The other year of God's blessing has passed. That was the time of bringing the good news of salvation. We are living in the time of political and religious freedom which only have been dreamed about by our parents. Many Christians were praying for such time. The Gospel is being spread all over the Ukraine. It may be heard in the cities and villages of our country. The salvation news are being spread by different means - musical groups "Salvation Light", "Revival", program "From Heart to Heart". Guests from Scandinavia are helping a lot with the Gospel preaching. They like Ukrainian people and are always glad to bring the salvation news to orphans homes, schools, kindergartens, children's prisons, in cities and villages. Scandinavian Children's Mission organized 3 evangelizational trips to the Eastern Ukraine. Having passed over 1000 km we came to Dnipropetrovsk region with the load of humanitarian help. In village Vasylivka the water baptizing was organized. On the banks of the river there were slogans "One who believes and is baptized will be saved". That event was announced over radio and TV, therefore many people gathered at the appointed date. The words of Lord, Christian singing and poetry were sounding for about 2 hours. After baptizing the people were called to accept the Jesus in their hearts. Many people stepped forward and the prayer of penance was concluded. The meeting was ended with the wonderful final chord and words of the song "Ukraine, the Lord has granted you with peace and happiness. Only he has power to protect from crash and evil" We continued the evangelization trip to vil. Olexandrivka. Over 300 students from local professional school came to meet us. In vil. Pokrovske we visited the old people's home and new church, where the missioners from Volyn were working. We also visited town Merezhevo and had two evangelization meetings there. Those meetings were special, we really felt God's blessing. We preached about the love of Lord and penance. The joy and appreciation filled the hearts of present people. Some of them decided to start the new life with Jesus. They came to us with many questions. The meetings were very warm, at the end of the meetings we wished the people to choose the true way with Jesus as the way of their life. The last evangelization meeting of that trip was the meeting with the girls in Melitopol prison. 200 girls between 15 and 18 years old gathered at the hall, filled with the sounds of wonderful music. The girls were touched by the song about mother. The song "Give love to the one, who is close to you" was sung by all the girls for several times. Then there was the preach about the big Lord's love "Agappe" (Jn 3:16). There was the call to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. All the girls were sincerely repenting. With the Holy Spirit, the atmosphere was warm and merry.
We made three very special evangelization trips to villages Tekovo, Sosovo and Chorno-Tysovo, Zakarpattya region. Within the short period of time the flood destroyed most of the houses in those villages. During one night the water rose up to the roofs of the houses. Having heard about the disaster Scandinavian Children's Mission was in a hurry to help people who had lost all the belongings. Three trucks with the humanitarian help were sent to Zakarpattya. When we came to the place we saw the awful sight. The houses were destroyed up to the foundation, mud covered the yards and streets. We were looking in the eyes of the people around. They were sad and tearful. The faces of the people expressed despair and weakness. And we wanted to say something warm to relief their pain, console their hearts, and give them hope. People found consolation in the words from Bible, that "God loves you." Some people said that they were thanking Lord that they and their children were alive. It could have been worse, as two people from village Tekovo were killed during the flood. One woman told us how she was rescuing her family. It was late in the night, the light was turned down and the water started to fill the house. Her children and her climbed up to the roof. They were listening the noise of water flow and were praying to God asking to rescue them. She heard the animals roaring in the cow-house. Then everything was silent. In the morning she saw that their cow-house disappeared. It was taken with the water. The woman was feared only for her children. They were praying and God heard them. The soldiers came with the boat and rescued them. One man we met at the road said that all the property he had been earning for many years was destroyed within several hours. Firstly he was greatly upset, but then he assuaged. His family and him started to live with their relatives. "Store up riches for yourself in heaven!" (Mt. 6 : 19). Then together with deputies of village council we had to distribute the help between the people. The help came in time and was appreciated, especially the rubber boots, warm military coats, sweaters, socks, other clothes we received from Sweden. People were thanking God and our Mission for the help. The village council sent us the special appreciation letter. After that we continued our communication with people at the central square of the village. All the people were invited to watch the film "Jesus". The film was shown from the Mission truck outside in the street. We noticed the interest in the eyes of both adults and children. They were carefully looking at every picture from the life of Jesus Christ. The film was shown in all three villages Tekovo, Sosovo and Chorno-Tysovo. After film we gave the people the precious words of Lord - the Gospel. The people were thanking the Lord and all the people who made possible that trip. Late in the evening we were returning home filled with joy as we could visit those people and give them a piece of material and spiritual help.
We would like to thank the Lord, all the brothers and sisters from Scandinavian countries and our President Mr.Bo Wallenberg.
May God hundredfold reward all the people who donated with their finance, time, power and health!
Volodymyr Zakharchuk, Evangelist of SCM.