The Moseychuks Ukraine

Ukraine Update Received Feb. 2024

I pray that this finds you well! Thank you very much for your ministry for the Lord and prayers about Ukraine. Praise the Lord that we are still alive and continue to serve our Lord.

We abide in the ministry “Help to survive”. Unfortunately, the war did not end yet although we pray about this every day. The Russian Army purposefully destroys city after city, village after village… Besides, almost every day Russian aviation drops bombs on the peaceful cities and Ukrainian villages.. For the villain Putin. we do not exist as a nation “Ukrainians”. Нe is making a genocide for our nation.

There is a lot of grief and needs around us. For now, the villain Putin wipes off the face of the earth c. Avdeevka and c. Kurakhovo, c. Mirnograd, c. Selidovo Donetsk region. Many people became refugees and many people are dying from the shelling. Those of them who know me ask to move them to a safe place. I am trying to do everything I can for them. I have already moved five families from these cities to safe Poltava region.

The refugees begin their life from zero. They ask our church for food, clothes, shoes, blankets, pillows, bed sheets and so on and we help them with these issues.

There are some brothers in Christ serving there as the soldiers and as commanders in it. They ask me to come to encourage them from the World of God. This is a part of our ministry. Praise the Lord. God keeps alive every soldier, whom we pray to.

Every person whom we serve, listen to the Word of God. Some of them pray the prayer of repentance with us.

We can be killed by Russian missiles any time, but God protects us for His mercy.

Praise the Lord for my wife Svetlana. She helps me a lot. One part of our ministry, by post we send many packages with food and cloth for refugees on the territory of Ukraine.   

Thanks a lot for the financial support which we got monthly.

We pray for you and all Missions Door Family.

Give our greetings to everyone who knows us.

Blessings!  Sasha

Paul & Jo Marsh

Marsh Update Received March 28th, 2023

Its been two weeks since my surgery and we met with the surgeon today for the post op appointment.  Healing wise everything is on track, actually a little bit ahead of track.  There was cancer found in one lymph node though.  I see the oncologist on April 5th to determine the treatment plan.  I will definitely have to have Chemo. So the adventure continues and God is still in control.   I keep you informed.

Ministry continues and I am starting to meet with staff once again.  It is slow but steady.  Jo is handling things well and I truly don't know what I would do without her.  Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragement they mean a lot and help.   

Cancer has been found in one lymphoid and one other place outside the colon. Next step is to talk with oncologist about treatment, that takes place on April 5th. Healing from surgery, everything is on track. Still confident that the Lord is control of everything going on.

Marsh Update Received March 15th, 2023

Surgery was held on March 10th, and it went very well.  Only a small part of the colon, small meaning 5inches, was taken.  We are now waiting on the results of the biopsy.  I spent three days in the hospital.  Pain levels are manageable and Jo is taking very good care of me.  I have lost 30 pounds in the last two and a half month, which is actually a good thing since I weighed to much anyway. I am still foggy brained, Jo says that is normal for me, as the effects of all the drugs begin to wear off.  What comes next, i.e. chemo, is still to be determined after the biopsy results are in. I am home sleeping a lot and watching to many movies.  Thank you for your prayers and expressions of love they mean a lot and help to keep me positive.  God is good and in complete control of this entire adventure.  

Paul & Jo Marsh

Marsh Update Received January 11th, 2023

Greetings,

We trust you had a joyous Christmas and a fresh start to a new year.  Both of our children, grandchildren, son in law, sister in law and our son’ partner were here for the holidays.  Having come from a larger family, seven children, myself the more the merrier. 

I continue to provide leadership in our staff training, I coach one person and lead the monthly cohort meeting with seven staff members.  In addition, I continue to meet for support raising coaching and staff supervising.  My responsibilities as the Special assistant to the Director of Campus Ministry for Missions Door has added a new and challenging dimension to my life. I feel very blessed to be allowed to continue in ministry and have the opportunity to impact the lives of so many staff.  A part of my Special Assistant responsibilities is to lead what we are calling the Special Project Team.  This team has four other staff and deals with a variety of things.  Thank you for your prayers.

