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Dear Friends,
Again another day with relative calm. There is still the sound of battle in the far distance and the occasional bomb but Lebedyn has been much calmer over these past few days. People that have been locked indoors for weeks are starting to get out as confidence returns.
It appears that Ukraine troops are not only holding back the Russians but forcing them back towards the border. However, word on the street is that the Russians are re-grouping for another onslaught to try and push through. You cannot imagine living in that tension of what could be the whole time. When talking with our Mission Director today he said that when he has been driving around other villages and towns nearby and the devastation he has witnessed, he said Lebedyn has been blessed. The prayers of the many are having an effect.
Today, as planned, they went round and invited all the large families to come to the centre. This means families with large numbers – not in weight and size! These are often extended multi-generational families often crammed into small residences. They were all welcomed and producing a steady queue for the hours open. Bags were filled with food, stories shared, tears shed and much love given. The people were immensely thankful. Many were offered the literature we have there and took it away to read.
Tomorrow I meet with our Mission Director and our translator to start to plan the next phase of activity. He is concerned for the youth and the children. There has been no school now for 6 weeks and no means for the children to play. If safe they would like to run regular activities and help families with all of this. There are online learning programmes but unreliable internet. Still a third of all of Lebedyn is without utilities including water. All of this we will look at so that the centre can be a beacon of hope and love. Please pray that our scheduled meeting can take place.
Our Mission Director has asked that we pray today for the building up of troops in the distance. As they think they might be gaining in strength. Pray that God will thwart their plans. Pray too that the children’s and youth ministry they do so well can go ahead safely and pray for the families that are really struggling. Whilst Lebedyn has not been completely obliterated, many are living in very unacceptable conditions. Houses where windows and doors have been blown out through bombs but they have no where else to go and the temperature can, and has, dropped to around -10 or even more at night.
Please keep standing with us in prayer!
Please continue to stand with the team in prayer during these very uncertain times. Our Mission Director and the team are still visiting the front line every day. Please pray for the soldiers and the wounded and for the team as they to give hope in a very dark world there.
I am so grateful for all your support. Our Mission and Music Director, alongside the rest of the team all send their thanks and greetings on behalf of the team and the church there.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Dear Friends,
Thank you again for all your continued support for the team and their vital ministry work during this time.
Whilst the team have experienced a few quieter days, as of the 21st of March 2022, the team in Lebedyn had been in contact to let me know that they were under heavy attack. Our Mission Director mentioned that Russian troops have been trying hard to break into the city and moving closer into the town.
There have been regularly nightly battles but thankfully no progression has happened towards the main town centre.
Provision of food, medical supplies and a car and fuel!
Amidst very uncertain and scary times, we continue to give thanks to God for another successful delivery of food. Furthermore, the team also found a car and fuel waiting for them this morning at the centre which is very much crucial and much needed during this time!
They also managed to get some medicine with the money which will help with the more minor ailments. However, there are some in the town with diabetes who are insulin dependent including one of the team’s family members. Thankfully our team has managed to secure a supply of insulin for them. Please also lift up a member of our team who requires specialised medication for his specific condition and for wisdom and provision as we try to find solutions which are not obvious right now.
The powerful Word of God
Over the weekend the team were able to look after a lady and her four children who came to the centre after escaping from a nearby village that had fallen into Russian hands. This was a village in where held summer camps in the past. Some of the villagers managed to flee and have come to Lebedyn but many are still there.
This particular lady asked the team for a Bible for herself and her four children. They spoke, encouraged, fed and prayed with her. She received 2 Bibles, one being the Jesus Story Book Bible for her children. Our Mission Director has informed me that she has since come to faith and was weeping with tears of joy! Even in the darkest times our faith brings hope.
They also helped a family that had come up from a nearby city with absolutely nothing with them. They gave them toiletries, food and some clothes although they don’t have many of those to share now with people.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you, In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56, verses 3 & 4
A baby dedication and a growing church community
This morning the numbers at the church grew to greatest amount since the war began, with many fleeing from nearby villages and towns and are now all meeting together in the new centre. A new baby was dedicated this morning as well. What a start to life! However, it's also a beautiful reminder of new life and new hope.
After the church service today, where the team have been witnessing growing numbers of people coming together in prayer, they were able to put up a tent outside in the town centre to talk to people and give them free books and literature. It was also an opportunity to invite them to the centre if they had no food where the team could then provide them with food parcels.
Please see below two pictures, one of the team handing out free literature to the community and the other picture captures one of the community's recent church gatherings. As you can see, lots of people joined together to pray!
Please keep standing with us in prayer!
Please continue to stand with the team in prayer during these very uncertain times. Our Mission Director and the team are still visiting the front line every day. Please pray for the soldiers and the wounded and for the team as they to give hope in a very dark world there.
I am so grateful for all your support. Our Mission and Music Director, alongside the rest of the team all send their thanks and greetings on behalf of the team and the church there.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Dear Friends,
Thank you again for all your continued support and for showering the team and ministry in constant prayers during this time.
I am continuing to receive updates from the team as and when it is possible, however, each day is so different so please continue to pray for their safety during very uncertain times. We are very thankful that amidst the darkness, we can share incredible stories of selfless love and some good news from the team. We wanted to see them of these below:
Safe delivery of food to Lebedyn
We are so thankful to God for a safe delivery of food to the team in Lebedyn. Thank you to so many of you that prayed throughout the day. God’s hand was on this trip and given that many have not made it alive doing less dangerous trips, this really was a miracle! The community have been struggling to access and purchase food has meant that this safe arrival of food is helping feed many members of the community.
Our Mission Director is now home and his cooked him a special meal of Borsch (This is a bit like a beetroot soup - a Ukrainian favourite!)
A local orphanages plight to safety
Following our last update on the 11th of March surrounding the local orphanage with over fifty children, we are so grateful to report that they, along with the director of the orphanage, have now arrived safely to a quieter region. However, their journey was long and not without difficulty.
However, amidst all the difficulty on their journey to safety, they were able to help a coach full of mothers and children's which had broken down from the maternity hospital nearby. On the coach were premature babies who needed special feeding. Without hesitation they squashed everyone up and managed to fit everyone and their luggage into their two coaches.
With the food purchased through the funds we sent, they were able to share this with them all and everyone got to safety. Where they are currently will not be their final destination as they feel the only real safety is abroad until the war stops.
We give thanks to God that they have arrived to a quieter region and a provision of food. We are glad that the children are somewhere safer where they can relax amidst all the difficult days and nights, they have had to endure but please do continue to pray for their long-term safety.
Please keep standing with us in prayer!
Please continue to keep all the team in your prayers. As of Monday 14th March, our Mission Director has informed me that they are having problems with communications, particularly mobile signals, and the internet. It is believed that Russians are trying to jam everything to immobilise them away from contact with others. The town has become quite inventive, and this is something we have witnessed over the years we have been involved with them. They can normally find a way to fix something or get it working just as they have with the electricity. They live in a world of constant recycling! It is this tenacious attitude that is carrying them through.
Other villages nearby have fallen to Russian troops, so they are expecting in the next few days an onslaught as they need to get through Lebedyn to journey through to Kyiv. Please pray for their protection. Our Mission Director and the team are still visit the front line every day, pray for the soldiers and the wounded and to try and give hope in a very dark world there.
Please continue to pray for the things above and most of all please pray for their peace.
I am so grateful for all your support. Our Mission and Musical Director, alongside the rest of the team all send their thanks and greetings on behalf of the team and the church there.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Dear Friends,
On Wednesday 9th March, we received the devastating update that a big bomb had gone off within the centre of Lebedyn, destroying both the local police station and other buildings. Thankfully there were no major casualties, but our Mission Directors house shook with the blast. The impacts have mainly been felt on electrical, gas, lights and communication areas meaning that internet is now down.
Outlying areas have also been severely impacted, with fighting now beginning to intensity. We have also been informed that the nearby village of Vorozhba has been captured and badly damaged. Many have been killed beaten, where houses have been looted and the Russian troops are burning homes.
Shining light into the darkness of war
Our team in Lebedyn have been helping with the army and resistance to provide supplies, bedding, mattresses and pillows to enable them to have some quality rest.
Furthermore, our Mission Director received the opportunity to preach today as the church gathered together, both with familiar faces and new ones joining together! As we’ve mentioned before, people are seeking answers and hope and it gives the team an amazing opportunity to share the gospel amidst sheer darkness. In fact, our Mission Director had been informed that a previous team members son-in-law has recently come to faith. Furthermore, his daughter has recently given birth to a baby boy – the first war-time baby in their local hospital. Therefore, we celebrate in new life physically and spiritually!
God’s faithful provision
Finding food and drink has been a real struggle for the team and many have tried to scavenge for food as they are now very hungry. Thankfully, our Mission Director was able to access food, including bread and milk, to help feed lots of the community. We are not sure how and we truly believe it’s a miracle from God – much like how He provided manna for the Israelites in the wilderness!
Supporting a local orphanage in Ukraine
You may have remembered the story we shared in a previous blog post on the 28th of February about a beautiful story of children in a local orphanage seeking refuge through God’s Word. When the bombing within the Sumy region became really intense, the director of the orphanage asked the children to take just one thing with them as they sought shelter in a bunker. After the children were all settled, she asked them what they all took in. One by one, around 50 children pulled out the same thing... a new Bible, we gave them over Christmas.
This same orphanage shared their news story as part of the BBC news feature yesterday evening on Wednesday 9th March.
Through this TV news feature, we’ve got to witness some incredible responses and connections arise to help support the local orphanage who are seeking safety, food and necessary supplies during this time.
As a ministry, we will continue to be working with them to support the children and leader. We’ve been able to send funds across from our appeal fund to help them purchase food, medicine, supplies and also pay for necessary transport to enable herself and all the children to get to safety. We will continue to monitor her evacuation and try and ensure they arrive at a safe destination.
Please continue to also keep this orphanage and leader in your prayers. Thank you again for all your support and through this appeal fund, we are able to help use it to continue the work we started in peacetime.
Please pray for the team
When I spoke with our Mission Director, he said he was tired. Not physically, but emotionally and mentally exhausted. Please pray for him, his wife (currently 5 months pregnant) his family and also the whole team. Please pray for God’s peace to be a source of strength for all the team.
Please also keep our translator’s family in your prayers. Her parents and grandmother are still in Lebedyn, and she fears greatly for their safety.
In the midst of the darkness, we thank God for his provision and for where light continues to shine amidst the darkness. In fact, our Mission Director has been able to rescue two young women who have escaped from a Russian occupied village, providing them with accommodation somewhere safe and with food.
Our Musical Director and his wife send their love and greetings, as do all the team out there. Thank you for keeping them in prayers and for all your generous support.
My thanks again for all your continued support and prayers,
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Dear Friends,
As we mentioned in our last update to you, Lebedyn was under siege and bombs had taken out both the electrical and water supply. We were able to find out through a friend that everyone was ok. However, through the night fuel stations and phone masts were knocked out with bombs.
Our translator who is located in Poland was able to miraculously make contact with her mother who was told that she was safe and that the bombs had gone to facilities rather than civilians. They have heard that one house situated next to one of these facilities has now been bombed as well but they were unsure of casualties.
Furthermore, this morning on the 5th of March, we woke up to the unfortunate news that planes have been bombing Lebedyn all night with over 60 big explosions. There was a small electric substation very near to the Centre that was targeted heavily and unfortunately is now destroyed.
The bombing from this has affected the Centre and whilst it has not specifically been bombed, the building itself has felt the full force of the explosions, blowing out of all the windows and doors and leaving a devastating impact inside. Currently the new building is fully intact which we are thankful for.
Some of the team that are able to come to the Centre are now assessing and clearing away all of the damage. They are also coming together to pray. Please also join us in prayer for the city of Lebedyn and wider Ukraine and for their safety. The situation in Lebedyn is now very desperate. Unfortunately, it is now no longer inexperienced soldiers but fully trained ruthless soldiers who are now fighting.
Below are two pictures from our Musical Director and his wife who are now taking refuge in a bomb shelter. These pictures tell the reality of this story.
Our Mission Director has said that the best thing we can do right now is pray. He also added that that they have never felt closer to God then right now. The team have given away everything they have to share with others.
Please also continue to keep our Mission Director and his family in your prayers. His wife is currently 5 months pregnant and needs constant food and water. Please pray for her health and protection also.
Please also keep praying for them in Lebedyn as there is still much fighting tonight and the lack of food and water is of great concern.
My thanks to you all for your continued prayers and support.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Dear friends,
Firstly, thank you so much for all your continued support both through your generous donations and through standing alongside us in prayer.
