SukoFamily - Update Sept 2022

April and May
In April and May I spent most of the weekends ministering with churches in Odesa.

Christina and loading our trailer with aid supplies in Moldova before heading to Odesa.

On several occasions we literally had missiles flying over our heads but God kept us safe. We took in humanitarian aid on each trip.

We encouraged Ukrainian church leaders, shared the gospel at outreaches, and made sure that our partner churches had the aid they needed to continue their ministries.

In May our whole family returned to Odesa for some time. This was a much need trip for our kids as they had not been able to return home since the war started on February 24th. More than anything they just wanted to go home. It was very comforting for them to see that our apartment building was still standing and most of the familiar things about our city were still functioning.

On our way back to Odesa with the whole family and our coworker, Holly.

I'm so glad that God gave me children who are fearless in these situations. They love Ukraine and their hearts are certainly in Ukraine even when they can't be physically present.

April and May were very busy months of travel and ministry. Over the course of two months we traveled numerous times in and out of Ukraine, we also ministered to refugees in Moldova and traveled to Romania where we ministered to some of our international students who were staying at a Christian camp there.

June
Constant travel, ministry to refugees, ministry to Ukrainians, airaids, explosions at night, explosions in the day, more airaids, great ministry needs. All these things and more left us feeling quite tired by the time June rolled around. Now we knew that this war wasn't going to be over soon and we had better prepare for the long haul. Thus, hopped on a plane and headed to Washington, State for some needed rest. We spent about 4 weeks catching up on our sleep, going for walks in the park, visiting family, and becoming reacquainted with our sending Church, Discovery Baptist! It was wonderful.

July and August
During these 2 months we visited supporting churches every Sunday and gave reports about Ukraine. We were overwhelmed by the tremendous support from so many. In nearly every church we visited we had people coming to us in tears either before or after the service, this was very humbling for us to realize how what is happening in Ukraine is affecting people all over the world.

In this sermon I share some of what life is like during war time in Ukraine

In July Anastasia proclaimed her faith in Jesus by entering the waters of baptism. What joy it brought me to baptize her at our home Discovery Baptist Church!

August
We made the difficult decision to leave Noelle and Anastasia in the US to finish their high school studies. Noelle is going into 12th grade and Anastasia is going into 11th grade. These are important years of school and the last few have been tough for them. First was 2 years of COVID and quarantine. Just when we thought that was over our country was invaded by Russia and our children became refugees. Back to online schooling for them but this time we weren't at home, there were refugees all around and it was even more difficult.


Leaving the girls behind was terribly hard for us and for them, but we knew this was the best decision for them. Please pray for Noelle and Anastasia as they adjust to life in the States. In many ways, this is a new experience for them, they have never attended school in the US before.

On August 24 Christina and Nickolas and I flew Moldova and the next day drove back into Ukraine. The past couple of weeks we have been trying to get our feet on the ground and get oriented to ministry here.

Ministry in Ukraine
I won't say too much about ministry now, I'll save that for my next letter. There are many needs and many opportunities so please pray that God would give us wisdom and that he would provide the resources needed to minister in these difficult times. My Sundays are already booked full and we still need to travel to visit some partners that are being supported through our Ukraine Crisis fund. We are the only representatives of our mission currently in Ukraine.

Above is from today's outreach in the backyard of Tabernacle Church. We had about 120 people show up for a loaf of bread and a small can of meat. The spiritual opportunities are great!

Praying for peace and serving the Prince of Peace!
Caleb and Christina Suko