Missionary Journey Across Europe

“You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest.” — Isaiah 62:6

I would like to give a brief account of our two-week evangelistic journey during the final days of the summer of 2026.

On August 20, I, Viktor Mural-Sikorsky, traveled from Kyiv to Warsaw, where I immediately met Brother Mikhail Demchenko from Odesa at the bus station. We called Brother Alexander Ilyin, pastor of the Warsaw church, and before long we were having lunch at his home. Incidentally, Brother Sasha first came to know Jesus Christ and His church through a Christian booklet! Soon we were joined by Brother Denis from Chișinău and Vasily Khripunov, who had flown in from Sacramento, USA.

The weather was wonderful. After the meal, we took Christian tracts, Messi’s painting The Crucifixion, and an accordion and headed for downtown Warsaw. We found a place near the metro station and prayed. The area was crowded with people going in every direction. We began singing songs about Christ, which attracted the attention of passersby. People stopped and listened to Brother Mikhail’s testimony and his invitation to turn to the Lord. We handed out tracts and tried to speak with people. Whenever the language barrier made communication difficult, Brother Sasha Ilyin helped us, since he speaks Polish well. We also met many people who understood Russian, as well as many Ukrainians. Praise God, some prayed a prayer of repentance and took the contact information of the local church.

Brother Vasily played Russian, Ukrainian, and Jewish songs on the accordion and proclaimed in English that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that He loves people, and that He gave Himself for them by dying on the cross. We also shared this message while showing the painting The Crucifixion.

As darkness fell and the streetlights came on, we left for the new church that Brother Sasha Ilyin is establishing with God’s help. We were tired, but happy that we had labored for the Lord. A worship service was held there. We prayed, sang, preached, fellowshipped, and shared tea together.

On the second day, our team and Brother Sasha went to a funeral home. A fifty-year-old woman, who had formerly attended the church where Brother Sasha serves as pastor, had become addicted to alcohol and died after a blood clot broke loose. The Word of God was preached there—not for the deceased, of course, but for those who had come to say farewell to her.

After lunch, it began to rain—at times heavily and with gusts of wind, and at other times only lightly. We prayed and went to downtown Warsaw. When we arrived, it was still drizzling. We prayed together again, and suddenly patches of blue appeared among the clouds and the sun began to shine. A sister in a wheelchair joined us with her two children. She had a microphone with a built-in speaker and sang Christian songs, while we and her children distributed tracts and testified about the Lord’s mercy and love.

We spoke with people, and some shed tears of repentance. Others blamed God for everything. We prayed for them and tried to reveal Jesus Christ to them. Together, we sang to Vasily’s accordion accompaniment, distributed booklets, and proclaimed the Good News.

It is wonderful to return home pleasantly tired, knowing that, for someone, you became a touch from God!

On August 23, very early in the morning, we left for the Polish town of Leszno. When we arrived at the designated address, the hall soon filled with approximately 100–120 people. We held a service. Misha Demchenko gave a vivid and compelling testimony of his conversion to Christ. Brother Denis spoke about his ministry in Moldova, and Brother Vasily Khripunov conducted a session on “Natural Evangelism.” It was clear that the people found this both interesting and necessary. Even after the service, questions about personal evangelism continued to be raised around the lunch table.

After lunch, the brothers left for Poznań, while I remained behind to testify about God’s mercy and how He transformed me from a former counterfeiter into His servant. The people sat at tables while I was given a microphone and spoke about my search for happiness.

Later, a brother from Leszno drove me to Poznań. It appeared that the service there had just ended. The church was buzzing like a beehive: people were offering tea, coffee, and cookies and enjoying fellowship with one another. As far as I could tell, they had been deeply impressed by the “Natural Evangelism” training Brother Vasily had conducted. The brothers in Poznań gave us an opportunity to rest well, providing us with an apartment, showers, and supper.

On the morning of August 24, we arrived in Szczecin, Poland. It was evident that the brothers from the local congregation had prepared for our arrival. They fed us, and then we took Christian tracts, paintings depicting biblical themes, and the accordion and went into downtown Szczecin. Together with brothers and sisters from the local church, we handed out booklets about Christ, sang, and testified about God’s mercy. Nearly all the tracts were distributed.

At one point, a group of aggressive young people appeared who seemed to be involved in the occult, but God did not allow them to interfere with the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.

In Szczecin, ministers from four different denominations agreed to hold a joint service. In addition, August 24 is Ukraine’s Independence Day. The 400-seat hall was filled to capacity. We began the evening service by praying for Ukraine. Ministers from various denominations prayed—Baptists, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and the pastor of a Polish church. Brother Vasily from Sacramento prayed, I prayed as a pastor from Kyiv, and the entire congregation prayed.

