Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. We are glad to report that we have surpassed our $100,000 goal to bless 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen with warm clothes and New Testaments! However, we are also grateful for every gift coming in over this $100,000, because the churches there have more members and loved ones in the military than we expected. Even though we’ve limited this project to the specific churches BIEM has planted and those with which we work (over 100 churches), the first 33 churches to apply requested aid for 1,200 servicemen they named, which was well over our goal of 1,000. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to provide funds for those 1,200. The churches—the ones who oversee local distribution of funds from BIEM—continue to submit names of servicemen they would like to bless in this way. So, even though we have already met our initial commitment, as you provide funds, we will continue to fill requests through February. What a blessing to provide warm clothing plus New Testaments to souls in harm’s way! We look forward to sharing the final totals the Lord has blessed us with on March 1st.
2. The church in Desna, Ukraine, has sent BIEM a video that includes clips from several recipients of clothes and Scriptures from BIEM’s War Relief fund. Each one expresses their gratitude to BIEM and to you, the people who are providing the funds for this outreach. You can view that video here:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/thankyou-clothing
3. The family of Sasha Petrenko, our Ukrainian church planter serving in Goncharovsk and Smolin, has finally heard from Sasha’s brother Oleg, who went missing in battle during the first few weeks of the war. For nearly two years, the family received no information about Oleg and feared he had been killed. But then he was allowed 1 phone call and informed his daughter he is alive and in a Russian prison with many other prisoners of war. Occasionally some prisoners are released via swaps between the two countries. Therefore, the Petrenkos request that we please pray that Oleg will be released.
4. Thank you for praying for the dangerous trip that Sasha Petrenko and others recently took into the area near Zaporozhe. This group of volunteers, which included the mayor of Sasha’s military base town of Goncharovsk, have now returned safely after distributing humanitarian aid to the soldiers. At one point, the commander told the group of volunteers that if any of them were interested in going deeper towards the fighting and spending a night in a bunker with some soldiers, they had room for two. Since things were already intense, the thought of going deeper did not appeal to Sasha at all. However, the mayor immediately announced that he would go, and that Sasha would go with him! As you can imagine, Sasha has some stories to tell about this venture. We hope to share with you eventually.
In Christ,
Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM