David recently got back from a short trip to the front lines. This is the first time that he’s had an opportunity to go with the church’s chaplain, and he wants to continue this kind of ministry in the future. There are not many who can travel and share the Gospel with soldiers or encourage our brothers and sisters who are fighting, so it’s a huge privilege to be able to do this. We can’t share a lot of photos, because we want to protect the faces and identities of those that are protecting us, but here are a few shots that will give you an idea of the atmosphere near the front.
David got to pray with several groups of soldiers as they were going through boot camp just miles from the front lines. Please pray for those men to know that God is with them and the He loves them, that Christ died so that they could have eternal life in Him.
The rifles of the soldiers that we served in the previous picture—David washed their clothes, another church member made them tea or coffee, and the two chaplains with us took care of their other needs.
This is a bridge that was destroyed during the fighting in 2022 in one of the cities we ministered in.
This is an apartment building that is damaged by the fighting and constant russian shelling and drone attacks—this is from Izium, where russia massacred civilians and buried them in mass graves. The closer you get to russia in Ukraine, the fewer civilian buildings are left that have not been destroyed or at least damaged in some way. It’s almost funny that we can actually be thankful for the ugly, brutalist architecture of the early Soviet Union, as it seems to hold up the best against shakhed and missile attacks, especially in cities like Kharkiv and Sumy.
This church was hit by a medium-range missile in the first few days of the russian attack—the pastor was on the second floor in the same room where the missile hit; however, it pass through the wall and then the floor miraculously without exploding.
The civilian highways closest to the front are outfitted with anti-FPV-drone nets, which made it especially unnerving when we had to stop and wait to meet one soldier just by the road on one of our waypoints.
One of the main purposes of our trip was to encourage believers that are fighting on the front lines, so we brought “mobile communion” to them, prayed with them, sang worship songs, and read passages from the Bible, having “mini church services” in David’s car, on road sides, and even in cafes over coffee. Please pray that God would continue to give us opportunities to minister in this way. This is just the first trip that David took, but we are hoping for several more (if the war continues that long).
David & Katya 