Part of my ministry is to serve the needy people in the conflict areas around my city of Kherson. Traveling from one region to another requires frequent stops at military checkpoints.

I make it a habit to always share something useful with the soldiers who are stationed at these checkpoints. Anything from essential first aid kits to food, fruits, or treats they rarely get.

However, the most important thing, of course, is the Word of God. During one of these trips, I met with soldiers at a checkpoint and, as usual, gave them Gospels. "Guys, just read it. This is a book of life," I told them as I said goodbye and continued on my journey. This is one thing I know; every time you say goodbye, you don't know if you will ever meet them again at this place. This is a war, after all.

Not long after, when I passed through this checkpoint again, the same soldiers came out to greet me. "We need to show you something," they said excitedly. "Remember you left us the New Testaments?"

One of the soldiers showed me a tattered Gospel and filled me in on the details. "We were sitting at the checkpoint one night and were reading this Bible you left us, and then suddenly, there was a whistle followed by a 122-millimeter caliber bomb exploding nearby.

Its shrapnel scattered over a radius of 500 meters. We realized it was the end for us. Everything around us was hit, even this little book, but we survived without a scratch."

The soldiers smile and shake my hand vigorously, and I cry. They had been just reading...Thank you, God, I pray.

Thank YOU from Yevhen for humanitarian aid supplies, first aid kits and generators for people in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.