Friday, February 20, 2015

Lviv News Letter from Edmund and Agnes Johnston. Feb 2015.


LVIV NEWSLETTER – Edmund & Agnes                                                         February 2015

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. 1 Kings 18 v 39

One year on, the conflict in the East has seen heavy loss of life and over 1 million people displaced from their homes.  We know an increasing number of men who have been called up to fight, many others go as volunteers to defend their country.  On Thursday 12-2-15 the two opposing governments signed a Peace agreement and ceasefire which came into effect on 15-2-15 – sadly nearly 100 died between the 2 dates.  Please pray earnestly that in the will of God the fighting and bloodshed will stop and the enemy will commence withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from Ukraine territory.
We would value prayer especially for 2 men Sasha (25) and Lubymore (70) both not yet saved but show keen interest.  Recently we have had good personal conversations with them about spiritual matters.  We feel they are near the kingdom, we long to hear of them getting salvation.
The year with the help of brother Lubchic from the Lviv assembly we designed and printed our own assembly Gospel calendar.  Please pray that as the 5,000 calendars are distributed that the Word of God displayed in Ukrainian homes, will yield blessing to the reader and ultimately Gods “so great salvation”.
Early in January we had an evening for the assembly and friends in our apartment.  This proved a very profitable and enjoyable time of fellowship, singing, Bible quiz and of course some very good “Irish Cuisine”.  We had 21 packed in, with 7 unsaved friends who attend the meetings at the assembly.
We continue regular visits to the 8 different orphanages sharing the Gospel and helping materially where we can.  Recently when at Mostivska orphanage we encountered a lady and her little boy who are refugees from the Donetsk area in the East.  It was great to tell them about the Saviour and give hope in Christ for the future.
We have been encouraged with the Sunday School work in Lviv.  Although small, each Lords day the brethren in the assembly take their turn to speak to the kids about Sin, the Saviour and Salvation.  We now have a nice collection of children s choruses and every week they learn a new verse of scripture – “the entrance of thy Word giveth light and understanding to the simple “

Just last week we visited Turka in the Carpathian mountains.  Our contact there is a man Marianne and his wife Vera.  They are unbelievers and in an amazing way he gets the people of the village together for the preaching of the Gospel, and on this visit we had 35 “deeply religious Ukrainians” standing in 5” of snow and -6deg  – thankfully the sun was shining brightly and we had the minibus packed with second hand clothing, food and Christian Literature.  Prayer would be valued as we “sow the seed “that God will give the increase.
The last year proved very difficult in different ways, but the circumstances and challenges we found have brought us both closer to God and increased our faith and confidence in the one who said “I am the Lord I change not”.
We appreciate sincerely all the prayers of the Lord’s dear people.
With warm Christian love – Edmund & Agnes.



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