The following is copied and shared with permission and reflects a deeply personal  perspective forged amid the daily suffering and sacrifice caused by the war in Ukraine.  This update is offered to inform and encourage your prayerful support for all who are affected by this tragedy.

If you would like to help us with humanitarian aid efforts you can donate through our  website https://ipministry.org/donate/. The needs are growing as we keep helping thousands of people to move west within Ukraine and also helping those who want to leave the country temporarily. We need funds most of all for gas, but also for food and various supplies (medical, bed linens, mattresses, etc). Thank you.                        

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Kyiv Church Worships Together:

This is the fifth time our church has Sunday worship service since russian invasion started. It seems more and more people are coming. Today among newcomers was our 11 days old Briana! She was warmly welcomed. Her cousin Grisha had a chance to hold her in his arms for the first time!

Our church youtube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChZTOG-qSs1hArVAq4K7yag

Lviv church “Message of Hope” is serving refugees at train station.

Maia’s Evening Update:

The night is coming.
Today was relatively quiet and I was about to write that the night is promising to be quiet too. But I didn’t get a chance – the air raid started and shortly after that, we heard a loud explosion. In the morning we will know what got hit.

Yesterday at least 70 missiles were shot by russians at Ukraine simultaneously – 52 from the Black sea and at least 18 from the territory of Belarus. Thankfully only 8 of those reached the ground, all others were shot by our air defense in the air. There is no reason to believe that things are getting better even if by God’s grace we only had one air raid last night. Maybe it’s because they used up the missiles quota during the day.

I went back on my FB timeline to try to see what I posted on the night before the war started on Feb 24th at 5am. My evening post on Feb 23rd sounds like we were already sure that the war was going to start any minute. It was already in line with my “night is coming” posts. I think we knew from the beginning of this year. Danny was here with us for winter break and I remember wanting to change his tickets to go back to University sooner than scheduled. Thankfully he left in plenty of time in the early part of January.

At church today we were talking with friends that we used to dream about traveling to interesting new places and now we dream of just seeing our loved ones and friends who are not in Kyiv – maybe they are in another part of Ukraine, or in another country. Giving a hug to Danny and seeing him hold Briana in his arms is what I dream about right now. The biggest dream is for war to end, for russians to be defeated and for Putin’s regime to end so that the world becomes a safer place. I am sure this dream is shared by 40 million Ukrainians.

Another night is coming and we pray hard for God’s protection.
And just as on Feb 23rd (the last night before the war) I will pray with Psalm 9:15-18:
“The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish”

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Please share these updates with others. I have added direct links to our email, our website, and to the IP Ministry Journal on YouTube to the bottom of this page. Your prayers are precious to us. Thank you!

In Christ,
Brandy Ezzell
International Partnerships