Ukraine Relief Update from one of our contacts:

•• February 20, 2023 ••

Peace be upon you, dear friends!

Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine continues. People are dying, children are orphaned. Refugees live in fear, often in cold and hunger. We organized a trip from Odessa to the city of Ochkakov in the Mykolaiv region, three and a half kilometers to the front line. People brought 200 grocery bags and distributed packages and the gospel to people with local ministers. People are very grateful for the help for the products, because it is very difficult for them now. People listened to the gospel and gave thanks. Everyone is waiting with horror for February 24, because they say there will be a new offensive. Pray for Ukraine, spiritual awakening, as well as for whose that the war will be stopped. Thank you very much for your sacrificial heart and help for Ukraine. Vitali & Cristina

•• June 15, 2022 ••

Dear Special Ones,Pastor Vitaly and Cristina sent us an update on Moldova:Peace to you, Dear Friends!
The ministry to refugees continues by the grace of God. every day we distribute food bags and chemical bags in the church. Ukrainians come and thank us for the help. Some from Odessa. Some people go to Ukraine, but come to Moldova out of fear. We created a program for children, which was attended by children from Ukraine, more than 50 children, where we could also teach them the gospel. For Ukrainians, personal relationships are important, so we invite families to our home to communicate with them. We help some with medicines. We also want to travel with 10 families from Ukraine in order to get their attention more, to communicate and pray together. People continue to live in fear because they don't know what to expect.
Thank you very much for your support, prayers and care for those in need from Ukraine. we believe that your work and ours are not in vain, because God's word is sown, and Christians from Ukraine are also taken care of. May the Lord bless you and reward you a hundredfold. Vitaly and Christina

•• APRIL 21, 2022 ••

We made it back safely, and it was great to meet with our TITUS missionary colleague Vitaly Sokol. We gave him about 3 tons of supplies, and Victor Kozoubuvskii (brother of our TITUS missionary Vlad), and gave him about 1 ton of supplies. We purchased these in Romania with funds received and they were delivered to areas near Kiev, and north of Kiev. These guys are doing a great work and we were able to bless them with some USD also for their work.

We are housing Ukrainians presently, I have lost track of the total numbers of individuals, but we are over 1000 days per housed individual. The groups recently have been staying longer, compared to the first refugees that were only a night or two before traveling on to other parts of Europe.

We have used a good portion of the funds we have received, and we are honored that FBLex would choose to partner with us. I know Loreen Itterman's people are surely doing a wonderful work also and could use any funds you send their way!

•• APRIL 14, 2022 ••

Dear Special Ones,

This refugee update comes from Eugene Pokidko, Youth Pastor of the
Voice of Truth Church.

We continue to serve at customs. Some days there are many people at
customs, some days not. It all depends on opened corridors. We
continue serve people with SIM cards for connection with relatives in
Moldova,and with food because some people are traveling a long trip to
get to customs. We encourage people, we pray for them, tell them God
loves them. Some people are crying and share they had to leave
everything to escape the war. I met one big family (13 people), who
adopted children. They didn’t know where to go. They were confused. I
said that we are Christians, we will help you to find a place to stay.
They were so thankful. We spoke on the whole trip about God. I helped
them to get to the Christian center of the Baptist Union where they
could stay. People are thankful very much for the care and
share.....they are very surprised with the helpful attitude of
Moldova.

Thank you for your prayer support. We need it!
Eugene

*New photos added

•• APRIL 12, 2022 ••

Peace be with you and God bless you dear friends!

Emergency ministry to refugees from Ukraine continues every day!
100,000 refugees remain in Moldova, who did not leave for other
countries, who need care in prayers, in comfort, in food, and
hygienic supplies.
Having stayed in Moldova for more than a month, we observe such a picture,
some say they don’t want to go anywhere, but they want to be closer to Ukraine,
one man told how he travels to the border of Ukraine and looks at
the Ukrainian territory at customs, prays and cries to him so it becomes
easier and he returns back to Chisinau...

