Supporting Missions in Ukraine

Supporting Missions in Ukraine

Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast, everyone. My name is John Harris, and today we're going to be talking about the situation in Ukraine, but actually not from just my perspective as I'm sitting here in the United States and reading articles and that kind of thing.

We're actually going to talk to someone who is helping out with the refugee situation. I think this is important for Christians in the United States and across the Western world and wherever you're listening to me, maybe outside the West to hear, because number one, missionaries in Ukraine need prayer.

They need resources right now, and there are a lot of people that their lives were just uprooted, and they're having to travel to different places seeking refuge, and Christians across the world can help with this.

This is a unique situation, hopefully a temporary situation, but with me today to discuss this is Jacobi Nelson, who is a missionary in the Odessa region in Ukraine. If you look at a map, it's in the southern Western region of Ukraine, and he's with Mission Impact Alliance.

You can go check out more about Jacobi's efforts there at missionimpactalliance .org. And Jacobi, I really appreciate you joining me. Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure. It's very nice to actually meet you for the first time, because I've followed your channel for two or three years now.

Yeah, well, I appreciate it. I mean, I didn't really want these circumstances to be the situation in which we're talking on a Zoom call, but you know what? This is what's happening. So you're there, you have eyeballs on what's going on.

First of all, I think everyone wants to know, how are you doing? Are you okay? Where are you?

How do you do that kind of thing? Considering what's happening, I'm good. I feel a responsibility to try to be a pillar in the situation for my wife and those around me. We're actually house sitting for a pastor right now.

So we have a couple teenage kids here we're watching, and there's a couple other girls, one from Kiev, another two from Odessa, one's currently in the States, but she'll be back. And when we first left, everyone was feeling quite panicky, and you didn't feel, you were emotionally traumatized, standing in the line to go out of the border for 36 hours, and I was driving without sleep, and you can barely think straight because of everything going on.

So I've been just trying my best to be stable, so to help them feel more stable, the girls that are around me and the kids. And we're blessed, but every day, it's hard, not knowing when your city might get hit next or hearing the different stories of something else getting shelled, and various other stories that are horrid, basically.

So it can be a little bit of a roller coaster. And so yeah, but we're far better than we deserve, and we try to keep that perspective, that everything we have is just because of grace.

God’s Providence in Odessa and the Decision to Leave

Yeah, well, I'm glad that you're safe, and it sounds like you kind of got out before, or at least the region you were in, it doesn't sound like, you know, there was gunfire forcing you out immediately, you kind of got out ahead of that.

Am I right in saying that?

Well, yeah, there hasn't been heavy gunfire in Odessa yet, by the grace of God, because the nearest city on the southern coast is Nikolayev. They've done an exceptional job of holding back the Russian advance.

And the ships, there was several ships waiting with amphibious boats off the coast at the time when everything was most hot, and the Russians were making the most advance, and they had like three days of really bad weather.

So God was really answering prayers, and they haven't really been able to surround Odessa. We were concerned because the soldiers coming from Crimea westward through Nikolayev got hung up there, and then the ships weren't able to attack.

And then there are soldiers in Transnistria on the eastern side. So if it had worked out for them, they could have encircled the city, but there's a lot of people waiting for them there, a lot. So it's heavily fortified.

We woke up, I think it was the 24th. At 5 a .m., we were already expecting the possible invasion, especially after we watched Putin's hour-long wacko speech, and 5 a .m. heard explosions. And our original plan was to stick around and just try to help our church or help others there.

We didn't know what that would look like. It was like, let's wait, see what it looks like on the ground, and pray for wisdom and how to respond. And we thought, we'll just help people here. But everyone we were contacting to see how they're doing or if we could help was trying to get out of the country.

And my wife's little brother, who's more like a son to her, she played a big part in raising him, is in the military academy. So he's there in Odessa. So his parents don't want to leave, because he's there.

Her father is on reserves, because every male from 18 to 60 gets automatically placed on conscription, reserves. And then her grandma's there. So her whole family is still there. Even her cousins sent their wives and children out, but stayed behind.

And I thought that the worst-case scenario would happen. It would be so hard for my wife to lose people in her family and her husband as well, because I was prepared to stay and help or possibly stay and fight or volunteer.

But I made the decision we should leave. So on the third day after the explosions, we had two friends trying to leave on the train station, but couldn't get on a train. So I invited them to join us, and we loaded up in a small RAV4.

The four of us and two dogs with all the luggage we could fit, and waited through a 36-hour line, several kilometers of cars to get through the border crossing. But once we got here, we were super blessed, because one of the ladies we brought, she runs a Reformed Christian book publishing ministry called Tulip.

