16 March 2022

Dear Friends,

The good news is that our people in Kyiv report that all are safe even though bombs and missiles have fallen close by. The threat to our village is lessened, although its invasion reportedly is potential. I just received this from a woman who lives in the village. She wrote: It is quiet now, but the enemies are trying to regroup to take Kyiv. They hide tanks in neighboring villages between houses so that ours do not get them.

The bad news is that the Russians continue to bomb the cities, even purposely targeting civilians. In the city of Chernigiv, 10 people standing in a bread line were murdered by Russian soldiers. Pastor Lyosha Savchuk and his family are from that city. Pastor Sasha Petrenko is in that region. He is currently sheltering 38 people.

Please pray for these brave pastors. Pray also for Anatoly, Yuri, and Ivan, college graduates who are serving in the Ukrainian army.

The city of Mauriupol in the south has been unmercifully bombarded for almost 3 weeks, and today a theater sheltering hundreds of people was targeted by the Russians. The Ukrainians had even painted a large sign on the street in front of the street to inform the Russian that it was housing children. Alas, it was of no avail. Such wanton attacks have no military purpose but are intended to break the will of the Ukrainian people. How I admire the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainians.

I also rejoice that the people we have ministered to are ministering to others. Vasya Munko, pastor in Lviv, is working tirelessly. This is what he wrote today:

Yesterday, we settled two more people in our house, a mother and a son. So now we have 10 refugees living in our house.

Also I was contacted by two families from Kyiv. I know them very well. They left Kyiv and now live in a village near Belaya Tserkov. In one family, the husband (Sergei) and eldest son (Andrey), stayed in Kyiv. They joined the army and are now defending their city. The wife (Oksana), is a believer, and her two other children (Ira and Sasha) moved to the village. Before the war, she worked in a kindergarten, but now she is unemployed. Her daughter also lost her job because of the war.

The second family has two children. The husband (Yura) worked in an orphanage, with his wife (Lena), they are believers too, adopted two children (Zhenya and Valera). Now they've lost their jobs. They also took their mother, Galya, with them from Kyiv. We also help them, we support them financially so that they have something to buy food.

Please pray for the safety of the lives of Sergey and Andrey, that God will protect them from enemy bullets and give them courage on the battlefield. Also pray for Yura,=. He is a diabetic and constantly needs insulin. And now in the place where they live, it’s not so easy to find the right medicines.

We also continue to minister to those people who are sheltering in our church. We provide them with food, a place where they can sleep, and certainly we share the gospel with them.

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, spoke to the US Congress today. It was a forceful and moving speech. I am so glad that there was a very positive response from the US which has pledged to provide more weapons to the Ukrainian forces.

Continue earnestly in prayer. The needs are great.

Jim
https://jfmministries.org