September 13, 2024 Newsletter
What’s New with Our Ukrainian Families?
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Lindsay: Affirming Statement
We believe all people are worthy of God’s love.
Our community of faith welcomes, affirms and embraces people from all family configurations, religious backgrounds, racial and cultural identities, sexual orientations, ages, economic circumstances and differing abilities.
We invite all in our midst to fellowship and service in Christ’s name, participating fully in the life of our church family through leadership, ministry and worship.
Come as you are - as one loved by God.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church welcomes, affirms and serves all.
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St. Andrew’s Session announces with regret that Rev. Kathy Firth has made the decision to request that Presbytery appoint someone new to replace her as our Interim Moderator.
It is Rev. Kathy’s hope that a new person will assist the church to find a minister who has innovative ideas to move the church forward.
Kathy would like to thank those in the congregation who have made her feel welcomed and have supported her work in beautiful ways.
Session members have enjoyed working with Kathy. We will miss her and we thank her for all of the workshe has done for us at St. Andrew’s.
WE REMEMBER
Judy Allan & Marnie Nelles made a stop in Peachland, B.C. to visit Jim & Keatha Bartlett!
IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN!
Bible Study
Beginning September 12
Thursdays at 10:00 in U3 or via Zoom at 4:00.
Contact Susan Wallace or the office if interested.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on what’s happening with our two Ukrainian families… Nataliia,Vlad and Yarik, whom we originally sponsored and Snizhanna and Ivona whom we are partnering with Fairview Baptist to support.
In my last correspondence with you, I indicated that Nataliia, who had returned to Ukraine to be reunited with her family was now living in Germany. I do message with her regularly and she always speaks kindly of our church family and all the support they gave her. Leaving Ukraine again was extremely difficult for her. However, a change in family circumstances and an increase in Russian bombing in her home city caused her to seek safety once again in a different country.
It’s difficult to imagine the tough situations in which this little family was placed and the hard decisions that had to be made to keep them safe.
Currently, Nataliia and the boys are living in social housing in a small town in Germany. They share one room. The government provides the family with social assistance but they are living in a tiny apartment and hoping to be able at some point soon to find a place of their own. Nataliia is doing some volunteer work helping other Ukrainian families translate from English. Nataliia says that she is very worried about her family, given the most recent escalation in attacks by the Russian army. Limited access to the internet restricts her ability to connect with them.
In one of her most recent communications she said, “I am very pleased and it is so nice the church asks for us and haven’t forgotten us. I also remember you as kind and sympathetic people whom we met. But I need to move on and stop waiting for the war to end and live here and now.”
Recently, she received the papers to apply for permanent residency in Germany. Nataliia sees this as a first step in beginning a new life away from family and country.
Please lift this family up in your prayers. Pray for them to find a home of their own, a job for Nataliia, schools for the boys and above all a sense of peace in their hearts. If anyone wishes to send her a message, please email me and I will send it to her.
And what about Snizhanna and Ivona?
You may recall from my recent post on the St. Andrew’s Facebook page that Snizhanna is out of work and actively seeking a full time position that would allow her to not have to rely on our support. It has proven very challenging. She has asked that I give thanks to all those from our church family who have supported her through offers of odd jobs to help her financially, gift cards for groceries, cash donations and the prayers you are offering for her and Ivona.
I want to mention specifically two people. Hazel Giles gave Snizhanna a job helping her with their gardening. Snizhanna was very grateful. Also, George and Linda Skerratt found odd jobs that could be done for members of our church family. Others have been extremely helpful in trying to find appropriate work for Snizhanna.
An anonymous gift of an overnight stay in an AirBnB brought incredible joy to both Snizhanna and Ivona. By all accounts, Ivona was never out of the pool.
Ivona has started grade two at St. Dominic. She continues to do really well in school.
Snizhanna is currently at a crossroads in her decision about what to do moving forward. As a young mother with a little girl on her own, she would desperately like to be reunited with her husband. He remains in the Ukrainian army and is unable to leave the country. Their plan was always to relocate to Canada but there are many obstacles in their way. Please pray for this young mom, her husband and her young daughter as they struggle to make decisions that will lead to their reunification as a family.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of Outreach & Missions,
Dianne Dalton
