For four years now, residents of the capital have been living to the sounds of air-raid alert sirens, UAVs, and air defenses. This winter, Kyiv is going through a special test related to the lack of power and heat. Accordingly, the people from Light of the Gospel church could not avoid these difficulties. Sometimes the Sunday service can be attended by only ten people, because due to power outages, buses do not run and it is very difficult to get there. Elevators in many buildings are out of service, and as a result, people with health issues or elderly cannot often walk all the way up and down and come to the service. One sister had her windows broken after the shelling. But, despite all this, we pull ourselves together and try to be supportive for each other and for those who live around us.

The youth of our church prepared a Christmas program for children and held it on December 27 in our sister church in the village of Lyubartsi. The Lord blessed and preserved us on this trip, because we left Kyiv during the air-raid alert siren and shelling, and in Lyubartsi there was no electricity or heating. But we were all so happy to see each other that the rather cool church room (+13 degrees Celsius) very quickly warmed up to +18 degrees C.

In the celebratory class, we talked about the times when Christ came to this earth, being born in Bethlehem, and the times in which we live now are somewhat similar. Then the people lived under the occupation of Rome and in fear of war, everyone was waiting for a liberator, peace and victory. And we live in the same situation now. God came to that ancient world, but not in the way people expected. Jesus brought to the earth the reconciliation with God and victory over sin and death. We talked a lot with the children about our hearts, and that they should be ready to accept Christ. We also drank tea, made crafts, gave gifts and encouraged each other. We ask you to pray for one family from Lyubartsi – a woman and her two sons. Her husband served in the army, was a prisoner of war for a year and, unfortunately, died. The funeral took place in early December. This family needs special comfort from the Lord. They are still unbelievers, but we have been on friendly terms with them for a long time.

Please pray:

  • – for our military and brothers from our church who serve in the army, thanks to their service we can still gather for worship;
  • – for each of us to be the light of Christ where we are now and not losing hope;
  • – for God’s protection, because when explosions occur, all you do is pray and text to friends and family in attempt to find out: “How are you?” and then eagerly waiting to hear from them: “We’re ok, we are alive.”

Ira Solyanyk