Another influencing factor in considering L’viv for work and life was a conversation the Pronins had with Sasha Savich, pastor of a Baptist church in Lutsk at that time. Sasha translated at a family conference in Kyiv, interpreting for the American speakers. The Pronin family attended this conference in September 2014. Sasha took time to ask Elisey and Oksana some very important questions: What are you going to do? Where will you serve? Where will you live? Sasha knew that Slavik was looking for help at the Baptist seminary in L’viv. They should consider it as a possibility. Then, several months later while the family was living in Kansas, came the renewed invitation from Slavik to Elisey to work at UBTS. But Slavik made it clear, that Elisey was free to choose.
Oksana remembered how the children felt about leaving America and returning to Ukraine. She said with a laugh that Viola and David definitely did not want to leave Kansas. Viola cried and cried and even beseeched Pastor Dan to keep her in the US and to talk to her father about staying. At this point, Viola really liked her school, she had settled in well with new friends, and she liked everything American. David was very little when the family left Ukraine, and all he said from his limited memory was, “Everything in America is better.” Even though David was young, he picked up on the differences between the two countries, telling his mom that in America everything was cleaner, easier, and more comfortable than back home.
Reflecting back on the situation in the East, Oksana said that by this time they had no family or relatives remaining in the occupied zone. Initially, her parents had stayed in Pervomaisk with Elisey when the war broke out, but they left in due time. Elisey’s mom had evacuated with Oksana in July 2014, to escape the unrest and live at the refugee camp in Vinnytsia. Elisey’s father had stayed a little bit longer, but ultimately, he, too, had left for safety and freedom in non-occupied regions of Ukraine. The rest of their relatives had exited when Elisey organized the car convoys during the cease fire. So, no one stayed behind, but their lives were left behind forever.
Oksana explained her emotional processing, her feelings and thoughts about the whole situation at the end of the interview. She said that at the beginning of all the troubles, it was a time of great sadness and difficulty. It was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. It was truly traumatic, the hardest experience of her life. Eventually, through the weeks and months of the ever-increasing conflict, Oksana understood that she needed to embrace and use the new situation and make the best out of it. She had to say final and hard goodbyes – to her home and to her town, to everything that was familiar and known. She had to accept that her old life was to be left behind.
Prayerfully they made the decision to move back to Ukraine. Oksana said that when they arrived in L’viv in 2015, it was difficult for her at the beginning. Elisey began right away his work at UBTS, so he was gone the whole day. Oksana stayed at home with the children in a new, unfamiliar city. David and Viola should be going to school, but it was difficult to figure out when and where school would happen. She did not know where stores were in her new neighborhood, where to buy fresh produce, and how to do life in L’viv. She admitted to crying a lot and falling into a deep depression about her new life.
The Pronins also did not have many family members or friends around them at this point, as they were one of the first families to relocate to L’viv. Eventually, Anton and Ruslana, together with Olya Kiyan, arrived in L’viv, following the invitation of the Pronin family for a new life in Western Ukraine. (Olya’s and Ruslana’s stories follow in chapters four and five of Lives Left Behind.) After a while, other friends, Sergey and his wife Valery, arrived with their family. Elisey advocated for many of these folks with Slavik at the seminary, to give them work, so that they all could start a new life and support themselves.
Elisey and Oksana began hosting a small group for Bible study and prayer in their home in the fall of 2015. The participants were all refugees from Pervomaisk. The group was very small, but the bond of shared experiences that tied them together was strong. Everybody was in the same situation, trying to build a new life in L’viv after having lost everything in the East. It took close to a year to adapt to this new city, this new life, this new situation. The idea was eventually born to start a new church here in L’viv; this would be a second wing of ministry for Elisey, in addition to his seminary work. A key factor for the church plant would be to provide humanitarian aid to the many refugees arriving in L’viv. The strategy was to provide substantial humanitarian packages to these people and build relationships, inviting them to the small group, with the idea that the small group would eventually become a church.
The plan worked. Many people thankfully accepted the humanitarian goods provided by the ministry of Elisey’s small group. Attendance at the Bible study rose to such a level that a meeting room had to be found to host the gathering. Elisey approached Slavik and “rented” the UBTS library for Sunday afternoon church services. Initially the meeting was still structured like a small group setting, sitting around a table, drinking tea, sharing life, studying the Bible, Elisey giving a short sermon, everyone then sharing prayer requests.
But as the group grew, Elisey organized the assembly into a more formal congregation, having a praise and worship band leading through the service, technology supporting the music and the life of the church through announcements and videos, and guest speakers becoming part of the preaching rotation. Oksana said that this formation of what is now called Disciples Church is one of the greatest blessings of the entire experience.
Back in Pervomaisk, she reflected, there were about 300 people at the church. When Elisey joined the pastoral staff, ministries and working teams were already in place, many people came regularly, the church functioned well, and was known in the community. But to start something new, a new church plant, was an opportunity to see God at work in new ways, Oksana said.
In this new endeavor, a financial budget had to be drawn up, leaders had to be trained, the course for church membership had to be developed, teams for different aspects of ministry had to be formed. Even though Oksana could not quite envision this small group becoming a church, God had big, amazing plans. God was doing something far beyond anything they could have imagined (Ephesians 3:20). And now there is a new church in L’viv, called Disciples Church. About eighty people currently attend on any Sunday and Elisey has a team of pastors and deacons serving with him. Oksana is a wonderful, godly woman. She manages her home and household well, and is helping her husband, ministering together at Disciples Church.
A final blessing that Oksana mentioned was their new apartment. To avoid paying rent for the next years, they were able to borrow money and they bought a small, two-room place in a new neighborhood of L’viv. They now pay back installments like rent, but with the result of having their own place in the city center.
Viola and David share one room, Oksana hosts the ladies Bible study group on Wednesdays in her kitchen, and they meet many of their neighbors on the playground and the adjoining soccer field in an effort to get to know the lost around them. Oksana said, yes, it is a very small apartment for the four of them, plus a bunny and a cat (and occasionally kittens!), but it is their own place; that makes it special.
After having lost everything due to the war, to now own a place in L’viv feels like a miracle. “I saw God blessing us and meeting our needs in amazing ways,” Oksana said. Viola is now attending college in L’viv and David is attending the local elementary school. “I cannot imagine how God would have worked in our lives had we stayed in America, but I see His blessings on our life here and now – and I am thankful. God loves us and He blesses obedience. Of that I am sure,” she added. She said that she feels calm and peaceful now, her heart is at rest, she is not depressed or worried or anxious anymore. She feels well, she said, because God gave her calmness and inner peace.