Back From Ukraine: What Your Partnership Made Possible

A debrief from the field — and an invitation to walk further with us.

Dear friends,

We recently returned from our August Ukraine mission, traveling from Orlando through Frankfurt and Krakow, crossing the border by bus to Ivano‑Frankivsk, and continuing to our base in Pidhaichyky. What we found again was both sobering and deeply hopeful: the war is still destroying lives, but God is still opening doors for Mission 823—and through your partnership, compassion is becoming action.

This update is offered as a debrief from the field: not simply where we went, but what your investment made possible—and why this mutually dependent partnership is necessary for the road ahead.

Camp Willow Park & Faith House. At our base in Pidhaichyky, we verified the major upgrades now underway at Camp Willow Park, preparing the property for even greater ministry to traumatized children and families. We also met the Pestrushko family, who recently moved into our Faith House home for adoptive families. Mission 823 fully supports this family of 10 children—turning donor generosity into daily stability, food, housing, discipleship, and family‑based care.

Camp Willow Park — undergoing major upgrades for children and families.

Nikopol medical aid & ministry. In Nikopol, one of the most dangerous areas we visited, we delivered medical supplies donated by Advent Health Orlando to a hospital and clinic. We also led an art therapy session for children with PTSD, took part in the feeding program Mission 823 supports, and ministered through prayer, worship, and Sunday morning preaching with a local congregation.

Our time in Nikopol was tense. We operated under artillery fire, drone threats, and the explosion of a Shahed drone shot down by Ukrainian air defense. Vehicle travel was forced under drone nets covering the roadways; at times we relied on drone detectors and high‑speed movement to reduce exposure. On Sunday morning, we briefly abandoned our vehicles because of drone threats.

A drone net gun, used to help our team spot and counter drone threats in the field.

From Nikopol, we traveled northeast past Dnipro to Oleksandrivka, where we saw our Ukrainian‑built water filtration unit in operation. The original site in Kramatorsk had been destroyed, so this fallback position now provides clean, reliable water where infrastructure has been devastated.

In partnership with REUA, these units produce enough clean water for approximately 30,000 people—seven villages, about 17,000 residents plus passersby, now have access to clean water because partners helped make this possible.

Back in the Ivano‑Frankivsk region, we visited two of the many camps for traumatized children Mission 823 sponsored this year. Because Camp Willow Park is under construction, we rented facilities in the Carpathian Mountains so the ministry could continue without interruption.

• At one camp, Ivan Burla—a blind pastor and adoptive father—was leading 55 children with the Burla family and their church team.
• At another camp led by Marina from Skinia Church in Kyiv, 120 children were being served at the rented resort.
• These camps included children orphaned by the war, children with parents fighting on the front, refugee children displaced from their homes and cities, and underprivileged children from local communities.

Your investment helped place adoptive children in a supported family home, move medical supplies into frontline hospitals and clinics, feed children month after month, bring trauma‑informed care to kids with PTSD, provide clean water to entire villages, and keep healing camps open for children carrying the wounds of war.

And because the needs are not occasional, our partnership cannot be occasional. Monthly and annual partners create the steady foundation that allows Mission 823 to plan rescues, camps, rebuilding projects, feeding programs, and humanitarian aid before the next crisis arrives.

For The King,
The Mission 823 Team