Crazie Commitment

Home At Last......Now to Share Some Photos

2011-06-20T07:17:00.002-05:00

I've been home for two days now.....so it is about time I shared more details of the trip with some photos. It was so very frustrating to not be able to keep a daily blog with photos going throughout the trip. It is a lot harder to come home and try to summarize the trip in a few long posts......but I will give it my best shot. :)

I still don't have a huge part of the photos from the trip. Dave plans to give me a CD of them soon, but right now I'm limited to what I had saved on my netbook and my camera. With taking so many videos that pushed my memory card to capacity, I started having Dave save everything and then delete it off my camera. Plus, he took TONS of photos, especially of our home visits.

We took off on Thursday June 2. We met up with Nadya (our very close friend and translator for the trip.....a Ukrainian who is currently living in the States while her husband finishes his seminary doctorate). Here's a pic of all of us at Washington Dulles airport.

L to R: Nadya, Donna, Dave, & Pam

We had no issues with our journey to Boryslav. God took care of us all along the way. We arrived in our host home Friday afternoon a little travel weary, but very excited about what would take place in the coming two weeks.

Our hosts, Volodia & Hahlya, were wonderful! Voldoia is Nadya's brother. In fact, we've determined that at least half the people in Boryslav are related to Nadya's family. (Her mom and dad have ten children.)

The family gave us use of most of their second floor, including a large living area, two bedrooms, and our own bathroom. We were very pleased with the accommodations.

Here's the entrance to the living area from the landing at the top of the steps.

Here's the bedroom that Donna & I shared.

The back of the house (which held the front door at the top of the steps next to those planters).

The front of the house..........

Once settled in, we began to make lots of plans for Sunday (Dave preached his first sermon) and the women's retreat starting that first Monday.

We went to a wholesale type grocery place on Saturday to get all the supplies for the groceries we'd take to the seniors in their homes.

Here's Dave and Nadya preaching at Boryslav church that first Sunday.

On Monday morning, Donna, Nadiya, and I headed out with 52 women to a conference center/resort in this bus. This mode of transport is considered extravagant to most of those who attended.

Here's how we found the front of the church that morning...............ladies waiting with great anticipation of an event that most had only dreamed of.

The bus was fine.....except for the fact that they wouldn't open the windows. Many Ukrainians believe that if there is a cross wind inside a building or within a vehicle, they will get sick. So the only ventilation on the whole bus was that small little opening at the top of the bus in the back.

Needless to say.....it was like a hot box by the time we arrived at our destination more than an hour later. (Oh.....and it was only 30 kilometers away from Boryslav, but because the roads are so bad, it took a very long time to get there.)

L to R: Pam, Nadya, Donna, & Leela

Once we arrived at the conference center, we found all the ladies stunned at the beautiful place they would reside for three days. The location was gorgeous and really added to the quality of the women's retreat. Many of the women commented that they didn't even know such a beautiful place existed in Ukraine!

Here's a panoramic view from our balcony.....

Donna and I got busy that afternoon putting together the gift bags for all the ladies. We were able to keep it a big secret..........to give them each a bag full of goodies we'd brought from America.........on the last day of the retreat. :)

We met together in this big conference room for our large group times. During the different sessions, we had lots of singing, speakers, Bible study, games, and of course...........lots of fellowship. What took place those three days bonded us together for life. God did some amazing work in our midst.

Their games were unique and fun. Here's a group of ladies who each received the same salad ingredients.......and were asked to put together the most beautiful salad. Donna and I were the judges. It was hard to choose.

Each morning, we were all asked to meet out on a parking lot for some exercise.

We found an interesting pulley barge to take us to the little island on the lake.

Once we returned from the women's retreat.......Boryslav was "a buzz" with the news about the retreat and how terrific it was. We were so thankful to Olanea for her hard work in putting the event together. Her months of planning and prep resulted in one FABULOUS women's retreat that every lady wants to attend next year. :)

We did lots of home visits for the rest of our stay in Boryslav. Dave has all those pics, except for this one of our visit with Nastia. To say she was thrilled for us to return to visit her again this year would be an incredible understatement. She went on and on about how good God was to bring us to her again. :)

L to R: Nastia, Donna

One of our last days, we spent teaching Nella and her daughters (and others) how to decorate cookies. We had lots of fun together.....and Nella was very pleased with all the supplies I brought her and the decorating lessons. She thinks she may use some of it for her cakes too.

L to R: Looba, Olanea, Leela & Mariana (Nella's daughters), Nella, Pam

The very last night we were there.....we had a tea for the seniors. It was a joyous culmination of a fantastic two weeks of ministry. :)

There's much more I could share......but I will wait until I get the other photos from Dave.

The Home Stretch......

2011-06-13T00:16:00.001-05:00

Only four days until we head home. Even though it has been a fabulous time in Ukraine, we are all a bit weary and looking forward to going home.

The weekend was filled with lots of visiting on Saturday (we are up to 35 visits now) and then yesterday we went to two different churches for their services (Dave preached and the ladies sang Blessed Assurance in Ukrainian) and visited in homes. The hospitality here is incredible. People prepare the best of the best for us and shower us with their love and attention. We feel so blessed to be in their homes.

We heard something interesting yesterday from the pastor of Truscavitz church. We asked about the women's retreat and what he thought. His wife attended the retreat. He said that since he's been to America, he knows that Americans go out to eat at a restaurant and don't think a thing of it. But in Ukraine, if they go to a restaurant, they can't eat for a month because they have no money left. That is why the women are always at home preparing all the meals. But when our women went on the retreat, they ate at a restaurant three meals a day for three entire days. This was a big deal!

Everytime we ask one of the retreat attendees what she thought, their eyes get huge and they often say there are not words. To say they enjoyed the retreat would be a total understatement. We are so thrilled to have been a part of such an event for them. :)

Computer time is limited.....and since my netbook doesn't work much with our weak signal, I have to share Dave's "working" computer with Dave & Donna. I would love to post photos...but it is not possible.

Thanks for standing with us.

One Week Past Already!

2011-06-11T01:01:00.000-05:00

Wow.....this lack of internet connection is really hard. There's so much I want to blog, but I can't. I'm writing this post in hope that one of these times I can get through and copy and paste it in.

The women's retreat on Monday through Wednesday was a HUGE success. The work that Olana put into it was incredible. She put together some great speakers, some super fun games, and a very good schedule. The ladies were absolutely enthralled by it all. Most had never seen a place like we went to. Some rarely leave their homes. Others don't get much time to leave Boryslav. And to get time away from their families and responsibilities is unheard of.

The location was gorgeous with very nice facilities. Some said they didn't know such a place existed in Ukraine. There was a beautiful lake and wild life galore......so it was perfect for reflecting on God how great he is. The women were able to relax and rest, fellowship hardily, and press closer to God. We formed a bond with 52 women that can not be explained. The retreat was above and beyond our expectations. God was truly there and blessed the event. We are excited about furthering the women's ministry and possibly doing another women's retreat next year. The ladies are all for it. :)

After arriving back at our host home Wednesday night, we had a chance to rest before we started our home visits Thursday. We blew out our old record of 9 visits in one day......by doing THIRTEEN visits on Thursday. Boryslav church has a new elderly minister that is going with us and arranging the visits. He managed to arrange visits close together.....and lots of them right in a row. Plus, we're in town while staying with a family, so there's not near as much driving. And for Thursday, Boryslav still didn't have gas in their homes (a yearly maintenance thing where they turn it off for a few days), so that may have found more people at home as well.

Friday we managed to do nine visits. It still amazes me the depth of the visit we can do in just a few minutes. We talk for a few minutes, then share our gifts, sing a few songs (including Blessed Assurance in Ukrainian.....which they love), and then pray with them. Their gratefulness shines through every time. And we believe God uses the visit to give them a big dose of encouragement and joy. We are so grateful to be a part of encouraging the saints, and sharing the truth that don't believe.

We hope to visit 55 homes like last year, but since we have three less days to do it, we've really got to work hard each day. Since we did three on Sunday (we accompanied Vlloydia, who was administering the Lord's supper with those who can not get out of their homes), we now

Some of the visits are heartbreaking.......others bring us much joy and laughter. It is so cool to see how God balances it all out.

Here's some prayer requests coming from our visits:

Please pray for Stephanie. She already has many health problems of her own, but in May, her son died....and her daughter just found out she has a brain tumor. Stephanie feels like she has to be the strong one.....but her pain and grief are still so fresh. We don't think that she knows Jesus as her Savior....so pray that she will find Him in this difficult time. Also pray for her to have peace and comfort as things are so difficult right now.

Pray for Nicodem and his family. He is close to death from cancer and his family is so sad to see him go. Thankfully, he is a believer as is most of his family, so they have their hope in Jesus.

Pray for Amelia. She just turned 85. When the subject is brought up of where she will go when she dies, she changes the subject quickly.

Pray for Tanya. Her momma, Maria, has dementia....and Tanya has to lock her in their apartment each day in order to keep her safe while she is working full time. Tanya also works in her big garden all season long.....because she can't make it on the pay she makes at her job. Maria doesn't remember anything and repeats the same stories over and over again. She is a very angry, bitter woman who only remembers the bad things that happened in life and not the good things. She seems to despise her own loving daughter who takes care of her. Poor Tanya.....Ukraine is already a very difficult place to live, but she has a very heavy added burden. We told her we'd pray for her.

We are off to make more visits today So far we've visited 25 homes. We have accomplished much in just a short amount of time.

Pray for our team's health. I've developed a mild cold/allergies and have been coughing a lot. Thankfully we have enough meds between us that I've been able to sleep good at night. Now a few of us have upset stomachs, probably due to everyone trying to feed us when we visit. Pray that all would settle down and we will be able to make visits with energy and joy.

Thank you for standing with us as we minister to the Ukrainian.

Our First Days In Boryslav

2011-06-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

At LAST I'm finally able to post on this blog!!! I've not been able to get on the internet for any length of time since we've been here. The signal is super weak in the home we are staying.....so I've gotten on for a minute or two. And I definitely can't post pics here until I go somewhere with a strong signal.

We arrived here in Boryslav Friday afternoon. We made all our flight connections and had a smooth trip from start to finish. We are now in our “Home Away from Home” (Nadiya's brother and sister-in-law's home) in very comfortable accommodations. Friday night we were able to stay up until 8 PM and had a restful night sleep. Thank you so much for your prayers for our safe uneventful journey here. God certainly heard and answered those prayers!

Saturday was filled with planning and preparing for our ministries these next two weeks. We met with the lady that planned the women's retreat, Alana, and made sure everything is set and ready to go for the retreat which starts tomorrow (Monday). We went to the warehouse grocery store to buy all the groceries to put in individual bags to give to all the seniors when we visit in their homes.

God has provided all that we need here at the home we are staying. We have lovely spacious accommodations upstairs, allowing us to have our “own space”. They have wireless here.....albeit a very low signal.....so we will be able to connect at least on a minimal basis from where we are living. We hope to go to the seminary every few days so that we can upload photos and do more extensive work on the internet. I had several fears and worries when I found out we'd be staying in a home rather than at the seminary.....but God has MORE than taken care of all my concerns. He is SO GOOD!

Tomorrow, Monday, we will travel with the 55 women for the women's retreat. We are SO EXCITED!!!!! Pray for me as I teach the Bible studies each day. I'm teaching about Sarah on Tuesday and Mary of Bethany on Wednesday. We are going to split the group in half each morning. Half will go to Bible study and half will go to craft. Then we will switch. So I have to teach each Bible study twice. This is a new concept for most of the women.....they are excited too. And all the dads get to stay home with the children and allow the moms to be away for 2 and ½ days. It will interesting to see how everyone fairs. ;)

Hopefully we'll get some photos posted in the next few days. Until then, please continue to pray for our unity and good attitudes. Also pray for wisdom as we reunite with all our Boryslav brothers and sisters and begin to move forward in all the ministry efforts God has brought us to do. YOU are as much a part of this mission as we are. Thank you for being there and encouraging us along the way.

Packed And Ready to Go.....Well Sort Of...... ;)

2011-06-01T07:05:00.001-05:00

Just 24 hrs until we depart for Ukraine. As you can imagine, the excitement is building.

I just got a text from my son, Neil. He just got into Atlanta about 1 hr ago. He's been in Africa since January.....so it is so nice to have him coming home. Too bad I'll only see him for a few hours before I leave. But that's OK.....I'll take it. :)

I've got all the cookies packed and ready to go......you know, the important stuff. hee hee

Now I guess I better throw a few clothes and toiletries into the bag too to so I can survive. ;)

I don't know how much I will be able to post while I'm gone. Right now, we are not certain if we'll have wireless where we're staying. We can always go up to the seminary (where we usually stay) for wireless.....but it won't be convenient. That may mean that when I'm online, I can try to do some short updates.....but that may be all. That makes me a little sad. Normally we are at the seminary and have full access to the internet whenever we're free. Oh well....can't worry about it. I'll do the best I can.

For now, I'm off to learn much from the Ukrainian people.....and hopefully in the process I can love on them and encourage them in their faith.
Blessings to you all.
(And thanks so much for your kind words, well wishes, and prayers....they are MUCH appreciated!)

Cookies are ready! :)

2011-05-30T18:54:00.000-05:00

I got all the cookies made and ready for the Ukraine trip. lol Of course.....that's the first thing to check off the list. I'll show the pics of the cookies I made for the Ukrainians later......but for now.....

I made some cool cookies for my team members that I'm really excited about. They are the shape of the country with the Ukraine flag colors. :)

Can't wait to hand them out!

OK....so now I have to get everything ELSE ready! lol

One week and counting......

2011-05-26T08:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday our team got together (there's only three of us this year....a little sad to have such a small group), Dave, Donna, and me, and we packed all the wonderful items we plan to take to Ukraine. When I first saw the amount of stuff we'd purchased.....I was wondering if we could get it all in the four extra duffle bags we'd purchased.....but we did it!

This year we will have women's retreat for the first time. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this event! My good friend, Becky, and I were only dreaming about do this two years ago....and now God is making it happen. Fifty plus ladies are already signed up. The actual retreat happens on Monday, June 6 through Wednesday June 8. So just three days after we arrive in Boryslav.....we are off to the retreat. We plan to have lots of fun, fellowship, and Bible study with the ladies. Donna is teaching one lesson and I'm teaching two. I am certain it is going to be an extremely rewarding time for all of us.

We wanted to put together gift bags for all the ladies.....so we found lots of pretty and fun things to share with them. :)

We packed SEVENTY flannel lined table clothes into air bags and compressed them all so they would fit in the suitcases.

At least that part is now all packed up and ready to go.

(Now I just need to get my own personal side packed up and ready to go! But hey.....I've got a WHOLE week for that. ;))

Here's our team: (L to R) Pam (Me), Dave (our minister of missions) and my beloved Ukraine partner, Donna.

The excitement is building!!!!!

P.S. Update on the Kitchen Aid Mixers for Oksana & Nella.....I just found out that each mixer will be $500 US Dollars. That's a bit more than I anticipated......but I'm still planning to put together as many resources as possible to buy each lady her own amazing mixer. It's been on my heart for a year.....and it's one of those things I've just got to do. :)

Three Weeks and Counting............

2011-05-10T06:28:00.001-05:00

Our 2011 Ukraine trip is only three weeks away. It is so hard to believe that we are already to May and that the trip that seemed so far away is already upon us.

VERY exciting news! By the end of this week, Cookies With a Mission will have raised enough money to fund my trip this year PLUS pay for half the women's retreat that we plan to debut this year! God is so amazing to provide all that income for His purposes. And there have been tons of people that have supported the cookie effort to make that possible. I'm grateful!!!

I'm hoping to raise a few extra hundred dollars in these next couple of weeks in order to purchase Kitchen Aid mixers for two dear ladies in Boryslav that have their own in-home cake decorating businesses. Believe it or not....they use hand mixers while make tons of cakes!

Here's some pics of our cookie decorating "class" last year in one of the cake decorator's kitchens.

After seeing the hand mixers, I just couldn't get it out of my head that I have an ABUNDANCE of tools to make my decorating easier, and they have only the very basics. I asked God back then to give me the ability to bless them with stand mixers.

We need to purchase the mixers in Ukraine since they will need an Eastern Europe compatible electrical set up. (I wrote to Kitchen Aid and asked them if they would donate two Ukrainian compatible mixers for the effort, but I never heard back from them. So I'm trusting that God will provide the funds.)

Lots of prep going on here. This week I'm taking a rest from cookies and putting all efforts into getting everything ready for the trip. I have two Bible studies to prepare......along with pulling all the items together I want to take as gifts, lots of odds and ends, and of course, getting my personal list together of things to take.

Plus, I'm learning the hymn "Blessed Assurance" in Ukrainian. Our dear friend, Nadya, is teaching it to me over the phone (which can be very challenging!) and we have two more verses to do this week. I write down each syllable phonetically so that I can read it.....and will use the print out each time we sing it. (I'd need a LOT more time to memorize it!)

Lots going on here personally, as well. Allison (my 17 yo daughter) is going to Cleveland, Ohio this summer as a summer missionary. She departs on Tuesday, May 31. My son, Neil, has been on a semester long mission trip with the International Mission Board's Hands On program in Johannesburg, South Africa (and other African countries). He will arrive home on June 1. And then I leave for Ukraine on June 2. What an interesting scenario. ;)

I'll try to update again between now and when we leave.

Thanks for your interest and prayers for our Ukraine mission effort.

A Little Disappointed

2011-01-25T07:56:00.000-06:00

It has been so very long since I posted here. Once I get back from a UA trip......I figure there is no need to post for a while......but waiting six months is a bit ridiculous! ;)

Before yesterday, the plan for 2011 was to go to Ukraine in June with my church for our regular summer mission trip to minister to the seniors, women, and any others God puts in our paths.......AND to go to Ukraine in November with Future Leadership Foundation for their Pastors & Spouses conference as Becky and I did in March 2010 to lead a small women's conference.

Yesterday I was stunned to find out that the FLF trip was changed to the end of September 2011 back a few months ago and no one informed me. Since I'm already involved with the planning and implementation of Cookie Camp 2011 that happens that same week in September, there is no way that I can go on the FLF trip. :(

At first I was very very sad. But over the last 24 hours I was reminded that God's ways are different than ours. What are the chances of the ONLY week in the fall of 2011 that I'm busy is when they planned the FLF trip? Very slim.....and yet that is the week they planned it. So obviously God has other plans for me instead of going on that trip. And the sooner I accept it and trust Him, the better.

The other thing God reminded me is that because of the cost of TWO trips......it would be harder to have enough extra CWAM money to also pay for the women's retreat (the Ukrainian women call it women's camp) in June. Without that extra expense of the second trip.....I can devote all the money I make between now and then to the women's retreat. Yeah! And because our dollar goes really far in Ukraine's economy......we'll need less than $2000 to pay for 50 women to go two nights on a retreat....that includes food!

So I'm already seeing how God is going to use this disappointment for His good. He always does.

Pray that I would get more cookie orders. I've not had many since in Christmas.....and there is only one tentative one on "the books" for February. I think it is God's way of saying......"Do you trust Me?"

Oh.....and one huge blessing I received this week. There was a special someone (one of God's agents).....a friend of a friend, who wrote me before Christmas and said she wanted to support Cookies With A Mission by blessing me with a Kopy Kake. [For those of you that don't know.....it is a projector that cake & cookie decorators can use to transfer a design.] She sent it to me this week. Wow.....it is an expensive tool that I didn't expect at all.....and suddenly God lays on someone's heart to share with me. Here's a pic of it:

My heart is full knowing how amazing my dear Father is. :)

Next time, I'll try to update this blog sooner than six months from now. ;)

Home!

2010-07-26T06:51:00.000-05:00

We arrived home yesterday (Sunday) morning about 8:30 AM. It was a rough trip home.

The first two legs of the trip were fine......from L'viv to Warsaw and then Warsaw to Chicago. We were excited that we made it on time to Chicago and thought that meant we'd be home Saturday night. However, they had a aircraft delay to start off with on our plane to St. Louis. Our departure time changed from 9:26 PM to 10:13. then it changed to 10:45, then to 11:00, then to 12:00 and then to 1:00 AM. Finally it was canceled. Those last few time changes were due to a terrible thunderstorm that was going through St. Louis. Since the flight was canceled due to weather, it was out of their hands and we were on our own.

We tried to rent a car to just drive home.....but every car rental place had no cars due to storms in Chicago the day before.

The next flight out to St. Louis was at 6:45 AM on American. (We had been flying United.) United reserved us spots on that flight.....but there were some snags from our earlier flights with Lot Airlines that required us to be at the United ticket counter when it opened at 4 AM.

So we stayed the night in the airport. I wouldn't recommend it......not pleasant when you've been up for so many hours.

Our team members got their tickets changed at around 4:30 AM (even being the first people in line when it opened at 4 AM) and then we went to another terminal to get our boarding passes from American. We spent nearly an hour there! The continued snags from Lot remained and it took some particular code from Lot to "unlock" our tickets.....but Lot was not open that early in the morning. There was lots of drama and threats of sending some of our team back to United to get it worked out. Those of us that had gotten our boarding passes already prayed and prayed during this time. And finally at 5:50 AM, we were going through security.

What a relief to get on the flight with no hassles and fly home to St. Louis!

Our checked bags will be delivered to us, hopefully today (Monday).

What a challenging mission trip. So much resistance. I've never adjusted to circumstances more than in these last two weeks....day in and day out.

I've gotten some much needed rest and feel a little more human. Now it is time to conquer the piles of things to do around my household.

I praise God for the challenges and the adjustments. I know that He has been with us all along the way. We've accomplished more than is explainable.....and seen lives changed and encouraged all along the way. We were blessed by the Ukrainian people once again......they blessed us so much more than we blessed them.

Will I go back back? Of course! Am I discouraged..... a little. But rest and a bunch of prayer and processing will help me see things a bit more clearly in the days and weeks ahead.

Thanks for your support and prayers.....they mean a TON! We could not be doing this without you.

Saying Goodbye Again

2010-07-23T07:06:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we will leave our beloved Borislav. We will be sad to say goodbye to so many wonderful Ukrainian brothers and sisters in Christ......but very happy to head home to the "normal' and familiar we all know and love.

It has been a good trip.....much has been accomplished. We have enjoyed our visits and service to the Ukrainians. But it has also been quite challenging. Over and over again, we've run into obstacles. At first, it was relatively easy to adjust to the new circumstances, but these last few days have been a bit more difficult. It has made us desire an instant trip home. ;)

We visited in over 50 homes while here......incredible! And each day held some strong messages from the Holy Spirit as the people shared with us and let us know their hearts. That is what energized us to continue to carry out our tasks with diligence. Our visits were filled with delightful conversations and surprises along the way. I definitely want to come back and do visiting again. I wish all of you could join us. It is eye-opening and yet heart-warming.

ESL went find......but my OCD tendencies had trouble with no planning and just "winging it" to teach the kids. Some of the teenagers joined us and really enjoyed teaching. And all the students enjoyed the fellowship.....and maybe learned a little more English along the way. ;)

Ministering to the women was awesome. Since that is the passion I come with when I travel to Ukraine, I'm thrilled at the meetings we had and the response from the women. Now we will do our best to spend the next year planning a 3 day/2 night women's camp filled with Bible study, games, fellowship, and rest.

Next summer's trip to Ukraine will look very different for me. I will not be able to come for 2 weeks in the middle of July......since that is when Billy & Mary Nixon's group comes to put on the Borislov Baptist Church children's Day Camp and orphanage ministries. During this two weeks, the Borislov women have to work with the team to carry out all the parts of the children's ministry.

So I hope to bring a team of women in August that will help me give the women a gift of camp.....away from their families and normal responsibilities. The details and finances are big issues that will have to be worked out.....but I know that if God wants it to happen, it will.

What a privilege to serve here in Borislav. I know that God wants me to continue to serve in the Ukraine as long as he paves the way.

We'll be flying out from L'viv tomorrow afternoon at 2:40 PM and are scheduled to arrive in St. Louis at 10:24 tomorrow night. Oh what a joy it will be to be home! :)

Two More Days.....

2010-07-22T01:37:00.000-05:00

We leave for home in two more days.....I'm looking forward to it. :)

Monday and Tuesday evening with the ladies went fantastic! They were so receptive and loved the study. We sang and shared together. What a joy! They loved the idea of having a women's camp next summer and they've agreed to pray for God to provide the finances and details for it to happen.

I've got lots of photos......but just haven't had the chance to post them. We'll see if I can get a chance before we leave.

This morning we have no water.....so no showers. Yuck! They may get a truck to come in and refill the water tank for the seminary......but it may only be enough for flushing the toilet and brushing teeth. Hopefully we can get showers before we leave!

This has been the most challenging mission trip I've ever been on. We've done nothing but adjust to a new set of circumstances. I realize that it is a life lesson that needs to happen on a regular basis anyway......but we've had a constant barrage of adjustments on a daily basis. It's been exhausting.

God has been so good. He has helped us over and over again and I know He'll continue to do so. I'm holding onto that this morning as it is one of those days where I'm not sure I can put another foot forward. My body is tired.....I'm feeling sick, I'd love to have a shower, and there's lots of irritating things going on.

Today we will do a few more visits and then this afternoon go to the mountain to see the progress the construction team has made on the camp buildings. There will be a worship service by the river with a baptism too. Then we'll have shish kabobs from the fire pit. The camp dorms have running water and electricity.....so we won't have to visit the woods. ;)

Tomorrow we will do our final visits. I'm excited because we will get to see Solomia.....a 19 year old young woman who accepted Christ last year when we shared with her. What a treat it will be to see her.

Then it is time to wrap up everything, pack up and take off on Saturday.

Please Stand in the Gap....

2010-07-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

In just two hours, I am going to share Bible study with many ladies at Borislav Baptist Church. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time.

Would you please stand in the gap for me and pray that this intestinal bug I have would be gone in the name of Jesus and that I will longer have a tummy ache, etc? I need you to stand in the gap for me.

Pray that I become invisible and that Jesus shines forth from me to them.....and the words I say will be exactly what He wants said to these dear women. Pray that they will hear God's truth to them and they will praise God and bring Him glory because of it.

It has been a fantastic day.....even though Dave had a gall bladder attack during the night and couldn't do ministry with us this morning, and I've felt sick all day. In spite of our trials, God has allowed us to visit six more homes and experience some really great times of fellowship with His people. I feel so blessed.

Plus, we stopped by two stores to get some goodies for our families when we go home. :)))))))

The majority of our group is in L'viv today visiting the orphanages and doing some shopping. That means we have a nice quiet seminary to rest and prepare before we leave for the church for the woman's meeting tonight.

Thanks for your prayers. They mean so much!

Sunday......A Day of Rest? :)

2010-07-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy day......Sunday, our day of rest. ;)

The team was split into four groups.......some went to Borislav church, some to Truscavitz, some to Drohovavitch, and some to another church that starts with an "s".

My team went to Borislav church. Bro Dave preached and Donna & I got to sing "Standing On the Promises" in English. (Since we've sung the song all week in the 36 homes we've visited, we were well rehearsed. :))

Borislav just put in "air conditioning" in their sanctuary this year, but it is unlike our systems in the States. Plus, I don't think they kept it on for the whole church service. It was incredibly sticky and hot for most of the service. We wondered what it would have been like with no AC! It is so hard to stay alert and awake when you are tired, hot, and aren't hearing anything you understand. Thankfully Dave's preaching was in English and very good. =)

From there we were split up into groups to go to homes for lunch. I went to Stepan and Tanya's. That was good for me since I stayed with them for two nights in March. It was a wonderful time of visiting and eating a very yummy meal. Stepan insisted that I rest on the couch, since I wasn't going to get to go back to the seminary (like I thought I would). I laid down on their couch....but it was hard to "rest" in that environment. After 30 minutes of "rest", Tanya took us to the Day Camp Parents Night at Borislav church. Talk about hot.....oh my. No windows open (of course) and a filled to capacity church with lots of singing and talking. The children's service was 1 and 1/2 hours long. Again, almost nothing in English and being tired and hot is not a good mix. : /

Then they called all the Americans up at the end of the service to give us gifts for coming. Sweet.....so sweet. They thanked us for coming and for giving so much to them. If they only realized that WE get more out of than they do!

Next was the reception in the fellowship hall. I thought church was hot......nope, this was even hotter. Minimal windows opened, probably 100+ people packed into a much smaller room. I had to leave.....I just knew I'd faint if I didn't.

Thankfully one of the drivers had pity on some of us and brought us back to the sanctuary. Finally I got to lay down on bed and relax after 9 hours of being around other people. I got my jammies on and am now ready for an early bed. Hallelujah!

Lots of Lessons to Learn

2010-07-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

God is so nice to let me get up off the dirty ground and dust off and get moving again. Too bad I've let distractions and dumb little things get in the way of what He has been trying to teach me.

Today was a very good day. We saw lots of fruit in lots of different ways.

We did four senior visits today.....very humbling (and VERY HOT......it was 95 outside, and a lot hotter in closed up houses). Folks just want to give and give and give to us. If they'd just understand that just visiting with them is such a rich experience that they don't need to give anything else.

They've taught us humility, love, hospitality, no complaining even when you have so little, getting along WELL with just enough (maybe even less than enough), and devotion to God and His promises. What a sweet savor they are to the Lord. I feel convicted, overjoyed, guilty, stunned, compassion, peace, and such a sense of God when I'm with them.

We've seen several that are very sick and may very well not be around next year when we come back. What a privilege to have a few minutes with them at the end of their life to learn so much and savor the presence of God with them. :)

ESL ended tonight. This was the best night. The kids were well behaved and enjoyed the English lessons very much. Haley shared the gospel with them. Lots of hugs going around to say good bye.

Tomorrow is church day. You should have heard the roar of delight when we were informed that breakfast is at 8:30 instead of 7:30. :) Everyone is looking forward to a day of rest and worship.

Sleep will be sweet tonight......

Good & Not So Good

2010-07-16T12:44:00.001-05:00

Wow......why is ministry so hard? We have really been in a battle since we got here.

We had an EXCELLENT day of visiting.....setting a new record of nine visits in one day. Hallelujah! And being in the seniors' homes is pure joy. I'm so thankful.

But today was a fairly hot day and in Ukraine, that means that you grow tired much more quickly without AC (if you are use to it, like us Americans). We were so exhausted when we arrived back at the seminary at 4:30 PM and had to turn right around at 5:30 and go to the church for ESL.

This year's ESL is disappointing. We didn't have the helpers like last year (started with just Dave, Donna & me from our group) and the planning was minimal. We were just given some teaching books right before we started Wed night and that was all. :( I don't do well without a plan. Thankfully, we got a few helpers from Mary's group, but with all the kids we've had and the different levels of English everyone is at.....it has been frustrating. Tomorrow is our last night.....and I'm not sure we've really accomplished anything. :( Nadiya says that it has been fine, and we've done the best we can, but it is hard for me to embrace that. I feel like if we commit to doing something, we should do it with excellence.

Coming back to the seminary from ESL tired and hungry.....hearing complaining and rumors....I'm done for the day.

I'm a bit discouraged tonight. Does this seem like a pattern or what? : /

Back on Track :)

2010-07-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

Today was such a better day than yesterday. :) First thing this morning, it started out rather rough.....but I started praying for a change in attitude and for all of us to be focused on the Lord.....remembering why we'd come and Who we were serving. God answered those prayers.

We did EIGHT visits today.....that is the most we have ever done on one day. Our total number of visits has rapidly climbed to 23. Last year we did 22 visits total and this year we have already done more than that. That is so awesome......especially since we have 56 seniors to visit on our list.

From our visits.....here's some highlights.

Pray for Araina's grandchildren to come to know Jesus as Savior.
Farocia is transcribing many of her poems into booklets and giving them to those in the church that will be baptized soon. She gave one of the booklets to Donna today. What a treasure! It is page upon page of handwritten poems from Farocia!
Many of the seniors still have the thank you notes and photos that we've given them from our visits. They bring them out and tell us how they pray for us and remember us. Amazing.

Carl was taken to L'viv today via ambulance. The doctor finally examined him a few hours ago and said that he will require anesthesia to reset his ankle and bone. Since they didn't want him to be put under while in Ukraine, they will fly home for the procedure. The doctor has released him as travel ready, so as soon as the insurance arranges flights for him, he will be flying back to Dallas. He is very disappointed that he can't stay for the rest of the trip.

ESL went well tonight. Even though I was short one worker, each of us took a different group of kids. Kaitlin had the beginners, I had the intermediate ones, and Haley had the advanced ones. Tamara helped me translate tonight and we taught the kids seasons, some action verbs, opposites, and we played Simon Says. The kids lapped up everything. It is amazing how eager they are to learn......and this is after most of them have been at day camp all day!

Tomorrow's schedule is a repeat of today's. We hope to get lots of visits in and then challenge the students in ESL. :)

Rough Day

2010-07-14T15:15:00.000-05:00

It's been a super rough day.

This morning we had some great visits with seniors. One was with Oksana and her daughter, Donna. We had a long visit with them and enjoyed talking with them so much. Donna was opened to what we had to say and we are praying for her and her brothers.....we're not certain of their salvation.

We visited sweet Hellie. She is a frail little 93 year old that now has cataracts and can not hear very well. But even with her declining health, she is very spunky. When Donna shared with her all the Ukrainian she knew, Hellie asked her "How long have you been studying Ukrainian?" :) Donna said, "Apparently not long enough". We were sad to say good-bye to her as this may be our last earthly visit with her. But praise God we will see her in heaven. :)

We went back to the seminary for lunch and Dave got the call that Carl, Jason's nephew on the trip had broken his leg on the trampoline. Dave, Nadiya, and Uri rushed off to help in that situation. Carl went to the hospital where they determined he has a broken bone just above the ankle and a dislocated ankle. They are going to keep him overnight and then take him to L'viv tomorrow so his bone can get reset. We're not sure of the details after that.

Needless to say, Carl's accident throw us into a tail spin. We were to start ESL tonight, and things were a bit up in the air. But we made it through and had fun with all the people that turned out for the evening. I worked with the kids....and there were about 30 of them. There were 25 teens and adults upstairs in the advanced groups. Wow.....what a turn out.

Tonight I'm struggling with a bad attitude. There are several things that happened today that put on a strain on relationships and stole some joy. Lots of little things going wrong too. We would appreciate your prayers so much.

Lots of Visits and Tea, Watermelon & Cake

2010-07-13T15:45:00.001-05:00

We've had an amazing day!

First we did six visits with seniors the first part of the day. We saw many of the same faces we saw last year.....but a new one too. It is amazing the amount of joy the Ukrainians receive from just a 15 minute visit from us. (Sounds like a GOD thing to me!) We sing a few hymns to them......we picked out ones that most know so that they can sing along in Ukrainian (Standing on the Promises, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Blessed Assurance, I Stand Amazed in the Presence). Then Nadiya & I sing the Gaither song "I Then Shall Live" that Nadiya translated into Ukrainian for us when we came to Ukraine in March. Donna is trying to learn it too. It really touches them that we would try to learn something in Ukrainian. :) Then I give them one of my decorated cookies. I made strawberries, lady bugs, watermelons, frogs, and lemon slices cookies......shapes that would be familiar to them. You can see them here. Then we pray with them.....and finally we present them with a bag of groceries. Each visit is unique.....and each very rewarding.

Tonight we had the Senior Tea.......thirty-five of them attended. We had 7 different kinds of yummy cakes, watermelon, candy, bananas, and sweet hot tea. There were lots of kisses and hugs and hand shakes when the dear ones came in and also when they departed. Most of them walked to the church (as that is their main mode of transportation) and came with such joyful, bright faces. We stuffed ourselves with sweet things, sang lots of songs (some in English and some in Ukrainian), gave testimonies, and had a glorious time together. Everyone seemed to leave with a happy heart.

Here's our little choir singing hymns to the seniors. :)

Clean up was S-T-I-C-K-Y! We're considering not having watermelon next year. ;) But everyone pitched in and clean up was a fairly quick process. We ate dinner at almost 10 PM.....probably too late after eating cake and sweets at 7 PM.

Everyone is exhausted.....but excited about all that God is doing.

Please pray! There has been MUCH spiritual warfare here. Rather than dwelling on the details, just know that God is up to some HUGE things and the enemy is fighting hard. Pray that he would be completely bound from us and all we are doing......and that God would show up in amazingly, wonderful ways. We desperately need you to pray that we can all stay focused and carry out the tasks God has called us to do. Pray for harmony, unity, good attitudes...............and for us to bear much fruit.

Time for some much needed rest. :)

Good First Day

2010-07-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

We bought lots of groceries this morning so that we could pack 56 bags for the seniors we will visit for the next two weeks. Last year we visited 22 seniors.....so 56 will more than double that number. Wow.....it will be exciting to see that many seniors!

This afternoon we saw five dear ones. Each one is someone we saw last year. All were so thrilled to see us. :) And we were thrilled to see them.

Pray for Stephanie......she said she didn't know how she'd spend eternity. Donna talked to her about accepting Christ to forgive all her sin. She didn't believe that God could forgive all of her sin......she felt there was too much bad in her life. Dave gave her verses in Romans and Ephesians about how Jesus paid for ALL our sin. She said she'd read the verses on her on. Stephanie is 84. :)

Tomorrow is a big day.....we'll visit all day long and then have a senior tea tomorrow night at the church. We'll be tired pups tomorrow night.

2010-07-11T14:55:00.001-05:00

We're here! We arrived in Borislav about 4 PM tonight. The flight this morning/afternoon was quick and easy. We've now settled in to our room (Donna, Kimmy, and I are rooming in the biggest sleeping room of the seminary!) and have nested. We met with the big group of 35 tonight and now it is time for bed. We start ministering tomorrow.

Here's our team in St. Louis.....bright eyed and bushy tails.

Nadiya joined us in Chicago. Here's some pics of all of us sitting in the airplane. We waited 4 hrs and 20 minutes before we finally took off. That was more than 12 hours in that airplane.

We started a two week long Farkle Frenzy in Chicago. You'll be seeing a lot more of these type pics.

Eating at the Warsaw hotel restaurant.

Picking up all our luggage at the Warsaw airport.

Here's our continuous Farkle Frenzy in Warsaw. :)

Check in this morning to get on the plane to L'viv. :)

Warsaw airport.......ready to go to Borislov!

For this flight, I got to sit in first class for the very first time! Here's the very unusual meal I received.

You should have seen this pile of baggages we brought out of the L'viv airport. We found some of the bags the North Carolina group had not received yet.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy and exciting day. Time for bed.

Almost there.....

2010-07-11T00:07:00.000-05:00

Due to a 4+ hour delay sitting on a plane in Chicago Friday night, we missed our flight from Warsaw, Poland to L'viv Ukraine Saturday morning. This meant that we stayed in Warsaw overnight Saturday and will head to L'viv and eventually the Borislav Seminary today. Overall the trip wasn't too bad.....just lots of waiting and some inconveniences. We've all had good attitudes and God has seen us through the tests.

I now have a Warsaw, Poland stamp in my passport. And according to my daughter, now that I have exited the airport in Warsaw, I have officially been to Poland. :)

The accommodations have been superb. I've been soaking in the "cushy" life of a private bath, air conditioning, comfortable bed and big fluffy pillows......knowing when we arrive at the Borislav seminary, we will share the three story building (three flights of steps to ascend and descend over and over again) with a total of 35 Americans. There are 3 bathrooms/showers.....so it will be quite a challenge, but fun. What a privilege to serve with all these dear ones......and show God's love and grace to as many Ukrainians as possible.

So.....we'll eat breakfast this morning and then head off to the airport (a short walk) at 9 AM to check in and head to L'viv at 11:05 AM. Another adventure. :)

Out the Door

2010-07-09T05:58:00.000-05:00

Bags are packed.....check lists are done. It's time to go. :) Excitement is in the air at all God is going to do these next two weeks.

Pray for our families as we leave them.......lots going on here in my own family, and I'm sure that is true in the others as well. Pray for our travels to go as God intends, with our hearts moldable and trusting no matter the twists and turns. Pray for our luggage to arrive safely and WITH us if possible. ;) Pray for all of us to be one in Spirit and united in our efforts. Pray for good attitudes and humble hearts. And pray that God will be glorified in it all......that He will bear much fruit.

THANK YOU for your prayers. We can do nothing on our own, only by His power and strength. He is such a good God that has been showing us much in these last few days. :)

Next stop.....Borislav, Ukraine. I'll write when I can.

Almost there.....

2010-07-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

I've got the cookies decorated.....all I have to do is package them and I'm ready to go. ;) Oh, if that is all I had left to do. lol But at least the cookies are ready. Now I just need to pull everything else together.

Today was a bit difficult. My son, Keith, just left for Army Reserves basic training. To think that he won't be back home until mid-December.....and that life as we know it now will never be the same......it has been tough. But I'm excited for him.....because he is thrilled to go and learn. And I know that he'll come back a changed young man. :)

We had our final Ukraine planning meeting tonight. We have all the info and got the second checked bags packed with all the supplies, etc that we'll need. Now we just meet together on Friday morning at the airport.....and it is time to fly.

I don't know if I'll have time to write again before I leave, but if not, I'll post once I'm settled at the seminary in Borislav. Can't wait!

Anticipation

2010-07-04T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm convinced that some of the best parts of a trip are the anticipation of it.