Together, we sang “God, I Pray for Ukraine” and “Great God of Israel.” I then testified about my search for happiness and how I found that happiness in Jesus Christ. Mikhail Demchenko shared how he met the Lord and called people to repentance. Since it was impossible for people to come forward, they prayed where they were seated.

After the service and fellowship, ministers from the Szczecin churches gathered in a small room—possibly the senior pastor’s office—and Brother Vasily conducted a session from the “Natural Evangelism” course. He also distributed the materials they would need for practical application. We enjoyed warm fellowship late into the evening, until the Polish minister finally said that it was time for him to close the church building.

On August 25, we arrived in Karlovy Vary, Czechia. It is a resort town nestled deep within a rocky valley. Hot water with a rather unusual taste gushes directly from underground springs. People fly, drive, and walk there from all over the world to improve their health with this water, which they believe has healing properties. We drank some too—and completely free of charge!

When we arrived in Karlovy Vary that morning, we met Brother Mikhail, the local pastor, and Sister Natasha. Most of the assistance we received came from the blessed Sister Natalia. We went to a Georgian café to eat together and discuss our ministry plans.

Apparently, the owner of the café took quite a liking to us. She brought six full glasses of chacha—Georgian moonshine—to our table and decided to treat us at the café’s expense. You should have seen and heard her! She gave such a colorful description of chacha’s incredible benefits! We barely managed to decline without offending her. Then we told her about Christ, and Brother Misha spoke about the miracles Christ had performed in his life. Afterward, we prayed for the owner—forgive me, but I have forgotten her name—and gave her a large-print New Testament.

Sister Natasha helped us find accommodations and showed us a busy location where we could evangelize. Downtown Karlovy Vary is filled almost entirely with hotels, each more impressive than the last. It seems that only tourists and those who serve them live there.

We found a place near the colonnade, set up our paintings, prayed, and began singing and proclaiming Christ’s mission on earth and humanity’s need to be reconciled to God. People stopped and listened. We spoke with them and distributed Christian literature.

As darkness began to fall, approximately forty people gathered around us. Police officers approached and prohibited us from playing the accordion because some visitors had complained. At the same time, it began to drizzle. We moved beneath the colonnade, where we continued testifying about Christ and calling people to repentance. Interestingly, even after the police arrived, the number of listeners did not decrease!

The following morning, we returned to the same location. Unfortunately, we did not see Brother Mikhail, the local pastor, again, nor did we meet any members of his church. We had hoped to share our experience with “Natural Evangelism” with them.

Nevertheless, God blessed us with good weather, meaningful conversations, and new acquaintances. When we sang “Toda Al Kol Ma Shebarata” and other Jewish songs, a large group of Jewish people—apparently from Israel—approached us. How joyfully they danced and sang to Vasily’s accordion! But as soon as they heard about Yeshua the Messiah, they began to leave. We blessed them as they went.

Praise God, we had a wonderful time in Karlovy Vary and witnessed people’s thirst for the Word of God!

On the morning of August 27, we packed our things and left for Prague. Pastor Sergei Gavrilov met us there—a truly fascinating man! He deeply loves God and His Word and is filled with a desire to serve Him.

Brother Sergei lives on the outskirts of Prague and has a minibus similar to ours, but his bears a disability permit, allowing him to park closer to the city center. We transferred our things into his vehicle: the Dutch artist’s painting Calvary, an easel, the accordion, and an entire bag filled with various Christian tracts.

God gave us beautiful, sunny weather, and we drove along Prague’s ancient cobblestone streets toward the city center. We immediately set up near the monument to Jan Hus, which is believed to stand on the site where he was burned by the Inquisition. The area was crowded and filled with the sounds of many languages. We prayed and began to sing, praise God, and testify about His mercy. We distributed booklets, and whenever a conversation began with someone who spoke Czech, we referred that person to Brother Sergei.

Prague is a majestic, clean, and beautiful ancient city. From time to time, we changed locations as we moved toward Charles Bridge. Near the entrance to the wide pedestrian bridge, we found a large shaded area and set up there. We displayed the painting and proclaimed Christ. Brother Vasily spoke in English, Brother Sergei in Czech, I spoke in Ukrainian, Brother Denis in Moldovan and Romanian, while Brother Misha seemed able to speak in all kinds of languages!

People stopped and listened to testimonies about the love revealed by Jesus Christ, and they took the tracts we offered. Before long, a small crowd of curious onlookers had gathered around us.

