In February 2022, Haven Church was approached by Samaritan’s Purse to help resettle Afghan immigrants in our community. A group of Haven Church members stepped up to the challenge. They pursued the task and eventually saw the doors closing on the Afghan situation. Soon however, God showed us His ultimate plan of helping the families involved in the crisis of Ukraine. In May 2022, we were finally introduced to our family! They are still living in Ukraine currently, but we pray that they will arrive here safely soon. We’ve secured an apartment for them and are still in the process of furnishing it. Can you help us finish their apartment for them? We encourage you to read about their story (below) and join us in praying for them!

Hello everyone! We are a family from Ukraine that Jordan wrote about. We would like to share with you our sad story about how we ended up in the epicenter of the war in the 21st century!

We live in the city of Kharkov, which is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, about 20 miles from the Russian-Ukrainian border. As you already know, our family consists of three people. In addition, we have close friends with whom we often spent time, going on picnics, going to enjoy nature, riding bicycles, doing other outdoor activities, setting an example for our children that "we need to move forward." Our son went to school, in the 2nd grade, attended sports and creative sections. My job with my husband was to help people defend their rights. At the beginning of 2022, we heard on the news from the US government about a possible Russian military invasion of our country, but no one could believe it, everyone continued to live as before.

February 24, 2022 was supposed to be an ordinary day for us, my son had to go to school, my husband and I had to do work, but Russia had other plans... At about 5 am on 02/24/2022 we woke up from powerful explosions outside the window, in the sky it was light as day from constant fiery flashes, then we realized that the war had begun ...

We immediately woke up the child and began to pack things in order to leave the city as quickly as possible. We knew that the border was near and the Russian tanks would be in the city in a very short time. Having collected the most valuable things and essentials, we went outside and began to load them into the car. There was hell on the street. Every few seconds there were powerful explosions of shells, explosions from rockets, automatic bursts. We have never heard or seen anything like this before, because we had a peaceful city. People ran down the street in a panic, not knowing what to do. Some, like us, loaded things into their cars, others stood near the houses watching what was happening, not believing that this was really happening, some just stood and prayed. When we drove to the exit from the city, there was a very large traffic jam along the way. Some people abandoned their cars and walked forward. Suddenly, shells began to explode not far from us. They hit cars, people, houses. Everything was burning nearby, there were a lot of wounded people in the blood, unfortunately there were many killed. It was like some kind of horror movie we were in.

Then we decided to get to the nearest bomb shelter in order to wait out active hostilities there. We turned off the road and drove to the nearest metro station. When we went down inside, there were a lot of people. Everyone was scared, some people were injured, they were given first aid. We spent all day and all night at the metro station. It was terribly cold there, there was nothing to eat, the water was technical, which could not be consumed. Small children cried because they wanted to eat or drink, people shared food and water with each other. They tried to reassure the children that everything would be over soon, although it was clear that this was not the case. We had to spend the night in the train car, which stood at the station with open doors. It was very cold at night and almost no one could sleep. We prayed to the Lord and asked for his help, asking that this war be over as soon as possible.

The next day we called our friends and decided to go to the house where they live, as there is a public bomb shelter in the basement. When we got there, we became aware that Russian troops in tanks began to enter Kharkov. There were fierce battles in the city, many people died and were injured. We spent the next few days in the bomb shelter, rarely going outside to get water and food. There were about 30-40 people with us there with children and pets. We had to spend the night on the concrete floor, and covered ourselves with our jackets. From above, plaster fell on us, the walls shook from the explosions that were heard nearby. We prayed to the Lord and asked for salvation for everyone.

After 3-4 days, we began to run out of food and water. All nearby shops were closed or looted by looters. During these few days, Russian troops almost surrounded Kharkov. Then we decided to urgently get out of the city, so as not to remain surrounded like people in Mariupol (they had neither water nor food) and die of hunger or dehydration.

Having loaded everything that was left, we hit the road. Driving through our native streets, we could not recognize them. Many houses were destroyed by artillery or burned down as a result of fires. There were practically no windows anywhere, they were knocked out as a result of explosions. By that time, there were practically no cars on the roads of the city, only damaged or burnt ones remained. Around there were a lot of burnt military equipment and dead bodies that just lay on the street. It was like a terrible dream that could never end. While we were passing the checkpoints of the Ukrainian military, which were located in the city, mines fell next to us, they hit residential buildings. Explosive cannonade and machine gun shots did not stop for almost a minute. Thanks to the Lord, after about an hour we managed to leave Kharkov without damage, and we headed to the western part of Ukraine, to the city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

The road took us 6 days (usually the road takes 12 hours), because there were a lot of people on the roads who also went to the west of Ukraine. There were gigantic traffic jams on the highways, tens of kilometers long. There was practically no fuel at gas stations, there were 100-150 cars in line at gas stations, it was necessary to stand in line for several hours in a row. When we finally got to our destination, we faced another problem as we had nowhere to live. All the apartments that were rented out were already occupied by other people, and those that remained were very expensive for us. We were sheltered by friends who allowed us to stay with them until autumn, while they themselves live in a summer house. Now we continue to live with them.

A few days ago we decided to return to Kharkov for some things. Now the Ukrainian army has moved the Russian army about 10 miles from Kharkov, so the artillery shelling of the city has become less frequent. When we returned home, we could not believe our eyes. The peaceful life we knew was no more. Almost the entire infrastructure is destroyed, there is a lot of damage around, and we took it very painfully. We realized that we will no longer have the life that we had before and we will have to start all over again.

In May 2022, we learned about the U4U program and decided to write a letter asking for help in finding a sponsor. By the will of the Lord, people from the SAMARITAN'S PURSE organization read our appeal, who agreed to help us. They introduced us to Jordan, a representative from Haven Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Jordan agreed to be our sponsor, help us move to the US and help us through the first months of our stay. We are immensely grateful to the Lord, SAMARITAN'S PURSE, Jordan and all representatives of Haven Church for their trust and opportunity. We understand that this program is designed for up to two years, but I am sure that during this time we will be able to "stand firmly on our feet" and start a new life away from war. The US government has not yet approved the i-134 form Jordan filed, but we continue to hope for the best.

We are currently located in the western part of Ukraine. We are relatively safe, but sometimes Russian missiles hit the city.

We really hope that with God's help we will be able to reach you and get to know each of you personally. I'm sure we'll get along. Thank you all, we really appreciate it. May the Lord bless you and protect you from war.

PS: My English is not very good, so I used an online translator. Sorry if this took too many words.

Please, if something is wrong, then let me know. We tried to write briefly, without missing anything important, so that people could understand what we felt and feel now.