He sat quietly on the bed when we entered the room. A tube was draining blood and fluid from his right arm. At least, I thought it was his arm, but it turned out to be an amputated arm up to his shoulder. We asked if we could come in to talk to him, and he said, “Why not.” We started by thanking Matt (not his real name) for his service, sacrifice, and life. He shyly replied, “A yak zhe,” which means, “What else would I do?”
As we asked questions, our new friend began to open up about his one-week service in Kursk, Russia. He was injured by a drone flying overhead. Since the Russian army would not allow the Ukrainians to collect their wounded or dead, he laid in an open field for two days. He had no water. He had no food. But his buddies did not abandon him, and neither did God. The night of the second day, three Ukrainian soldiers snuck to Matt’s side and got him to safety. He lost his arm due to his tourniquet being on too long. He said he was so thirsty while he lay in the field those 2 days, but even at the camp base there wasn’t enough water. Now he always has water nearby. I pointed out that because Matt never had a chance to use his rifle, he never killed anyone and thus doesn’t have to deal with the guilt many soldiers have over the moral dilemma of killing. A God-wink.
As he became silent from his discourse, I asked if we could pray for him. After our prayer, he told us about how one of his wives was a “believer”. He went to church with her regularly. He asked us to bring him a bible because he wanted to know more.
Another man, Yanny (not his real name), had a similar story. He lay in the field for 3 days after being shot by a drone, injuring his right arm and leg. Giving people a chance to share their stories is so very healing. It not only decreases the chance for PTSD but gives validation to what they have been through. Yanny’s wife was with him. It took several days after his initial injury to find him and to get to where he was hospitalized. Spouses have their own trauma and stress because they are often overlooked as all the attention goes to the warrior. I asked what her body was doing as she listened to her husband talk? She quietly said that her stomach was “twinging.”
After we prayed with them, Yanny said that he was given a portable radio player that had the bible on it. He listens to it often.it’s interesting- once we hear and validate people’s stories, they are open to hearing the gospel.
Bartholomew is an optimistic man who injured both of his legs. Every 2 hours, he has to manually turn the screws in his legs to lengthen the bones until they are even with each other. When I met him in rehab, he was easy to talk to but when I asked where God was in his mess, he said that he was an agnostic. He was neutral where God was concerned. He shared that his wife is a strong believer, and they have had many discussions about faith and God. Instead of leaving the room discouraged, we had a lively discussion about spirituality and what agnostics believe, along with what is important to him as a spiritual being. (I knew what agnostics believed, but I let him explain it to me. I hoped that it would help him realize that I was there to point him to Jesus. I wanted to show His acceptance and care, meeting my new friend where he was at at that moment.) Bartholomew has accepted me into his room again, and we continue to discuss many different topics in the hopes that I can bring Jesus’ love to him through the subtlety.