Sveta met me in L’viv on February 19, to head to our home in Mykolaiv.
On the way, we visited our MUCH massage therapist in Sambir. After ten years as a massage therapist at the Dobromel Orphanage, Natasha wanted to expand the reach of her passion. We visited her clinic in Sambir, and saw first hand what she has done, soup to nuts, in the past four years. In that time she also has become an acupuncturist. She gave me a treatment that had amazing results.
We moved on to visit Eugene and his family in central Ukraine. They used to be our neighbor in Mykolaiv. His wife had her third child hours before the day that we arrive. Sveta and I had the opportunity to share how God has been guiding, and working through me/us the past 20/12 years respectivley. It has been a big team effort, including sponors, prayer and financial partners, our Board of Directors, and all of our team in Ukraine.
Sveta had visited our house in Mykolaiv twice in the past year-and-a-half. I had not. When I stepped into the house, it was as if I had never left. The past two years in Poland seemed as a dream. But of course, they were not. Many things were accomplished through MUCH via the communications network that Sveta had developed over her lifetime in Mykolaiv. Bank transfers were the key to getting money where it was needed. The “how to” answers were waiting for us to put into practice.
Back in Ukraine, I realize that the time Sveta and I were in Poland was a healing time. We were removed from our environment of “normal”, we had a fresh start, mentally and physically. It will soon be time to shift the mission into high gear with. The Russian Army continues to bomb communities now and then less than fifty six miles from our home. Sometimes, they hitting our city, just for practice. Now we have a better understanding of what to expect from this insaine war. We are better prepared, whether we loose everything, or may keep it all and help others who have lost everything.
Thank all of your who have believed in us these past two years as we operated MUCH from a safe location in Poland. In one of our interviews in the first days of the war, we were asked what we were intending to do. I said that we would stay and help rebuild Ukraine. We are here to do that very thing. Will you help us? Will you help us rebuild the portions that God gives us to rebuild, bringing life and hope to the people in need?
Mark and Sveta
