Gentlemen,
a brief update from Ukraine. I hope JEEP will send a more detailed update soon.
Last week we had a meeting with the Ukrainian CREC ministers in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. Mike Kloss (the chairman of JEEP), Garry Vanderveen, and Dan Doolittle were able to come to the meeting and so did pastors of all the CREC churches in Ukraine. We talked about plans for the next months and year but also about the future of our churches in Ukraine after the war. As always under extraordinary circumstances, the immediate needs mixed with the more strategic goals. But then the war creates not only immediate needs but also opens new doors. Please, pray that together with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters we will be able to use the new opportunities.
And I think that our churches in Ukraine have already proven that they can do that. Just one and perhaps the most obvious example, namely the church in Mykolaiv. Thank God, pastor Volodymyr Mykyta was able to come to the meeting with his wife and younger daughter. He said that coming to the western part of Ukraine was like coming to a different country, affected by the war but in a very much different way due to the much longer distance to the front lines. Yet, staying in a city under attack, where less than half of the population stayed and where most of the churches closed, opened new opportunities to minister. Suffice it to say that the average church attendance is three times higher than before the war. Of course, one could say that many of the newcomers are just rice Christians, and perhaps some of them are, but then our church in Mykolaiv does not have resources to feed them all, so maybe not all of the newcomers come to church just to get fed. It looks like many of them are sincerely looking for communion, comfort, and spiritual food too. As you can see in the attached photo, people are ready and willing to participate in the Lord’s Service even when they have to stay outside and look through the windows.
BTW, the church in Mykolaiv keeps using a building used by a music school that closed just at the beginning of the war. Not the church is the only user of the facility. But to keep using it they will have to repair the building (they have already done a part of the needed repairs) and prepare it for the winter. If they do not, the city might just cut the media off.
The coming winter could be a huge problem for all our brothers and sisters in Ukraine due to high energy prices and in the case of Mykolaiv damaged infrastructure. Russia is doing what it can to drive the energy and food prices higher and higher in Ukraine and Europe.
In three weeks our Hus Presbytery is scheduled to meet in Mukachevo, Ukraine. This is the most south-western part of Ukraine where Russian missiles and rockets do not hit. This will be the first in-person meeting of Hus since its formation. Please, remember us in your prayers as we prepare for the meeting.
Bogumił Jarmulak, PM of Hus
July 30, 2022 | Ukraine
Gentlemen,
Here is a message from pastor Volodymyr Mykyta from Mykolaiv, Ukraine:
“Tonight, in the area where I live and where we hold Divine services, there were rocket attacks. The place for worship was beaten up, two people from our church were killed, I received a shrapnel wound in the leg. Now we are clearing the rubble. I ask for prayers.”
Yesterday, 5 people were killed in Mykolaiv by Russian cluster bombs.
Bogumił Jarmulak, PM of Hus
PS.
Two days ago a footage appeared showing a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian POW. Yesterday, Russian mercenaries from Wagner Group killed 50 Ukrainian POWs claiming they were not POWs since they were from Azov. That was a clear violation of previous agreements to treat Azov soldiers as regular army. If you still think that Putin’s Russia defends Christian values, you might want to reconsider that.
If possible, forward this letter to other brothers
—
Volodymyr Mykyta,
pastor “Church Covenant of Grace”
Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Bubu
Talking about Mykolaiv. Russians destroyed the main water supply line in Mykolaiv yesterday. Water must be supplied to residents by tankers. The governor also ordered the drilling of new wells. Thay will have to do before the main pipe is fixed. As if shelling wouldn’t be enough.
Bubu
April 15, 2022 at 2:52 PM PDT | Ukraine
Dear Fathers and Brothers of CREC!
Thank you for your prayers and financial support! There are six memberCRECHURCHES in Ukraine, for of them on the West side, one on the center and unfortunately one Church on the shore of Black Sea and on the way of muscovites fashists to Odessa. For all four of us on the West (and for one in the center Dunaivtsy) nothing drastically changed during last two weeks, but for Covenant of Grace on the South war intensity really getting worsen. Here is letter from Pastor Volodymir Mikita:
Grace and peace to each precious faithful brother and sister from CREC ! We live and serve in Mykolayiv, in the South of Ukraine. The situation is very hard and strained here. Our city is situated just on the one of the hot foremost of the war actions. Every day the fighting occur on the measures of the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions. Our city is under often bombardment from the side Kherson city and the sea.
There are problems with the light and water here. Today nearly 10.30. A.m. the strongest air strike has happened on our part of the city. The house of my family and our car were damaged.
The population of our city was nearly 490 000 citizens. However, nearly 35 percent had to leave it. Before the war, there were 70 member in our Grace Covenant Church. 18 have left. Mykolayiv Grace Covenant Church faithfully continues to lead the Sunday worship services and to make everyday encouragement and support of the believers. The graceful Word of God is preached, and the Sacrament is done. My wife and I, the deacon family, and our dear sisters and brother constantly communicate and help each member of the church to pass through these days. We all pray and care.
