Hello, dear brothers and sisters, and congregations,
We are in middle of May, and here in Ukraine we still hear air raid alert sirens while Russian missiles continue flying over the heads of our peaceful citizens. Unfortunately, the all-out war carries on, the fatalities among civilians and military personnel increase daily. These days the theater of war shifted towards the East and the South of the country. The enemy wants to cut Ukraine from the sea access and control as much territory as possible. The Ukrainian Army resists, and every day we get more and more heavy weapons thanks to the USA and European countries. It looks like we still have a lot of military conflict ahead of us and only God knows when and how this war ends. We ask you to pray for us, for the Lord's Church and for the people who are now homeless and jobless.
The Bible Institute is working in the city of Chernivtsy now. It's the most distant from Russia part of Ukraine and as of right now the safest one. It borders Romania and I think they don't have a lot of military infrastructure which can be the reason for not getting as many air strikes as other parts of the territory.
During the last month brother Viktor Semikoz taught Wisdom Literature, brother Terry Harmon came to teach the book of Luke, I taught Ezekiel and these days Vitaly Rodichev is teaching Isaiah. We are grateful to Terry Harmon for this courage to come to Ukraine and encourage many brethren. There was also a joyful event, our students Sasha and Victoria got married. Brother Terry Harmon led the wedding ceremony.
We continue our humanitarian efforts with the refugees who arrived to Bila Tserkva. We support them in their needs of food, medicines and personal hygiene products that we have ready for them. We are trying to make them feel that God loves them and takes care of them.
Two refugee families from Konstantinivka started attending the services regularly. The church building is at the final stages of renovation to adjust to the needs of refugees. Currently we are finishing up the bathroom. Beds, washer and dryer are purchased. Now we have to get everything in order and start the refugee assistance program next week. People will be able to stay here for some time while we will be helping them to find some rentals.
Since the military conflict shifted to the Eastern and Southern regions some citizens are returning to their home in safer places if their house are not destroyed. The infrastructure of the liberated cities is being restored. The store shelves look better and a lot of familiar brands are replaced with the goods from our European neighbors. The biggest problem is the gas and diesel supply, they are constantly in catastrophic shortages. The lines to the pumps stretch for a few miles. Since so many tank farms were destroyed by missiles all fuel is stored in gasoline tankers and trucks and it takes much longer to service the chains of gas stations. Consequently, the gas prices are very high. These are our daily struggles but God was, is and will be merciful to us.
We rejoice in seeing His work of salvation. Yesterday two young men in Chernivtsy obeyed the Lord. They are from the Eastern Ukraine where the military activities are in full force. The Lord's church grows in spite of all persecution.
I'm very grateful to all brothers and sisters who financially help us in our ministry in Ukraine. It's truly an enormous blessing to use the tools for spreading the Word. We constantly pray for the people to be able to see the hand of God in their lives.
In Christian love,
Your brother Dennis Sopelnik