Unrest in Ukraine

As some of you know and probably many of you don't know I am back in Ukraine again. I was working in America and couldn't wait to get back! Now I am here and am getting settled in L'viv. I found an apartment and I have working internet and can finally posting my first update since being back. I will start by telling you all a little more about the unrest in Ukraine you might have heard about or seen in the news. So I will explain a little from what I have seen, heard, and understood about this situation.

It all started in November with a decision by the Ukrainian government, and mostly the president Yanukovich to not sign a trade agreement with the European Union but instead to sign an agreement with Russia. Many people in Ukraine wanted this agreement to happen with the EU, and wanted to get away from Russian dominance, and so they went to the center in Kiev to protest. Now this wasn't a large demonstration only maybe 7,000 people. The president and his special riot police made their first of many big mistakes at this time and violently beat these demonstrators with truncheons and shot tear gas at them. This action enraged the whole country and within a few days this 7,000 became 100,000 then 200,000 and finally more than 300,000 people as busloads of people came to protest the president, his bullying tactics and use of the police force, and his decisions which most people think are endangering their futures. Now they protest and are calling for his resignation. Many of these things you see are a result of him trying to hang onto his power.
That was almost 2 months ago and since then the President hasn't cooled things down but continues to anger the people with his decisions, and refusal to change things. After the first large gathering when things were starting to calm down the special riot police attacked again. This has happened multiple times in the last 2 months and has done nothing but anger the people and cause more reinforcements to go to the Kiev center square from cities all over Ukraine. Then again the president made a poor decision, which I guess was an attempt to calm things down, when on January 19th he unconstitutionally passed laws against protest, wearing masks, caravans with more than 5 cars, and any people receiving funds from outside the country are supposedly considered "foreign agents." (This includes me by the way.) He passed these laws very quickly and signed them into law with just people from his party. Many people believe these laws and laws to come are unconstitutional and will cause, if left unchecked, Ukraine to become a dictatorship. The people know this and are ready to fight, and even give their lives, to keep it from happening.

Just this last Wednesday, I'm sorry to say, we saw the first deaths. I have heard 3-4 people died so far, which again only enrages the people further. This week the protests spread from Kiev to many other cities. Around 10 other cities in Ukraine had government buildings stormed and occupied by protesters. These usually involved clashes again with riot police trying to keep order. If you watch the news you probably can see tires and buses burning in Kiev where protesters are still standing strong after multiple attacks by the riot police to push them back. I also added a few photos here. It is a very sad situation and I hate to see people fighting and especially lose their lives, but I understand that a dictatorship would be much worse and that something must be done. I hope Europe and America will help too in whatever ways they can.
Once again, I am very saddened to hear of the loss of life already and hope it won't get any worse. On the bright side churches have mobilized as they realized they too must do something about this, and cannot just sit around and watch the news as it happens and hope for the best. Evangelical churches in my area have set up a prayer location that is open 24 hours a day as well set prayer time-blocks for people so that someone always will be praying for this situation and that God's will would be done here in Ukraine. And this is happening all over the country which is truly remarkable. I will go to this prayer location a couple nights this week as well and pray with my Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Its really great to know that our "King" is the one with the real power and and everything is in His hands.

Please pray with us for Ukraine, for the safety of the people here, for the government, and for the freedom for the people of this great country. If you have any questions or would like to help with ministry here in anyway just ask. And for everyone worrying about me, I appreciate your prayers as well, but don't worry! I am in one of the safer cities and am not close to any government buildings or meeting places. I haven't seen any violence near me at all. Thank you all for you prayers and support and I will have another update soon as I start to plug into some ministries here and help as best I can, and wherever I can. Thanks again for your prayers!

Social Ministries

As I am here longer and longer one of the things that I see or notice more often, something that is heavy on my heart, is the infinite opportunities for social ministry. Usually financial help for poor families, whether it be buying them food products so they can have a descent meal, giving them money for medications, or just buying gifts for children on Christmas...these situations just seem to be commonplace here.

The level of poverty is much lower here and sometimes I just don't know how they survive at all. We try to help as often as we can and wherever we can. One family, as you maybe know from an earlier post, has 7 children soon to be 8 and the smallest has cerebral palsy. Some of you have helped them and baby Liza with some of her medication and we thank you very much. She has had some small improvements and has gained some weight, which was needed, and is sitting up on her own now, which is amazing because she is almost 2 for those of you who didn't read about her earlier. You can see her in this photo...the small one that is crying. (The other photo is their house which we are trying to help with some repairs including the roof and new windows.) ___________________________________________________ For Christmas we brought some gifts to a couple of our neighbors who are very poor also. It all started when I saw two of the children playing outside. They were wearing gloves for adults and trying to play with these huge gloves on their hands. Then when I asked about Christmas if it was nice, if they had a lot of tasty food to eat, they just said, "not really" and walked away. Was heartbreaking to think that so close there are children who barely had anything at all for Christmas. Makes me thankful for what I have and how blessed I am to be an American. It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to help in this way and a huge blessing to me. We weren't sure how we would help them. They needed gloves, winter clothes food, and we just didn't have so much money for all these things. As we were praying about it and discussing how we could help them we found in a box on our balcony a box full of everything we could think of: clothes, scarves, gloves, dolls, toys, crayons, coloring books. It was an amazing answer to prayer.

So we gathered all the stuff into about 6 nice-sized boxes for each of the children and we went and gave them their gifts. It was great to see them finally with smiles on their faces. We are finding many people in this area in similar situations. Families with disabled children (down syndrome, cerebral palsy, one blind child) and just families where a mother or father has died or is an alcoholic, or maybe just so many kids that it is hard financially because of that. They are often living with as many as 8 people in small 2 room apartments. Please pray for these ministries. I think that we are called as Christians to help in this way and also it is a great way to share the love of Christ and to open many opportunities to talk about Him. If you feel led to help in this area in any way or would like more information about it please contact me, or contact someone at Calvary.

Home Church

Now we meet every Thursday evening in Horodok for "Home Church."

It is basically a church in one of our homes, as you can guess from the name, and is a great time to study the Bible and pray with and for each other, and to meet together with other believers in our area for fellowship. Right now we are studying chapter by chapter the book of Mark. Our wish is that this group would grow in to the very church in Horodok that we have been working for. Also we pray that it will continue to grow as more believers in the area start to come, and eventually as unbelievers start to come as well. We have at the moment 6-7 people in this group, and our hoping for more and inviting some of our close friends and neighbors to come. Please pray first for them that they would have an interest and desire to study God's Word and that nothing would hinder them from coming, and second, for continued growth of our home church and that it would be a light here in Horodok. Please continue to pray for us and our work here in Ukraine. If you have any questions or would like to contribute in anyway please contact my family, myself, or Calvary.

Saturday Youth Group in Volytsya

Every other Saturday we go to a small village near the Polish Border called Volytsya. Here we have a youth group type atmosphere and are going through a Ukrainian Bible study course with our 5-6 youth.

Some unbelievers and some believers are there, so it is great time for us to be witnesses to them and to share the truth of the Bible with them. Also we play some games and have tea, cookies, and sing songs. Please pray for these youth that they will either grow closer to God and more serious in their relationship with Him, or will get to know God for the first time and make a decision to follow Him. We are helping this family in Volytsya, the Khitra family, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Pray for them that God would continue to use them in the area of villages near the Polish border where they are currently living, and that their needs would be met so they can continue to minister there. Here is a picture of us singing some praise songs. The youth come from different backgrounds and families, some with many problems, so please remember to keep them in your prayers. On the Saturdays we don't go they have a ladies Bible study so pray for that as well. Thanks and God Bless!

A Big Thank you!

