[Asec] Bucha desolation; help for Ukrainian refugees in Prague and Warsaw

[Mark Elliott]

[image: image.png] [image: image.png]


April 3, 2022:

As Russian forces have retreated from Bucha, a northwest suburb of Kyiv,
reports and photos are now coming out that document at least 20 civilian
men killed execution style in the back of the head, their bodies lying in
the streets, some with their hands tied behind them. I am wondering if Dima
is among them, Dima the director of a Pentecostal alcohol rehab center I
met as part of a greenhouse project I helped organize for churches and
charities in Ukraine and Russia. Or did Dima and his wife and young
daughter escape the nightmare of Bucha to some safer part of Ukraine or the
West? I do not know, but Sergiy, the coordinator for my greenhouse project
in Ukraine, will venture into Bucha once it is safe to search for Dima and
his family or for word of them, hopefully a good word. Lord have mercy.

On my visit to Bucha several years ago I found it amusing that the water
tank (see above) for the greenhouse for Dima’s rehab center—in a converted
kindergarten building—was situated at the top of a former children’s
playground slide. But there is nothing amusing coming out of Bucha now,
just ghastly photos of death and destruction.



Sergiy and his wife Irina stayed in the basement of their home on the
outskirts of Kyiv throughout the shelling and bombing of the past month.
They are now involved in humanitarian work in Kyiv while 17 refugees from
Bucha and Irpin stay in their home.



I am so proud of former students of mine who are helping Ukrainian refugees
who have fled to the West. Missionary Greg Nichols was a grad student and
grad student worker  for my *East-West Church and Ministry Report* when I
taught at Wheaton College. He and his wife Deb have rented two airbnbs in
Prague that now house many Ukrainians displaced by the war.

Oleg Turlac was a student of mine in Moscow and a grad student and student
worker for me at Samford University. Missionaries Oleg Turlac and his
brother Vitali, Russian speaking Moldovans now living in the West, are
presently in Warsaw helping Ukrainians as they disembark from trains from
the east.

Oleg writes: “We meet the refugees at the train station in Warsaw, feed
them lunch, serve coffee, and direct them to the shelter or where they plan
to travel next by bus or by train. We provide them with small amounts of
cash needed for travel and purchase of the next 2-3 meals. Most refugees
are middle aged women with 2-3 children. We offer a listening ear and
provide Christian counseling….. L____ is in her 60s. She fled to Poland
because her native town in West Ukraine was bombed. L____ doesn’t speak
English or Polish, so meeting someone who could understand Ukrainian was a
comfort and relief to her. A cup of coffee, a kind and encouraging word,
and a prayer was all that she needed. We helped L____ get her train ticket
to continue her journey to stay with a friend in Germany. As we parted and
gave L____ a hug, she said, ‘Thank you, dear Oleg and Vitali. You were sent
by God to me.’”

A dear friend, a Russian Orthodox priest in the Moscow Region whom I have
known since the early 1990s, is horrified by the Russian war against
Ukraine. Here is his  prayer he dared post on social media:

“Help Ukrainians who defend themselves and others to stand.

Help Ukrainians who are weak and powerless to take refuge in safe
countries, to survive in bomb shelters and basements.

Help Ukrainians in the midst of shelling and fires to keep hope for life,
for truth, for victory.

 Help humanity to help Ukrainians, and last, please help me, too, not to go
crazy, not to seek comfort in hatred, but to seek comfort in You, Heavenly
Father, in Your Son the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.”

-- 
Dr. Mark R. Elliott, Editor Emeritus
East-West Church Report
Asbury University
One Macklem Dr.
Wilmore, KY 40390
859-858-2427
emark936 at gmail.com
www.eastwestreport.org
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