Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
Dear Friends of BIEM,
1. Praise God, we have received another container from the United States! This is the 7th container our dedicated Ukrainians are distributing to needy places. This one went to the city administration of a region that contains several settlements that were occupied by Russian forces, so these goods will reach some of the neediest recipients.
2. We rejoice that the Keller family has received their documents to travel to the United States. At first, only Alexandra and the girls received travel documents. We were concerned since none arrived for Vitaly, the only family member who is not a Ukrainian citizen. Vitaly has Russian citizenship, so we were thought this might be a problem. However, yesterday Vitaly, too, received his travel documents. Praise God!
3. Soon I will be making another trip to Ukraine, leaving August 2. We will be in 3 or 4 cities in the west, then 3 or 4 cities near Kyiv, including areas where the Russian army invaded from Belarus to attack Kyiv before being driven out. Ukrainian forces have now liberated over 1,000 settlements that had been occupied by Russian forces. Besides focusing mainly on war-relief efforts, we will also partake in a baptism and an ordination.
4. Praise the Lord, on our website BIEM has now posted nearly 60 videos featuring our Ukrainian missionaries distributing aid. If you have not seen these videos, please go to our website (BaptistInternational.org) and click on "View Video Updates" beneath the main banner. If you have already viewed these videos, you may have noticed that our men often wear hand-me-down t-shirts of all sorts. This week we ordered custom t-shirts with “BIEM” and American & Ukrainian flags imprinted on them. When we asked what color they wanted, they replied military green, which their president often wears. So that's what we ordered, and they look great! Our coworkers are really looking forward to receiving these t-shirts, which I plan to deliver personally.
5. Since Russia continues to bomb Ukraine indiscriminately, no place in Ukraine is totally safe from bombs and missiles. Nevertheless, our missionaries are conducting summer camps all over Ukraine. Right now, it looks like we will operate between 25 and 30 camps in Ukraine this summer. This year, all our Ukrainian day camps are being conducted on church properties, where campers can spend the day and eat their meals but return home every evening. Meanwhile, our missionaries in other areas like Russia, Belarus and Central Asia are also conducting summer camps. Please pray for a harvest of souls and for inroads into many unchurched homes.
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM