A Big Victory for Ukraine...But Many Things Still to be Decided

A very big victory for Ukraine today. The president Viktor Yanukovych seemed to have disappeared this morning and all riot police as well. The opposition gained control of Kyiv's center and the government buildings there. Later the Ukrainian parliament voted to impeach Yanukovych effectively removing him as the president of Ukraine. This is what many people in Ukraine wanted and probably one of the few things that could really stop the violence.

Things are peaceful now in Kyiv but still very tense. The president has fled to Kharkiv a eastern city in Ukraine, and some are saying a Russian stronghold where Yanukovych has many more allies. He said he is the rightfully elected President and that everything in Kyiv was a coup and done by bandits and is not willing to go quietly, so it is interesting how things will play out. Also it is very important to see how Russia will react. Yanukovych was their guy and now with the olympics ending who knows where Russia will focus it's attention. Keep in mind that Russia controls much of the energy resources for Ukraine and can turn off that supply as it wishes. Some eastern and more pro-russian cities and regions are already talking about splitting from Ukraine if constitutional order isn't restored.

It is a huge victory, but a lot of things can still go wrong. Please pray that there won't be any senseless fighting as power is restored and new leaders chosen. Pray also that the new leaders will be good, honest, and have the people's best interests in mind. Pray for the hundreds of families who lost loved ones in the fighting in Kyiv. Also pray that Ukraine will stay united and not have any fighting between East and West. Altogether, it is a good day for Ukraine. The people here in L'viv, and in most of the country, feel that it is a victory for them and that things will be better now. Thanks everyone for your prayers and support and please continue to pray for Ukraine as there is still a lot to be done here and many things can still go wrong. I hope and pray that the worst is over and that it is all uphill from here for Ukraine! Thanks again and God bless!!! (about the pictures: You can see in the first picture protesters guarding the now empty presidential buildings keeping them safe from vandalizing and looting. The protesters said the buildings are the people's again and they will protect it until the new president comes there. You can see some members of parliament cheering in the second picture after voting to remove Yanukovych from office.)

A Very Tough Week for Ukraine

This week's death toll, last I heard, was at 77, but many think it will be higher. It is a sad week for Ukraine and for many families who lost loved ones in this senseless fighting, but there is hope here. Hope for a better government, a better country, and a better future. Already the Ukrainian parliament is voting to return to the constitution of 2004 under which the president has less power. The current president, Viktor Yanukovych changed the constitution when he took office giving himself more power and the parliament less. Also the government agreed to pull back its riot police and agreed to early presidential elections in December of this year.

Everyone is just hoping this is enough to end the madness and the fighting. Some think it might not be enough...I hope it is and that the fighting will stop. Also some people think these concessions are just a ploy to allow Yanukovych's government to bring in more troops, and many are distrustful of anything he is promising. Already some of my American friends are packing to go home and some who were planning to return didn't. Please continue to pray for Ukraine. I hope you will take a few minutes of your day to do so, and also I encourage you to watch the news and some videos about what is happening here so you will understand better because I can't explain it as well as some of the pictures and videos can. Thanks again everyone for your prayers and support and if you have any questions just ask.

Worst violence in 70 years...

Yesterday we saw in Ukraine the worst violence in 70 years. It was the deadline for the protesters to leave all buildings and stop all protesting.

The Ukrainian riot police attacked the protest camp with water cannons, stun grenades, and some say live ammunition. If any of you are watching the news it really does look like a war zone. Please pray for Ukraine and for the people of Ukraine, and that this will not continue to escalate, but a peaceful solution will be found. Click here for a video that shows more about yesterday and explains a little about this revolution. Thanks for your prayers and support. For those of you worried about me just remember that most of this fighting is in Kiev and I am completely safe. Please continue to keep Ukraine in your prayers!

Update on the Situation in Ukraine

Protests are still going strong here in the capital city of Kiev. There are still many reports on a daily basis, some of them alarming and some of them just plain sad, but hard to know which side is telling the truth. Some reports by the police make the anti-goverment groups to appear as right-wing fanatics setting off bombs and such and murdering people, however the reports from normal people are that things aren't happening like the police say. Anyways, it's still very tense and still unclear how things will turn out here.

One positive step was that the anti-protest laws that I mentioned in a previous post were overturned so that is a good thing. Another area of debate at the moment is amnesty for the protesters who have been arrested. The president signed a bill saying they would be granted amnesty if all the protesters leave the government buildings they are occupying but they are unwilling to do that and don't trust the government to keep its word. I will continue to watch how things will unfold here, and pass it along to you all as best I can. Please keep praying for the people here and the situation in Ukraine as it is still very unstable. As for me like I said don't worry, I am in L'viv not Kiev, and it is still calm where I am living. Just mostly life as usual here, which included two very cold weeks at almost -20 C most of the time. Now things a are a bit warmer and the snow is melting so I'm just dodging falling ice and snow (not really but still should be careful). I am busy helping where I can with some ministries and with English and possibly helping the Trinity church I am currently working with a church-plant in a different area of the city. More to come on that later when I can explain it in more detail. Thanks everyone for your interest in Ukraine, and in the work we are doing here. Encouraging to have many people say that they read the blog and are glad to hear I am doing ok. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. More updates to come! God bless.

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.