Alina lived in the front-line village of Severny with a population of 36 people! During the original Russian invasion in 2014, bombs landed in her yard several times, but she survived.
A tragedy came to Alina in 2018 when she went into her house, turned on the light, and an explosion rang out. There was a gas leak. Alina was thrown from the explosion into her back yard through a small window in her house. When the firefighters arrived to put out the fire, they were completely sure that Alina was dead from the explosion. But the Lord showed her his mercy. At the time, she was still alive, although her body was badly burned. The firefighters heard her moans of pain, and rushed her for treatment for the burns and by God’s grace, she was saved.
At the hospital, our volunteers heard of her story and started to visit her, and slowly, she became more open to the Lord. Since it was impossible for her to live in her own house, the volunteers found another house in the village where she lived with another family. When Russian invaders arrived again in 2022, after some time, the family evacuated his own family, but Alina refused to leave. Due to constant shelling, this house had no light and our volunteers helped her to repair it. When most people from this region were evacuated and our volunteers repeatedly wanted to help Alina move, she constantly refused.
Unfortunately, in the fall of 2023, Alina walked out of her front door and met a rocket head-on. Nothing was left of her body.
These are difficult stories to share, but we’ve encouraged our volunteers to be honest. We thank God Alina experienced the mercy of God in this life and World Challenge for giving us the resources to find and love people like Alina.