There are even new people in the church. It is something especial. Sometimes we have more people on Sunday service then during peaceful time. Nearly 25 new persons are on connection now. By the God’s will !
Our younger daughter Lily is a medical. She works hard and with a big risk at a hospital.
We praise the Lord that we were not leave by you. We all thank you so much for your prayers, for your support, for that invaluable feeling that we are not alone.
We are in need. We still need your help.
On behalf of CREC in Ukraine, San Sanych Sr
April 6, 2022 at 6:03 AM PDT | Poland
Dear Brothers,
It’s been one month since a family of refugees arrived at our home. I would like to give you a short update on what is going on here and what we do.
Tatiana (19 years old pregnant girl) came back to her husband in western Ukraine a week ago. Separation was too difficult for both of them as a young couple so she came back safely and stays there in a safe area. The bad news is that her baby is sick and probably won’t make it to the delivery, or even if so, the doctor said it wouldn’t be able to breath or eat by itself. Being together with the husband must mean a lot to her in the situation. The rest of the family is with us. Luda (mom) helps with cooking, cleaning and she cares for the rest of the family. Maria is expecting her baby on 1st of May. I think we helped her to collect everything she needs for the beginning (a stroller, baby carrier, car seat, nappies, clothing for the newborn, shampoos…). The boys attend the local Polish school. Romek is a skillful soccer player so we helped him enroll to the local soccer club “Jaguar Gdańsk”. The coach says he is talented so maybe he will stay here to learn in Polish school and continue his career here. We will see. We pray with them, play with them, talk and eat together.
They come with us to the Services. They are baptists and sometimes we explain them what we do and why. A few things are new for them like the weekly Communion (they have it once a month and practice fasting before it), participation of the kids in the Communion etc. They like our music.
We also prepared some boxes of gifts for refugees who are staying in our village Banino (don’t be misled by name village- ten thousand citizens live here and the community enlarged with the refugees too) and in Gdansk. The packets contain food (juice, milk, cereal, pasta, rice, cheese, jams, beans, tea, canned food as well as fresh fruit and vegetables etc. ), medical supplies and personal hygiene products. I published an announcement on Facebook group Forum Banino that we wanted to help refugees from our town. We have delivered 20 boxes so far. I visited families like ours who are hosting Ukrainians under their roof. Like we – they hadn’t met them before they arrived. It’s been a wonderful experience to get to know and talk to the hosting Poles and the welcomed Ukrainians. We put some literature in Ukrainian to every box: the New Testament and a few evangelistic booklets plus an invitation to the Service if they want to listen to the Word of God, get to know more Ukrainians and build fellowship with Polish believers.
Last Sundy over 20 refugees visited us at the Service. The conference room that we rent as our chapel was full. Next Sunday we expect much more. We had one Pentecostal family, Orthodox families and “our” Baptists 🙂 I printed copies of my Sermon in (imperfect) Ukrainian (using Google Translate) so they followed the Message. We will do the same with the schedule of our liturgy. After the Service we had a great time of fellowship with Polish and Ukrainian people. We invited one more family to dinner at our home last Sunday (from Kharkov) so our table reached it maximum size. But it looked as if the food was not the most important part, but the fellowship, friendly attitude, time and space to talk, attention. People who arrive have no friends here, they are scattered all over Poland, Europe or even world, travel for hours or even days, move from place to place just basing on the promise there’s a roof to put over their heads somewhere they would never think to travel so the opportunity to meet and relax, play board games seems so appreciated to them, especially the children.
We also created a FB profile of our Church in Ukrainian language. When somebody writes to me in Ukrainian I send them a link with information about us.
What do we plan?
– prepare and distribute more boxes for the refugees in our area,
– plan to do BBQ at our yard when the temperature is warmer,
– make the trip to the ZOO in Gdansk for families from Ukraine (and Poles who want to join) or invite the kids to the children’s zone, a playroom, if it’s too cold and windy.
– we want to invite them to join our Church Camp in June,
– English mini-camp in July (in Gdansk).
Please pray for:
– their hope and faith,
– meeting the needs of the body and soul,
– wisdom for us in serving them,
– our strength,
I am including a few photos.
Of course feel free to share it with your people.
Blessings,
Pawel
March 26, 2022 at 9:38 AM PDT | US
All,
We are pleased to report that your efforts to provide vans to JEEP have been blessed by God. We purchased one vehicle and the funds for a second are in hand.
We were able to cover the cost, title, license, and new tires for a van that is 4 years old and only has 80K miles. It can hold up to 8 passengers, with a carrying capacity of over 1 metric ton. In comparison, a brand-new van costs $40,000 and takes 9 months to receive.
