Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. On Sunday, March 10th, BIEM’s Vitaly Bilyak was busy with his 17th evangelistic-aid trip to Ukraine’s war-torn Kherson region. Shortly after he drove away from a packed church where he had preached to hundreds of people, Vitaly’s car came under attack by a drone. Evidently, the drone operator attempted a drop a grenade on Vitaly’s clearly civilian car. The blast beside the vehicle shattered the rear and right-side glass windows, punctured Vitaly’s tires, and punched shrapnel holes in the car’s body. Despite all the damage to his vehicle, praise the Lord, Vitaly himself was unhurt! Soldiers manning a nearby checkpoint on the road heard the blast and drove over to see what was happening. Although Vitaly ended up driving a distance on flat tires, the military assisted by summoning a tow truck with a flatbed trailer, which hauled Vitaly and his vehicle to a place where he could buy replacement tires and plastic sheeting with duct tape to cover his windows. Vitaly understands that many of you pray regularly for his safety as he makes these hazardous trips, so he thanks everyone who upholds him this way. Your prayers are valuable!
2. In Odesa, Ukraine—and far beyond that city’s limits—believers are broken-hearted. On March 2, during nighttime, pastor’s daughter Anna Gaidarzhi was sleeping with her 4-month-old baby, Timothy. Meanwhile, Anna’s husband Sergei was in the neighboring bedroom trying to get their daughter Liza sleepy. But then a Russian drone exploded into their apartment building. Sergei and Liza made it out of the chaos, but Anna and baby Timothy were nowhere to be found. Sergei waited all day for word as rescue workers dug through rubble in search of survivors. When they uncovered Anna and her baby, it was clear they had perished in their sleep. Because Anna had been a regular worker in the annual Bible Quest organized by BIEM’s Pavel Usach, believers from churches all over Ukraine knew her personally. Sergei says it’s a relief for him to know that his loved ones did not suffer.
3. On the north side of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, Awakening Baptist Church (one of the first planted by BIEM), noticed the influx of thousands of refugees who fled from the war in Bakhmut and its surrounding area. Seeing an opportunity for ministry, the church approached the city administration and explained that they would like to reach out to these refugees with aid and the Gospel. The city accepted that offer of help and gave the church the contact information for thousands of refugees lodged there. In other words, the civil authorities are helping Christians as they exercise Christian love and reach out to the newcomers with material assistance and God’s Word! Listen as Pastor Nikolai Rozhnyatovsky excitedly shares about this new outreach, made possible in part with help from BIEM:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/responding
4. Ukraine, one of our partnering churches operates a Christian Retirement center that normally houses 8-12 people. A different retirement center in the city of Kharkiv is evacuating its premises due to constant Russian shelling in the area. (In 2022, Russian forces were driven out of this area, but they continue to attack it with bombs and drones.) Accommodating 30 more people will require some major adjustments and repairs to the church-operated facility but, praise God, this is a need BIEM is helping with from our War Relief funds. Thank you for your gifts, which will not only provide housing for elderly ones in need but will settle these newcomers in a place where they will regularly hear the Gospel and see believers demonstrating the love of God.
In Christ,
Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM