Dear brothers and sisters, as well as congregations,
We are grateful to God for His love and mercy He provides for us every day. The last couple of weeks the situation in the country remained very difficult, however, controlled. There's fierce warfare along the whole battle line and, sadly, both sides have a lot of fatalities. The freedom that Ukraine wants to defend is available only at the great cost. We ask for your to pray for us, for the Lord's church and for the peace in our country.
Bear Valley Bible Institute.
In the end of the last month our students had evangelical practice. It took place in the cities of Lviv and Chernivtsy. Viacheslav Shmakov and his wife went to Lviv where they helped the local congregation, taught lessons and preached at the Sunday services. The rest of the students body remained in Chernivtsy. They held Christian meetings for children, youth group meetings, paid visits to the members of the local congregation and served the refugees who had relocated to the city recently. In this way the students got a very good practical idea of what the ministry was like and how to be a part of the process.
We have some good news. Our future graduate Alexander Radkevich will serve as the youth minister in Chernivtsy upon graduation. For the long time the congregation was getting ready for this important event and now the moment has come. You might remember that about a year ago I mentioned in my report that Alexander and Victoria had been married while our first year students. They are both young and full of energy, and very excited to serve the Lord. The congregation in Chernivtsy will be their starting point where they can demonstrate their abilities. We are looking for some financial support on their behalf and if you are willing to help them or know someone who will be interested in sponsoring the ministry please get in touch with me.
The Church of Christ in Bela Tserkva.
During the last month we kept helping the relocated refugees. Usually we invite them to the Sunday service and when it's over we distribute the grocery care packages. This way we constantly have a circle of fellowship with the people who have needs.
Last week the Bela Tserkva church of Christ Minister Konstantin and I went to Kramatorsk to help out the local congregation with food packages. The church still meets there, about 10 Christians who still can't evacuate from the city due to their personal reasons. The city is only about 12 miles from the front line and, as you can assume, the situation is critical. Major stores are closed down, and the smaller ones have raised the prices 1.2-2 times on all groups of merchandise. There are no jobs on the city and a lot of military personnel who use the city as their military base and move around the city from morning till night. A lot of times the city is attacked by the hostile artillery and there's not enough time for air raid sirens to react to the threat. Unfortunately, such as the life of many front line proximity cities where hundreds of civilians still remain for various reasons. The government doesn't have funds to help with the resettlement in safer places and a very low income level for a large amount of the population makes people remain in the dangerous areas. We'd like to continue this ministry and we are looking for people who'd like to financially support the project.
May God keep you and your families. Search for peace and remain in it. Thank you for your prayers and your help that you provide for our country and our congregations.
Your brother,
Dennis Sopelnik