Report for the Eighth Trip to Ukraine (August 10th-13th 2022)

I (Aurel Munteanu) and bro. Raul Enyedi started our eighth trip to Ukraine on Wednesday, August 10th. I arrived in Bocsa on the previous evening. Bro. Raul, his brother, Cristi, and bro. Lucian already had loaded the van with the things we had gathered there (sacks with clothes, senior and baby diapers, small home appliances and kitchenware, hard suitcases, 5 bicycles and 4 boxes of Gospel booklets in Ukrainian. I brought a large box of various medicine that sis Magda Duta bought from Bucharest, that was on our list.

Our first stop was in Resita, at a pasta manufacturer, where we bought 115 kg of pasta. They were very helpful and gave us a good discount when they heard it is for Ukraine. May God bless them and reward them! We drove for 10 more hours to Suceava, northeastern Romania, where we spent the night.

Thursday morning, we left early to go to Metro, a wholesale retailer, where we bought the rest of the items on our list. We loaded the van with rice, sunflower oil, beans, canned meat, salami, corn flakes and breakfast cereals, detergent and personal hygiene items. We also bought various items for the protection of our volunteers there. This was the largest quantity of food that we took in one trip (approx. 2 tons). It took more three hours to cross the border, which delayed our schedule in Ukraine. It seems that it was a general air attack alarm, and when this happens, all institutions suspend their activity and evacuate their buildings.

It was passed 3 PM when we crossed the border. Our first stop was in the village of Tarasani, where we unloaded a part of the food at bro. Gheorghe Custuriak’s place, to be taken to refugees in Eastern Ukraine. Our second stop was in Chernivsti, where we met bro. Mihai and two other drivers, Vitalii and Victor. We unloaded the things we had for them, including some things we bought for Dima, the driver that is serving in the army on the front line now, and another volunteer contract for a brother that is replacing Dima as a van driver.

From there we continued our trip to the village of Rokitna, to bro. Grigorii, who is the pastor of the Baptist church in that village. Bro. Max Vlasov and his wife, Alesya were already waiting for us there. They drove all night from Kropyvnytsky, approx. 700 km away, in central Ukraine. We loaded their car and trailer and they left to back to their city. They arrived safely and started distributing our help immediately. Then we unloaded the food that we brought for bro. Grigorii. He makes invidudual bags with food, adds a Gospel booklet in each one, and distributes them in Borodianka, near Kiev.

Bro. Grigorii and sister Ludmila invited us for dinner (it was evening already, and we hadn’t had time to eat anything since breakfast), and after that we went to their church. Since the war broke out, they decided to meet every evening, from 8 to 9 PM, for prayer and preaching. We were invited to preach, which we both did. We had a blessed time of fellowship, too, as some of them remained until midnight for Bible discussions.

On Friday morning, after serving us breakfast and having more fellowship with bro. Grigorii and sis. Ludmila, we prayed together and said goodbye to our gracious hosts, and started our trip back home. We took a detour to visit bro Marian, in Botosani, and we had a blessed meeting with him. In the evening, we arrived in Piatra Neamt, where we met bro. Neculai, who is driving a truck in the area and was just returning from a load point. We had good fellowship with him, as well. We continued our trip for more than an hour, and spent the night near the Carpathian mountains. It was late and we were too tired to cross them.

On Saturday morning, we crossed the mountains and stopped in Fagaras, at bro. Olimpiu, to pick up from his print shop some Gospel booklets that we had printed there. From there we continued our trip to Bocsa, where we arrived after 7 hours. By the grace of God, we had concluded our eighth trip, after 4 full days and more than 1700 kilometers.

 

What is next?

We want to express again our praise to God and our thankfulness to you all, for your donations, prayers and words of encouragement that we receive from all over the world. Our volunteers in Ukraine, as well as the refugees send you their words of thankfulness. Please continue to be in prayer for us, for the volunteers that distribute the aid, as well as for peace in this part of the world. Pray that, together with the humanitarian aid that we’re bringing, we’ll continue to have opportunities to distribute Gospel literature and preacht he Gospel of the grace of God, the only one that can bring eternal peace and joy to the soul of hopeless people. There are so many cruel and horrendous acts that are happening. Bro. Grigorii told us about awful things he has seen and heard in Borodyanka, Bucha and Irpin. Only God can heal the wounds caused by this war. They will be going back there to preach and distribute aid.

Our next planned trip is to western Ukraine, in the Zacarpathia area. After that, Lord willing, we will come back to this area that we visited now. We still funds for a few more trips. We will let you know when they will be running low. We hope to finalize soon the general report for all the work we did in Ukraine in these six months of war.

May God be with us all and continue to bless us, in His abundant grace and goodness! Glory to God for everything!

Yours, in Christ,

Aurel Munteanu & Raul Enyedi

Financial Report for the Eighth Trip to Ukraine (August 10th-13th 2022)

Purchased items:

23 pcs articles of hygiene

35 liters shower gel (bulk)

30 pcs shampoo and shower gel

53 litres of liquid detergent

74 kg detergent

180 liters sunflower oil

165 kg beans

300 kg rice

115 kg pasta

9 kg corn flakes (bulk)

78 bags breakfast cereals

1 kg candy

26 pcs chocolates

914 pcs canned meat

29 pcs salami

50 pcs protection equipment for volunteers

119 pcs medicine, wound care dressings

5 bicycles

Beside the items we purchased ourselves, we took the following items that were donated to us:

20 bags of clothes

3 large boxes of senior and baby diapers

4 pcs of small house appliances

3 hard suitcases

2 large boxes of kitchenware.

We also took 2400 Gospel booklets in Ukrainian.

Total for purchased items: $ 4,372.61

Amount of cash donated: 250 Euros for 5 volunteer drivers (50 each); 300 Euros for the volunteers from central-southern Ukraine; 300 Euros for volunteers in Chernivsti region, 206,18 Euros to volunteers in Zacarpathia. Total donations in Dollars: $ 1,109.89

Money needed for fuel, vehicle maintenance and other expenses on our trip to Ukraine and back: $491.69

Grand total for the fourth trip: $ 6,443.34

Pictures and videos of this trip can be accessed at the following link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oQypmaGdKsOW5OqESlvbE9DWCMPacT1d?usp=sharing