Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. Recently, we wrote about the need to supply tourniquets to families in our Ukrainian churches who have loved ones in battle. Praise God for Operation Renewed Hope, which has provided funds for us to purchase almost 250 high-quality, American-made tourniquets that Ukrainian military medics praise highly. We were able to distribute the first portion of these during our travels in Ukraine these past two weeks. The rest will soon follow. Please continue to pray for this continuing need.
2. We are thankful for everyone who prayed for the safety of our students and teachers during our Fall seminary session in Kyiv. That session has now concluded. During this period, Russia targeted Kyiv with 33 Shahed suicide drones and one rocket. Praise God, these threats did not affect our classes, and this number was far fewer than in previous weeks. Even better, they resulted in no reported casualties.
3. Often, money alone cannot meet the needs of wartime victims in Ukraine. Here, BIEM missionary Pasha Usach shares how he and other believers traveled to a devastated area to apply their time and muscles to help people who could not help themselves, particularly those in need of heating this winter. May God receive praise for their actions! To view this short video, please click the following link:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/helpinghands
4. Praise God, yesterday Igor Fomichov received the official permission he needed to leave Ukraine to travel to the US for the meetings we have scheduled over the next several weeks. This is an answer to a prayer request we shared previously. However, prayer is still needed since the border guards have the final say and can deny an exit even though official government permission has been granted. This almost happened the last time Igor came to the United States, and only through the late night (2:30 am) intervention of the mayor was Igor permitted to exit.
5. Our last stop on this trip to Ukraine was in Lviv, a large city in far Western Ukraine. There, Pastor Yura and the congregation are earnestly praying for a family in the church whose son Alexander has been missing in action for more than 20 days. Despite many inquiries to the military, the family has yet to learn whether he has been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation for families in Ukraine these days. Please pray for Alexander, his family, and this church. Pray also for Pastor Yura as he ministers to this family.
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM