Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:57;
Bible-Based Parenting
On April 6, 2019, at one of the Rivne secondary schools was held the regional stage of the Olympiad for students “Bible Experts.” We are very happy that the jury of the Olympiad included an employee of IPO Hope to People, Ruslana Kovalchuk, as well as many friends of our organization.
A continuation of the previous event was the participation of our employees as jury members at the XII All-Ukrainian Olympiad “Young Bible Experts,” which was held at the National University “Ostroh Academy.” Arkady Slyoza and Ruslana Kovalchuk – employees of the Department of Christian Ethics and Svetlana Filipchuk – literary editor of the magazine “Word to the Teacher” had the honor to present awards to the winners, as well as present our ministry to the assembled students and teachers.
“A Word to the Teacher”: Edition of Love
The second issue of our magazine, which is devoted to the topic of love in the context of the family and in the light of the Bible, has finally come out. A lot of facets, shades, and marks have amalgamated in the concept of “love”! Some writers of the articles were able to elaborate, others said about this topic in passing, and a third category just alluded to that. In the next issues, we plan to elaborate on this topic, but this time we have made a lot of efforts to highlight the depth of it and … were blown away right away because it has nothing to do with profundity, but with the heavenly things, the whole depth is in the heart of God … So, where does love come from? – Undoubtedly, it comes down from Heaven, it goes through the Calvary Cross, and gets into the human heart, which is ready to accept this love, and respond to its call to serve.
Ministry to the Orphans
In the spring, we were visited again by our friends, ministers of the Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, USA, John, and Marilyn Whittemore. Along with the team, which serves in the orphanages of the Rivne region, they visited Klevan, Novostav, Tuchin, Verba, Mizoch. They conducted Bible classes for children on Easter topics, an had an opportunity to do crafts, play soccer and other interesting games. The team also spent plenty of time talking with children and teachers. Our co-workers were able to meet the needs of some children with clothes and shoes. Thanks to the relationships built in previous years, our team was welcomed in a lot of places where orphans live and study. Praise the Lord for that!
Easter in the Boarding School
An Easter educational program took place for children with visual impairments at the Klevan boarding school. On Maundy Thursday (Good Friday), third-grade students with their educators and a Christian ethics teacher, Ruslana Kovalchuk, conducted an educational quest “Journey to the Skull Hill” for the students of 2–6 grades. During the event, a lot of people got to hear the songs of praise and the Word of God.
Floor Hockey Ministry SKY
Spring is the season when the competitions get off to a busy start. It is especially true for our junior teams. At the end of March, we participated in the first tournament of Christian Teenage League – Edge. A week after later, the same teams went to the third tournament of the Precept Christian Floor Hockey League in the city of Lutsk. By the grace of God, we have already had several training sessions for the girl team. The girls now have an opportunity to hear the gospel and play. Thank God for everything that He continues to do within the ministry and through the ministry.
Warm Greetings from Armenia
A large amount of snow still lingered in the mountains of Armenia at the beginning of spring. Our ministers are grateful to the Lord that despite the harsh weather, they were able to visit Kurdish families, where people are always waiting for them. Also, they try their best meeting with men in village Sh., and as they get together with the Kurds, they study the Word and pray. Please continue to pray for the Kurd-Yazidi villages which are closed to evangelism. Pray that at least some children from these villages will be able to visit the Christian children’s camp for the first time in June.
Portable radio receivers and solar-powered speakers with Bible audio recordings were brought from Ukraine to Armenia and we rejoiced with local people that now they can hear the Word. Of course, they are very grateful to the brothers and sisters from the mission of Audio Vie Belgique for these lavish gifts. First, people can hear the Gospel in a place where there is no electricity, and second, even illiterate people who find it difficult to read now can hear about Jesus Christ. This is a great blessing!
Tatyana Arterchuk
