Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. Thank you, those of you who prayed for Eugene Buyko’s visit to the U.S. During his time in this country, Eugene was able to speak in a number of churches in multiple states. The Lord blessed those services with wonderful love offerings for BIEM’s War Relief Fund. Eugene also contributed greatly in the physical loading of our most recent container and in filling out dual-language paperwork needed for the shipping company and Customs. He reports the border crossing from Poland back into Ukraine went smoothly—less than an hour!
2. Often, our mentions of war relief refer to large numbers of people, in some cases even to whole villages on the front lines. But today let us give an example of a specific person. Nastya is an unbeliever, one of many women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Her unit of 17 soldiers was engaged by an enemy tank and its supporting soldiers. Gravely wounded, Nastya managed to survive by taking shelter behind a tree. A tourniquet saved her from bleeding to death, and surgeons managed to save the arm. Although Nastya is eager to return to her unit, she is currently convalescing from her multiple wounds. Meanwhile, a mutual friend contacted the church in Desna and asked if the believers can provide any sort of aid for Nastya. Once again, BIEM’s War Relief will soon give believers an opportunity to share spiritual Truth along with physical assistance.
3. We previously mentioned starting a program to aid wives and mothers of soldiers to obtain needed medications. That program is now underway. It is one of the forms of assistance mentioned in our last video update, titled “Beyond Just War Relief.” You can view it here:
4. A Christian man named Sergei is a member of one of the churches planted through BIEM. He is now also a commander in the Ukrainian military. When his vehicle came under fire, Sergei jumped out and took shelter in a depression in the ground. Seeing post-battle photos of that vehicle, anyone would be amazed that he is still alive. But in this, too, we see Almighty God’s preserving hand and another opportunity to share Christian faith along with aid from the church.
5. Our containers of humanitarian aid are shipped duty-free since the Ukrainian government does not levy any taxes or duty charges for humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid may be food, clothing, medical supplies, or essential equipment. It is a blessing and interesting to note that the Ukrainian government is also counting any church furnishings (pews, pulpits, chairs, tables, etc.) as humanitarian aid when donated to Ukrainian churches. Also included in the category of humanitarian aid are sports equipment for church youth programs, camping gear, as well as furniture and household furnishing for our drug and alcohol rehab ministries operated by churches. The container of war relief that is currently on its way has several tons of goods in these latter categories. We praise God for opportunities to send such helpful church supplies, all duty-free!
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM