Part 1 - Big News
Good Afternoon, Peak Vision Church
A lot of events have happened recently. The most important thing for me is that the mother of these children will deprive them of parental rights and I will need to take custody of them. Now this is my family.
Another big news is that the ministry of the children's day center has moved from my house to this new building. In this building we plan to open a children's Christian school in the future.
Pray that this year we will be able to take the first steps to open the school. I ask for your prayers for every arrangement.
At the day center, I study algebra and geometry with children in the 7th grade. Children miss classes a lot due to air raids. I try very hard so that they do not have gaps in knowledge. I plan to find time for classes in the younger group (4th grade), who also have many gaps in their knowledge of mathematics.
Part 2 - The War Continues*
[Please see our note at end of page]
Very important news that we (Ukrainians) could not believe right away. The fact is that America is no longer our ally. U.S.-Ukraine relations are more problematic than ever before.
At least there are facts: Trump called our president a dictator, that the war was started by Ukraine, not Russia, that he stopped military assistance and we will soon have nothing to defend ourselves with, that Trump stopped sharing intelligence data; that the United States voted "against" a UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
How can these words and actions be interpreted differently? Trump has rapidly turned American politics upside down.
"I decided that President Zelensky was not ready for peace," Trump wrote, as if the real problem was Ukraine's unwillingness to surrender rather than Russia's ongoing campaign of war crimes and land theft. We remember that 30 years ago, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the third largest nuclear power in the world. On December 5, 1994, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States signed a memorandum guaranteeing the security of Ukraine in exchange for the renunciation of nuclear weapons. In violation of this agreement, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexing Crimea and Donbas.
We want this war to end. But Russia does not want and continues air terror: over the past week - more than 1050 attack drones, almost 1300 aerial bombs and more than 20 missiles fired at Ukraine with the aim of destroying cities and killing people. Whoever wants to negotiate does not deliberately hit people with ballistics. To force Russia to stop the strikes, we need the common forces of peace.
But we pray to God, who is on the side of the oppressed. David did not kill Goliath with his own strength. David did not have maps, but God was on his side.
Please join us in prayer that all the forces of good will unite and rebuff the evil called Russia.
Part 3 - The Kukharenko family (Natasha, Rostik and their mother Oksana) *1
JANUARY. Rostik, Oksana and I went to the neighboring village of Stayki, where Rostik was enrolled in a school for a family form of education. Rostik has not studied or worked anywhere for 1.5 years. He will have to study the material on his own and complete the final tasks. This is a very easy form of education, which many children use due to military circumstances.
Oksana took anti-tuberculosis pills throughout January. She complains of severe pain in her legs. She was 2 times in church in January.
Almost every day Natasha and I bring ready-made food or groceries for Oksanya and Rostik. I bought her a new cast-iron stove for the stove and a kettle.
We were very happy about the changes, but not for long. She felt better, she decided that she had recovered and again alcohol got the better of her. Soon her drinking companions returned and she began to drink alcohol. He and Rostik began to quarrel. In one of these scandals, when Rostik asked her: why did she give birth to him?
His mother replied that he was born by a big mistake.
For Rostik, it was a strong resentment. He left home and again began to spend the night wherever he could, with his friends. He did not want to come to me, because he wanted to live freely, without any rules and responsibility.
I want to remind you of my old post from September 2023, when Rostik left home for the first time.
Part 4 - The Kukharenko family (Natasha, Rostik and their mother Oksana) *2 ...(excursion into the past)
In September, Rostik turned 16 years old. For the first time in many years, we could not congratulate him. He left home and no one knows where he was. He began to drink, smoke, walk. It's such a pity that this guy chose a completely different path that we have been telling him about for so many years.
Of course, I have hope that someday, like the prodigal son, he will come to his senses and turn his face to God. But for now.. He was never in class and was expelled from college.
We have been helping him since January 2016. He and his sister Natasha often visited us, made friends with our children, spent the night with us, celebrated all the holidays. Rostik constantly went to church, he knew a lot of Christian songs.
I often ask myself: what have we not completed? What else could be done to prevent Rostik from following the path where the devil had led his father, mother, elder brother and sister.
I very much hope that the seeds of the word of God that he heard, the love that he saw and felt, will bear fruit in due time. I pray to God that he will not do anything stupid in his life, that God will touch his heart and show him the way.
I ask for your prayers for the future of this young man.
Part 5 - The Kukharenko family (Natasha, Rostik and their mother Oksana) *3
Rostik came to me about two weeks ago and said that he had nowhere to live, that he was ready to follow all our rules and was it possible for him to live with me? What could I say to him? Of course, yes, live.
His mother drinks again. He said that he wanted me to take him and Natasha under his wing. Previously, he did not want this, because he wanted to live in his own way and do what he wanted. Now he obeys, learns his homework, cleans the yard, learned to heat the boiler, goes to church with us.
The Children's Affairs Service of our city began the process of depriving their mother of parental rights. But they do not do this quickly. Of course, I am worried about how I will cope with Rostik if he leaves home and behaves inadequately.
But I trust in God that He will help me. My whole life is changing and I ask for your prayer that the children feel like they are in a family, and we do not have conflicts and situations that I cannot cope with. But I see that God's hand is over me and the children. I see that God has put me in this situation.
In the spring, he wants to plant a garden and raise chickens. He also dreams of building a chicken coop . Rostik loves flowers, garden, vegetable garden, chickens. In general, he wants to become a farmer.
Rostik learned to cook Ukrainian borscht! Sometimes he fries delicious pancakes for us.
Pray for me, please, that I will be able to be a guardian for these children, that there will be God's peace and order in our family.
Part 6 - The Kukharenko family (Natasha, Rostik and their mother Oksana) *4
Our Natasha is 14 years old. It's nice to watch how a beautiful girl grows out of a little intimidated girl. She believes in God and tries to make the right decisions in her life. I have been helping this family since 2016.
In 2020, when Natasha was 9 years old, she moved in with me. One late evening, she called me and said that my mother was sleeping drunk, and there were drunks in the house and she was scared.
I came to her and picked her up. Rostik was not beating at home at that moment. Since then, Natasha has been living with me. We often went to her mother, sometimes on vacation she lived with my mother.
Natasha is very attached to her mother and loves her. As soon as the winter holidays began, Natasha fell in the yard and injured a tendon in her hand. The holidays were not cheerful... Now Natasha's hand has healed and she is already playing the piano.
Recently, Natasha received a passport. I am honored that God has entrusted me to help these precious children grow.
I ask for your prayers for these children. May God give them a good fate and protect them from evil.
Part 7 - Food assistance for families in crisis
As usual, once a month I deliver groceries to our little friends. The children of the bistro are growing up and many children have already become teenagers. Thanks to you, my dear friends, these children live better, calmer, more confident in the future.
Thank you, dear friends, for your love and support! God has blessed us so much with such wonderful friends!!
May God protect your country and our Ukraine from war and enemies.
News for January – February 2025
Ukraine,
Irina Klimova
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*Note from our our team: We don’t edit letters from our missionaries and our friends we support, unless changes are needed to protect their security or are outside of our core values. In regards to the Ukraine/Russian war, like in many parts of the world, Governments and Mainstream media (Internews), control the story, they subtly shape narratives—often amplifying or downplaying certain voices in ways that aren’t always obvious.
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