Feb 5, 10 – Hearts for Ukraine in the Heart of Ukraine
Greetings!
Our Winter Mission Trip is coming to a close. Good things have happened since our last update that I want to share with you.
Cherkassy, the Center of Ukraine
We recently returned from three wonderful days in the city of Cherkassy, on the Dnepr River. Cherkassy is located in the geographical center of Ukraine, and is in many ways the “heart” of Ukraine. The Dnepr provides for major north-south trade as well as an abundant source of fish. Also the Moscow-Odessa Railway crosses right through Cherkassy. And the rich soils of central Ukraine provide an abundance of crops.
From a spiritual viewpoint Cherkassy also takes a central focus. It has the first Christian school in central Ukraine. The first Christian medical center in the country will be opening here next month. We visited both the school and the medical site founded by Pastor Yuri Podnebesnyi and other church officials. On Tuesday, we found ourselves praying on a hill at the base of a war monument with a Pastor Yuri and another Christian visionary and author, Vladimir Yeremenko. It is fitting that we stood at the base of a WWII victory memorial. I often consider our prayers as doing spiritual battle, calling on the Lord of Heaven’s Armies to conquer the evils of injustice, falsehood, poverty, oppression, illness, crime and the like. From this highest elevation in Cherkassy we prayed for not only this city and region, but for the nation of Ukraine. Their presidential election is this Sunday, February 7, 2010. Knowing that the eastern and central regions disagree as to who is the best candidate, I just prayed that God will pick the right person to lead this country.
Zhitomir Region
I complete the last leg of this two-and-a-half-week mission with my dear friend Pastor Viktor. It was he who took me to my first orphanage at the beginning of my ministry to orphans in 2006. Today we blessed 70 older children with gifts and the Gospel message, “God Loves You.” Tomorrow we visit the last orphanage on this tour with the same plan to bless these younger kids three to seven years.
Final Note
This has been both a great trip and an unusual one. Although we didn’t make it to one thousand kids, we did visit hundreds of orphans and brought to them the simple Gospel of Hope and Salvation. And I feel great hope for my next visits later this year with new contacts in Lugansk, Kharkov and Cherkassy regions. This means more orphanages to visit in more remote locations where fewer or no missionaries have been before. These are the places Hearts for Ukraine will spread the Gospel and continue to bring hope to the oppressed.
One minor hindrance was the weather. Even severe for Ukrainians, they say this has been the coldest and snowiest winter in almost ten years! It hit -15 F one evening while we were in Donetsk and it snowed probably a dozen days. The roads which are usually not in very good condition anyway and were just horrible with unplowed snow, ice and ruts. As a result we had to cancel some orphanage visits and reschedule them causing us to make two extra train trips and drive hundreds of extra kilometers. The reality of the situation is that our bank account went into the red two days ago and we need another $600 plus to bring us up into positive territory. Please consider a monetary gift of any size. Whatever funds that exceed this shortage will go towards our June and November 2010 trips!
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support! God bless you! Thawing out in Ukraine!
Alfred …
Al Scoglio
Missions Director
, Hearts for Ukraine