I just finished a holiday weekend of working.....and now that I'm done, I can concentrate on getting ready to go to Ukraine on Friday. Yippee.

My daughter, Allison, sold patriotic cookies for me today. She brought in $61. That brings my total since January to $1990. That not only pays for this trip's flight, but also provides another $400 for ministry as we go. God is so good.

Lots on my to-do list this week.....not the least of which is to bake and decorate a ton of cookies for the Ukrainians. :)

Thanks for your prayers and support....

Next Week!

2010-06-27T17:21:00.000-05:00

Oh wow.......in just 12 days I'm departing for my third trip to Ukraine. I can hardly wait. I got out my "Ukraine box" today and sorted through all the things from my past two trips. I've made my lists......now I just have to carry out my "to-do" list and pack. I'll be baking and decorating lots of cookies next week to take with me. I'm excited about all that God has planned. :)

July 9th is switftly approaching :)

2010-06-17T06:25:00.002-05:00

Right after I wrote the last post on this blog, my son Neil called from his mission trip in Haiti to let me know that he and his team had been in a bad truck accident. Talk about a whirlwind of events from that point on! Praise the Lord no one perished and no one was in critical condition. Neil had some significant head injuries (concussion, badly broken nose, broken cheek bone, at least 38 stitches on his face, 9 stapes in the top of his head) and a broken transverse process of one of his lumbar vertebra, and tons of cuts, road rash, and bruises all over his body. All of his injuries were fixable.....he'll just have a few scars. What amazing protection God gave to my son and his Haiti mission team. You can read more about the accident and updates about the team's faculty sponsor who is still recovering in a Miami hospital here.

Right after the accident, my two youngest, Keith & Allison, graduated from homeschool high school. It was a crazy time to say the least. With all the prep for the graduation, open house, etc and then Neil's surgery to re-set his nose and the healing process, it was a wild few weeks. But Neil is healing nicely, Keith and Allison are high school graduates, and things are settling down in our household. :)

So I look at a calendar, and suddenly our Ukraine trip is just three weeks from Friday. Oh my! It is time to get very serious about planning for the trip.

Praise the Lord.....God provided all the money for my expenses through cookies. Since January, I have raised over $1700. Amazing!

Gotta go pack......just kidding. But I do have lists to make and things to get ready for the trip.

July Trip Will Be Here Soon

2010-05-17T06:06:00.002-05:00

When I returned home in March from our FLF trip to Ukraine, it seemed like the July trip was so far away. Now it is mid-May and suddenly the realization that our Ukraine is only 7 weeks from Friday (July 9) is amazing! Time flies so fast.

Our tickets are set for July 9 through July 24. How exciting to think about going back to Ukraine and visiting all our friends and working hard for the Lord. I can hardly wait.

Already, ideas for next year's July trip (2011) are starting to formulate. Since it does not work out for us to plan a women's retreat for this summer (as we'd talked with the ladies about last summer), we need to start laying a foundation for it to happen NEXT summer. I'm considering going to Ukraine for four weeks instead of two next summer so that I can be involved with all our church does, but also do prep work for the retreat and then have the retreat at the beginning of August. Becky and I talked with a few of the Borislav ladies on this last trip in March and they said the best time for a retreat would be in August. So that is what we will attempt. Since they don't know the word "retreat" we will most likely call it a women's "camp".....a term they DO understand.

We have a Ridgecrest Ukraine meeting tonight to discuss the trip and our fund raiser in June. I'll know more then.

Ironically, I just had a Skype call on Saturday with the Future Leadership Foundation team to plan next year's (2011) regional pastors and spouse conference. I've been asked to put together a plan for the women's conference that we would love to have for the women in March 2011.

Isn't it amazing the opportunities that God has put in our path to minister to the women of Ukraine? I'm in awe of His provision and timing. And I'm grateful that He would let me be involved in His work.

More updates to come......

Home From A Glorious Trip!

2010-03-24T06:29:00.006-05:00

We arrived back in St. Louis late Monday evening. It was so nice to be home with family and enjoy my HEAVENLY bed and pillow! Now I'm just trying to keep my head above water as I dig out of all the things neglected while I was gone. :)

I wanted to wrap up this chapter of my Ukraine adventures by sharing pics of the last couple of days in the country spent traveling, sight seeing, shopping, and processing.

We left the hotel on Saturday morning. We had been told that it was located in Skole.....but come to find out, Skole is a bigger town quite a distance away from where we were staying. The hotel was actually located in the village pronounced Poe-lyah-nah......affectionately know by our team as Polyanna. =)

The beauty of the country side was breathtaking.....

Becky managed to capture a sight seen fairly regularly on the country roads of Ukraine.....horses pulling a wagon piled high with hay.

Another common sight on this trip.....this is a mistletoe tree....the real deal. The Ukrainians don't have the same tradition as Americans do about mistletoe. That may be a good thing considering how many of these we saw. :)

We arrived back in Borislav on Saturday afternoon and attended Borislav Baptist Church again on Sunday. Here's Emerson preaching while Slavic interprets.

This woman is affectionately known as "Babushka" to several of our church team members who come every July. She declared herself Donna's babushka (grandmother) and the name stuck. :) She is very sweet and is known for her kisses right on the mouth ( men included)! She makes me smile every time.

After lunch on Sunday, we drove to L'viv and had some time to do some sightseeing and shopping. Here is our sweet interpreter, Nadiya, dressed as a 'L'viv girl" as soon as we had a chance to change after arriving in L'viv. :)

A beautiful church just down the street from the L'viv seminary where we were staying...

This is part of the street car system we rode to go into downtown L'viv. We saw a very interesting variety of people as we traveled through the city.......from the super stylish to the homeless, from the very young to the very old, and everything in between. ;)

Here's one of those cool corner buildings......

Downtown L'viv is very European.....so pretty and fun to walk down the streets.

We went into a chocolate store to make some purchases for our families. Here's the spread they had of individual chocolates.

Our final "official" event was Sunday evening when we all came together for a nice dinner in downtown L'viv. We dined at the Flamingo Restaurant. It was very nice and the food was exceptional. What a huge blessing to wrap up the week.

Here's the whole team (minus J.B. who was taking the pic) with Dr. Romaniuk and his son, Valik. We had a fantastic meal and spent some time talking about the week and discussing how we might continue to minister and equip the regional pastors and wives in the future.

It is so exciting to be involved in things God is doing in Ukraine. I feel so honored to be a part of it. It looks like we may have the privilege of doing this again next March if God keeps the doors open. It is exciting times for sure!

Thanks for following my trip and being such an encouragement to me along the way. And thank you for purchasing my cookies to provide the funds for this trip. I'm so grateful.

Stay tuned......my next Ukraine trip is just 3 1/2 months away!

Mission Accomplished :)

2010-03-20T00:19:00.005-05:00

We finished out our final day of the retreat yesterday. It was a very full day....and God blessed us tremendously.

Thursday evening we had a joint worship service where we took the Lord supper. It was a unique experience.....I'm glad I got to be part of their special time. We had to adjust a bit, but haven't we been doing that nearly every moment we've been here? ;) They pass around a communal cup to everyone with real wine. I did my best to focus on the reason and not the element.

One of the younger pastors got up that night and gave a testimony. He shared how while JB Peterson was working on nuclear weapons and missiles at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing in the 1980s, he was in the Russian military on a ship with weapons to counter the US weapons. JB and he were major enemies. He shared how the Russians hated the US with a passion. Then this young man got a hold of a Bible and read the whole thing in two days. He said he cried all the way through it. And he was amazed when he saw inside the Bible that it was from the American Bible Society. It was hard for him to believe that something so good could come from America. He gave His heart to Jesus and his whole attitude toward American began to change. He wanted to share how good God is to bring he and JB together as brothers in Christ who are working towards the same end now. :) What a glorious testimony of God's grace over the years!

Christian married women in the Ukraine always have their heads covered with a scarf in worship.....in particular when they pray. Becky caught a sneak peek of the women as we prayed yesterday.

Here's Becky teaching about Mary of Bethany as Nadyia translates.....

This is the whole group of pastors wives together. I will treasure this photo. :))))))

Looba, the Ukrainian Baptist Union's president's wife, shared with Becky and me about the vision she has for have a country wide ministry in place to care for the orphans and the families that adopt orphans. She has her own history of adopting several orphans (I believe it is six.....along with her three natural children!) and providing bread and necessities for an entire orphanage. She described some horrible conditions to us. So God has placed on her heart a huge task of networking a system of ministry. We are excited to pray for the things she described and connect her with some of our like minded friends in the States. :)

We had the pleasure of going out on a sight seeing trip yesterday afternoon. It was so fun and refreshing to get away from the hotel and do something so enjoyable together. :)

Here is the 13th century castle up on a hill that we got to visit first hand. This was my first time seeing a castle. Just to know it was completed in 1241 AD blows me away!!!! That is WAY older than our country.

This pic is of us standing on the drawbridge looking down at the empty moat. I'm telling you......it was just like the movies! I kept thinking of one of my favorite movies of Cinderella where the prince lived in the big castle on the hill. (Allison.....you know which one I'm taking about!!)

The only problem was it was lots of walking on very uneven surfaces and it was hard on my healing foot. We climbed many steps and walking over large stones. Ouch! But in my mind, it was very worth it. :)

The view of the city of Moo-kah-cha-vo from the top of the castle. Beautiful!

The ladies......me, Nadyia, and Becky.

The men.....Dr Romaniuk, JB Peterson, Joe Privott, and Slavik.

The Ukrainian flag..... :)

This was a dark dank place where they held the prisoners....the dungeon. It was just as I'd imagined it to be complete with a hole to throw people down into (like a lions den) and a torture room. Too real....you know?

After the castle we went into the city. This area is very close to Hungary and it has lots of Hungarian and European influence. It was a beautiful city and very entertaining to see all the sights. We visited an orthodox church there. It was my first time entering one. There were beggars outside looking very sad.

Becky got a shot of the inside......lots of gold and ornate things everywhere. It broke my heart to see the people so devote and religious and yet missing true salvation.

And the sights in the city were incredible.....notice the dog with the fancy coat on.

We stopped at a cafe and had coffee, tea, and dessert. Such a wonderful time with our friends. :)

This will probably be my last post in Ukraine for this trip. I'm not certain of my internet access from this point on. We'll leave for Borislav after breakfast.....only minutes away. And then tomorrow morning early we will drive to L'viv and attend church there. The men have a business men's event in the afternoon.....while we get to shop! We have lots of small items to buy for the many donors to the FLF support of this trip. Becky and I are looking forward to spending our final day with Nadyia. :)

Thanks for your love, support, blog comments, and most of all your prayers. They have produced much fruit on this trip. We believe God is tearing down walls and opening opportunities to further His kingdom in both evangelism and discipleship here in Ukraine. May He alone be glorified.

More Photos.....

2010-03-18T13:52:00.005-05:00

It was another terrific day of the regional pastors/wives retreat. Becky taught about Mary Magdalen to the women this morning and did a fabulous job. God spoke volumes through the study. Our love for these women deepens and we are so humbled that God could use us to encourage and strengthen them.....along with giving them material to teach when they get back home.

I have pics from last night and this morning. I'm about a day behind in getting the pics from Becky......but at least I have some to share.

These next few pics are of the shish kabob BBQ we had last night. Here are the men preparing all the food outside in the snow. They chopped up wood to make several fires and put together the entire meal that way. I was so impressed.....

Here's one of the little cottages in front of the hotel that are intended for somewhat enclosed outdoor eating with a long picnic table and long benches on either side. The kitchen staff put out all the dishes, water bottles, cabbage salad, and bread......along with the dessert of which I call "honey buns". :)

When dinner was delayed by about 1 and 1/2 hours, we all went inside to wait. It was just too cold to stand outside and watch the men work. ;) This is the front desk. I'm talking to Slavic, and Nadyia (our translator) is talking to Dr. Romanuik's wife, Nina.

Here's most of the regional pastors' wives, Nadyia, Becky, and me all in a group pic. This is an awesome bunch of sisters in Christ!

Here's some of the men serving the "chili". I found out later that this soup (it appeared to be hearty vegetable soup with several kinds of meat and beans.....and lots of spicy hot flavor) is a Hungarian style dish. It was very delicious.

Here's several in the shelter of the enclosed cottage where it was still cold.....but not quite as bad as out in the open.

This was the only dessert we've had all week.....but boy are these "honey buns" fantastic. It is a sweet bread dough baked with something like sticky honey on top and then sprinkled with poppy seeds or very fine shredded coconut. Yum! :)

Shish kabobs!

We're warming up after our exciting outdoor dinner with lots of hot tea. They had these long tea bags that they hung from the side of the teapot filled with hot water and allowed the tea to brew in the pot. And boy do Ukrainians have wonderful hot tea!

This morning's breakfast......Nadyia and me.

Becky, Nadyia, and Nina. :)

My final teaching session......going over the Hannah study questions.

We had 25+ women studying with us this morning. What a beautiful sight. :)

More of the women......precious.....every one of them.

After our morning session.....Becky, Nadyia and I went shopping. This is a tiny little shop within walking distance of the hotel. They sold everything from fashionable ladies clothes (from Hungary.....just over the border), shampoo and toiletries, tea pots, toys, doilies and table clothes, etc etc. Nadyia wanted to buy some skirts.....they were only $20 each. She said ordinarily skirts run about $40.

Here's the sweet grocery store worker who sold us our sodas and some yummy cookies. :) Notice the abacus on the counter that she used to add up our total cost. Wow!

Another fine day in Skole, Ukraine. Tomorrow will be the final day of the retreat. Many of the pastors and wives will leave tomorrow since they have up to a 48 hour trip home (on the train or bus). They've made many sacrifices to come to this retreat. God is honoring that.....

Dinner on the Grounds.....in TWENTY DEGREE weather!

2010-03-17T14:12:00.002-05:00

If there is one thing I'm certain of.....it is that Ukrainians are hearty, TOUGH people. They've been through much.....so they can withstand so much more than us weak Americans.

Tonight they grilled shish kabobs for us. Everyone when out in front of the hotel and had "chili" (I'd call it a very hearty, spicy, meaty vegetable soup with chili beans), and then Shish kabob beef, chicken, and pork with grilled potatoes and onions, and cabbage salad with bread. We thought everyone would go get their food and then go inside since it was in the 20s tonight......but nooooo.....they all stood outside to eat. We enjoyed it, but our hands were frozen when we came in. We ordered hot tea and coffee and sat around a table to warm up.

I gotta tell you......I've had a lot experiences in the last five days that will definitely be highlights and "firsts" in my memories........in particular falling in the snow just hours after I arrived in a winter-y Ukraine, going to a Ukrainian "hospital", seeing Ukraine covered in lots of snow, experiencing the Carpathian Mountains, and eating dinner outside in 20 degree weather! Many of these events have been captured in photos. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for photos of tonight's memorable meal. :)

Many have asked about my foot. It's doing better. The pain is less even though it is still swelling a lot. I'm able to walk more easily on it. Thankfully the snow has stopped falling here, and in fact it has melted off the sidewalks and streets.....so I was able to walk outside with little trouble tonight. Those first few days after the fall......I was petrified to walk in all the snow with those lasting memories of falling. I wouldn't step anywhere outside without holding on to someone's arm. Everyone has been extra kind and good to me with this crazie injury. I'm thankful to God that it has not hindered me from ministering in His name in any form. :)

Here's a photo from today of my lovely bruised leg and balloon foot.

Time for bed. Pray for tomorrow's Bible study lesson on Mary of Bethany. Becky is teaching tomorrow.....and these next two days are crucial lessons. There are some specific things that we are discerning need to be said with love and boldness. Please lift Becky and I up as we proclaim the truth in love.

Thanks for being there for us.....

God is Blessin' Us So Much :)

2010-03-17T07:36:00.005-05:00

It has already been a glorious day here in Skole, Ukraine.....and it is only 3 PM. :) The women's Bible study of Hannah went well this morning. *I* didn't feel as good about teaching it as I did about yesterday's Sarah study.....and yet I could tell with the response of many of the women, it really touched their hearts. It just goes to show that it is not about us. ;)

I'm trying to download some of Becky's video so that you can see and hear the pastors and wives sing in worship to the Lord.....but blogger is not liking the big video file. :o/

Here's a pic of the Continental Hotel where we are staying. Becky took this yesterday after it had just snowed.....but today it is sunny and beautiful outside......however very chilly.

Here's a pic of the water right around the hotel property. This country is so beautiful.

Yesterday's breakfast was rather unusual......buckwheat, sausages, and cabbage salad. They say it is not so much Ukrainian.....mainly German.

Here's Nadia and me enjoying that unusual breakfast. :)

The first evening at the hotel......everyone joined together for worship. The room was too small to hold everyone....and boy was it hot.....but oh what a blessed time of worship. Becky took video of the men and women singing. Hopefully blogger will let me load it onto this blog.

Here's the walkway from the main part of the hallway to the back addition of the hotel. The women are meeting in a room at the end of this hallway....nice and cozy with leather couches and chairs. This hallway is so bright and cheery with all the windows on either side.

Here's a few of our precious ones diligently filling out their study questions. We are having such a great time with the women. They are eager to learn......and are teaching US so much.

We have free time this afternoon and then shish-ka-bobs at 5 PM available outside. I've been told that we are allowed to go out and get them and bring them back into the hotel to eat. It is a good thing since it is pretty nippy outside......probably in the 20s!!!!

Blessed Day

2010-03-16T13:23:00.003-05:00

It was such a fantastic day.....our first teaching day. The ladies were so responsive.....and really loved the Bible study time. It seems that all the barriers are being broken down (except for the language barrier......although Nadia is doing an awesome job!) and God is working to knit all our hearts together. What a privilege to be amongst my sisters in Christ and encourage them.....as they encourage me. This evening they sang a song for us......so pretty. It brought tears to my eyes. The song was how God has brought us together as family......and what an appropriate song. :) Some have already called this week like heaven.....and I believe it certainly is a taste of it.

This morning we had an interesting breakfast......buckwheat (it looked like huge pieces of swollen oatmeal.....but tasted like chick peas, to me), long thin pale sausages that reminded me of very thin skinned, light hot dogs, and cabbage salad. Who would have thought! Nadia said it was not a typical Ukrainian breakfast......it had more of a German flavor.

Today I had much more energy and was much less tired than yesterday. My foot is still very swollen most of the time.....but the pain is a little less each day. Thank you for your prayers.

Tomorrow morning I teach about Hannah.....so I'd appreciate your prayers for yet another day with these precious women of God.

Good night.....

Finally.....Some Pics of Beloved Ukraine

2010-03-16T05:42:00.007-05:00

Becky has been taking some fabulous pics of Ukraine. She always thinks of just the right time to snap a shot. I'm so grateul she is letting me use her photos.

Here's a pic of our trip from L'viv on that first day to beloved Borislav. The roads were often snow packed and pretty slippery.....but Valik was a superb driver in the snow.

The roads up the hill to the seminary in Borislav were treacherous. Valik asked us to get out of the van and walk since the van was stuck and unmovable with six people inside along with tons of luggage in the back. Since I had foot/ankle surgery last August.....it was tough for me to walk up that hill in the snow with steady steps. With in the first five minutes I fell......but only badly bruised my left leg.

This pic was taken just before my second fall......ouch. I some how slipped so that the top of my left foot hit the packed snow. I had no choice but to get up and keep trudging along. Emerson, one of my fellow team members, gave me his arm and we took it one step at a time. A bit later, Valik had freed the van and got it up the hill. He stopped and let us ride the rest of the way to the seminary. What a relief!

Here is a pic of our beloved Borislav in the winter. :)

One of those dangerous curves high up on the hill.

The hairpin turn.....that can even be treacherous in the summer time....can you imagine in the winter?

The Borislav seminary.....what a blessed sight. :)

At Stepan and Tanya's house.....a common sight in the entry of Ukrainian homes.....

Our trip to the "hospital".....this particular hospital is designed for urgent care, surgery, and ICU. Oh.....if you could only see this place in person. You would be shocked!

Becky and I both commented on the "soothing flourescent green" of the hospital entry way. ;)

Boy....is this an ominous picture? I'm sitting in the room with a enormous ancient x-ray instrument. The lighting in the room was lacking....and you should have heard the instrument whirl and whizz for more than a minute after the nurse took the xray shots. I held a 12x12 leather covered board in front of my chest to protect me from the xrays. Oh my!!

Borislav Baptist Church on Sunday morning....

The snowy front yard and drive-way of Stepan and Tanya's home......our hosts. :)

As the tenmperatures got a little higher....the snow turns to slush and mud makes going up the hill even harder.

This is on our way to Skole (pronounced Skole-ee). This was our first sudden breathtaking view of the mountains.

The retreat for regional Ukrainian pastors and wives is being held at the Continental Hotel. This is the view from our room. Gorgeous! It's been snowing on and off since we came. I'm getting all the snow I missed in St. Peters this year......to cap off my winter. Then I'll come back to spring when I get home. :)

My little corner of the hotel room.

Nadia (on the left) is our translator. She is doing such an excellent job! Plus she is as sweet as she can be......and she's become a good friend to Becky and me. She says we are her "Mommas" for the week. :)

Here's just some of the 25 sweet women (all pastors' wives) we are encouraging this week. What a privilege! I've already been so blessed......my heart is full.

We had a "shopping mall" for the women. Many Missourians donated lots and lots of items that might be needed.....and the women were encouraged to take as much as they wanted.....but the one stipulation was that they take it ALL. We did not want to take any of it home. =) They were so gracious.....making sure that everyone got something. They are all so precious.....

I hope to write again tonight......just wanted to let you see some of the pics from the beginning of the trip.

Great Day.....Exhausted.....a good tired. :)

2010-03-15T15:06:00.002-05:00

We had a fantastic first day at the Pastors & Wives retreat.

It is a little comical how spontaneous the Ukrainians are.....but other than that, the day went off without a hitch.

We had a "planning meeting" with all the leadership this morning. Just to show you how unpredictable things can be.....they told us that dinner was at 7 PM tonight. Then after lunch they told us dinner was at 6 PM. When we had our first session with the women this afternoon, THEY told us that dinner was at 6:30 PM. And that is finally where it landed. We are learning big lessons on being flexible....and these constant changes (we joke that we are on Plan G or H instead of Plan A or B!) are very challenging. Obviously God has something for us Americans to learn in it all.

The first session with the women this afternoon was WONDERFUL! They are so sweet and have already started opening up to us even after just an hour or two together. We had a time of sharing and then we gave them lots of gifts. I shared my cookies with them.....they liked them a lot. :) Then we set up a "shopping mall" of items people back in Missouri had donated for the trip.....things like medicines, toiletries, pens and pencils, stickers, a few toys, socks, etc etc. They were all so gracious.

One lady said she'd gotten something for her son, her grand child and for her husband. We told her she should get something for herself. She said as long as she had something for all of them, she was happy and didn't need anything else. Isn't that amazing?

You would be amazed at how excited they were to receive vitamins and medicines. That is top on the list of things for us to collect for our July trip.....they just do not have access to over the counter meds.

So much more happened.....but I am utterly and completely exhausted. It is 10 PM and we start back up at 8:30, and I want to be ready for another big day. I teach the first Bible study tomorrow......on Sarah. Please pray for me, that God will lead us all as we open the Word together. I want so much for these ladies to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith. I love all of them all ready. I know that is from God.

Thanks for reading and praying. :))))))))

Safe and Sound.....uh, except for the injury

2010-03-14T17:27:00.002-05:00

We arrived in Ukraine yesterday (Saturday) safe and sound. It was quite an adventure to get here. We pulled out of Dulles Washington airport gate and they had to pull back into the gate when some baggage was checked and on the plane, but the passenger had not come aboard. They got all the luggage out to pull the abandoned bag. With that and the 20 minute delay on the runway, we were 90 minutes late with take off. We only had 25 minutes in Munich airport to board the next plane.....which required going through security again. Ugh.....but through God's grace we made it on that plane (the only one flying into L'viv that day). Shewww......what a relief.

Once in Ukraine....we began to see all the snow. It was beautiful.....especially when we got to our beloved Borislav. They had just had THREE FEET of snow (Allison....I know you are jealous at this moment :)). Lots of it had melted already.....but oh it is still so pretty.

The only bad thing is that the streets were pretty sloppy and slippery. And going up the steep hill to the seminary was treacherous. When we got stuck in a very back-heavy van (loaded with all our luggage), Valik asked us to all get out and walk. Well.....if you don't know, I just had foot and ankle surgery back in August.....and walking in snow is asking a lot....especially walking up hill. I slipped and fell right away, but it just caused huge leg bruises. But after walking up the hill some more....I fell again. This time I turned into a position that hurt the top of my foot. I walked some more....but eventually Valik came up the hill in the van and picked two of us to take us to the seminary. Once at the seminary.....I knew my foot was in bad shape. Walking was very painful. After lunch and then resting with it propped with a snow pack......then going to Stepan and Tanya's for the evening.....it hurt worse and swelled like crazy. Stepan convinced me to go to the hospital for an xray.....just to make sure it wasn't broken. Oh my.....the hospital experience was interesting. Becky has pictures!!!!! The xray machine looked like something from the 1940s.
The doctor said that there was no break.....but to keep it elevated, put ice on it, and take anti-inflammatory. I've been doing that.

Our first night sleep was awesome! We were dog tired and slept like babies. And my foot felt better this morning......praise the Lord. It still is hugely swollen and hurts to walk, but it is better.

We went to Borislav Baptist Church this morning. It was a wonderful celebration of worship with our dear brother and sisters in Christ. Becky and I sang our song in Ukrainian and the people were very amazed. They enjoyed it very much. :)

We had to say good bye to most of our Borislav friends this afternoon to travel to Skole (pronounced Skole - ee) in the mountains. We just arrived at our home for six days.....the Continental Hotel. We haven't seen the scenery yet, because it was dark when we arrived.....but from the mountains and snow and trees we saw early on in today's trip.....I'm sure it is beautiful.

Tomorrow starts the pastors and wives retreat here at the hotel. We are very excited to get started.....but first we need some sleep desperately. Good night for now....

The Mystery of the Luggage

2010-03-11T21:09:00.001-06:00

Back in July when our church group went to the Ukraine, three of us suddenly found our luggage missing right before check-in at the airport to begin our journey home. That was 7 and 1/2 months ago. You can read about it here.

Guess what?! We got a call last week from Air France at JFK airport. They were just casually informing us that they had our luggage. When I said...."You mean from last July"....the agent was surprised. She said it arrived in the US on February 17.

Where do you suppose it was for nearly 7 months??? And even more importantly....how did it get on the plane when we didn't check it.....how did it get to Paris.....and why was it sent to the US on Air France when we never even used that airline???

Thankfully, Air France cared enough to call and inform us. We had to pay to have it shipped to us.....but that made sense when AF had nothing to do with the lost luggage.

My suitcase arrived yesterday (as did the baggage of the other two guys that had lost theirs).....filled with everything I had put in it back in July. :))))))) It was so fun to see all the souvenirs I had bought my family safely packed away. My kids enjoyed some of the yummy Ukrainian candy and had fun looking at all the packaging, etc. It was like Christmas at our house.

Isn't it amazing that I received it just two days before returning to Ukraine? :) God is good.....there were many things in that bag that I can use for this new trip. And I'm so grateful He performed a miracle and brought my luggage back to me.

I'm almost ready for tomorrow......just need to put everything INTO the suitcase. :)

Cookies Are Ready to Travel :)

2010-03-10T22:55:00.004-06:00

Well.....I may not be all packed and ready to go, but at least the cookies I'm taking are.....priorities you know! :) I got them finished this afternoon. So now I just need to get everything else in place.