And they have a ministry here called Corum Deo, which is a New Thetic counseling type thing. And my wife's in the school, and several friends. And so we had connections to a pastor here, and they put us up in a comfortable home.

Their parents are in Dubai on vacation, so we're staying there. And now they left for Dubai, and we just transitioned to their house today to house-sit for them and do a little babysitting for a couple of refugee kids also.

Gotcha. You know, for people in the United States, when they hear about Ukraine on the media, mainstream media, they're generally focused on Kiev. And Ukraine is a big place. It's one of the... You look at it on a map, and there's so many things going on in so many parts of that country.

And so I wanted to ask just about, you know, the reason that we're having you on mainly is to just get you resources so you can do what you're doing. But the refugee situation, you know, how have you been addressing that?

You shared a little bit with me, but what are the needs right now? What kind of resources do you need that we can provide?

Every day has been different. Whatever God places in front of us, we just try to help. People started spending money the first few days. So we quickly had like $12 ,000. We went into the church here downstairs.

They had a couple Sunday school rooms. I asked the pastor, can we put bunk beds here? He said, sure. So we bought 10 bunk beds and two rooms in another smaller room. We set those up in a crib, and there's a ping pong table down there and a kitchen.

So that worked out well for people that different groups that started coming through. And I drove a guy to the border who his wife sat through that long line in the car and was so tired she couldn't drive anymore.

I drove. It was a stranger, but somehow we got connected. I drove him there to his wife. And then I found a couple of ladies with three kids. I offered them a ride back. They wound up staying at the church.

And their friend who was in Odessa called us for similar help. So giving people rides to train station, giving people money for bus rides, helping them find places in Romania. We have missionary friends there.

We have contacts in Germany, just trying to help people find places, find transportation, whatever the need of the hour is. And then later I had a friend in the army writing me saying, can you help us get body armor?

We don't have body armor. And so with another buddy of mine, who's actually a business partner, I helped them buy some heavy duty because exporting body armor out of the States is complex if you're not licensed or you're not going through a major defense contractor.

So we actually found brand new manufacturers nearby. And we started partnering with them, got templates for the best since we bought two heavy duty sewing machines and they're getting started on that.

And then the mag pouches and the different pouches for the military vests. We're trying to get generators in because some cities have had all their power cut off. So I found this website that has small portable solar powered generators that can power people's phones.

For example, there was ladies trying to help people evac certain areas and their phones would die because they can download if they're near Kiev. I don't know how far outside of Kiev it goes. But Elon Musk set up Starlink.

So if the internet does go down, they can use Starlink, but they still need power. So we're trying to get certain places, solar power banks, power banks, generators. I have an Amazon wishlist that I created with different stuff.

We're trying to get people like 30 day buckets of dehydrated food supplies or even packets of fruit and vegetable seeds. Currently, I bought a few books on survival kits of a nuclear event and what to do.

So I was going to read those today and tomorrow, make a bullet point list and send it out to people in Russian and Ukrainian. My wife and her friend started volunteer with some humanitarian relief that came from the States just to translate for the medics.

So it just depends on each day. We play it by ear. We might even have to leave Moldova. We don't know if Russia were to try to do something here. So, you know, like iodine tablets. My dream is to have an armored van that can sit like 10 people and have 10 hazmat suits.

So if there was a chemical attack, we could drive and evac some people. Or at minimum, I can produce instructions for what to do to keep yourself most safe, like get to a high story in the building and at least have some potassium iodine tablets, I think they're called.

So we've been trying to, you know, it's been a learning curve because I'm not a survival expert or anything, but just trying to read about body armor, read about the situations, the different types of armored vehicles.

And, you know, we don't need to have an armored vehicle. So it's a matter of basically the needs are endless. There's so many cities that have needs and different drivers can go in. I have connections to different drivers at a different border crossings, and I can send money to get more vests, or I can send money to help these guys get generators over there to this other city.

Or we can, like two days ago, a lady and her daughter, we paid to get them on a bus out of Mariupol, like the day before the Russians started basically kidnapping people. So it was like just in the nick of time.

And, or like, for example, we got seven ladies and eight kids out of Nikolai when it first was getting under heavy fire. And the driver charged us a pretty penny for that. We didn't pay it, our missionary friends did, but we helped them find the van or the bus.

So, yeah, it's just whatever's going on, we play it by ear and we just try to help. And so however much we have is how much we can do. And this is all going to that. Like I'm, I'm blessed currently financially because I have some crypto investments that did really well.

I'll be giving some of my own money towards it. So anything people give above and beyond that, I'll give myself and just try to steward it with wisdom, you know, and think through what's the best, most pressing need of the hour and try to fill it if you can.

Vetting Donors and Direct Relief on the Ground

Yeah. So there are organizations that a lot of them right now, and some I even read yesterday, they're just organizations popping up to try to steal money. They're not, they have nothing to do with Ukraine, but they're using this.

So be careful, everyone who you're donating to. But there are some really good Christian organizations over there helping out. The advantage though, I think in what you're doing, number one, we all have, we have a face we can put to this.

We can see you and talk to you. And we know you're a real person who's there on the ground and you have context, you're integrated into the community. And from where you're sitting, which is three hours from Moldova or Odessa, sorry, you're in Moldova right now.

You, it sounds like what's happening then is, you know, people who are going back and forth, transporting refugees, bringing supplies into regions that are war-torn or perhaps about to become war-torn.

And so, you know, the people that you trust being on the ground there to give these resources to who will steward them well. And, and so that's, that's one of the reasons I want to encourage people, you know, if you are giving to the refugee situation and Christian ministries specifically in Ukraine, you know, consider Jacobi because he's, he's on the ground.

He knows the people and there are, there are people that he can vet that we can't vet from where we're sitting. Now, do you have plans to go back into Ukraine at all, or are you planning on just staying in Moldova and kind of directing operations from there?

What are your plans?

Plans to Return, If Needed, and Stay Safe

That's something we wrestle with because often when we first left, my wife felt guilty and wanted to go back. And we've talked about it because the humanitarian relief we were helping translate for is talking about sending a medic team in there so we could go and translate our families there.

We know that Odessa is well fortified, but it's also, right now I can't because I have to watch these kids. There's somebody's kids whose parents are still in Ukraine, but after that's over in another, I think it's two weeks, we're praying that Russia stops because it seems like they're just digging themselves a bigger hole the further they keep pushing.

So we just keep praying that, that they stop and, or that they mutiny or, or that they just lose. And so, yeah, like I said, we pray, we every, we do consider it, but I do have other people that are, I can drive to the border.

Like I said, one of my buddies sits in the army, they can drive and pick stuff up and meet me at the border. So I don't necessarily have to drive in. I have a couple other friends that transport, a guy at the church here, Yuri, he lived in Canada for several years, so we can communicate well in English.

And he volunteered to be a driver. So it hasn't come to where, because our, the cities that we're closest to, which would be, if I drive north would be Ivano-Frankivsk or Cherkassy or Chernivtsi, excuse me.

And if I drive over towards Odessa, if I go south, southeast, there's, everyone there for now is kind of okay. You know, there was a munitions warehouse blew up in Odessa and some boats trying to do stuff.

But yeah, if there was an extreme emergency, like I said, a chemical thing, I would consider going in there and getting people out or something like that. But for now, we're trying to stay safe and stable.

If we're in one place and we're stable, well, we can be far more efficient with logistics and just helping people send money or send rides or find rides, things like that.

Evangelism, Mercy Ministry, and Discipling Believers in Crisis

Let me ask you about the evangelism opportunities. Do you see evangelism opportunities being presented right now as people are perhaps considering their own mortality and their lives are being uprooted?

Well, that happens in different ways. I used to be in the States, a street evangelist. I did that frequently. And then for years doing parachurch ministry in Ukraine, I focused more on the relationship building and then building a friendship and rapport because in Ukraine, they really highly distrust Protestants because they've been told for decades that by the Orthodox church that we're a cult or a sect.

And so you really got to get to know people for them to trust you, anything you say. And I think there's pros and cons to that because that becomes like if some people come to Christ, possibly just because of relationships they build, not because it's a matter of objective truth.

So, but as far as just sharing the gospel, like I said, that there's just mercy, practical mercy ministry, where you're giving people that are tired and wet and walk for several kilometers to get across the border a ride to take them to a warm place, get them food.

And I don't, you know, you chat with them and get their story, but you don't necessarily might not that first night drop the gospel on them, but they're hanging out at the church and the guys at the church, there's deacons and elders helping us that speak their language.

They share the gospel with them. They get invited to the prayer meetings and the Sunday service. There's two families staying at what was a rehab center that we now put these two families of refugees in.

We bought them a trampoline today. So we just, a lot of it is just trying to, to serve and then opportunities, be Christ to them. And then at other times, it's more like, I see, I'm not sure called to share the gospel.

I'm called the disciple people. So I just do my best to share my perspective from a robust Christian worldview about the events that are happening. And live my life as a servant and as someone who's giving and as someone who stands behind what I believe for, for several years.

