However, we do want to share with you that things are not easy and there are very difficult situations in our country at this time. We do not want to be dramatic or create fear and anxiety, but at this time there have been discussions of military conflicts, foreign soldiers are on our land, and the special secret police of Ukraine have already killed many people.
This past week we met with the leaders and volunteers of the Odessa Without Orphans movement to discuss the situation and how it affects the children we are ministering to throughout the oblast.
In recent conversations, we have learned that many orphanages are without their monthly allotments and many are going into great debts. The government is bankrupt and headed toward collapse, which is why social programs that support the elderly and the orphans are not being given the funding as usual.
We love these children and know that God has entrusted us, the church and our organization, to care for them. This is why we are meeting with our leaders and volunteers and making plans for worst case scenarios. Will those scenarios play out? We don't know, but we do feel led to start preparing.
We are now talking with churches throughout the region and asking them to consider what they would do in case of war or depleted funds for the orphanages. We are asking them to look around their area and know about the orphanages that are located there and how many kids are living in them. We are asking them to consider making plans about how to help the children move to a safe area if they were in the path of a military conflict. We also are asking that they start to prepare to help provide for the basic needs of the orphans. Most people are thinking about their own families, but we are asking these believers to also think about caring for the orphans. There are 100,000 orphans in Ukraine and the largest percent of those are living in the Odessa region, our region.
What can you do? Please pray with us for these things.
Pray for peace in our country.
Pray for the financial crisis and how that affects the orphans and elderly.
Pray for us as we lead this movement and organization. Our desire is to encourage and mobilize the believers in our region to care for the orphans.
Pray for the new government that is forming and that it would be established on honest principles.
Pray for revival in our country.
Pray for believers and that their hope in God would be deepened and that they would share this hope with non believers.
Pray that a military conflict would not take place on our lands.
We thank God for you and are blessed by each of you. Thank you for your concerns and prayers.