Dzien dobry Krakow! Krakow is a buzzing, clean and vibing city with great culture and architecture. Our breakfast (super cheap!) was overwhelming with some interesting local flavours in a cosy restaurant. But soon the grim reality of the war became visible passing by a street-long line of refugees trying to get registered at the immigration office. Jo-ine initiated a round of prayer before stepping up to the church venue to unload the first truck. After a quick handshake, we started repacking the goods we brought into another van that would go to Ukraine that afternoon.
So, the man driving the van into Ukraine wanted to share some of his stories while we were served a second breakfast (for some reason they always put food in front of me?). He told us about the situation in the war zones and the work they’re doing all over Ukraine. He mentioned his passion to go into the world to spread the Good News. He felt that God was telling him to move to Mariupol, so he did last January. A few months later the war broke out… But not a single bad word about Russians or how terrible his life became. Instead, he was praising God for the opportunity to serve Him, bringing the Good News through much needed humanitarian aid. This is just jaw-dropping, right? We were a bit stunned meeting this kind of faith and resilience. Later we realised he was one among many…
Ok, I’ve seen some shopping while keeping up with my wife but today beats it all while shopping with another pastor! He fled with his family from eastern Ukraine and is now serving the church driving into Ukraine bringing goods and evacuating people. He knows the specific needs and guides us through the Makro supermarket. The weekefore, they had bought some goods to celebrate Easter, because the orthodox Easter comes a week later than ours. Now, he mentioned how no one had given things specifically for children up to this point, so we made an effort to buy some sweet treats for the kids as well. We spent around EUR 4.500, - in a couple of hours…
After some unloading and repacking we went for a little city-stroll and headed back to church for a wonderful dinner prepared by one of the pastors. We experienced such wonderful hospitality throughout our entire visit!
Over dinner we met the pastor that oversees New Frontiers churches in the Ukraine region and his wife. He was telling about how God mobilised his church in the times from the start of the unrest in 2014. How fleeing people get to know the gospel through the helping hand lent by churches. How refugees can contribute to the churches in Poland. He reminded us that we don’t serve a God who slows down when society breaks down. He testified about new church-plants and how the churches of Lviv operate as one in order to support the massive amounts of refugees. At the end of the evening, we prayed for each other. In prayer, he challenged us to fight for every soul. We may be around a lot of people ready to receive the gospel! Are we trained enough to notice?
