Pray For Our Ukrainian Brothers and Sisters

[Amygdala]

I don't have Telegram, but that's great that there are some encouraging experiences out there. 💛

[Sofia]

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/ukraine/Brothers-Courageously-Deliver-Aid-Rescue-Others-in-Ukrainian-War-Zone/

 

What a courage! ❤️ 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Sofia

[Sofia]

Jehovah is far more effective than UN who persistently asks for humanitarian corridors ... Jehovah´s way is the best!

[GeordieGirl]

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/ukraine/Brothers-Courageously-Deliver-Aid-Rescue-Others-in-Ukrainian-War-Zone/

 

So much courage and wise direction from our wonderful God, Jehovah. 
 

Vasyl, his wife, Natalia, and their three children huddled for several days in the basement of their house. On February 29, 2022, a bomb exploded near the house as they took shelter. The shock wave destroyed their home. Vasyl remembers hearing the explosion’s deafening sound and seeing all of the lights in the basement going out.

 

I wondered about the date in this paragraph and I checked the Ukraine calendar and they changed to the Gregorian calendar, the same as ours, in 2017 but the Julian calendar also has only 28 days in February this year, so I think the brothers must mean March 1st? Or maybe a typo and it was Feb 28.

I know that in the bigger scheme of things it is irrelevant but I was curious.  It is very unusual for the brothers to make a mistake.

[Chris7]

From a reliable person but cannot verify: 

Message from Ukraine:

Hello Arturo and Gloria. my husband and I are fine. my parents and sister live 100 km from Kyiv. it's quiet there now, but there are air raid alerts from time to time. Here is one case that the sister sent today. Take heart and you: A case from the Zaporozhye region.

 

 My fellow believers and I decided to leave the occupied territory; there were 4 cars of Witnesses in the column. The road was very difficult, in our car there was me with an 11 year old child, a sister with sons 24 and 12 years old. There were about 30 checkpoints along the way, and at the last one, the cars of fellow believers were let through, but we were not, because cross-fire began, under which we stood for 3 hours.

 It was very scary, we prayed incessantly, but at some point in our minds each of us said goodbye to life. When it began to get dark, and heavy artillery went into action, the military turned our column around and sent us to some small, remote village. On the way there, terrible explosions were heard, and the sister recited Psalm 23 aloud from memory, and this calmed us.

 The village where we arrived was half empty, many houses were abandoned or closed due to shelling, people did not go outside and did not turn on the lights in the houses. Our column drove through the whole village and stopped at the very last street.

 Two local residents, seeing the situation, went out and began to resettle women with small children at home for the night.

 It became completely dark and cold outside, and we had absolutely no water or food left. We were very tired. We thought that we would have to spend the night in the car, since everyone had already been settled and only we were left on the street.

 Seeing our situation, an elderly local man approached us and offered us to spend the night with him, and we happily agreed. The house was large, clean, comfortable, the stove was heated, there was food. This man immediately surrounded us with care. We needed to contact fellow believers who managed to pass and report that we were alive, as they understood that trouble had happened to us. There is no connection in this village, and in order to make a call, you need to climb onto the roof, which Sergey (the owner) suggested doing. I went with him to catch a cosmic connection on the roof of the house. On the way, we had such a conversation with him.

 Julia: “We are so glad that we got to you, we are very grateful for your care!”

 Sergey: “I prayed that they would come, and I was useful to someone!”

 Yulia: “We also prayed not to stay on the street. You are a believer, and what God do you pray to?

 Sergei: “I pray to Jehovah God, I am a Jehovah's Witness!”

 Yulia: “I couldn’t believe my ears, I burst into tears and hugged him, saying that we are all Jehovah’s Witnesses too!”

 I went into the house all in tears, and all the time I said: “You won’t believe it, you won’t believe it !!!

 And Sergey took the Bible and the Watchtower with an article about the supper, went into the room and said: “I am your brother!”

 And then everyone burst into tears, and everyone rushed to hug him !! And we cried and laughed at the same time. At that moment, we all clearly realized that this was a miracle.

 It turns out that for many years he was the only Witness in the entire district of many villages, he had not seen his brothers and sisters for a long time, he had not experienced personal contact for a long time, he listened to meetings by phone. He prayed that he would meet one of our Witnesses. And we realized that Jehovah brought us to him, for encouragement and assurance that Jehovah did not forget him, and loves him very much. And for ourselves, we realized that even when the situation seems hopeless: a difficult road, the fact that we did not pass the last checkpoint, remained under shelling, and after all, we said goodbye to our lives, it is necessary to maintain hope and trust in Jehovah to the end, because he definitely have a plan and a way out!

[Michał]

14 minutes ago, Chris7 said:

 

From a reliable person but cannot verify: 

Message from Ukraine:

Hello Arturo and Gloria. my husband and I are fine. my parents and sister live 100 km from Kyiv. it's quiet there now, but there are air raid alerts from time to time. Here is one case that the sister sent today. Take heart and you: A case from the Zaporozhye region.

 

 My fellow believers and I decided to leave the occupied territory; there were 4 cars of Witnesses in the column. The road was very difficult, in our car there was me with an 11 year old child, a sister with sons 24 and 12 years old. There were about 30 checkpoints along the way, and at the last one, the cars of fellow believers were let through, but we were not, because cross-fire began, under which we stood for 3 hours.

 It was very scary, we prayed incessantly, but at some point in our minds each of us said goodbye to life. When it began to get dark, and heavy artillery went into action, the military turned our column around and sent us to some small, remote village. On the way there, terrible explosions were heard, and the sister recited Psalm 23 aloud from memory, and this calmed us.

 The village where we arrived was half empty, many houses were abandoned or closed due to shelling, people did not go outside and did not turn on the lights in the houses. Our column drove through the whole village and stopped at the very last street.

 Two local residents, seeing the situation, went out and began to resettle women with small children at home for the night.

 It became completely dark and cold outside, and we had absolutely no water or food left. We were very tired. We thought that we would have to spend the night in the car, since everyone had already been settled and only we were left on the street.

 Seeing our situation, an elderly local man approached us and offered us to spend the night with him, and we happily agreed. The house was large, clean, comfortable, the stove was heated, there was food. This man immediately surrounded us with care. We needed to contact fellow believers who managed to pass and report that we were alive, as they understood that trouble had happened to us. There is no connection in this village, and in order to make a call, you need to climb onto the roof, which Sergey (the owner) suggested doing. I went with him to catch a cosmic connection on the roof of the house. On the way, we had such a conversation with him.

 Julia: “We are so glad that we got to you, we are very grateful for your care!”

 Sergey: “I prayed that they would come, and I was useful to someone!”

 Yulia: “We also prayed not to stay on the street. You are a believer, and what God do you pray to?

 Sergei: “I pray to Jehovah God, I am a Jehovah's Witness!”

 Yulia: “I couldn’t believe my ears, I burst into tears and hugged him, saying that we are all Jehovah’s Witnesses too!”

 I went into the house all in tears, and all the time I said: “You won’t believe it, you won’t believe it !!!

 And Sergey took the Bible and the Watchtower with an article about the supper, went into the room and said: “I am your brother!”

 And then everyone burst into tears, and everyone rushed to hug him !! And we cried and laughed at the same time. At that moment, we all clearly realized that this was a miracle.

 It turns out that for many years he was the only Witness in the entire district of many villages, he had not seen his brothers and sisters for a long time, he had not experienced personal contact for a long time, he listened to meetings by phone. He prayed that he would meet one of our Witnesses. And we realized that Jehovah brought us to him, for encouragement and assurance that Jehovah did not forget him, and loves him very much. And for ourselves, we realized that even when the situation seems hopeless: a difficult road, the fact that we did not pass the last checkpoint, remained under shelling, and after all, we said goodbye to our lives, it is necessary to maintain hope and trust in Jehovah to the end, because he definitely have a plan and a way out!

Very nice, is it the same experience posted on the previous page?

[Chris7]

15 minutes ago, Michał said:

Very nice, is it the same experience posted on the previous page?

Thanks Michael, I should have checked. 

[Michał]

39 minutes ago, Chris7 said:

Thanks Michael, I should have checked. 

All of us do it sometimes. No worries 😉 
 

So, there are 19 people from Ukraine in our congregation. People from four families came to our polish meeting today including two pregnant sisters. They attend their Ukrainian meetings in their original congregations but understandably want to come and see others in person. One sister said that they don’t understand all the words but the main meaning is clear. All of them looked happy and if I didn’t know I couldn’t say they are all war refugees. I’m looking forward to our Polish-Ukrainian special spiritual program this Saturday. 

[Parale]

21 hours ago, GeordieGirl said:

On February 29, 2022, a bomb exploded near the house as they took shelter.

It has been updated, and now reads:

 

On February 28, 2022, a bomb exploded near the house as they took shelter.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/ukraine/Brothers-Courageously-Deliver-Aid-Rescue-Others-in-Ukrainian-War-Zone/

 

 

[GeordieGirl]

3 hours ago, Parale said:

It has been updated, and now reads:

 

On February 28, 2022, a bomb exploded near the house as they took shelter.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/ukraine/Brothers-Courageously-Deliver-Aid-Rescue-Others-in-Ukrainian-War-Zone/

 

 

So just a slip of the finger on to the wrong number. So easily done. 

[Parale]

18 hours ago, GeordieGirl said:

So just a slip of the finger on to the wrong number. So easily done. 

