I called each individual missionary and each of them gave me an idea of how many refugees had come to them in their churches here in Southwestern Ukraine. They are including churches, schools and hotels. Some of the Christians were taken in by Christian families.
At the beginning of the war, I urged all our missionaries to leave and cross over to Romania to stay at the PIEI Christian Center in Alba Iulia, at least the wives should leave with the small children. They said they can't leave now because they have many refugees from the North and East who arrived in our towns and have to stay to take care of them and serve them. If the refugees will flee over the border, then they will also flee with their families to Romania when the time comes. We pray that if that time comes, everyone will be able to cross the border without any problems.
Ukraine: Chernivtsi Region / PIEI National Director Pavel Petihacinii
Our dearest brothers and sisters from the U.S.A., I greet you with the peace of the Lord Jesus, even though here in our country of Ukraine there is no peace, we get comforted with the words of our Lord Jesus from John 14: 1-2 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
It seems that now the Lord is pressing upon us to hep our brothers and sisters who are refugees even more, mothers and children who have left their homes in the far North, East, and the Center of Ukraine. Every day there are more and more of them arriving. All of our churches are helping as much as they can. Today is day 7 of this war. We do not know what it will be, but our hope is in the Lord. He is our refuge. He can free Ukraine from its agressors who came uninvited. We are weak, but God is Almighty, may He be glorified forever. May He show us His glory through our weaknesses. Amen.
Yesterday, my wife Larissa and I went to tend to the 100 refugees that are housed at the Bible Center in Chernivtsi (Koveliscaia St. Nr. 25). We took food items and canned goods. They were so happy to see us. There is a large kitchen there and they can prepare meals. Brother Alex Pascari came yesterday also with a van full of Christian Aid. Praise the Lord who provides help for these refugees from everywhere. They are so touched and surprised by the love and care that is shown to them. Glory to God that through this work His Name is being honored and proclaimed. May He continue to help us, and may God stop this war that doesn’t make any sense.
At the church in Nesvoia we have 11 families of mothers with children. (30 people). We divided them through the houses of our brothers and sisters, members of the church. Our family feeds them and takes care of them all: Christians and non-Christian families. We give them food, mattresses, pillows, clothing, and everything they need.
We are so thankful for all of you who are coming alongside of us with this situation in Ukraine. May God bless you and reward your love and your sacrifice for Ukraine.
With our love,
Petihacinii Family, Pavel and Larissa
Ukraine: Noua Sulita / PIEI National Missionary Valerii Popov
I greet you with the peace of the Lord, our dear brothers and sisters in the Lord!
I would like to write about the work with the Ukrainian refugees that have arrived and are staying with us.
We have three families that have settled in our church, three families in the church in the village of Dranita, and two families in Chernivtsi. These are Christian families. They come to meet with us daily for fellowship at our Emmanuel Church. We gave gifts to their children, and they were so happy! We are thankful that we can heat up the place for them, make tea and coffee, sandwiches, read the Word and pray together.
We are so happy that among these refugees there is also a pastor from Kiev, and he helps us out with the ministry among the refugees.
One woman made a decision for Christ during one of our devotinal times. Her name is Marina. She said that she started to attend a bible study in Kiev, but she did not understand much. Now she did and gave her heart and life to the Lord. Everyone congratulated and encouraged her for her decision, the pastor from Kiev prayed for her, and we also gave her flowers. She was so touched, saying that she waited so long wasting her life until now, that she should have made this decision a long time ago, but just didn’t have the courage to do it.
Our son Timotei told us that this war is a gain for the kingdom of God, for many people come to know Christ. This woman’s son whose name is also Timotei said that everyone needs to repent. Praise the Lord! One refugee brother said that he wants to help out our church needs with the refugees care, and contributed 3000 grivni (local currency), money that I used to purchase coal to heat up the boiler at the church.
In our town we have 20 refugee Christians, and 80 non-Christian refugees. The non-Christians have been accommodated through schools and hotels, while the Christians are accommodated by our families in the church (that was done for safety reasons for our homes, families and children). We take care of everyone and help everyone with produce, food, canned goods, with mattresses, pillows, blankets, and conforters. My family and I moved into another house and live with a brother, and gave our entire house to a refugee family. We help with what we can.
We are helping 10 other people and two children also refugees who are non-Christians, who are staying at the local hotel. We are also visiting them, giving them food items and gifts for their children.
May the Lord help us to continue this work and spiritual ministry for the souls of these people who are in much need. We thank you for praying for Ukraine. We know and believe that the Lord is working in a marvelous way and will deliver us from this terrible harsh war. May He bless you, brothers and sisters from the U.S.A., hundred fold, from His riches for you all.
With all our love, Popov Family
Chernivtsi: PIEI Missionary Pastor Grigore Pastusac
Currently, 30 people are housed in our church (all Christians), and we have accommodated 50 people through the families of our brothers in the church. Our church feeds them and brings them everything they need. At first there were 70 people at the church, but in the last two evenings many of them crossed over to Romania with relatives and acquaintances.
Tarasauti: PIEI Missionary Mihai (Misha) Gortopan
In our church we have three families who were accommodated by our brothers and sisters, and we are prepared and still waiting for more families with children to come along. In the village we also have non-Christian refugees who have been housed that we are helping.
Dinauti: PIEI Missionary Alexa Pascari
Five non-Christian families came to the village and were accommodated at the school. We bring them all the things they need. We also collected a lot of produce and food items and drove them to the Christian Center in Covelscaia St, in Chernivtsi (which was built by the PIEI U.S. partnership), where there are 100 Christian refugees who are accommodated. Every day we take food and other items there to care for and feed them.
Kotelevo: PIEI New Missionary Igor Dzeadic
We have 10 refugees that came to our village and we have housed them in the homes of our brothers and sisters from our church. We help them with food and other necessities.
Rachitna: PIEI Missionary Grigore Kioresco
I helped out with 1000 refugees that came in to be redistributed all over Hotin district, because there we have many larger Evangelical Christian churches that have accommodation. These churches take very good care of these refugees who come from all over the large cities of Ukraine near the Russian border: Chernigov, Rovno, Kyiv, Sumi, Kharkov,
Nikolaev, Odessa, Kherson as well as some other smaller cities. A large number of refugees were also sent to Chernivtsi and were housed at the Ceremosh Hotel.
Two families of refugees came to our church and we distributed them to the believers’ homes. We took two other refugee families, whom we found out that they had an open visa to immigrate to America, and took them to the border in Romania, because from there they can to go further and advance their immigration procedures. We do our best to help everyone, this is what we learn from God’s Word. Everyday we get new refugees arriving.
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This is the report about the refugees. As far as the war is concerned, we are yet to see what the two parties with its own
parlament will decide, if they are to stop this war or not. Please pray for Ukraine and for the end of this war. May God bless you.
With Love,
Brother Pavel Petihacinii
