There are thousands of ‘Yulias’ in Ukraine, who have lost their husband on the frontline. There are thousands more who have no idea if their husband is dead or alive. Other women have had to face the fact that their spouse has life-changing injuries, PTSD, or both. Mothers grieve for sons who died before they began to enjoy adulthood. Children like Yulia’s are fatherless, in a country where there is little help available for such victims of the war.

Liuda Mariash says of  herself, and of the women she ministers to each month, ‘We are all really very tired, I can see it in the wives of the military.

They often don't want anything anymore, they have lived a day and are happy. They want nothing more than to survive and wait for their husbands.

Everyone needs help, I can't always help, but we pray and teach our people to pray.’

In Irpin Bible Church, EMF 4:14 worker Alyona Akopdhzanian writes, ‘I want to share the story of two special women, Iryna and Olena. Their husbands were killed back in the days of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, and their grief united them. They endured deep pain, are raising children (Olena’s son has a disability), and last year they graduated from our Chaplaincy School. Now, they themselves serve military personnel, veterans, and families. They are Christians. And when they say, “We no longer want only to be served, but also to serve others,” it is a living testimony that the Gospel is alive and active.’

Almost everywhere that EMF missionaries and EMF 4:14 workers are serving, much time is dedicated to outreach to ladies like Yulia. Please pray that many of these widows and military wives will find Christ, and know the ‘joy of sin forgiven, and peace with God’.

Tireless evangelism

Gospel workers confess their exhaustion, but churches are not losing their focus on reaching lost, despairing people for Christ. As well as evangelistic talks at humanitarian aid events, we hear of ‘football outreach’ in Strong Faith Church, Ternopil; guitar classes followed by a Bible talk in Kyiv’s Bible and Life Church, and English classes using the Bible as the ‘text book’, given by Christian teenagers in Church of Jesus Christ, Ternopil.

Will you pray for these efforts to offer gospel hope to hundreds across Ukraine?

‍