Today is April 1st, and this is a reminder to those who donate monthly for the houses in Ukraine. If you have not paid your monthly contribution, don’t forget to do so. You can make your payment through Zelle, Paypal, or give it to any of our mission members. Just don’t forget to mention what the money is for, so we mark you off for the months that you are donating. Also, if anyone else wants to be part of monthly donations for the houses in Ukraine, talk to Angela Litvinenko. We thank you and God bless you!

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
(2 Corinthians 9:7)

In 2005 Mission Friend began sponsoring 2 children by sending monthly payments to a foundation that would help those children with housing, education, hygiene, etc.. With the money donated to Mission Friend, we are still able to support Jose Anderson in Dominican Republic and Vendis Dorain in Columbia. Each one of you can also help support a child in need. Below are a few websites that you can visit and personally sponsor as many or as few children that you would like.
1. https://www.compassion.com
2. http://www.savethechildren.org
3. https://www.children.org

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD. and he will reward them for what they have done.”
(Proverbs 19:17)

While throwing away food, a few of us think about the people who are hungry. This attitude towards food leads to the fact that one-third of all food products produced worldwide are simply thrown away. This is about 222,000,000 tons of products per year and only in developed countries. At the same time, about 800,000,000 people are suffering from hunger and 3,000,000 children a year are dying from problems related to malnutrition. What can be changed? Reducing food waste is one of the first solutions. Each of us can start with this.

A few tips:
1. Do not go to grocery stores hungry.
2. Do not buy a large package of the product, before you try it.
3. Do not buy in large quantities quickly deteriorating products.
4. Make a list of the necessary products before going to the store.
5. Make a list of products that are thrown out most often and reduce their purchase.
6. Store products under recommended conditions.
7. Make your plan for reducing food waste.

All this will save money that can be donated to the needy, and mission Friend will help you in this.

Information found on:
http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/
https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-global-hunger

The room that the mission members built during their trip in September has successfully overcame its first winter.

Mission Friend’s 14th Anniversary was in November 2017. During those years, a lot of youth worked in the mission. Previously, Oleg Chaykovski worked in Moldova, and currently we have people working in Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and in the U.S. In Ukraine, Bizina Liana (Litvinenko) and Yaskova Vika (Litvinenko) used to work in the mission. Today we have 5 members working in Ukraine; Denis Andreevsky, Svetlana Andreevskaya, Lilia Kravets, Maria Krivoruchko, and Grigory Omelchuk. Members that used to be part of mission in the United States were Irina Kolisnichenko (Shaban), Rita Pavlov (Litvinenko), Daria Moskalenko (Nesterenko), Olesya Prodan (Dumitrash). Today there are 11 members in mission in Portland, OR. They are Daniel Pavlov, Vitaliy Groz, Katya Groz (Pavlova), Michael Groz, Angela Litvinenko, Irina Litvinenko, Antonina Popov (Grevtsova), Vladimir Pavlov, Yulia Karachentseva, Alina Fedoryshyn, and Isabella Antonovich. Mission members in Uzbekistan would like to remain anonymous. We are grateful to everyone who worked, works, and supports mission Friend.

For those who are unfamiliar with Mission Friends events and history, here’s a little about what happened in 2007. From January until June, members of CC7D church brought donations to Mission Friend. Then, from June through August, there was a garage sale every Sunday. A lot of our church youth helped collecting the donations and during the garage sales. With God’s help and all the donations, there was about $3,500 earned during the 3 months of the garage sales. The proceeds helped more than one person in need.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Mathew 25:40)

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD. and he will reward them for what they have done.”
(Proverbs 19:17)

Thanks to the regular donations of our youth, Denis Andreevsky purchased another house in Kamenskoye, Ukraine. This is the fifth house owned by mission Friend; in which Denis has already started populating people. The house is located near the church, that will allow the residents living there, to attend church services. We are grateful to all those who donate. Without your donations, we would not be able to help so many people.
If you would like to sign up for monthly donations for these (and future) houses, contact any of the mission members.
God bless!

Last week, 9 packages of clothes were sent to Kaminskoe, Ukraine.