When Worlds Collide

Yosi stayed at the border of Hungary and Ukraine for a week with the OMS Israel team and used his Russian language skills to help refugees as they arrived at the help center, making them feel safe and welcomed and ensuring they had all the information they needed. He joined the team knowing his language would be a huge help at the border, but when he made the decision to travel to Hungary he had no idea he would be helping close friends from home in his time at the border. 

When I came to help out in Hungary with refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine I thought I would be really helpful because I speak Russian. I didn’t expect to have such a close and personal experience. Not long after we got to Hungary I got a call from a close friend from my church back in Israel saying that her elderly mother and niece were going to be trying to leave Ukraine and asking if I could help. Apparently, her mother did not want to leave, instead, she wanted to stay in her hometown of Vinnytsia. But after a lot of talking and pleading from her daughter (my friend in Israel) and explaining about impending food shortages and other problems, she convinced her mother it was time to leave and join her in Israel. 

“It’s the most amazing thing to see God work in these ways, connecting people even in a crisis.”

Their journey was not easy or short, they had to drive to the border and there was a lot of traffic so it took them almost a full day just to get to the border. My friend gave me her mother’s number so we were constantly staying in contact with her. While they were trying to cross the border we were working on securing a place for them to stay in Budapest and getting them flights to Israel as soon as possible. 

We were also praying because the mother’s passport expired in 2011 and we were afraid that would cause difficulty at the border and they would take her somewhere else or not allow her through and we might lose contact with her. 

But thank God, once they got to the actual border crossing they were both given the 30-day visa with no problem. 

They were then able to get to the help center at Beregsurány where we were working and we were able to meet them for the first time. We took them back to stay at our hotel that first night and were thankful they were able to get a good night’s sleep. By then we were able to connect them to the rest of the team in Budapest where they stayed at the Ministry Center until flying to Israel. 

This connection was the most encouraging thing for me during my time here. A lot of these people we see as they are fleeing and we do our best to help them figure things out and find rides and places to stay and places to go, but once they leave the border we never hear from them again. We don’t ever get any closure or assurance that things worked out for all of them.

But with this mother and niece of my friend, we were able to tangibly help them through this process of leaving their home and make sure that they got what they needed, each step along the way. And I will be able to see them again when we return to Israel. 

It’s the most amazing thing to see God work in these ways, connecting people even in a crisis.