There are a lot of things going on right now in our church and in Western Ukraine, so much so that it can be easy to forget that just a couple hundred miles away in the same country there is a real war going on. I can only imagine what it’s like for you guys in America, because you’re even further away. It’s almost like God saved this little corner of Ukraine for us so that we and others could have rest from the strange and brutal reality that just on the other side of the Dniper River.

I had a harsh reminder this Sunday of what’s going on on the other side of this beautiful nation. People from Slov’yans’k, Donets’k, Luhans’k and Crimea have been settling in L’viv and Western Ukraine ever since Russia invaded Southern Ukraine. Katya and I believe that one of the reasons it’s so hard to find an apartment for us right now is because of all of the refugees. We even have a few families from over there in our church. A friend of mine from Eastern Ukraine’s dad just died a few days ago while watching their house.

Another friend’s brother was called up to be in the army. His mom has started going to our church, which is a wonderful thing. It’s another example of how God uses suffering in our lives to draw us closer to Him, but she’s really worried for her son.

Please pray for us as we continue to minister to Ukraine in the midst of a time of war. Please pray for our friends from Southern and Eastern Ukraine as they look for apartments, find jobs, and rebuild their lives in a completely different place.

Picture Credit – By US Army Europe Images (Flickr: Field and Situational Training Exercises) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons