Sam Slobodian Prayer Letter: November - December 2004

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Warm Christmas greetings from the Slobodian family!  We hope that this special time of year finds you enjoying the blessings of the holiday season.  As we celebrate our Savior’s birth and look forward to another year, our family has much to be thankful for.

 

Sarah (24), who works in our office, has become an integral part of our ministry as she manages our correspondence, mailings, website and other areas that make up our office operation.  Susan (22) lives in Franklin, Indiana, where she is continuing her career at Bank One. She has been promoted to a position there that involves investments.  Steven (20) is pursuing a business degree at Indiana University and works nights at FedEx, which helps out with his tuition bill.  Sharon (18) is now halfway through her freshman year at Maranatha Baptist Bible College and is really looking forward to the Christmas break.  Stephanie (15) is enjoying her sophomore year and played both volleyball and basketball for the Christian high school she attends.  Sam and Amy are grateful for our family and ministry, are doing well, and are glad to have survived moving both our home and office this past summer!  All of us are rejoicing in our new location and are marveling at the goodness of God in all of this. 

 

This has been an exciting and busy November and December for all of us at BIEM since we have had both Russians and Ukrainians visiting here in the States.  Pastor and Mrs. Rumachik from Dyedovsk near Moscow are now concluding their visit here, which mostly involved meetings in western states with Dr. Ron Brewer, who is our western Representative.  Eugene and Andriy Buyko from Kyiv were here at the same time helping out with move-related projects and spending weekends on the road bringing supporting churches up-to-date on our Ukrainian ministry.  They were on hand to help load a container of humanitarian aid and literature bound for Ukraine.  A special highlight during this time was a meeting we had on November 30th with current and former board members of BIEM to celebrate our new facility. 

 

There are some special prayer needs we would like to share with you at this time.  As you may know, the U.S. Dollar has lost much of its value against the European Euro this past year.  Since all of our efforts are in Eastern Europe, this has begun to impact our ministry to the tune of 15% to 20%.  Because of this situation any year-end gifts for the ministry would be greatly appreciated.  Furthermore, please pray for the need of additional support this next year to make up the difference.  The other special prayer request is for the election in Ukraine.  As you may have heard, a massive popular uprising called “The Orange Revolution” has rejected the results of their government’s election, which was marked by massive fraud.  Their Supreme Court has thrown out the results and scheduled another election for December 26th.   Please pray for a just and peaceful outcome that will overcome the corruption that has plagued this nation and advance democracy and religious freedom in this important area.  Finally, we need about $1000 to replace our 4-year-old laptop, which has faltered during some of our recent Power Point presentations we have shown in churches.

 

Thank you for your part in this ministry, and may God grant you a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Year!

 

The Slobodians (Sam, Amy, Sarah, Susan, Steven, Sharon, and Stephanie)