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Dear Friends,
The situation has not improved any in the last week, with constant missiles and threat overhead, and children at home rather than at school. There's even been high category sirens, which mean a bomb has exploded somewhere in the region nearby.
The past weekend has been busy. On Friday, I had the following text in with pictures from Bohdan. “Good day! Today we visited people who live below the poverty line or simply left alone in this life, and no one needs them, some cannot even walk. We bought food for them, distributed Christian literature and testified to the love of God”.
There is little aid left, and are trying to source supplies. We are still waiting for a big shipment from a German charity, so we are praying that this comes soon. In the meantime, the team buy what they can to help those in need. Families are really struggling, as more often than not, loved partners are away fighting or being a key worker, working long hours, and often away from their home town. This lady below with her baby, asked if we could help, and again some food was taken along with nappies. It is so tough for families right now.
The Bible College remains closed, as the college in Kyiv we partner with, will not send people to help because Lebedyn and Sumy is too dangerous to live in. Bohdan has asked for prayer for the team as they are a young team (him included!), and there is the constant threat of call-up for military service.
Bohdan has a sister (Oksana) who is married and Bohdan is quite close to her and her husband (Zhenya). Sadly, news came in yesterday that Zenya’s mother died very suddenly. She suffered a massive stroke. The family were close, so we want to uphold them in prayer at this time.
This weekend is going to be a very busy one. Today it is a bank holiday within the orthodox calendar. They celebrate the time Jesus was taken to the temple after his birth. It looks like the government have not stopped this celebration, so the church is holding a big service and will be up early baking hundreds of loaves of bread to distribute. They are expecting many people. Then, in the evening the youth will meet and Saturday will have children’s club, computer workshops and English classes. Sunday too will be full of the usual services, plus the youth gathering again as well.
Given the conditions the people in Lebedyn are living under, with the ongoing energy and faith they have, their work remains so encouraging and humbling at times. They continue to plan for all kinds of work that will help those within the community, plus special weeks with camps throughout the year.
Thank you again for your prayers and support at this time, and please see the reminder below for the service in Eastbourne in a few weeks time.
Every blessing
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
P.S. please remember that we plan to hold a service of prayer on Saturday February 17th at 4.00pm at Victoria Baptist Church, Eastbourne . Bohdan will be speaking to share some of his thoughts through this service. His attendance is of course war permitting. Because the support base for Hope Lebedyn has widened to even be international, we are looking into having this gathering live streamed. If this is possible the stream will be by invitation only. If you would like to be part of the stream then please do let us know so we can register you. It would be great to see as many of you as possible in person if you are local or are prepared to travel to be with us. We also hope that this will start a week of prayer for all that is going on in Ukraine which will take us up to the anniversary date of 24th February. More details will follow.
