Budmo! We will exist: Reflections on visits to three Ukrainian towns near Kyiv
Budmo! We will exist. Reflections on visits to three Ukrainian towns near Kyiv.
This is the first of several compelling reflections to come from Outreach team members. Scroll to the end to view the video we received on March 27 from Dr. Ivan and Luda Rusyn of drone/missile strikes on Buccha.
A team from The Outreach Foundation just returned from a visit to Kyiv (March 19-26). Tom Boone, Mark Mueller, and Victor Petrenko joined Piotr Nowak from Warsaw on this significant visit that we were unable to advertise for security reasons. We saw and heard the testimony of what the church is doing with the help of many donors and congregations through The Outreach Foundation.
We were hosted by Dr. Ivan Rusyn of the Ukraine Evangelical Theological Seminary. Today we share stories from visits with people we met in three villages surrounding Kyiv: Buccha, Irpin, and Borodyanka. Each bears testimony both to the ravages of war and the compassion of Christ being expressed through the church. Dr. Rusyn and his team have visited these towns many times.
We met Lucija and her children. Lucija should receive the “Molly Pitcher” award, an honor given by the U.S. Army to the strongest women in combat zones. Lucija and her family live in a neighborhood directly adjacent to a major airport north of Kyiv, the first target of Russian troops on February 24, 2022. Her words struck us: We didn’t know we were at war until we saw Russian soldiers in our neighborhood. Lucija, who lived through horrors at gunpoint, is the glue holding this neighborhood together and with her leadership, they are rebuilding while having bake sales to support the troops defending her land. Rather than leave, she stayed in order to show the Russians that they will not win. Budmo!
Her neighbors are Laryssa and Oleksander. On February 24, they were huddled in their basement when a Russian phosphorous bomb hit their home. The incinerating effect was immediate, that they survived was miraculous. Snow, ice, Russian troops, helicopters, rockets, and bullets were thick but they had to flee. Oleksander’s injury required a tourniquet. Wearing only flip-flops and the clothes they put on that morning, they carried their 90-year-old mother in a push cart eight miles through the snow to relative safety. The journey took two days with churches and people giving them warm clothes along the way. Now, brick-by-brick they are rebuilding their home, despite the reality that this could all happen again. Budmo!
Ivan has shared often that the once-maligned evangelical church is today making significant inroads among the general population through relief ministry and sharing about Jesus. Two of their leaders are Sergey, a small church pastor and graduate of the Ukraine Evangelical Theological Seminary, and his wife Erika. Twice a week they visit villages to serve hot meals for people who were too old to leave or are returning to bombed-out houses after months of being refugees. We heard from one couple who recently joined Sergey and Erika’s small church and are among 14 new believers, drawn to Jesus not by force but by compassion. They meet weekly for Bible study, Alpha course, prayer, worship, and cooking food for people. Budmo!
One woman, Anastacija, came to us and recited a poem from Emily Dickinson. The Russians did not kill my spirit, she said. Chechen troops terrorized this town early in the war and power was restored only three weeks ago. She is among many who have returned in order to rebuild the place that generations of families before them called home. She and her husband live in a bathroom closet, the only part of her home that remains. Budmo!
Ivan, our host, has spoken often of the mass grave discovered at St. Andrews Orthodox Church close to his apartment in Buccha. He was eager for us to visit this site and to meet Father Andrew, the pastor who Russians forced to bury 163 men, women, and children—some bound and tortured—in order to hide the evidence before retreating. We are on holy ground.
Father Andrew, who is Orthodox and a graduate of UETS, told us this somber story with pictures. Russians required residents to wear white armbands, reminiscent of World War 2. He showed us videos of bodies with these armbands throughout the city. This place was like a safari for the Russians. After the Russians retreated, Father Andrew and the mayor collaborated to exhume the bodies and bring in European Union officials to document the evidence for war crimes trials later. With Father Andrew, we whisper Budmo and pray for healing.
Rev. Dr. Tom Boone
Associate Director for Mission
THE OPPORTUNITY
Please continue to pray for all who are suffering greatly through this war. You may give HERE or by sending a check to our office.
We received videos of a drone/missile strike on March 27 from Dr. Ivan Rusyn and his wife, Luda.