As we are preparing to depart for another mission trip, these passages spoke to me deeply this morning. 🙏

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:3-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In less than two weeks I’ll be traveling with a group of dear friends to Hungary to help the Markey family – an American pastor and his wife who have been serving in Ukraine for many years. After the start of the war, they had to flee their home in Kyiv with their 6 sons. They now live in Budapest and are instrumental in taking care of the one million Ukrainian refugees living all over Hungary. For a long week, we will travel with them to different cities, distribute aid, play games with the kids, hold arts and crafts sessions for the adults (most of them are ladies), sing hymns, give them Gospel tracts, and share Christ with them (via Google translate).

FROM SHARON MARKEY: My 12-year-old son Peter spent much of the last 5 days writing this song, recording it, and making this music video. In all these months, he’s hardly talked about his feelings, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to help him process all that has happened. He’s found his way.

Lyrics
“I Miss Ukraine”
Verse 1:
I never thought that I’d leave Ukraine,
But now I’ve been gone such a long, long time.
Sometimes I can’t stand the pain,
But sometimes I feel just fine.

Chorus:
It makes me sad—why did everything change?
But I’ll fight my tears and hide the pain.
It breaks my heart—why can’t I be at home?
But I’ll push right through it, even when I’m alone.

Verse 2:
Now it has been almost one year,
Since the last time I saw my best friend,
Every day I wish he could be here,
Will we have a happy end?

Chorus:

Verse 3:
I hope and pray that Ukraine will win.
I believe that the tide will turn.
When it’s over Ukraine will rise again,
And then all her children can return!

Chorus 2:
It makes me sad—this is not what I want,
But I trust God, if I go home or not.
It breaks my heart—why can’t we all be free?
But I know God knows what’s best for me.

We are preparing for a four-week-long mission trip!
We will go to Hungary, Switzerland, and Ukraine. We will
– spread gospel tracts in 4 languages
– work in a full-time, week-long Bible camp with Hungarian and Ukrainian kids
– run a small Bible camp ourselves over the border in Ukraine for misplaced children
– serve food and clean rooms for refugees with a group of dear friends from Pittsburgh
– meet with new churches and ministries to discuss how we can work together
– and visit and encourage other missionary friends.
What a blessing to get the opportunity for all this!!!

Our tracts are being spread already in the countries colored green. We are now working on getting them to churches and organizations in those we colored yellow. The Lord called us to reach every European country with His truth and love written into tracts in their own native language. Thank you for helping us with this work! If you aren’t on our team yet, please pray about joining this incredible opportunity to reach masses of people for Christ.

 … and a totally different thing to hear it from someone who is living in the middle of it. Last week we spoke to a Hungarian pastor living and serving in the Hungarian-speaking area of Ukraine. He said that in the last two months their town’s population more than doubled with the many refugees who came from the war-torn areas of the country. They managed to provide them with food and shelter and are helping them in every way they can. Many of them are in shock and depression. Not only women but men and children have been raped by Russian soldiers and had to watch their family members going through the same abuse if not killed. The church was able to organize visits by groups of international doctors who came and tried to help them. Since then, those who have relatives in peaceful areas have left. Those who stayed with the church are the ones who have no one and nothing left and nowhere to go. They are the poorest and most desperate. 

We are planning to visit them, take them a few things the pastor said they would be happy for, and will run a little Soccer- Crafts-Bible camp for the kids. If you could help us with any small items in this Amazon Wish List, please do so. We are leaving before mid-June. Thank you!
UPDATE: We are grateful. We received everything on our wishlist. Thank you!