April 6, 2015 – You know that story, well, another food distribution day, another miracle. We had 86 people at church today. We had food for 50 family units. We had food left over….humm, what’s wrong with this picture?? God is amazing! People in need, and we were able to abundantly bless them. Sasha served up a good lesson, Ira shared her testimony, followed by Voloudia, then music, prayer, and then chaos, but controlled chaos. My new format for the distribution, against all odds, was a success.! People went through the lines orderly, and abided by the distribution guidelines. People were served and quietly left. We were able to have tea and discuss the amazing events of the day. Children arrived, but we still needed to discuss next Sunday, which is Easter. Nothing concrete is decided, but that is usual. Finally at 3:30 the children are allowed in, but all the children have left, but Zhenya. A few ‘trickle’ back to the center, where we end up having 9 for Bible study and tea. For the sake of one…
April 7, 2015 – Monday – up and moving, as we have soldiers coming today at 11:30. As I’m preparing food, I see the invalid man from Sunday that left without his food, so Sergie ran outside to help him, and we collected food in his bag and Sergie walked him home. That what ya gotta do sometimes, he was physically not able to carry his food, so I’m glad that Sergie was there to be ‘his’ strong arms.’
Now back to the soldiers, you never know who is coming, how they are feeling, what are their thoughts about Americans…so I wait patiently, knowing that I have done my best to welcome them, hopefully, they will accept me for who I am, not ‘what’ I am (a American). Andre, Kolia, Sergie and Valentin arrive with Oleg around noon. They go for showers, as they are cold, and dirty. Lunch is complete, so we are just waiting… they trickle down and play some ping pong, and look at the maps on the walls. Sergie (one of the soldiers) is mysteriously quiet observing things in the building, I wonder why? What is he looking for? Or at? I think about Victor Petrovich, the spy, and hope that Sergie isn’t a spy. They eat well, but not as well as other times…they say they are full. I wonder if they sense something? They get dressed, and all get hugs from me, as it is important for a person to feel cared about, and a hug is an easy thing to give away! They part, and ‘our’ Sergie appears to have a tear in his eye. He is tenderhearted towards the soldiers and their plight. Each of these men mean the ‘world’ to someone, even though we don’t know who that someone is, he is ‘their” world, their son, brother, uncle, father, someone that means something to someone. We pray for them, that God keeps them safe.
I talked to Anya from the local orphan shelter, calls and she is in need of more ViSalus (protein) powder, so thankfully, so we are able to make a quick trip over there and drop that off with her. Years ago, she went to the hospital with a terrible bowel obstruction, and left without about 20 ft. of her intestines. She is thin as a rail, and isn’t able to eat much, so we are very happy to provide her with this protein shake powder. Now, we are off to purchase meat for block post food for Wednesday, then back to the center, where Zhenya is waiting. It is Alyona’s (the neighbor) birthday today and we have a cake for her, so we are just waiting for her to arrive and the other kids. Unfortunately, the shelling has resumed, and it is noisy outside, kids may not come. We wait and wait, and only Nastia and baby Sasha arrive, as it is also baby Sasha’s birthday. Oleg also drops by with a huge bag of laundry, 2 big bags of laundry soap, and 2 flats of eggs. Said someone blessed him, and he in turn wanted to bless us. The men will be eating eggs when they come next time. Then Aloyna is summoned home by her mother to help in the kitchen. So we decide to just wait until Tuesday for cake. We call it an early night, as shelling is loud, and we want kids to get home by dark. Exhausted, I get home and do 5 loads of laundry, after I had completed 4 at the center of the men from Block post #1…this laundry is really giving me a work out, as there is no dryer, so alot of very heavy clothing to hang out.
Tuesday – woke to rain, rain, and more rain. It is very difficult to maneuver in the rain. I can’t imagine having a war in the rain. I’m so very glad that I didn’t hang laundry out last night, as I had thought of it, because there is so much. But I didn’t and glad not. Today is feeding at the hospital, so I will go and cook this a.m. and take food at noon.
I prepare food for 18 and head to the hospital. The men are always very thankful and helpful to get everyone served. While at the hospital Oleg calls asking if 3 men can come for showers. In an effort to help as many as possible, we give the ‘ok’, but that we can’t get home for about 45 minutes, since we are feeding the men. My mind is racing as to ‘what to fix’ the men to eat, as we just prepared all this food, but probably won’t have much left. I have some ground meat, and alittle cabbage to add and make a salad, some rice, but no soup. We complete the lunch rotation, and run to the car and then back to the 2nd floor to give some pants, towel, underwear and socks to the new wounded. Then we race home, stopping to purchase bread. Arriving home, I hit the kitchen with a blast, to start the water for more rice, and the stove pan for cutlets. The men arrive, and headed upstairs. The rain was cold, and I’m sure they were wanting a warm shower and clean clothes. I continued cooking, and kids started to arrive, we sent them home till 4, when the men would be gone.
The men enjoyed their lunch of cutlets, rice, salad, fried eggs, bread, and French toast for dessert! Surprisingly, they loved French toast!
The kids came late, so we allowed them to stay late. The rain was coming down by the time they left, and we hoped that it would let up, but didn’t. Shelling was loud and consistent. I was thoroughly exhausted and needed rest. Fell into bed at 12:15 a.m….
Aloysha…Aloysha, where are thou Aloysha???? Phone rings at 1:15 a.m., Sergie is telling me that the local police is at the center wanting to talk with me about Alyosha. Seems he has disappeared. The police ask a lot of questions, and then ask where Alena lives. They go over there, but can’t find the house, and return asking for my help. We get over there, and finally get granny to open the door, and they then look all over the house, and everywhere, and interrogate Alena for the next 2 hours. She is crying, and yelling, a total of 6 police are there looking through things, looking throughout the house. No Aloysha., but did find his backpack with passport, and food, clothing, candles, and a big knife! More questions, more crying and more yelling. Sergey and I wait and wait. Finally, they ‘call it a night’, and give up and take she and her dad to the police station. Sergey and I finally get home at 4:15 a.m… Sleep is not possible, since there was so much activity through the night; my stress level is off the charts…so I try to write, but can’t even put on paper the thoughts in my head. These 2 ‘kids’ are so messed up, with NO support system to help them. Alena’s is searching for a ‘mother’ figure, as her mother died when she was just 11, from cancer…her father and older brother are both alcoholics. Then you have Alyosha, who has no parents (that want him), and he grew up in the local shelter, and then internot. His grandparents just use him for his orphan pension, yet treat him very badly. It is all very sad, and then these 2 dysfunctional people collide, and you have a dysfunctional couple. Alena had been acting very odd, and it seemed that they were planning to run off together, though they k new that wasn’t the ‘right’ thing to do, but just 2 very mixed up kids…I must sleep….Finally doze off , and wake at 9, late for cooking, but exhausted.
I finally get to the center at 10 and start the rice water, Oleg has called wondering where we are. With exhaustion nipping at my heels, I get the meat and rice cooking and placed in the containers for delivery to the block post. I fold all the laundry while the rice is cooking, and get it loaded I the van. Sergey pretty much does nothing with exception to texting. He SAYS he wants to help, but every time I make it clear that I need his help, he disappears to the restroom, or upstairs. I’m not going to push it, I can’t expend the energy, I will just do it myself and not argue about it. Everyone has a life outside of the the east of UA, even me, I just can conduct that life after ‘business’ hours in UA, but business is still busy in the US. So I work into the night, while others sleep.
My days are very busy, exhausting, and looking at my schedule for the week: is very busy, feeding soldiers at the blockpost 3x per week, soldiers at the center 3x a week, feeding kids at the center 5x a week (or more), doing soldiers laundry 5x a week (killing my washer), feeding the wounded every 3 days at the hospital, still running the center for kids in the afternoons; Bible study 3x a week… I barely have time to even think what is next…praying as I go, that people are reached for Christ, that e are that ‘city on a hill’ that is a beacon of hope for those that are searching…and that I don’t forget someone, or something. Some men have not gotten their clothing back, as it was still wet, so just staying on top of laundry is a job. I can’t imagine those who are washing by hand, I’m blessed to have 2 washers, and Oleg brought soap! Washing soap is very expensive for a machine, so this was a big blessing!!
…and all the while shelling still going on outside, but I have so much to do, I fall into bed exhausted every night.
April 9, 2015 – Thursday – relaxed all morning, I had to re-group
Friday – the weather has taken a turn for Spring, and though I went to sleep last night with snow, this a.m. it looks like spring! I must go to the market today and get some food for cooking for the weekend, so we take off at 11:00. Money exchange is tight in Dz. right now,and I must go to the big market and see Aloysha for today’s exchange of 24.00! As we get back to the car, Sasha calls asking me to go to Konstaniavka to pick up Valia. Wow, that is really bold, considering he has a CAR! Not so sure why he doesn’t take his own car, but anyway, I agree to do this, but I must go to the hospital first. I have maturnity bags to give away, and I have a few things to give to the men at the hospital and I must check in Vovo. We drop off 2 bags with new moms at the baby hospital, and then go over to the other hospital. 6 men are outside, all of which we know. Sasha tell us that Vovo was transferred to Artomosk because his leg is broken and tendons ripped. Not good. We talk a few minutes, and give some men some items that they need, towel, socks, soap, slippers. Oleg, a soldier from BP #1, is there in the group, and says, ‘oh Teresa, it is you…you are o.k….it is so good to see you.’ He hugs me, and begins to tell about how he was in the water with his gun firing for like 5 hours, and no one came to help him…he was so cold, so now he is ill. While he talked about the experience, he began to weep and then I hugged him, and he just laid his head on my shoulder and cried. Tears pouring down his face, he was truly scared for his life. He said, ‘I need a break, I need a break…but they won’t give me one.’ It is terribly sad. This man is obviously effected by the war, he needs a break, but there are not enough men to fill the order, no men get breaks…and what breaks they do give are short. We talked with Oleg for a while, and assured him that we would see him tomorrow, Saturday, for food delivery. Several other men were there, and glad to hear we were coming tomorrow with home cooked food. We left, but only after several more hugs from Oleg, and more tears. “Lord, help these men to sustain…give them strength, mercy, and power to overcome the enemy.”
Saturday – Beautiful day and very full. I sometimes think that God puts too much on my plate, and asks too much of me, and then I think of His son, in the tomb, and I can’t do enough. For me, the worst part is those around me, they really upset me. I went to the center this a.m. to start the rice for the men at block post #1, and the church people were very upset with me. They refused to be at the building when the soldiers came to shower and eat. They were very mean to me, and even refused to drink ‘my tea’, and went and bought their own! They said that they wanted to be self sufficient! Like, ‘how’ can you do that if you are meeting in MY building!!! But it seems that Ira and Voludia have convinced so many that the UA army are bad people….yes, WAR is bad, but UA didn’t start the war, russia did by the illegal invasion of Crimea. Russia should have just allowed UA to deal with their own problems ‘in house’, and not try to play ‘big brother’ with UA. Anyway, seems that the soldiers coming to the building is a problem for ‘them’, or at least some of them. I can already see where this is a dividing point for me. Sasha also asked them to help me cook, and they refused, because it was for the men. They stood there and sang Easter songs and then they won’t help, I truly don’t ‘get’ it, but they totally wanted to drink tea and eat cake. I would probably say I’m ‘beyond’ upset and I hate to think that way about people I have known for so long. Then, they have the gall to ask me to go to Sasha’s and pick up some pot to cook food over the open fire…wow, such interesting people. As I told Sergie, we are figuratively and literally washing feet.
The men are running late, and by the time they arrive, NO ONE of the church members are left, so all that fuss, and they didn’t even have to ‘see’ them!! WOW, so Sasha greets them, and the men all go upstairs for a shower. I’m cooking not only for the men, but we are waiting for some reporters from Poland, and then we will go to the hospital to feed men there, as it is our day. 12:00 rolls around, and the reporters roll in. Pasha, a Polish journalist, and then we have James, a photographer, from FLORIDA! Shocker, and he speaks no Russian. Anyway, we welcome them, and soon the men are down from their shower, and ready to eat. Ten sit down and eat, I’m still focused on the chicken and rice for the block post, so too busy to eat. Finishing, I clean the dishes, and make the last minute preparations to the food for transport to the hospital. So many details, plates, napkins, forks, we finally get off, and get to the hospital.
Serving these men is such a delight, they are so happy, and they need this help. I guess there is an element of selfishness in this, in that, I do feel needed and wanted, unlike what I feel at home many times…but these men, they need help, and welcome it. We go to the 2nd floor, then up to the 5th. There are 10 men on 5th floor, and it is nice to see the men, though I hate to think of them being ill or injured. We see Oleg and he tells us more about the situation with his friend. Seems that they were out on a mission, and the other man Vlad, was wounded and caught by DNR. Seems he was being transported to Ghorlivka and a young girl was the commander, and she told them to pull over, dragging the man to the woods, it was reported that she shot him approx. 40 times in the head, leaving only his jaw, this happened on Wednesday or Thursday, but this man, Vlad had been at the center at one time for shower and lunch. I’m going to find out who he is, to properly memorialize him. The ‘Rainbow’ medic confirmed the story, as I think they recovered the body…it was all very disturbing, and even the medic didn’t want to discuss the ‘gore’ of what was left of this man. God how can this be, how can this continue, even if they turn to you, how will you slew the giant, russia?? So much evil from such a small man.
We return to the center shaken from the story of this man. I’m so sad, and I want to know ‘who’ he is.
EASTER – April 12, 2015 – Sunday arrives, and we are up and off to the Block Post 2, first time there, but we take Julia’s parents, Andre, another man, the reporters and Valia. The van is absolutely packed with food and people! The people are ‘good people, but they aren’t Christians. We see that later in their conversation with the men. The post is just past where Valentina (my artist friend who died in 2004 from breast cancer) is buried, so I know just where it is. It is a huge post with many tunnels, bunkers, look outs, and many men. I see why they brought so much food. We are greeted, and warned not to stand on the right side of the van, as there is a sniper on the slag pile several kilometers away, but there have been shots, and even a volunteer was wounded. So we watch ourselves. The men are nice, and we see Sasha from the hospital, and he greets us. Eventually, a group of commanders show up, and they prepare to eat, so we take a few photos, and leave. But it is a good visit, and I’m glad we went, whether I return, I don’t know, as there are a lot of men there.
After several calls from Sasha, about picking up Marina, we finally arrive to Marina’s to pick up she and the pot for cooking their ‘grits’ over the open fire. It is after 10, and she is NOT happy. Adding fuel to the fire that has already started from the day before that they aren’t happy with my soldier involvement. They don’t want to be a part of it, and don’t like it that I arranged for them to come to the building for showers during ‘their’ church service! So we arrive to church, and I go over to the house. I’m’ NOT happy with their unkind and unchristian behavior…I work on cleaning the pots, and laundry. The have church, but I’m running back and forth between houses to put up laundry and cook. After church, I just can’t deal with their drama any more, I’m going home to wait it out till the laundry is done. I pop in and out of the center, and Valia asked if I was joining them for tea. ‘NO’ I say and promptly leave. It saddens me that I have tried and tired to intertwine these people into this ministry and they just are not interested in serving, children, people, soldiers, the lost…anyone. So let them ‘be’. God tell us that we should ‘shake the dust off and move on.’ So I have reached the end of my rope. The laundry is done, and I go over to pick it up. Valia comes to me and says that the church is talking about the situation, and they want me to sit and listen. Trying to be objective, all I can hear is that they don’t want to help UA in any way, whether it be soldiers in the field, soldiers in the hospital…no one…I feel like God has really shown me that I just do not need to continue with this group…they are so caught up in politics that they can’t see the needs around them. I share with them, that I won’t be asking for their help in the future, and I won’t be serving IDP’s at the building on Sunday anymore. I’m sure that it pains God the division, but I can’t ‘not’ help just to appease them. They are asking me to NOT serve? That is just crazy. That is the question I want to ask them…are they asking me to STOP serving?? The meeting ends up with no resolve. I’m sure God is very sad, but for me to concede and not serve, that isn’t an option. They all leave, giving me the cold shoulder.
We have 15 kids there for a meal over the fire. Sasha uses the pot that I picked up, and makes the usual gruel with sala. The kids love it, and they love the attention. There is so much left over, I’m going to use it tomorrow to add to the cutlets for the men at the hospital. After the kids leave, we decide to go to the hospital to visit and give out easter sweets. Hospital visitation used to happen every Sunday night, and now it doesn’t happen at all. Valia, Sasha and Vanya Moroz took floors 3 and 4, as there are no soldiers there, and Sergey and I took, 2 and 5. We visited EVERYONE, giving them sweets and proclaiming Jesus has risen!! When we went to the 5th floor, we turned to the right to visit the patients first, and then go to the soldiers. We went to the end of the hall and there we met, Edward, a man completely yellow from kidney and/or liver failure. He didn’t have a clue ‘who’ we were, but as with everyone we introduced ourselves. Then he asked us to sit with him. God puts us in interesting places to meet interesting people and have interesting God opportunities…Went to the hospital Sunday to wish people a Happy Easter, announcing “Jesus as Risen.”. and this man, Edward asks if we can sit and talk to him, at which we do. He tells us that he is all alone, only has a ‘mom’. No wife, and no children. He then shares that he ‘drank a lot throughout his life.’ (it is obvious) Edward is dying from liver failure his skin is very yellow, the whites of his eyes are yellow. I stressed to Sergie that Edward would not live long, and that we needed to make the most of this opportunity. Edward talked and talked, and asked for some reading materials. Monday night, we returned for a visit, taking a book. Edward wasn’t feeling well, talked little, and we left, telling him we would return tomorrow. Pray for Edward, he didn’t want to pray tonight, though last night he did express a desire to pray.
Monday, new day of the week, and it was decided that we would go to Block post #7, we had heard of problems there, men eating nothing but pasta and kasha. We prepared rice and chicken, salad, chicken soup, and homemade cinnamon rolls. One our way out of the settlement, we pass Sasha and stop and ask and persuade him to go with us. It is good that he is going, so he can see these men that they aren’t the savages they are made out as. We stopped off in ‘New York’ and met the commanding officer and agreed to follow one another to the block post. It was a long ways out of town, and on a back road to Donetsk. Once arriving at the entry point, we drove through sunflower fields, and finally arrived to the front, to be met by 10 men. Slowly more men walked up from the fields and joined our conversation. Then I noticed Maxim whom I had met with Yuri, that I gave the roll of plastic and nails for their shelter. Several of the men realized who I was, and thanked me profusely for the plastic and nails, saying that they were building the shelter, and that they appreciated the help. We stayed with the men for about one hour talking and Sasha prayed over the men. The men truly appreciated this, and we left, feeling that we had given them some hope.
We arrived back to the center, and James and Pavlo wanted to get on the road. They had a drive to Krasnarminsk. Just as they left, we received a call from Victor Radchenko telling that a UA aid worker, Victor was taken by the DPR. Seems he was waiting for someone to drop a package off for him to take back to Kyiv, and the DPR came up and saw his van with UA flags, and they kidnapped him. No one has heard from him since, and last we heard, he was in captivity waiting for the commander to decide his fate. Not a good sign. Praying for this man’s release.
