Ukraine Work 2022 General Report

by Raul Enyedi

On February 24th, 2022, we woke up with the news that the Russian army, which has been amassing on Ukraine’s borders for months before, moved to action and invaded their neighbor. We had been watching how the events were unfolding and were half expecting that it wasn’t just a bluff. But on that day, we were still stunned, it still seemed surreal. After the terrible Yugoslav war from the ’90s, we were hoping to never know war again. And now, another war on our borders… In reality, the war did not start on that day, but back in 2014. The Russians were just escalating the previous conflict, but we weren’t fully aware of this fact, until later.

Stunned and shocked as we were, we knew we needed to be clearheaded and organize ourselves well in the face of all these events that were threatening to spill over into Moldova and Romania itself. If Ukraine had fallen in a couple of weeks or less, as their foes were hoping and their friends were fearing, an all out war between Russia and NATO would have been the next escalation, with Romania being one of the two most likely battle fronts.

In the middle of such uncertainty and fear, how good it is to know that God is sovereign, that He is in control, that all things work together for the good of His elect!!! In this strong belief we found comfort, peace and the clearheadedness that we needed to organize ourselves in the middle of the chaos. We prepared for the worse, making plans to evacuate, if need be, our people that would have been in the harm’s way. At the same time, we knew that, as a church, we had a spiritual work and a commission that needed to be carried on, in times of peace, and in times of war. We knew what we needed to do, if war came to us.

At the same time, we were thinking about the Ukrainian refugees who were fleeing the war in huge numbers. We needed to do something to help, and also to present the Good News to those that don’t know it. We got in touch with two brothers from Ukraine whom we knew before and asked them about the situation there. Both of them were actively involved in evacuating war refugees. One of them, Mihai, was running back and forth to Kiev, which was under attack then, to bring people out of there. He and a few other volunteers were operating three vans, almost non stop. The other volunteer, Romi, and his wife, Anishoara, were working with a Romanian Christian Association (Hope for the Future), which turned their camp facilities into a refugee camp. All the people at the camp site worked tirelessly, day and night, and thousands of refugees were helped there. We got in touch with them and together we started preparing humanitarian transports into Ukraine.

Mihai was collecting information on his routes on the most urgent needs, was compiling lists and was passing them to us. Through the help of many here, we were moving as fast and as efficiently as possible, locating the goods, purchasing them and organizing the trips to Ukraine. Once we put together a plan and created a trustworthy and efficient network in Romania and Ukraine (amazingly, it took only a few days to do all these), we announced to the churches that we are starting a humanitarian relief work in Ukraine. Churches and individuals responded to our call overwhelmingly. We are very thankful for everyone’s generosity, and for the tremendous help of Grace Bible Baptist Church in Denham Springs, LA, who offered to collect the checks and wire the money to us, relieving us from a lot of work and helping us save a lot of money on transfer fees.

Through Bro. Ovidiu, who made a humanitarian trip to central Ukraine with Mihai, we came in contact with Bro. Max and Sis. Alesia from Kropyvnytskyi, central Ukraine, who were working hard to accommodate and provide for hundreds of refugees from the war zone. Their city in central Ukraine is the first stop for the refugees, out of the immediate danger zone. For some, it is a stop on their way further west, but for others, it is as far as they will go away from their home. We started sending them help, as they do not have anyone else to help them with their needs.

After the initial massive waves of refugees passed, the needs in Ukraine changed. At first, the biggest needs were for inflatable mattresses, sleeping bags, blankets, bed linens, personal hygiene items and other things to accommodate huge numbers of refugees that were fleeing out of the country. In the summer and fall, the needs were for detergent and foods that can be cooked. In the winter, the urgent needs are for warm clothes, heating appliances, generators, inverters, power stations and canned food. Because the Russians are targeting the civilian energy facilities, most of Ukrainians are experiencing long blackouts, with no heat, no lights, no running water, no communications or Internet. We adapted to the needs there and always strived to supply our contacts with exactly what they needed, when they needed it. If we weren’t able to go to them, we sent things there or sent the money to them to purchase the items.

