Lena lived in Zaporizhzhia for two years, working at the humanitarian center. She and her family were some of the first refugees to arrive in the region; many others followed over the next few years. The city was often the first stop for many refugees. At the center, many people needed practical help, such as medical assistance, food, finances, and clothing. They sought advice from the counselors and tried to find a new direction for their lives. Lena would daily work from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and roughly 700 people would go through the center daily. The center did many projects, as well, undergirded by the American organization Caritas. Lena eventually started working by contract directly for Caritas, and her income increased.
Lena remembered that the refugees had many baffling questions: What was going on? When could they return home? Where would they live temporarily? Where should they go next? Many were greatly distressed emotionally. The center provided great quantities of food, clothing, shoes; its staff also shared the gospel with the desperate people and organized Bible studies for them.
Lena was part of a volunteer group from the center, which took supplies to the war zone in the Lugansk region. On one of these trips, she was about five miles from her home, and she could see her town in the distance; this is the closest she ever came to being home again. Her family has never returned to their town or the neighboring city of Pervomaisk, she said with a sigh.
A core group of refugees met for daily worship. A small Baptist church existed in Zaporizhzhia already, and Lena started serving in the church. She sang in the choir, helped with the youth group, got to know the other young people, and enjoyed the fellowship. Lena said for young people these traumatic times were a little easier to handle than for the older generation. In many cases, parents and grandparents had built their homes themselves, had invested all their energy – and often, all their money – into their houses; their lives were tied up in the East.
The younger generation made the best out of the crisis. Lena began to enjoy Zaporizhzhia. She made new friends, became part of a church and a youth group again, and was actually glad to live in a bigger city with more choices and opportunities than her small town of Marinka offered. This new place was becoming home. After Lena had lived in Zaporizhzhia for one year, her sister Vika finally moved there, as well, having finished her bachelor’s degree in Kharkov. Lena’s brother Vova was still in America, now studying at an American high school. Vika still needed to travel occasionally to Kharkov for master’s degree classes, but Lena was happy at this point, having her dear sister living with them again. Another year passed – Lena spent all of 2015 in Zaporizhzhia.
Then Lena’s dad contemplated moving the family to Poland. Igor lived in Poland for two months, feeling out the situation, seeing if he could find work. He wanted a stable life for his family. The “Polish option” did not pan out. Lena’s dad left Poland and stopped in L’viv on his return trip, having received an invitation from Elisey Pronin to see him. Elisey had, by this time, returned from the US and had moved his family to L’viv in the summer of 2015. He worked at UBTS. Igor and Elisey knew each other well, having been pastors in neighboring towns in the East. Elisey invited Igor to move to L’viv and work with him in the start of a new church.
When Lena’s dad returned home, he told the family that they would be moving to L’viv. Lena’s response was less than enthusiastic. She did not want to leave the familiar and comfortable life that they had built over the last two years. Lena said she had everything she could wish for: many friends, a nice apartment, a good church, a worship team, a good job. The thought of leaving all she had in Zaporizhzhia, to move to L’viv where she had no friends, no church, and no work, was unthinkable. For the longest time, she and Vika would cry and beg their dad not to move the family to L’viv. To leave Zaporizhzhia was the most difficult decision to make, said Lena, considering all they would lose – again.
Igor did not really want to move without his girls; leaving them behind was not an option for him. He told his daughters, that they did not have to move, but that it was the will of God for their family to go to L’viv, and they should really follow God’s leading. Lena said she had a choice and, at the same time, did not have a choice.
Lena’s dad left to find an apartment for the family in L’viv. He told Lena and Vika that they needed to let him know soon about their decision; it would influence the size of the apartment he would try to rent. Friends had told them it was generally difficult to find an apartment in L’viv; it could take months of searching. However, Lena’s dad found a big apartment for the family within a week of his arrival in L’viv; the rent per month was surprisingly low. Igor called home and told the family the news. This call caused many tears, because now Lena and Vika knew that they had to move to L’viv. They were very upset for a long time. But Lena and her sister did understand and accept that this path was God’s way of leading the family; L’viv would be okay.
Lena well remembered that her thoughts were reasonable, but her emotions were in rebellion against these plans. She was not willing to leave friends, jobs, church, and youth group. Lena did not want to start a new life somewhere again, having had this experience of resettling already in Kharkov and in Zaporizhzhia. She prayed to God for a way out, a way for her to stay in Zaporizhzhia. Her current employer even offered her higher wages and said he would pay for her rent, so she could stay.
But Lena and Vika moved and joined their parents in L’viv in September 2016. Lena remembered arriving at the main train station and meeting her parents. For a whole week, all Lena could do was cry. She was so unhappy about the move to L’viv. The weather was terrible, foggy, rainy and nasty. She felt very unwelcome in L’viv. When she saw the apartment for the first time, she shuddered, as it was full of old furniture. She sighed, “O God, why am I here?” The first three months in L’viv were very difficult for Lena. She could not see any future for her in this city. She felt depressed and questioned God’s wisdom and her parents’ decision. She could not find work and would sit at home for hours, just staring out the window, crying. Emotionally and physically, she was depleted, lacking energy for even the smallest chores.
It continued to rain a lot in L’viv that fall, which deepened her depressive mood even further. She was trying to figure out what had happened with her life and what she was supposed to do with it now. Lena said she asked herself: What should I do? Where should I work? Why even study? For what purpose? She was experiencing real depression. She was still trying to cope with all the trauma and loss over the last few years by looking at some old photographs and old letters, remembering the better times of a previous life. Lena was unwilling to start over again in L’viv; she lingered in the past with the memories of her old life.
Lena went with her family to the Baptist seminary, UBTS, where a small group of believers was meeting for Bible study under Elisey’s leadership. This small assembly could become a church plant with a Sunday worship service, Elisey imagined. Elisey also told Lena and her family that he would like to see a youth group or youth ministry being started out of the Bible study. Initially the group was called Project Disciples. The plans for renting space, forming teams, starting a praise and worship band were discussed at this time. Pretty soon, Lena and Vika began to serve in the church plant, singing for worship, engaging young people. Serving actually helped Lena get out of her depression, because her focus moved outward, toward meeting others’ needs, rather than constantly focusing inward, concentrating on her own suffering.