Ukraine
A Miracle for Inessa
The Inessa that our School Without Walls students visit today is unrecognizable as the same child that they first met two years ago. Today she is full of smiles and loves to have fun, whereas two years ago at a refugee camp in Verovka, Ukraine, she looked completely different. She was scared of everything, her hair was messy, and she would mumble under her breath about bombings and the toys she had to leave behind. Inessa and her family are originally from Yelenovka, a village located in the war zone in eastern Ukraine. Her parents were very involved in their local church, but sadly, after the conflict erupted and bombing attacks became more frequent, they were forced to flee the village, along with the rest of the congregation. They didn’t make it far, however, as the bombing attacks intensified, so Inessa’s family, and 26 other adults and children, were forced…
Lena’s Testimony: Undying Faith in the Midst of War
There are over one million internally displaced people and refugees in eastern Ukraine today, each with their own story. There is so much pain and tragedy there, but stories like Lena’s show that God is still working out His redemptive eternal plan of hope and healing, even in the midst of circumstances that seem hopeless by human standards. Lena lives with her husband and son in a village near the front lines of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. When the war broke out, the family found themselves right in the middle of the violence. They were unable to sleep for many horrible nights due to the shelling, and Lena’s husband, Valeriy, witnessed several people die and had many missiles explode right above his head. When Valeriy began having psychological problems because of trauma and loss of sleep, the family knew it was time to leave their village. Recently, Valeriy also…
Tatyana’s Story: New Life Through God’s Word
Tatyana, who lived in Gorlovka, Ukraine with her husband, Vitaly, and their two daughters, never dreamed that war would ever come to her homeland. After the fighting broke out in Ukraine, Vitaly felt called to defend his country, so he joined the army and left to serve in the war zone. Two weeks later, Tatyana learned that her husband had been killed in the fighting. She was shocked and couldn’t bear to break the news to her children, Nadya and Alina. After receiving the news about Vitaly’s death, Tatyana and her daughters fled to the village of Granitnoye in the Donetsk region, where Tatyana’s mother lived. For the first four months after the move, Tatyana couldn’t find work, so she helped her mother with the household chores. Her family only survived because of the help they received from School Without Walls (SWW) students, who brought them humanitarian aid and…
Called to Serve: Alexei’s Story
Alexei Yuditsenko is our School Without Walls (SWW) coordinator in Berdyansk, Ukraine. He believes that Mission Eurasia’s SWW leadership program—which he participated in and now helps lead—was the driving force behind the restoration of his spiritual life and the beginning of his holistic ministry. Even at a young age, Alexei was a strong leader. He grew up in a family of believers, and as a child he went to church, Sunday school, youth group, and many other church-related activities. When he was 17, Alexei started a youth ministry in a Baptist church in Berdyansk, and he soon became the leader of this ministry. While he was leading, the ministry grew significantly, and a lot of young people came to Christ. Alexei was motivated to start this ministry because of the training that he received at SWW seminars, as well as his personal relationships with the SWW teachers. Some years later,…