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Polina’s escape from Mariupol to Ellel Hungary


Before the war started God prompted us to stockpile food, water, candles and matches. On February 24 the war started and we needed to find a bomb shelter. We found a basement in a school building which was used to store coal. It was damp, cold and dark but we quickly made it livable.

There were twelve of us Christians, then twenty other people joined us and we ministered to them continuously. We conducted services, sang psalms, prayed for people, comforted them and gave them food. God constantly provided for our needs. We had no bread so we made pancakes from cooked pasta. It was delicious. Every day we saw the glory of God and His miracles. The gifts of the Holy Spirit worked through us healing souls, wounds and pain. EVERY DAY!

The gifts of the Holy Spirit worked through us healing souls, wounds and pain

Escaping the War

We trusted the Lord in everything and when He told us to leave the school basement and go to the basement of our church building, we obeyed without delay. All the people who stayed with us in the school basement also followed us to the church. Later we found out that the entrance to the school basement was hit by a bomb. I can’t describe how much destruction we saw: there was so much fear, despair, grief and death. We saw dead bodies laying on the roads, in the yards and no one buried them.

. . . there was so much fear, despair, grief and death.

When they started to bomb our district, we realized that we had to leave. It took us two days to evacuate all thirty-two people with just one car under shelling and bombing. We spent 28 days under siege and it felt like an eternity to us: anarchy, looting, chaos, cold, no food, no water, no electricity, no gas, no internet, no telephone connection and so many dead! But we, our families and our church members survived! The Lords was with us!

Comforted by the Holy Spirit

I know our Ellel family prayed for us and our church. We survived thanks to your prayers! Your loving hearts have embraced us and surrounded us with care. You have welcomed us to Úr Rétje (Ellel Hungary), which is such a beautiful and peaceful place, so that we could get healed in spirit, soul and body.

We thank you as true servants of God! We saw Jesus in you! You clothed and fed us and provided for all our needs. You gave us your warmth and beautiful smiles! We were so touched by your kindness and ability to serve people. Thank you so very much! We also want to thank the cook, Laci, who treated us with delicious Hungarian food! We will always remember the little house by the lake in Úr Rétje, which became our home for a while.

Here we were able to cry, pour out our hearts and let go

Here we were able to cry, pour out our hearts and let go of our houses, property, our cats, flowers in pots and everything that we loved so much, especially our beloved city of Mariupol. The Holy Spirit comforted us so much and gave us the strength to move on. We are heading to Germany, where the Lord is preparing a new destiny for us. But there is still hope that one day we will return to Mariupol!

With love and gratitude,

Sister Polina


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