When we started this work, we had no idea that it would be this big. We thought we’d only have money for 2-3 trips. We have made 12 so far, and still have funds for 1-2 more. In late March, we realized that we needed a cargo van for this work. An impossible dream at the time. Before the middle of April, we already had one. We’ve been using it since May, and it is making a huge difference. It was simply amazing. We made 12 trips to Ukraine until now. Every trip meant 1 week of work for me and for our people here. That would be a total of 3 months this year. It is actually more than that, if we also count the hundreds of hours of calls between the trips, in staying up to date with the work of the volunteers and the needs they encounter. At first, there were four of us involved in this work, and only two of us were making the trips. We now have 7 volunteers in Romania, and we take turns making the trips, and we’ve had 22 volunteers in Ukraine (18 are still active). We were able to help, in different ways, many thousands of people. In the face of so much suffering and so many needs, it is a drop in a bucket. But such small things, done efficiently and consistently, make a difference, more than we are able to comprehend now.

Another aspect of our work in Ukraine, the most important one to us, is the spiritual one. We believe it is our duty to help our fellow man in the hour of their need, and we have been doing this through the humanitarian help we brought or sent there. But we believe the greatest call we have is to share the Gospel of the grace of God. That was a concern we had from the very beginning. We already had translated two Gospel booklets into Russian, but we needed them in Ukrainian, as well. And the Lord was quick to answer this need. By the end of March we already had found translators (two refugees from Odessa) that translated into Ukrainian the two Gospel booklets. By the middle of April, these booklets were being distributed all over Ukraine, and in Romania, too, among the Ukrainian refugees. The volunteers always wanted more booklets. By the end of the year, we had printed 62,000 copies. About 55,000 are already distributed. We ended up devoting almost 40% of the entire print shop activity to the printing in Ukrainian and Russian.

But we did not stop here. The Lord brought in our way 3 translators into Ukrainian and Russian and we have started translating more materials. They are not printed yet, but they will be, at least some of them. All of them will be available on our church website, which will support Ukrainian and Russian languages soon.

What is next?

We pray for peace, and our Ukrainian brethren do the same. We do not know for how much longer this war will last. God knows and He is in control. We know three things for sure now:

1. There will be humanitarian needs even after the war is over. But we are not there yet. We must continue to help them make it through this extremely difficult winter. We only have funds left for 1 or maximum 2 trips. This is enough until the end of January. When we started receiving lots of donations back in March and April, I told you all that we had enough for the time being, as we don’t want to just spend money. We want to use it wisely. And we did. I told you then that I will let you all know when the funds are running low. That time is here. Therefore, if the Lord burdens you to continue supporting this work, please do it. Now is a good time. As always, we will provide you all with detailed reports, and you will know how the funds are spent.

2. The humanitarian aid and the literature we brought into Ukraine was used by the Lord to open doors for preaching and sharing the Gospel. We already honored some invitations and stayed to preach in several churches. We have invitations to go preach and meet people in several parts of Ukraine. Lord willing, in 2023 we plan to go into all the places where we have an open door in Ukraine. Be in prayer for this, please.

3. We will also continue the literature work. We’ll continue to translate materials, focusing on doctrinal ones, as we already have three Gospel booklets. And we’ll continue the printing, as well.

The literature work into Ukrainian and Russian will require funds, but we can handle the expenses for the time being. But the relief work requires a lot more funds than what we can come up with. Our people in Romania are very generous, but this work is way more than what we can do by ourselves.

In the name of our church, of our volunteers and of the Ukrainian refugees, I want to thank each and every one of you for your support of this work!

Glory to God!

Important notification regarding the way to send donations for our Ukraine Work:

1. We highly recommend using WISE to transfer the money to us. The transfer fee and exchange loss for PayPal is about 8% of the amount sent, while for WISE is 2%. If you wish to use PayPal, please use Aurel Munteanu’s PayPal: aurelomnou@yahoo.com.

2. Churches and individuals that already support the Romania Mission Work and use WISE, please send your offering directly to us, using the info below, not to Grace Bible Baptist Church in Denham Springs. Please use our trust’s bank account info:

Name: Fundatia Mantachie

IBAN: RO51BTRLRONCRT0597474701

Currency: RON (Romanian New Lei)

SWIFT: BTRLRO22

3. Anyone else that wants to send a one time offering for Ukraine, please contact Grace Bible Baptist Church in Denham Springs.

Phone numbers: 225-321-2266 (Pastor Robert Keller) or 225-664-3557 (Treasurer, Keith Laurence) or 225-803-9710 (Lucien LeSage).

E-mails:

Pastor Keller: bobundjennifer@comcast.net or pastorkeller@gracebiblebaptistds.org

Keith Laurence: ceorkl@yahoo.com

Lucien LeSage: lucienlesage@cox.net