On Saturday night, our missionaries Igor and Paul (who often work in Yamal Siberia with the Nanet people group) travelled to their home country of Ukraine for a three week trip to work alongside Calvary in various outreaches to the Ukrainian military and also to those that have been wounded in the fighting and are currently in hospitals.
One of the ways that the Lord has opened doors is through their Christian rock band “Vertex”. The idea is that they will be going into the Army Barracks, and perform a concert to encourage the troops and in the midst of that concert they will share the Gospel, and share Christ, who is the true source of comfort. The band will be traveling throughout the country and playing wherever the doors are opened but are targeting those that have been directly effected by the fighting in the East. Though not on the news as of late, the reports that we are getting are that many Ukrainians both military and civilian have been killed or wounded in the fighting and we are hoping to be able to get them some food, and clothing, and to share with them the good new of Christ our Messiah!
I would ask that you would keep this trip in prayer, as there are many details that still need to be sorted out regarding where the team will go to minister, and how they will be getting to each area. I received an email update from Igor yesterday that I wanted to share below. Keep checking back as I look to update this blog with more posts as I hear from them.
Just wanted to let you know that we safely got to Odessa, and had our first day of meetings in preparation for our trip with the band in this region. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Our Lord was so kind to us, that we got plenty of space on our airplane even though it was completely filled with people. Also, once we got in Kiev, we found out that there were no bus tickets available for us to get to Odessa, but then Lord just sent people who were going to Odessa and we got to ride with them – 350 miles, such a blessing! Please pray for tomorrow’s meeting, since we hope to get a couple of big events planned! Will keep you updated as we go.
P.S. It was very weird to see a huge military blockade with armored vehicles on the outskirts of my city, it looks like people are concerned about Russians trying to capture our city, I hope that it’s not the case.