Hmmmm.... The issue would seem to be that a demonstrably wrong date was able to get through all the checks, and proof-reading, and fact-checking, that our brothers and sisters do at WHQ before it was posted on to the jw.org website 😟

 

I see that the latest update - Number Seven / 29 April 2022 - has now been posted on jw.org 🙂

 

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/ukraine/UPDATE-7-Brotherly-Love-Prevails-Amid-Ongoing-Crisis-in-Ukraine/

 

In part it hightlights that: "Although a complete report from all congregations in Ukraine is not yet available, it is known that more than 210,000 people attended the Memorial."

 

For comparision with previous years:

• 2017: 229,126
• 2018: 217,417
• 2019: 208,844
• 2020: 230,656
• 2021: 264,176
• 2022: Over 210,000 (incomplete)

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Parale

[Michał]

9 hours ago, Parale said:

For comparision with previous years:

• 2017: 229,126
• 2018: 217,417
• 2019: 208,844
• 2020: 230,656
• 2021: 264,176
• 2022: Over 210,000 (incomplete)

 

Thousands of Ukrainian witnesses observed the Memorial in neighboring countries: there were quite a few in our Polish congregation. 

[Parale]

20 minutes ago, Michał said:

Thousands of Ukrainian witnesses observed the Memorial in neighboring countries: there were quite a few in our Polish congregation. 

Yes, that latest Update said that 19,961 publishers had fled to other countries, although we do not know how many of those may have 'zoomed' into their home congregations in Ukraine to observe the Memorial.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Parale

[Michał]

8 hours ago, Parale said:

Yes, that latest Update said that 19,961 publishers had fled to other countries, although we do not know how many of those may have 'zoomed' into their home congregations in Ukraine to observe the Memorial.

 

 

 

Yes, thats exactly it. I think majority connect on their Zoom to Ukrainian congregations but some were in other countries. My take is that this number 210 000+ is incredibly high for Ukrainian branch given the circumstances. But we’ll have to wait for global totals to see everything (I guess it could reach even 23M)

[Vinnie]

Another encouraging experience sent to me. 

 

Hello friends! 
one more interesting experience told a sister from Mariupol. 

— One more time İ became assured in how timely Jehovah gives us guidance, and that in such difficult situations he is ready not only to support, but even to assure of his fatherly love 😊 
  It was March 7th.  My aunt came to our house.  She is not a Witness.  All in tears it is clear that she was in  panic. She said that they had almost no food left, that her son was starving and they did not know how to survive it all.  Of course we were deeply moved and gave her the opportunity to choose some food from the stocks that we had.  Aunt took a decent share, and asked to go to her grandmother, because she also had a difficult situation with food.  I armed myself with a few canned goods and went there.  
But it turned out that my grandmother had enough supplies, and that everything was not so sad with the aunt. She had already agreed with her grandmother that just in case  she would come to her for food.  
 I felt so offended that my aunt robbed us.  And it was almost impossible to get new food.  And then they said on the radio that no humanitarian corridors had been opened, there would be no help and no opportunity to leave either.  Now I was in tears.  There was a fear that now we would not have enough and I was afraid of the possibility of looting.  
  
The brothers and sisters consoled me, assured me that Jehovah would not leave us and that there were many Witnesses in the area, that we would share with each other.  Then we all prayed together.  
 The next day we met a brother from our congregation.  He is an entrepreneur, and he has several outlets around the city with different food from pickles to chocolates.  We turned to him for help, even offered to buy that for.  But  he replied  " İ can do anything for the brotherhood" and  "we'll talk about  money later."  He invited several brothers to go with him to these outlets, and if they were not looted and bombed, then they would take everything they could carry.  So the brothers did.  

From our so to speak  commune Sasha Yelagin went.  He returned with such big sacks that we were only amazed at how he was able to drag it all himself for several kilometers.  
Among the provisions he got were canned food, boxes of cookies, huge packs of nuts (and not peanuts, but hazelnuts and cashews), chocolates, water and the highlight of the program - 2 packages of lightly salted salmon!  For 300 UAH each piece!  We couldn't believe it.  We couldn't afford it when before the war!   I asked Sasha if he saw how much one such package costs?  To which he replied that he took whatevet he liked, he didn’t look at the price tags. Later, when we ate this salmon, we were making jokes about how  hard these last days are )) And one sister said a very valuable thought that touched me: “You see, Valya, you cried, worried that you would die of hunger, and Jehovah gave you a piece of lightly salted salmon!”.  Indeed if Jehovah was only interested in our survival and not in us keeping joy in such difficult circumstances he would have given us a pack of some kind of crackers instead of salmon)) But our Heavenly Father knows how to take loving care about each of his children ☺️

 P.S.  The next day after the brothers went to that outlet with food a shell hit it and everything burned down.  So Jehovah knows exactly the time when to act

 

 

[daydream]

37 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

2 packages of lightly salted salmon!  For 300 UAH each piece!

