Prayer Letter from Ukraine
Here’s the latest prayer letter from Liz:
Hello from Zhitomir! I am settled in and back to work. I was so blessed to spend time with many of you while in America. Thank you for your love, care, and support. Things were good here while I was gone, Ira and Anya and Sasha took turns staying with Anya and keeping Luda , Katya and Miroslava out of trouble. The lawyer got everything ready to break the agreement with Ira, and we don’t have to go to court! That will save lots of money. Praise God! Thank you so much for praying about that situation.
We received bittersweet news at our first staff meeting all together again. Sasha got an unexpected promotion at work that will take them to Kiev to live. And Anya is pregnant with their first child! So they will be leaving us, but we wish them the very best and appreciate their service to the orphans while they were with us.
I believe God has a wonderful plan for our ministry. We believe He will provide all the staff and volunteers we need in His time. The list of what positions we would like to hire grows longer and longer as our staff gets smaller and smaller! And our vision for ministry has only gotten bigger. We want to be dedicated to prayer that the Lord will bring revival to our ministry and reveal Himself to the graduates here in Zhitomir.
Ira Mikityuk (younger) and I are busy making plans for the future and taking care of the girls as much as we can. Ira is getting used to being at the orphanage, working with volunteers from Central Baptist church in the eighth and ninth grade classes. When they have a weekly schedule decided, I will email that so you can pray for those clubs. Ira also hosts culinary class once a week at the church for the eighth and ninth grades. Thanks to our new copier/printer/scanner combo, she can now make and send birthday cards to the graduates from 2007and 2006 and make invitations to gradauate reunions and other events. The first graduate reunion that we are responsible for planning is on March 8th, which is “Women’s Day” in Ukraine . It’s a holiday celebrating all females. I like it. I am working on plans for camp, for the future of the ministry and hiring of staff, and for registering as an organization in Ukraine . The board in America is also always busy with administrative responsibilities.
1. Please pray for:
Ira Mikityuk, as she serves the kids at the orphanage and our girls. Please also pray for her housing needs. For months she has been moving around between renting apartments (all problematic situations) and family. It has been very stressful for her and she is praying for a semi-permanent place to live. She has also felt very much under attack spiritually lately. Please pray that the Lord’s presence would be with her. Please pray that she will pass exams for entering a University in June. She is studying to be a lawyer, and has five years in a University to go. She could still work with us during these years, and she wants to use her training to fight for the rights of orphan graduates. Orphans are constantly taken advantage of legally because they don’t know their rights and there is no one to take up their cause.
Liz Millikan. Please pray for me as I grow in Christ, that I would let Him work in my heart to get rid of bitterness and sin so that I can be filled with his Spirit. And also pray for wisdom for me in gathering information and making decisions for the ministry.
Board. Please pray that God would bless the members of the board in decision making.
Other prayer needs:
-Salvation of orphanage graduates in Zhitomir
-New staff members for Last Bell Ministries
-Supernatural direction as we make ministry plans
2. Please pray also for our girls:
-Luda . She has moved in with a friend’s family and we don’t see her much. Please pray the Lord would continue to work in her that she would come to Christ one day.
-Miroslava. Pray for Miroslava especially for the next two weeks. There is a two-week quarantine at her trade school, and all the other youth went home. They would not permit her to stay with me because of the Social Service’s grudge against us. She has to be locked in the dormitory all evening and night with nobody except some druggies who harass her. Please pray for strength for her, that she would know the presence and protection of God during this difficult time, and that she would learn anything that God wants to teach her through this situation.
-Katya. Please pray for Katya’s physical safety. We have just now found out more about her home situation. She lives with her grandma who takes of her, but also her dad who is drunk every night and throws knives at her. She said she doesn’t want to live in the dorms at the trade school, she says she’s gotten used to the danger at home. There is nothing we can do right now, but please pray the Lord will provide a way someday soon if it is his will to get her out of this very dangerous situation.
-Anya. Anya asks for prayer for her schoolwork (she is studying to be a paramedic), for the salvation of her sister Leda, and for legal questions to be decided regarding the little house she has the inheritance rights to, where she will live in the future.
Thank you so much for all your support. May God bless you richly!
In Christ,
Liz Millikan
For Last Bell Ministries
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.