Missionaries help with relief efforts in war-torn country
A young couple from First Covenant Church of Eureka traveled to Romania recently and, since arriving, have been taking regular trips into war-torn Ukraine to deliver medical supplies and food to those in need.
Kyle Tanuma and his wife, Sara Gilchrist Tanuma, are working through A Jesus Mission, a nonprofit Christian missionary organization based out of Oakdale, California.
“Sara and I are both in Cluj-napoca, Romania — the biggest city closest to the Ukrainian border in Romania. Sara has been in Romania for seven weeks and for me, four weeks,” said Kyle Tanuma in an email interview with the Timesstandard. Together, along with a team from A Jesus Mission, the two are driving supplies into Ukraine, working with members of a church in Cluj-napoca that hosts refugees as they travel westward and providing a children's program for those who've decided to stay in Cluj-napoca for the time being.
“It was simple for us to come out,” Kyle Tanuma said. “Jesus commands his followers that in everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you. … If Eureka was without food and under siege, I would hope there'd be individuals willing to drive food to my starving friends and family. Because of this, Sara and I believe we must live out Jesus' command by helping out those in need in Ukraine.”
Tanuma, 26, was born in Arcata and is a 2014 graduate of Eureka High School. Growing up, he attended First Covenant Church with his parents, Sachio and Stacey Tanuma. He met Sara, now 21, through A Jesus Mission, and they were married in February 2021. The couple attend First Covenant Church when they are in town.
Tanuma says he's wanted to do missionary work since he was young, and first told his mother he wanted to be a missionary when he was in the second grade.
“As a child, I remember
hearing stories about missionaries. Those stories of individuals going out into the world, helping others and sharing about Jesus captivated me,” said Tanuma, who was attending College of the Redwoods in 2016 when he was at Triumphant Life Camp (a locally based Christian camping program) and met the missionary band Cadence Please.
“They needed someone to run the sound board for the week, and I volunteered,” Tanuma said. “After getting to know each other over a few weeks, they asked me to join the crew and I agreed. It was the kind of thing that I knew I would regret … all of my life if I didn't join.”
Several years later, Tanuma formed his own missionary band called Final Greetings.
“I helped lead that group for about two years and then moved to Modesto at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020,” said Tanuma, who met Sara there. Now, two years later, the couple are more than 6,000 miles from home in Eastern Europe doing missionary work through A Jesus Mission.
“Before Sara and I came out to Cluj-napoca, Romania, to bring crisis relief to Ukraine; we've lived in Modesto for the last two
years, directing a missions base,” Tanuma said. “Sara was a full-time missionary and I was bi-vocational, working a construction job a couple days a week.”
In Ukraine, the Tanumas and others from A Jesus Mission “go where the need is,” he said.
“As a team, we've been around Kyiv to recently liberated villages and over to eastern Ukraine,” he said.
Tanuma — who has been to Ukraine in the past as part of Final Greetings — describes what he's seen so far amid the invasion by Russian military forces: “In the West, it's relatively normal. … There's quite a few military checkpoints and some barricades in various places for defenses in cities. Towards the East, though, the war is much more felt. I haven't been part of these deeper runs yet. That being said, I've been told from others on my team that many highways are a wreck, checkpoints are much more intense and wreckage and abandoned tanks are common.”
Tanuma says he's “glad and honored to help in even the smallest of ways, especially since I've had great times and have met many awesome people in my time in Ukraine in the past.”
However, he says, “sometimes, it's a bit heavy when
I consider the huge need in Ukraine and the scope of the war. Other times, I'm even afraid of death or harm. With these more negative feelings, it's important for me to continue to trust in the Christian hope that there will be a day when God will renew all things here on Earth and in heaven and that death will be just sleep for those who follow Jesus.”
How to help
Char Kellogg, community outreach director at First Covenant Church of Eureka, says the church is “excited that Kyle and Sara can be part of such significant relief efforts.”
She added: “At the same time, we pray for their safety as what they are doing is very dangerous. We are proud of Kyle for going where God has called him to go.”
Kellogg says that First Covenant Church supports Tanuma monthly as a missionary. “We also give support to purchase the supplies they are purchasing to help the Ukrainian people,” she said. “The money raised for relief supplies goes through A Jesus Mission directly to Kyle and Sara to purchase needed relief supplies.”
Kellogg says that people can make a donation to help in Ukraine through the
church website at https://fcceureka.breezechms.com/ give/online (click on Account 9290/Ukraine Help) or by mailing or delivering a check to First Covenant Church at 2526 J St., Eureka, CA 95501 (include Ukraine Help in memo).
“Giving financially is a huge way people can help,” Tanuma said. “… As long as
money continues to come in and the need is still present, we'll be continuing these trips.”
He added: “We're also looking for individuals who can drive a manual transmission vehicle proficiently and are willing to deliver aid into Ukraine. You can apply at https://ajesusmission.org/ukraine-response.”