In late November I had a colonoscopy, and they removed a number of polyps.  Several of those came back with an aggressive form of cancer.  In the pursuing weeks I have had several blood draws, a CT Scan, and numerous doctor appointments.  I have met with the Oncologist and a Surgeon.  I have colon cancer and will have to have surgery to remove a large part of my colon.  Before this happens there will be more scans and ultrasounds and lot ‘s of doctor’s appointments.  It appears that the surgery will take place in early March.  There will be follow up treatment, possible chemo.  How much will be determined after the surgery.  What stage the cancer is will also be determined after the surgery.  I am also having cataract surgery on both eyes at the end of January. 

Both Jo and I are learning about cancer treatment, such as you must be your own advocate with the medical profession.  We ask lots of questions and seek clarity, meaning what do the big terms mean in simple English for us non-medical types.  As you might expect so far it has been a emotional roller coaster.  However, we remain confident that everything is going to be alright.  God is good and is walking with us through all this uncertainty.  

So please be in prayer for us as we proceed through this new adventure in life.  Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. 

Francklin Alexis

Alexis Update Received November 24th, 2022

Always thank God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude to God for his multiple blessings toward us. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Elohim & Karla Salazar

This has been a year of adjustment for us. On the one hand, we are thankful that the universities  have come back to “normal” after 2 years of online classes.  

On the other hand, we have also faced some family changes. We decided to invite Elohim’s parents  to live with us in Hermosillo, because in the last couple years they had struggle with some health  issues, and we wanted to be close enough to offer some help in anyway possible. They got to  Hermosillo in March and just a few weeks ago, we were able to move together to a bigger house  with them. We are thankful to God that their health is more stable now.  

During the summer, we had the opportunity to keep working with the students. We continued with  the discipleship with some of our student-leaders, a small group of gals that are willing to learn and serve their own generation. Noé Gonzalez from our staff team has  been leading this group. With these girls we have been doing a workshop named “The order of becoming”, working in some themes like, God’s mission in the world, purpose of life, understanding your past, spiritual gifts, passion, strengths, focus, values and more, and at the end they will end up with a written personal calling statement so they can serve better the eternal purposes of God in their own generation.  

Another exciting thing from our summer was that Karla put together a retreat for college students  and in career young gals. It was a time of learning together and fostering community. They had some  classes, some deep conversations, testimonies, and some visits to the beach in San Carlos. The main  theme was IDENTITY. They all had a great time. 

This semester we started our activities with a meeting to invite some Christian students to get involved in the Great Commission by participating with us in reaching and discipling other college students in their own campuses. We are going to the University of Sonora (UNISON) every Wednesday and Friday. There is also a good possibility to start another small group in a different school, the Technological Institute of Hermosillo (ITH).  

 We’re also about to start our discipleship group  every Friday night in a coffee shop close to the campus. This is a discipleship guide that our friends serving with Campus Ambassadors developed in Oregon and our friend Abel has been translating to Spanish here in Hermosillo. Now, it seems this translation will go back to Oregon to serve a catholic Spanish speaking student that is attending the university in the U.S.  

In a sad note I want to share that suicide is the second largest cause of death in Mexico among  people from 15-29 years old. In the last two weeks, two students from UNISON committed suicide,  just a few days after the World Suicide Prevention Day. Sonora has the fifth place in suicides in  Mexico and throughout January and August 2022 we have had more than 160 suicides.  

Our youth is living in a very challenging time of anxiety and even though this is the most connected  generation in human history, is also the generation with the higher rates of loneliness and  depression. But Christ offers a “rich and satisfying life” (John 10.10 NLT) that most of our students  still don’t know about. Please pray for us as we go to the campuses bringing this message of hope  to our college students in Sonora.  

