As our team gathered for a picture, Pastor Nicolai Skopych grinned at us and asked, “When we had dinner at your house, did you think you’d be here?”

Last October, the Skopych Family was eating potato soup around our kitchen table. Nine months later, we were serving side by side at the Almaz Church Family Camp in Germany. As we juggled our crazy schedules, a mission trip did not seem likely when Nicolai’s son Martin pitched it over dessert last fall.

But God not only called our family to go, He also called Elena Georgen, Jubilee Georgen, Becky Gluff, Charlotte Nye, Team Leader Jason Nye, Sophie Nye, Vincent Rubio, and Mary Veal to provide programming for campers aged 6 through adults from July 8—12. The goal: to encourage Ukrainian families who had relocated to Gummersbach, Germany after Russian troops made their beloved homeland into a warzone. Our tasks included teaching the camp-wide morning lesson, facilitating small groups, teaching Bible classes, leading arts and crafts activities, giving testimonies, running group games and fellowshipping with families during meals and free time.

Here are our family’s impressions after a week with our new Ukrainian friends:

Griffin (age 16): During my time at camp, I could see the uniting power of God everywhere. The amount of joy I saw from people amid terrible struggle can only be attributed to God. People from all kinds of different backgrounds and stages of life were able to connect because we were all fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Grant (age 18): God softened the hearts of several people. He even gave 12 people the courage to stand before others and proclaim their coming to Christ. God not only worked in the Ukrainian people’s lives but also in mine. Seeing the Ukrainians praise God in their circumstances encouraged me to put more faith in Christ no matter the situation.

Heather: Galatians 6:2 commands us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We witnessed the Almaz Church living this out in many ways. Their translators and their administrative, worship, AV and kitchen teams served with excellence. While I was working, camp director Ira filled in as Griffin’s “Ukrainian Mom,” buying him Gatorade and opening his windows while he fought a stomach bug mid-week. My sweet translator, Ory, even made me a cup of tea every day. The Ukrainians’ generosity, joy and strength were constantly pointing us to Jesus.

Guy: I stand in awe of God and how He works among us to achieve his purpose and will in this world. God laid it on a pastor’s heart to have a group of Americans come to Germany this summer to help deliver a family camp for Ukrainian refugees, bringing these groups together with a common purpose to serve one another and to share the Gospel. It was clear that each person at the camp was meant to be there to encourage, to listen, and to love. Ephesians 4:16 says, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Nicolai serves as pastor of Almaz Germany, a church plant of Almaz Church in Kiev, Ukraine. He told us that his family believes the Lord is using the war to spread the Gospel. In response to this call, Almaz Germany has reached out to their community in a number of ways:

• Assisting Ukrainian refugees with paperwork, etc. as they assimilate to Germany.
• Participating in a conference titled, “Don’t Waste Your Life” to encourage Ukrainians across Europe to use their trials to share the Gospel.
• Hosting a round of Alpha Course, a 10-week course exploring the fundamental questions and answers of the human experience from a Christian perspective. We were blessed to see more than 30 graduates celebrated during the Almaz Germany church service on July 7.

Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless Almaz Germany’s ministry efforts, and that He would provide a new facility for their church services as their current arrangement draws to a close.

Luba, a Ukrainian mother of eight whose husband is fighting in the war, summed it up best when she shared through a translation app on Guy’s iPhone: “God spoke to my heart that people here also need salvation, and my talents will be useful here. I even wrote a prayer that I want to learn many languages, my family too, so we can preach Jesus all over the world.”

May Luba’s prayers, and the prayers of Almaz Church, be answered.

--Guy, Heather, Grant, and Griffin Ruble

Want to learn more about our trip? Check out our trip video at the LifePoint Church Student Ministry accounts on both Facebook and Instagram.