Today Kyle (Leader in Kyiv). shared this story with us over the phone. Today, my three teammates and I picked up a man named Viktor, who is allowing me to share his story. Viktor is from Mariupol, the famous city leveled by the Russians. Since the beginning of the war, Viktor and his brother and sister-in-law have been taking care of his mother, who was 91 years old and unable to escape. Viktor’s daughter and grandchildren were able to get out early, but he stayed behind for his mother.
As the war dragged on, he lost communication, water, gas, and power. Thankfully, he had been preparing and have reserve water in his bathtub and food stocked. Recently, his mother passed away and so he decided it was time for him and the rest of the family to leave.
The Russians allowed him out and he got to Berdyansk, another occupied city on the coast. At Berdyansk he was able to get out and began hitchhiking and walking the 130km to Zaporizhya. After seven days of walking/hitchhiking, we stopped along the road and picked up this gentle, spirited man at the request of the Ukrainian military. He has lost everything, but the joy on his face and the joy in his heart when he got into our vehicle was something I will never forget. Fighting tears and trembling at times, he told us his story and that he needed to get to Lviv to meet the rest of his family.
b.o.sport_okrug was able to get him a phone and new phone number, give him a bit of rest and drive him to the train station and get him on the train where he will be reunited with his family tomorrow morning. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU ARE HELPING! This man is you and your generosity and prayers.
Yulia (Kyiv)
This is what we see every time coming to the villages with food bags. Crowd of people waiting. They need food but not only physical, their hearts need living water and bread of life that is Jesus. We have great opportunity to speak into their lives and share about God’s love and hope. Today we delivered 475 food bags in Kyiv and Chernigov region. Thank you Jesus for these people who heard Your word today.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Minstries Team