Missionaries tell of flight from Ukraine

Missionaries Phil and Denise Reed are members of the Waseca Christian Assembly and helped with the church’s 20-year celebrations this past weekend.

The two are between assignments just now, having been in Ukraine for 12 years at the time of the Russian attack in February of 2022. They have recently learned their next mission; they will be going to Warsaw, Poland in the near future, where they will be working with Ukrainian refugees.

Among the preparations they are making is an effort to learn at least a smattering of Polish before they go. Phil, who already speaks Russian, notes there are helpful similarities among languages from that region of the world.

They say they are excited to be resuming their work; Phil mentions a digital project he and a group of others have been working on. He refers to it as a “pattern app,” and explains that it can be used in any of 15 languages to help lead a small gathering of worshippers through devotions.

“We’re really excited about it,” says Phil of the app. “It’s a way to spread the Word of God even among people who are in transition, or who have to meet in secret.”

Phil and Denise are anxious to be back among Ukrainians again, partly because of the abrupt way they had to leave.

The two of them were doing their mission work in the vicinity of Krivoy Rog, a Ukrainian city with a population of around 500,000.  They explain there had been rumors for weeks that the Russians were planning an invasion. “But I did not speak to a single Ukrainian,” recalls Phil, “who believed it would happen.”

“The Americans expected it,” comments Denise, “but most Ukrainians didn’t.”

A recommendation had been issued in January by the American Embassy in Kiev that all Americans leave the country, but the Reeds had chosen to stay.

The “attack” occurred at 4 a.m. on February 24 in many places at once. “There were saboteurs everywhere,” explains Phil. 

“They took out power grids and other strategic targets as the troops moved over the border.”

No fighting occurred near their location, however, so the Reeds say they had no idea the war had begun. They were, however, awakened when a regional leader called their phone, but did not stay on the line. “He just wanted to make sure we were awake,” explains Phil. “So we would be aware of what was happening.”

In their email they found a message from that leader: “Given the current situation, do you think it’s time to leave?”

“He told us he wanted us to leave when we could safely do so,” comments Phil.

Serving as a minister to youth in several places in Ukraine, Phil says, “I loved the people I was working with. I didn’t want to leave. But we had to.”

Rather than depart in a state of panic, Phil says he and Denise decided to take a couple days, prepare, and say at least some goodbyes.  A certain amount of planning was also necessary: the two had to choose among their belongings, since they could take only what would fit in six suitcases. 

“As we made our decisions,” Phil recalls, “a lot of our ‘need to’ items had to be moved into the ‘want to’ pile.”

Furthermore, fuel was suddenly hard to come by. “Most gas stations would only sell five gallons at a time,” remembers Denise.

Some friends helped them collect two gas cans filled with gas.

“Without those, we wouldn’t have made it,” Phil recalls.

The two climbed into their car and followed the safest route they knew of. Although their ultimate destination was to the south, they traveled to a northward border, away from Russian troops toward the Romanian village of Siret.

“The drive to that border would normally have taken 12 hours,” says Phil. “But it took us 14.”

They stopped only to use the restroom and to refill their gas tank. “We never saw any fighting,” remembers Denise. 

Then, as they neared the border, they found themselves in a long line of cars which was barely moving. “We would sit still for a long time. We would turn the car off, because we couldn’t waste the fuel. We never felt like we were in danger. It was really just a very long, very boring and uncomfortable wait.”

Since it was February, they put on additional layers of clothing from their suitcases to stay warm.

Perhaps every 15 minutes to an hour, they would inch forward a few car lengths. It took them nearly three days to work their way to the checkpoint at the border, 60 hours.

“We only left the car to go to the bathroom,” recalls Denise, who mentions the many hundreds of people waiting had little choice but to use nearby trees and bushes–which had very few leaves at that time of year and so did not provide much privacy.

As the two of them sat in their car, they were passed by many, many people on foot.

“They got to the border long before we did,” notes Phil, commenting on the irony.

Since, with a few legal exceptions, Ukrainian men were not allowed to leave the country, nearly all the people passing them were women and children. Sometimes men would accompany their families as far as the border, then turn around and return past the cars.

The Red Cross and other relief agencies were set up in places along the line and were distributing food and drinks, including hot coffee, to those passing by.

“I kept wondering,” remembers Denise, “am I a refugee, or am I only among refugees?”

When the Reeds did eventually make it to the checkpoint at the border, they noticed that nearly all typical procedures had gone by the wayside. People were being allowed to cross with only a cursory glance at their identification papers. None of the usual questions about Covid were posed. “They just looked at our papers and said ‘You can cross,’ “ recalls Denise.

Finally, after 82 hours that would normally have been 20, the Reeds arrived at the home of some friends in Constanta, Romania, who had offered them a place to stay already months before. Phil remembers greeting his friends, socializing for a bit, and then placing a request for a shower.

Although he  believed he had done everything to arrange and pay for them in advance, Phil discovered their airline tickets had not been reserved. “It took us two days to get seats on a plane,” he remembers. “But that was actually not so bad, because we could take that time to kind of process everything we had been through.”

“The first month back in the states was really tough,” he says. “What should have been a long good-bye had been a short one. And we kept realizing how many losses we had experienced. Someday we hope to go back, but we know it will never be the same.”

The Reeds have kept in touch with at least some of their acquaintances, communicating mostly over the internet. After nearly two years back in the U.S., they say they are excited about their new assignment in Warsaw.

“It’s time to get back to work,” says Phil. “Faith is growing and Jesus gives us hope. We want to be on our way.”