Some children go to schools in Moldova, parents understand that the
war is for a long time.
The pain and suffering of the people intensifies, the lack of hope,
knowing what is happening in Ukraine. so we continue to distribute
products.

Every Sunday we invite refugees to our homes for fellowship, we dine
together, we pray, we communicate, and we find hope in Christ Jesus...
On one Sunday there were 9 people, on one Sunday there were 5 people,
on one Sunday there were three people, tomorrow 4 people will leave,
we are glad that we can serve them personally. At customs, the number
of new refugees depends on what happens in Ukoaine .
.
They fired rockets at Odessa on the day 35,000 people came in, they
didn’t bomb the nearest cities of refugees, they didn’t come much.

We understand that it is necessary to think about long-term projects
for working with children, young people and their parents.

Pray for our ministry and wisdom on how to serve them?
We pray to open an office for consultations, counseling, where people
from Ukraine will be able to come, where they will be prayed for and
consulted… pray that we could make a mini gym in the basement of the
church where teenagers from Ukrainian families could come to train and
study the scripture... pray that people from Ukraine could believe in
Jesus Christ... pray that while distributing food people will listen
to the gospel... this is a special time of service to Jesus.

Thanks for your participation.
With love, Vitalik and Kristina.

•• APRIL 4, 2022 ••

“Dear Pastor Ralph and Friends at FBLex,

Thank you for your faithfulness with prayer and support of $510 in February and March, and your special gift of $16,572.77 for helping Ukrainian refugees. The Lord has seen fit to include us in His plan of showing love to our neighbors fleeing the war in Ukraine. We are doing this through many different avenues. We are housing refugees in our homes, at Camp Eli, at our church in Fundulea, and at our church plant in Sinesti. The initial wave of people that came through needed help getting to the airport, train station, bus station, or just a place to stay for a couple days before they traveled on to other parts of Europe or even North America. The more recent refugees are needing to stay longer it seems.

We have helped with transporting people from the border in Moldova with Ukraine to the capital of Chisinau, or from the Romanian borders to our location. We have become a travel agency, working out different flights, tickets, COVID requirements, visa info, document requirements, as many who came have no possibility of getting anywhere else on their own. It seems we are also a laundry service for all the dear folks that come through! We have been able to take seven van loads of goods into Chernivtsi, Ukraine, that were then loaded onto larger transport vans and carried to Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine. The church we delivered to in Kharkiv was bombed last week while believers were inside praying. The bomb failed to explode, only causing a large hole in the roof, broken windows, etc. God brought a FCA missionary couple leaving Ukraine on their way back to the states. After seeing their usefulness here their plans changed, and they have been with us since helping with the refugees. Their knowledge of the Russian language is invaluable. Google translate works okay for food choices but having a believing translator to share the gospel is the best!

In February Ady & Niky Cojoc, along with Florin Nastase went to Ezo, South Sudan with Simon Backhit for three weeks. Simon is originally from this village. They were able to show the Jesus film in the Zande language in two locations every evening. They were able to give over 1000 New Testaments to the people who desired a copy after watching the film and hearing about Jesus' life. They assisted in the repairs of existing wells and were instrumental in drilling more new wells. Niky and Florin were able to teach creation and science at the schools. They contracted to make new benches for the existing school in town and renovated the classrooms also. We had the privilege of hosting the Cojoc's two children, Naomi and Ioel, while they were gone! With the Lord's help we have basically finished the interior of the Mission house. We have finished the foundation and block work for the garage/utility/furnace/boiler room also. Thanks so much for your generous gifts to make this project a reality!

Gerald and Kristin Ziemer

- AND -

Dear Praying Friends,

It is almost six weeks since Russia started the war in Ukraine, and from the very first day we were involved in this battle physically, emotionally and spiritually. For the first three weeks we had several waves of refugees. We ministered to them right at the border (providing snacks, and hot drinks since outside it was 14 degrees). They were standing in lines to cross the border for 20 hours, some of them ran out of fuel so we carried gas to them. Then we brought them to Chisinau and found them a place to stay; most of them moved on, but some decided to stay in Moldova. Some settled in with families, some rented apartments, and others went to the refugees camp mostly organized by the churches.

