Funeral…
Today we attended the funeral of Marek „Miś” Mastalerz. Marek left Poland on 14/03/2023 with a humanitarian aid transport to Ukraine with the ‘Nehemiah Initiative’.
On the evening of March 15, Marek and Oleh reached the Dnieper, where they mapped out their route for the next day, planning the delivery of the relief supplies to two more places “closer to the frontline”. In the morning, they left for Shevchenko (60 km west of Bakhmut).
After unloading at second place in Kostiantynivka, i.e. 33 km south of Kramatorsk and 27 km west of Bakhmut, they started their return journey in their empty car. After driving off from the stopping point, they heard four explosions. Oleh was hit by several shrapnel in his leg and side that were not covered by the body armor, and Marek was hit by more shrapnel below the line of the ballistic plate in the body armor.
They both underwent surgery. Oleh was evacuated to Poland within a week after several operations, but Marek died after 11 days due to injuries sustained on 03/27/2023 in Kyiv.
Well, if you read or experience that, what do you do? What kind of feeling do you have? What do you say or do? Angry, sad, defeated, you name it.
Today, we went to his funeral. It’s the least you can do for his family and loved ones. Show that there are people who think of them and are around them. At the funeral, the family, friends, several people from Ukraine had come over (who went back immediately after the funeral with the next aid transport…), there was an honorary guard (several), and then what?? Marek “Miś” Mastalerz is gone.
A very sad day for the family. A day of pain, sorrow and more. But for Mark? Humanly speaking, there is nothing left to say. Is there still hope in this world?
That reminded me of the following verse from 1 Thessalonians 4:
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,
1 Thessalonians 4:13-16a
But thats not all!… that verse continues because pay attention: Yes, today can hurt a lot. But a future awaits us. Without war, without pain and then:
and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16b-18
Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
A day after the funeral, Marek’s friends from Poland and Ukraine leave with another humanitarian mini-convoy to Lutsk and further east. A new ‘Nehemiah’ bus, called ‘Teddy Bear’ – it was Marek’s nickname by which he was also known by his friends in Ukraine (in Ukrainian ‘Vedmedyk’) – will go to Ukraine for a month for Marek’s planned goals.