Update 10th January 2025

Children at the orphanage sitting and standing with their present boxes held over their heads with adults sat behind them watching

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Dear Friends,

The old Orthodox Christmas has come and gone in Ukraine, and at the same time the Winter Camp has been taking place. There was much concern as to whether we could deliver this camp, as over the New Year and preceding weekend, military activity in the region was, as Bohdan described it, the “biggest yet” over the past 3 years.

We planned for just 50 younger teens (10-14 yr olds) to attend, but as normal, more turned up and they ended up having 64 young people there. What has been amazing is at the time of writing this update, they have had no sirens again while the camp is happening. Bohdan said that the young people are brilliant, and want to have fun and enjoy everything. It has been one of the best weeks so far. Many children are refugees, coming from towns and villages near the Russian border to Lebedyn where it is a bit safer. All the children, like in other camps, tell stories of how the war is impacting their families, which are tough for the team to hear. There will be more news about this next week, but there are a few photos below of some of the activities they are all doing.

Aside from the camp, the team, as ever, have been busy. Last Friday, they visited another school to take presents and the puppet theatre to share the Christmas story. It was well received as you can from the photo at the top of the page.

After this they visited Larisa’s new temporary orphanage, and took them more bedding, fresh fruit and vegetables, and clothing – especially underwear!!. Larisa was so pleased for the help, and the children loved their presents and the puppet theatre. You can see from the images below, the new bedding is on the children’s bunk beds, and a weary Bohdan during the unloading of everything!

This past Sunday, Bohdan went over to Samotoivka to speak at their Sunday service. He then went up to the border (no images allowed) to meet with soldiers and to pray with them, as some had been at the Lebedyn church asking for prayer and support, and returned with three of Andrew’s children back to Lebedyn for the camp this week.

On Tuesday, they planned a special church service where another visiting speaker from a church which was destroyed in Mariupol would be coming to speak with a team along with Bohdan. Over 400 people turned up. Around 100 were associated to the church, but over 300 would have no Christian faith at all but were keen to hear what was going to be said. I think they were also hoping for some aid.

However, we are desperate for more aid to help within the community. We have several ongoing conversations happening, and I’m pleased to say that it looks like we will be having a large truck of aid going at the end of this month with all that we need on it. There are still a lot of logistics to sort out as its journey starts here in the UK, but there are a lot of customs and borders to cross to get it there on time.

As we start the journey through another year, we remain hopeful that peace will come to Ukraine in 2025. What that will look like is unknown, but we do know that the rebuilding, of not just buildings but lives, will take years to mend. February marks the 3rd year since the start of this phase of the war with Russia, and we will again be holding a special service to mark the occasion with Victoria Baptist Church in Eastbourne on Saturday February 22nd @ 4pm . We would love to see as many of our prayer partners as possible as we take time to reflect and pray into the future and share this time together.

Thank you for your support this Christmas. Financial gifts we received covered all the costs of the work the team were doing, which is amazing.

May you know God’s peace and blessing through this year.

Peter Martin

Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn

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    From 17th - 24th February we are holding a week of prayer as we remember the 2nd anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
    To help you pray, we've created a PDF guide that contains some daily prayer points. 

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