January 2025
Dear Friends,
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We had the unfortunate situation of being sick for the second year in a row on Christmas Day – super not fun time to be sick, but we all had a great time together, nonetheless. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season too.
With your help, we were able to give the children in Ukraine an amazing Christmas, with between 200 – 300 sweaters/hoodies and candy for an additional several hundreds more kids through six different churches. Our partners gave candy to thousands more children, but we can’t take credit for those additional gifts. We were also able to help them put on their annual Christmas programs for families of their churches and unbelievers from their areas. It was a very joyful season – thank you for giving them a moment of joy and hope during the war.
There was one humorous, but epic fail this Christmas – when I told our ministry partners to buy sweaters this Christmas, they misunderstood me and thought I meant, “Christmas sweaters.” We contacted them immediately to fix the situation, but it was too late – the Christmas sweaters were bought. Anyway, a humorous and funny situation, but everyone is still happy; it will be a fond memory to look back upon. Some of the older kids wanted hoodies instead of a sweater and in retrospect, I am so happy the churches bought hoodies for them; maybe no more sweater outreaches in the future! 😊
Within this letter, you can see a few photos from various churches and you can see everyone had a great time. Here is feedback from some of our pastors:
“Thank you to everyone who helped us this Christmas at Light of the Gospel Baptist Church - each child received a sweater and a bag of sweets. Thanks to God for people like you who have such sacrificial hearts, because for some children would not have received anything if it wasn’t for these gifts – you made it a truly joyful holiday. We thank you very much for bringing joy and blessings to the children in this very difficult time. Thank you and hugs – may God bless you all!” – Pastor Sasha
“Dear ministry partners in America, us at Good News Church in Nova Vodalaga send you our warmest greetings and gratitude for your help this past Christmas. We served many children from the church and community, organized a Christmas party, handed out sweaters and candy and served pizza and drinks. Thank you very much to your ministry in America – you are very special to us! Many of the children did not expect any gifts this Christmas you were so delighted and grateful – thank you again!” – Pastor Victor
“Dear friends in America, all of us here at Holy Trinity Church in Izum thank you so much for the sweaters this Christmas – in our church, we were able to provide sweaters and candy for 57 children. Parents were immensely grateful, and the children were delighted with the sweaters – they loved that they were warm and bright. This was a wonderful gift that brought much joy to these kids. As some of you may know, we are on the border where major conflict continues regularly – it is a real hot zone. Some of these families recently arrived from even worse areas and here are some of the children you blessed this Christmas:
Ø Arina is 15-year-old, and she now lives in Izum. She is raised by her mother and finances are tight, so they are very thankful for their help and needed a sweater for Arina.
Ø Matthew is 9 years old and moved with his family to Izum from a more dangerous region. Despite the circumstances, Matthew is a very positive child and happy despite seeing lots of horror – he is very happy about his sweater.
Ø Ivan is also 9 years old, and his family’s home was destroyed by artillery shells. Thankfully, everyone in his family survived, but they left all their early possessions behind and moved to our town. Ivan is so thankful for the sweater, since he doesn’t have much anymore.
Ø Rostislav is 7 years old and comes from a large family. Due to their financial situation and having a difficult time providing for the family, everyone in Rostislav’s family was delighted with his gift.
Ø Sabina is 9 years old, and her family moved to Izum because her town of Boro Vaya is being mercilessly destroyed with bombs and artillery shells by the Russian troops. Because of this, her family moved to Izum. Sabina’s dad serves in the Ukrainian Army and Sabina just wants him to come home safely. Of course, a sweater doesn’t replace a dad, but she is joyful and thankful with the gift. Please pray for Sabina’s family and her dad’s safety.
Ø Maxim and Egor are twin brothers who are 7 years old. Their village is located next to our town, and they moved here because the Russians demolished their village - it is obliterated, including their home. They thank you for the gifts and see the love of Christ instead of war.
Ø Sonya is 5 years and her home and entire village were also destroyed by the Russian military and they had nowhere to turn, so they came to our church. Sonya and her family are so thankful for your gift and appreciate it so much, since it is a hard moment for them.
These are just a few of the many children you blessed in the name of Jesus, this Christmas. Thank you for making it an amazing holiday for so many children who are in great need. Thank you so much!” – Pastor Peter
“Dear friends, we thank you for blessing New Life Church in Kharkiv this past Christmas! You helped us reach 200 children with sweaters and candy. We had a Christmas celebration for the kids, and everyone had an amazing time. It so happened that not only were we able to purchase sweaters for the kids, but another donor came forward and helped purchase pants for the kids, so they would match the sweaters. What a delightful blessing for these children. Thank you, Ron, Katya, Slavic Christian Ministries and all of you who support this ministry. Your trust, friendship and partnership in ministry is such a huge blessing to us; we love you all – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” – Pastor Vlad
Friends, thank you for showing the love of Christ to so many kids this past Christmas – you made many kids forget the war for a moment in time – THANK YOU! Your annual giving statements will be sent soon – for those who gave online only, your statement will be sent via email. If you gave by check, your giving statement will come via regular mail. It was a productive year of ministry, and we thank God for you in every way –you are a gift from God!
In Jesus’ love,
Ron
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