After 90 productive days in Ukraine we were able to return to the states with the documents we needed to get new visas for Ukraine. We now have visas and airline tickets in hand and will be returning to Ukraine this week (Lord willing).
 
During those 90 days, God gave us the grace to:
·  Minister in a variety of settings, including two evangelistic outreaches and three trips for vision casting and on-site church planting assessment.
·  Meet with key leaders to establish ministry going forward for us.
·  Provide some much needed coaching to the church plant we have been a part of since moving to Irpin (urban suburb of Kyiv),
·  Take classes on Urban Ministry at a local seminary.
·  Lead the small group Bible study for two and a half months until the leader could return from an extended absence.
·  Celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary (which we celebrated while on a ministry trip to Ivano-Frankivsk.
 
Currently, you can be praying for us in some of the following areas:
·  Safety as we travel the 9000+ miles between Denver and Kyiv.
·  Quick adaptation to Ukraine in spite of the nine time zones we will be traversing.
·  Health - an estimated 35,000,000 of 43,000,000 Ukrainians have immunity to covid even though only 1.5 million have been vaccinated. The rest have survived it.
·  As we go back, our three focuses on ministry will be promoting and vision casting for church planting, building the national church planting committee (Dream Team) and coaching church planters and their teams. Please pray for each of these areas specifically.

And praise the Lord with us for the following:
·  Earlier this year, the new church we are working with in our city was miraculously able to buy a building with about 90% or more of the cost being provided for locally.
·  We are praising the Lord for a quick and affirmative response from the Ukrainian Consulate resulting in the issuance of our visas.

Coming alongside Beth (on right) is at a planning meeting for an outreach in the city where we live. There are so many ways a church plant can derail, but by being active in this church plant, we are able to help out at critical junctures in the early life of this wonderful, new fellowship.

Ukraine In The News

Ukraine is feeling particularly proud of their 19 medals (1 gold, 6 silver and 12 bronze) earned during the recent Olympics. Their impressive medal count put them in the top 20 nations that participated in the games. But, if you think that is pretty good, then you will want to catch the 2021 Paralympics. In 2016, Ukraine excelled by taking home 117 medals and placing third in overall medal count only behind China and Great Britain. The United States placed fourth.

As we return to Ukraine, the threat of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border has abated to a degree. Some troops have been removed back to Russia, but many remain and the hardware of war has remained in place. In view of a lack of stable world leadership, many believe the draw down happened because of Turkey's support for Ukraine. This May 17th article explains the complicated relationship between Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.

Lastly, after receiving international condemnation for the state-sanctioned hijacking of a commercial airplane, Belarusian "President" Lukashenko may be getting a bit paranoid. He has sealed the borders of Belarus from Ukraine and the west, but not from Russia.

Make new friends, but keep the old... 90+ years young, my mentor and pastor from our California years, is still going strong. Rev. James Cook (on right) is still a warm, wise and wonderful Godly man and it was a special blessing to share a dinner with him recently.

Thank you for praying

Eric and Beth Yodis
World Venture, Ukraine