[Michelle112]

10 minutes ago, happiness IS said:

Jah has very good taste too 👍😁❤

[Eejay]

On 4/14/2022 at 5:11 PM, Sofia said:

we are not in GT YET. Imagine when we are

Some of us are experiencing great tribulation right now.

 

OVER-Imagining tribulation now will cause us unecessary anxiety which we cannot expect Jehovah to assist us with especially, over and above what he has already provided. The encouragement Jesus gave to not be anxious about the next day (Matt.6:34), and the reassurance he gave that Jehovah will be there to support in facing accusers (Matt.10:19) is available to us now, along with the avenue of prayer, (Ph.4:7).

 

We have only to look at how faithful ones are now enduring with Jehovah's support to know how we will also be IF we continue to rely on Jehovah at that time. Hebrew 13:5-6 “I will never leave you, and I will never abandon you.” So that we may be of good courage and say: “Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

[.Ivan.]

On 4/14/2022 at 3:26 PM, Kiku said:

Right now there is no compulsory draft for "clergy of registered religious organizations", what we are. However, we need to take 2 years and 3 months alternative civilian service at minimal payment. And this is now very poorly organized in many regions. Therefore, many brothers are in a state of waiting for the instructions of the authorities.

i was born in communistic state Yugoslavia where brothers were inprisoned for neutrality form 1955-1990. some of them for more than 5-7 years. earlier, from 1947-1955. they were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. in my country Croatia, part of Yugolavia which collapsed in same time as soviet union it was war too.. in 1990-1999. but brothers dont want join to army, ofc, some of them were imprisoned shortly, few weeks maybi till new law was released 1 year after war starts: althernative civilian service 18 months, (regular army service was 6 months) but with not salary at all. nothing. no food, no where to sleep. my very good friend brother lived at home, and his wife taked burden of that, she was working for normal salary but they lived very poorly that 18 months. worse, he lost good job. some brothers served ih hospials, and they had food and bed to sleep. some of hem work night shifts. it was not easy.. army and civilian service was cancelled in 2002. i think. now politicians make new law for army service for men because war in Ukraine, god help us.

[Kiku]

18 hours ago, .Ivan. said:

On 4/14/2022 at 4:26 PM, Kiku said:

Right now there is no compulsory draft for "clergy of registered religious organizations", what we are. However, we need to take 2 years and 3 months alternative civilian service at minimal payment. And this is now very poorly organized in many regions. Therefore, many brothers are in a state of waiting for the instructions of the authorities.

 

I have to update this information. A lot of our JW groups for refugees and those doing alternative service have popped up on Telegram. And I've learned a lot.
 

2 years and 3 months with minimum wage - this alternative service option only works in peacetime. Now the local authorities dictate their own laws, not based on the Constitution of Ukraine, and make wartime service unpaid and unlimited in time. And this does not count as alternative service. It is called "wartime labor duty" and it violates the labor code.
 

The benefits of such service - you are not forced to take up arms, you can register as a refugee and receive a small government allowance, and in theory you should not be stopped by soldiers at checkpoints and in town (although as the case of the local elder shows, the soldiers in town may issue a summons again no matter what, because they have a norm that they need to fulfill).
 

Some of the brothers who lost their jobs have already been assigned by the local authorities to lay railroad tracks, road asphalt, and other hard work.
 

If any of the brothers were to suffer from such work, the responsibility would fall only on the brother himself. Therefore, many brothers are now not convinced that submitting to local authorities who violate the Constitution of Ukraine is "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's." The only instruction from the branch was about alternative service, not about labor duty. 

In March, there was a bill to strip Ukrainian citizenship from those believers who are willing to do non-military service. But this bill was rejected by the president.
 

The good news is that this does not apply to all local authorities in Ukraine. Many districts have military recruitment offices where they are well acquainted with Jehovah's Witnesses. They even have a special officer for us, usually very polite. And after the brothers show them the certificate from the branch, the military does not touch the brothers.

 

By the way, I will share a loophole. Now the authorities have started letting people with a group 3 disabilities out of the country. Unfortunately, we have many people with this disability, and they don't even know about it. So it is a good idea for brothers to have their health checked.
 

And another loophole to pass the border is study. If you find a university by September and enroll remotely, for example in a language course, you will be issued a certificate of study. This certificate must be notarized and shown to the military registration and enlistment office. And then you will be issued a permit to cross the border. This way I did not check, I speak from the words of my brother's acquaintance. There is a chance of problems with the law, if the war continues, and you do not return to the country after graduation.
 

Finally, I would like to say that "everyone will bear his own burden". But don't be discouraged, because every hardship can and will turn into a blessing thanks to Jehovah.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Kiku

[humble bumble bee]

UPDATE #8 | Brotherly Love Prevails Amid Ongoing Crisis in Ukraine

 

Shepherding Increases as War Continues