An e-mail late yesterday from a pastor doing mission work near Kiev provides a window into the fear and hope among those watching Russian troops advance as the crisis in Ukraine unfolds.

“The situation is tense. We, as well as the nation of Ukraine, covet your prayers,” the Rev. Gerard “George” de Vuyst of the organization Christian Reformed World Missions writes in his e-mail to friends who live outside Washington, D.C.

De Vuyst, 42, writes that the mission team packed up Sunday evening so that they could evacuate “within an hour of getting news of an invasion,” adding:

“The Security Council is meeting at the UN as I write. We’re watching it live and with some disbelief at the Russian delegation’s claim to be responding to the request of the ex-president [Viktor Yanukovych] now in exile in Russia.”

The pastor mentions “confirmed reports of vehicles filled with armed men crashing across the border of Ukraine” — incidents that he speculates “may be intended to try to give Russia an opportunity to create a conflict.”

Christian Reformed World Missions, a mission agency established in 1888 by the Christian Reformed Church, today has more than 200 missionaries in 40 nations.

De Vuyst, originally from Grand Rapids, Mich., has served in Ukraine with CRWM since 1998. He and his wife Sarah – from Silver Spring, Md. — married in 1999 and now have three children. He originally mentored other local missionaries and helped a Ukrainian Reformed congregation “develop into a healthy church that served as a model for other congregations,” according to the CRWM website. A teacher, she helped build an English language institute in Mukachevo, Ukraine. The family lived there until last summer, when they moved to Kiev as he took on leadership development duties.

In an e-mail to The Foundry received just before noon ET today (almost 7 p.m. in Kiev), de Vuyst gives permission to use his name and the contents of his e-mail letter to friends. “We appreciate the work of The Heritage Foundation and are glad to be able to help them in this way,” he writes.

Among his prayer requests to his friends, de Vuyst makes one for Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking that God “will work a miracle of transformation in Putin’s heart, mind and will” and noting that “he too is a sinner in need of a Savior.”

Here is George de Vuyst’s complete e-mail:

Dear friends,

We felt that we should update everyone on the situation in Ukraine before we go to bed. In all honesty, we don’t know what the morning will bring. The latest reports are that Russia has massed troops and artillery all along the border with Ukraine. The standoffs continue in Crimea.

The Security Council is meeting at the UN as I write. We’re watching it live and with some disbelief at the Russian delegation’s claim to be responding to the request of the ex-president now in exile in Russia.

We spent the evening packing our belongings so that we can evacuate within an hour of getting news of an invasion. The situation is tense. We, as well as the nation of Ukraine, covet your prayers.

That said, the {American] embassy has not ordered an evacuation of non-essential personnel. School is still scheduled for tomorrow. Over 80 percent of the students are still here. We are hoping and praying that we will not need to evacuate, but realize the need to be ready to go at any time.

Please pray for the interim government of Ukraine now being forced to make such difficult choices. Any wrong move could prove disastrous. There are confirmed reports of vehicles filled with armed men crashing across the border of Ukraine. That may be intended to try to give Russia an opportunity to create a conflict (these people could attack Russian troops so that Russia could say that they were defending themselves).

Please pray for the church in Ukraine. Only she has the word of eternal comfort and hope to offer both Ukraine and Russia. Pray for Russia. Many people have been deceived by their own government. There has been a constant propaganda war against Ukraine in the Russia press. Over and over the Ukrainian and international press have revealed the falsehoods in the Russia press, but to no avail. People don’t have a free press or free access to information in Russia, so they are easily led astray.

Pray for Putin. While he is being vilified, and to some extent rightly so, at the same time he too is a sinner in need of a Savior. Pray that God will work a miracle of transformation in Putin’s heart, mind and will; that God would change him and use him for the good of God’s Kingdom.

Praying for peace,

Rev. Gerard D. de Vuyst

Christian Reformed World Missions

Ukraine

This story was produced by The Foundry’s news team. Nothing here should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation.