We managed to travel to Ukraine by the grace of God for the first time in the last days of July.

We have been praying to God since the beginning of the conflict to prepare a way for us, so that we could take the donations to Ukraine for the poor ones, the refugees, and for the sufferers. God had placed this burden on my heart.

In the last few months, my co-worker, Szilvi, who was born in Ukraine and was four years old when she moved to Hungary with her mother, contacted her relatives after 46 years. Her relatives added me as a friend on Facebook and we started to have a good relationship. They helped us with everything. Szilvi’s uncle’s wife, Marika, was used by God to build the acquaintanceship.

We packed a car of seven passengers and a trailer full with 800 kilograms of food and took it to Ukraine. I am enclosing some pictures of it here. We could help and hand the food packets personally to the poor ones and refugees. We mailed 18 kilograms of packets to the conflict-worn citizens and to the ones who stayed at home.

We built very good relationships with the help of God. We saw in Ukraine that the Hungarians, the Hungarian-speaking gypsies, the Ukrainians, and even the Russians live in peace with each other. We handed out food packets to about 30 families, from all of these four people groups.

We worked with two churches in Nagyszőllős. In one of them, we served in the church meeting. They promised us to help in every area on our next mission journey as a host church. We are preparing our next mission journey at the end of November before Christmas. Thank you in advance for your support on our next mission trip!

Our mission might be very little in a country of 40 million people, but for those whom we could help meant a lot.

We are thankful for our Hungarian supporters, for Evangelical Friends Mission (EFM), and for the helpers in Ukraine for the accommodation, the coordination, and the financial, physical and spiritual help.

May God bless everyone who supported us. God helped us in everything. Glory and thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.

We think of you with love and gratefulness.

Antal (Tony) Frei

The post Our Visit to Ukraine first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Abe and Diane Bible, longtime members and friends of EFC-ER, have served in Ukraine since 1990 with Ministry Developers Network. Their work has focused especially on training and developing men in evangelism and prayer. When the attack began last week, Abe was engaged in ministry in Kyiv but has since returned safely to their home in northwest Ukraine. Though they are not yet hearing planes or bombs in that part of the country, warning sirens force them to huddle in a safe room several times a day. As of now, Abe and Diane have no plans to leave Ukraine. They hope to remain in their community, alongside their neighbors, co-workers, and fellow believers. Their singular request has been for the prayers of God’s people. One of Diane’s recent emails ended with these words: “Please continue in earnest prayer for Ukraine, for the refugees who are flooding the borders, for the church, and for us. We have peace of heart that we are right now where God wants us to be. What the future holds–only the Lord Almighty knows. And we are willing to rest in that.”

When we want more for others than we possibly can give, it reminds us to pray. At this moment, that is the most intentional contribution we can make to help Ukraine’s population. In the future, if concrete needs arise, we will inform you all. Again, in the meantime, ask the Lord for mercy.

Because of Christ,

Stan Leach
Executive Director

The post How You Can Be Praying for Ukraine first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

If you would like to receive on a regular basis prayer requests and praises for how God is working I encourage you to sign up for EFM’s monthly prayer letter. You can do that by clicking on the button below.

Also, EFM is still receiving donations to our emergency fund for COVID-19 related relief efforts. If you would like to contribute at this time you can do so by clicking here or using the button below.

The post COVID Pandemic Testimony from Ukraine first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

This story comes from Diane Bible. She and her husband, Abe, serve with Ministry Developers Network in the Ukraine. The Bibles are connected to Evangelical Friends Church – Eastern Region.

Vera is our Ukrainian colleague and co-worker. We have worked closely with her for the last 20 years and have known and mentored her for eight years before that. She is from Crimea, which was annexed by Russia a few years ago in a very under-handed way during tumult in the Ukrainian government. Vera eventually had to move to Kyiv because it became logistically impossible for her to do anything from Crimea (including the daily conversations she and Abe had).

Every summer, she returns to Crimea for several weeks to visit her family and relatives and to follow up with pastors there in a somewhat oppressive atmosphere. This year she had to delay her trip because we were processing documents that had to be done in a government office—which did not open back up until June 16. She left that same day to go to Crimea. In the best of times it is a strenuous trip because there is a mile of “no man’s land” between the two countries that you have to walk. She knew that she would have to self-quarantine for two weeks after she got there. For a very active lady, this was indeed a difficulty.

However, upon arriving across the border, she discovered that she would have to quarantine in a room at the border with another lady whom of course she did not know! They were only allowed out of the room three times a day to go to the bathroom! Vera did not have her laptop with her to work on because this year, due to that mile-long walk, she had decided to just take her files on a disk and then load them onto a loaned computer.

The lady she quarantined with was 79, highly educated, and had overseen a work force of 3,000 people. She was going to Crimea because her son was dying of cancer. The officials would give no consideration to her circumstances. So she and Vera spent a lot of intense time together over the period of two weeks, leading to many interesting conversations. The lady was Ukrainian Orthodox by profession (which usually is just a name, not someone who actually goes to church). By the end of the two weeks she had a very high respect for Vera as a committed and devout believer. She promised to go to the evangelical church of which Vera gave her the address. She knew where it was and said she would definitely follow up. She is seeking, and even more so as her son lies on his deathbed.

God loves this lady, Ludmilla, and is wooing her! Through extraordinary circumstances! Pray that she would find the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as her son, and that we would get to celebrate with them in Heaven one day!

If you would like to receive on a regular basis prayer requests and praises for how God is working I encourage you to sign up for EFM’s monthly prayer letter. You can do that by clicking on the button below.

Also, EFM is still receiving donations to our emergency fund for COVID-19 related relief efforts. If you would like to contribute at this time you can do so by clicking here or using the button below.

• You can give online here. Please make sure to note that you would like your gift designated to the COVID-19 Emergency Aid.
• You can give by credit card over the phone at 303-421-8100
• You can mail a check marked with COVID-19 Emergency Aid designation to EFM, PO Box 771139, Wichita KS 67277.

The post What is God doing in Ukraine during the pandemic? first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

How is COVID-19 affecting those who live in the area where you live and minister?

• New restrictions come regularly. Anyone over sixty is not to leave their home except for necessities. Everyone must wear a mask any place in public. It is creating financial crises for churches and Christian ministries as people are not meeting to give.

How is this situation affecting the ministry you lead?

• All of the workshops have been canceled and we may not hold another one until next fall. If restrictions are lifted, people are going to be very busy with survival and trying to get things back to normal, so we doubt there will be opportunity. Abe is mentoring via Zoom conferencing. He is setting up a schedule for his workshop people to hold their own “workshop” where they are with a co-worker. He is working on how to encourage people when contact is so limited.
• People continue to use the Financial Freedom materials. Right now small groups can still meet—under 10. And there will be a group of leaders across Ukraine who will be taking the Experiencing God course by Blackaby via internet meetings.

What are some opportunities you are seeing for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who don’t know Him?

• As long as the church planters are still allowed on the streets (and they are) they have many opportunities to share the Gospel with needy people who are more aware than ever of the brevity of life.
• Many of the men we work with have a ministry in their own town or a neighboring town. They already have many personal contacts. It is a time when people may be even more open to the Lord. Some of them distribute food to the needy. This gives them an extra opportunity to talk about eternity. Some of them hold small Bible studies for seekers—people will have more time right now for that kind of thing. And all of this is critical as we come up to Easter. It is very high on the Orthodox calendar, many traditions (and superstitions) involved. And so that also creates spiritual openness.

And what are two or three prayer requests that we can use as we pray for you and those you lead?

• Pray for Abe as he works through how to help the men to keep their focus and continue with new opportunities in this unprecedented situation. And wisdom for determining whether there is any possibility to do something by Zoom or just sending out instructions for them to hold their own “workshops.”
• Pray as we develop materials still on the church planting track, as well as the possibility of some new resources that could be used to draw people into the Kingdom.
• Pray that God would use this pandemic as a mighty force to draw people to Him. We do not have the medical resources here that the West does. Many people will die through this, whether it is ever identified correctly as COVID-19 or not. May God use the fear of death to draw people to our Living Hope.

While we are providing this special round of updates to EFM’s largest email list (due to the world-wide impact of COVID-19), we will continue, as always, providing brief praise and prayer requests from each contributing field through our monthly EFM Prayer Letter. This is the easiest way to get regular, brief updates from missionaries and national leaders. If you do not currently receive the EFM Prayer Letter, we encourage you to subscribe by clicking the button below.

The post EFM COVID-19 Updates | Pray for Ukraine first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.