• No, we were not able to “preserve” our Ukrainian documents. They will expire next week unless we come in person.

    Dan and Pris had to go to two offices to check it out (of course they are across Kyiv from each other) and spent over an hour just sitting because an air siren went off so the building had to be evacuated. Such is life in Ukraine right now. Priscilla said technically everyone was to go to a shelter, but, nobody does. The great news is that they are now issuing new visas, which was not the case some weeks ago. And embassies in Poland and a couple other nearby countries are the ones that handle that. So after our stay in England when we fly back to Poland again we will take a day or however long it is to process new documents. That of course is the beginning, not the end. We will then have to go to Kyiv and submit everything there for approval, and then when that is processed we will have to go back to Kyiv again to pick them up and register them. But, we don’t feel bad about it. It was committed to the Lord and you prayed about it and this is the answer, and in many ways it is a good answer! The good part being that they are actually processing documents again! Otherwise we would only be able to be in Ukraine for 3 months as tourists and still have to figure out how to deal with it.

  • Thursday we took a full day and never left the house except to walk a couple hundred feet to see a house auction nearby for an hour. We were both so exhausted we didn’t want to go anywhere. And Friday morning—I felt better than I had all week! Rejuvenated! We are so grateful for this house as a reprieve.

  • A little personal item that makes it possible for me to send out these updates. Right now Abe is upstairs sorting wash and putting it away! He always sets out breakfast and lunch when we eat at home and washes the dishes after every meal! While I write updates, field emails, deal with financial issues, etc, etc. How God has blessed him with the humility to do whatever needs to be done so we can go forward together!

  • And some people as we have traveled have made it a personal issue to pass out more brochures to other churches, other people! One friend in Canada I think has passed out several hundred and is looking to do more. Thank You, Lord, for these people who see the need of Ukraine and are willing to spread the word!

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PRAYER

  • Do pray that our Ukrainian invitation will be processed in a timely manner. Normally this would be plenty of time to process but I’m not sure everything is up to speed in government departments. (Okay, I’m sure it’s NOT!) And, I had forgotten, but we have to get that invitation in hand, so somehow it will have to be couriered…to wherever!

  • By now undoubtedly you have heard of the attack in Crimea. Somehow Ukraine has managed to get the ability to send long-range missiles. I just read what one Ukrainian soldier said, “It’s not about who is winning the war. It is about who is right.” The president is defiant claiming that Crimea is Ukrainian territory. And he is right. Most of the world agrees. But the world is so afraid of escalation that might unleash Russia’s fury. ?? And so you play games with people’s lives? You do not give Ukraine the ability to stand against this evil? It is a waiting game, hoping Putin’s “empire” will tumble. If Ukraine conceded now? Those people in the areas controlled by Russia at this time have NO spiritual/religious freedom. No personal freedom. Living in fear of offending a government that is a dictatorship. And not a benevolent dictatorship. And I doubt it would assuage Putin’s lust to have all of Ukraine. So pray on.

  • As the war continues we do not know exactly how things will come together ministry-wise when we return. Our hearts definitely turn now toward home, toward Ukraine. Pray that God would begin to open up ways and means and people to work with and to set up Centers of Hope.

  • We only have a week left in Ohio before we travel again ending up in Florida to see friends and speak at a church. So, we are busy finalizing many things here today and in the coming week. We will take Monday off to celebrate our 53rd anniversary. 😊 And possibly Thursday as down day. Pray that we will keep our heads on—especially me!

We have been re-reading some beautiful notes of encouragement we received way back in March. Many of them quote from the last few chapters of the Psalms so I will put Psalm 146 (NLT) here for you in full. Read it and think of Ukraine and the needs there and pray for them—and praise the Lord. Always, always we must be about the business of praising the Lord, regardless of our circumstances. It is the path of faith, the path of victory, the path of joy.

Praise the LORD! Let all that I am praise the LORD.
I will praise the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly.
The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The LORD will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the LORD! 

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