Greetings, dear brothers and sisters from the USA, with the love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Our dear partners of the gospel of the Word of God, together with us, here in Ukraine, on behalf of all our missionaries of our PIEI Ukraine mission and on behalf of our families and churches, we want to congratulate you all on the holidays: Christmas and Happy New Year 2023! We wish you all a lot of health, happiness, success, peace and joy in Christ Jesus! So that Christ the Messiah, who came on this earth in order to save humanity, bless you, your families, your church and your country!
I am grateful to God that in this year 2022, which was a difficult year for us, because we have been at war in Ukraine for more than 10 months. There were many obstacles to spreading the Gospels, but God helped us proclaim HIS Word in the power of the Holy Spirit and many people heard the news of Christ and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior in their hearts.
1. Teaching at the Institute:
-This month, the Lord helped me teach Missiology to 10 students at the Theological Institute. Through the Acts of the Holy Apostles, I showed them how the apostles spread the Gospel in the first century. Now, in the 21st century, we also have difficult circumstances, but God helps us spread the Word like the apostles in the 1st century.
2. I taught courses about the Living Faith in a church from the village of Marshentsy.
-Showed that true faith conquers the world and makes us righteous before God.
-Abraham was righteous before God and all the heroes of faith from chapter 11 to Heb.
-Many in the church prayed that they would have this living faith.
3. In the church from the village of Nesvoi, I taught the book of Joshua, chapter 2, and showed how a person can be a blessing for all his family, for the whole country, and for all of us. And we can be a blessing for other people.
4.News:
-Yesterday, December 16, 76 missiles were thrown at the cities of Ukraine and 60 of them were shot down by air defense. By doing this, the enemy wants to destroy our blessed country. In the city of Krivoy Rog (South of Ukraine), a rocket hit a residential building. There are killed and wounded. We pray for these people who live there. They live in a very dangerous zone. May God have mercy on them and may God give them to stop these missiles that destroy everything, and especially human lives.
-Our sister Alina Martsinyuk (translator of the PIEI UKR mission) had an operation on her leg yesterday, and we were fasting and praying for the operation to be successful. After the operation, Alina called and said that everything ended well - Thank God!
-Brother Gregory Kioresko, pastor missionary, was on the front line with a cargo bus and distributed humanitarian aid to all people in need.
- In Chernivtsi, in the Church of the House of Peace, brother pastor missionary Hryhoriy Pastushak performed water baptism. There were candidates for baptism both from the local church and from other churches in the region, who made a covenant with Jesus Christ through holy water baptism - Glory to God!
-All of our missionaries in our PIEI mission work intensively to serve the refugees, helping them and guiding them on the true path.
5. Thanksgiving:
-We thank you all for praying for our country and the people who live in it, so that peace finally comes to our land.
-We are grateful to you for praying for our translator Alina Martsinyuk, for her operation and thank God that this operation was successful.
-We are grateful to you for praying for our missionary Alex Pastushak, who also had an operation and now walks normally and works hard for God.
-We thank you for praying for all our missionaries and their families.
6. Prayer requests:
-Pray together with us for peace to finally come to Ukraine.
- About the students to whom I taught missiology, so that they could practice in life what they taught.
-About those who were baptized so that they would grow spiritually.
-Continue to pray for us missionaries of the PIEI Ukraine mission and for our families, that the Lord would give us health to work in His Field and continue diligently, as for the Lord.
We also pray for you dear brothers and sisters from the USA, our evangelistic partners here in Ukraine. May the Lord bless you and give you a hundredfold blessings!
With love to you, the Petikhachny family, Pavel and Larisa.
