The immediate difficulty for all the refugees was where to live. Elisey called around and was able to secure a place for Rita and Alexey at Word of Life. This summer camp and Bible institute had been transformed into a refugee camp. Viola, Rita’s granddaughter, and her youth group had lived there for several weeks already. Now Rita and Alexey would move there temporarily. They ended up living at the camp for nine months. Rita said the camp was a good situation. They had a room, meals were provided, and they shared a bathroom and a toilet with others on the floor. Life was difficult, but all the people there were in the same situation. Having lost everything, and not being able to go back to their former lives, everyone wondered what the future would look like. They all had experienced trauma and shock, and it took time to regain some balance in life.
News from the conflict zone depressed her. In August 2014, they learned that their Baptist church, the one Alexey had built with his own hands, had been burned to the ground by the separatists. It was sad and traumatic news. Rita was unable to express her feelings; it was just too overwhelming to talk about it.
Their son-in-law, Pastor Elisey, described his emotions about the church burning in his book in this way: “It seemed to us that it just could not be true. The building had such beautiful architecture and a huge, bright sanctuary. The walls were painted with murals, and we had oak flooring; the furniture and sound equipment and the shining cupolas … did it really all burn down? It just couldn’t be true! Yet it was.”[6]
After nine months at Word of Life camp, Rita and Alexey rented a small apartment in the spring of 2015 in Brovary, outside Kyiv. She began working again in a beauty salon. They lived there for one and a half years. While living in Brovary, Rita went several times to Kyiv to visit her daughter Jana. She recalled that these visits were characterized by emotional dead weight and stupor. The visits were not enjoyable or memorable because Rita was so extremely homesick for life in Pervomaisk. She longed to go home to her city. Rita experienced loss and grief in all its depths. At night, she would lie down on her bed and feel frozen and stiff. There was no vibrant life left in her. She was looking back to the wonderful, peaceful life they had had in Pervomaisk where they owned a home, were part of a lively, healthy church, had many friends and enjoyed living close to most of their family. It was easy to walk to work through a nearby park. She had enjoyed her work at the salon. All of this was gone – a life left behind – never to be retrieved again.
The depression went to such depth that Rita could not think about or plan a new life. Thinking was simply impossible, she said. It was like there was a great blank sheet with nothing written on it about her future. Even though their current situation in the rented apartment was good, she could not see further than the next moment. She had grocery stores and health clinics in the neighborhood, she had one daughter nearby in Kyiv, and their apartment was warm and comfortable. They were safe and so was most of their family. God had truly provided for her and Alexey in every way, but Rita said, “My life had stopped.”
Then Oksana called them. Elisey and Oksana Pronin had by this time spent nine months in the US, had returned to Ukraine, and were living and working in L’viv. They invited Rita and Alexey to move to L’viv. The couple decided that this was the next step on their journey, and in November 2015 they made the move to Western Ukraine. When they arrived, the Pronin’s small group numbered about ten to fifteen people, all from Pervomaisk. It was a great reunion. Friends from back home fell into each other’s arms, cried and laughed together. It was the beginning of a new life.
Looking back, Rita remembers that her home in Pervomaisk had always been a place of rest, refreshment, community, and safety. Grandkids would play, and adult children would share life with their parents. To be without a home for so long had taken such an emotional toll on Rita, she could hardly describe it.
The first move, to Kyiv, was scary and necessitated by war. In their new location, they had to figure out how and where to get official documents and permits. She was at that time already eligible for retirement benefits, but she did not know what address she should even put on the government forms. Where they were living was temporary; where they would be living, she did not know. They had also applied to the government for humanitarian aid for refugees. Rita recalled that at their age, a forced relocation due to the traumas of war was a huge challenge in every way, physically, emotionally, mentally.
The second move, to L’viv, was by choice. They had the support of family, they could choose a place to rent, and life in L’viv began with encouragement, perspective, and hope. God had been faithful, leading Rita and Alexey on a path they would never have chosen, but on which they learned to trust Him even more and for everything.
Rita and Alexey are now a big part of the new church plant, Disciples Church. Their son-in-law is the new pastor, and their daughter Oksana hosts small groups, teaches a Ladies Bible Study, and serves alongside her husband. Rita said now, she would not return to Pervomaisk. She has a new life here, difficult as it was to start over several times. The Word of Life camp in Borispil, the small apartment in Brovary, and now their new apartment in L’viv are markers on her life journey. In all these places, she created a home, a nest, a place of refuge from the storm. She did experience great trauma and went through a deep depression. But now she no longer feels in a stupor. In fact, her ministry at Disciples Church is mainly focused on providing practical help to other refugees still arriving in the city. She oversees the humanitarian aid that Disciples Church provides and manages the donations coming in from Switzerland and other places. In her free time and just for fun, she cuts and colors hair for friends and family.
CHAPTER FOUR
Viola
Viola was born on May 14th in 2000 in the town of Pervomaisk. Viola’s grandpa was the pastor at the local Baptist church, her grandma Rita was his faithful helper as the pastor’s wife. Her parents and grandparents were a great example and influence in her life, said Viola. Her dad, Elisey, had been involved in serving at the church as long as she can recall. Before her dad became the senior pastor in 2007, he served as deacon and as youth pastor. Viola’s mom, Oksana, always sang in the church choir. Most of Viola’s life revolved around the church. Because she saw the clear example of her parents serving in the church, the desire to also serve God in and through the church began early in Viola’s life.
Viola had a cat named Simba while growing up. He was a multicolored cat and she loved him dearly. A small puppy kind of belonged to her household, too, but he lived more on the streets of Pervomaisk than at home. This dog, once fully grown, was eventually given to the church, to be a watch dog and protect the church grounds.
During the summer months, Viola enjoyed the camps her church organized for young people. Sometimes it would be a tent camping event, at other times camps would be held at a retreat center. Many young people from all over the region would come to these camps. Viola’s summers were completely focused on this ministry of the church. She was able to invite some of her friends from school to these camps. Viola reflected that these were the happiest times of her life.