We received the following story from our Distribution Partner Mission Eurasia, and we couldn’t wait to share it with you . . .
A little less than a year ago, Evgeniy, a young soldier from Kremenchug, Ukraine, was seriously injured in the fighting that still grips the eastern region of the nation, and his lower body was completely paralyzed. His family and friends spent a lot of time and money trying to help him regain his mobility, but it looked like only a miracle could help him.
Before he was injured, Evgeniy was engaged to Svetlana, and despite his injury, they decided nothing would stand in the way of their marriage, but there was one big problem. Evgeniy’s immobility made even a simple wedding ceremony impossible. His family thought a basic wheelchair would allow him to participate in the wedding, so they looked everywhere; but they couldn’t find anything they could afford, and Evengiy remained bedridden.During this difficult time, many students from our School Without Walls (SWW) program in Kremenchug visited Evgeniy. He couldn’t understand why the students wanted to help him, so one day he asked them why they kept visiting him. They shared that their efforts to help him were nothing compared to what God had already done for them in Christ, and that they wanted to share God’s love with others as a way of honoring the love He gave to them.
As the SWW students got to know him, they realized Evgeniy desperately needed a wheelchair, and one day they surprised him with a brand new wheelchair provided by Free Wheelchair Mission! The students helped Evgeniy and Svetlana assemble the wheelchair, and they explained how to prevent Evgeniy from getting pressure sores. When he received this wonderful gift of mobility, Evgeniy couldn’t stop crying and laughing for joy!
A few weeks later, Evgeniy and Svetlana got married. They even invited some of the SWW students and Anatoliy, our SWW Coordinator in Kremenchug! At the ceremony, the SWW students presented Evgeniy and Svetlana with copies of the New Testament, for which they were so thankful.
Evgeniy shares, “For a long time after I was injured, I kept wishing that I could walk again so I could get my old life back. When I realized that this wasn’t going to happen, I began to despair, because I thought I would spend the rest of my life rotting in my bed. I didn’t want to live like that, so I started thinking about suicide. In those dark days, Christians visited me, and they gave me new hope. In the last few weeks, two of my dreams have come true: I am mobile again, and I got married! I believe that there is a God, and that He still loves me. I want to learn more about this God, and I am excited to read His Word!”
These are the stories you, our supporters, make possible. Thank you!
Blessings,
Don Schoendorfer
P.S. Our “Times Two” Gift Challenge ends tomorrow, October 31, and we’re so close to lifting 13,000 people off the ground, but we still need your help. Will you give today and multiply your impact? Freewheelchairmission.org/x2donate
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