Ukraine Invasion By Russia

As a result of Russia invading Ukraine yesterday, many have been in contact asking how is Stella's Voice in Moldova.  Thankfully, everyone is safe.

Moldova has Russian troops stationed inside its borders.  Yesterday our team  heard bombing coming from the south in the Odessa region.

We have already been approached about taking in a 17 and 14 year old girl who are fleeing towards the Moldovan border.

We continue to have conversations and are working to prepare for other refugees that may end up fleeing to Moldova from Ukraine.  We will bring you further updates in due course.

We  ask you to pray for the continued safety and protection of all those in our care and those who flee to Moldova for safety.

Moldova-Ukraine

Feeding the children...

We want to say THANK YOU! One of the things your ongoing giving helps provide is the weekly food shop for the children at Cupcui. Here are some of those girls and boys helping to unload the van. Your giving really does make a difference!

Food and Firewood to Vulnerable Families

As part of our recent Christmas Appeal, some wonderful, generous donors provided the funds to purchase firewood and groceries for residents of a village in rural Moldova. 200 families received groceries, mostly staples and non-perishable items. We also brought firewood (about a month’s supply) to some truly vulnerable elderly and special needs individuals. With temperatures regularly plummeting far below freezing right now, this was some very timely action.

It was heartwarming to see the gratitude shown by these precious people, and to everyone who gave during the Christmas Appeal, thank you for making so much joy, and so much real help possible.

Fireworks!

Covid restrictions meant we were unable to run our planned Christmas Camp for the children at Cupcui this year - so following on from getting their gifts and a day of Christmas celebrations we put on a small fireworks display at night, much to the surprise and delight of the children. Just look at the wonderment and delight on their faces....

Celebrations Despite Coronavirus

Some good news after the recent lockdown situation in Cupcui. We were given permission to visit the orphanage on Thursday (with masks). We were be able to give out the children’s Christmas gifts, and also deliver firewood and food to needy families in the village. Although it’s not the whole camp we had planned, we still did a lot of fun activities including a fireworks display. COVID fallout has certainly changed our plans, but we're glad that at least the children were able to enjoy their Christmas presents and a fun day.

**URGENT PRAYER REQUEST**

We just got unfortunate news that the village of Cupcui is under lockdown due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the nearby home for the elderly. We do not know how long this lockdown will last, but we are deeply concerned.

As you probably know, we supply the Cupcui Orphanage with groceries every week, and also had plans to deliver Christmas gifts to the children there (Orthodox Christmas is this week). Of course, this news means that we will not be able to visit the orphanage for quite some time.

Thankfully, they have enough food on hand for the next two weeks, and so far, none of the kids there are sick. But we urgently need to lift them up in prayer, asking the Lord to keep them safe and protected.

Please join us in praying for the kids, as well as the elderly, the orphanage staff, and everyone else affected by this crisis.

God bless,

Brian Paterson