After sharing the gospel with a half-dozen people we had made our way into the center of town. We were taking a break for a few moments when a tall man in fatigues came out of the city hall building and headed our way.<\/p>\n
For some reason I felt like I should stop him and talk with him. I stepped toward him and simply asked,<\/p>\n
“What do you think needs to happen in order for there to be peace in Ukraine?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, that was enough to get the conversation going and we ended up talking with him and his buddies for about 90 minutes!<\/p>\n
Here’s what they told us:<\/p>\n
90% of soldiers are ready to turn around and attack Kyiv.<\/h4>\n
Sadly many of the Ukrainian soldiers feel betrayed by the government in Kyiv. They feel that the government officials are pocketing all the money and not providing them with the basics like bullet proof vests.<\/p>\n
Some of the officers have been bought out.<\/h4>\n
Unfortunately everyone has their price and it appears that some of the officers have been bought out by the separatist. They are paid to give the locations of the troops, which gives the separatists quite an advantage.<\/p>\n
They are no longer fighting separatists.<\/h4>\n
While much of the media still calls the rebels in Luganska and Donetsk “separatists,” the soldiers claim that those they are fighting are very well trained men with tons of experience and the latest weapons and technology. For the most part they are not Ukrainians.<\/p>\n
There are many more deaths than are being reported.<\/h4>\n
The official death toll for the Ukrainian side is just over 2,000. That’s a lot but soldiers say that the deaths are under-reported and true number is much greater.<\/p>\n
They were preparing to bury a friend who was killed by a sniper.<\/h4>\n
Just an hour after I finished talking with them these two guys \u00a0buried a friend from their town. They had just brought his body back from the front lines where he had been shot and killed by a sniper.<\/p>\n
We talked about more than just war.<\/h4>\n
I can’t talk about peace without sharing the news of the peace that only Jesus can give!<\/p>\n
By the time our conversation moved to spiritual matters there was a small gathering of people around us. Some were also part of the Self-Defense force and others, I’m not really sure where they came from.<\/p>\n
I clearly shared with all of them our Jesus, who is the only one who can bring ultimate peace. The two guys in the picture above also took Ukrainian New Testaments for further reading!<\/p>\n
Question: Will you pray for my two friends in the Ukrainian Self-Defense force?<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week I met several members of Ukraine’s Self-Defense force and what I learned from them was shocking!<\/p>\n
I spent the last five days with a bunch of our students hiking through Central Ukraine during what we call “Extreme Institute.”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,193],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-4298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-ukraine-2","tag-evangelism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/photo-8.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-17k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4659,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/a-shocking-answer-to-prayer-in-eastern-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4298,"position":0},"title":"A Shocking Answer to Prayer in Eastern Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever prayed for something that you didn't expect God to do, then when God does it you're shocked? That's exactly what God did in one Church in Eastern Ukraine this week! Church Building Seized In early September Russian backed separatists armed with machine guns marched into the Church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5036,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/smerch-rockets-rain-death-on-peaceful-kramatorsk\/","url_meta":{"origin":4298,"position":1},"title":"Smerch Rockets Rain Death on Peaceful Kramatorsk","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today a barrage of smerch rockets delivered death, destruction and pain to the peaceful Ukrainian held town of Kramatorsk. In yet another shocking attack of civilians, people fled, panicked and frightened as they watched rockets fall from the sky and turn their quiet town into horror movie. According to Radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/kramatorsk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/kramatorsk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/kramatorsk.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3862,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/easter-comes-violently-in-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4298,"position":2},"title":"Easter Comes Violently in Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Easter morning did not bring with it the typical beauty of painted eggs and little girls in new dresses for many people near the Eastern Ukraine town of Slavyansk. Instead they were met with the news of more violence in an early Easter morning shootout that left several dead. Shooting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ukraine_2888033k.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ukraine_2888033k.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ukraine_2888033k.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6819,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/4-reasons-why-we-give-up-on-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4298,"position":3},"title":"4 Reasons Why We Give up on the Gospel | Season 02 Episode 07","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 24, 2016","format":"audio","excerpt":"Did you know it's possible to give up on the Gospel too early and be unaware of what you just did? In this episode of \"Now Is the Time\" I talk about why it is that we often give up and stop sharing the Gospel too soon. 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