Ukraine March ‘24
Western Ukraine March ‘24
As I prayed into what the Lord might be saying regarding Ukraine, I had the impression of March 2024 and the desire to minister to the military. I looked into travelling to one of the OM bases in Ukraine, specifically Odessa with a view to ministering on the streets to the soliders. Many doors were opened, and then shut. It was frustrating and I felt the timing was slipping away. Then through a friend I was given the names of some missionaries from Global Awakening, Dennis & Anya Melnichuk who were serving in Western Ukraine.
I was able to jump on a call with Dennis and we arranged for me to visit. But I could find no one to go with me. Then at the eleventh hour I was put in touch with the conflict zone trauma consellor for Operation Mobilization UK, who was planning to travel to Western Ukraine 2 hours North of where Dennis & Anya lived, the first week of March. We had a brief meeting and agreed to travel into the country together.
It was a wild learning curve, it took around 48 hours to get into the country from door to door across military check points in a coach in the dead of night. We separated and I travelled alone in a small minibus 2 hours South, to meet Dennis in the town of Ternopil.
Dennis & Anya were very warm and welcoming. I was incredibly out of my depth, and they knew it. They led me gently, and introduced me to the different aspects of the ministry they were doing there in the town.
They helped me book in to the hotel, and arranged to collect me in the morning. First night there were air raid sirens, I was reminded of a guy I met on the plane, who happened to be travelling across the border to the same town. He had told me there was little chance of a strike on the town, as it had only been hit once in nearly two years. Dennis also confirmed this, which was a real comfort and I managed to sleep relatively well.
Dennis took me along to some youth meetings, where the prayer and worship was fiery and unrestrained. I was learning quickly, that in a time of war we discover our immediate need for God. He is the only person that can bring peace, when the world is in chaos. Dennis asked me to share a testimony, and he translated a short message for me. I learnt far more from the youth, than they did from me I’m sure!
Several days went by in a blur of different meetings, each stripping back more of my emotions and revealing where I was really at with Jesus. Convoys would go by in the street processioning another fallen solider, multiple times a day. Maybe one in ten people on the street were home from the front line, dressed in military clothing. I watched fathers embrace their children, returning home from war to visit.
I was introduced to the YWAM base in Ternopil and was able to help out with an aid drop. It was at the YWAM base that I met a missionary called Gabi. She had a neck brace on, and when I asked her how it happened she casually said “Oh I broke it at the front line, in a car accident.” It turned out she was sleeping in the back of a car, when a driver T Boned the rear of the vehicle and her neck broke in three places. She should have been dead, but she wasn’t. It was because of this accident and the length of time to recover that she happened to still be at the base when I visited.
She talked with me about the peace of God on the front line, how the Lord was moving so tangibly in amongst the military. My heart was captured. I spoke to her about how I felt back in Serbia that the Lord was leading me to minister to the soldiers and she agreed to arrange a lunch meeting with one of the military chaplains that she knew, to see if I could do a trip with him.
She explained it very clearly “It will most likely be a no, he will only take you if the Holy Spirit tells him, you have no experience.”
As me and Gabi sat in restaurant the next day waiting for the chaplain to arrive, in the middle of our conversation there was a loud deep explosion in the sky above us. Everyone in the street stopped, shop keepers came out to see what had happened.
My heart raced, as we waited for any more sounds. Then just like it was common place, every one continued with their day. We found out later that an Iranian Shahed drone had been sent from the Russian line with a payload of explosives to target Ternopil, likely the power infrastructure and a surface to air missile had taken it out. I thanked God for the US and European arms support.
The chaplain arrived, and was almost completely different to what I had expected. He introduced himself as Andri, and arrived wearing a hoody with his wife and young son, around my sons age. He was very approachable, and very peaceful. After some initial questions about why I had felt called into Ukraine, we really hit it off. It turned out before the war he was an artist and youth worker with YWAM, he was also connected with Iris Global as a host and translator for some of their teams. His wife worked as a film director, and we really enjoyed getting to know each other.
They spoke about their evacuation from Mariupol, one of the first cities to be invaded in 2022. Their story was heart breaking, and inspiring. They had fled under aerial bombardment with a few rucksacks and their dog onto a train leaving the city. The train left at night and would stop when the driver heard fighter jets. The driver would turn off the lights as jets went over, who were bombing civilian trains. A glimpse into the lives of some heros.
Andri talked about his ministry within the military as a chaplain. He explained his work was mostly with the Latino Mercenaries who had come over from South America to work alongside the Ukrainian soldiers. He explained how so many soldiers were now choosing to follow Jesus, and not from desperation, but from personal encounter. I fought back tears as he told me the peace of God on the front line. This was another deeply confirming moment with the Lord.
We finished our pizza, and started planning a trip for me to return in May in a few months time to head to the front line.