News from Ukraine April 10, 2023

April 10 ( Day 411)

Dear brothers and sister,

Christ has risen! It’ wonderful to proclaim this news again and again. We rejoice with the churches who celebrated yesterday and prepare to celebrate this holiday this weekend.

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday we had a call from emergency service, they told that one of the military unit needs a help of psychologists, there was an attempt of suicide. Tanya and I were at the group meeting, we were finishing the meeting and were ready to have dinner with the refugees. Sergey came and to help with the dinner so that Tanya and I could go. The emergency service worker drove us to the place where the military unit is located now. It’s outside our town, we had to drive for a while.

The commander (his name is Grigoriy) met us there and as we talked I was surprised how concerned he was about a young soldier, like a father. Not to leave him alone, he spent with him all night, talking and trying to calm him down.

Then we met the soldier, his mane is Alex, first we talked to him together with his commander and the Baptist pastor who came to visit him and then we met with him alone.

This young man is 24, his parents divorced when he was 3. He lived with his father who was an alcoholic. His grandmother is the dearest person for him. His father didn’t spend much time with him and Alex missed it but his granny gave him much love and care. He has been in the army for several month already and together with other soldiers they are going through serious training. He knows that very soon they will go fighting and the thought of it causes much anxiety in him. He watches other soldiers who seem strong and in a good mood and he is afraid to show them his weakness. Few days ago his girlfriend wrote him a message that she will not date him any more because she met another guy. The combination of all circumstances led him into a deep depression.

As he was telling about his grandmother, Tanya asked about the food she used to cook. He began to describe his favorite dishes, how they looked, smelled and tasted and it helped to switch him to something positive, another good memory that brings him happy feeling is the sight of blooming trees in his home garden. After dwelling a little bit in these positive memories he began to cry and we told him that it was OK, it’s normal to show emotions. Then we found out that right before he joined the army he started to attend Baptist church. It was nice to hear, we read some Scripture with him and prayed.

I called Grigoriy, the cammander, yesterday and he told me that Alex was doing much better, he was following our advice to do physical exercises, he started writing a journal and he talks to other soldiers (before he was withdrawn from others) As I talked to Grigoriy, he asked for some materials that can help him to deal with the soldiers when they show the signs of PTSD. I connected him with our counselor George and we are collecting some books and video resourced for him. Tanya is busy with other clients, so I will go with Sergey to visit this military unit today, I will have a meeting with Alex and will talk to Grigoryi about how else we can help them. We know that they will not stay here long, very soon they will move to the east.

Please, pray for Alex, his emotional and spiritual state, pray for Grigoriy and other commenders.

And there is one prayer request about a little girl, a granddaughter of our counselor George. She was born two weeks ago and got seriously sick with pneumonia and is in hospital now.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

In Christ,
Lyuda