Trouble at the Border
Ever since my evangelism school in 2021, I wanted to visit and preach in Ukraine where I was born. Then the Russia-Ukraine war broke out and my goal went down the drain. In December 2022, I tried to book my tickets from Africa to Poland to cross into Ukraine by bus. This door was shut to me as well. Whenever I hit the purchase button on my PC the flight company kept showing an error. I gave up. But not completely.
April 14th, 2023 I booked my tickets, and by April 17th I was already in Chernovtsi Ukraine. It was unreal. I heard the war sirens and I remember thinking, "Well if I die I die." If the shelling hits our building I can't do anything about it. Miraculously all was still and silent after the sirens ceased.
I spent one week in Chernovtsi, and the next in Ternopli. Our focus? Youth crusades. I preached my heart out and had a blast with the children. They were ecstatic to see an American visit their school. Often I would speak purely in English to them, and they would be clueless that I understand their Ukrainian chatter. We totaled 3,223 in attendance, and 2,153 made a conscious decision to follow Jesus. What a harvest.
Then, it was time for me to depart and head toward Budapest, Hungary. From there I was planning to fly out to India. What happened next I cannot describe in words. It is a miracle I'm writing this from another country. I bought a bus ticket from Ternopil to Budapest.
We arrived at 7:30 pm at the Ukraine-Hungary border, but passport control was not until 2:30 am. 7 hours at the border. After handing them the passport, the border guard investigated further and called me in. "We know you have a Ukrainian passport," retorted one of them. "We know all about your travels." Then they detained me. A woman cunningly tried to get me to mumble words in Ukrainian so they could catch me and condemn me. Because of the desperate situation and shortage of soldiers, they are recruiting anyone and everyone possible.
War is real, and Ukraine needs soldiers badly. I'm a 29-year-old male, and for them, I'm the perfect candidate. They began interrogating me. Then a man asked to see my phone, and I handed it over to him. He began going through my history to catch me writing in Ukrainian. I instantly suspected that something was wrong, and I grabbed the phone out of his hand. This officer got angry, "Do you know who I am?" He was trying to intimidate me.
All this time I was trying to convince them I am only a volunteer missionary to serve Ukraine and their children. They didn't care. I continued only speaking English to them, even though I understand Ukrainian and speak Russian. They told me to collect all my belonging and go back to Ukraine. The bus drove off without me as I walked in the other direction.
A few moments later the bus driver's assistant ran up to me with my camera bag. There were thousands of dollars of equipment in that bag, and I nearly lost all of it. Only by God's grace did the women on the bus noticed my bag on the top shelf and immediately notified the assistant. That was a close call.
There I was, at 3:30 am, in the cold weather next to the Hungary border, 30 minutes away from the city. I called a cab driver. We drove to the city, but to no avail all hotels were full. Graciously the taxi driver Vladimir allowed me to stay the night at his house. Smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day his car and house were full of the smell. But I was grateful to get some rest after a packed day.
Early the next morning we drove out at 9:30 am to a walking border crossing. There the border patrol further investigated my case. At first, they were mad at me for not speaking Ukrainian with them. Next, they had some paperwork ready to sign for me stating that they rejected my trial of crossing. Luckily I was prepared by an attorney ahead of time to not sign any documents. Who knows, maybe it's a document to agree to join the military forces by mutual consent. It gets a bit tricky with the new laws in place.
I was beginning to lose hope. I was afraid. What if I get stuck in Ukraine forever? Further pondering I remembered that I had a friend in Uzhhorod. I tried calling her a few times but she didn't reply, so I Googled some churches in the city. A Baptist church came up, and thankfully I would arrive there 20 minutes before the service was over.
It was midday and I was warmly greeted by a pastor named Vasiliy. I felt that he cared for me listening to my story he called over a church lady who would share some advice. Vasiliy then drove me to a bus station, then to the border itself. As we drove he called another woman from church. This woman was wise and understood the law well. But instead of good news, she said that it would be impossible for me to exit Ukraine unless I bribed the border patrol. Yes, I understood the consequences, but it seemed as if the chances of leaving the country were slim. I was discouraged enough, and then the brother-in-Christ sitting in the back of the car added, "Well they forced Boris out of the bus into a military vehicle, and placed him on the front lines" That was encouraging to hear (sarcasm). The only hope I had was that Jesus is stronger than any circumstances I had.
Vasiliy drove me to my 3rd border, this time to Slovakia. I felt so loved by this wonderful pastor who cared for me as a son. I knew the chances of me getting out were slim to none. I was placed on a bus to exit Ukraine. As the officer was collecting the passport of the passengers a young boy said to the man, "Don't take my candy." Everyone laughed including the officer, and he took my passport with a smile. I knew that God had set up that moment. Nobody could convince me otherwise.
I prayed as I waited for the results. I was reminded of how Elisha prayed for the enemies, and they were stuck down with blindness. "Lord, make the border patrol blind to the fact that I have a Ukrainian passport." 30 minutes later our passports we handed back to us. I flipped through the pages. The exit stamp was there! How I began to praise Jesus. I could hardly contain myself from crying out of pure joy.
We waited an additional 2 hours to get to the Slovakian border, but my heart was leaping with gratitude. The Slovakian border was a breeze, easy access for a US citizen. We were on our way finally out of Ukraine. I was free at last. This was truly a miracle. One of the most stressful and fearful days turned into a wonderful and beautiful day. All thanks to Jesus.
