Today we lay ourselves before the Lord seeking His wisdom, His cleansing, His renewal in our own lives. We feel so inadequate for the task, and we have many meetings before us in the coming months. So continue to pray for us. Other than that, this update will focus on Ukraine and the ongoing situation.

A couple testimonies from Dan and Priscilla:

  • Ellie (our granddaughter) and her friend Veronika were helping at one of the villages and started talking to a lady whose home was gutted and the team is working on it. This lady, Katya, said that she never sins and never had. So the girls explained Romans 3:10 and 23 and how Jesus came. The next morning when they saw her she said when she was trying to go to sleep she began thinking about what they had shared, and she asked God to forgive her of all of her sins which she knew that she had done, as well as any sins that she was unaware of that she had done. A lady you can keep in your prayers as the Holy Spirit works in her life. She also said she prays regularly to the saints and Mary, and the girls explained that those people are dead and can’t really help. Step by step as they go back week after week.

  • Dan shared another experience. They have been working on another house where an elderly man (80’s) and his daughter and her husband live. The husband quietly came to Daniel on the last day and told him thank you for coming. He said that whenever their team was in the village, and for about three days after they left, his wife was like a different person. Otherwise, she is so full of grief and so filled with hopelessness that life is very difficult for her and for him and her father.

The presence of Christ through these faithful people makes a difference as they share our eternal Hope.

Prayer items

Daniel is having a lot of back trouble so you can pray for him physically. But as he is not as able to fully work when he goes with the team, he does have more time to talk to people and share.

They also are seeking to drill a new well. Theirs is inadequate (and has never provided enough water in July and August anyway). There are many difficulties in trying to drill. Just pray that the Lord would guide and direct as they try to find a new source of water. Right now they bring barrels of water about 3 times a week to meet the demands on their household with another family living there etc. A time-consuming process.

And the war

And the war continues and all of its uncertainties. Here is a link to a one-minute video of an attack last week on a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHCC3KKE_fI

One of Abe’s men posted the following plea a couple days ago for another city, Kharkiv.

“Kyiv was hit once after 2 months - everyone has hysterics, reposts, articles in foreign newspapers. Stellar commotion! They hit Kremenchuk - all of Ukraine is buzzing, the president has recorded an appeal! Kharkiv has been beaten for 125 days - and it’s as if nothing is happening !!! Everyone is used to it. Except Kharkiv residents, who have been living in wild fear for 4 months already! 2811 rockets fired in Ukraine! And half of them in Kharkiv!

“At least 6-8 missiles arrive in Kharkov every day, this is not counting the shelling of hailstones, howitzers, and it is not clear what else. These shellings do not count at all! Multiply that by 125 days. In Kharkiv HELL!!!! HELL in life!!!! In the news - air defense worked in Kyiv, air defense worked in Odessa, air defense worked in Lviv ... In Kharkiv - out of 6 missiles fired, all 6 hit. Because there is no protection!

“ Every day people die in Kharkiv and everyone is silent. Daily explosions, fires, wounded, screams, pain. Kharkiv screams!!! But no one hears! Kharkiv is crying, but no one wipes their tears. Our guys from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our heroes defend the city practically with their bare hands. Yes, and will you finally put air defense, missile defense in our city !!! How long can this all go on???”

That is just one example of the bleeding hearts in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army does not have the physical capacity, the weapons etc to stop Russia. This appeal above is to the president of Ukraine, but it is not in his power to fulfil. Only the West can supply the weapons to stop the carnage—and the West makes many good will gestures but not enough to stop the war.

And that is why we pray on, because it is only God who can deliver Ukraine.

I am reading a devotional on YouVersion called “Peace—Life in the Spirit” by Oswald Chambers. Rather heavy topics but certainly what I read this morning moved my heart.

“The human soul is so mysterious that in the moment of a great tragedy men get face to face with things they never gave heed to before. In times of peace, how many of us bother one iota about the state of men’s hearts toward God? Yet these are the things that produce pain in the heart of God, not the wars and the devastation that so upset us.”

Let us pray for the salvation of many so that these lost lives will have a purpose in eternity. Let us pray that many will find the peace of God that will carry them through whatever storms we face. And not just people in Ukraine, but here, in your country.

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