Lots and lots of pretty spring flowers for the Ukrainians.....

I attempted the Future Leadership Foundation logo......one of those very challenging cookies. I am so happy with how they turned out. I prayed as I decorated....asking God to bless my skill. I can't believe the writing is legible. I usually stink at writing. God is good!

The small squares below the logo are made to represent the Ukraine flag....

Things are really getting exciting. Only 36 hours until we leave. Hopefully tomorrow will be a very productive day. My to do list is still way too long......

Crunch Time......

2010-03-09T05:49:00.002-06:00

Only three days left.....so much to do. Today I'm decorating cookies to take to the Ukraine. I've made lots and lots of little flowers to share with all the pastors' wives that we'll be ministering to. I can't wait to give them away....and I haven't even decorated them. lol

God has been preparing my heart. Yesterday, I had a healthy dose of humbling.....realizing that God doesn't need me to go......He's just the awesome One..... allowing me the privilege to go so that He can fill me up and use me. I feel so unworthy.....but also at the same time so blessed.

Things are coming together......but the closer Friday gets, the more things I think of that I need to take care of. Pray I can be calm and trust that God will afford me the time to get everything that I'm supposed to get done.....and the rest will not matter or will be here when I get back.

Off to pray with a dear friend and then decorate cookies. :)

Next Friday!

2010-02-28T11:02:00.002-06:00

Wow......next Friday we leave for Skole, Ukraine. I can hardly believe it is almost here. I'm getting very excited.

I've pulled out the Bible studies that I wrote back in June 2009 for this event. Boy.....it's been so long since Becky and I put our material together. But as I read it today, it is so fresh and relevant to my OWN life, not to mention to those sweet Ukrainian women's lives. God is going to do some incredible things.....I can sense it.

I found out about this Future Leadership Foundation event back in March of 2009. So it will be a whole year before it's fulfillment. How interesting that one of the Bible lessons I'm teaching on is about Sarah and how she had to wait and trust the Lord with the promise of a son over a long period of time. Sarah waited over 25 years for God's promise to be fulfilled. WOW!

Lots to do these next few days.....and hopefully I'll get some cookies made for the trip too.

First I need to get over this dreadful cold that I am battling. I'm so thankful it is not strep throat as I originally thought.....but it is still quite annoying and miserable, just the same.

Would you please pray for good health for me and my family. Also, pray that I can use my time wisely this next week as I not only prepare to go on a ten day trip to the Ukraine, but also get my family ready for my absence. Thanks for your support!!!

It looks like the weather has warmed up considerably in UK.....so hopefully it will be in the 30s and 40s like it is here. However, we will be up in the mountains, so it will colder and snowy up there. I've got my Cuddl Duds and boots ready to go.... :)

March Will Be Here Before You Know It!

2010-01-24T13:57:00.003-06:00

We just got our itinerary for our March Ukraine trip. We leave on March 12. That's only six weeks from Friday. Wow......to think when the trip was postponed back in November 2009, we had FOUR months until the rescheduled trip. Now all of a sudden it is almost here. I guess I better started getting serious about trip preparation. hee hee

I just looked at the weather in L'viv Ukraine (there's a weather.com link located on this blog on the right side bar) and it is -2 degrees. Brrrr.....hopefully it warms up in six weeks. =)

Great news! I was able to make $711 through Cookies With A Mission from October to December, and that was donated to Future Leadership Foundation (the organization that Becky and I are going with in March) to provide scholarship for pastors and their wives to go to the coaching retreat that we will teach at. It cost $300 for one couple to go. So that money will send at least two couples to the retreat! God is awesome to use silly little cookies to raise funds to help equip Ukrainian pastors.

I try to keep you updated on what is going on as the trip approaches.

2009.....a Very Good Year!

2009-12-31T16:12:00.002-06:00

This year has been filled with lots of great things. I guess one of the biggest for me was the chance to experience Ukraine and it's amazing people.....and thus develop such a heart for the country. I'm truly thankful for the trip I got to take in July.....and hopefully I'll return....and maybe twice in 2010.

The Future Leadership Foundation trip is planned for March 2010. Our church, Ridgecrest Baptist Church, hopes to return in July 2010. We shall see what God has planned. I thought I was going in November 2009.....and things changed. ;-)

One of the biggest blessings I've received this year is the ability to decorate cookies and raise money for the Ukraine mission effort. I call it "Cookies With A Mission".....and from March 2009 through the end of this year, I have raised over $2700 for the cause!!!! God has shown me much favor.....and allowed me to do something I love in order to contribute much to the Christian evangelism and discipleship that is going on in Ukraine. What joy!

I wish you all a Happy New Year.....and may God be glorified even more in 2010.

November 2009 Ukraine Trip is Postponed Due to Widespread Flu Epidemic in Ukraine :-(

2009-11-02T12:42:00.005-06:00

With a very sad heart, I type these words. I just got word that FLF has postponed the November 2009 Ukraine trip due to the flu epidemic in western Ukraine. They are going to try to reschedule for some time in the spring.

God knows best......and He is never late, and ALWAYS on time......

Trip May Be Postponed......

2009-11-02T07:16:00.003-06:00

News from Ukraine reports that there is a H1N1 flu epidemic. The leadership of FLF is looking into how severe the problem is and deciding soon (probably today, Monday) whether or not our team will travel to western Ukraine next Friday, November 13. There is a concern that if there are truly that many who are sick with the flu, we won't have a very good turn out of pastors and wives coming to the coaching retreat because of personal or family illness. Please pray for the spread of the flu to cease and that those who are sick would recover quickly and completely. And also pray for the FLF leadership to make wise decisions concerning this trip and retreat.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty disappointed in the thought of not going. It seems like from all we've heard, the flu has hit pretty hard, and thus, we won't be going. :-( It's projected that we may postpone the retreat until spring 2010.......but I'm pretty certain that I would not be able to swing getting off work an additional few weekends then, due to other activities that are going on in the spring and summer next year.

Even though this looks like a death of a dream, I'm confident my God knows what He is doing and that He will be glorified in it all.

Singing Ukrainian???

2009-10-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

This week, I had the privilege of spending lots of time with Nadya Pyzh to learn a song in Ukrainian for the November trip. Nadya is a Ukrainian who is currently living in the States with her husband, Slavic, who is working on his seminary doctorate so that when they return to Borislav, Ukraine, he will become the new president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary. (This is where we stayed and worked when we went to Borislav in July.)

Joe Privott, one of the instructors for the Pastors Coaching Retreat in November, asked Becky and me to sing a song done by the Gaither Vocal Band, entitled "I Then Shall Live". You can hear it on You-tube here. He will be preaching on the prodical son....and this song fits nicely in sharing how we should live after all that the Father has done for us.

Joe asked Nadya to translate it into Ukrainian and teach it to us so that we might sing directly to the Ukrainians while we are there.

As Nadya spoke the translation to me, I wrote done the "words" phonetically so that Becky and I might be able to sing it and at least sound like we were speaking Ukrainian. ;-) It was hard work.....and even harder work to try to master the song. I'm praying God will give us the ability to memorize it.....which is challenging since it includes three verses with no phrase alike.

I want so much to do this for our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.....because I believe it will mean a lot to them. I think of the many times we sat in services and meetings where we did not understand any of the words spoken or sung. It is hard to stay focused and get much out of what is happening.

If we sing the song in English and give them the Ukrainian words, they will get something out of it......but how much better to sing to them directly.

We've got less than four weeks to learn the song. Yikes! Time is swiftly moving as it always does.

Here We Go Again!

2009-09-29T08:24:00.002-05:00

I've just spent seven weeks recovering from a foot and ankle surgery and now it is time to start gearing up for my second trip to Ukraine in 2009. While I've been recovering.....time has flown, and suddenly it is going to be OCTOBER this week. Wow!

My second trek to Ukraine will be with Future Leadership Foundation (FLF). The goal is a coaching retreat for Ukrainian regional pastors and wives. Becky and I will be teaching and encouraging the pastors' wives for one week during the regional pastors conference. It takes place at a retreat center close to the ski resort town of Skole, Ukraine. We'll be gone from November 13 through 23.

Great news! The cookie money I made back in the spring, plus money my church, Ridgecrest Baptist, is contributing will completely cover the costs of my trip. I'm so excited because I thought I'd have to make lots of cookies orders in order to cover these costs.....and it is already done. Praise God!

Interestingly, there is a huge financial need to cover the costs for Ukraine pastors and wives to come to the retreat. It will only cost $300 per couple for lodging, meals, and conference costs for an entire week. I'm so excited.....because now I can devote all my cookie income to help the Ukrainian pastors/wives benefit from this retreat. :-)

If you are interested in helping, go to the FLF website and donate money specifically for the November Ukraine Coaching Retreat. Thanks so much for your prayer and financial support!

Saturday, we had an orientation meeting with lots of information about the trip and the preparation needed. It kind of woke me up to the fact that I AM GOING TO THE UKRAINE AGAIN! lol Sounds silly......but remember, I've been recovering from surgery and living in my own little world for almost two months. :-)

Believe it or not, we leave in six weeks! I can hardly believe we are that close. And speaking from experience.....I know that time will be a mere blip on the radar screen.

I'm making lists and aim to get lots done in plenty of time to be ready to go share God's love, grace, and mercy to those dear ones that have devoted their lives to serve Him. :-)

Safely Home :-)

2009-07-27T07:49:00.003-05:00

We made it home yesterday morning. Praise the Lord!

There were lots of snafus on the way home.

Three of us had our luggage stolen (at least that is what we think happened)......so it has been a real growing experience to accept that fact that I lost a whole bunch of possessions. God has used the whole experience to solidify the things he has taught me in the Ukraine about contentment and having a gratefulness, plus not expecting "things" to satisfy me. It was hard it first, but I'm OK about it all now.

We also had a prolonged delay in Warsaw on Saturday afternoon, so we arrived in Chicago too late on Saturday evening to catch our flight to St. Louis. The airline put us in a very fancy hotel......which seemed rather ironic since we had just come from the nearly third world country of Ukraine.

We arrived in St. Louis about 9:30 AM Sunday.

I spent yesterday (Sunday) unpacking and sharing with my fam about the trip. At about 4 PM, I could not stay awake any longer......so I went to bed. I slept like a rock until 1 AM. Then I couldn't sleep anymore. So I've been up ever since putting the house back in order, reducing the stacks of to-dos on my desk and so much more. If I sit still for very long, I get very sleepy.....so I'll probably keep myself pretty busy today in hopes of holding out bedtime until at least early evening. We'll see if I can do it. ;-)

It's been fun blogging about my trip here. If I have time (no guarantees), I'll try to add more pics. However, one of the things I lost in my luggage was my USB connect for my camera's memory stick. We'll have to go to the store soon to try to replace all the stuff I lost. No worries.....I'm so thankful we have money enough to do it. God's shown me how blessed we are through the amazing Ukrainian people, but also by the disappearance of that little black suitcase. I'm thankful and am determined to allow Him to teach me even more contentment than I've ever known.....

USA.....Here we come!

2009-07-24T23:09:00.002-05:00

It is with mixed emotions, but a very real pull to be home, that we depart this morning from the Borislav seminary to head back home. This trip holds so many events, sights, smells, tastes, and sounds that I'm not sure I could capture all of them even if I had 24/7 to sit here and write about it.

I'm overwhelmed at all that was accomplished and continue to be amazed that God would even think to give me the opportunity to be a part of it all.

Yesterday was a big celebration of the two weeks and lots of good-byes. It was amazing to be up on that mountain.....both physically in the Carpathian Mountains and spiritually, having had a tremendous experience here in Borislav. I wish I had time to post pics, but I need to pack up this net book and get ready to leave in about two hours.

I'm sad that I didn't have more time to post here and share lots more pics with you about the experience......but then there was lots of ministry to do, and that's a good thing.

Pray for today's long travel day. We will be in daylight for an extra 8 hours as we move back into our time zone. When we arrive at 10:45 tonight, I can imagine we will be some pretty tired puppies.

See you soon!

2009-07-24T01:05:00.002-05:00

Our time is drawing to a close. It is hard to believe that it has been two weeks....it has been so long, it has been so short. We are leaving in a minute for a full last day of activities.....but I wanted to share a few photos.

Here's the group walking to Stepan and Tanya's house on Wednesday evening. They live just down the hill from the seminary.

The view of Borislav from Stepan and Tanya's. BEAUTIFUL!

The ladies when they received their scarves knitted by the Ridgecrest Baptist Church ladies. They were absolutely thrilled!

So much to tell.....no time.

Hopefully I can write tonight. We leave tomorrow morning. It has been an amazing trip......

The Angels in Heaven are REJOICING!

2009-07-22T09:05:00.003-05:00

Oh what a glorious morning! Today our visitation team planned to go to some elderly folks' homes before heading to the senior center this afternoon. We went to Emilia's house and had a very pleasant visit with her and her daughter.

Then Nadya told us about a 17-year-old young girl, Solomia, who has had some serious trials come into her life and was really struggling. We took a walk with her and ended up in the park sharing the gospel with her. I love to see how God uses each one of us on the team to have a part in the process. Of course we're all praying......but also God has us each say things as He leads. It was such a precious moment when Solomia asked Jesus to come into her life and save her. We all had a joy in our step as we walked out of the park!

Solomia is the young girl in the pale yellow shirt between Dave and Nadya. :-)

The senior day camp was simplified today......but when you're not involved in presenting the program and have to sit for 1 1/2 hours listening to Ukranian that you can't understand, it is extremely hard to stay awake. :-/ We had a good time loving on the seniors though and sharing a smile.

We have a little break tonight. We will be going to Stepan's house for dessert after dinner tonight. It will be nice to fellowship with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Things are going well....I have mixed feelings about going home. I'm anxious to go home and see everyone and get back to my regular life.....but I am sad to think that we will leave this incredible mission adventure and all the wonderful Ukranians. Talk about being torn in two directions......