We were able to host a prayer meeting yesterday with our local church, with many coming together united in prayer for Ukraine, the team and the ministry of Hope Lebedyn. However, whilst I was hoping to start this update with positive news, I sadly received a call around 6.45pm yesterday evening from our interpreter to inform us that Lebedyn had just been bombed.
This is devastating news and has meant that not only has all the electricity for the town been taken out and houses are now left without any water, but the bombings of the existing petrol stations now means that there is no way for people to leave the local area. Subsequently we have found out that telephone masts and fuel stations have also been destroyed through bombing.
This is terrible news. Many Russian troops are amassing for what they think will be a large-scale attack on the town. We have prayed and will continue to pray for their protection within the town. Please also join us in prayer for their safety and for communication with the team out in Lebedyn to be restored soon.
Amidst the devastation, the team are still continuing to shine God’s light in the darkness. Yesterday our Mission Director informed me that the team continue to be busy responding to the needs of the community around them. Hope Lebedyn’s mission to practically support and care for the community continues, with God’s love being poured out to each individual, family and orphaned child they come into contact with.
In fact, a local orphanage who the team had been supporting, were running low on food to feed over 50 children living within their orphanage. The team were able to help support them with supplies for the next few days.
Please also see below some pictures from our Mission Director helping to deliver food to the troops. This photo was not taken on the front line as that was not permitted. He also helped find a bakery to purchase food and then deliver these to the very needy. They have also been supplying medical supplies to the wounded.
We ask you to continue to pray for the team, their work and for their safety. For food and water to be found and that we do have a complete humanitarian disaster in the area.
Thank you so much for your continued support and please continue to visit our website for more news updates. To support the team and ministry at this time, please visit our support page on the website or our Stewardship page below.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Urgent support required:
If you would like to support us financially you can do so below. Remember, if you are a UK taxpayer, please confirm that you would like to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation. This will add 25p to every £1 you give.
Update:
Dear friends,
Thank you all for your support and prayers for the team and ministry of Hope Lebedyn.
As Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn, I have been in regular contact with members of the team in Ukraine. Every day there are updates and news, but we continue to pray for their safety and for peace.
Despite this incredibly challenging time, the team continue to shine light amid the darkness. The team had been made aware that many Ukrainian troops, reservists and volunteers on the edge of Sumy did not have any food. The team took the initiative, joining together to assemble meals which they then delivered to the military unit which was under siege. They were so grateful, and the ministry team still continue to shine His light. As the Gospel of John boldly proclaims, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5)
As of the 27th of February, at 7.30am GMT (9.30am Ukraine time), we have been informed that the team are alive despite the heavy fighting and shooting that took place all night. In the morning, those who were able to gather together in the church, joined together in fervent prayer. Please also join us in praying for their safety.
However, the darkness continues to loom, and the team and families have been taking shelter in their homes trying to seek refuge in bomb shelters, continually unsure of what will unfold moment to moment. We were also informed that an unexploded bomb was in a friend’s garden less than 1km away from where our Mission Director lives.
Tonight, at our church prayer meeting within our local church, we were able to have a Zoom conversation with the Mission Director and his wife. It was an immensely precious time where we were able to hear so much more first-hand than we are receiving on the news. They were late logging on as gunfire was in the area and they needed to keep the lights off so that it would not bring attention to their house. They are at peace with everything and not panicking. Here were some of the key things the team shared:
Food shortage
Unfortunately, there is now no food in the shops, meaning the local community and neighbouring towns are now struggling to feed their families. The team have now managed to acquire a tanker of milk from a local farm to help feed families this morning!
Testimony – Children’s faith in the midst of darkness
At the end of the meeting, they shared a beautiful story. There was an orphanage nearby which was uncovered around 8 years ago where the adults had abandoned it leaving the children to fend for themselves. This was due to a change in rules relating to running orphanages post the Euro cup in 2012. The orphanage has since been transformed and our team have been working alongside the leader to provide food, run a Summer camp there and regularly perform our puppet theatre shows to young children there.
Unfortunately, the bombing around Sumy this week became really intense so the leader of the orphanage has said to all the children that they could all take just one thing with them to the bunker to take shelter. When all were settled, she asked them what they all took in. One by one 55 children all pulled out the same thing. It was a new Bible we gave them over Christmas. It is the Ukraine translation of the Jesus Story Book Bible. The children prayed for a long time. They remembered all that had been taught through the puppet ministry and it has stayed in their hearts. We all wept when we heard this.
