We trust that you are well and being kept by God’s great power. We want to thank you for your wonderful support and prayers for the orphans and homeless people in Ukraine.
While we have been evacuating children and people out of Ukraine to safety in Germany and Norway, there are many more in the villages around the House of Hope who do not want to or cannot leave Ukraine
We are continuing to support the most marginalised members of the community in the House of Hope – poor, single-mother families with small children, the sickly, and the elderly – all of whom are profoundly affected by the escalating conflict. Many of these fearful locals cannot simply flee due to health concerns, or lack of proper documents. They are bracing themselves for what they describe as “life in hell” as the Russians bombard this region. We are committed to support and protect these vulnerable people by conducting major food and medicine distributions on a daily basis. We’d appreciate your kindness and generosity while we are making some huge, life-preserving decisions.
Update from Odesa and the Villages beyond
Our staff at the House of Hope are stretched immensely as they take in more needy children, single-mother families, and families whose homes have been 
bombed. The winter in Ukraine is freezing and the people are begging for firewood, as well as medicines and food. The staff are feeding and counselling them and leading them to Jesus.
When we look at Ukraine today, the world is trying to predict the future – who will do what, and what the outcome will be. But for us, it’s not about strategy, politics, or speculation. Our focus is much simpler: a single question we must ask ourselves every day… What would Jesus do here and now?
This is where we find the strength to keep going – to drive on roads no one should have to travel, to risk everything just to reach one more family – because out there, in the forgotten villages beyond Odesa, people are not wondering about the future of the world, they are wondering if they will make it through tomorrow.
The war has not just taken their homes; it has stolen their peace, their dignity and their hope. For three years, they have listened for sirens, waited for explosions, and whispered prayers in the darkness. They have watched their children shiver in homes without heat and go to bed hungry because there is nothing left to eat. Exhaustion is written on their faces. Fear lingers in their voices. Anxiety is in their trembling hands as they reach out, not just for food and firewood, but for someone to see them, to hear them, to remind them that they are not forgotten.
We bring what they need to survive – wood, coats, medicines. But more than that, we bring Jesus to them. Our teams sit in their homes in the dim candlelight, and listen. They take their hands and pray. They remind them that Jesus has not abandoned them, that even in this nightmare, He is here.
We see a little boy gets a new pair of shoes, and for the first time in a long time, he smiles and a mother clutching a warm winter coat for her child, and tears spill down her cheeks. These are the moments that make it all worth it.
Without exaggeration, I can say that without your help, we’d never been able to provide, many of these families would not have survived this winter.
And yet, there are still so many more. More homes waiting. More children shivering. More fathers, once strong, now broken and hopeless. More mothers doing everything they can to hold their families together.
Each family we meet carries a story that could fill a book. Their pain, their perseverance, their quiet moments of hope – these are stories that deserve to be told.
Sometimes, I wonder if there will come a day when the war ceases, when we can finally breathe a sigh of relief, when we can sit and reflect on all we have seen. I picture myself somewhere far from the noise, from the chaos. No internet. No distractions. Just my laptop and a heart full of memories. And I would write the stories I have heard, the suffering we have witnessed, the transformation we have seen. I would write about how Jesus met people in their darkest moments. How He brought hope where there was none. How He used ordinary hands – our hands, your hands – to bring His love to those who thought they had been forgotten. But for now, the stories are still unfolding. The need is still urgent. The suffering is still real, like a little girl who needs life-saving surgery in Odesa – the cost is $7,000 - before she is evacuated. She won’t make it out of Ukraine without the surgery.
Mother Teresa once said, “We cannot change the whole world, but we can try to change the world for one person.” And this is what we believe Jesus would be doing today. He would not be sitting at negotiating tables or fighting for power. He would be with the people, feeding them, holding them, weeping with them, walking with them through their suffering. And so, we will keep going. One village at a time. One family at a time. One more life reached, one more soul touched.
But we cannot do this alone. Please continue to stand with us. Please help us reach one more family. Your prayers matter. Your support matters. Together, we can bring Jesus to those who feel they’ve been forgotten.
Please stand with us in prayer and support for these wonderful opportunities to see the Kingdom of God grow, and for needy, war-torn families to find hope for the future.
Budget for the Month
| Description | $ |
|---|---|
| Families in need in the Ukraine | |
| Firewood | 4,750 |
| Medicines | 3,500 |
| Food Parcels | 4,000 |
| Warm clothes | 3,200 |
| Bibles for Orphan children and families in need | 3,200 |
| Refugees in Norway & Germany | |
| Food and gifts for needy children & families | 2,500 |
| Firewood for Refugees who don’t have government funding | 3,500 |
| Repairs of Van transport refugees to church & refugee agencies | 2,500 |
| TOTAL | $27,150 |
Thank you for the encouragement you are to us, and thousands of needy people through us. Please continue to stand with us in prayer and support for these needs.
Yours in the Spirit of Rescue,
Dave and Margurita
“The love of Christ compels us.”
If you would like to donate to help these needy families and children, please use link above to make a safe donation by credit card or PayPal.
Post Script
Since Dave wrote, just over a week ago, the this newsletter there has been much activity. Countries of the EU and others seem to be working more closely together - supporting the Ukraine now, taking part in broad based discussions of a peace plan and also the subsequent support of the Ukraine. Praise God for these developments and we pray for growing unity in this coalition. There has also been put in place a temporary, 30 day, ceasefire agreement whereby the Russian Federation would not attack the power infrastructure of the Ukraine and also some sort of cease fire on shipping that uses the ports that are still viable in the Ukraine. Unfortunately though, it has been reported that the aggressors have once violated the agreement relating to the power infrastructure.
Much is spoken out in the media of developments and analysts’ views as to what is happening along with “fake” news items and half-truths that is generated along the way. But, we all know the source of truth, God’s inspired word, the Holy Bible. We praise God for the good developments that have occurred and continue to pray for peace.
Throughout remembering that behind the physical fighting there is a greater spiritual battle and evil at work Eph 6:12 and pray accordingly and that God’s will, will be done also remembering that God is the judge. We declare that the Russian Federation will not gain control of the Odesa Region or have access access to the House of Hope and the wonderful children and others that are there. You remember that the president of the RF personally ordered the kidnapping of Ukrainian children from their summer camps, and else where, over the last few years and boasts that he has over 744,000 Ukrainian children in his ‘Conversion Camps.’ Nicknamed ‘Torture Farms’, these places are reconditioning centres where the children are being brainwashed into ‘good Russian citizens’ who will eventually forget their Ukrainian homes and parents.
The RF president boasts that he does not recognise the ruling of the International Court of Justice nor the warrants issued for his arrest for these crimes. But he cannot avoid God’s arrest orders. Remember Jesus said, “If anyone harms any little child that belongs to me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the deepest sea.”
We are also told in 1 Timothy 2:1-2: "I urge, then, that above all, prayers, petitions, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and honorable in every way." This verse encouraging us to pray for leaders, so that they may rule justly and allow for a peaceful society and also for their repentance and salvation, something that is much needed for the leaders of the Russian Federation, the Ukraine and indeed the nations.
As we seek the Lords wisdom on the plans that we should be making we would ask that you stand alongside us in this. Also praying/declaring that when the “confiscated” children are returned that the right procedures are in place to receive them and return them to their parents and if they are truly orphaned that the Ukraine with the help of other nations and particularly through the church have loving, caring facilities for them.