November 2025 Ukraine, UK
Brothers Duncan and Mark are half way through an extended trip to
Ukraine. Naturally we appreciate your prayers, not just for them, but for all the brothers and sisters.
Our first stop was our dear sister Svita and family in far southern Ukraine. This is the Jewish family whose home in the north was destroyed and they have been rehoused in a once derelict house with lots of land, the other end of the country. They continue clearing the land and growing food on it to survive, having suffered the loss of all things. The potato harvest was so good that after sister Lidia's major fall, they were unable to dig up all their potatoes. They faithfully break bread every Saturday at home and Svita continues to try to spread the good news of Jesus as Messiah at the local synagogue. It was from this witness that we baptized sister Oksana last visit, who was persuaded by Svita's use of Isaiah 53 that clearly, Jesus of Nazareth is Israel's Messiah. This time we baptized SASHA and had a wonderful time of fellowship together. Despite the family having been up all night listening to breaking news as it came through of an attack on their home village area that had killed 10 civilians, some known to them.
We recorded some of the simple breaking of bread services . These brothers and sisters are so, so sincere, as brother Mike Flaherty observed in his video report of his last visit to Ukraine. Where two or three are gathered together in these humble rural homes, there the spirit of the Lord Jesus is, in the midst. Those meetings are very intense moments of meeting with our Lord. Our dear ones do the breaking of bread faithfully on their own, but it's such a joy for them to have us with them, sister Nana says she is on a spiritual "high" for a week or so after each of our visits.
Near Chernivtsi with unleavened matza bread with our Jewish family of believers
in Jesus https://youtu.be/0YnRLmsHPys
Near Kiev https://youtu.be/RltSbkfhvL4
Nana and Alexei lost their home in the occupied areas and have settled in a previously abandoned summer house. They have coped amazingly, sowing the land around it and now expanding their rabbits and geese:
Here you can see brother Mark with the wheelchair we got for sister Lidia, Svita's mum. They really are doing it tough and we gave them substantial support in cash for hospital bills and food, only to have them insist on returning 10% of it to us as a tithe, which we really didn't want to take. These folks are 101% with us doctrinally and in the spirit of Christ.
From there we got to the railway station just as an air raid was going on, and railway stations are a prime target. You can hear us briefly weighing up whether or not to go to the air raid shelter as advised, or go on. A night in the shelters isn't a great experience.
We decided to go on; and just as well, in the hand of providence. For thanks to recently baptized sister Elise in Norway, we were directed to a wonderful young man in Kiev, KLIM [Kliment]. After not much sleep on the noisy night train, blinds down for security, we had an early morning breakfast with Klim, in a Kiev recovering as usual from the night's air raids. He demonstrated a very deep understanding of the Gospel, having worked through all the major doctrines of the Gospel of the Kingdom to a position of earnestly desiring to be baptized just into the Lord Jesus by Bible based unitarians. He has thoroughly rejected trinitarian teaching, immortal soul, hell fire etc. What a joy it was to go to his flat and baptize him into the Lord Jesus. Despite the small bath tub we achieved a total immersion. You can hear his testimony and see the happy baptism
at https://youtu.be/92SdGeb5tIg
We asked Klim if he believed the things about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. He said "Yes" and we know that indeed it was "Yes" to so very much that he had come to, in spirit and truth:
We were delighted to have our brother at the online breaking of bread we run on Saturday mornings UK time.
The further East you go in Ukraine, the less power there is in the grid, and there are power cuts all the time. And air raids, sirens and warnings texted to every cell phone [they can see all cell phones and what language the phone is set up to, and no way to opt out of getting the messages]. The red ones are serious, and then there are the "Extreme Alert" ones which make your phone buzz and vibrate, issued when a missile or drone is thought sure to land within 2000 square meters of where your phone is and you must take cover immediately. We had several of these.
