Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sustains us in His will by His grace. The reports I receive from our men and women in our ministry in Ukraine are encouraging and give new meaning to the words, “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord (1 Thess. 3:8).” Seeing our ministry thrive during the tribulations of wartime causes us to bow our heads in thanks to God. Brother Alexei, my right-hand man in the ministry, made a recent trip into the war-torn area of Mykolaiv. This letter contains some of the highlights, along with pictures, of their trip.
The Lord graciously opened doors for us that were once closed as an answer to our prayers. When the war with Russia began, Brother Alexei and I began to discuss how we could help in the Mykolaiv region, because of the influx of refugees to our town from there. They came with stories and needs.
The Lord provided the funds with which our ministry purchased a ten-year-old van for the purpose of taking aid to the region and providing transportation to anyone who wanted to flee. While registering the vehicle at our local DMV a corrupt officer wanted a bribe which Alexei refused to give. As a result, the van was impounded with the threat that it would be confiscated and used by the military in the war. This set our plans back for months, but the Lord was obviously keeping us from the area, because it was attacked relentlessly during the months that followed. We prayed and waited on the Lord. Eventually, Russia withdrew its troops from the area and our lawyer filed the paperwork for our vehicle’s release. The door was opened once again!
Brother Alexei decided to make the trip with one of our supported local missionaries Oleksander Illchenko. Over the past seven years, we’ve helped him finance several nationwide evangelistic campaigns where he visited every major city in Ukraine giving out all the literature he could while preaching on the street. He made contact with many Christians during these campaigns and was able to get information from them about which towns had the greatest need.
Brother Alexei described the road to Mykolaiv as “eerie.” He said that they were literally among the very first to travel the road after it had been cleared of the mines placed there during the Russian occupation. Many small towns and villages were now ghost towns. The streets were completely empty, and they only encountered a couple of cars on the road for many kilometers. The streets were lined with civilian houses destroyed by the Russian army. It appears that their orders were to completely make these towns uninhabitable.
Overall, six towns were visited. Literature, food, and clothing were given out freely. Alexei said that these people were hungry for the word of God unlike the areas of Ukraine where they have not been so affected by the war. Crowds of desperate Ukrainians gathered in schools, civic buildings, and on the street for help where Brother Alexei and Oleksander preached to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
One town in particular, named Snigirovka, was very desperate. They endured a full Russian occupation where their town was blockaded. They did not allow anyone to enter or leave the city. Food disappeared from the shelves and the people became the sick sport of the Russian invaders. One man saved the bullets fired at him through his windows while he was in his home. He kept them in a coffee cup and told them his story of survival. There were many such stories. Unfortunately, this letter is too short for them. I guess they will be written after the war is over. Or you can wait till the Judgment when all secrets will be made manifest by our Lord Jesus Christ. It will be more realistic than “virtual reality” complete with “surround sound!”
The names of the other cities visited were Novaya Odessa (New Odessa), Mikhailovka, Zarechnoe, Shirokoe, Lubino, and Partizanskoe. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was preached to them mainly in the Ukrainian language and several people received Christ as their personal Savior. Brother Alexei and Oleksander helped these people any way they could. They even helped install doors on the homes of the elderly whose houses were broken into by the Russians. We will continue to send funds to these people as the Lord provides.
We have a prayer request for one young man in our church, named Vitya Ganichenko, who was recently taken into military service. He received Christ as a young boy during one of our Children’s Bible Clubs years ago. He has some health issues that one recruiter’s office said exempted him from service, while another said he could serve. They took him quickly and didn’t allow him to go home. Please pray for his safety and that he comes home whole and alive.
The Lord continues to give us safety for our travels, answers to our prayers, and fruit for our labors. Over the course of the past two months, we updated our supporting churches in Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Washington, Ohio, and New York. It has been over ten years since we have seen many of them. Please continue to pray for us as we gladly fulfill our obligations to visit our remaining supporters. May the Lord richly bless you in every way.
That Ukraine May Know Him,
Christopher Rue
Phil. 3:10