Ukraine (MNN) — For one Ukrainian soldier named Pavlo, separation from his wife and son is worse than the danger of the front lines.
“That’s the deepest pain I experience,” he said. “Every time I go to the front, I realize it might be my last. I record a goodbye video then delete it. And do it again. Every time.”
One Washington D.C.-based think tank has estimated that nearly 1 million Russian soldiers have been wounded or killed in the Russia-Ukraine war. It estimated that Ukraine has seen nearly 400,000 wounded or killed.
(Photo courtesy of Julia Kadel via Unsplash)
Pavlo’s story is tucked within two other stories like a matryoshka or nesting doll, says Eric Mock with the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA).
The first story surrounding Pavlo is that of Angela and Val.
Angela was born in the US, but her husband, Val, is a missionary chaplain supported by SGA. She regularly says goodbye to him as he goes out to minister to men on the frontlines.
“Her family appeals to her often to please, come home where it is safe and secure,” says Mock. “She responds that her ministry is there with her husband, and her husband is following the calling to minister there.”
Angela wrote Pavlo’s story after Val sat with him for hours. She then sent it to Kristi Mock, who is part of the next layer surrounding Pavlo: the SGA storytelling network.
“They tell stories that defy the imagination,” Mock says of the few ordinary people who gather news of God at work in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Israel and other countries.
Kristi Mock also knows what it’s like to send family into dangerous zones. Mock travels to visit partners across the Slavic-speaking world. Some of them live in active conflict zones like Ukraine.
Chaplain Praying and Preaching with Soldiers (photo courtesy of SGA)
“While I’m away, she prays for me. She cares for family,” said Mock. “There’s a certain amount of trepidation and fear because she’s sending me away to countries [experiencing conflict].”
From Val to Angela to Kristi, Pavlo had simple words to share with civilians: “Live. Do everything you can to stay alive. The dead can’t change anything. The dead can’t speak.”
Mock says, “He [told] Val that, in the military, even tanks are more valuable than men. It’s difficult to replace a tank or a high-tech weapon, but it seems like it’s less difficult to just put another man into the trenches. There, it seems that the value of life is lessened.”
But Pavlo has experienced something else now: the value of his own life honored by an ordinary chaplain.
“I’d never met a chaplain before,” Pavlo said to Val. “But I came to you with so many questions. I talked for three hours straight, and you just listened. That silence — it surprised me. But later, back in my room, I realized I felt lighter. I don’t know what it is, but something draws me back.”
Pray for Pavlo and men like him caught in the war, that they will come to know the value God places on their lives.
In writing Pavlo’s story, Angela said, “Christ doesn’t promise fairness. He doesn’t promise we’ll recover everything we’ve lost. But He offers something no system, no army, no nation ever can: soul-deep healing and the assurance that our value is not based on what we do or what we carry — but on His love for us.”
More stories come in every week from SGA. Find them at sga.org.
Header photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association.
