CIS Prayer: February Prayer Requests from Ukraine

[CarlaSun@aol.com]

 Dear Friends,

Greetings to you from Kyiv. For some of you there is already a hint of spring in the air but here we are still in the depths of winter. I recently walked through a park where the ground and all the trees were covered in snow, the place looked like a mystical land where all is white.

We are thankful to have our seminary students back after another intensive term at seminary. Please pray for all of our students enrolled in Bible college, extension education, etc.

-Relatives of some of our young ladies from Kyiv First church have some serious health needs: the mother of Lena has a large brain tumor. There is nothing the doctors can do for her. They think she might live to summer. Her name is Olga. Please pray for Olga and also for Lena and others who care for Olga.

-Also the father of Vera Kushnir suffered a stroke and heart attack. (Some of you will know Vera - she translates for our Work & Witness teams.)

-We praise the Lord that the group of 11 men who started their session three weeks ago at the Vinnitsa rehab center have all come through the withdrawal phase without major problems. Please pray for them as they continue in the program and especially for their salvation.

-Continuing with Vinnitsa, please pray for the ministry to street kids and for the women's rehab. The leader, Valya, is taking some ladies through a day program but the live-in arrangement is not yet working.

-Please continue to pray with us for money to buy property for the Khmelnitsky church. They are meeting in a small apartment for worship and there are about 48 of them, so they are very crowded.

-Pastor Zhenya from Miusinsk is facing some trouble with neighbors who are trying to  drum up some charges in court against him.

-The Mariupol church have many homeless people coming to their rescue mission and ask for prayer to be able to get it fully functioning soon.

-The Saki church ask for prayer for their ministry to handicapped people and for the registration of the church with the government.

-A young lady who attends Kyiv First church works for a non government organization that as part of their work seeks to help victims of human trafficking. Many young women from Ukraine are lured into some Western countries under false pretenses and then forced into prostitution. This organization will hold a conference for churches on Feb. 17 and 18 to train leaders from each church to know how to help victims who have been able to return home and how to help educate and prevent this tragedy. Please pray for this conference and especially that many Christians would get involved to help and also that this would be a good witness to the other people in the NGO who are not themselves Christians and were reluctant to work with churches because they thought they wouldn't care.

-Another ongoing concern is our economic development program working to help our churches eventually to become self supporting. Pray for wisdom for the leaders and for the resources to get small businesses going.

-Recently there seems to be great concern among our Kyiv First church family for the salvation of family members. That is a burden I have had weighing heavily upon me for my family in Germany.

May the Lord bless you as you serve Him and as you help us by praying for us and Ukraine.

On behalf of the Ukraine Nazarene Missionaries: The Skinner's, Roxanne Alexander, Cinda Kammerman (temporarily on loan to us from St. Petersburg, Russia) and the Wright family,

Heike