"The Impact of Investing into Families in Poverty"

What impact is there when you invest into families in poverty in Ukraine? Did you know your gifts have tremendous value and that your prayers greatly impact lost and broken lives?

Thank you to everyone in the MPIConnect family who has sowed into and prayed for Alexander’s (Sasha) family in Mala Antonikva. They have been greatly impacted by our efforts together with our partners from the God’s Gift ministry team.

I shared Alex’s story a few times last year talking about the conditions of their tiny rural home. They had no indoor plumbing and their large family had many challenges.

Alex's story is like many others we encounter. If you want to know that your investments in families in poverty have a direct and lasting impact then read this quick blog article. Let's start with a quick recap of their story for those who have not heard about Alex and his family before:

When our village ministry team first met Alex, they realized that he and his family, like so many families in rural Ukraine who survive on very little income, were simply surviving and existing near the poverty line. Over months of interaction, they discovered that this was a multi-parent family situation making this family's situation more complicated. As is quite common, they also learned that some of the adults in the children’s extended family were caught in severe addiction which was impacting the entire family’s stability.

 As they have with many other families in the area, our local team acted swiftly to provide support and Godly counsel to Alex, the women, and the children.

 With no running water or working bathroom, during the summer, the children were constantly wearing dirty clothes and usually covered with bug bites from using the wooded area behind the house for the bathroom.

 The first thing Mission Partners began to provide through the ministry team was additional food supplies to ensure the kids were eating well. Last summer, we also slowly began to supply the needed items to install a bathroom inside the home.

 Because we understand that counseling people experiencing multi-generational systemic poverty is a long process of demonstrating love and gaining trust, the team began to visit Alex and his family weekly.

 During the summer, the team took the girls to their summer camp where they had a chance to eat healthy meals, get their bug bites cared for, and to fellowship with other girls in the area. Most importantly they had a chance to experience an intensive week-long time learning about Jesus. At camp, all the girls accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

 As the ministry team worked hard to develop a relationship with this family, Alex began to open up and share more about their family situation. MPI, together with the God’s Gift team, takes a careful and highly relational approach to help and disciple families like Alex’s. Sometimes this takes years, but we are always excited to see the evidence of growth, as we have with this family. Alex’s whole family has been baptized and are finding their way to wholeness in Christ.

 Alex's Family Gets Baptized!

The last update I heard from the ministry team was that Alex is determined to be responsible for his family. He is working very hard on his farm to feed the kids. When offered an emergency food bag recently, he politely turned the team down, only asking for flour or other supplies to bake bread. He sells the bread at the market so that he can support the family through the work of his own hands.