After the Iris Europe Camp 2024 at the end of August our small outreach group of 5 women (from UK, US and Slovakia) spent 6 days in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. We started partnering with local pastors and ministers just recently, so it was a pioneering trip. It gave us a great opportunity to minister to children, elderly women and leaders as well.
Because of the unstable situation with audible explosions every night, our plans kept changing all the time. The last day in particular was very turbulent, so unexpectedly we ended up joining the church service in Hostomil. Part of our team was leading worship with one Ukrainian girl and the unity among them was supernatural! As they worshiped and went deeper and deeper, the heaven opened. Many women were crying, lifting up their hands (up to then very unusual) in worship and recognising the Presence of God. When praying for some of them, they asked us repeatedly to come back because we brought so much life to them.
I believe that morning some of the dead parts of their hearts were revived and started beating again. Later on, the pastor’s wife told us she was praying for us to come and join the service, although our plans were completely different. So the Lord turned the chaos into something beautiful, in a way only He can. We knew we were where He wanted us to be and where He could use us to built His Kingdom. Saying goodbye was very hard, but we are thankful beyond measure for the open doors to come back again, hopefully very soon.