You can see some of our footage of what air raids are like, with our running commentary, including seeing drones heading for us one night,
at https://youtu.be/Cc29w4aTbyU
Then seeing the news the next day and realizing that the hits near us had claimed lives, including one hit alone which killed 12 people in one apartment block, 6 of whom were aged under 6:
The situation is causing huge mental health issues to so many, including many of our brothers and sisters. Sister Oksana is living near the front line, struggling with pancreatic cancer, struggling to raise her handicapped grandchild, struggling with her two adult daughters and arguments about money and where to live, having lost the family home in the Donbas... we've done our best to support her, getting her away from the front line where was, although she's lost everything. It's all the stresses that war creates indirectly which take such a toll, quite apart from the continual air raids and lack of power and heating. Life's just miserable. No wonder she studies the Bible all the time and longs for the Lord's return. She had prepared one woman towards baptism but the lady jumped at the chance to get out to Czech and since going there has lost interest.
And then there's dear brother Ruslan, whose father was arrested by the military police as he walked to work from their flat, was pressganged into the army despite being seriously diabetic and of weak health, and was sent to the front line. In his 30s, our dear brother lives with his mum and has not been out of the flat for a long time. He knows every square centimetre of the flat, breaking out into visible sweating when we discuss with him about the pressgangs . Again, as with Oksana, we broke bread and sought to re-direct ourselves to the Lord's sufferings and death- and the new life of His resurrection. So many of these brothers and sisters in Ukraine are ethnically Russian, and caught up in a not insignificant identity crisis given the situation.
Everywhere we go we've sought to give material help as well as spiritual and continue. Be it in money, or meeting medical issues, heating bills, property repairs [especially windows], firewood or... potatoes. Everyone expresses huge gratitude.
Everywhere we went in the Kharkiv area, there were broken windows from drone debris and the blast of the explosions [even if not direct hits, the blasts are powerful and break windows], boarded up against the winter, but not replaced. Seeing power is often off, this means a very cold and gloomy existence inside those rooms throughout the Winter.
We were delighted to reconnect with sister Ludmila C and her daughter sister Lena, now 37, whom we last saw at Bible School 9 years ago; although we baptized sister Ludmila over 30 years ago. Lena's faith and determination to keep on keeping on is just amazing. Her only child has had serious health issues, and her husband was called up to the army and sent to the front. In May he was announced as Missing in Action presumed killed. She and his parents have tried hard to get any more info, they just know approximately where this happened, no more news. Often on social media Ukrainians are posting pleas for more info about their relatives who likewise went missing. They think if he had been captured they'd have heard by now as nearly all captured soldiers are noted by the Russians and Ukraine is informed, and vice versa. All this however seems to have given her quite a spiritual revival... but it is too simplistic to moralize about good comes out of evil etc., seeing the evil is still the evil, Job lost his kids and OK he had more in the end but he still lost his kids... etc etc. We took her out for a decent meal in one of the few cafes still working [so many are boarded up]; it was great to see her visibly cheer up:
And it was a joy to break bread with her and her mum:
Please do pray for our wonderful sister Lena. Here's a file photo of her at the 2014 Kiev Bible School, along with brothers Paul Hosking, Jeremy Neate and Steve:
The trip is ongoing and we appreciate your prayers.
UK
Next weekend 7-9 November God willing is our Carelinks / Croydon Church in a Pub residential weekend at Carrotty Wood, Kent. We have more applicants to attend than we can fit in and many planning to come won't be able to pay the full fee for the facility. We face a likely shortfall of around £2000 and yet we don't want to say "no" to poorer folks who have recently been baptized and are so eager for more Bible teaching and mature fellowship. We always say, "We want to see you not your money". But given heavy expenditure in Ukraine we are definitely open to your donations towards this.
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For those suffering mental health issues, along with their children, due to the unending bombardment in eastern Ukraine
- For those whose loved ones are missing and their fate unknown, as they come to terms with accepting they may not see them again in this life
- For our away weekend in the UK
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks