Ukraine: Fiona on the Frontline Week 2

This is the story of just one family. Earlier in the week we were able to help a Jewish man find a lovely Christian home to accommodate him. He begged for help to get his sister out. This story shows how we are all part of something bigger: Something that is part of God’s plan.

Through contacts in Moldova, I found a Russian speaking pastor near the border in Romania. He agreed speak to them and explain how to get to the Romanian border and then meet and help them get to the train station to get to Bucharest, which he did. They left Odessa on Thursday morning. Then his contacts met her in Bucharest and helped her get tickets to Berlin, via Budapest and then Munich. But there is a part of the journey that isn’t free. And the brothers and sisters in Bucharest paid for their tickets. In Munich, she will be met by my contacts here and helped to get the last leg of the journey.

To bring her grandchild to safety, we thought she must leave behind her husband. This is the heartbreak that faces many families but the desire to protect the children from the trauma of the war, the shelling and the destruction makes any sacrifice worth it. But in this case, PRAISE THE LORD, at the last minute, she was able to bring him too. By late Saturday evening we hit a problem they missed the connection in Budapest to Munich and would need to spend almost 20 hours in the station alone. No money and no food! And no one to help!

So, as they say on the quiz “CALL A FRIEND”  and into our story a good who called his friends in Budapest who called their friends in the city, who went to the station and picked this lovely family up late that night and took them back to the station the next day to help them find the train to Munich, where on Sunday night they were met by other Christians who will put them on the train to Berlin to be reunited with the brother

More links in the chain helping this family escape the conflict in Ukraine.

On Monday, this family will be reunited here in Berlin. The young man in the flat above where I put him has offered to take his sister, her husband and grandchild into his flat so not will they be in the same city they will be in the same building! Only God could make all of this fall into place.

This is the story for many of the people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. And as you can see it takes lots of people in a number of countries to make this possible. It’s a great honour to be a link in the chain to help people.

In Berlin, since I arrived on 04/03/22, I have been helping to make connections so that we can place both Jewish and Messianic believers into safe homes. This week I was able to send the first family to a Church in Saxony who will take in a Messianic family from the Ukraine. I am praying to be able to send more to this church so that we can perhaps, even build a small Messianic community there.

I have also had the privilege of organising a team from Israel who came to Germany to help minister God’s love in the midst of this crisis. The team went down to the main railway station in Berlin, we’re all of the Jewish refugees arriving. We joined the army of volunteers, as Russian or Ukrainian speaking volunteers complete with bright orange jackets; the colour of your jacket indicates the language that you speak.

Yesterday, as we went about the station in our official capacity as volunteers, we met people off the trains, showed them where to get help, where to get their free Sim card, where to get something to eat, carried their bags and perhaps simply to be a friendly face who speaks their language.  I did all the to-ing and fro-ing we were able to find time as we accompanied them, to talk about God, offer them literature and when possible, we asked if we could pray for them, we asked God to watch over them and find them somewhere safe to live and watch over the loved ones they’ve left behind. By the time we left the station our hearts were full of  joy.

Today, I went to the station to meet up with the team, I found one of the team members, his face red and wet with tears. The exhilaration of serving must give way to the cost of serving. This cost is not about having given something up in order to be here serving God, that is your sacrifice. This cost, is the cost not only of sharing their pain but feeling the pain of God’s heart as he watches these women and the children who have fled their homes and their loved ones, have been separated from their husbands, their fathers and brothers and sons. The cost is feeling the compassion that Yeshua has for them.

Mat 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

On Sunday evening, we met two young girls from Ukraine who had just arrived and were standing around. We asked them if they needed help but the first thing they did was to say: “Yes, help us to find a job.” It turned out that they were Christians, so I called a church leader I had met, and she found them a place for the night. I arranged for them to go to stay with a wonderful church in near Dresden the following day. God was watching over them and instead of potentially falling into the hands of human traffickers, God never let them out of his sight.

One of the things that we want to do is to use Beit Sar Shalom’s Messianic centre as a place where people can come and receive some basic necessities, shower gel shampoo, tooth brushes and tooth paste as well  as receive the Gospel.