Thanks to some of our partners we were able to support those who stayed with families and provide hygienic bags (toothpaste, toothbrush, detergent, shampoo etc.). Later on we started a day care center and provided more needed items: potatoes, onions, meat and vegetable cans, grains, wheat, oil, sugar etc., baby formula, diapers, and clothes for needy kids. Those who already know Christ come to our church, help at the day care center, and visit Bible study groups. We also are sharing what we have with non Christians as it is great opportunity to share Christ with them; they are very thrilled the Church is taking care of them. Some them come to church, are interested in Christ, and others come to Christ. Each story is a tragedy. They are crying as families are separated: the men mostly stayed in Ukraine and the women and kids left home. Many homes are destroyed and they do not have place to go back to, some lost their beloved ones.

Every week I (Christina) have two Bible study groups with refugee women. One group consists mostly of nonChristian women when we talk about basic Gospel truths. The other group consists mostly of Christian women when we talk mostly of our Sovereign God. We do not know what is going to happen in the future and are definitely learning to live day by day, trusting the Lord. We are thankful for your prayer support and for the financial support which provides opportunity to care for the suffering. Life was changed in a moment and my generation will never be the same. On one hand it is scary to think what is waiting for us ahead, on the other hand eternity with Jesus seems so near. The Bible became very up-to-date for us these days, Jesus is real, the Holy Spirit is needed, and God the Father holds us in His hand!

Living out the Gospel,

Cristina for the refugee ministry

•• MARCH 21, 2022 ••

“God is good! thank you for your participation and cooperation in serving the refugees in Moldova! there is a terrible war going on in Ukraine ... people are dying, children, youth, old people and families are dying .... it's really strange to think what is happening there ... God made it possible to buy groceries and take several cars to customs in Ukraine. it was a blessing and a miracle that they let the car into the Ukrainian village where refugees from the cities fled ... they brought them to the church and they delivered them to the needy ... people cry and thank God for His care during the war....your help will be distributed not only to refugees in Moldova, but also in Ukraine itself. glory to Jesus! thank you very much! Your work is not in vain before God! we hug you!” - Pastor V. (Pastor V. is pastor of the Voice of Truth Church in Moldova. He and others are giving out food, etc. to the Ukrainian refugees. Please keep in mind Vitaly speaks both Russian and Ukrainian fluently, but is still working on his English! It's amazing how many languages other cultures know!) Loreen

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“Dear Mama Loreen,

Last week we continued to serve at customs. Buses from Nikolaev, where
the fighting was going on, were carried out in an organized manner.
People spend many hours on the road due to roadblocks. Some people
told me that they spent 16-18 hours getting to customs. We offered
food to the refugees as well as treats for the children. They were
thankful for food. People with fear and tears share what they had to
endure. One family came and mum asked me, do you know some christians
in Moldova, who can help us? I said we are christians, you can see
behind you the inscription God loves you, it was written on the tent.
She was so happy, she said we didn't know where to go, but God takes
care of us! I took them to the Christian center. We also handed out
SIM cards to families for the possibility of communication with
relatives and calls in Moldova. We also made food and hygienic
packages for those who settled in families and I was able to visit and
bring help.

Thanks to everyone participating in this ministry!”
Eugene

•• MARCH 13, 2022 ••

“God is good and true to His word, because God cannot change himself! Service to Ukrainians continues at different levels, at customs, food packages, packages with chemistry. These are very important people who have decided to return to themselves, to help them survive.. because in Moldova everything has become very expensive, gasoline, diesel, food, gas, electricity, etc. We make packages with chemicals, washing powder, shampoo, soap, dishwashing detergent, tuplet paper, these are essential items. People are happy and grateful to God and you for your sacrifice. People cry and say you let us survive! Thank God! Thank you for your prayers and sacrifice. Good bless you. - Pastor V.