We greet you brothers and sisters from the USA with the love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
I thank the Lord for blessing me throughout this month and giving me the opportunity to preach and proclaim His Word among the people who live in our area. He guarded our land from bombings and people live in peace with us.
1. Thanksgiving:
-On September 25, our church celebrated the feast of Thanksgiving to the Lord for a blessed harvest in our villages and in Western Ukraine. In the East, South and North of Ukraine there was a war and people who even sowed seeds, everything burned down. And we, those from whom the earth gave birth, should help and share with those who have such trouble. Our church is already preparing how to help and where to send help to people suffering from this war.
-On this holiday there was a rich program of youth and children in which the Name of the Lord our God was glorified. We also divided the products into bags and delivered them to the needy and sick in the village. People were very grateful to God for such kindness, Thank God!
-We also rejoiced, together with our entire church, for the repentance of one young woman (Lyudmila). She has been going to our church for a long time and on this Thanksgiving day she decided to repent. We have been praying for her for a long time and thank God that He heard our prayers. Now we pray for her husband George and for her children.
2. Social assistance.
-Also helped a family twice this month whose wife has cancer. We helped them with money and food. We pray for them and for this sister (her name is Jeta). She has just received another course of chemotherapy and is very weak. She keeps telling us that she is ready to go to God, but if the Lord wills continue her life, then she would like this. She is 59 years old. We pray for her all the time.
-We continue to help one disabled brother Dmitry in whatever he needs. We pray with him and comfort him.
-We gave literature and help to refugees who live in the village of Balkovtsy (neighboring village).
3. Breaking bread.
On October 2, we made breaking bread in the church in the village of Nesvoi and in the church in the village of Balkovtsy. We also distributed Holy Communion to the sick. They are always happy when brothers come to them with communion.
4. Meeting of the missionaries of the PIEI Ukraine mission.
-On September 28, we had a meeting with the missionaries of the PIEI UKR mission in Novoselytsya to the Emmanuel Church, where our missionary pastor is brother Valery Popov. There, each of our missionaries gave a report on the work done for 2022. We prayed and thanked God that He is still merciful to us and prolongs our lives so that we can serve Him with full dedication. We also thanked God for our sponsors from the USA, who constantly helped us, at this difficult time for us, and with prayers, and financially supported us so that we would continue to help other people who are in need. We prayed for our brothers and sisters from the USA that the Lord bless them with health and everything they need. We also prayed that the Lord would stop this war. Only God can stop this evil and we hope for God's mercy. Everyone of our missionaries were very happy about this meeting. We prayed for each other, encouraged each other, and blessed each other in our ministries for the next.
4. Thanksgiving:
-We are very grateful to the Lord for His mercy to us and we still have a peaceful sky (during these 7 months of the war in Ukraine we were never bombed), and for the fact that we can calmly serve the people who live near us. We are especially pleased to serve refugees and hear from them words of gratitude addressed to our God.
-We are grateful to God for you, brothers and sisters from the USA, for your support and for your prayers for us and for Ukraine. We feel the power of your prayer that strengthens us in ministry here, where we are at this very disturbing time for us.
5. Prayer needs:
-Pray with us, dear brothers and sisters from the USA, that the war will end and that the Lord will continue to protect us from war so that we can serve the Lord by helping people in their needs.
-Pray for us, the ministers of the church, so that we can find warm homes for the migrants because winter is coming soon.
-Pray for those people who have heard the Word of God that they repent.
-Pray for those soldiers who are on the front line defending Ukraine, that the Lord will protect them.
-Pray that the Lord will give me health to serve Him.
And we always pray for you, dear brothers and sisters, that the Lord bless you, your families, your churches and your country.
With love to you, the Petikhachny family, Pavel and Larisa.
