War Relief Updates - August 22, 2025

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

1. Our missionary-pastor Vitaly Bilyak—who remains in great spirits despite being conscripted into the Ukrainian army—continues to have numerous opportunities to share the Gospel with soldiers. He meets with them singly and in groups concerning spiritual questions many have. This has led to regular evening services in his tent. He states that he is not there by an accident, but that God has a divine purpose for putting him where he is. He also requests prayer for these soldiers he is reaching out to. But he also asks for prayer that his conscription be reversed. The Brotherhood of Independent Baptist churches of Ukraine has submitted to the Ukrainian government an official request for his release from military service. A formal letter from BIEM accompanies their request. An English copy of what we wrote in Ukrainian is at the bottom of these updates.

2. For the second time, our new church planter—Sergei Anokhin of Bucha, Ukraine—has been invited to a presidential breakfast in Kyiv. An invitation to such an event with President Zelinsky is considered a special honor, and the event will provide opportunities for Sergei to establish contacts with notable community leaders. We hope these contacts will eventually open doors for evangelism and more avenues for delivering war relief. The breakfast will take place this Monday, August 25th.

3. During the Covid days, God prompted Pastor Pavlo to start preaching to a handful of people in the forest southwest of Kyiv. There, they constructed a light, temporary shelter for services. As word of the fledgling congregation spread, the group grew to standing-room only. BIEM began helping with summer camp funds and aid. They, in turn, gladly help in distributing war relief from BIEM among needy ones in their area. The new church attendance is now up to 40. Praise God for this wonderful growth! BIEM has provided financial assistance to build a bigger structure to accommodate the number attending. In this video, BIEM's Eugene Buyko introduces Pastor Pavlo and lets him share about “Forest Baptist Church.”

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/wildwood

4. In light of current events on the world stage, many of you friends have been asking Amy Slobodian and me our opinions of the various rounds of high-level talks taking place. Since we are currently in Ukraine participating in camps and surveying our war-relief outreaches, we in turn asked the Ukrainians for their opinions on the summits between President Trump and Putin and possibly Putin and Zelinsky. After listening to many replies, I composed this general summary:

“So far, we have not found anyone [in Ukraine] who is optimistic about these meetings. All Ukrainians we speak with think that nothing will come of these meetings and that this is just a stall tactic by Putin to delay more severe sanctions. In the meantime, Russian attacks are increasing. In fact, Wednesday night we were awakened by the sound of Ukrainian air defenses shooting at a drone that had flown into our area. According to media reports, in one of the largest overnight strikes since the war began, Russia unleashed some 614 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles across Ukraine, killing one, injuring dozens and destroying an American-owned electronics company less than an hour from two NATO borders. Then again this morning at camp, we and all the campers had to take shelter in the church basement when an alarm announced that another shahed drone had appeared over the church’s area. Praise God, we heard no nearby explosions.”

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM

August Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

It doesn't matter whether kids live in a big city or a small town or village. Each one is a precious soul, and they are all of great value in the Lord's eyes. For this reason, the BIEM missionaries and volunteers who conducted are happy to organize day-camp opportunities in small, out-of-the way communities where there is often no church at all. Our video for the month of August needs no interpretation. Believers who ministered to children in the village of Glybochok, Ukraine, simply filmed various "slices" from the life of their camp. Some scenes are humorous; others are serious. But in watching you will gain a general idea of why the kids enjoyed this camp so much!

Here’s the link: https://vimeo.com/user37287229/glybochok

Blessings to you!
Sam & Amy Slobodian

Update: Urgent Prayer Request - August 7, 2025

Vitaly Bilyak was able to call me, and we talked for a while. He is in a training center, which is basically a tent camp in a forest. Apparently he can call us, but we cannot call him. However, I can SMS him. He is in very good spirits and asked us to pray for 3 things:

1. That God would use him to share the Gospel among the soldiers, which he is doing.
2. That God would encourage, strengthen, and comfort his wife Katya.
3. That the legal efforts the Baptist Brotherhood have launched through lawyers would relieve him of military service, although he says this would indeed be a miracle.

Thank you for praying for Sergiy Koop’s safety as he traveled through areas infested with conscription units to visit Vitaly. Praise God, Sergiy has returned home safely. In this week’s update—which goes out every Friday—we will highlight a video of Sergiy’s visit with Vitaly, as well as him sharing how God protected him on this trip. If you are not on our email list to receive these weekly updates, you can subscribe here:

https://www.baptistinternational.org/urgent-war-updates-sign-up 

Sam Slobodian

BIEM

BIEMs of Light: August 2025

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• The container of aid we shipped on May 30 for the church in Obolon (north side of Kyiv) has safely arrived. Thanks for praying as the church works through all the necessary paperwork.

• In Central Asia, more Muslims have become former Muslims after accepting Christ! In recent days a Tajik man and an Afghani couple have placed their faith in Jesus. Praise God!

• Recently a lawyer informed BIEM that a couple who had been longtime supporters of BIEM had gone into eternity and willed their house to BIEM as a final donation. The house hasn’t sold yet, but we thank God for such friends of BIEM who aid our various ministries even in their Homegoing!

• At a campground in Western Ukraine, the church in Lviv held special meetings for about 200 women made widows during the war. We thank God for the opportunity to bless and encourage hurting ones while sharing Jesus Christ. It’s a sad reality that Ukraine is becoming a nation of widows.

Prayer – Pray with us!

• In Desna, Ukraine, the church building recently suffered damage when a Russian drone targeted a nearby electrical substation. The blast blew out windows and did other minor damage. Even before this attack, with BIEM’s help the church was already putting on a new roof. Now they have extra work to do at a time when so many construction workers are away, serving in the military. Please uphold this congregation in prayer.

• This month, Sam & Amy Slobodian will be in Ukraine to work in children’s camps, among other ministries. In light of the greatly increased number of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine in recent days, please pray for safety for them and for all the kids and leaders of these summer camps. Of course, please continue praying for life-changing decisions among the children in all our camps!

• The container of aid that we shipped on June 20 for Desna, Ukraine, is still enroute. Pray for its safe arrival and for wisdom for that church when the believers distribute the contents and evangelize.

• BIEM missionaries and volunteer church members continue to organize roadside evangelism and other Gospel outreaches. Please pray for their safety and for the salvation of souls. To see brief videos of various evangelistic activities, please go to BaptistInternational.org and scroll down theHome page to click “View Video Updates.”

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July Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

When we BIEM staff members visit churches or create newsletters discussing the desperate needs in Ukraine due to the war, so many of you reply generously. We regularly thank the Lord (and you!) for your war-relief contributions in the form of donated clothing & housewares, wheelchairs and walkers, funds for shipping, and your prayers.

However, as grateful as we are to see all of you demonstrating Christian love in action, our Ukrainian friends and coworkers are, of course, even more grateful. After all, they are the ones who are enduring the air raids, bombed apartment buildings, destroyed businesses, and loss of loved ones. So, whenever practical, we try to spotlight our Ukrainian personnel so they can express appreciation in their own words.

Thus, for our July 2025 video, we decided to highlight one of BIEM’s weekly video updates. In this video, our church planter Sergei Anokhin and Sam Slobodian are standing at the rear of a container loaded with aid bound for Ukraine on June 20. Because Sergei lives in Bucha, the city where Russian troops committed so many atrocities before being driven out, he certainly has firsthand knowledge of the heartbreaks and needs of the local population. You can view the video at this link:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/moreaid

Also, although Sergei has already returned to Ukraine, you can view one of the presentations he did in U.S. church services. In it, he shares about Bucha and the beginnings of his own church-planting ministry there:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/sergeianokhin

Thank you again for caring and for sharing of your means for the Lord’s work.

Blessings to you!
Sam & Amy Slobodian

November Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Greetings to you in the precious name of Jesus Christ! The link below will connect you to our video update for the month of November. BIEM’s director for Ukraine, Eugene Buyko, just completed six weeks in the United States with his family. They spoke in churches and schools in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and the state of Washington. See the link below for a few final words of appreciation from the Buykos at the end of their visit:

https://vimeo.com/765053627

By the way, as the time for the Buykos to leave the U.S. drew near, the question Eugene received most often was “Are you going back to Ukraine?” His answer was “Certainly I am going back. That is where I am needed.” We are grateful to the Lord for giving our ministry such dependable and dedicated coworkers.

In Christ,

Sam & Amy Slobodian

BIEMs of Light: August 2022

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• Praise God, our personnel in Ukraine have received another 40-ft. container of humanitarian aid from us here in the United States! This is the 7th container our dedicated Ukrainians are distributing to needy places. This one went to the city administration of a region that contains several settlements that were occupied by Russian forces, so these goods will reach some of the neediest recipients.

• BIEM president Sam Slobodian heads back to Ukraine on August 2. The main focus of this trip will be humanitarian aid, but praise the Lord, he will also participate in a baptism and an ordination!

• Today BIEM personnel drove another 5 tons of food from Poland into Ukraine, this time for the Kharkiv region. We praise God for thoughtful donors and for those driving and distributing.

• So far, we are receiving reports of young people coming to Christ in BIEM-sponsored camps in Estonia, Ukraine, and Russia. Although the Lord touches hearts in a special way through such camps every summer, we never take that blessing for granted. To God be the glory!

Prayer - Pray with us!

• Despite the war in Ukraine, one of our seminary graduates is deeply burdened for a particular district in a large city in Western Ukraine that has been flooded with refugees. Many of them plan to stay. This brother has recruited others to help start a new church, and they are praying and fasting every Friday for God’s direction and provision for that goal. Please join them in praying.

• A pastor named Aleksander emailed us today from the Intensive Care section of a hospital in central Russia. He has a weak heart, and their summer camps and other ministries may have taxed him too much. Let’s uphold this worthy servant of the Lord with our prayers.

• In Central Asia, the manager of our Christian shelter for hurting women is named Julie. She is a big blessing—talented, yet with a servant’s heart and love for Jesus. She devotes herself to running the shelter and ministering to these women and their children. It’s a big job. Please pray for her.

• In another nation of Central Asia, one church recently baptized 9 former Muslims who had put their faith in Christ. Please pray that more hearts in those regions will soften and consider their need of the Savior.

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Celebrating 40 Years

Celebrating 40 Years of Ministry

We praise God for 40 years of God's blessings upon this ministry. Countless souls have been saved, over 100 churches have been planted, and over 50 church buildings have been built for the glory of God along with many other outreaches. Follow this link for a historical overview: Challenger: BIEM’s 40th Anniversary

Prayer Request

Every summer, BIEM supports many camps in Ukraine, Russia, and other countries.

Please pray with us for many children to attend camps as well as much fruit to arise from God's Word going forth! The seeds planted during these camps continue to bear fruit for months and years to come. Read some stories about the continuing effect of summer camps in our most recent Challenger. 

If you are interested in supporting BIEM's work with summer camps, you can donate online, by phone at 317-718-1633, or by mail at P.O. Box 707 Danville IN, 46219. 

Urgent Prayer Request

In Central Asia, Pastor Righteous requests prayer. He has led a number of Muslims to Christ in recent days. The local mosque responded by stirring up a group of angry men to come and pelt the house with stones four days in a row. He and his seven-year-old son were nearly hit. He's concerned for the safety of his family.
 

Challenger Update

Here is an excerpt from our most recent Challenger publication.

BIEM’s shipments of 40-ft. containers of humanitarian aid and church equipment are especially effective evangelistic tools. They open hearts to the Gospel, help new churches, and they lift up churches’ testimonies in their communities. Learn the encouraging details, in the words of Ukrainians themselves...

It’s such a blessing to see BIEM meeting not only spiritual needs in Ukraine, but also material needs. Because the economic crisis in Ukraine has dragged on for decades, people have seen humanitarian aid more than once. They distinguish good aid from a pile of rags. People who receive assistance from us are always grateful, because BIEM sends quality items.

When I consider the whole humanitarian-aid process — from receiving donated garments in Indiana all the way to distribution in churches, orphanages, and rehabilitation centers in Ukraine — I see the church of Jesus Christ united in fulfilling the Great Commission. Every carton of clothing, every chair, each blanket, is a token of God’s love, sent to Ukraine by brothers and sisters in America. This isn’t just a mountain of stuff. It’s carefully packed boxes of love in the form of folded blouses, sweaters, and pants.

When Eugene Buyko and I visited BIEM in America last spring, we helped to load a container. The process of shipping and receiving such aid is laborious. First, most of the clothing received at BIEM’s warehouse gets hand-sorted by volunteers. Sorting and packing requires much more than a few days. When the warehouse is full, it’s time to order a sea container. Once again, loading requires volunteers.

When loading, volunteers fill the container compactly. No empty space is left. The top is reserved for bulky or fragile things: bicycles, wheelchairs, cribs, strollers, etc. During loading, someone counts and logs each item. When full, the container undergoes fumigation. At last, a truck hauls the container to a port, where it’s loaded onto a ship. Transit takes two months.

Our Ternopil church enjoys good collaboration with Social Services in our city. They know people who truly need help and accompany them to our church on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We offer everyone Christian literature, plus a children’s Bible if they have kids.

Employees of Social Services feel at home in the church. I was talking to one, and he referred to it as “our church.” I smiled. I like this trend. We pray that people, “seeing your good deeds, glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).

Friends, once more I want to express to you great thanks for your ministry to Ukraine through humanitarian aid.

— Vitaly Bilyak, Ternopil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for your prayers and for the material aid, which is so vital. In the economic collapse in our land, there’s much poverty. The brothers and sisters of various churches are grateful for the clothing you provide. This clothing is vital for us, since not many people can buy new things. Our churches receive small offerings, so we’re unable to buy church furniture. So chairs, tables, and other things from the container are really useful.

Here, not many can buy a car, especially in villages. When one brother received a bicycle as a gift, he was ecstatic. Now he gets around much more quickly.

Surrounding our church is a chain-link fence. Where did we get the fencing? From a container, of course! You can’t imagine how much you help us. Without your aid, our missionaries couldn’t have established a single church. Not one church building has been built without your help, because we are “labourers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9).

Over and over, I want to express appreciation to you for your invaluable support. May the Lord bless you!

— Vitaly Yurchenko

Please consider giving towards the costs of shipping containers so that we can continue to further the Gospel through humanitarian aid. For more stories of how humanitarian aid has blessed people in Ukraine and surrounding areas, click here. 

December Video Update

Watch this video on Vimeo by either clicking on the following link or by copying and pasting it in your browser:

 

https://vimeo.com/247346680

 

Dear Pastor's and Friends,

Warm Christmas greetings from the Slobodians and all at BIEM! This month’s video update is a special treat as you will hear the choir from the Rock of Salvation Baptist Church in Kyiv, Ukraine while you view ministry pictures from this past year. This church is Ukraine's largest independent Baptist church and houses our seminary, which is a partnership between BIEM and the Brotherhood of Independent Baptist Churches of Ukraine.

This particular choir has been a special blessing to all of us at BIEM over the years. They have often traveled with us all over Ukraine to provide music for evangelistic meetings, dedication services, ordinations and other special events. One time they traveled with us all the way to Belarus.  Please take the time to listen to this choir directed by Vitaly Grigor as they sing the Hallelujah Chorus.

May God bless each of you with a joyous Christmas and wonderful New Year!

In Christ, 

Sam & Amy Slobodian

Urgent Prayer Request

Our container bound for Ukraine is due to arrive in the port city of Odessa on December 7. Please pray that it can be successfully dispatched to Kiev and that our brethren there can succeed in the huge task of clearing it through customs.

BIEMs of Light December 2017

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• We praise the Lord for yet another successful Bible Quest in Ukraine. In October, 20 different teams of young people studied all the parables of Jesus and joined in friendly competition against each other. Ultimately, everyone who participates benefits from godly fellowship and increased knowledge of God’s Word.

• Although summer camps are long over, we rejoice for continuing fruit of both children and adults who have begun to attend local churches because of the camps!

• In St. Petersburg, Russia, a born-again man from Kyrgyzstan has been using mp3 players (BIEM’s Hear It Now program) to witness to others who immigrated there from Central Asia!

• Join us in praising God for two more solid, Bible-believing men in Latin America who have applied to BIEM for aid to plant churches. (We will share more details in a future newsletter.)

Prayer – Pray with us!

• One of our missionary pastors in Russia is doing double-duty as both senior pastor and youth minister. Please pray that God will provide a young man with heart to accept the youth work. 

• One of our leaders in the Central Asian ministry requests prayer for a soon-to-be-released Tajik language version of the film King of Glory. Pray for many speakers of Tajik to be curious enough to view this film and understand the need of their own souls.

• Brother Andrey in another Central Asian country recently wrote us that many of the churches in his country were taking the week to pray and fast for the persecution of believers in Central Asia to subside, and that American churches would experience revival and not need persecution to wake us up. That’s a sobering thought! Let’s rally around those same prayer requests. 

• Our container bound for Ukraine is due to arrive in the port city of Odessa on December 7. Please pray that it can be successfully dispatched to Kiev and that our brethren there can succeed in the huge task of clearing it through customs.

Challenger Update

Here is a story from our most recent Challenger publication.

When a sinner repents, Heaven rejoices. In our church, we too greatly rejoiced. Victor is a man for whom we have prayed a long time. He actively helped in building our church. He became the first person whose heart found peace in Christ after many years of wandering in darkness.

Victor came from the world, from a non-Christian family. All of Victor’s life passed without the Lord; therefore, when he repented that was a special event for us. Tears of joy welled in our eyes. We sang hymns of praise and thankfulness. The whole church got on their knees and gave praise to the Creator for this saved sinner.

However, while the church was rejoicing, the enemy of mankind’s souls was pre- paring a serious trial for Victor to shake his faith. When Victor’s wife learned he had repented, she began pressuring him psychologically. For two weeks she would not talk with her husband. Later she used words to pressure him at any opportunity. On Sunday mornings before worship service she would say, “Don’t forget to give away all the tithe to your church.” (That was as if to say, “Take all our money and give it to your church.”)

Friends and relatives wondered how it was possible he would no longer drink alcohol. They wondered if Victor had fallen into a cult.

It takes courage to openly declare you’ve become a follower of Christ, that you want to change your life, especially when everyone around you is far from God. There’s a risk everyone will turn away and say that you’ve lost your mind. But Victor had thought through his decision with regard to the Gospel and Christ. He openly said: “I am a believer. I no longer drink!” Thank God for his decision and courage. This was the first fruit of his repentance. 

For a long time, Victor has taken medicine for his heart and blood pressure. He has bottles of medicines standing on the windowsill in a certain order, so even with his eyes closed he can take the right one and make no mistake. One evening he came home after a hard day of work, and he took his pills, drank the necessary dose and...felt oddly. He lay down and all his body felt weightless. Victor thought he was dying. It turned out his daughter-in-law had unwittingly shuffled the medicines. As a result, he took ten times the normal dose of one medicine! When Viktor finally began to feel better, his concerned wife said tenderly: “Victor, go to your church. You will sing psalms. It will help you feel better.”

His wife’s new, softened attitude is a huge answer to prayer. Fellow church members in Ukraine were praying, and so were Americans Victor had met when they visited Bilogorodka to help with the church’s construction. People on both sides of the ocean prayed fervently.

There will be more trials in Victor’s future. We are praying, and we ask that you, dear brothers and sisters, please support Victor in prayer, that the Lord be with him in all his paths and give him peace of heart.

Thank you again to each of you who donated to BIEM’s church construction fund, which in turn led to Victor’s repentance. Saving sinners is the heart of ministry!

Challenger Update

Here is a story from our recent Challenger publication.

When it comes to building churches, a major concern in most of the world is justifying the cost of a facility that’s used only a few hours per week. So, there are great advantages to buildings that are usable for more than worship services. Three of BIEM’s current construction projects are examples of buildings that multi-task for their congregations. Since most of you won’t have an opportunity to visit them, let us take you on a brief “tour” via this article.

Bilogorodka, Ukraine

In the early planning stage of this church building, a question arose concerning a basement. Should the building have one? Building from the ground up would be cheaper, but would skipping a basement be shortsighted? Because Bilogorodka is near the capital of Kyiv, discussions led to the realization that, with lodging facilities in a basement level, this location could fill various needs, including:

• Lodging for seminary students.

• Guest quarters for attendees of conferences.

• Pastors’ meetings.

To accommodate such specific goals, the plans were revised to include a full basement with eight bedrooms, restrooms with showers, and a meeting area, plus more rooms and restroom facilities on the second and third levels. The design included a kitchen and eating area. The result was a multi-purpose church building that could house 30–40 people. Long before the building was complete, the downstairs quarters were made available for seminary students, who were thrilled. These new surroundings provided a huge upgrade from the crowded housing situation they had previously endured. Since then, the building has housed mission teams, Christian refugees in transit from the war zone, and pastors who gathered for annual meetings.

