On the 6th May this year I traveled to Ukraine as CEO elect to begin building relationships with those I shall be working with in the future. Along with Brenda Greenwood, our new administrator, and Misha our Ukraine director we visited internats and homes of some of the families and children that Hope Now support.
On our last evening we were taken to the Sidenko family home. Driving into the complex of flats known as Area D we could immediately see it was one of the poorest areas of town. In fact I was told that when people advertised for a flat to live in they specify “anywhere but Area D”. We climbed the shabby, unlit communal staircase to the sound of crying children above and knocked on the door of the Sidenko family home.
Vitalii the father opened the door, greeted us and led us through to one of the three rooms he, his wife Ludmila and six teenage children live in. Although the family were clearly short of money Ludmila had prepared a lovely meal for us, and having done it justice we sat and learned of the wonderful ministry the family have with the hard of hearing in the region.
Their church, the Second Baptist (Calvary) church in Cherkassy has been working among deaf people since 2001 and there are 14 deaf members of the church. Four newly converted people study the course of spiritual growth and are being prepared for baptism. There is a Sunday school for deaf children with two age groups (4-6 and 10-12).
The Sidenkos are also visiting different areas of the oblast (region) in Smila, Zolotonosha, Korsun, Uman and other villages and towns organising camps and missions to show that God’s love incudes those with hearing difficulties.
Vitalii writes, “deaf people learn of the world with their eyes and in our country they are very uneducated. Just reading the Bible and Christian literature is not enough as the result always leaves much to be desired. They need visual aids. We try to get video materials and visual documents on different Christan topics. But we have a problem to show it to them. We don’t have a video projector. We wanted to collect the money here, but because of the expenses for the missions we can’t save the amount we need. Because of the ignorance it’s hard for them to find a job, and most of them live on pensions.”
The Sidenko family is active in leading the ministry for the deaf. Vitalii is a deacon of the church and Ludmila supports him. Here is a typical schedule of the services provided, Monday – morning ladies service (Ludmila) Tuesday – evening subject service (Vitalii) Thursday - morning ladies service (Ludmila) Thursday - evening prayer service (Vitalii) Friday – evening Bible study (Vitalii) Saturday – mission projects for deaf people of the city and the area (Vitalii). Meeting of the leaders to plan different projects (not every Saturday) Sunday – general church assembly, Sunday school for deaf, mission for deaf unbelievers (Vitalii), Sunday school for children (Ludmila).
The specific need of the ministry is that video materials are required on every meeting and for every project.
Vitalii finishes - “We ask you dear brothers and sisters to stand with us in prayer with regard to purchasing the equipment needed, to be sure it is His will. And our request is to pray for developing the ministry among deaf people in Ukraine and all over the world.
With love in the Lord your brothers and sisters in Christ, Vitalii and Ludmila.”
An answered prayer The youngest natural child of Vitalii and Ludmila is 20-year-old Anastasia, who has been studying to become a teacher at the languages faculty. She is a very talented young lady speaking English fluently, learning French, studying to play the violin as well as playing in the university volleyball and handball teams.
For two years the family were able to pay her education fees but following the loss of Vitalii’s job at the beginning of the year they did not know how they could continue. As always they gave the problem to the Lord in prayer, and approached Hope Now to see if there was any way in which we could help. Vitalii wrote, “We pray for God’s will to be done regarding Anastasia’s study, the family and the ministry. We are sure God has all the answers, we want to let His will be done in everything.” Within weeks their prayers were answered, because 1500 miles away in the UK someone approached the Southampton office asking if there was the possibility of sponsoring a student. It so warms my heart to see God working His purposes out, bringing people together from all over the world, making a real difference in the lives of those who trust in Him.
Students We still have other students looking for sponsorship, for example we have two young ladies who wish to train to be tailor cutters, the training is 4 years at a cost of £200 per year. We also have a young man who would like to attend medical university at a cost of £1500 a year for 6 years. If you would like more information please contact me at the office.
The Ukrainian way of building a house is to first buy the plot. It may then be several years before you can lay the foundations and even more years before you start placing brick on brick. That has been our experience with the Alexandria project to build a new church and rescue home for street kids.
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