Thanks for your prayers and for being our co-workers in the ministry of Christ.  In HIS love and service, Elohim & Karla Salazar  

Please help us praying for:  

1. Our weekly meeting with students at UNISON  

2. That we can start another small group at ITH  

3. For our student-leaders, so they can be light to their own generation  

4. For us, so we can keep leading these students by serving them  

5. For the adjustments that we are still doing as a family  

6. For our financial support, that God provide for every need we have as family and for the  ministry 

Paul & Jo Marsh

Well since my last letter I have been very busy with ministry and life. To begin: our Campus National Director (Ryan Miller) took a three-month sabbatical in April through July. I was asked to serve as Interim National Director in his absence. This involved some personnel issues, leading the Regional Team Director meetings as well as facilitating our monthly Campus Conversation meetings for our entire staff. Of course, there were many administrative issues as well. The Director returned on July 18th refreshed and eager to get back into the ministry.

During this time, I continued my own Regional Team Director and Support raising coaching responsibilities. So, in a sense I was doing triple duty. I also was asked to lead a support raising cohort. This included all the new staff raising support during the summer, of course this was a Zoom meeting since those attending were from all over the US. These meetings will end in September. I have been working closely with the staff member who is responsible for the role out of our new staff training, which starts this fall. Part of this new program will involve a monthly cohort meeting with the staff being trained. This too will be a coast-to-coast meeting and I have been asked to lead this cohort. So as one cohort meeting ends another begins. Our staff Forum in March was great. A time of vision casting and renewal of old friendship. Thank you for your prayers. 

At home in July Jo came down with a case of covid. This was mid in the sense that no doctors had to be involved but a pain none the less as she recovered. I thought she had so much fun that in August I too caught covid. My case is also mild in the sense that no doctors have been involved. I am now in the process of recovery and am getting better each day. 

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We value each of our partners very much and pray for you continuously.

Paul & Jo 

Ukraine Impact Fund

One August 4th, 2022 we received an update from Missions Door Ukranian missionaries Sasha and Svetlana Moseychuck. Here's what's happening on the front lines:

I greet you and all supporting the Help to Survive Ministry in Ukraine. I pray for you and wish you all God’s blessings.

Forgive me, I have been very remiss in writing to you as I am in a war bustle. Sorry – my fault! I redeem it.

The president of Russia hates Ukraine and Ukrainians. Therefore, he promised to “liberate from life” or destroy everyone who has Ukrainian citizenship. To do this, he uses missiles and many other weapons, and we cannot shield ourselves from them.

Ukraine is located on the border of two opposite systems of government: democratic and totalitarian. We, Ukrainians, live in a democratic and free country. There is no persecution of Christians for their faith in Ukraine. Our government is trying to get rid of the Soviet past. A person decides how to live and what to do here.

The Russian president and his entourage want to make us slaves and return us to the Soviet past. To do this, he captured part of the Ukrainian territories, destroyed the economy of Ukraine, and makes people in the occupied territories slaves of the “Russian world.” The values of the “Russian world” are violence, blood, and death, therefore, people have to go through filtration camps and experience violence in the occupied territories.

As you know, we live and serve a frontline city in Ukraine. In the first days of the war, our people were in shock.. There were huge queues at petrol stations and at the borders with Europe. People have been leaving our region until today. Almost all the believers of our church left for western Ukraine and Europe, but new people came to take their place. At the last meeting, there were more than 80 people and 95% of them are unbelievers.

In our city, the economy is completely destroyed, almost all business has stopped, and many shops have closed. The Russian army has destroyed the entire infrastructure of our city. Everyday, missiles arrive and destroy schools, colleges, universities, factories, kindergartens, and markets. They intentionally attack by fire, district by district, and destroy houses of civilians. There are many killed and wounded civilians and military people.

