The following is a prayerletter from one of our Presbyterian Pastors in Kiev, and one of our seminary graduates. Please keep praying for Ukraine. The situation is tenuous, with threats within and from without. Yet, there is great hope, and great rejoicing, and we continue to see God doing GREAT THINGS in Ukraine!
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Dear Friends,
FINALLY, I CAN SAY "FINALLY"
Finally, I have enough of peaceful time to update you on Liberty church-planting team - some peaceful time away from the city battles, reading news hourly.

 

As all of you know now, these last three months Ukraine has been through the peaceful protests against the basic freedom rights oppression from our Government and so called President side. But the last week as you have seen on TV was the worst for us, but at the same time, all these events were the true witness of literally a miracle.


THE CHRONICAL OF A MIRACLE

 

This is shortly a last week's review of my own

in events here in downtown Kiev:

Monday 17th of Feb - UNCERTAINTY. Protestors don't know what to do - 3 months of standing outside in freezing weather and the Government doesn't even here and ignores the crowd refusing to punish those guilty in beating up the peaceful students. Crowd gets bigger, but the President gets deafer.

Tuesday 18th - CATASTROPHY. The crowd goes with peaceful protest to the Parliament building to demand to return to the Constitution 2004 to get back the power from the President, that he got by manipulating the Constitutional court. The crowd is being attacked by the riot police - about 20 killed - many injured. Protestors had NO weapons. The riot police surrounded the Main square in Kiev and the battle between the activists and the police is right there now in a 100 ft in almost every direction from the center of the Square.

Wednesday 19th - FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY. The riot police doesn't go further, but the fights continue and the Main square is almost empty - only activists on the barricades and a few people. Seems like it's the end.  Several people burnt to death in the building set into fire by the riot police gang. The downtown is all on fire.

Thursday 20th - NIGHTMARE, HORROR AND PANIC. The police snipers shoot 83 people downtown, including activists , protestors and even accident wonderers of the Main square - the Square instead is being filled with more and more people, that are ready to wipe away the police and the gvnmt no matter what

Friday 21st - THE HOPE AND THE RESSURECTION. The Square is crowded with people. Tens of thousands. People are getting control over the gvnmt and the Parliament. The gvnmt runs away. The police gives up. The President is ready to sign a peaceful treaty.
Saturday 22d - THE VICTORY. The crowd is pushing to end up with this gvnmnt. The police leaves Kiev, the President runs away. The Parliament is under control of the opposition and everything happened without a single gun shot from our side.
Sunday 23d - MOURNING THE DEAD
And all these days, especially the bad ones, the "Our Father" prayer was read from the stage every 30 minutes. I can't take it, but as the real miracle from God, since on Wednesday it was all close to a bad end.

 

WE ARE THE LIBERTY

Liberty church-plant and the Big City Church where I still serve part time were not aside of all these events. Our Liberty team member Misha Zasko, was wounded in his leg by the piece of the light-sound bomb, but he is completely alright now. The members of Liberty team and the Big City church were standing on the square with protestors praying in the Christian tent there, feeding the protestors with food and tea, helping to pass the stones to the protestors, helping to build the barricades, bringing gasoline, patrolling the streets of Kiev, helping protecting the city limits, helping in the church-hospital and MANY-MANY-MANY other input into the peaceful revolution for freedom as the Scripture commands us to protect the justice and protect the oppressed. Some of us were even standing on the barricades, protecting the activists with the shields, while their fight in front of the riot police bullets and fire. And we are proud, that we have been the part of that and that we were there with the people of Ukraine.


PRAISES

Praise be to God, that none of us is dead or seriously injured. Praise God, that American missionaries from the Liberty team were in time to leave and those who stayed is safe too. Praise be to God we are not ashamed to look into the people's eyes, when they ask if we were there.

Now, the country is recovering. The President is wanted for the mass killings, the Parliament is renewed and working. The country is in a great hope for the brighter future and the people are attentive to the prayers and the Word of God (and have always been all that time). There are only few troubles on the East of Ukraine, but we hope people there will settle down soon and the Russia is always a trouble J - but we believe the Western countries is a great guarantee of our unity as a country. Isn't it all above amazing?!


BACK TO LIFE - THE PRAYER NEEDS

SO, the life is getting back to normal slowly, but surely and we get back to our church-planting plans. We still hope to have a breaking-ground project for our church-planting active fase of work and we are now waiting for the short-term team request to be answered in order to conduct this project more effectively.

I would like to share with you the prayer needs we pray about at the team meetings, so that you can join us in those too:

- We pray to have the first Liberty worship service in November 2014

- We pray our work in summer will be effective no less, since we have all our American missionaries team members leaving for the summer due to the various reasons. So, it's going to be just us - Ukrainians, short-term team from US (we hope) and a couple of US interns (we hope). 
- We pray for our team to be able to do a lot of work closer to the summer
- We pray for the future members of the church in Kiev, with such a name JLiberty

Some of you have been asking all these days how can you help, but praying. Praise be to God we were not in need during the revolution....

 

Again, my friends, thank you all so much for our last week's common prayer fight for Ukraine - we all see it, it made a miracle with our country.

 

Thankfully,

Pastor

Liberty Presbyterian

Church-planters in Kiev, Ukraine

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So, please continue to pray for our churches. They are all facing similar struggles, and things aren't over yet!