Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
Dear Friends of BIEM,
1. BIEM’s Vitaly Bilyak, who recently returned to Ukraine from Poland with an SUV and trailer full of humanitarian relief, reports the military hospital where he distributed a large amount of medical supplies and equipment was thrilled and presented him with a gracious thank-you letter. Included in the items he took back from the US were 4 military uniforms and boots we purchased at an military surplus store in Indianapolis. These are for 4 men in his church who were recently drafted. They were told they must provide their own uniforms!
2. Please continue to pray for the Buyko family (wife & 3 daughters), who received visas to come to the United States last week. Now Eugene will be trying to visit the US to reunite with his wife and daughters for 30 days in the same way Vitaly Bilyak recently did, which was a special 30-day pass connected to procuring humanitarian aid. Their 19-year-old son Mikhail must stay in Ukraine.
3, Yesterday, after more than 3 months of a nightmarish journey through the United States immigration bureaucracy, we were finally approved as sponsors for Ukrainians fleeing from the war. That means our national missionaries in Ukraine (such as the Kellers) who are now making preparations to come to the United States will be able to come. It is important for the Kellers to touch base with their supporting churches because they will be changing fields to another Russian-speaking country since Vitaly's Russian citizenship would be a great hindrance in Ukraine, where they have been planting churches for the last few years.
4. We at BIEM are excited about the Ukrainian government’s recent new provision, which would allow pastors to visit the United States for one month to attend religious conferences. Vitaly Yurchenko, who applied yesterday, is the first of our men to try this. He should know within 10 days. Please pray that he and perhaps others following will be able to obtain such special permissions. It is a huge blessing for BIEM and supporting churches to hear directly from national church planters.
5. Praise God for a continual stream of souls being saved in Ukraine because of the war, which has opened many hearts to the Gospel. Sasha, our church planter in Goncharovsk and Smolin, Ukraine, introduces another such person on our most recent war video update posted on our website. This one is entitled, “Finding Christ During War.” We now have over 50 such war video updates posted. Here is a link for Vadim’s testimony:
When viewing our war video updates on our website, keep in mind that if you click on the title instead of the picture you will have options to download and share the video.
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM