The war intensifies in Kharkiv...

The last two days have been very eventful in Kharkiv, and I’ve received many pictures and stories from Jerry. I debated with myself about how best to share them all with you – and rather than break them up into several posts – I decided to give you the full story all at once. I think it will give you valuable insight into what is happening there in real time and give you lots and lots to pray about! You, through your fasting and prayers, are an incredibly valuable part of this mission trip!!! 

Each of the pictures above has a corresponding story:

#1   Pastor Gennadii says that nearly 1/2 of the City of Kharkiv has been destroyed!  Almost all of it is in residential areas!

#2   Yesterday the regional pastor, Dema Goncharov, our dear brother, picked us up to help with the refugees living in His church and to deliver humanitarian aid to people who couldn't get out of their apt. because of disabilities or fear...  This lady was living in a little janitors closet in the church- very sweet, humble lady who had no place else to go and was so grateful for the food and people there...

#3   People are living in every corner of the lower part of the church- there are believers, unbelievers and neighbors who had been hiding in tiny spaces under their home for a week or more with little water and almost no food! The fear of constant bombing, and jets that flew very low to the ground, dropping bombs, terrorized people and made them afraid to come out!  When they saw the church was still open they left everything and moved there to be together...

#4   This is the head cook at the church, caring for all of the people that live there and those who come by for food and / or a hot meal. They are pretty well supplied by humanitarian aid and gifts our church has been able to provide. She is a Russian married to a Ukrainian who is a soldier now. And being from Russia she also has a mother, father and brother who still live in Russia.  They carry the pain and worry about each other from both sides of this War!

#5   Dr. Lev has stayed with us all week and has been a tremendous gift!  His friendship, English and medical skills have been priceless!   These are young people who were meeting in one of the basement rooms of the church...

#6   After meeting some of the friends at pastor Dema's church we started putting these food survival packets together and drove into the areas around the church that had faced the most intense shelling!  People were very grateful for the food but to see our faces, to pray together, hug and express love, lifted everybody’s spirit up with much tenderness and joy!

#7   These are some of the people who came to pray at noon when we first arrived.  I was asked to share before prayer and it was a sweet time! The bombing never stopped throughout the whole day!  It was good to understand better the constant stress all these people are under every day! I, like the rest of the friends, have my thoughts turn toward family and loved ones and the last encounter we had with them...hoping that we have left things in a good place! This consciousness of end-of-life stuff is just always there.  When the pastor called us to load up for the food distribution he said we will use two vehicles even though we can all fit in the Van- but that way if one car is hit the other one will have a chance to survive!  We have only taken this trip for one day, but they have done this every day, except Sunday's, for two months!

#8   After we returned from delivering the food packages we met with the young people (always my favorite) during lunch, and it was a great time of sharing for over two hours!  Rolfe went off to pray and prepare for a sharing he was doing that evening and I went up to the pastor's office with their young leaders who are preparing for deaconate and pastoral roles. The whole meeting was about prayer and seeking God's face- amazing! We finished praying just before the evening meeting started and pastor Dema felt like God said to move the meeting downstairs, to the daylight basement instead of the sanctuary where they usually meet- it was a divine intervention...

#9   The evening Service started last night (Wednesday the 4/27) at 6pm, with Dr. Lev Sharing for a few minutes. Rolfe stepped up to give the evening devotional and almost immediately a bomb exploded just a few yards from the church... The shock wave pushed me to the right side of my chair, and everybody experienced something of the same. It was obviously very close, but we all looked around and everybody looked OK, so there was kind of a nervous laugh, like whew that was close but we are OK!  But not 20 seconds later an even bigger explosion went off and almost knocked me off my chair! People started hollering and running for a safer room and the kids were crying!  One of the young men in the church was walking through the church parking lot and that second bomb’s shock wave blew him off his feet. He hurt his upper ankle and was pretty shook up, but Dr. Lev took care of him and helped him settle down! As it turned out, it was not a serious injury, by God's grace...    The amazing thing is that within only 10-12 minutes everybody had returned to their seats and were ready to listen to the rest of Rolfe's devotional!  He did a great job talking about God's love and His faithful provision-Matthew 6:25-34     While he was speaking two more bombs went off but a couple blocks away! Within just a few minutes, bombs had dropped on all four sides of the church, and yet miraculously no one was hurt!!  After we closed with prayer, the pastor came down to tell us how close the bombs were- one was only 30-40 yards away (the Russians were firing from 70 miles away).  Another one on the opposite side of the church started a big fire at an auto repair shop right by us!   The blast blew out most of the church windows and spread shrapnel throughout the sanctuary and embedded in the chairs!  Obviously, if we had been meeting there instead of moving to the basement that evening, the results would have been much more tragic! Some of the young people came outside where I was taking pictures and gave me one of the pieces of shrapnel that was lodged in the sanctuary chairs!  Psalm 91:4

#10 This was a bomb from earlier that destroyed a house directly in front of pastor Dema's church...                            When I saw pastor Dema for the first time on this trip he started to weep and just held on saying over and over, "I love you!"  The pastors here are under tremendous pressure- bombings all day, people and never-ending need!  On top of all that many close friends they were counting on, left for safer territory!  So coming to be with them in the midst of the attacks has meant more than we could have imagined!                                                                         

#11   Pastor Dema's house is considered to be in a safer area but today we went over to see what has happened directly across the street from where he and his wife Irina and their 7 kids live!   

Finally, It looks like Dr. Lev, Rolfe and I will be heading to the Capitol, Kiev next Tuesday.  When I mentioned that to friends here, they started to water up! I think leaving might be more difficult than anything else we have faced so far...