Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are looking forward to the end of this year hoping that the peace will return and our lives will be back to normal. For the most important warfare news I'd like to mention the following:
1. The Ukrainian army keeps on liberating the occupied territories even though the full liberation is still in the distant future.
2. The Russian army strikes our civilian infrastructure with their missiles daily blowing up our power and gas stations.
3. The country lives with regular blackouts when both electricity and the natural gas used for heating are in short supply.
Now we know how to be inside the building with no heating even when it's 17 degrees outside. Most importantly though is that the people are learning to be thankful and pray without ceasing for peace and the end of the war. I have complete assurance that God keeps it all in control.
The Bible Institute.
The studies are still taking place in Chernivtsy. We are aware of the urgency of training the preachers and the leaders for the Lord's kingdom. This month our students had the 1st and 2nd Thessalonians (Instructor - Vladimir Paziy). And the students had a time of evangelical practice in a few cities simultaneously (Chernivtsy, Lviv and Kyiv). They studied and taught the lessons, sermons, distributed the Christian tracts and literature. Some of them went to the orphanage and studied with the teenagers.
Bila Tserkva church of Christ.
We are still ministering to the refugees and their needs. This month we gave away many grocery packages, pillows, blankets, warm clothes and helped people to pay their rent. It's a lot of work to assist with people's needs. The congregation is actively involved in the social work and it gives us the opportunity to talk more about Christ and the salvation through Him. Every week we have people asking for help. Some of them can live in the church building if they can't find anything to rent right away. It's a tremendous blessing to serve as God's hands and be a part of helping the needy. Thanks to the help of many American brethren we own a great generator in the church building. It means people can get warm in here and charge their phones even if the electricity supply system of the whole country is destroyed.
We are very grateful to you for your prayers and financial help to us in Ukraine during these difficult times. God is merciful and caring towards us.
Your brother,
Dennis Sopelnik