January 2020 Lydia’s Testimony See page 5 Inside this month’s newsletter... Dear Partner in Hope Page 2 Single mothers Page 3 Village Bible Clubs Page 4 From the history of Swindon House - P 4 Lydia’s Testimony Page 5 Foster Parents Page 5 Students Page 6 Love Ukraine Page 7 Prayer Diary Page 8 Help for single mothers. See page 3 “Bringing hope by sharing the love of Jesus” www.hopenow.org.uk Dear Partner in Hope “For I know the plans I have for you”, Ukraine is most praiseworthy, but they know, as we do, that declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you all praise goes to God, who guides us and leads us as our and not to harm you, plans to give you Heavenly Father. hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11. As we now move into a New Year, I am reminded of There has been an uncertain time for Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew Hope Now with many changes during their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they 2019, but I am happy to report that we have turned the will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be corner and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Brenda, faint.” My prayer is that the Lord will renew the strength of Maddie and Claire have been so supportive, giving freely of Hope Now, giving us all we need to complete the task we their time making it possible for us to go into the New Year have, in the knowledge that He calls each one of us to a with a positive mindset and fresh hope. different role, but to be a part of His worldwide work. What The team in Ukraine also had a very difficult year with a privilege that is, thank you for being their Director, Misha, having a serious stroke, worries about a part of Hope Now, for your support, the finances and even more people coming in for help. prayers and friendship that is truly Jon Budgell Their commitment to serving the most vulnerable people in making a difference to so many lives. Ray of Hope testimonies and silver and thanked him for his willingness to help Nina Serdyuk brought four people to our her daughter. After the man group. She said that in Telepyno they have got left she decided to call her a new pastor. Everybody loves him, he is very son-in-law and check. It caring. Nina takes home some of the clothes appeared her daughter was to give away in her village. Six weeks ago Nina sleeping at home, and Nadya decided to visit some rich families. Knocking had been robbed. at five doors only one was opened and she shared with them about God and about the Peter shared the message: need of poor people. They gave three sacks of “God is our King, He came clothes and shoes. Nina was so excited and it has become to set us free from our sins. We her ministry. It helps her forget about her pain, sleepless need to talk to Him and follow nights, diabetes because there is much work in God’s field. Him.” Everybody could look at their life. Why do I follow Christ? Nadya (the lady in blue) shared the story that one night Or why don’t I follow Christ? she received a phone call. The lady on the other end told her that she was her daughter and has had a car accident. Nadya Beskrovna asked us to pray for her son. He was Her voice didn’t sound like her daughter’s voice but the coming home after his work one evening and was beaten explanation was that her jaw was damaged. The lady asked severely by some men, especially around his head (the lady in purple). for money and Nadya believed her. She opened the door at Larisa 3am to a strange man and gave him all the money, all gold JANUARY 2020 Hope Now 2020 ANNUAL WEEKEND at Ocean Beach Hotel, Bournemouth, www.hopenow.org.uk Friday March 27th - Newsletter contact: [email protected] Sunday March 29th Editor: Claire Zillwood Our Annual Weekend will Contact us: Hope Now International, Head Office, again be held at the popular Ocean Beach Hotel & Spa. Malvern Centre, Malvern Rd, Southampton SO16 6PY We do hope that many of Tel: 023 8078 0720 you will be able to join us Hope Now is a Christian charity that aims to “bring hope, by for this year’s event. sharing the love of Jesus and making Him known by ministering Please fill in and return the booking form in this to those in spiritual, physical and emotional need.” newsletter as places are always limited. We would We want the message of the Gospel to touch the hearts of young love to see you there. and old, rich and poor, healthy and infirm, free and imprisoned. Ocean Beach Hotel & Spa Hope Now works mainly in Ukraine. 32 East Overcliff Drive, Reg. Charity No: 1072038 GAYE No: 7201 Company No: 358953 Bournemouth BH1 3AQ 2 SINGLE MOTHERS Rejected ladies A new meeting for single mothers This Monday was unusually noisy. We were welcoming single mothers. It was our first meeting. When we invited them to pray they had no idea how to do that. Sergey Sobko prayed. We have found that each lady had a lot of problems in their family life. Each one of them was abused and finally decided to put a stop to the situation and left home. How these ladies survive only God knows. We gave each of them a food bag and they chose some clothes. The most important thing was that the ladies want to know more about God. We invited them to come for the next meeting and they gladly agreed. Next time we want to find some people to take care of the children during the session time. Larisa Vovk Food parcel Collecting clothes & food from Alpha House Hi, my name is Liliya. buy bread. My children are the only joy that I have in my life. For My oldest son is Vanya, 9 years old. He has sight 4 years I and my children had to endure the tortures of problems. Twice a year we have to go through the my husband. Finally, I made the decision to run away treatment to keep his sight from getting worse. This year from him. I took only my children. We even didn’t take we need to buy medical lenses. Their cost is over £600. our things. Later we found out that my husband sold our My next son is Mykyta, he goes to day care and the things. youngest is my 4 month old baby daughter. We found shelter at the centre for single mothers. We hope that our life will change for better. They helped us with clothes and food. Right now I rent Lyliya the flat. The money that I get as child support goes to pay the rent. I can’t work because I have to take care of Please pray for Lyliya and her children. If you would my children. Very often we don’t have enough money to like to help support her, please contact the office. In November we were able to send 2020 Summer Camps boxes to Cherkasy (DATES TO BE CONFIRMED) 23 containing: June - Camp for Youth with disabilities - clothes and supplies for vulnerable families June - Camp for Children with disabilities - children’s clothes & toys for Anastasiia’s Ministry July - TEFL (Teaching English) Camp - medical items August - Childrens’ Camp - gifts for the Christmas Mission August/September - Widows’ Camp Week 1 The boxes cost £30 each to send. September - Widows’ Camp Week 2 Thank you to everyone who donates to this fund. 3 VILLAGE MINISTRY Village Bible Clubs “Brain Ring” Competition Anastasiia with the youngest participant, baby Margaret! Discussing an answer to a question All the participants of the “Brain Ring” Competition What can I say about autumn? It is as ministry? always – a time to see fruit. Of course - How many disciples did Jesus have? the best fruit for me was my little Can you answer them? I think you Margaret. She was one month old in can. But the atmosphere during our September 25th. game was so special that children And the second fruit was the “Brain could forget everything because Brother and sister from poor family Ring”with teams from different villages. they were too scared to lose. Anyway, Different village Bible Clubs were everyone enjoyed the game and this was the first time when they went asked to read and learn the Gospel of received prizes. out of their village. So there were a Luke. Many questions from that book After the “Brain Ring” one of the brother and sister from a very poor were prepared. The preparation lasted participants – Polina (12 years ) went family. They visit the Bible Club in one month and finally six teams came home and decided to read the Gospel their village and brother Andrew, their together to test their knowledge. The of Luke once more, then she prepared leader, did his best to take them to this children were really worried. Here are questions and played “Brain Ring” with event. The children were so so happy. some simple questions that were on her younger brothers! There are many different ways to the “Brain Ring”. That was a really encouraging story make children happy. Let us share the - Who has better clothes than king because we saw that such events also Gospel with little ones and use our life Solomon? motivate children to continue studying time to make them happy.