It is so nice to have fellow Christians to encourage you, and Oleg is a great encourager. He brought a group from his church over to sing and encourage us. It was such a fun time, and one man could play the accordion. Amazing instrument, he obviously loved playing and singing to the Lord. The entire service I had a strange feeling of urgency to get to the hospital to visit Edward. So as soon as they left, I mentioned it to Sergey who was fairly exhausted, and said, ‘my flesh says ‘no’, but my mind says, ‘yes’, if you feel we need to go then left’s go.’ Vanya Moroz wanted to go along with us, so we left, and arriving at the hospital, we got up to the 5th floor, and found Edward’s mother with him. This is good…but we think because of this, he didn’t want to pray. We did bring him 2 books to choose from, and he took a book about ‘choices’ and dealing the consequences of your poor choices. Interesting choice. We didn’t stay long, as he was tired, and he looked awful…I reflected on our time with him and how we are called to reach out, even for the ‘sake of 1’…
Tuesday, cooking for the hospital men, Valia was so sweet to get up and make borscht for the men. She has been such a blessing being here for several days for the holidays. I miss her so much, as she is not only a great encourager, but such a worker for the Lord. She truly loves the Lord, and wants to do the right thing, and serve others. She is torn between living in Mariupol in a free apt., and having a great job, and living here, where service opportunities are endless, she has people who encourage her, and she has a job, and a place to live. She says, ‘it is complicated’, but I don’t see the issues like she does. So many people/children depend on her here, and though she knows this, this isn’t enough to influence her to stay here. Service opportunities here are endless, and she knows all this, but she believes God has sent her to Mariupol and that maybe in a year or 2 or 3, she will return… by then I think that the opportunities will be gone, people grown or moved away, and she will have to start all over again, but she must come to those conclusions. She is very wise, beyond her years, so God has given her discernment, and she is where she believes God wants her.
We prepare cutlets, and boiled potatoes, and finish the borscht, and leave for the hospital. Up to the 5th floor, to room 17. Seems to be the ‘hub’ for the soldiers. We find, Oleg, another Oleg, Grecia, Igor and Roman. Oleg, and Igor were ‘new’, and it was interesting to get in ‘their heads’. Oleg and Igor both, were very moved by our acts of kindness, and listened to each word spoken. Oleg could not thank us enough for bringing food to them, offering aid.
Going to the block post today. Picked up Julia’s family, and we headed in the direction of #2. This is the block post where 4 men in a altered vehicle with some sort of gun attached, as hit by a shoulder missile, and blown to pieces. One lost an arm, one lost an eye and may lose the other, one lost about ¼ of his head, but is still alive, the 4th, has a shrapnel wound to the neck. We left in a mist rain, which turned to a light rain by the time we arrived. We unloaded, but as the men heard we had face masks, they came from all directions to get a mask. They were very thankful, and I was very glad we ordered them. The masks protect the men from wind, rain, and of course add to the ‘hidden factor’ when they are in the fields or out on patrol. Julia’s parents had a lot of food, we brought just rice for 60 and the masks. We stayed a while with them men, just visiting with them, but staying out of the line of sniper fire.
Back to the center, I wanted to bake some cinnamon rolls for our hospital visitation Sunday night. Olya is my ‘right arm’ when it comes to the kitchen. I really would like to mold her into a good chef, but who knows what her young mother will allow. So we just do the best we can. I had her clean some onions we received as a gift from Oleg and Ludmilla, his wife, and then she came and helped with the rolls. The kids were so amazed with them. But they were happy to have French toast for their snack. The UA army gave us several jars of jam, so I’m using that on cookies and French toast.
Sunday – The angels are singing, as this morning Lena, Natasha and Yuri’s daughter, a new IDP from Ghorlivka , repented and she prayed for forgiveness. It was such a blessed day. Sergey blessed us with a song, and Sasha taught a lesson about the road to Ammaus. After service, we had Yuri, Natasha, Vlad, Lena, Sasha and Marina stay for some rice and bread and fellowship. I had a lot of questions to Lena, but it just didn’t seem like the right time. How are things in Ghorlivka? Was she afraid walking around town…are people even walking around?? What is the ‘climate’? Prices?? But it just didn’t seem right… After an afternoon with kids and Bible study, Sasha, Sergey and I were off to the hospital to minister to people. Weather was cold, to the point of an ice storm! The crazy weather really affects people, and Sergey has a headache, and rightfully so. We get to Edward, and he agrees to allow Sergey to pray with him, if Sasha and I leave, so we do..and head down to another room. Sergey catches up to us later, down the hall visiting others. It was such a blessing, and hopefully we were ‘sowing seeds’. We had about 13 of the 17 we met that agreed to pray with us. Praise the Lord.