Just wanted to say thank you for everyone who has supported or is supporting our work here. Also special thanks to Merrie, Tanya, Pat, my parents for sending a care package for Zahar. He is the 18 month old boy of the family I am living with. It seems he has many food allergies and gluten is one of them. Unfortunately in Ukraine they don't really produce specialized foods for children with allergies, so he has basically been eating just potatoes and some porridges. Anything else, including bread, was making him break out with rash and hives all over. As you see from this picture Zahar was excited to open this care package for him with all kinds of allergy-friendly snacks and treats. Thanks for help and prayers for Zahar is skin is much better. Continue to pray for him and his family, Alona and Andriy, as they are working here as well. Thanks again from Zahar he is very happy about this care package. If you every have desire to help in anyway with our work here just contact us and let us know what or how you feel led to help.

The Khitra Family

Hello everyone. For now I will have some updates not about just me, but about some needs we have here both financially and things in need of prayer. First we are trying to help this family in the photo. It is a family of believers not far from us that has 4 children now (in the photo only 3). They are working and spreading the news of Jesus Christ in their village and surrounding villages. And if you read my posts earlier you would have seen me planting potatoes in a big field in a village, well that was at their house. It is not the easiest life there and we would love to help them by purchasing a washing machine for the Khitra family. We need a special machine that can wash from a water reservoir because they don’t have running water there and need a well. Also if anyone has any used combine machines for the kitchen…to help with quickly preparing food and cutting vegetables and so forth it would also be a huge help for them. They have been a blessing to us and we hope to bless them in some way. We are still eating those potatoes … Thanks everyone for your prayers and support and if anyone feels lead to help the Khitra family please contact me. Thanks and God Bless!!!

Autumn update

Hey everyone sorry it was so long since the last update. Been busy but that wasn't really why I didn't update mostly was problems with internet. Even this morning when I sat down to write the internet went out again and I couldn't. I thought I would never get a chance. So what have we been doing in Horodok since summer. Well first I should say that I am not in the same apartment where we have been the past year or so. I had to find a new one and did not find one so I am living with the other Ukrainian missionaries here in Horodok, Andriy and Alona (and their year and a half year old son Zachar). Since school started I have begun to teach some lessons and classes in L'viv the main city not far from here for some churches there. I hope soon to begin here in Horodok the same.

It is a very good way to see young people on a regular basis and build contacts and then relationships with them, and then invite them to group, and eventually bible studies etc. So I hope we will be allowed to do that here and that it will be successful. I am very busy now with English and the 1-2 hour bus rides to L'viv and 1-2 hour back plus English is keeping me busy and making me tired. Also Zachar likes to scream/cry at 6:00 in the morning and again at 11:00 or 12:00 so trying to sleep isn't always so easy. Please keep him in your prayers though, he is healthy but has a rash that just won't go away.. Last fall/winter he had and for summer seemed to be all better but now again he has. If anyone could recommend or maybe even send a good quality skin cream (without hormones?) it would be appreciated. So for me, life has changed drastically in the last few weeks. Went from summer schedule to teaching a lot, and now i'm not in my own apartment and so it can be hard to just relax and have some quiet time...especially when the door doesn't lock and Zachar likes to visit me often and rearrange my room haha. No, hes not so bad just 1 1/2 and doing what 1 1/2 year olds do =) And on a positive note I at least don't have to cook so much.So that is great! And here is well into fall. A couple of nights ago was just above freezing. Today is not so bad though... Sunny, and not very cold. It really is great when you can actually see the leaves changing. For those of you in Florida, sorry you can't enjoy it too but I posted a couple pictures

. Really was very stressful couple of weeks moving. I had to do most of it on my own because Andriy and Alona were out of town for a few weeks, but I thank God that now have a place to stay and everything is much better. Just a different mind-set here. It takes some getting used to. If someone says they will come tomorrow to help, basically it means they might come tomorrow or in a week. If you don't believe me ask Sebastian, Merrie, or Tanya. So what I will say...be thankful that God blessed you all... really blessed you all by placing you in America. I know life can be hard anywhere and we should always trust in God and follow him, and there are benefits to living here as well, but to be born and to live in America really is a true blessing. Remember this and thank God for it! Thank you all for following this blog. It is encouraging for me when someone tells me to update because they are still following it! If you would like to give money for Ukraine Missions and the work here then just contact me, my parents, or even Calvary. Please continue to pray for us here! We need it and welcome it always. God Bless!!!