Valik and Akiona Lipskiy know the Donetsk region very well. They lived there in peace, until the first Russian invasion of their home area in 2014, but had to become internally displaced people, moving westwards to central Ukraine, to the city of Uman.

It was in this city that they helped set up an evangelical church ('Reconciliation Church') in 2018. Valik became responsible for heading up the relief work in the church, and when EMF needed a more central depot from which to distribute goods to eastern destinations, we were introduced to Valik, through the recommendations of our EMF missionaries in Ukraine.

The van in the opening photo (the temporary Zoom booth!) has not had much respite in the months since it arrived in Uman. Not only does it carry the products purchased and given out by the church to hundreds of people each week (there are about 150 families—500 regular beneficiaries); it has also transported displaced people and taken them to greater safety in Uman.

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Naturally, this church has received many Bibles and many Blankets, thanks to the generosity of donors to EMF's Christmas appeal.

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In the picture below you can see a generator too (on the right)! The power supplied from this equipment helps the church to stay open as a warm hub for folk who would otherwise have nowhere comfortabl to go during the day.

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The vehicle has done numerous visits to the Donbas, and has taken supplies to Bakhmut, a place that is tragically in the news, being a key strategic place for Russia to attack, and for Ukraine to defend. Valik believes there must only remain about 5,000 of the 80,000 inhabitants in that sad city, which is under constant shelling,and these residents survive in dank basements with no supplies other than what is taken to them. Of course, Valik and his team stop to greet, and give succour to, the war-weary soldiers they find on their trips east They try to minister to them spiritually as they travel to these troubled zones. Other cities visited with aid have been Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, and Kostyantynivka.

At the beginning of this latest stage in the war Valik lost his job, as it was in construction, and his firm could not function. But he was not unemployed, for he and his wife Aliona immediately gave themselves to reaching out to internally displaced and traumatised people who had lost everything. After all, they knew what it was to have to become exiles. With some help from EMF funds, Valik has been able to carry on doing this, while still providing for Aliona and their two children.

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Last July, Valik told us of conversions, and of true interest in the Gospel. Their church congregation size on Sundays has doubled from 40 to 80; there are well-attended Bible studies during the week. All this is undoubtedly encouraging.

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Nevertheless, the emotional and physical and spiritual costs of this outreach are great. A few weeks ago the pastor of the church stopped the frantic pace of the humanitarian work, calling the team away to a retreat. The aim was to renew the spiritual strength of all concerned, and to refocus on the need to keep gospel work and evangelistic zeal at the forefront of the church's efforts. Valik (and Vlodia) said how easy it was for them to be so absorbed in meeting the huge material needs of those who visit each week, that they neglect their own spiritual needs, as well as those of the people they seek to serve.

May the Lord be pleased to hear their prayers for true spiritual fruit in the midst of such an enormous challenge.

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