On our way to Kiev...

We are on our way to Kiev with Doctors Lev and Max, also pastor Volva from the Nazarene church in Kiev and his wife Sylvia (from Calif.) who have been in Poland for the last month.

It is interesting to watch how different people behave in times like this...unless you hear the sirens and or rockets, most try to go about their normal activities which the government has told them to do.  People still need goods and services and it keeps some semblance of normalcy. Those who have fled the Eastern part of the Country are visibly different. They are more wary and to themselves.  Our friends say they can tell who the refugees are apart from the regular citizens even as they walk down the street because they have been so traumatized.  Many of the lines for transportation, food and medicines have people of all kinds, from the poor to those wearing Louis Vuitton clothes and bags all in the same lines because neither have anything else left...many young girls who have survived the invasion in their cities have been raped, pregnant and faced with the dilemma of what to do with this child...

The skies here have been rainy and kind of a yellowish gray the past few days, which seems to match the pale that is over this precious Land.  People still meet for coffee and laugh at times but things quickly return to a serious quietness.
The further East we go toward Kiev the more checkpoints and military emplacement we see.

Gas is limited to 5 or 10 gallons at a time so people stop often to try and stay full so they won't be stranded a long the way. Food also becomes one of the critical issues as you go further East. Our doctors were helping a group of soldiers and asked them what else they could do for them and they asked for food- especially they were dreaming of chicken.  So our friends found a place like KFC and bought everything they had and ferried it back to these youg soldiers to their great delight!

Other friends who drive supplies all the way to the front lines like Vlad Vozniak, our Campus Crusade friend, say people have all the clothes they need but there is a desparate need for food everywhere!  Destroying the water supplies has also become a cruel weapon during this invasion.  Refugees talk of drinking all the water they can find, even from the toilets, and trying to capture any rain water possible, just to survive!

By God's grace, we are here to enter into the same challenges people are facing from the daily threats and deprivations. Sharing the Gospel when we are standing together like ths is not just so many words but it is the power of God unto salvation with His Eternal love made more clear than ever!!  Even those who have been indifferent or even antagonistic to the faith are flocking to the church seeking the mercy of God!

Tomorrow is the Orthodox Easter and we are heading to the top of a central hill in Kiev with many others at 6 am to celebrate our Kings' Resurrection and Victory over sin and death!! The authorities are expecting mass bombings tomorrow intended to kill as any as possible and destroy this nation's hope but these are an incredibly courageous people and, with God's help, they will prevail!

Thank you for all the ways you are standing with us!  May you also know God's newness of life and courage! In His love,  jerry