Yesterday I received heart wrenching news from a friend whose church is in Donetsk. A piece of shrapnel killed one of their church members right in her own yard! This is the brutal truth of the supposed ceasefire in Ukraine.
People are still dying!
Officially the war has killed around 3,000 people, unofficially I’m sure the number is much higher!
When we quantify deaths with numbers and percentages they bear little weight on our conscience and on our heart. But when you have a connection, you begin to understand the overwhelming pain inflicted upon families, communities, and churches by just one death!
This young girl was also killed by shelling recently in Donetsk | Photo: Dan Malmqvist/NyaTider
Here’s what my friend wrote.
“I just found out that yesterday during the shootout at the Donetsk airport a lady who went to our church was killed, her name was Ludmila Prokofyevna. This is the first person to die in this war, whom I personally knew well. (I hope it’s the last). She was about 70 years old. When the shooting started she couldn’t get to cover in time, a piece of shrapnel hit her and she died right in her own yard! It’s sad… Although she died tragically I remember that she was always very lively and joyful. She loved to tell people about God. Because of her a few dozen people put their faith in God. And such is the end… However, I don’t believe it is the end! I believe she is in heaven now with God and it’s uncomparably better for her there.
P.S. May the Lord protect our friends and relatives in this lawless republic!”
- Pray this weekend for the family of this woman who was killed!
- Pray for the suffering churches that remain in these regions!
- Pray for peace in Ukraine!
- Share this with your church and ask them to pray too!
Our team of missionaries is actively working to aid churches and citizens in Donetsk and Lughansk regions.
Maureen Ray
September 14, 2014It makes me angry really that this country is being used in a power struggle between two superpowers. I am rather tired of hearing on our TV that it is all the fault of Russia. It is clearly not! Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko do not represent the wishes of many Ukrainians, particularly those in the East with their aggressive desire to make Ukraine an EU and NATO member. The country should have been divided along ethnic lines as was Czechoslavkia some 20 years ago. Our stupid Prime Minister Tony Abbott wants to get involved in the Ukrainian conflict by taking sides with Poroshenko but this is not surprising considering he would want to get our country involved in some war anywhere, anyhow, anytime because he is a warmongering nasty little man who when the US says jump he says how high.
Caleb
September 14, 2014Maureen, it’s impossible to divide Ukraine along ethnic lines and it would cause many, many more problems than good. Ukraine has always been a multi-ethnic and multi-language country, like many other countries in the world.
Maureen Ray
September 15, 2014Should not the wishes of Eastern Russian centred Ukrainians be respected? Instead of being forcefully drafted into a pro Western/US sphere? After all, not everybody in Ukraine wants to be a part of the EU and NATO. Pro-Russian Ukrainians did not deserve to have their houses smashed to pieces by a Western backed Ukrainian Army. Surely since Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia have been successfully divided along ethnic lines despite minorities, eg Serbs living in Croatia, why can’t Ukraine? It is a terrible thing to me, and causes me great grief, to see the bodies of Ukrainians the West claim to love, killed by the Poroshenko Government. Do you believe that all we are seeing in the world today is prophecy in action? The most comforting hope we have, is that we live in a day, where prophecies have all been fulfilled as to the Parousia or Rapture of the Church Saints. This could occur at any time. It is therefore such a vital task to see many hearts quickened to the Gospel message for the time is short. I pray that your beloved elderly friend who lay dead and bloodied in the dirt, protected only by the branches of a tree knew Jesus as her Saviour. May the Lord provide wings to your feet and Jesus with hands extended to all who have never known Him, in that suffering and broken country.
DS
September 15, 2014Caleb has done, and continues to do what is difficult: sharing real stories of the impact of the war in Ukraine, while also advocating for people to petition God for what is really needed.
Thanks Caleb for being willing to share the only message that matters, even during a time of great suffering for countless people, in an unimaginable situation.
It’s obvious your work is not for your glory.
Maureen Ray
September 16, 2014I do thank you for your comment and I am very so very aware of God’s direction for Caleb’s life. I could not possibly consider that Caleb holds to any other belief than that his place there, is anything other than for Jesus. Our daily prayers are primarily for Caleb and Christina and their children’s safety. We have just heard on our TV this:- “Ukraine has offered the East three years of limited self rule!” BUT this has answered my prayers in two ways 1. What was I going to say to you? And then, the TV gave me an answer to my question to Caleb and to my prayers – Praise God! Then I felt sad that you felt you had to protect Caleb. I engage here because I am particularly interested in political science in which my husband is a able teacher and 2. Because I pray for Caleb’s dangerous situation and because I care about him. So I am most sad, and sorry too, that my thoughts and our discussions have caused Caleb, or you, some degree of hurt for this has not been my intention at all for I enjoy thinking and engaging in conversation about a subject which involved prayer requests. May the Lord bless you and Caleb too as you seek every day to obey the Lord’s direction for your lives.
DS
September 16, 2014No protection. Purely commending him for his work in a situation with no winners.
TCAvey
September 15, 2014You’re right, it’s easy to see numbers and not relate them to people. When we know someone, it becomes more real. I don’t understand why all this is happening, but I trust in the God who does.
Caleb
September 16, 2014There’s no easy or simple answers here, which rightly makes us turn to God in simple trust, knowing that somehow he will bring an end to this suffering.
TCAvey
September 17, 2014Yes He will!
floyd
September 15, 2014Heart breaking. Hard to fathom… I’m praying for Ludmila’s family and the church as well as the country. May God send the peacemakers.
Caleb
September 16, 2014Peacemakers is exactly what we need! Thanks Floyd!
Betty Draper
September 16, 2014Caleb, this just makes me pray for you guys more. Thank you for writing this Caleb, you have put the personal in this war for me. You and Zee who lives there. One thing I pray for is that this war will open doors for you and other believers to share the love of Christ. Knowing this all could get worst He is the only real peace that last.