The Lord sends trials that often lead to changes in life and ministry. The life of a missionary is no exception. Our brother and faithful servant of God, Yaroslav Dovgyy, together with his family, devoted many years of his life to the ministry to Slavs and Italians in the city of Caserta, Italy. He had many goals and ideas about how to develop his ministry. But the Lord turned the course of their lives in a completely unexpected direction.
In recent years, Yaroslav has been suffering from a disease, but the doctors could not make a diagnosis. Regardless of that, the family was actively involved in spreading the Word of God to everyone who would be sent by God to them. At the end of last year, God blessed Yaroslav to meet with a good specialist, a professor of medicine, who was able to make a diagnosis and come up with supportive therapy. At the same time, she said that he will not be able to get treatment for such a disease in Italy. And of course, we can put ourselves in Yaroslav’s shoes and understand what he felt at such a moment, asking God, “Why is this happening now when he is in the middle of developing the ministry?” Ten months of prayer and misunderstanding of the situation did not weaken his faith in God’s Sovereignty, but on the contrary, Yaroslav’s family now sees clearly where and why God is leading them. It turned out that patients with such a diagnosis are being treated in the USA. Then Yaroslav began to pray, whether this was God’s will for them. The Lord led and helped to quickly resolve all organizational issues and find the necessary funds for the flight. At the end of September, Yaroslav and Oksana went on a trip with their daughter Eva. Yaroslav believes that as a man of God he will be useful in a new place as well.
During seven years of ministry in Italy, brother Yaroslav and his team gave about 18 thousand New Testaments in Ukrainian and Russian languages, as well as more than 9 thousand New Testaments and Bibles in Italian. Perhaps after the end of the treatment in the USA, the Lord will bring them back to Italy and they will be able to continue their ministry there. So the bottom line is that Yaroslav and his family are open to God’s plan for them and ready to follow Him wherever He leads them.