I must also mention the work of the enemy of human salvation. Two women appeared whose movements and facial expressions immediately made the word “Satanists” come to my mind. They took out a strange little purse, removed a tiny pepper from it, whispered something over it, and placed it in front of us. To be honest, a thought came to me: “Pick it up and throw it away—or crush it underfoot!” I did not do so.

Immediately afterward, a group of dancing Hare Krishnas appeared with tambourines. They began dancing in front of us and drawing the tourists’ attention. We thought they would move on, but after fifteen or twenty minutes, we realized that they had no intention of leaving. Trying to shout over them would have been foolish, so we packed up and moved toward a majestic church building. There we continued testifying until dusk about the reality of Christ in our lives. Afterward, tired but happy, we went to rest at Sergei’s home.

On August 28, after breakfast, we transferred our equipment back into our minibus and prayed. Brother Sergei blessed us as we continued our journey to Germany.

We arrived in Augsburg and visited Brother Harry. We had once stayed overnight at his home while passing through the area, and he had expressed a desire to take part in evangelistic ministry.

The day before our arrival, he had shot a wild boar while hunting and had prepared a large amount of meat. It was quite tasty! The important thing is to add plenty of onions while cooking it. But that, of course, is not the main point. Harry told us that, in his opinion, the best place for evangelism was near a Russian grocery store.

So we went there. There were not many people, but the advantage was that most of them understood Russian. Many refused to speak with us, saying they had come to shop and had no time for God. Others, however, stopped to listen and accepted tracts.

There we met a sister named Maria—although she smelled strongly of tobacco—and she gave us the address of a Jewish congregation that met on Saturdays at two o’clock in the afternoon.

The following morning, we returned to the Russian store and set up across from the entrance near the shopping carts. We placed the painting The Crucifixion of Christ on an easel and set out a folding chair for Vasily, our accordionist. With booklets in our hands, we evangelized and distributed literature.

Some people listened gratefully and accepted New Testaments. Others objected: “Where is God if there are wars on earth and so much evil in the world?” We answered as best we could, explaining that the reason lies in human sinfulness, the corruption of the human heart, and people’s unwillingness to live according to God’s instructions as revealed in the Bible.

At two o’clock, we arrived at the Messianic congregation. It turned out that I had visited this congregation ten or twelve years earlier! Of course, we sang “Great God of Israel” and testified about Christ—briefly, but directly and to the point. We also participated in Communion there. Praise God!

It was a pity that Harry was not with us. He spent a little time with us near the store, but then left “to take care of some things”—namely, to go swimming in the lake. But that is all right! May God bless his kind heart and his family!

On Sunday morning, August 30, we were in the German city of Regensburg. The local brothers welcomed us and helped us park the minibus. We immediately took the painting The Crucifixion of Christ, the accordion, and Christian tracts and walked along the riverbank toward a bridge where many people had gathered.

We did not have official permission from the authorities to sing and evangelize, but a person is permitted to proclaim a message in one location for up to twenty minutes. We made use of that right by changing locations every twenty minutes. People listened, accepted tracts, and spoke with the brothers. It was wonderful! All the movement and walking made us tired, but it was a pleasant kind of weariness.

Later, we attended the evening service at the local church. Our team leader, Vasily, gave each of us—Brothers Mikhail, Denis, and me—ten minutes. The brothers shared their testimonies.

Since I had previously testified in that church about my life, I preached a short sermon titled “An Encounter.” The people you encounter shape your life. Eve’s encounter with the serpent led to the Fall. The encounters that Abraham, Moses, and other men of faith had with God changed the direction of their lives. As for encounters with Christ, the entire New Testament testifies to lives and destinies that were transformed!

He changed my life as well, making it truly happy and meaningful. He can change your life too. His arms are open!

Brother Vasily then led the listeners through the opening chapters of the Book of Revelation and its messages to the seven churches. What did those churches have in common? How were they different? What pleases God, and what grieves Him? What does the Lord expect from us?

According to the responses of the church members, the service was edifying and wonderful. Praise God!

Afterward, we had supper at the home of a widow. She left her house to us and went to spend the night with a friend. Rain was falling outside, and we slept very well!

In the morning, we prayed, ate breakfast, packed our belongings, and set out for Warsaw to the sound of the rain. Brother Sasha Ilyin welcomed us joyfully and served us a delicious lunch. We returned the blessed minibus to Brother Iosif Sheremet, rested for a while, and that evening departed for Lviv on a shuttle bus.

Viktor Mural-Sikorsky