Ministry to Women!

2009-07-21T23:40:00.002-05:00

I believe that God's main ministry for me in the Ukraine is to serve the women. God has given me lots of opportunities in the States and my heart is to allow Him to use me here too.

Last night Becky and I met with a bunch of key women in Nadya's sister's house (Oksana). It was a delightful evening......beyond what I thought our first meeting could be. The women opened up to us immediately and we were able to find out where they are right now and begin to understand what God has for us to share with them. The women are so hungry for discipleship and fellowship with one another...but their lives are so busy and the traditions/culture of the women in the church is a bit oppressed. We are THRILLED to be a part of what God has/is/will do here in Borislov!!!

This group includes the pastors' wives from the three local churches. What a joy to talk with them and fellowship together. We look forward to Thursday when we can continue building relationship with them and discovering their needs as women. Pray that God will show us what path to take with this ministry.

Tuesday

2009-07-21T09:38:00.002-05:00

It's only 5:30 PM on Tuesday....but here's pics of our trip out to a senior home in a village about 45 min away. (The only reason it takes that long is because the roads are so horrendous.)

Before we left, we visited a dear woman who has an awesome garden.

Next, we had a picnic along the way with pizza and drinks. The scenery is AMAZING!!!!! The mountains in the background with the little farm towns along the way was like being in a movie.

On the way back.....we met some cows in the road. :-)

Becky and I are on our way to a women's meeting tonight. Maybe I'll have pics from that.

Sunday and Monday Pics

2009-07-21T00:49:00.002-05:00

Pics from Sunday and Monday......

Beautiful purple flowers....LOVE their color.

Following the morning worship Sunday, there was a wedding that we also sat through. (I know....it is rather strange.) Later Sunday evening, we attended the reception for about 1 hour. The reception actually lasts for 9-10 hours!!!! It was rather awkward to attend the reception of someone we didn't know. Here's our table of food when we arrived. We were a little afraid to eat any of it because we didn't know how long it had been sitting there. :-o We stuck with orange slices and cucumbers and left the rest sitting on the table. Notice the eyeless, but whole fish!

Monday we traveled 2 hours to L'viv (large city with the airport we flew in to). We visited the baby orphanage and enjoyed loving on the children and praying over them.

We also got to shop! It was fun to go to the bazaar in downtown L'viv and see all the handicrafts of the Ukrainians.....and of course things things made in China too. ;-)

We also went to Metro (it's like a Sam's Club or Costco) and had fun finding snacks and things for our family and friends. I can hardly wait to go home and share. :-)

L'viv is a beautiful city. It was almost like being in a movie with the beautiful architecture and quaint streets.

Now it's Tuesday. We are off to the bazaar in Borislav to purchase things for the day camp and then will do a senior day camp this afternoon. Another group is working with a specialized school all day and then doing a day camp from 4 to 7 in Trustavitch. Becky and I are meeting with the women tonight at 7 PM in one of the ladies' homes. It is the beginning of our women's ministry here in Borislav. Exciting times.

Some pics of the last few days......

2009-07-19T12:53:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted many pics of our adventures.....so here are some for you.

Our visit with Tanya (in the pink). She was so excited to have us.....she made us blueberry tarts. Yum!

We've traveled on many staircases this last week. Most are dark and dank.....a little scary. But once when we were going down nine flights of stairs, we found this landing.....one of the prettiest we'd ever seen. :-)

Our visit with Maria.....she is such a sweetheart! We enjoyed her sweet spirit and giving heart so much. She fed us cheese filled pancakes with sour cream sauce on top. Wow.....who'd of thought we'd eat so good in the Ukriane???

Beautiful flowers in Borislav Baptist Church's garden in front of the church. Are they black-eyed Susans? You would not believe the beautiful flowers everywhere here. People take pride in their gardens. Since most of the scenery is pretty worn and torn.....it is nice to have flowers to brighten it up.

English class kids.....some of the most well behaved children I have ever had. Here's the boys....

And the girls......

Nastia and me......love this little girl. :-)

The whole English class gang......

Second Team arrived Safely!

2009-07-18T13:02:00.002-05:00

Jeff, Julie, Kimmy, and Matt arrived safely early this evening......Hallelujah. And with ALL their luggage. :-) We are so happy to have them here. They are all very tired, but thrilled to be hearing about our first week and ready to get started with the second week.....AFTER a good night's sleep. ;-)

My English class children brought me gifts tonight. I received a necklace, pin, and a little beaded alligator. So sweet. We got lots of hugs and kisses tonight. Becky shared the good news of Jesus to all the children and Dave shared with the adults. No one indicated a desire to accept Christ as their Savior....but the seeds were sown.

We have a super busy day tomorrow. We have morning worship that includes a WEDDING during the service! What a unique thing. After that we'll do lunch and then at 4 PM we need to be back up at the church to have the parents night program for day camp. I'm sure we'll be tired little bees tomorrow night.

Off to large group and then to bed.......

One week already!

2009-07-18T06:32:00.002-05:00

It is so hard to believe we have been in the Ukraine for one week already. Wow......the time has gone fast, but also the time has gone slow. How does that work???

The week has been so full......so full of activities, ministry, being with people, working together as a team, enjoying Borislav in it's differences and likenesses. My mind is so crowded with memories of all that has been accomplished and experienced. I've been keeping a journal, so hopefully it will help remind me of things I might have forgotten.

This afternoon (Saturday), Donna, Becky, and I have a quiet afternoon here at the seminary. The last four individuals in our RBC team.......Jeff, Julie, Matt, and Kimmy are arriving in L'viv in about an hour, so Dave and Nadya have gone with Valik to pick them up. It is a 2 hour drive to L'viv.

We (Becky, Donna, and I) were given the GIFT of a free afternoon. We are so grateful. It gives us time to rest, catch up on washing clothes and thank you notes and blogging ;-) and so much more. We wish our whole team could have that privilege, but most are either doing construction at the camp site or finishing out the final day of day camp with the children at Borislav Baptist Church.

This morning we visited some dear ones again......three visits I believe. They were all happy ones. Yesterday we had three sad visits. God knows what we need because he usually gives us a delightful happy individual to visit after one of the hard ones. He has been so good to us! We have been EXTREMELY blessed in visiting the elderly of Borislav. Most have been church members, but not all. We saw a young woman give her heart to Jesus the other day when we were visiting her "grannies". What a joy to be a part of her entrance into God's kingdom!!!! As I've said over and over again, it doesn't get better than this. :-) But God keeps topping Himself by giving us more and more things that show His power and goodness.

Tonight is the last evening of English classes. It will be hard to say good bye to the children. I've grown very attached to them and love them so much. We took lots of good pics last night, so I'm so glad for the memory.

I brought 64 small flower cookies (32 bags of them......two in a bag) from home to here. I have 10 bags to give to the woman Becky and I will meet with next week regarding women's ministry. But the rest of them have gone to the elderly people we have visited. I ran out of cookies yesterday. :-( I've decided I need to bring a whole suitcase full of them next year. :-) And yes, unless it is not God's will for me, I do plan to come back next summerr and beyond. God has knitted the Ukrainian people into my heart. :-)

Tomorrow we will attend Borislav Baptist Church. They are having a wedding in their Sunday morning service. Things are so different here......I've never heard of having a wedding during a Sunday morning service. After that we'll have lunch and then return to Borislav Baptist for the childrens and parents day camp celebration to bring the day camp to a close. It will be a very full day, so I am so glad to have the chance to rest today.

The photo in the header is of Nastia and me at English class. :-)

I'll try to write again tonight.....but no guarantees. We will go to English classes at 5:30 and return at around 9 PM. We'll come back to the seminary for dinner, and then have large group time.....which usually means we won't get to bed until almost midnight........

See you later, alligator.....(Donna talk her adult English class this phrase :-))

Another glorious day

2009-07-16T15:35:00.002-05:00

Time for bed......no..........past time for bed. It is 11:30 PM here. We just had our team meeting late tonight since the majority of the group went out to the camp site for dinner and refreshment. Things are going well on every front......day camp is running almost 200!.......construction got the wall studs put up today, a HUGE accomplishment.....English classes had our largest group, 49 and going strong......our elderly visits were quite delightful. (You can read about it all on the RBC blog)

I wish I could post pics, but it just isn't working out for me. So at least I'll try to download some on my Flickr site and change the header pic as often as I can.

Thanks for praying back home. We appreciate you so much. We realize that it is hardest for you since nothing is really different for you and that we get to see God working first hand. But it is our prayer that you could get a supernatural glimpse of the things God's doing here in the Ukraine and it will increase your faith and motivate you to pray even more.

With love and yawns........

Bit N Pieces

2009-07-16T09:12:00.002-05:00

I had hoped to give you an overview of everything that has happened so far, but I just can't find the time to go all the way back to Friday through today, Thursday. Too much has happened. So instead, I will let you read the RBC blog, and then I will just write about the current happenings.

Today (Thursday) has been a full day of visiting the elderly. We went to six different homes and enjoyed being with some very grateful and wonderful souls in Borislav. It is so emotional to hear them praise the Lord and thank God over and over again. They are the most content and grateful people I have ever seen. And they are overwhelmed to know that we would come all the way from America to see them.......again! Most of these people were visited last year by the team. They remember the individuals who visited them last year. And they are already talking about when we visit NEXT year. They say they will wait for us. Amazing.

I've got to leave for English classes now. It is 5:15 PM and we teach English for 1 hour at the church from 6 to 7. I'm helping with the children and they are amazing. They pick up stuff so easily and they are so eager to learn.....plus very well behaved. One of the goals of the English classes is to get unchurched people into the church so they can see that it is a safe place. What better way than to offer English classes by Americans. Many people come......we had 48 the first night and 34 last night. Tonight is our third night of 5 nights....we will do this through Saturday. It is a very full day from 9 AM through about 2 or 3 PM visiting homes and then 6 to 7 PM English classes. The day camp team goes from 9 AM to 4 PM with the children, but most of them are not doing English classes too.

Tonight the rest of the team is going out to the camp site in the Carpathian Mountains where the construction team is building the new dormitory. They will have a shish-ka-bob dinner cooked on an open fire and fellowship together as they view the camp site. The English classes team can't go because we are teaching tonight, but we'll get another chance next Friday......our last full day in the Ukraine.

I must go now.....but maybe I can write later tonight.

Wow.....

2009-07-14T00:10:00.002-05:00

I can't even begin to share all the stories and experiences that are happening here. My heart is so full and I stand in awe of God. He is allowing us to be with the Ukrainians and minster to them, but they are ministering even more to us.

Our schedule is pretty intense, so I don't have near enough time to blog as I had hoped. Plus, I am writing the blog for our church too, so I feel that I have to keep up with that one more than this one. But I will do my best to post here as often as I can. If you'd like to read the Ridgecrest Baptist Church blog, go here.

We are getting ready to go visit some of elderly in their homes today. After last night's tea for the elderly, I am really looking forward to visiting them individually in their homes.

The children's day camp starts this moring. It runs from 10 AM until 4 PM Tuesday through Saturday of this week. Then the English as a Second language classes start tonight from 6 PM to 8 PM.

Maybe.....a big maybe.....I can post more this afternoon. I have many pics and experiences I want to post.....just no time. :-)

Thanks so much for your prayers.....God is answering them! Please don't stop. We need your prayer support!

We're Here!

2009-07-12T16:18:00.002-05:00

Oh how I wish it was not 12:15 AM late at night. There is so much I want to say and so many pics I want to post.....but I just can't. I really need to get to bed. But I at least had to write and say we arrived safe and sound yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and we are doing well. SO MUCH has happen since we hit the ground in L'viv Ukraine airport. So much to tell you. I posted the pic of our entire team.....minus the four from RBC that will arrive this next Saturday.

Until tomorrow.......(thanks for your prayers.....God is answering!)

On our way.....

2009-07-10T16:17:00.003-05:00

We left St. Louis at about 10 AM this morning. We are currently in Chicago waiting for our flight to Warsaw, Poland at 5:45 PM.

I got a little nauseous from the first flight.....bumpy ride and warm in the cabin. Please pray that this 9 hour flight is problem free. I still feel a little sick from this morning. :-(

Thanks for standing with me. I'll post more when I can....

Here I Go......

2009-07-10T06:11:00.002-05:00

It's 6:15 AM on Friday morning. We need to be at the airport at 7:30 AM to catch a 9:50 something flight.....so I'll be leaving in a few minutes. I'm super excited, a little nervous, and VERY confident in the Lord. He has been so faithful as I've prepared to go to the Ukraine. I can hardly wait to watch Him work in every detail.

These last few days have been utterly crazie. :-) Getting the fam ready for my absence and gathering all my stuff together has been very challenging. Yesterday it was non-stop.....working through my long list.

I think the house is as stocked with food as it can be. ;o) I told my men that they can just go to Aldi if they run out. (Allison will be gone on the Cleveland mission trip the first week and youth camp in Branson the second.) The boys will do fine, I'm sure.

I managed to reduce my belongings for the trip down to 1 carry-on and 1 medium sized suitcase. That's amazing to me.....considering I have 60 plus flower cookies and a few other cookies in there too. God answered my prayers and helped me pack efficiently. When I found out I had to handle all my luggage by myself once we got to Liev, Ukraine airport.....I got a little concerned. But I think I can manage with what I ended up with. Hurray!!!!

Please pray for peace of mind as we travel. There's so much that could happen with security, customs, luggage, connections, sleeping (or not sleeping), etc etc etc. Pray that we can all keep our hearts set on Jesus and not look at the circumstances.....trusting fully that He has a plan for us in each moment of the trip.

Hopefully I can post as we travel, but if not, I'll try to keep a written log of the events and will post as soon as I can.

Thanks so much for following my blog and praying. I appreciate you so much. :-)

Here I go.......

It's time to GO!

2009-07-08T12:33:00.003-05:00

I can hardly believe it. Just 48 hours from now, our Ridgecrest Baptist Church Ukraine mission team will be on its way to Borislav, Ukraine! The preparation and work is all coming together to usher us on our mission. Needless to say, I've very excited!!

