I am responsible for the Ukrainian Baptist Union mobile kitchen and its team in the Kyiv region. I am also one of the main chefs on my team of six people. We usually start our work at 8:30 in the morning, collecting purified water (80 – 100 liters) to bring it to our kitchen. We also carry food and ingredients in order to prepare the daily menu. Chopping ingredients and cooking the food takes about four hours, depending on the number of people expected because our equipment capacity only allows us to cook in small batches. Some days up to 230 people arrive, but on average we feed about 150 hungry souls.
What motivates me and my team to go out every day is our gratitude to God and Jesus, as well as our desire to serve those who need light during these dark times, providing hope and love. During the year and a half of this war, we have seen how people have nearly starved, how they have suffered, grown embittered, fought for a bowl of soup, and stole bread from each other as the only thing to eat. There were those who took away food for their animals so that their pets could live for another day. We also heard about people who were forced to eat their own pets because of extreme hunger, losing their humanity and hope.
The war has changed me and my family a lot. Before the war, I worked at an IT company and held a leadership position, but since the beginning of the war, the Lord has been showing me His miracles and thereby showed me what is most important at this time. First, the Father took us to Lviv and there we helped the displaced people at the church. When the opportunity arose to return to Irpin, we immediately returned to our church where we saw a great need to serve people at the volunteer center.
We didn’t think about anything other than just serving God through serving people and glorifying the Creator, but then my former employer contacted me and told me I could go back to work at the IT company. I had to decide between two choices: “Do I serve and obey God or do I try to get my old life back? It was a very difficult choice for my family since we were completely left without finances, but the Lord gave me the assurance that the Father would not forsake me and that all would be well. So I chose to serve the Creator, and even today I have no regrets. Yes, I don’t have a lot of money and I don’t always have bread on my table, but I see my God’s love and care for me and my family.
During this year and a half, the people we care for have changed. They have become friendlier, they have begun to respect each other, and many have stopped drinking. Many have changed their attitude toward God and to the church, asking for repentance and accepting baptism. Many displaced people are attending church. People are gradually changing. The importance of this ministry is that through food and the Word of God, which people hear every day, people come to know God and thereby change themselves, and only then change others. Through this service, the love of Jesus Christ spreads to everyone. We do not just feed people with food; we feed them with the Word of God.
