PRAISE!
Health—I received a good report at the eye clinic. No problems anticipated! (No one has a cure yet for age) I feel blessed.
Car—The deal for buying another car did not materialize. Sasha did not feel good about it after investigating it. And so we are at peace to continue on as we are, and not having to make that financial investment.
The house—YES! Abe was finally able to sign a rental agreement which gives us until February 2024. What a mercy! After these weeks, if not months, of wondering what will happen. More peace!
Workshop—Less people in attendance than before but it is boiling down to the people who are really on board with the idea of Centers of Hope. With the country still at war there is a bit of flux in what is happening—but it is happening! At least 15 people were saved this month.
Soft hearts—We were talking to a dear friend on Sunday who is working with some of the refugees here in town. She said, Their hearts are so soft towards spiritual things. Praise the Lord as He works in the lives of people all over the country.
The joy of the Lord—One of the men from the eastern front, Valodia, that Abe has worked with for many years was wounded in battle and had to have his arm amputated. But he continued witnessing to people even on the operating table! Peace! No you can’t be a faithful witness in those extreme circumstances unless you have both the joy of the Lord and His peace!
Take time to just thank the Lord for all these items. And I’m sure the Lord will bring to mind things you can pray for even as you praise Him.
Harvest is a season of intense labor. There is a harvest that is happening today--a harvest of souls. This spiritual harvest is a critical time, much as the fall harvest of crops. It is a time of intense work in which the laborers cooperate with the Lord of the harvest to reap a harvest of souls.
The first job of the church in the midst of harvest is to pray to the Lord of the harvest for an increase in workers. Are we obeying the Lord’s command? Do we really believe that prayer will make a difference?
Lord of the Harvest, I recognize that I live in a time of unprecedented openness and receptivity to the Gospel message. You have opened more doors for Your people than they can go through. Would You awaken Your Church to the urgency of the hour? Teach me to pray this harvest prayer that Jesus commands me to pray. I ask Father, that You would give me Your heart for the harvest, so that I will always find this prayer for laborers to be on my lips.
The above thoughts and the prayer are adapted from Harvest Prayer Ministries, but for those of you who heard Abe speak, you will know that he talks all of the time about harvesting evangelism. We have fields that are ready in Ukraine! We need the Lord to provide the workers. In March he plans to start a new cycle of training to prepare more workers, but -- the Lord needs to call them.
For your encouragement this time I’m also adding an article that was published in CBN News the end of December. It is from the US perspective, but the questions it answers are the same for all countries.
Are Billions of US Dollars in Military and Humanitarian Aid Really Making a Difference in Ukraine?
12/28/2022 09:26:13 AM Chuck Holton
KYIV, Ukraine - Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been poured into Ukraine. That fact has many Americans concerned about where all that money is going.
CBN News Contributing Correspondent Chuck Holton went to Kyiv to find out if their contributions really are making a difference.
Since the beginning of March, the U.S. has pledged close to $70 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine to help it defend against Russia’s unprovoked attack. While that might sound like a lot, much of it is slated to be spent in future years, all the way out to 2030.
“There’s a lag between the time Congress appropriates funds and the time when those funds actually get spent," said Mark Cancian, Col. USMC (ret.), a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Up until September 30th, that totaled about $8 billion that had been spent of the total $68 billion that had been appropriated.”
Holton traveled to the front lines to see where all this American aid is going. His escort was Andrew Gota, one of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s advisors.
"We want to be open and transparent," Gota explained. "So we are ready for any controls. Any extra controls, for any special officers that can come to us to check the situation."
Gota regularly travels to gauge what’s needed on the front line. Then he approaches charities in the U.S. that can help.
"I should fill some application. What do I need exactly, how much, and for whom. Who is the end user? After the USA approved my requests, we have another level of control on the border," he told CBN News. "Our customs and border protection service will check the documents."
"So we have multilevel control even of the humanitarian aid. You can imagine what kind of control we have for the heavy weapons," Gota added.
"I’ve been reporting on this conflict since three weeks before the war actually started," Holton said. "And in that time I’ve learned something about the Ukrainian people. They are fiercely patriotic, but also understand that this war isn’t just about Ukraine and Russia. For that reason, they don’t think of the aid they are getting from the West as a handout. They think of it as a partnership."
"It's not a charity to support Ukraine. We are not asking (for) this money. We are trying to protect freedom, democracy of all (the) civilized world," explained Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko. "I think that the problem which Russia created for all the civilized world and the price which other countries pay to support Ukraine is incomparable. To cure this disease is to help Ukraine to win this war.”
So far, there has been scant evidence of corruption in the process.
“We don’t see much, some weapon in the black market for example," Gota noted. "Because everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to fight with the enemy.”
The military assistance Ukraine received is making the difference between success and failure on the battlefield, especially in the early days of the conflict.
“This American aid, 155 millimeters, 155 calibers, saved Kyiv, that’s true," Gota said. "If we got some aid from the USA or from some other country, of course, we spread it immediately to the front lines."
Ukrainian soldiers often ask Gota whether the U.S. will abandon them and bring up Afghanistan. They're concerned that if support ended now, Ukraine’s recent victories could quickly be reversed and the people’s suffering multiplied.
"I think that the situation is a challenge because of winter, which is already in Ukraine. It's already freezing temperatures," U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink told CBN News.
"So in response to that, the United States is going to continue to do everything we possibly can, working night and day to provide help on winterization needs to provide as much air defense and other security assistance as possible, and to also help Ukraine repair its energy infrastructure so people aren't in the cold and dark and without water," Brink continued.
Either way, Ukrainians are committed to fighting to the end.
“We don’t stop. We never stop. Winter, summer, spring, autumn, fall. We don’t stop. We will fight every day, every hour, at night, and during the day," Gota said.
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