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

1. One week ago, we requested that you friends pray for Yura and Violetta Levtseniuks, our church planters in Lviv, Ukraine. Violetta is pregnant and because of some issues with her health, she was already on bedrest. When she began bleeding, Yura rushed her to the hospital, where doctors told him there was a strong possibility she would lose the baby. But—praise God!—Violetta is now back at home and still carrying her baby. The Ukrainian doctors declared this turnaround a miracle. We agree! God’s people prayed, and He worked a miracle!

2. Here’s another answer to your and our prayers... As explained before, our man Vitaly Bilyak had requested permission to leave his military post in Ukraine to attend the wedding of his son in Washington state, USA. Hallelujah, he just received his USA visa renewal! He still must obtain additional Ukrainian documents allowing him to leave Ukraine temporarily to attend his son’s wedding in the U.S., so please keep praying that he is able to come. However, receiving this renewal was the most challenging hurdle.

3. What does a congregation do when their meeting place maxes out the number who can fit? For the church in Desna, Ukraine, where BIEM’s Sasha Kapshuk pastors, the answer is to create a bigger auditorium upstairs! In this week’s video update, Brother Kapshuk talks about this wonderful problem of having more people wanting to come to church than can actually fit in the building! Here’s the link:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/moreroom

4. This past week, our Director for Central Asia and his wife drove a 30-foot trailer full of boxed and labeled humanitarian aid from Wisconsin to our warehouse in Central Indiana. Especially notable was a large number of boxes of disposable diapers. In Ukraine, these are extremely costly and in great demand since they are especially helpful for the elderly.

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM