War Relief Updates - November 4, 2022

Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People

Dear Friends of BIEM,

1. This message just arrived from a BIEM missionary: “Praising God this morning for his protection over my brother-in-law Slava. He was hauling humanitarian aid to the war zone and was planning on parking his truck and sleeping in it at a truck stop near Poltava. The curfew hit before he could completely finish that trip, so rather than risk it, he pulled off and slept. The truck stop he had been planning to go to was bombed and leveled. He would have certainly died. Thank you for your prayers for our family and Ukraine. Our God is always good.”

2. In Ukraine, Russia’s continuous missile and drone attacks are taking a toll on the population not often mentioned in the media. Our personnel there see a sharp increase in the number of people struggling with drugs and alcohol. Our Christian rehabilitation centers are having to turn away the increased numbers of men wanting to enter those programs for help with these addictions.

3. Recently I’ve been in churches and conferences with two of our visitors to the U.S., Vitaly Bilyak and Igor Fomichov. When one U.S. church learned about the need for large, thousand-dollar generators for their churches due to Russian attacks on the power grid, that church took immediate action. They donated enough to purchase such generators for both churches at once! Although many more generators are needed, this is a wonderful start. We praise the Lord for moving in His people here to meet the needs of His people there.

4. In mid-October we requested that you pray concerning our next 40-ft. container of humanitarian aid, which was then approaching Poland. The container arrived in Gdansk, Poland, on October 23 but has yet to be transported to Ukraine. The cause for this delay might lie in the fact that transport for this aid was contracted at a cheaper rate than for commercial cargo. But whatever the explanation, please pray that this container will be trucked into Ukraine soon.

5. In the Kyiv area, a woman who is not a Christian came to church to pray for her son. He’s a doctor operating near the front lines. His unit had 6 civilian cars that came under fire. Five cars were set ablaze. The sixth car, which had been used to evacuate the wounded, remained intact, but the tires and rims were shot up. Local believers and BIEM chipped in to buy new rims. BIEM’s Vitaly Yurchenko donated tires he had at home. These items were taken to the front, where the amazed son expressed thanks for the help, even stating he would visit the church after the war!

Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM