Dennis (Kyiv)
REFUGEES COMING IN DAILY
Every day refugees come to our center in the midst of what is now seen as one of the largest European humanitarian crisis’ in modern history. People are streaming in from different parts of Ukraine and heading out west to Europe. At our center, we are able to provide a clean place to rest and sleep, a hot meal, and a shower, to recuperate as their evacuation route onwards to Europe goes forward. Many have left everything and are traveling with just a few bags they were able to grab in their hurry to get out of the cities that were being bombed. There are countless stories of fathers who have taken their wives and kids and with a final embrace send them across the borders while they stay back and head home to wait and see what the course of the war will be. In the middle of this sadness, we have found that love and hospitality go a long way to bring healing to the soul, giving people the ability to open up their hearts to hear about the God who loves them.
Volunteers work around the clock to make this possible. They work in the kitchen daily, clean floors, sinks, and bathrooms, prepare food, line beds with clean sheets daily, organize humanitarian aid storages, load and unload trucks and buses, answer phones in our call center, coordinate evacuation with a logistics team, drive extremely long hours to evacuate people, make sure gas/diesel canisters are filled, take vehicles to maintenance and repair shops, and all of this is just a small window of a normal day at Christ Evacuation Center. It’s been an honor to work alongside these stellar heroes.
We know we cannot do any of this without Christ. We need Him. We also know that those who come to us here need Him more than anything else we can offer. So we pray, we read the scripture, we spark conversations with people who come, and naturally, find moments to share about who we are and why we do what we do. God is our everything and we are honored that in a time like this we get to carry His love and light as we love the person in front of us. When we don’t know what we are doing He shows us all over again that it’s Him who is living through us.
Ryan (Ternopil)
The war in Ukraine has severely impacted children. It’s estimated that over 2 million children have already been forced to flee Ukraine with another 2.5 million displaced within the country.
These children have all had to leave their homes, schools, friends and the normal life they deserve. The volunteers at the refugee centre here at YWAM Ternopil have been so welcoming to everyone who comes through their doors. Yesterday, they organised craft time to not only entertain the children and give their parents a break, but they used this time to make cards for Ukrainian soldiers that will get sent out with the aid shipments that leave almost daily from this centre to deliver desperately needed supplies throughout Ukraine.
Thank you for praying,
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team