I just finished my first week of teaching. I have 32 students in my morning class (“World Missions and the Church”) and seven in my afternoon class (“Encountering Islam”). These students are eager to prepare for ministry in spite of the political uncertainty. Thank you for praying.

I suppose you have heard that the war in Ukraine took a turn for the worse over the weekend. Although Cheri and I are far from the terrible fighting, we are meeting many refugees here in Kiev. Every church seems to be sponsoring a few families and even our seminary is housing some.

One of these refugees is a pastor that I previously ministered with in Luhansk. I taught a missions seminar in his church, ate with his family, and I know several of his church members very well. By God’s grace he and his family got out of the war zone unharmed, but they lost their church building, left their home behind and are “camping out” in Kiev. (The separatists are hostile to all evangelicals because they consider them enemies of Russia.)

Cheri and I are refining our contingency plan, but feel safe for now. Please pray that the war does not escalate further.

Rich Strahm