Ukraine Update from Medical Team: March 29, 2022 -

The team is travel-weary, but good. They got on the ground in Budapest and loaded into a van for the 5-hour drive across the border into Ukraine. Dr. Sherry said the van they are using had been used for an orphanage before all the children were evacuated to Germany. She said she couldn’t help but think of the children and wonder if they would return to Ukraine or be adopted in Germany and how confused they must be. There was no indication of war when they first crossed the border; however, the Michiganders on the team felt right at home with snow covering the ground. The van stopped in Uzhorrod which is the home base for One Collective (the host ministry) and the host missionary, Doug. One Collective currently has 434 refugees under their care. The team ate a late lunch then got back on the road to pick up a doctor (who will be one of their translators) before traveling to Lviv to retrieve Doug who has been responding to needs in the city. The doctor-translator spoke of Samaritan’s Purse which continues to be operational but has moved their entire hospital facility below ground for safety. As the team traveled on from Lviv toward Rivne, the view through the van windows progressively revealed evidence and images indicative of war, but the outside air was quiet. There were soldier blockades as to deter tanks from entering and sandbags piled in stacks on top of one another as you might see in a flood except there was a central opening through which weapons could be fired. The further they traveled, the less they saw human activity, but it was just after midnight by that point-in-time. One soldier post thought our team members were fleeing refugees which I think means their weariness was showing a little. After all, team members had been traveling a minimum of 36 straight hours by the time they reached Rivne where lady team members were housed in rooms in one apartment building and the gentlemen taken to a separate apartment building. Tomorrow the team will begin checking hospitals.

Doc Sherry’s prayer requests: Safe, effective ministry opportunities after a good night sleep for each team member.