Global Aid Network Mission Reports

We have come to our Sunday morning when we will have a chance to interact with a local church congregation.  Today we will be worshiping in Ukrainian, enjoying the music that may be different from what we are used to.  The ladies of the church have been preparing lunch for us, and we look forward to more good Ukrainian food.  Not that we haven’t had good food so far, but rather that we are thoroughly enjoying new things!

Yesterday we traveled by bus to the center of the city where numerous high rise apartments were built in the early 1950’s.  We were introduced to social workers who had selected 15 particularly needy families with children for us to minister to.  We took clothes, shoes, slippers, school supplies, combs, toothbrushes and the like, as well as large bags of food staples like rice, buckwheat, flour, oil, pasta.  These social workers knew in advance what each family needed and in one case, she stopped by a small open air market where those with gardens had brought their fresh produce.  She carefully selected fruit and vegetables for one elderly lady who had difficulty getting down from her 18th floor apartment to do the shopping! In each home we entered, we prayed with the adults and provided for the desires of the children of these poorest of the poor. We also distributed gospel bracelets, explanations, tracts and Bibles as it was appropriate.  One family visited by Hannah had nine children, and she felt led to pray specifically for the needs of that family before we left.  We were greeted graciously in all of these homes.  Eventually all five of our small groups reassembled on the bus and were taken to the Chernobyl Museum where we learned of the 1986 disaster.  Besides the city of Chernobyl, there were some twenty other smaller cities and villages that were contaminated.  Several days after the explosion, the residents were told to get on numerous army trucks to be evacuated for a “short time” while the clean up was being done.  When many began to die shortly thereafter, the government decided to quickly build hundreds of high rise apartments before the winter snows began to house those who had been evacuated.  We felt privileged to have been able to meet some of the needs of those who now live in these same apartment buildings, and to have been allowed to minister openly to the children in the villages that have sprung up just outside of the heavy radiation zone.  Continue to pray for those who heard the gospel, that their hearts might be receptive to repent and come to know our Lord.

We visited two small villages that have sprung up in the fringe area of radiation during the past ten years.  This area is beautiful with large elm, cottonwood, willow, red barked pine, and birch trees as well as all of the green vegetation of grass and vines which all together produce a real luxuriance.  The people in these areas are again as poor or poorer than those we visited yesterday.  Everyone has a garden of potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and peppers.

The whole village turned out in both the morning site and the afternoon location; they all heard the gospel and most repeated the prayer of repentance aloud in the assemblies.  It was a heart warming event.  Adele R. talked with one lady who was wearing a fifteen year old bracelet, just like we were giving out today to explain the plan of salvation with colors.  She had been given the bracelet by someone who had heard a presentation way back then!  I always encourage the children to show off their bracelet and tell others about Jesus’ love.  Thank you for your prayers on our behalf and for Sergey (from last March ministry) who continues to improve.  One of our team will be visiting with him in person after we finish here.

Tomorrow we know about the first place we will visit:

Friday, June 19 - Baby Home

The Ukrainian government assists these orphanages for babies up to age 3 or 4, and loving care givers try to supply the attention that these little ones need, but in truth there is seldom an abundance of food and milk.  The food supplies we deliver to these places is greatly appreciated.  This particular Baby Home has 76 children under age 4 who are cared for by a huge staff of 253 men and women who need to know Jesus!  Pray for our sensitivity to the needs of these adults.

Saturday, Jun 20 – Church Action with a Kiev Church and delivery of food bags to poor families.  Pray that the “flour and oil” we bring these families will see them through and physically demonstrate the love of Jesus.

As reported by William R.:

We went to a central location in down town Kiev this afternoon to distribute Josh McDowell books to pedestrians.  The number of positive responses was encouraging.  We had four teenage girls in our group, and they had great success in giving out books to other teens while older folks found little reception from this age group.  Nancy C. was blessed with two separate encounters when she discovered that she had handed the book to fellow believers.  They encouraged each other.  Jen H. likewise successfully gave a book to a fellow believer who invited us to a christian concert to be held next weekend.  Adele R. was questioned by another pedestrian who asked what church we represented.  When told by our interpreter that we were christian, he was satisfied and accepted the book.  He had been approached before by clean cut young men in black suits who taught a “different Jesus” and thus was cautious today.