a team from the Centre visited the village of Budylka. There they held a service and gave out seeds and Christian literature giving as much help as they could to the locals there. There is no doubt that the villages are feeling the effects of the war in far greater ways than in the cities. Food supply is tough and community is virtually gone. The team had a great welcome.
On top of all of the above the usual activities continue. Teenagers are still hungry to study and last night all the Teen bible study groups happened. (see below). Soldiers have been visited, helped and prayed for. There is never a quiet moment and the team are just amazing with the energy they give everything.
Once again, thank you for your continued help and support. Next week we are planning to see how we can reach out into the villages more effectively, and we still need to find a source of aid to help the people.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
