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…
Meeting Jesus Through Gift of Hope
Every Christmas season, the School Without Walls (SWW) students and graduates trained and equipped by Mission Eurasia deliver thousands of Christmas gifts to children in need throughout Eurasia. Each festive, hand-delivered Gift of Hope is filled with toys, treats, and a children’s storybook Bible that shares the story of the greatest Gift of Hope of all: Jesus. The gifts are distributed by our leaders in orphanages, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, schools, and neighborhoods where children are suffering or abandoned. Each Gift of Hope gift represents a connection to the local church and a starting point for a relationship with caring Christian role models. Tigran, whose life was impacted through Gift of Hope and the example of one of our SWW students, Alexey, shared his story with us in his own words: “My name is Tigran, and I am 12 years old. My mother died of cancer when I was nine, and my dad is a…
A New Family for Alexey
Alexey is 90 years old and lives in Kiev, Ukraine. After serving as a lieutenant in WWII, he worked several other jobs. When he finally retired, he was in very poor health. Alexey’s health has continued to decline in recent years, and his limited use of his legs makes it impossible for him to leave the house on his own. While receiving treatment at a Christian rehabilitation center, Alexey met a family from a local church: Alexander and Larissa and their two children, Angelina and Maxim. Alexander and Larissa had been forced to abandon their family home due to the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine, and they had been living for the past few months in a friend’s home. Alexander and Larissa took good care of Alexey at the rehabilitation center and formed a friendship with him. When it was time for Alexey to return home, he invited Alexander and Larissa…
God’s Word in the War Zone: Yevgenia’s Story
Over the summer, our School Without Walls (SWW) students hosted a youth Bible camp in the front-line cities of Andreyevka and Avdeyevka, Ukraine–in partnership with a local Mennonite church. Yevgenia, a 16-year-old girl from Andreyevka, was just one of the many young people who participated in this camp and had a life-changing experience with Jesus. Yevgenia, her mother, and their friends are going through a hard time, as war continues to rage in their hometown, and they hear the sound of gunfire almost every day. Sadly, even before the war broke out, Yevgenia had already experienced suffering. Her father abandoned her 16-year-old mother as soon as he found out that she was pregnant, so Yevgenia never met him. Her mother’s grandmother was also killed in a car accident when she was seven months pregnant, and the emotional and psychological stress caused Yevgenia’s mother to go into early labor, so Yevgenia…