Greetings from Warsaw Poland and Lviv, Ukraine. MERCY activity these past two weeks:
- Meeting with Polish Lawyer
- Elena and Two Boys Arrive in Warsaw
- Trip to Lviv, Ukraine
- Bombing in Lviv
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7
- MERCY Refugee Center
- MERCY Bomb Shelter
- MERCY Ambassadors Sending Supplies to Kharkiv
- Papa and His Daughters
- Grandmother and Granddaughter
- Eryk Stankunowicz – Co-Founder of Forbes Poland
- MERCY Project – Warsaw
Denise and met with a local lawyer to legalize MERCY. Víctor, the head of MERCY Poland could then be employed full time and receive his visa. Eva is the sister of Beata (center), both of whom are dear friends of Nadiya and former disciples. Beata attended Service with Nadiya, who are dear friends. Beata and her husband, David, were former leaders in the ICOC.
Victor and I met Elena and her two boys, Daniel (10) and Lef (Lion in Ukrainian – 5), at the Warsaw Bus Station late at night. Although tired and exhausted after the long bus ride from Romania, where they were isolated in a small village since the start of the war, they were grateful to be with family and friends.
Lef the Lion (L) and Daniel (R) were fired up to receive the Lego sets given to them as gifts!!
LVIV, UKRAINE
Victor, Nadiya, Denise and I traveled to Lviv, Ukraine at the beginning of the week to follow up on the MERCY Projects here and encourage Bogdan and the Church.
The brothers bundled up for an early morning prayer in City Center.
The day we arrived in Lviv, five missiles destroyed strategic locations near the Lviv Train Station.
To strengthen the brothers’ resolve, I did a Bible study for Staff from 2 Thessalonians 1:7, God gave us not a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. These were the three points of the lesson titled, If Not You, Then Who? During times like this, God is calling us to be strong and faithful in the Lord and inspire and encourage others by demonstrating His Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.
Before departing for Ukraine we packed up supplies given to us by, Bjorn (to my Left), a KLM flight attendant Denise and I met on our flight. He is receiving supplies from all over the world and has the advantage to transport them via KLM.
Denise, Nadiya, Victor, and I sorted through the supplies, preparing them for our trip to Lviv. Some of the supplies were used for the MERCY Hostel / Refugee Center in Lviv.
Kirill was very excited to greet us and start the tour from the entrance of the MERCY Hostel.
Hallway as you enter
Common Area
Kitchen
Dining Area
One of three Bedrooms
Denise and Nadiya helped to make the hostel a home by procuring essentials: bedding, plates and cups, and utensils.
With the recent bombings around Lviv, residents are taking cover in bomb shelters when the sirens sound – sometimes fives times a day. Igor, Nadiya’s husband, has spearheaded the project to create a bomb shelter in the middle of the city for residents. Young girls in the area have found this be a safe place and are meeting here in safety.
Yura (R), a former disciple, is a great servant. He has established a supply network to provide food to Ukrainians entrapped in conflict zones. MERCY Ambassadors pack up the supplies that arrive at his staging area on trucks and then transport them to the Lviv Train Station where we load them onto trains late night/early morning. The trains embark on the journey to the conflict zones late, under the protection of darkness, to bring the people who are holed up in their homes and in bunkers much needed supplies – food, medicine, and hygiene products, along with miscellaneous items. Pray for Yura’s restoration!
We discussed another MERCY Project in Kyiv that will utilize the disciples there to help their fellow Ukrainians in and around the city. Working through Yura’s contacts in the food industry, Bogdan will mobilize the disciples there in Kyiv to deliver food to groups and individuals who are stranded and cut off. More to come on this. 
We took a day out of the busy schedule to visit Victor’s two beautiful daughters, Katia (14) and Aliona (12), who are staying with their mom in the mountain town of Mukachevo. It was encouraging to see how happy Victor was to see his girls and how the girls were so excited to be with their beloved “Papa”.
WARSAW, POLAND
Through the MERCY Networking Project, our brother Max reached out to this 75-year-old grandmother and her adopted granddaughter, Dasha, who fled the bombing near their home in eastern Ukraine. Dasha lost her parents in a car accident when she was one-year-old and her grandmother has been her guardian ever since. Traumatized by the constant shelling both sought refuge in Lviv, where Max reached out to them at the Bus Station to help them in their journey. Nadiya has been a caring and loving friend, as she is nursing them back to emotional and spiritual health.
MERCY helped them in their passage to Warsaw and they are now safe and secure. They were overjoyed by Sunday Service and the outpouring of love by the disciples.
I’m very grateful for Eryk, co-founder of Forbes Magazine Poland and an award winning journalist, who has helped our efforts here in Poland by providing us with key contacts. I was especially grateful for the time we spent one morning as he showed me his beloved city of Warsaw, as we walked around the beautiful Royal Baths Park near his home. In the background is one of the world’s most famous monuments, a bronze statue of Polish composer, Frederic Chopin …
This bronze statue of Chopin, playing an imaginary piano under a Willow Tree, was designed in 1907 and cast in 1926, but was destroyed in 1940 during WWII. Fortunately, the mold survived the war and a replica was recast and placed in the same location in 1958. Every Sunday visitors to the park can enjoy piano concerts by local artists held in the small amphitheater surrounding the monument.
Please keep the Warsaw MERCY Project – supporting two Refugees Centers located in the heart of Warsaw – in your prayers. (Stay tuned for more on this)
THANK YOU all for your love and support!!
Love,
Nick and Denise and the MERCY Warsaw Team 💚