The entire population of our region no longer has gas due to shelling and the destruction of the gas system. Due to the lack of gas, the bakery has stopped. People in our city are going without bread, and those who worked at the bakery are now unemployed and hungry.

From the first day of the war, God made me a pastor — a volunteer for many people affected by the war and inspired to preach the gospel to them. I take people out of the city to other safe cities by my car, bring bread from other cities and distribute it to people, visit the hospital and bring something to eat for the wounded soldiers, visit families and give them “help to survive.” I gather people to worship God. There is no public transport in our city, so we have to bring older people to meetings and take them home.

There is an ecclesiastical law: when we act, God cooperates. Thank God, 16 people came to Christ in our church during the war, they prayed a prayer of repentance, and some of them want to be baptized.

It is very dangerous to live in this city. At any moment, a missile or a mine or some other burster may arrive. However, we trust in the Lord, pray, and thank you for your prayers. Thanks to your prayers, we are still alive. We plan to serve here until the Russians come, as we are very needed here. The Lord protects us from death every day. Glory to Him!

I will describe a few examples of how the Lord answers prayers. One day, brothers from another city came to us and brought pasta for people to survive. Our people are hungry and looking for places where they can get any help. Many people knew about it and about 170 people gathered. The meeting took place outside in the park. We conducted a service, people listened to the word of God, and after the meeting the brothers began to distribute pasta. At this time, the Russians were watching us from a drone and fired a missile at us. They do it where there are crowds of people. The missile fell 50 meters from our meeting and, thank God, it did not explode. We saw the hand of God in this and all the people thanked God for His protection. Praise God!

There is another case of God’s protection. One day my wife and I were driving home after a bread distribution in a village. Suddenly, on the road, we saw a man who showed us a sign that it was impossible to go further, and that we had to turn around and go back. I stopped and asked him why. He said that the Russians had just bombarded this district with cluster bombs and there are a lot of them on the road. It was dangerous to go further, since we could explode on one of them. We thanked God that God sent this man on time. Thanks to him, we were able to take a different road and stay alive. Praise God!

I will describe some of the repentance of people. Nina has been looking for God for a long time. She had kept company with Jehovah’s Witnesses for a long time, and thanks to them she began to read the Bible. When she read the Bible, she saw a lot of inconsistency with their teaching and stopped communicating with them. For a long time she sat at home and read the Bible. Her sister Valia was the first to come to our church and invited Nina. She took the Word of God and the church very seriously. Once, during a call to repentance, she announced that she wanted to invite Jesus Christ into her heart, and she did it. Now she has meetings to prepare for baptism. Praise God!

Sophia had lived an ordinary life, working and raising children. She bought a cow and looked after it to survive. The cow gave a lot of milk, so Sophia went to the market and sold the milk. One brother from our church was her regular customer, got to know her, and invited her to the church. It turned out that she had been looking for God for a long time, but did not know where the church was. She began to attend church, listened to the Word of God, repented of her sins, and accepted Jesus Christ into her heart. Praise God! Now we pray for the salvation of all her family.

One day, a guy accidentally came to our meeting. We got to know him and he really liked our service. We communicated over a cup of tea and talked about the Help to Survive Ministry. It turns out that he lives in a nearby town. When he returned home, he told his wife and children about our church. Then he called and invited me to visit his family. We arrived and had a spiritually edifying communication. His neighbors found out about our meeting and also invited us to visit them. Then a third family found out about us and also wanted to communicate with us. As a result, God gave us a new opportunity to carry the gospel and help people survive in the neighboring city. Now many people hear the gospel, and some have prayed the prayer of repentance. Praise God!

Sorry for not writing for a long time due to war fuss. Our God is almighty. He can turn evil into good. Thanks to the war, many people heard the gospel and accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts.

Thanks to you and to everyone who supports the Help to Survive Ministry. I get monthly support on my bank account without any problem. Together, we will save people not only from hunger, but also from eternal death.

We need your prayers and financial support.

Blessings!