Our beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,
I am joyful and thankful to the Lord for the way He guides us and uses us for His glory. By the grace of the Lord, from the 19th to the 28th of July 2025, I took part in a mission in Ukraine along six other brothers and sisters. I had the joy and honor of serving the Lord alongside Brother Cornel Ștef and the brothers who accompanied him on this mission: David, Gabriel, Cindy, Debby, and Marius. There were seven of us, with the help of the Lord, the number of divine completeness. God protected us and was with us, even though Ukraine has been at war with Russia since February 2022. Just a few days before we were scheduled to leave Romania, the very city where we were supposed to spend two nights was bombed. In that attack, six people died and more than twenty were injured.
The mission work we carried out as a team was organized on three levels: Brother David led a group of teenagers with whom he worked and spoke about anxiety, anger, addictions, etc., offering spiritual counseling to the youth. During the evening gatherings, which included all the teenagers (more than 100), a different member of our team from Romania would speak each night.
During the day, along with the rest of the team, we visited churches where fellow pastors from PIEI Ukraine are serving. Part of our team consulted with people who came to receive eyeglasses and offered them free glasses for reading or distance. Another part of the team offered spiritual counseling to those who received glasses.We spent two Sundays in Ukraine. Each Sunday, we visited two different churches, one for the morning service and another for the afternoon service.
God granted me the grace to be part of the spiritual counseling team for those who received eyeglasses.From among the many testimonies that deeply moved me and brought me to tears, I chose to share two with you:
Serghei is nearly 60 years old. He lived in the city of Mariupol, a city of 500,000 inhabitants. He was a businessman and owned four stores. The battle for Mariupol lasted eight months. The Russians bombed the city brutally and systematically. Serghei said that out of the 500,000 residents, 130,000 died during the war and bombings. Because so many people were killed and trapped under the rubble, where they could no longer be recovered, the authorities decided to go in with bulldozers and level the ground... Serghei also said that he worked for 30 years and now he has nothing left. He feels like a dead man who has not been buried...
My joy was to share the Gospel with this man, who told me he had been taught from a young age that God does not exist. In the end, Serghei prayed together with me and Pastor Valera, who translated from Romanian into Ukrainian. He expressed his desire to receive the Lord Jesus into his life as Lord and Savior. Toward the end, Serghei said that the only good thing that happened in his life because of this war was that he was freed from his addiction to alcohol and lost 30 kilograms.
Valea is a 54-year-old woman, a refugee from the Donetsk region, from the town of Druskivska. The name of this town means "friendship" in Russian. Her husband volunteered to fight in the war against Russia and was killed on the front lines during the early stages of the conflict. Her mother, Nadia, has heart problems and refused to leave home. Because she cannot take care of herself, one of Valea's sisters remained with her in the war zone. Valea’s sister is named Maria. Valea has a 29-year-old son, Pasha, who is on the front lines in the Kharkiv region, where there is intense fighting. She also has a 21-year-old son (Serioja) and an 18-year-old daughter (Veronica), who live in Lviv. The only child who remains with Valea is her youngest, Alioșa, who is 14 years old.
Prayer Requests:
First and foremost, let us lift up a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude for the way God protected us and used us for His glory;
For Serghei and his family (he is with his wife and has three sons in Germany);
For Valea and her children, especially for Pașa, her son who is on the front line;
For all those we served in Ukraine, whose names are not mentioned here, but who carry deep pain, suffering, and bitterness in their hearts. Almost all of them, when asked what they would like us to pray for, answered:
“That this war would finally come to an end!”
In Him,
Daniel C. Petruț - PIEI Romania Missionary