And I've made several Ukrainian friends over the years. So I think they see my dedication and a lot of them I've had one-on-one conversations within the past and they haven't received the gospel. A few may have, but they know what I stand for.

I'm very outspoken and very clear about it. When we did English club for 10 years and English camps, we shared the gospel frequently. What my actual, if I can share kind of frustration has been is, I feel like I'm explaining the gospel to Christians a lot.

Whether it be explaining how communism isn't compatible with the Christian worldview, how they're basically different worldviews. Or it's like, let's not tell people that they're sinners right now. Let's just lick their wounds.

And there's a time and place for that. But if I walk in and somebody just had a bomb dropped on their house or was being raped, I wouldn't just jump into talking about how simple they are. But what I've been trying to help people see is that we are exceedingly simple, that we're idolaters by nature, that every breath we have in life is a gift.

It's a grace. Everything good we have is grace. We don't deserve it. And to try to help even other Christians I know have this perspective, because I see a lot of people angry at Russians. And it's hate Russia, kill Russia, Russia bad.

And the facts are, and they know this, a lot of them don't want to think about it right now because they're being attacked. But there's a lot of corruption in Ukraine and a lot of leftist policies being advanced and a lot of abortion.

It's super high. Terrible things happen in the orphanages. It's natural for people to cheat. It's just a post-Soviet culture. And there's a lot of light. There's a lot of wonderful things God is doing, but it's a hard climate.

And just trying to say, shouldn't we now be crying out to God for the sins of our leaders, for our own sins, and acknowledging that? And I'm not telling that to people's face when they're in the thick of pain.

I'm more posting these things on social media so people can think about them in their own space and for even the Christians to think about how are we, if we think they, because my perspective, I don't know if you would agree, but I assume you would, is that we all deserve God's wrath immediately, now.

And if we're not Christians, the Bible says the wrath of God abides on us. And we are rejecting God and we worship creative things. Our heart is always worshiping and our heart, our desires, our will, what we think about and what we love is not God.

And we don't pursue God by nature, or sinners by nature, dead in sin. But people will say, but we don't deserve this. Ukraine doesn't deserve this. I'm not saying Russia's justifying what they're doing.

They're absolutely not. They're stealing land. They're killing civilians. You know, they don't belong here. Not to mention they're like, like Machiavellian liars and professional liars. And so, but my point is to say, yes, Russia definitely has issues, but we can't have a self-righteous attitude because we need to see that humble ourselves under God because the Chaldeans, right?

The Chaldeans were sent to judge Israel for her sins, but then later God judged the Chaldeans for doing so. And that's kind of how I see this possibly. I don't know what God is doing overall, but I know the West is uber corrupt.

Russia's uber corrupt. And Ukraine is not an innocent angel. The people need food. They need help. They need comfort. And we are giving them that, but they also need to know that they are desperately sinful and have a desperate need for a savior who is far more glorious and beautiful in all the implications of the gospel in life than what this world is trying to build through state.

So there's a hardness there, but so is there an openness though, because of the what's going on right now? Do you see any openness yet, or are you hopeful that it'll lead to an openness that wasn't there previously?

Well, I've only like a handful of people that I'm in person interacting with. Most of it is helping people over the phone. And this is case by case. Everyone is in their different place. Some people are like, I feel like if I'm giving someone a ride and I just start now, listen to me, tell you the gospel.

I feel like I'm saying, I'm giving you a ride. You owe it to me. Listen to me, the Christian guy, tell you this. So I don't force that on them. I just ask them about that. Yeah.

I've been just wondering what kind of questions people are asking. If they're, if you're just sensing in them as more of a softness, that's all. If people are more. I can't say. I think everyone is. Some people are hardened.

Some people are. I know that the Christians are. The Christians woke up and very, you know, feel a just a tenderness to pray a lot more and to cleave to God and other people. I can't say for sure. Actually, the elders of the church that are with the ladies every day there, they could tell you better than I can actually.

And that's something I should ask them because they're sharing the gospel with them and reading the Bible with them and things.

And some of the resources that people in this audience send will go to them, I'm assuming. And I know that's important. I know for me and for others that, yeah, we definitely want to help with the physical needs.

That's certainly a huge part of this. People suffering. We also want the reason we would want to give to a Christian ministry is because we want the gospel to be present in that. We want the opportunity to repent, trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins to be something that if someone is going through a hard time like this, many of us in this audience that are listening right now, we've gone through hard times.

And those are the things that often bring us to a realization. Hey, we need the Lord. And so we want people surrounding them if they need to go get some kind of a resource survival kit, food, generators, body armor.

They're going to get that from someone who can give them the gospel. So that's part of speaking of Bibles.

I have little gospels of John and Roshan, and I give those to everybody. Praise God. Yeah. If it's come in contact with and I just wrote them about ordering more today. So good. Good.

Prayer for Ukraine, Leaders, and Missionaries

Yeah. So that's something to pray for. And I'll be just pitching it to you, too, in a minute. Like, what do you think we should pray for? But one of the things that sounds like to me from what you're saying is we need to pray for a softness that the hard hearts would soften, that people in Ukraine would realize that they're sinners, too.

And Vladimir Putin is not the only sinner on the face of the Earth, right? Russians aren't the only people that sin. That's something that affects all of humanity, including people in Ukraine, including people who are victims of violence and these kinds of things.

And even more so, we need to realize that now when life can be cut short so quickly. So let's pray for that. In fact, I think we should probably close this show with prayer. But tell me if you would, what other things can we be praying for here in America?

I can tell you what I've been praying for, softness toward the gospel, God to open the eyes of even Zelensky and the other members of his cabinet. And I've been tweeting at them the gospel now and then that God would confound and confuse the enemy, that he would make the soldiers' aim true, that he would keep them rested and emotionally strong and alert to fight well, to protect our loved ones, to protect our home, pray for provision, pray for conviction of the Russians, that they would have a conscience, that they would mutiny.

A lot of these people have family in Russia and Ukraine, and they hear the stories from their family, what's happening. Russia doesn't give them the true story because they have a monopoly on the media there.

So they can slant the story any way they like. That's one of the reasons I've been telling people Putin is not a champion of conservative Christian values. There's no freedom of press. There's no freedom of speech.

People go on the street to protest. They're beat down to the ground and arrested. Same thing in Belarus. If you get arrested in Belarus, you get gassed or something terrible like that. And that's another Putin regime.

So, so many things you can pray for. And, you know, for the drivers, the guys that are driving in food, that they'd be safe. Most of them don't have armored vehicles, that the stuff they're driving, tens of thousands dollars, sometimes pallets of food and medical supplies, that it would reach its destination.

Yeah.

What about for your family, Jacobi? What about you and your wife? And, you know, how can we be praying for you?

That I can be an encouragement to my wife and disciple her in thinking about this well. That we steward this opportunity well for the glory of God and just give us strength to continue serving.

Yeah. Well, let's do that. If you don't mind, I'll just kind of close this show out with a word of prayer. I don't often do that. I just feel compelled right now to just pray for you and for the situation there, because it's on our minds quite a bit.

Every time we look at a walking past a TV, it's usually talking about Ukraine somehow. And that's a good reminder, I think, to us that, you know, hey, pray for Jacobi, pray for the missionaries you might know there, pray for the people of Ukraine, pray for the gospel to go forward.

We know that beyond anything else, that's the hope. That's what needs to happen.

So, if you don't mind. A lot of pastors, a lot of Ukrainian pastors need prayer. They're in there alone and sent their families out, and they're trying to serve and help people and encourage people every day, making videos to encourage their flock.

So they need prayer for sure.

Closing Prayer for Strength, Repentance, and Revival

Yeah. All right. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for Jacobi. We thank you for the ministry that you've given him there in Ukraine. Father, I just pray that you would strengthen him, Lord. I know it's been rough the last few weeks.

He hasn't gotten a lot of sleep. And thank you for bringing him to a safe place now, Lord. But I know it's weighing on his heart, the needs of the people that are in Ukraine, Lord, people he knows personally.

And Father, use this audience and other Christians in the United States and other places, Lord, to help with the needs of the saints there. Also, Lord, we pray for the gospel to go forward, that people who aren't saints, who don't know you, Lord, would hear about you.

And in this time of desperation, that they would look to you and that you would provide the missionaries that are there, the words that they need, and that, Lord, you would use every dollar we contribute, Lord, to this effort.

Lord, may that also go along with the gospel's message. Lord, we pray for repentance, for a softening. We pray for these leaders, Lord, Zelensky, Putin, even our leaders, Lord, here in the United States and across the West that are involved in this.

We just pray for humility, for repentance. Lord, we know that there's a lot of blame going around a lot of different places. No one's hands seem to be completely clean in any of this. And it's a shame because there's a lot of people suffering, Lord, that weren't part of any of the decisions made.

And so we pray for just repentance, Lord, and that you would bring a revival to Ukraine, specifically, Lord, in this time of conflict. We thank you for your son. We thank you for salvation in him. And in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Well, brother, we'll be praying for you. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for helping people. I know you didn't have to do this, but you're choosing to, and it means a lot.

We kind of have to. We're here. We got it. We got to do it. Well, keep me updated. So thank you. All right. God bless.