Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. As the war in Ukraine continues, American support for Ukraine remains significant. The fact that most Americans are in favor of aid for Ukraine certainly helps our own war-relief efforts. From the beginning, some have predicted this high level of support would not continue indefinitely and that at a certain point “war weariness” would set in among the American people. This prediction is hard to disagree with, although when such a change might occur is an open question. On August 4, CNN evidently tried to sway the public into believing this has already happened by publishing a misleading headline that stated, “Majority of Americans oppose more US aid for Ukraine in war with Russia.”
Many have refuted this disinformation published by CNN. For example, Wednesday’s issue of the Kyiv Post stated this about the CNN statement: “That was not accurate. Its poll results were that 56 percent were concerned (not opposed) that more aid to the war would threaten US national security.” The Kyiv Post went on to say that American support for Ukraine continues to be strong and that the CNN statistics show the reverse of what their misleading headline seems to indicate since in February of 2022 72% of Americans polled were concerned that the war would threaten US national security. Therefore, fewer Americans are concerned about this issue now than before. You can find this information in the August 10 issue of the Kyiv Post under the title, “OPINION: Ukraine Support Holds.” Nevertheless, while we hope it does not happen, it is realistic to expect that eventually American support will decline.
2. Last week the Kellers, BIEM missionaries to Ukraine, concluded their time of staying at our Indianapolis headquarters while they reported to supporting churches in Indiana. Previously, we mentioned how they greatly helped our war-relief efforts by spending many hours sorting and packing donated items for shipment to Ukraine. This is just one of several ways this family has been involved in war relief; another is by overseeing efforts by the churches they started in Ukraine. With the help of Zoom, they stay in close contact with these groups. For example, the Kellers spearheaded a project to raise a considerable amount of funds for generators, which they distributed through these contacts in Ukraine. In addition, Dana, the oldest of their 3 daughters, spent the summer working in special summer camps for children and youth orphaned because of the war. Dana spent the last 2 weeks working in similar camps in Turkey, where there are hundreds of Ukrainian orphans.
3. BIEM war-relief efforts played a key role in the establishment of a new church in the Druzhba area (means “friendship”) of Ternopil, Ukraine. Sam and Amy were able to visit that location and spend time with our new Ukrainian national missionaries, Sergiy and Karina Koop. This visit was special since the Slobodians were able to meet the Koops’ 6-week-old baby daughter, Karolina. The following link contains a video update about the Koops’ ministry:
4. Sam and Amy Slobodian also report that during their time in Ukraine they were able to participate in two baptisms. One baptism took place in Ternopil, and the other in Smolin, a town near the Goncharovsk military base. In both locations those baptisms included converts who were reached through our war-relief distribution efforts. The baptism in Smolin was attended by the mayor of Smolin and his wife. Please pray that the Gospel they heard will work in their hearts.
5. From the Slobodians who just returned from Ukraine: “Dear Friends, we want to sincerely thank each of you who prayed for our safety and the safety of camp workers, campers, and the personnel distributing war relief during our trip. Your prayers were especially needed during the time because it was then that Russia stepped up their attacks on Ukraine in response to successful Ukrainian drone operations. In one week alone, Russia used 65 missiles and 178 attack drones, including 87 very dangerous “Shaheds.” Although Ukraine has become quite good at shooting these down, a few still get through. Nevertheless, none of us were hurt, although we sometimes heard sirens and lost electricity at times, once for 13 hours. Praise God, the camps were unaffected, and the Lord worked mightily in the hearts of the hundreds of children and youth who joyfully attended. God also protected us from ourselves. While returning to the Kyiv area from Nizhylovychi (a formerly Russian-occupied area between Bucha and Hostomel, where a new church has been planted through our war-relief distributions), we passed some beautiful fields of sunflowers. We could not resist stopping to take pictures. Lots of pictures—until we noticed a sign warning of land mines. That sight abruptly ended our photo session!”
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM