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"Tie your shoes and pray for the Hughes" |
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Moldova on a
beautifully warm and breezy summer day!
Thank you for taking the time to read our latest news and for praying with
us for the requests we mention. We pray
that your summer is going well and that you are encouraged in your walk with
Him.
Our donating bags of food
staples and basic toiletries to Ukrainians has paused for now. Shortly after our last prayer letter we
distributed more bags and explained to the social worker how we would like to
give our donations in the future. We
wanted to continue to give bags to newly arrived refugees through her office,
but to set up something different that would allow us more interaction with
those who have been in our city for awhile.
We purchased more supplies but then problems arose. The social worker promised to give us a list
of Ukrainians staying in Soroca, but she never did. Then she stopped replying to calls and
messages. Eventually, we were able to
donate the food already purchased to a hotel restaurant that was preparing
meals for those staying at a campground.
Due to other summer activities, we have not looked for other avenues to
aid those displaced by the war. We are
hoping that doors will open up in the next few weeks. We have been able to stay in touch with one
Ukrainian family that we met through giving as they are staying in a home in
our village. We are supposed to go visit
them again soon. Would you pray that the
Lord would show us how we can best minister to them?
The last week of June we held a
VBS at the children’s home in Cosauti where we minister weekly. Since we are teaching through a curriculum
that points kids to the theme of redemption in the Bible, we continued with
that curriculum for the week. We were
pleased to have 20+ kids each day and even more pleased that a number of kids
memorized the daily verse. Through the
summer (including the VBS week) we are awarding kids points for attendance,
verse memory and behavior. Later, they
will be able to spend those points on prizes in our store.
A couple of weeks ago we heard the
heartbreaking news of a wife who, returning from working abroad, told her
husband she didn’t want anything more to do with him. He has been caring for their four children
(ages 5-11) these past 3+ years while she has been working. Please pray for our brother “K” as he deals
with this awful situation. Would you
also pray for God’s chastening on “C” his wife that she would repent and turn
back to God and to her family? If you’d
pray for us, we need God’s wisdom to see how to care for this family.
Last week we held a VBS in
Bulboci, the village where we have Sunday afternoon services. There were several blessings from the
week. First, four ladies that attend
Sunday services came to help out. They
lightened our load and I think they enjoyed serving the kids too. Second, attendance exceeded my
expectations. We had at least 20 kids
each of the five days. Third, a majority
of these unchurched kids said their memory verse when they came the next
day. Fourth, the weather was very
pleasant and the kids were mostly cooperative. Fifth, we have since heard very
positive reports from adults in the village.
We ourselves enjoyed the week and are eager to see how God may expand
this in the future.
The war in Ukraine continues to
indirectly affect those to whom we minister.
We already mentioned the Ukrainian family in our village that cannot yet
go home. The brother of a man who comes
to services in Soroca lives in a region where the Russians already occupy. The sister of a friend of Viola’s has had her
three shoe stores destroyed by rockets.
Another friend’s father and brother-in-law live in a city a distance
from the combat but that was hit by rockets last week. After claiming they were after the Donbas and
Luhansk regions, Russia has now openly named two other regions that are
objectives, plus a number of other unnamed territories. While the US has supported Ukraine with
sophisticated weapons, Russia is now using Ukraine’s possession of those
weapons as justification for fighting further.
They are claiming it is a threat to their country as long as Ukraine has
these weapons. As Moldova is seeking to
join NATO and unite with Europe, the breakaway region of Transnistria openly
stated this week that it wants a free union with Russia. While we are still many miles from the combat
and rocket attacks, it seems the possibility of the conflict more directly
touching Moldova is growing. To be clear,
we don’t discern any imminent danger, but tension is slowly growing as opposed
to diminishing in Moldova.
In His service,
Jacob and Viola Hughes
For Prayer:
1. Ukraine – the fighting to
cease, people to come to the Lord
2. “K” and his kids, his wife
“C”
3. The Lord’s direction as we
minister to several individuals
For Praise:
1. An intern helping us the
past few weeks
2. Good weeks of VBS in Cosauti
and Bulboci
3. Good reports about our VBS
in Bulboci
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