Your efforts have provided the means to immediately deliver much needed supplies directly to Ukraine. Our next goal is to send Pastor Bogomil Jarmulak into Ukraine with a van full of supplies for our Churches and war refugees.
The faithfulness of the Lord is beautiful to behold. On behalf of the Saints in Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine, we thank you.
Ongoing support is crucial to our kingdom building efforts in Eastern Europe and our response to the crisis in Ukraine. We warmly welcome your generosity and partnership in our efforts, as we continue to build up the body of Christ in Eastern Europe and come to the aid of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
In Christ,
Mike (on behalf of the JEEP EC)
Bogumił Jarmulak, PM of Hus
March 22, 2022 at 1:51 PM PDT | Poland
Dear Brothers,
Greetings from Gdansk, Poland. Today we have 14th day when Ukrainian refugees are with us at our home.
I would like to share with you a brief update.
We have a privilege to share our home and life with a family of refugees (baptists) from Ukraine: three women (Luda 50, Maria 22, Tatiana 19) and two boys (Romek 14, Mark 7). Two young women (Maria and Tatiana) are pregnant (8th month and 2nd month). It looks like we will invite the 6th refugee in one month. 🙂
We prepared my library as a guest room and also the attic so they have two rooms of their own and of course we share the living room, kitchen, bathrooms. It is blessing for us to share our life and material goods. They want to be helpful as they can: they cook, clean, wash dishes, we pray together in the evenings… We help them supply all they need: cleaning products, clothing, shoes, food, school supplies, books etc.
The boys started school in our village (close to Gdansk) – Banino and they are happy, learn Polish language and have new friends in the class and in our neighbourhood. I went with Romek to the local soccer club and he likes to play with Polish boys (twice a week). He is a very skillful soccer player.
The younger one (Mark) has an arm injury (it happened in Ukrainie) and we help him in treatment and rehabilitation. The younger woman (Tatiana, 19) had strong pain and Jola went with her to the doctor. Ultrasound showed some problems with the baby and the doctor told about the danger of a sick fetus. We saved another visit in a week so please pray for Tatiana and the baby (and Maria and her baby as well). She has a difficult time.
We have a blessed time of eating together, praying together, playing board games and basketball at our yard. They love to play chess and checkers with us 🙂
Sometimes we play Xbox and watch soccer matches on TV with the boys.
The husbands of these three women stayed in Ukraine and they are engaged in transport of food etc. for Ukrainian soldiers. Every day they talk with our guests. We see how hurtful it is for Ukrainian people. For us their pain is not a theory either. We see their struggles, tears, smiles and we try to give them hope and strength in faith in Jesus. We love them. I am sure it will be a friendship for our whole life.
I am including photos.
Blessings,
Pawel
March 22, 2022 at 9:58 AM PDT | Ukraine
Dear brothers, your prayers and your help give us hope to survive all that we face during the war. Dear brother Dave, my wife Victoria is constantly taking the necessary medicines to support her health. God shows grace and keeps her by my side. And it also gives me strength. In one photo, she distributes bread.
This is a photo, we are in a shelter.
(from Volodymyr Mykyta, in response to Dave Hatcher inquiring about his wife who is recovered from cancer)
March 21, 2022 at 11:59 AM PDT | Ukraine
Gentlemen,
all our churches in Ukraine continue to worship on Sundays. Here are a few photos from last Sunday in Mykolaiv, a city that has been shelled by Russian thugs for the past three weeks.
Bogumił Jarmulak, PM of Hus
March 19, 2022 at 11:56 AM PDT | Ukraine
Gentlemen,
Mykolaiv has been shelled again. Rev. Mykyta continues to minister to his church members (almost half of them has already evacuated). Remember that his wife, Vicka, had fought against cancer for a couple of years. Please, pray that all the stress does not affect badly her physical and spiritual health.
The Christian School Svitlo in Rivne with Rev. Sergey Terentyev as its headmaster continues to operate as much as possible. They do not have regular lessons but stay in touch with the stuff (whoever is left in the city) and the kids. Support groups and counseling mainly but also other kind of activities. In person or over the Internet. Together with other ministers and elders in Rivne (the are two CREC churches there but they decided to start worshipping together for now) help older church members and war refugees stopping in the city on their way further to the West (many families received them into their homes).
A Russian missile (rumors are that that was a hypersonic one, but that has not been confirmed) hit a weapon depot near Ivano-Frankivsk. It is a place where we had our first family camp in Ukraine probably 10 years ago. Almost 2/3 of the Nazareth House kids have already left Ukraine. Those who are still there, are being taken care of.
Thank you for your prayers. And I hope you also sing imprecatory Psalms these days. With at least Putin and Lavrov, and Shoygu in mind.
Bogumił Jarmulak, PM of Hus