Hello, my name is Vlad Futoimas, I am from Ukraine and I am 20 years old. I was born in Cherkassy, but 7 years ago we moved to a village called Dubiivka. My father works at a factory, and my mother can’t work because of her poor health. After school I went to a medical college, where I studied for 4 years but my greatest dream was to go to the academy, to be trained as a dentist. I thought the biggest challenge was exams, but after I passed them I realized that the real challenge was the fees I need to pay for the education, tuition and living expenses - £2,000 a year. It could be never possible for me without God.
When I was a child, the doctors diagnosed me with asthma. There were sleepless nights for my parents, useless treatment from Ukrainian doctors, hopeless sanatorium courses. Nothing helped. There was a Christian family that lived few floors above us. They advised my mum to go to the church to ask them to pray for me. She didn’t have many options and went. As the pastor was praying my mum saw tears coming out of his eyes, and she was deeply touched that a person who didn’t know her was in tears for her child.
After that she soon repented and accepted Jesus Christ into her heart and later, our father joined her. But then we moved to a village with no church. We used to go to the city first, but then one could see us rarer and rarer, and the time came we forgot about the church altogether. My mum used to go to Russia to get goods to sell here. As she was away, father started drinking, so much that he couldn’t go to work. Eventually mother left her job, and life became even harder. We lived in an unfinished building for 5 years. Then we even sold that house, and borrowed as much money as we could to buy a smaller house in the village. As we were in debt we could hardly find enough money to buy bread. After 4 years when I was 14 I got a job to help the family somehow. My job was to clean the territory of the factory. The payment was very miserable, £1 a day, but I was very happy to help.
Then I entered medical college and in a year my brother entered a university. Soon our next door house was bought by Christians and they told us about a church in a nearby village. I went there and in a year repented. I am involved in children’s ministry now and a group of us go to help a church in a village 40 kilometers away.
As I wrote earlier I entered dental academy in Poltava last year, and have to study six more years. My desire to study was so great, but it was impossible for my family to help me. I came to God and told Him everything. He, who is full of mercy, listened to my prayer and answered. Hope Now found me a sponsor who agreed to cover part of my education. I am so grateful to him, but the fees are so expensive, that it didn’t cover everything. It looked as though I might not finish but now another friend of Hope Now has agreed to sponsor me and make up the difference, for as long as he is able to. I can’t tell you how full of joy I am. It makes me wonder if there are others who have dreams to fulfill and whether there are even more wonderful Christians who will sponsor them. It is the best way to build a new Ukraine, where as Christians, we can make a difference.
To my sponsors, I promise that I will.
Richest blessings in the Lord Vlad Futoimas. 20 years old
Tonya, born in 1991 is a member of Telepyno church since 14th of September 2008. She grew up in a disadvantaged family, has been going to Sunday school since she was a child and loves the Lord with all her heart. She has been baptised and is a fervent Christian taking part in evangelical services, serving the Lord in singing, growing spiritually and studies in a Bible institute. She is a great blessing for the church.
My name is Alyona. 9 years ago me, my parents and all our big family (I
have three sisters and one brother) came to Ukraine from Moldova.
Because of some difficulties with the language, I missed one year at
school.
At the High Hopes student conference a few years ago, some American and British participants proposed to pray for the students being sponsored by Hope Now.
01.05.2012 Pray for the music group Zozulenka, and their teacher Natalya, as they busily practice for their return tour here in November
02.05.2012 Pray for preparations that are being made for the cycle tour this summer, and for opportunities for the participants to share their faith as they cycle around the villages
03.05.2012 Pray for Brenda and Ksenya as they speak today at the meeting of the Oasis Group at Locks Heath Church
04.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali as they attend the Baptist Assembly annual meeting in London until 7th
05.05.2012 Pray for our students at Universities and Colleges as they complete their studies for this semester and take their end of year exams
06.05.2012 Pray for all those who receive food packages through the feeding programme, that no needy person/family is overlooked
07.05.2012 Pray for David John as he completes his preparations for the teaching sessions at the Pastor’s Conference next week
08.05.2012 Pray that we will have full teams of volunteers for all the camps that will take place this summer at Kompas Park
09.05.2012 Pray for the young people from Rainbow House in South Africa, and for Margaret Ferguson as she supports them in their studies
10.05.2012 Pray for the work of the mobile medical unit, and for Dr Doreshenko to fully recover following his recent illnesses
11.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing support of the Mission Fund, which undergirds all the various projects that we have, that adequate funds will be received each month
12.05.2012 Pray for Larisa and the work she does with the family support group, which encourages mutual sharing and prayer
13.05.2012 Pray that the Humanitarian Aid system that we use to send money to Ukraine becomes quicker and more efficient
14.05.2012 Pray for Anastasia Vovk as she plans camps in various villages around Cherkassy, and pray she finds a team of helpers to assist her
15.05.2012 Pray for safety in travel for Jon, David Reddaway and David John as they travel to Ukraine for the Bible School Graduation and for Ksenya as she returns to Ukraine to help Alla at Kompas Park
16.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing work of Cherkassy’s first sheltered accommodation, especially now plans to renovate the house have been drawn up and the costing received
17.05.2012 Pray for the Church twinning programme, that more UK Churches will offer to twin with a Ukrainian Church for mutual support and encouragement
18.05.2012 Remember before God all our children in cottage homes, thanking God for the security and love they receive from their foster parents as they grow up in these Christian families
19.05.2012 Pray for the work party travelling to Ukraine today, to prepare Kompas Park for the summer season
20.05.2012 As Jon, David and David return to the UK, pray for the newly graduated students as they take up their responsibilities back in their churches
21.05.2012 Pray for the children in the orphanages we support, and for Larisa and Misha as they oversee our work in them
22.05.2012 Give thanks for all our volunteers who come in and help with the monthly mail out, and do other jobs so willingly, often without being asked
23.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali to be refreshed as they take some time off together and have a break
24.05.2012 Pray for ex-prisoners who are now leading churches and serving in their communities that they will be faithful to what God has called them to do
25.05.2012 Pray for the young people in our pre-independence homes, that they grow in confidence as they study and plan for their future
26.05.2012 Pray for Vika Lavrenko and Stanislav Dyachenko, sponsored children who celebrate their birthdays today, also for the quiz at Ashley BC this evening in support of our work
27.05.2012 Thank God for our Board of Directors, whose support of the work of Hope is so encouraging; pray especially for the two new Directors to become more familiar with Board matters.
28.05.2012 Pray for Alla Kostyunina and her team as they prepare in detail for the planned camp activities at Kompas Park during the summer
29.05.2012 Pray for Misha in
all the work he does at Alpha House and in the Ukrainian Office of Hope Now; pray also for the plans he and Lena have in using Alpha House as a summer day camp in August
30.05.2012 Pray for Vlad Serdyuk, one of
our sponsored children, as he celebrates his birthday today
31.05.2012 Pray for Cyndee and Darrel Knight and the Hope Now supporters in America, especially in their plans to visit Kompas Park this summer
