Most of us spend our annual leave relaxing and enjoying time with family. For the doctors and nurses of the medical mission teams supported by SGA(UK), their holiday time is spent conducting clinics in Ukraine.
It is a very special ministry to those suffering through the darkness of war. Before the war began, the medical teams served the people of the villages of Ukraine and Moldova, treating people who are very poor, and unable to access medical treatment at a hospital. In this ministry, they are not just undertaking medical care. Pastors are present too, seeking to bring hope to the people who remain in the conflict zones. Alongside medical clinics, optical clinics are also held.
There is no medical care in Kherson, because the hospitals were destroyed, and the civilian doctors have all left. Medical teams came to Kherson to provide assistance for Pastor Sergey Synni, his wife and the church. This brought not only support for their physical health but also encouragement to continue in their sacrificial service to the residents remaining in the area.

The ministry is fraught with danger as clinics often take place close to the frontline. The sounds of war and violence are ever present. Patients are not only in need physically, but are often deeply disturbed and anxious, living in fear of their lives. It is a strange environment for the medical team too, for as they conduct the clinics, they need to wear helmets and body armour. Treating serious and complex conditions is difficult in settled times. In the war zone the challenges are beyond imagination.
Sergey Shalinsky, who is part of the medical mission team, recently wrote the following remarkable account of one particularly dangerous incident.

One of our medical trips was to the village of Chernobaevka, which is located 10 km from the front line. People came in large crowds to the clinic that we held at the House of Prayer, so that at the entrance to the clinic there was a large line of people waiting to be seen. Many of them called their relatives and told them that doctors were here, that medicines were provided free of charge and examinations were carried out. People forgot about caution, forgot about the rule in force in the front-line territories that when there is a crowd of people, you need to turn off your phones so that the enemy does not detect the geolocation of the crowd of people!Around 11.30 am there was a strong explosion, so that the walls shook. We soon learned that at a distance of just over 1 km from the church, a ballistic missile hit an empty building; it clearly could not have been a target for an expensive missile, it looked like it was flying near us! We and the local believers had the realization that we were in God’s hands and God did not allow the missile to hit us and those who came to the clinic! Perhaps, thanks to your prayers, God turned the rocket away from us! A minute later we continued the appointments, since none of those who came left the clinic. God is even able to deflect a ballistic missile.
Medical Team

Please pray for the medical teams as they seek to bring physical and spiritual help to those who are living through such difficult situations.