Ternopil, Ukraine

Due to the downtown location of this church, the cost of a stand-alone building was far out of reach. The solution, by God’s gracious provision, was to purchase the first floor of an apartment building. (This is an area most typically used for stores, shops, and other businesses in Ukraine.) The first floor that BIEM helped the congregation to buy includes two separate entrances besides the main church entrance. This large downstairs area makes possible multiple uses that dovetail with the church’s outreach to the community.  For instance, church leaders immediately designated basement space to receive and store BIEM’s container shipments of humanitarian aid and ministry equipment. (We’ve already sent one shipment.) BIEM missionary Vitaly Bilyak plans to use another room in the basement as a youth ministry center. A separate entrance from the street leads to two separate rooms, one on the left; another on the right. As the church grows, these will be ideal for developing ministries such as a day-care center, food-pantry, or clinic. Any of these would enhance the ministry of the church and provide opportunities for evangelism.

Shakhovskaya, Russia

Since this community of over 200,000 people has had no Gospel witness (the believers there travel by train to reach the nearest church), this church-building project is the answer to the prayers of pastors and other Christians who have been praying for this city. A second prayer was that God would provide a church planter to shepherd this work. The church-planter God provided brought a big challenge. Brother Andrei, the experienced church-planter called to this work, has a huge family with thirteen children. Where are you going to find a home for so many people? Since blueprints for the building had yet to be created, the solution was to make a good portion of this church building a large parsonage adequate for this family.

Approaching completion

Amazingly, God provided a donor who offered a matching-fund gift large enough to push all three projects to the point of being able to hold services. As these three projects near completion, the last step is to finalize their interiors, including church furnishings and seating. Praise God! And as if that were not blessing enough, BIEM has now received another matching-fund offer of up to $40,000 to match whatever other donors will give toward Church Construction. Thus, if gifts from friends of BIEM add up to $40,000, then those funds will automatically double to $80,000 — enough to furnish these three buildings, plus provide a badly needed roof for the Soroon Women’s Shelter in Central Asia. Dear friend, if you would like to make a special year-end gift for Gospel ministry, this matching-gift offer will maximize your donation’s impact. To finish these jobs, simply designate your gift of any size “Church Construction.” May God bless these constructions, and may He save many souls in their communities!

Slobodian Prayer Letter

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Warm Christmas greetings from the Slobodians! As we celebrate this special time of year in commemoration of God’s great gift of His son, we wish each of you a joyous Christmas and blessed New Year.

As a family we have much to be thankful for.  Looking over the past year we see that God has answered the prayers you have directed towards our family needs.  Amy has fully recovered from her heart surgery one year ago and our grandson Shane Harvey has recovered from the serious concerns connected with the liquid build up around his brain we had mentioned a year ago without needing brain surgery.  

Shane’s older brother Noah who had the heart transplant still needs your prayers.   Though he seems to be fine his doctors at the Children’s hospital have grown increasingly concerned about some of his lab tests that are a regular part of his life.  Though they continue to run tests, as of yet they have not found out why the test results are so troubling.  Please pray that they can find the cause of all this and that it is something that can be treated.   Meanwhile he is not in pain or discomfort and is in fact a happy little boy even though his life is not normal with all the trips to the hospital and the feeding tube he is connected to most of the time.

We are also rejoicing in the recent announcement our daughter Sharon and husband Ashton Brandyberry made that they are expecting their first child the end of March.  This will be our 9th grandchild!

This past year also brought some special ministry blessings. The 2500 children and youth attending our camps this summer was a record and the nearly 500 salvation decisions was rewarding for all those who labored and gave for this ministry.  It was also a blessing to see the return of students this year from the war zone in the East at our training sessions in Kiev.  The seven building projects started last year made significant progress over the past year and each one is complete or close to completion. 

As this year draws to a close there are some needs which need prayer.  Please pray for our brethren in Russia who need wisdom and strength as they deal with the new anti-missionary legislation that has been passed.  Authorities in Eastern Ukraine have also recently made statements against “non-traditional religious organizations“ which generally means anything other than Russian or Ukrainian Orthodox religions.   Pray as well for brother Peter Rumachik as he continues trying to resolve the delay to getting gas to the new church building in Shahovskaya, Russia.  Please pray that they may soon be able to switch from the expensive electric they are now using to the more economical gas.   

Thank-you for the prayers and support you send our way.  We thank the Lord for your heart for His missionary work.  May God bless you all!

The Slobodians