Yaroslav-Ternopil
There's a spider man, and there's a box man.
Thanks to everyone who joined and supported this initiative and was involved in a great cause. In one week we delivered and sent over 800 gifts to the frontline. We had the honor to see the laughter and tears that gave your letters and gifts. This trip has been emotionally tough, many questions, few answers, but it only motivates to plan and seek new opportunities to serve our front. .
 
Pray for Yarik and his team of volunteer chaplains, Andrey and his team of volunteer chaplains and the many other teams that are right now on or near the front ministering to so many. Pray for protection, for stamina and for anointing to bring the good news, Emmanuel, God with us!  
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Ira Kapitonova
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Psalm 63:3
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Tonight, I caught myself thinking that if we didn’t have an overnight air raid last night, it is bound to happen this night. This negative thinking is the trap the enemy wants us to fall into. Missile-and-drone terrorism combined with little sunlight, the general gloominess of the weather, and our weariness become the perfect Petri dish for despair to flourish. I remember how we were longing for spring at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, convincing ourselves that if we live till spring, we'll get over anything.
Lord, help us guard our hearts and remember Your steadfast love.
 
Yarik from Ternopil shares, ”We will spend the days before Christmas at the front. we plan to give more than 600 gifts for the front. Thanks to everyone who is with us. Thank God that He is Emmanuel.” Another team heading for the front was in an auto accident. Thankfully everyone is alright but very shaken, they ask for prayer for their team. Please pray for the many teams out right now ministering in some dangerous but very needy places. This is how they are spending their Christmas vacations.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Ira Kapitonova
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Psalm 62:7

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me where our joy comes from now, when we are nearing the end of the second year of the full-scale invasion. I will share my response here today, on Advent Sunday, when people around the world light up the Candle of Joy.
After we returned to Kyiv, our pace of life changed a lot from the slow, rather predictable, and safer life in a village.
 
I'd say that this year, we learn to live day by day, dealing with challenges step by step, learning to be grateful in the moment. We wake up, and we are thankful there were no explosions at night and we are well-rested. We get ready to go to school, and we are grateful to be able to travel safely through the city. At school, the children often pray and thank God that they don't need to go to the basement (our bomb shelter). We come home, and we appreciate the chance to be together as a family because the war has separated many families.
 
We learn to find joy in daily struggles. An air raid might have prevented us from going out, but we could have family time in our hallway (the safe part of our apartment). A snowstorm might have paralyzed the city, but it meant the indescribable joy of playing in the snow for the kids, so we would seize this opportunity just to let them have fun. We are still worried about possible blackouts and try to prepare for those, but even as we stock up on candles and flashlights, we bought some battery-powered Christmas lights to bring joy into the darkest of nights.
 
I wish our days were more predictable, but I also feel like God tells me every morning, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
Tonight, I pray for all to be able to experience the joy of God’s love and grace — whether it is in the heavily shelled trenches or in the warmth and safety of their homes. God offers us His joy despite circumstances, yet it is up to us to receive it.
 
Today's picture is an art piece by Irenaeus Yurchuk, "Light will conquer darkness."
 
These have been difficult days for Ukraine. Kyiv has been under missile attack for some days now and the front has become a frozen swamp. Yet they (Ukrainians) continue to teach us and encourage us with joy. Please pray for them that their joy might continue in spite of the difficulties of this war.

Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Greetings from Sudan,
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There is still intense fighting going on between the government army (SAF) and the militia (RSF). This continues in and around the capital of Khartoum, but sadly it is spreading to other areas of the country. Darfur in western Sudan has seen terrible conflicts over the last month. Unfortunately, there seems to be a no progress in the peace negotiations and we know very little of this is in the international news.

The internet and phone networks have been going down more often. Sometimes there are days or even weeks when we don’t hear news from other areas of the country. We did get a call last month that there continues to be a lot of looting and stealing in Omdurman, especially in areas where people have fled. The house storing some of YWAM’s things in Omdurman was looted. Some of the YWAM staff who moved out of Omdurman have also had their homes broken into and items stolen.

Our YWAM staff have been scattered to different areas of the country. They are doing well and God is opening opportunities for them to serve people. YWAM staff in Dongola ran three days of revival meetings in a local church recently. They will go to a near-by town and also run meetings in a local church there.

​Since the war started in April, schools all over the country have been closed. This has had a terrible impact on the youth, with some of them getting involved in crime. One of the YWAM staff in Jazeera state opened a school to serve children in her community and those displaced. She has two volunteer teachers and about 120 students, both Christians and Muslims. They divided the children into morning classes and evening classes because of a shortage of teachers and supplies. Here are some of the items they need… two blackboards, chairs, two barrels for drinking water, three doors for the classes, books and a small office.

​If you would like to give a gift to the YWAM Sudan team, gifts can go through YWAM Colorado Springs. https://donate.ywamcos.org/partners
Designated for... Other What is it for... "Sud- relief”

Ira Kapitonva
Deliver me from those who work evil,
and save me from bloodthirsty men.
Psalm 59:2
I lost track of the number of air raids we had today. I think we had three just during the school day — one in the morning, one at lunch, and one just at the end of the day (with one or two more during the after-school program). It's annoying and exhausting, but we are still grateful that we have a relatively comfortable basement and our air-defense forces.
 
Today, during one of the air raids, our kids made cards for our air defense soldiers, and it was the sweetest thing! Our kids understand the importance and value of our air defense.
Meanwhile, The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. It gives us hope, even though we are aware of the reality of circumstances.
 
Please, keep Ukraine in your prayers, especially over the next few weeks. Russia is most likely practicing for a massive missile strike. In any case, daily (and nightly) sirens turn out to be a pretty reliable psychological weapon they are not shy about using.
 
Please, please pray during this very trying time. This relentless attack, dally on this city is awful to live with, yet these people are condemned to this. Pray for them, pray for peace! Also pray for our teams from Lutsk who were to begin their Christmas outreach this week, they have had to delay this because of the bombings in their area as well.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Anya Schlegel (Kyiv)
Keep Ukraine in prayers, I don’t post much and the news don’t shows us much anymore, but it is still really bad((( regular attacks on Kyiv and active war on south and East. This Christmas season lift us up in prayer
 
Ira Kapitonova
Let them vanish like water that runs away;
when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
Psalm 58:7
 
It was another sleepless night. Ballistic missiles came around 3 am, so we woke up to explosions. There's no time to turn on air raid sirens when ballistic missiles are coming, as our air defense has about 1 or 2 minutes to react once they see those on a radar. Russia has been enjoying this type of weapon lately.
 
Thankfully, all 10 missiles were shot down (thanks to the modern air defense systems we received from our partners), but the debris caused a lot of destruction. In several Kyiv districts, they damaged apartment buildings, private houses, a preschool, and cars parked in the yard. Over 50 people were injured and had to evacuate from their homes.
 
Let’s keep Ukraine in prayer as Anya says, these are hard days indeed and many would like to forget the war. Please continue to pray.
Al Akimoff and the Ywam Slavic Ministries Team.

​Ira Kapitovova
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!
Psalm 57:7
Russia's terrorism continues. Today, it's in its cyber form. This morning, the network of one of the largest cell phone operators was hacked, leaving millions of users throughout the country without cell phone reception and mobile data. I discovered it on my way to school (thinking something was wrong with my phone or my account), so it meant I couldn't call my husband, check messages, or use GPS. I wasn't sure if it would still send me an air raid notification to my phone. Thankfully, we still have wi-fi, but many people, especially the elderly, have no connection to the outside world. For example, there's no way for us to reach my grandma and check on her.
 
It might sound like a simple inconvenience, but this paralyzed the operations of several banks; people had no way of calling an ambulance or the police, and the air raid sirens were disabled in several regions. The communication of our soldiers on the frontlines was also disrupted.
 
The experts say it may take another 24 hours to resolve this problem. We mentally prepare ourselves for it taking longer as nothing of this scale has ever happened in any country and because our "kind neighbors" will not give up.
 
Once again, we were surprised to notice that it could have caused panic and anxiety last year, but it causes mostly annoyance today. We know that we have survived worse things (it's mid-December, but thankfully, no blackouts), and we trust the Lord will carry us through anything that might still come our way.
 
Pray against these cyber attacks and pray for President Zelinsky’s vistit to U.S.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Ira Kapitonova
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust;
I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Psalm 56:3-4
At 4 am, we woke up from explosions that came before the sirens went off. We quickly unrolled the mattress in the hallway, brought our son there, and tried to find a comfortable position on a beanbag to fall back asleep. We weren't as scared as we were annoyed that our sleep was interrupted.
This morning, Russia attacked Kyiv with eight ballistic missiles. Thankfully, all of them were intercepted. The fallen debris did cause some destruction and left giant craters, but we were very pragmatic in our assessment — at least the missiles didn't reach their targets, and there were no casualties. A few stolen hours of sleep are not that big of a loss.
I guess the worst part for me came once we came to school, and I heard the students sharing their feelings before the classes: "I saw the debris falling." — "I woke up from the explosions." — "I couldn't understand why my parents woke me up in the middle of the night." — "I thought I wouldn't live till morning."
Lord, establish your justice and bring Your judgment on those who cause this suffering to your little ones.
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? (Psalm 56:8)
 
Pray protection over the little ones.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Ira Kapitonvova
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22
Today, on the second Sunday of Advent, people light up the candle of Peace. We haven't had peace in Ukraine for over ten years, yet over the past 655 days, we've had plenty of opportunities to experience Peace that surpasses all understanding. When we woke up from explosions on February 24, 2022, when we were evacuating from Kyiv, when we lived through blackouts last winter, when we decided to return to Kyiv - those were uncertain times, yet that is when I felt the deepest Peace of God. In those times, when you couldn't base your decisions on anything you knew before, when the world as you knew it was gone, when the circumstances tried to bring you down, His voice said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27) It is His Peace that has sustained us through the darkest of times and what keeps us going today. We long for His Peace to reign in Ukraine, but until that day, we will hold onto the Peace He grants our hearts when we come to Him.
 
Peace, Shalom, it’s not as the world gives, His peace is Shalom, a peace that restores back to what should be. As we pray for peace in this war, let’s pray for Shalom, a restoration of what should be, not just a ceasefire or back to the lines but a real restoration of that which has been broken for centuries. Shalom…
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team

Pray for DTS in Ternopil
In the midst of darkness the light shines brightest! In the midst of difficult times people turn to God. This is the second Discipleship school being held at the ywam base in Ternopil, Ukraine. Many of the volunteers who come to serve the refugees experience the worship and community and they find God.
 
14 students are in this school and for our bases it’s a path back to normalcy and what they are usually doing when they are not rescuing people from bombed out basements and taking food, water and medicines to the newly liberated villages.
 
Would you pray for these young people who are coming to “know God and to make Him Known.”  Schools will be starting this spring at two other bases in Ukraine. Please pray for the students, staff and for their safety.
 
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team