Heart of Ukraine
Vinnytsia, Ukraine
Heart of Ukraine - Mark and Laura Bohanan lead a team in the Ukraine that helps those with addictions, the homeless, refugees (war), internally displaced persons (war), pensioners, and the needy (which includes widows, single mothers, large families, etc.), however, due to emergency situations in the past (i.e., Sept 2017 Ammo Depo Explosions) and then the full fledge war in 2022 we have also served the local police, emergency workers, a medical clinic, and a prison. On average we feed approximately 240 portions of food weekly at just our street feeding and in 2020 we surpassed 100,000 meals served
For more information go to: www.heartofukraine.org
Or contact Sandra Brooks sbrooks@lhchurch.com
9/27/24
We would ask that you pray for:
God's wisdom on us as we make the many decisions for the Soup Kitchen
That we can line up the volunteers to give a short Salvation message to our guests before the meals. We've talked with them before and they were agreeable, however, now we are going to be scheduling for specific dates
For the hearts of our guests, that the seeds of God's love that have been invested in them will draw them closer to Him, and that many will make a decision to be a follower of Christ
The processing of our request for Permanent Residency, and that God would continue to give us favor with Immigration
For the scheduling and the operation on our client Yura's ankle, hopefully next week or the following week
9/23/24
Greetings in Christ's name from Ukraine!
We are back in Ukraine after our sabatical, and deep in the trenches of serving others.
We are asking for fervent prayer for our ministry:
* That God gives us favor with the Kyiv organization, who helps non profits serve in Ukraine. We will be asking for their help in buying large appliances, like a stove, fridge, high pressure dish washer, etc. for the new Soup Kitchen. And, for some requestsc we are putting in to churches to help with this.
* That God fills us with His wisdom as we are making many many decisions as we set up the Soup Kitchen.
* Praising God for the warehouse we are renting and that it is so close to where we have been feeding on the streets. It is going to be wonderful to feed under a roof, after 16 years of feeding on the streets. (YouTube tour of the location: https://youtu.be/TWHpdzQM2uQ?si=ExO3nkzE5UBKOEpR)
* For the energy that is needed to do all this additional work, and in a different language and culture. That God helps us endure with patience and good attitudes as we face all the challenges. (Especially the mentality clashes ..... post Soviet and modern American)
* That God would prepare the hearts of our guests, and that they would be open to the spiritual food we will be more obviously giving. That the years of loving and serving them would bring forth a great harvest. That they easily find our new location and enjoy the new space.
* For favor as we apply for our Permanent Residency. They say we have all the right documents (finally), but it will go to Kyiv, to people who don't know us (the local Immigration officer knows us well, after 17 years). That we are approved under the new law.
* For our rehab client Yura. The Traumatologist has all Yura's analysis and tests. He will be coordinating with the surgeon regarding Yura's ankle. Hopefully the operation will be soon. For Yura's current level of pain, as his ankle is extremely swollen. That Yura is at peace about the surgery. But most importantly, that Yura sees God's hand in all of this, and that he will finally surrender to Christ.
12/1/23
A big praise! Our senior client, Dema, has been with us almost 2 years. A couple of months ago he started a new phase and is now working a job but returning to the center each evening. Tuesday he was notified by his supervisor that they wanted him to go on a business trip with his supervisor and another employee. Dema was really hesitant to go because this routinely leads to drinking and smoking by those going on the trip. He did not want to be tripped up and relapse. At the same time, he was concerned that if he refused to go his employer might refuse to pay him for the month (work he had already done), which is unfortunately common here. We went over some relapse prevention scenarios to help prepare him. He went on the trip and came back victorious! The two men with him smoked often in the car (both were up front) with the windows cracked. At the work site, out of the 3 workers, 2 were drinking. Despite all this, Dema was able to say "No". This is a huge first for him and he has been smiling all day, since returning home.
Prayer for Yura's eye. He was chopping wood and a piece flew back and hit him in the eye. His hematoma, outer side of his eye, has healed up nice. However, the injury has seemed to affect the cataract in his eye and has made his eye more cloudy. We'll be taking him to a doctor in the next week or so to get an evaluation on it. Yura also continues to struggle to walk on his improperly healed ankle (broke it in 2017) and takes anti-inflammatory medication. Hopefully we can get him in for a surgery to correct the ankle. Yura is coming up on his 1 year with us. Please pray for Yura to accept Christ.
Max is progressing in his rehab program, but he continues to stumble on pride, especially when he feels someone is not hearing (agreeing with) his opinion. Max is just reaching his 3-month mark with us and is working on his 12 Steps. Please pray that Max comes to understand that he is saved by 'grace' and not his own works, and that he doesn't have to be perfect.
Prayers for Mark and I: our health as we get older; our emotional and metal energy to work with the men; our personal spiritual walks with the Lord.
Prayer for safety on the road as the weather continues to be snowy and icy, and it looks to be a hard cold winter.
Prayer for the Chaplains in the trenches with the soldiers, as they speak of God's love, forgiveness and salvation. Some Chaplains we know: Anatoliy, Dema, Dema (another one), Stanislov, Marina, Olya, and others.
Prayer for the coming outreach to prison staff for Christmas, January 7th. That their hearts remain open to us serving them and sharing the gospel.
Prayer for our street feeding program - for peace and cooperative guests. This last Tuesday we had 2 drunk men and a drunk woman attack another man. The young man was shocked and didn't fight back. Since the attackers were drunk, their assault was fairly harmless (swinging in the air), but when they went to attack him again, Mark grabbed one guy and I grabbed the other, and then kept ourselves between the attackers and the victim. Thankfully, the victim ended up with just scuffed knees and palms. The drunk men tried to incite us afterwards and 'save face', but we were both very calm (which spooked them; too calm = more dangerous) and we were not deterred. For several feedings they will not be feed, so when we arrive next week and refuse to feed them they may get loud and aggressive again; if they cause issues, we will immediately pack up and leave (which we've done on occasion to send a message), and allow 'street justice' to manage the situation (those who don't get fed because of the problem-makers will not be happy and as a group apply some peer pressure), which has worked for us before in situations like this. We are pretty experienced in handling these situations and can hold our own, but we really don't like being pulled into situations like this and we don't like the other guests to feel afraid or unsettled due to situations like this.
Light of Life Church will have a few holiday events and we'll be inviting people, so please pray that God goes before us and prepares the hearts of those we will approach. Our church is very warm and is like a big family, and we really enjoy time together.
8/11/23
Prayer Requests
For our work and outreaches.
For our health, strength and endurance to make it through the harvest.
For the hearts of the men we serve at the street feeding, that they would come to trust us and want to come to the rehab center as a way to change their lives.
For our wisdom as we deal with the men at David’s House.
That we are good stewards of the things that God gives us . . . .donations, crops, equipment, time, etc..
For our personal spiritual walks with Christ, as Satan tries to get us distracted in so many ways.
For our marriage as being in ministry, especially this ministry, can really wear on us; that we continue to make each other a priority during the day.