Shalom from Poland,
The place where we are now is a camping area next to a church, where we have done about 30 camps for children and Holocaust survivors from Israel in the last 14 years. But this time the reason for our trip was quite different. We came to help refugees from Ukraine that God brought here. We helped some of them escape and brought them here. There are 190 people here now. 117 children aged 0 to 16 and 70 adults, but only four men, because men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country! 30 children live here without their parents. Among them are believers and also non-believers, healthy and sick, but they all have one thing in common: they came without anything, without objects and money. Many have Ukrainian money – hryvnias, but no one here can accept them as a means of payment or exchange them for Polish currency. They also have no place to return to. They thought they would stay for a week or two, but by now they realise that the reality is somewhat different, and this worries them a lot. On the first day we met people, talked to them and asked about their needs. We heard sad and sometimes frightening stories about what they have experienced and how they fled under fire from the soldiers. Women worry about their husbands, children about their fathers. We also had a meeting where I preached God’s word and we prayed together in the evening.
My wife and I live in a flat with our friends and we only slept six hours. Today at 7am we were already back at the camp and again we talked to people and listened. After breakfast, buses came and we took the children and a few adults to the sports centre. There were trampolines prepared and there were free sweets. The children were happy, jumping and playing basketball and volleyball and other games until lunch. After lunch, my wife and I went to town and bought 15 kg of biscuits for our evening meeting. It was two children’s birthday and we bought presents for them. For a woman who has two children and who wanted to work online but didn’t have good internet reception, I bought a hot spot modem on a SIM card and gave it to her. She was very grateful and will start working first thing in the morning. After dinner we gathered again to worship God with praise and read scripture. We didn’t go home until 10:30pm and now I am writing this letter.
Believers here locally and other residents of the town really help the refugees a lot. A big tent has been set up and local residents are bringing humanitarian aid and have made it into a shop: Everyone can come and take what they need. There are many necessary things for daily needs. But as always, there are also many things missing. For example, underwear, shoes for the children, fruit, etc. Tonight after the prayer, I asked the people: If they had the opportunity to turn to God and ask him for something they needed and would do them good, what would they ask him for?
The answers were very different, but basically everyone said that the war should end and peace would come. But they also asked for ice cream and pizza and delicious and unusual dinners. Some also asked for a trip to a water park. We want to make these dreams come true with your help and prayer support! Tomorrow we will order pizza and buy ice cream for everyone. Monday we will take the children to a shop and buy shoes for them and underwear for women and children. My wife has made a list with local volunteers of what who needs. On Tuesday I will prepare a special surprise dinner for everyone. And of course there will be meetings and Bible reading together every day. One request that made a big impression on me was from a woman, whose illness is getting worse and she can hardly walk. She asked for a good rehab that will help her to walk again. This is something she has dreamed of for a long time, but she probably won’t be able to do it. Please pray for her and her request! I also ask you to pray for those who could not come here because there is not enough space. Unfortunately there is no more space, but so many requests. There were two girls who wanted to come, two volunteers who work with us in Israel with our ministry. For ten days we have been trying to get them here, but it didn’t work. But now the Lord has done a miracle and on Monday they will arrive. But with that comes a new problem, because there is no place for them to sleep….
Another prayer request we have for several Jewish people who now want to make Aliyah and go to Israel. We are helping them in this process.
Thank you, dear friends, for your support!
