Story of Lena

Story of Lena

We recently received this story from Lena, one of the Ukrainian Young Life leaders who was forced to flee Ukraine with her family. It is written by her with minor editions.

May the Lord reveal more of Himself to you as you read about Lena’s journey.

When the war began and our city became a target for frequent bombings, my family made the decision to leave. We did it quickly.

All I can remember were explosions, the sounds of a bell, suitcases, the border… everything happened so fast, even though at the moment it seemed like an eternity.

We were all in panic. There was so much destruction everywhere, and all we wanted to do was get to the border. It didn’t matter where we went after we crossed. In fact, few of us had a destination in mind.

When we finally made it, our hopes for a quick immigration quickly vanished at the sight of an endless line of people waiting to do the same thing. They have been waiting for twelve hours.

Tears, pain, cold, emptiness - those were the things you could see in the eyes of every single person standing in that line.

But God was there with us.

Thankfully, our friends from Poland welcomed all five of us into their home: my grandmother, my aunt, my sister, my mother and me.

We slept for two days straight. When we finally got enough rest, my family came up with another plan.

"We are going to Germany!" - they announced with resolve. I was stunned.

"Why Germany? Who is going to take us in? We don’t know anyone there, and we don’t speak the language!” - all these thoughts swarmed in my head.

But it wasn’t the time nor the place to argue, so we packed up once again and started off on our journey to Germany.

After a long and difficult journey, we finally made it to Bremen. Someone took us to the local refugee center, and everything was going pretty smoothly until we had to get tested for Covid.

Feeling pretty well and having no symptoms, I still tested positive. So did my mother. The two of us needed to be quarantined, while my aunt, grandmother and sister got to stay at the center.

Honestly, it hurt.

A day later we tested again, and miraculously, we were both negative! But our troubles weren’t over.

While in quarantine, we had contact with another woman who was very ill. Because of this we were told to continue to quarantine, but at a different location on the outskirts of the city at a place called the ‘quarantine container’. Once you are in the ‘container’, you can’t leave without medical clearance.

I must confess that was the last drop in my bucket. I felt like Job from whom everything was taken – his family, his friends, his home, his health… A few times I forced myself to pick up the Bible and read, asking God why did He allow all of this to happen. But there was no answer.

I felt alone.

My relationships were crumbling too. My mom and I weren’t getting along, my friends hardly wrote to me, and there wasn’t much else to do but watch movies.

After a while though, things started to change. One day my mother and I decided to read the Bible and pray together. I don't think we got any answers to our prayers, but we decided to wait and believe they would come.

My mother and I hardly quarreled anymore. Instead, we started spending more time together. Our relationship wasn’t perfect and we were still having issues, but I began to see it as a part of a growing process.

Ten days of quarantine passed, and we finally could go outside where everything seemed so different now…but I made the decision to focus on the good and to be a source of encouragement for my mother.

And then God revealed His plan.

During our stay in the ‘container’, I met two 14-year old girls, also from Ukraine, who were quarantining with their grandmother. When it was time for us to leave and move to a different town their quarantine was over, and they were also planning their next move.

To our surprise, they decided to head in the same direction as us! And that’s when I undoubtedly felt God’s hand being in all of this:

I - a Young Life leader experienced in working with teenagers. The two of them – teenagers, hurt, lonely and lost. Our paths had been crossed.

God had me right where He wanted me.

The girls and I became friends.

And we had so much fun together! We explored the city, went for long walks, and simply hung out and talked. I was thankful for the opportunities to share Jesus with them.

Sometime in late May, Alisa, our divisional Developing Global Leaders coordinator who was staying in Prague, wrote to me.

"We are having a camp in Prague for the Ukrainian kids. Would you like to come as a leader?" – she asked.

At that moment I saw the puzzle finally coming together: "Girls + friendship + camp".