Weekly Review of Ukraine Efforts

This past week my husband went to Ukraine. I did not.

So “our efforts” were actually quite extensive, if we can count his efforts.

He left early Monday morning to head to Ukraine. He arrived at his first destination in the evening. I did NOT go with him so it is hard to write about what he did during that time. He kept contact with me as much as he could when he had internet. We’ll be getting photos from the delivery of the goods to the people - after they sort it all out and deliver it.

Zaporizhzhia sign

He arrived back home on Friday morning at 6 am. He went to a place called Zaporizhzhia with the majority of the load. We had packed it up the week before - you already saw pics of this load.

The following pictures are when he was delivering it in Ukraine.

The weather was not all that great going and he experienced some black ice as he was coming back from there. The trailer was empty by this time.

A guy helped get the truck up on its tires and he came on home.

Mike returned safely on Friday at 6 am.

On Thursday evening we (without Mike) had a Christmas party held by the Ukrainian ladies who are coming to our church.

It was held at the Ukrainian refugee center here in Otwock, Poland. Here you will see kids helping set up the mats for the floor and then a couple during it. Each of the kids received a candy bag as a gift.

Then on Saturday Mike and I took candy bags over for the older teens who didn’t get any on Thursday, and also a suitcase for each mom/grandma. They were touched. They even took a little video and sent it to us later. I lacked about 10 suitcases but will take them over as soon as I get them - within the next week.

The lady who acts as a house mother, of sorts, Tosia, had us all go in and they told us thank you. You also sent us this video.

These ladies were so excited about getting a new suitcase! I also made a little packet with a milk chocolate candy bar with nuts to go in the suitcase along with some other literature! It was so fun!

We weren’t there long, though. Mike had prepping to do for his Christmas Day sermon and so we just took the suitcases, candy and said a few words and left.

And that’s all we did this week for our Ukraine efforts.

Once again - if you wish to help us - you can give to this through our mission board only now. We are not using Rachael to collect money. I know it makes it harder for you, but if you just follow this link and find our name, you can do it. Just put “Petersen - Ukraine relief” on the gift and it will come to us. We can then use it for this purpose in the upcoming months.

Thank you so much for your interest in our lives and in those we are helping! It has been a joy this year. At times, it is has been overwhelming, but we’ve had a lot of help on this end, for which we are grateful!

Thanks for coming along on this journey! Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Becky Petersen4 Comments