Mykolaiv

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   Tuesday morning at 4 am we started our drive to Ukraine. We came through the southwest and drove across Ukraine towards the southeast. Stopped at a hotel around 6 after a long day of driving and got some food. 

     The next morning, took off again through Odessa and up to Mykolaiv. We had to go through Odessa to get to Mykolaiv because the bridge on the most direct route had been destroyed. Mykolaiv is right along the front line.

 
     As we pulled up to Mykolaiv, The chaplains dressed in camouflage uniforms ran out and told us they needed us to split. Two vans to this village and two vans to follow the escort to another village.  

     I was in one of the vans getting escorted. With the military escorting we flew through checkpoints and sped down the road. 

    We headed Northeast for 45 minutes hugging the frontlines right into a village.   As we pulled into the village, a  building was stained black from fire and was destroyed,  we drove through this small town/village to a building operating as the church.  A bunch of men and women ran up to help, with big smiles on their faces. They began speaking Russian to me, but the language barrier presented a problem, so we shared with expressions, hugs, hand gestures, prayer, and smiles.  

       They invited us in for tea (oh how I wanted to join them), but we needed to get back on the road and get back to Mykolaiv. The village we visited had recently been liberated from the Russian control, it was an honor to go and bring food to such strong and inspirational people.  

     Once we made it back to the church in Mykolaiv, the others were waiting for us with coffee ready. A nice lady came up to me and offered me a cappuccino, I gladly accepted the hospitality. We caught up with the other drivers as they told us about the village they visited, about a living room turned into a sanctuary, and as they had arrived the church told them they had just ran out of food. A name for God is Jehovah Jireh, God will provide. I see His Provision all over this testimony.  The day the village ran out of food, two van loads show up unexpectedly. WOW God will provide! 

     The church we stayed at has a bomb shelter under ground where many displaced people now live. I and the other men stayed on the top floor, where there were windows over looking part of the city.

   They told us about the missile attack a half mile away from that morning, so we walked over to it and saw the impact.  Honestly it looked like a few tornadoes came through and split trees and ripped off roofs, but as I looked closer I realized man had done this.  Humans had intentionally built weapons of mass destruction to destroy and kill, and in this case the Russians had been using these weapons to attack civilians housing.  Military outpost are all around, but for some reason the Russians bomb civilians. Honestly, I don’t understand the Russians war strategy, it is horrible.   

      Mykolaiv had no running water, which is just one of the recent problems. The people still Resilient. 

  That night as the sun went down, the bombs also started falling down.  The air raid sirens rang throughout the city. As they were ringing, the church started singing, singing praise to their creator, despite their circumstances.   I sat upstairs, looking out the window watching artillery fall on the city and missiles taking off to counter the offensive missiles.  The artillery was mainly hitting one area in the distance, I learned the next day Russia was heavily attacking the front lines to destroy them in order for their offensive in the region. 

     The reality is I’ve only spent a few days in Ukraine, but these people live it….  I can not begin to fully understand.  I grew up in a place where the biggest concern was a storm disrupting satellite TV.  But here even the beaches are loaded with land mines, making a beautiful getaway, a place of destruction. 

That night another van of ours showed up from Romania with more food, (5 vans now). 3 stayed and went to Odessa, and two went to Moldova.  I went to Moldova and we bought more food at the store, loaded it and spent the night at some missionaries homes, staying in their childrens’ room on extra mattresses.

   The next day, we did a 16 hour round trip, back through Odessa, up to Mykolaiv and then back again to spend the night in Moldovas’ capital at the missionaries’ home. As I was on the road heading back from Mykolaiv a tank hopped right into the road from a farm field. It was fully in operation and may have been part of the front line a little ways away.   I had never seen anything like it. The next day we headed back to Romania.  

       All in all, around 57ish hours in a car in 5 days.  

    When you look at it, we are a bunch of unqualified people, we come from different backgrounds, but one thing unites and that is Jesus.  He takes our willingness and uses us. All Glory belongs to Him. 

    I have so many stories to tell, but one that stays with me was on the second trip back to Mykolaiv. As we were at the church, a man who is the chef began to make us some soup. The air raid sirens began and all the phones were going off with the sirens.  The cook began to say stuff in Russian. Some of my team members know Russian and translated what he was saying. He had begun to pray for protection over the church and he had done so every time the alarms go off. 

       He is a praying man.  And I heard in a movie last week someone ask someone if they are a praying man. And my question for you is are you a praying man??

     Build that relationship with God, it can start with a simple prayer. 

“…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”

James  5:16-18  NIV

Today I have just departed again, it is 4am … please pray for us and if you would like to give… Here is the site    https://ajesusmission.org/sam-osuna/