The above could have only happened through the faithfulness of the supporters to Hope Lebedyn who raised $10,000 to purchase the 2,000 bibles. We pray that the others that have been given out will make the same difference.
If there are ways you are able to continue to support the team and ministry at this time, please visit our support page on the website or our Stewardship page below.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
Every blessing,
Peter Martin
Founding Director of Hope Lebedyn
As we woke this morning (Thursday 24th Feb), alerts came in that Russia had started its invasion of Ukraine. We have been devastated to hear this news.
I have spoken to our team this morning and Lebedyn has not yet come under attack which is good news. However, there is clearly fear of what might happen in the coming days and weeks as everything is so uncertain at this time. Sumy, the nearest major city, has received some shelling but at this point the extent of the damage is unknown.
The most powerful weapon we have in our armoury is prayer. Therefore, we ask each one of you to stand in unity to pray for this situation.
Please pray for:
The consequence of war is that it affects the people in so many ways. Inflation, food shortages and break down in communications and systems are just a few of the devastating effects. There will also be the mental anguish and grief for loved ones who will end up being casualties.
We remain committed to supporting and helping them in as many practical ways possible. If you think you could help us by donating to us, we would be so grateful. Please go to our page to support the ministry work here.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Peter Martin
Founding director – Hope Lebedyn
Hi everyone! On behalf of all the Hope Lebedyn team, we wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Within this month's news blog, we wanted to share a video from some of the Hope Lebedyn team thanking you for all your incredible support. If you scroll down, you'll also get to read the first ever release of our Annual Report, where you'll hear about all the exciting things we've been up to this year!
Thank you so much for joining us on this journey. We believe that the best is yet to come as there is much work to be done to help alleviate poverty and see live changed. We give thanks for God for all His provision for this past year.
Hope Lebedyn Annual Report: October 2020 to 2021
The world has seen so much change and impact through a global pandemic and we were concerned about how this might affect the work of the Mission Centre in Lebedyn. Well... we didn’t need to be!
As you read this report, we hope that you will see just how much favour we've experienced in our ministry during this past year. We were able to introduce an Autumn camp programme for the first-time, courtesy of Spring Harvest, and as part of the tithe we received through their online event offering.
What's more, our new Ministry Activity Centre has opened its doors and lots of evangelistic activities have already been taking place - with lots more camps, activities and events to come.
So, as we reflect over the last year, we hope you'll find encouragement and fresh hope as we rejoice in his faithful provision and continue to believe for God to continue working through Hope Lebedyn, as we care for the poor, needy and hopeless in Ukraine.
Read our Annual Report for October 2020-2021 below and download our digital version to read and share with friends and family too!
Thank you for all the support. Love from Bohdan and the team.
Can you believe it?
A dream that God birthed in our hearts two years ago has almost reached completion!
If you’ve been following along with us on throughout this entire project, you might remember our blog post back in December when this building was completely non-existent, and we were just getting started!
While the journey hasn’t always been an easy one, we’re so excited to show the incredible progress that has taken place over the last six months.
So, get ready!
The early beginnings:
These photos were taken back in early December when we were first preparing the ground for the new Ministry Activity Centre!
Battling the wintery weather:
Despite the snow and icy cold conditions, the building project continued!
The Ministry Activity Centre today:
It’s now early June and the new centre is almost ready for action. Here are some of the most recent photos of the building programme! The new Mission Activity Centre, set to be completed in August, will provide vital new space to carry out children, youth and family-related evangelistic projects.
The centre has been freshly painting in vibrant colours, in preparation to open its doors to lots of youth and children who will be attending our annual summer camps!
Next steps:
Of course, while we celebrate all the progress that’s already taken place, the building project isn't yet fully complete, with development inside the building now underway.
You’ll also see in this photo to the left that the loft space is open and now ready for insulating!
So, please do join with us as we pray for the new Ministry Activity Centre to be completed by August this year, enabling us to carry out three summer camps, a youth camp and youth days that will be held this summer.
We look forward to updating you with the building project over the next few weeks!
Thank you for all the support. Love from Bohdan and the team.
