Testimonies of Encouragement

With YOUR help, our team in Kyiv has: 

Fed 9554 people

Evacuated 769 people

Distributed 3949 food bags which is around 40 tonnes of food and hygiene 

A Message from YWAM Kyiv's Base Leaders

Dear friends, thank you so much for all the prayers, help and care we see from around the world. Ukraine is now standing only because of God’s help and faithfulness of the believers all around.

All though our hearts are broken, hurting, and mourning for all the devastations we see done in Kyiv, Kyiv Region, North of us and of course in the East, we can also see God’s goodness. We see so many miracles and God’s compassionate heart to suffering people. We also see the care of many volunteers willing to go into harm's way, risking their life and their well-being to bring needed help and hope to people.

As YWAM Kyiv we continue to faithfully serve with what we have. We bring truck loads of food, delivering hundreds of food boxes daily, evacuating people from the east, visiting the elderly, and of course sharing the Good News giving so much needed Hope.

As we are facing Day 56 now, the war has changed its location moving more intensively to the East. Please hold them up in prayer. There is so much devastation there!!! At the same time we continue experiencing air raids in the West, Kyiv and its region, and in the South. People continue to go to Europe, although not as intense now. Finally: we put our trust in God and we put our requests to faithful body of Christ!

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In Kyiv- A Story of Healing the Heart and Body

Kata Oja (YWAM Kyiv staff - worship and intercession ministry leader) gives a testimony: "One day during our food delivery in Kyiv, we went to our next address on the list that took us to a burnt down house. I was sure no one is living there and was trying to figure out where the actual address is (it’s not unusual for them to be hard to find in Kyiv). But after awhile sure enough we see an older lady appear in what used to be a window of the house! Her and her son had been living in a shack on the yard behind the house after their home was burnt in August. They had built a little bomb shelter in the cellar because they had no other place to go to when the war started. She was crying a lot and very saddened by the war and their home. She also had pain in her back and legs after a surgery she had had before the war. 

As I was praying for her healing, I was reminded that the joy of the Lord is our strength, so I started to pray for joy over her. She started to feel warmth on her back and God started to heal her in that moment so that eventually almost all the pain was gone. She was so surprised and excited that she kept laughing, smiling, walking in circles and squatting up and down, because she had not been able to do it in awhile! When we got there she was very sad and teary, but when we left she was smiling and waving us goodbye and thanking us over and over again. This and many other great stories happen when we go and deliver food bags. We get to meet people, pray for them and they get not just food, but also meet Jesus in those moments."

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Western Ukraine - Ternopil City.

The Sokolovsky Family (Family Ministries Leaders with YWAM Kyiv) share their story:

"As soon as we understood that there was no way to go back home because of the terrible bombing in Kyiv and the area around Kyiv we prayed and asked God what He wanted us to do. It is very clear God gave us the word TRUCKS.

When Russia first time came 8 years ago and took our land, we began helping Mariupol by finding humanitarian goods from Europe and sending it by trucks to churches. That experience helped us to jump to serve by bringing humanitarian help. These days we learn how to work with paper, how to communicate with drivers, and how to distribute goods to the most needed regions of Ukraine. It became every day, non-stop work here mixed up with pain, anger, hard news, a lot of refugees on the YWAM base, not enough sleep, strangeness, non-stop prayers, calls from friends from all over the world, and many other unknown feelings and thoughts.

We are a family, a small family of 5, but we are all in God's hand. Our power is in Jesus and in Him we can do a lot. Three of us (Yura, Tanya and our oldest son Arthur) are right now in Ternopil. Arthur’s wife Katie is the US, she left before the war to visit her family. Arthur cannot leave the country till the war is finished. Our youngest son Mark just finished DTS in Norway and during his missionary outreach in Nepal, he got the news that the war started in Ukraine. He came back to Ukraine and he is in the army right now. He was praying and God gave him a word to be His witness there and bring Jesus to young guys.

Freedom never was given to anyone for free, it is our time to be purified as gold from the soviet history and communist mentality and never ever to look to that side."

YWAM Kyiv Staff Helping Displaced Ukrainians In Cluj, Romania

In partnership with YWAM Cluj ELS Ministries, everyday Ukrainians are provided with housing and meals. Many of our YWAM Kyiv staff are also displaced and are in Cluj helping to provide hospitality. 

At the beginning of this month, YWAM Cluj ELS loaded and sent a truck to Ukraine! Total numbers: 20.654 tons (45,500 lbs) which is $36,353 worth of supplies.

Fundraising and Helping Displaced Ukrainians

It is amazing how many of our staff have spread out during this time both for their own safety but also to help. There are YWAM Kyiv staff in England, Germany, France, Turkey, Armenia, and the United States doing their best to love God and love others in this situation. 

Thank you for all of your giving and your praying. The fight isn't over yet. Continue to stand with us, to pray, to write, to post, to give, to help. We need you!

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