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

1. Last week we mentioned a need Vitaly Bilyak had concerning upgrading his cell phone and some unexpected travel expenses to get to the United States. Within hours of sending out our updates, two different friends of BIEM called and met most of that need. Praise God!

2. Our partner church Dobra Novyna (“Good News”) in the city of Sumy has started a new kind of war relief for the people of their city. The church is offering workshops on Critical Incident Stress Management. This topic is very timely as more and more Russian glide bombs and drones wreak death, destruction, anxiety, and disorders among city residents.

In these workshops the believers explain that God created all of us with a body, soul, and spirit, and that crisis situations affect all three parts of us. Proceeding from that understanding, they emphasize that, in addition to caring for the body and the mind, one should also care for his/her soul, which God is ready to help with. Of course, such a spiritual perspective provides opportunities to refer to Scripture and God’s way of salvation. In this way, listeners learn about taking care of their bodies and minds but also hear about the importance of their soul’s need.

3. Many of you will remember the video we sent out, thanking contributors for the “Warm Clothing for Soldiers” project last winter. This is the video where the General of the military base in Desna, Ukraine, expresses his gratitude. Also in that video, we introduced Sasha Kapchuk’s nephew, who had just been conscripted and was being sent to the warfront and was asking for people to pray for him. We are rejoicing that God has answered those prayers as you can see from this week’s video, which provides an update:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/answered

4. Our War Relief fund could use some help. When the war began, we were blessed with an amazing amount of gifts designated for war relief. As was expected, this giving did slow down and has diminished steadily. Now that the war is in its 5th year, donations for war relief have slowed to a trickle. However, needs for war relief in all the forms we provide still remain. We hope that mentioning this situation will generate more gifts for war relief, which in turn also spur opportunities for evangelism. Please pray with us about this continuing need.

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM