Here is a letter from the team from Israel that is currently caring for Jewish refugees in Poland:
Shalom, dear friends,
Actually, my wife and I were going to fly home from Poland today. But seeing how much our help is needed here, we changed our tickets and stayed until 23 March.
I want to share with you what we have accomplished thanks to your support and prayers. These days have been packed with work. The camp is still 100% full. Several families have left, but new ones have joined immediately. We have 189 people living here and more than 200 coming to eat. Last night, an 18-year-old gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Anyuta. Her husband has stayed in Ukraine, he is in the army, and there is no connection with him yet, so he doesn’t know yet, which worries her a lot. The child was born healthy and she and her mother should be back in the camp this afternoon.
We talk to the people, listen to their stories and pray with them. On Sunday, a family with five children came to us. The explosion destroyed their house. Miraculously, they escaped and travelled to Poland for almost a week. They don’t know what to do next; they have nowhere to go back to. They have many questions, and the biggest one is: how do they go on? Back to Ukraine or to another country? I have no answers; I didn’t even know how to pray for them and what to say to them! There are so many stories like this! It is not easy to hear what these people have been through. I thank God for preparing me for this. In Israel I have already organised seminars and camps for children and adults who survived the post-war syndrome, which helps here.
I continue to conduct Bible studies and pastoral care and organise various events. In the first days only believers came to our meetings, but on Tuesday we managed to gather almost everyone. We celebrated Purim. I told the holiday story, spoke a word from the Bible, and the children received gifts. My wife and her helpers spent the whole day buying and making 130 gifts for the children, and when we handed them over, the children’s faces lit up with joy. For almost all of them it was the first Purim in their lives, and as we read the Book of Esther together, we prayed that the Lord would do the same miracle for the people of Ukraine.
In the last few days many have caught a cold. We bought a lot of medicines and vitamins. My wife became a nurse, distributing medicines and making the children drink vitamins to strengthen their immunity.
During those days we also did a lot of practical help. The biggest need was to integrate teenagers and young people. We are coping with this and there are already fruits. We meet regularly for joint activities. And the older ones are now helping in the kitchen, on the grounds and with the younger children. On Monday we took them to a bowling alley for a few hours and had a great time with games and spiritual fellowship. On Tuesday morning we went to the shop with a group of 12 children without parents and bought them shoes and other necessary things. Every day we realise that what we need is not enough. The locals help us a lot, bring us food. But it is not always enough. Now there are negotiations with the local authorities about the help. Maybe from next week the municipality will provide 40 zloty (10 dollars) per person per day for food. That’s not enough, of course, but at least it’s help. In the meantime, all these donations feed 200 people. So the food is very basic; there is not enough meat and fruit. On Tuesday, I bought 25kg of salmon and 25kg of chicken and prepared a festive dinner. From 2pm to 6pm I stood in the kitchen, tired but having a lot of fun when everything was eaten and people asked if there was more 🙂
Yesterday we all went to the neighbouring town to the water park together, what a joy and fun that was! We paid for entry to the park and the town gave us free buses.
Today we will go shopping for the necessary things with another group of children, and in the afternoon we will go to the dentist with six people.
In my last letter I wrote about a woman who dreams of rehabilitation. Thanks to many prayers, we found a neurological clinic where they are willing to take her for 17 days. We received an excellent price of 1300 dollars, including accommodation, food and daily medical rehab. On Friday, at 2pm, we are already taking her there. We thank God for that!
Today we will celebrate Shabbat, and afterwards we will have a joint meeting with young people from Ukraine and the local community.
Parallel to everything, I helped several Jewish families to get documents and passports to fly to Israel, because many arrived in Poland without documents. They can travel in Europe but cannot fly to Israel without a passport, and getting a new passport takes a lot of energy and time!
I have a prayer request. On Sunday we want to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and we have asked to collect medicine for the soldiers. They need bandages, tourniquets, painkillers, antivirals, antiseptics, etc. We will do our best to find and buy what is possible, but this will not cover all the needs. There is a huge need for medical preparations and our forces cannot meet it. Therefore, I ask you to pray for God to help people with this. For our part, we are doing everything possible to bring comfort to the people. I thank you for your donations, and I want to tell you that every dollar is spent for the true purpose of the people in need! To all those who were forced to leave Ukraine because of the war, may God show them how to go on!
Thanks and blessings from Poland
