With war looming in her home country of Ukraine, Anastasiia Warriner began to worry about her mother, Raisa. Raisa recently had a major surgery, and in addition to the recovery, together they had been grieving the loss of Anastasiia’s father and Raisa’s husband just a month’s prior.

"The war started suddenly for all of us," Raisa said.

On February 24^th, Russia began its invasion and Anastasiia began to work to find a way to get her mother out. Anastasiia worked in the office of the General Counsel for the Church of the Nazarene at the Global Ministry Center (GMC) in Lenexa, Kansas.

“I had this feeling from the Lord that she needed to leave,” Anastasiia said. “I said, ‘Mom, let’s get something good out of this ugly thing.’”

Anastasiia got online and tried to purchase her mother a ticket to get on the train from Odesa to Lviv, where she could get on another train that would take her to Poland. She refreshed the web page repeatedly, only to see there were no tickets.

Then, one popped up. A ticket for that same day, to go to Lviv.

Getting to Lviv was the easy part. Getting herself onto the train to Poland would be much harder. Raisa said that she didn’t think she would get on the train as it was only for women with children. But then she felt a nudge, a voice from God telling her to push to one area and to move very fast. By the grace of God, Raisa boarded the train on her first try and was on her way to Poland.

Back in the United States, a prayer service was being held at the GMC for Ukraine. GMC staff prayed specifically that the Lord would send people to help Raisa when she got to Poland. When she arrived, a humanitarian group took her in and helped her recover.

Once she recovered from the stressful travel, she began to help others coming across the border, side by side with the people who helped her when she arrived in Poland.

In the meantime, Anastasiia was working to get her mother a United States visa. When she first applied, the interview date was in May. Much too long.

They decided to make an emergency request due to the circumstances that the family had been through. Hours later, it was approved and she was given an interview on short notice. Within days, her visa was approved and she was on a plane from Poland to Chicago. A total of 16 days passed from when Rasia left Odessa to being reunited with her daughter in the United States.
A prayer warrior, Raisa believed God would help deliver her to safety every step of the way.

“It’s God’s miracle,” Anastasiia said.

To hear Raisa's story and testimony, watch the video below.

Stories of Faith - Raisa Didorenko from Church of the Nazarene on Vimeo.