Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. BIEM’s Sasha Petrenko sent us the following message:
Right now there’s a lot of tension around Goncharovsk — constant stress. But God is faithful. He is with us—helps, blesses, and guides.
“I want to tell you an interesting story. I was planning to go to Goncharovsk to see an electrician named Serhiy about connecting a generator. He was expecting me. I was about to leave when a friend from Desnyanska called. We talked about seven minutes.
My friend said, “Maybe it’s not worth going right now. The situation is tense.”
I replied, “We’re used to it. We still need to get this done.”
After our conversation, I got in the car and set out. When I was nearly to my destination, I saw smoke rising just a few meters from where I was supposed to go. It turned out that a “shahed” drone had just struck there.
The electrician’s son Oleksiy showed me where shrapnel had flown right past his heart. It had sliced through his jacket, sweater, and tee-shirt, but it didn’t even touch his body. Not a single scratch! He said, “This is the second time this has happened.”
When I arrived, the electrician Serhiy was in shock. He showed me his hand: A fragment had slightly wounded him, but he had wrapped it up, and we went to connect the generator anyway.
These are the true miracles of God. A third miracle is that I always drive along the same road the shahed had followed. But this time, God had stopped me with that telephone conversation — and saved my life.
Praise God!
We often don’t even realize the Lord is protecting us, but when something like this happens, you realize how completely dependent we are on Him.
Once again, thank you very much for your prayers!
2. The Buyko family has returned safely to Ukraine. This week, we welcomed Vitaly and Olena Yurchenko, who look forward to updating American congregations in Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Alabama. Please pray for these meetings and that God would use their firsthand reports to encourage many to pray for and give toward our War Relief efforts, which continue to reap a harvest of souls.
3. In the Obolon district of Kyiv, Ukraine, BIEM is helping Awakening Baptist Church to organize and distribute war relief through a warehouse they call “The Hub.” From this building, supplies travel outward in various directions to meet different kinds of needs. Of course, the Gospel accompanies each gift. Operated by Olya and Andrei, The Hub is a true blessing. We invite you to watch the brief video to learn more!
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/hub
4. Today I was able to Facetime with Vitaly Bilyak. He is in good spirits and keeps busy since the Army commander continues to assign him to drive officers who need transportation into town to do military business as well as taking injured soldiers to and from the hospital. This duty gives Vitaly excellent opportunities to share the Gospel. His court case filed to request a reversal of his conscription has now been assigned a case number. Vitaly believes this development shows progress in what can be a long process. Vitaly Facetimed me from a coffee shop in town where he and another soldier had stopped for tea. (He commented that they had also stopped just to look at people. On their forest base, all they have to look at are trees!) Vitaly requests special prayer for Sasha, a member of his church who is serving with a unit that must withdraw from an area which they can no longer defend against the Russian forces. Withdrawing is highly dangerous, since it exposes men to heavy fire. Please pray for Sasha.
Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM