Jan 26 ’10 – Road Open to Lugansk
Greetings!
First of all, I wish to give a big “Thank You” to all who donated to this mission of reaching one thousand souls with the Gospel here in Ukraine! As of Saturday, our financial goals have been reached! Praise God for this. And your generosity made this trip possible! We, in this beginning week, are finalizing plans towards this goal and have already made our first visit to Lugansk Region and one orphanage in Donetsk.
Some dates and places had to be switched due to the weather and other factors. First of all, Ukraine has experienced some harsh winter weather (even unusual for this region). It has been snowing for three of the last four days, mostly flurries. With the wind and cold dry snow there is a constant blowing and piling up of snow on the roads. We’re told that many roads have been closed south of here impacting the orphanage in Sneznoje housing about 220 orphans. Therefore, we have rescheduled this orphanage for next Saturday. Your prayers are requested that the weather will improve and the roads will be plowed and opened by then!
Also, regarding the weather, I have a correction to make. In our last newsletter I mistakenly stated the predicted temperature for this week in Donetsk region would be -26 F. I should have said -26 C, which in Farenheight is really only 7 F. This is still cold, but not as severe as it sounded! You probably thought, “Wow, Al is really crazy to go ministering in such Siberian- like weather.” OK, it’s not as cold, but yes, you can still call me crazy – crazy for the Lord and his children here in Ukraine! Our temperature here today (Sunday, January 24, 2010) is between 0 and +5 F. and the church building this morning was very very cold. We praised and prayed and worshiped with our coats and gloves on!
This evening we just returned from the Makeyevka orphanage and ministered to 30 orphans there. I presented these children aged 3 to 16 with the simple Gospel message, then Natasha and members of their church performed a play for the children really loved it!. Afterwards we played games for almost an hour.
One more note about missing Sneznoje yesterday: I am convinced that it was no accident that two vans had mechanical problems and the roads were closed. God’s timing is always perfect and so we are trusting that he will make a straight path to Sneznoje next Saturday. One member of my team sharing with me was being realistic. He said, “You know even though the roads may be plowed and the weather is predicted to go above freezing, the roads could be worse, with mud and more ruts.” My response was this, God can deal with that if he wants us there, and I firmly believe he does. Therefore, next weekend when we find that the vans are working and the roads allow for our safe passage, it will be to God’s Glory that we had the opportunity to bring the Gospel message of Salvation and Hope to these 220 orphans in Sneznoje – despite the elements!
I would ask that you do pray in this direction for the weather to improve, and our travels to Kharkov on Tuesday and back to this region on Friday night be without incident.
Thank you all again for your prayers and support.
Sincerely,
Al Scoglio
Missions Director,
Hearts for Ukraine