April 2023 Tatiana's News

Ukrainian Children’s Christian Fund

4234 Garden Grove Drive, Burnaby, BC  V5G 4G6

Phone:  236-979-4369  email:  uccfincanada@gmail.com

Web page:   www.uccfcanada.org

Spring Newsletter April, 2023

Dear Friends,

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy: 

break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, 

till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12

When I was living at home I sometimes got the job of weeding the garden before spring planting.  While this wasn’t a very exciting job, the prospect of mum’s rhubarb pie and fresh picked peas in the pod were a good motivation.  But of course the digging had to be done first.  The above verse is one of many illustrations that receiving a blessing from God often requires advance preparation or practical effort of some sort.  For example, the preaching of John the Baptist preceded the ministry of Christ (Isaiah 40:3), the blind man was instructed to wash before his eyes were healed (John 9:7), and the Israelites were told to dig ditches in the wilderness to receive much needed water. (II Kings 3:16-17) For our co-workers in Ukraine there has been a whole year of effort to provide humanitarian help to a large number of previously un-contacted people.  While our co-workers continue to help people with immediate needs they have also been re-starting as many ministries as are possible in their areas.  The passing of time has made it even more important to do whatever they can to build up and train the young people for future involvement in church and camp ministries.  Please pray for direction for the leaders and protection and blessing from the Lord as they meet and grow together.  -  Heather Renton

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News from Tatiana:

Recently I had an urgent problem with my teeth and God provided in a miraculous way…the dentist who worked on my teeth decided to do it for free!  He said he was trying to be more like Jesus.  I was both touched and relieved because the full cost of two crowns was more than I could afford.

I am still at HoneyRock Camp and have applied for grad school at Wheaton College.  I received a scholarship from the Billy Graham Foundation towards a degree in Outdoor Leadership which is basically camps.  My plan is to stay here for a year and then re-evaluate the situation in Ukrarine.  I think this education is the best possible way to invest my time here until I can safely return home.  At the same time I will still be very much involved with the ministry of UCCF in Ukraine because it is very important to me.

We are currently working on making a series of training videos for camp leaders for next summer.  Now that a lot of people have left Ukraine, these videos will be an important teaching tool to train the next generation of camp workers.

I am still able to communicate with our two co-workers who stayed in Russian occupied territory although communication is not the best and they definitely can’t meet with other workers as we did in the past.  They are still doing a great job supporting families in their town and nearby villages.

Co-worker Barbara and her husband Valentin think they may leave Ukraine and take their kids to a safe place.  All four of the kids are under age so Valentin can legally cross the border.  Please pray that they will know what is God’s will for them and for safety for their family whatever they decide.

Co-workers Nina and Svetlana are serving in their local churches and working with families as usual.  Their workload is huge to I pray for strength for them and also that God gives them a chance to rest at least from time to time.  We all are very thankful that you are so faithful and we appreciate you so much. - Tatiana