By Mina Podgaisky, CBF field personnel
Since we moved to Kraków, Poland, we knew that we would be hosting Ukrainian refugees at our home. What we did not anticipate was that every week we would have two to four Ukrainians stopping by our house for one to four days. Some Ukrainians are going to other European countries and stopping with us in Kraków because it is a convenient stopping point on their journey. Other Ukrainians are coming to apply for visas and have to wait a few days to get their visas in their passports. Some Ukrainians are on their way back home to Ukraine after living in Europe or the U.S. for some months or years. It is not easy to live in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and know very few to no people around. However, there is a group of Ukrainians who are asking us to host them so they can come solely to sleep. They want to be able to sleep through the night without hearing air-raid sirens and being afraid of being hit by a rocket or a drone while they sleep. We are familiar with not being able to sleep for days in a row. When we returned to Ukraine in the Fall of 2023, there were many nights when we could not sleep in our beds, we had to go to the cellar in our house because of the air raid alarms. We tried to sleep while sitting down to no avail.
One of the families that we were able to serve is the Kulbich family. Sasha is the pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church in Bucha, Ukraine. He, his wife Natasha and their daughter Dasha were able to stay with us for several days. We pampered them, loved on them, fed them, listened to their stories of pain and frustration, helped them process, gave them some rest and respite so that they could return strengthened for what lies ahead in a war-torn city and country. The Lord has comforted us, and now we can comfort others when they are troubled.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” 2 Cor. 1: 3 + 4.