The “Weekend in Europe” Project

Dear friends and partners, here I wanted to share with you an opportunity to be part of a special project for for wounded Ukrainian veterans.

The “Weekend in Europe” Project

First of all, we are incredibly grateful to each of you for always being there for us. Your support and prayers literally encourage us and remind us that God is near and that He cares for us. This has been especially meaningful since my return from the war and our family reunion. I honestly cannot imagine how people walk through all of this without God and without the support of the Body of Christ — which you are to us.

But the truth is, many people do go through the challenges of returning from war without God or a church family. War trauma, years of separation from family, PTSD, and physical injuries make coming back to normal life very difficult. Families break apart, children are sometimes forced to live without parents, and many veterans struggle for a long time to reintegrate into civilian life.

For example, statistics show that after the Vietnam War, several times more veterans died by suicide than were killed in the war itself. These are staggering numbers, especially considering that in our war there are already between 1,200,000 and 1,300,000 veterans.

This is why God has placed on our hearts the idea of taking small but strategic steps to help our veterans and has given us the vision for a three-stage project called “Weekend in Europe.”

We want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in regard to whom He brings to this project, and we are ready to serve all veterans. However, we especially desire to minister to those who lost limbs in the war or who face other severe physical or emotional challenges.

The ideaThe goal of the project is long-term impact on each veteran through three different 4-day weekend trips in Europe within one year.

• The first weekend will focus on building relationships and responding to the social, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of the individual veteran.
• The second weekend will introduce additional challenges, including spiritual ones.
• The third weekend will gather everyone who participated throughout the year—together with their families—for a camp setting, opening the door to caring not only for the veteran but also for the family that has been deeply affected by the war.

As a result, we hope to build a foundation not only for trust but also for a veteran community where they support each other and experience ongoing spiritual influence. Through partnership with other Christian organizations serving veterans, we will also work on creating a system of care for participants between the weekends and after they return to Ukraine.

We want to encourage veterans who participate to help other veterans in their circles. This is our prayer: that God would multiply this effort and ignite a spiritual movement among veterans and their families.

Project cost

The cost for one veteran to participate in one weekend is $500.

We are praying to fund 20 veterans with amputations and other special needs, which means we are seeking $10,000 in one-time support to launch the project.

Giving is very simple through the CRU website at the link below:

https://give.cru.org/2808226

If God has opened your heart to support this project financially, please let me know by Email: yazvinskiy.family@gmail.com 

This way I will know that your funds were directed specifically to this project!

You may help sponsor one, two, ten, or all twenty veterans — or contribute any amount to allow these men, who have lost limbs or face deep emotional and physical pain, to step away from the shelling, blackouts, and unending stress of war, and instead experience a safe environment in Europe and feel the love and care of God.

Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant

Through this project, we hope to bring the light of Christ’s hope to those who are now stuck in the darkness of a broken life and an uncertain future. We want to show them the image of the Suffering Messiah, who chose suffering in order to save others; Christ who gave Himself completely, even unto death; Christ who understands suffering and is present with those who suffer. Yet He also has the power to restore broken lives and give meaning and hope even where it is hard to find.

In one ministry with you Zhenya and Lena Yazvinskyy