I made cookies one final time yesterday, but not to sell for Cookies with a Mission. This time I made them for my mission team members and for the Ukrainians. What a joy!

Here's our team t-shirt with logo and the cookies I made to try to emulate it.

These flowers are small little tokens of love and care to give to the Ukrainians that come across our path on the trip. :-)

Here's the logo and flower cookies together.....

I can hardly wait to be a part of all that God has planned on this mission. It's obvious He wants me and the rest of the team to go......now we get the privilege of being His hands, feet, lips, and heart so that He can show Himself in Borislav, Ukraine. :-)

The next time I post......I'll either be on my way or already in the Ukraine. See you then.....

FIVE more days.....

2009-07-05T15:51:00.003-05:00

Wow.....we are leaving in just five days. It is so hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly. I had to work Friday and Saturday (the holiday) this weekend, so I felt like once I did that, I could seriously start packing and getting ready for the trip. Well...the work days are over....so here I am.

Today in our worship services, we had a dedication prayer for both mission teams that our leaving from our church this next weekend. The other group is going to Cleveland. I've gone on that trip the last two summers....so it feels so weird to be switching to a new group. Going to Cleveland was really comfortable. I loved it! But God is calling me out of that comfort zone into a new place. Scary....yep. Exciting.....oh yes! I can only imagine the things He has prepared for us in Borislav and in the journey to get there and back.

The Borislav ministry we are involved in was started by Billy & Mary Nixon and their church, Center Hill Baptist Church in Tyner, North Carolina. Our church, Ridgecrest Baptist Church, has partnered with them to increase the ministries offered and to add all the support we can. Their ministry is named "Ukraine: Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart". Here is the logo they use (it's on our t-shirts we'll be wearing).

Believe it or not......I'm going to try to make cookies with this logo and give one to each team member on the day we leave. (Crazie....I know) And then I'm going to make lots of little flower cookies to have on hand to share with the Ukranians. I made the template today and I'm so excited to make them.

Please pray for the team as we pull everything together by Friday. There's lots of arrangements to take care of not only for ourselves, but for our families, co-workers, and ministries. So much to consider.......15 days to be gone is a long time.

Pray that we will stay healthy these next several weeks and be able to stand firm against the inevitable attacks from the enemy. He hates what we are doing and would really like to distract and discourage us. Pray that we will not be fazed by his schemes.

Thanks for taking this journey with us. Your prayers and INVALUABLE!

Fundraiser Yesterday/ CWAM Reaches Goal!

2009-06-28T20:38:00.003-05:00

What a good weekend! Our Ukraine Mission Trip team had a fundraiser yesterday.......BBQ, Bake Sale, and Car Wash. We netted $1400! Hurray. Our group did a great job. I had to work in the lab yesterday, so I only participated in the event for a couple of hours.....but most of the team worked from 8:30 until 5 PM in the sweltering heat. The heat index was at least 105 yesterday. Everyone worked so well together.....PLUS we had several people from our church come help too.

The best news of all is that all that money will go straight to the Ukranians and the mission efforts we are doing for them in the Ukraine. All of us have managed to come up with our own funds to pay for our personal passage to the Ukraine.....so we can give all the money we raised to those who need it most. :-)

Here's a pic of the team......minus Jeff T. I count it such a privilege to work with this terrific group of brothers and sisters in Christ. :-)))))))

Back Row: Dave, Melissa, Julie, Me, Donna, Amy, Michael, and Becky
Front Row: Michelle, Jason, Kimmy, and Matt
Not Present: Jeff

More good news......my Cookies With A Mission fundraising effort has been highly successful. Today I went over the $2000 goal that I needed to pay for my second trip to the Ukraine in November. I'm going to step out in faith and offer half that money to the monetary efforts we are supporting in the Ukraine in July.....trusting that God will provide that amount this fall once I'm recovered from foot surgery and can decorate cookies again. I'm certain that God will give me the opportunity to raise those additional funds. :-)

I wish I had pics of yesterday's fundraiser. I'm going to ask around and see if I can obtain some to post.

Only 12 more days until we leave. We had a big meeting today to discuss all the particulars. It is becoming more and more of a reality each day. I can hardly believe it. I'm excited to serve in this way. :-)))))))

So Much Going On......

2009-06-22T07:35:00.003-05:00

Wow.....time flies by and I still feel like I have very little ready for the trip. I'm not a procrastinator, but there's so many other things pulling my attention. My oldest sister (I have four) is not doing so well physically and is in a nursing home. She needs visits and some tasks accomplished. Then there is dual enrollment for my teens who are going to attend Missouri Baptist University (my alma mater) next year for two classes each semester. (I had forgotten how intense the list of things to do for college admissions, etc is.) Next.....we're finishing our basement and at the final stages with lots and lots of details to iron out in order for the job to get completed. Sadly, it won't get done before I leave.....which means LOTS to do when I get back right before my sugery. Yikes! Then (a good thing!)......Jill, my 22 yo daughter, came home this last week. It was wonderful to have her home and do things together. And then of course, I've been decorating lots of cookies. :-))

There are so many things being neglected right now to keep up with the more demanding things. And it seems like preparing for the Ukriane trip keeps getting moved to the bottom of the list. Please pray that all the things screaming for my attention would calm down and I could get lots and lots of things accomplished this week. I really need to work on my women's conference materials.....but I've barely had a moment to breath these last few weeks.

Thanks for your interest and your prayers. :-)

Yikes.....It's only THREE weeks away!

2009-06-16T09:57:00.002-05:00

How does time pass so quickly without you even knowing? I can't believe that I'm leaving for the Ukraine in just three weeks from Friday!

Oh........ I'm getting my supplies together and buying the things I need......but READY for the trip? I don't think so.

Plus.....fear wants to creep in. What was I thinking when I signed up for this?! How will handle all the culture changes? the long flight? the food? being across the world for two whole weeks? away from life as I know it??? Questions and more questions. :-)

But when I stop and consider all that God has shown me over these last three years, I KNOW why I am going. He has CALLED me to do this. I WANT to do this for Him. :-) I'm having a chance to make an impact in the Ukrainians lives, and I know they will most likely have an even more profound impact on me.

Remember....I've never even been out of the US, so this is a huge step for me.

There's tons of things left to do.....but it is so fun at the same time. I've learned over the years that the anticipation of something is the best part.....so I'm savoring every anticipating second. ;-)

Cookie sales are booming. This is Father's Day week so I've got several orders and hope to sell lots and lots on Sunday. So far my total is over $1600!!!!

Oh....and Allan just purchased a Netbook for me last night, so that way I'll keep connected to everyone and my blogs while I'm overseas. :-))))))))

More to come, you can be sure.....

Things are movin' along

2009-05-24T19:57:00.002-05:00

I've been working on my women's conference materials for November and continuing to decorate and sell cookies for the Ukraine mission effort. My cookies sales are close to the $1500 level. Wow.....it is hard to believe I've been selling cookies for about 2 1/2 months and I've made that much. Obviously God is blessing the effort.

I only have two more holidays to sell cookies before we leave in July......Father's Day in June and Independence Day in July. After that, I probably won't be able to do any cookies until the end of September.....since I'll be gone 2 weeks to the Ukraine and have my foot surgery two weeks after I return. It is going to be hard to go without one of my favorite activities for that long......but I'm sure I'll survive. I'm trying to think of the six weeks of recovery as a "vacation". The first week I'll be vacationing in my bed with my foot propped up. lol

These next six weeks will be action-packed with all the prep for the July trip, fund-raisers, and lots of cookie decorating. :-)

Lots of Developments

2009-05-10T15:32:00.002-05:00

This last week has been a busy one.....and so many things revolved around my Ukraine trips. I have good news and some not-so good news.

First....the good news. As of this afternoon (Mother's Day, May 10) I have raised $1280 for my Ukraine mission effort through Cookies With a Mission!!!!! Praise God. I'm so excited how He has blessed my efforts and helped me decorate cookies in ways I never thought I could. I'm more than half way to my $2000 goal and I hope to put some of the current money toward some needs we've pinpointed of the Ukrainian people. I know that God will provide the remaining balance for the trip costs as I give to the needs in the Ukraine according to His promptings. Don't you just love to share the gifts God gives you? This case is no exception. I'm anxious to see how God is going to use all this money that HE is bringing forth.

During the week before Easter I had made $250. Well guess what? This week before Mother's Day I've made $318!!!!! Wow.....I knew I had worked hard, but I had no idea that I would make that much money over a holiday. I made around 150 decorated cookies this week. Shewwww......I'm a tired one.

People were VERY generous this week and I am so grateful to all of those who are helping in this effort.

Now for the not-so good news.......I'm going to have another foot surgery. :-( This will be my eighth one.....and probably the most complex. It is hard to not dwell on the fact that this surgery and the last three I've had could have been avoided if not for the mishaps of a surgery I had on my left foot back in June of 2005. :-((((((( It seems the there were either mistakes made or my foot went terrible wrong afterwards or maybe a bit of both. Anyway.....I've got to believe that God has a plan even in a situation that looks like it might have been avoided.

This week I went to an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in the foot and ankle. I have three major problems that THANKFULLY he can fix all at the same time. However, he strongly advised against having the surgery before going the Ukraine in July. He said that the recovery is unpredictable enough that it would not be good to be in a country such as the Ukraine so soon after surgery. He said it is never good to put time constraints on recovery. So that was a confirmation of what I already felt God telling me.

We set the surgery up for August 11. That gives me two weeks after our return from the Ukraine to prepare for my six weeks of recovery. After surgery I will not be allowed to put weight on my foot for the first week.....so crutches. Then the following five weeks, I can only walk on my heel. Yikes.....that could be challenging. Doctor says there are creative ways to be mobile in that condition, so we shall see.

The major concern I have about waiting three months for this surgery is that I have a pin in my fourth toe that is working its way out of my bone and it is causing some major pain. Please pray with me that the pin will settle down and not give me any additional pain and problems before I can have surgery.....especially while I'm in the Ukraine.

Lots more to come, I'm sure. Stay tuned. :-)

The Call

2009-04-28T10:37:00.006-05:00

I decided to start a blog that focuses on this "crazie" journey that God has me following. It is a wild ride.....but oh the blessings that come from commiting your life to Him and following Him with your whole heart!

About three years ago, our pastor came back from a mission trip to the Ukraine. When he showed slides of the Ukrainian people and surroundings, I felt a tug in my heart from God that I was to be a part of missions in the Ukraine.....specifically ministering to Ukrainian women. I'm sure that some may not understand that "call" on my life.....but I was absolutely certain that God was getting my attention and preparing me for His purposes in a far off land.

I've always said that I would never go out of the country. Be CAREFUL about saying "never". It can be dangerous. ;-) Once I felt God's call to go to the Ukraine, I laid down the notion that I would stay "safe" in my little comfort zone here in Missouri, USA.

I have no idea what is like to go to another country, but three of my grown and teenaged children have been out of the country multiple times and they've come back changed......closer to God, more mature in their faith, more grateful for what they have, and seeing life from a totally different perspective.

So here I go......following in my children's foot steps (how crazie is that) and declaring that I'll go wherever He calls me. Scary? Yes! Exciting? Most certainly!

Since that time of calling on my life......our church (Ridgecrest Baptist Church) has adopted a Global Focus. We believe that God wants us to commit to sharing His gospel and encouraging the saints in Jerusalem (our local county), Judea (Missouri), Samaria (North America), and the Ends of the Earth (everywhere beyond North America). Last year, we made a formal commitment to partner with a Baptist church in North Carolina and send "missionaries" alongside theirs to the Ukraine. I got all excited.....until I found out they'd be gone on the date of my nephew's wedding in July 2008. I was so disappointed that I couldn't go and confused in why God was "keeping me from going". But He's reminded me often since that time that He has a perfect timing for everything.

Fast forward to 2009......our church is planning to go to the Ukraine again this summer. As I heard about the details in February, it would involve children's ministry, senior adult ministry, construction, and English As a Second Language (ESL). None of that fit in to what God had called me to (women's ministry)......so I was a little disappointed and frustrated.

As I drove to the initial meeting in the beginning of March 2009, I prayed and asked God to show me His plan....and asked Him to help me not be disappointed if it meant I would be waiting longer for His appointed time to go. I surrended it all to Him......it is HIS call, right? :-)

When I arrived at the meeting I sat down next to Becky.....a good friend. I told her my dilemma about how the ministries planned did not fit the women's ministry that I knew God wanted me to do in the Ukraine. She told me to not to be to hasty in deciding there was nothing for me to do this year. She had just been asked two weeks prior to lead a women's conference for the Ukrainian pastors' wives in November! As we talked more......it was clear that God wanted me to partner with Becky in leading this women's conference. Needless to say, my ride home that night was filled with loud rejoicing to the Lord for making His plan so very clear.....and so very exciting!!!

Since that time, I've been preparing to not only go on the November trip with Becky and a group from Future Leadership Foundation for the pastors conference (which will include a small conference for the pastors' wives), but I'm also planning to go with my church (as is Becky) on the July mission trip to "scout out" the prospects of women's ministry in Borislav. We hope to get to know the culture and the needs of the women there. So I'm not only going on ONE mission trip in 2009, but TWO! Amazing.....

As you can imagine, the costs of going on just one trip to the Ukraine are high.....so going on two seems prohibitive. But God revealed to me an opportunity to raise funds for the trips. I've been experimenting with decorating sugar cookies for several years now and considered the idea of selling them in a business some day. For now, God has me selling them with all proceeds going toward the Ukraine mission trips. The effort is called "Cookies With a Mission". I started selling them on March 22 and they've been a huge hit. Why should I be surprised when it was God's idea, right? As of today, April 28, just five weeks later, I've made over $900!!!! Isn't God amazing?

My goal is to raise $2000 to cover the November mission trip, so I'm almost half way there. :-)

Last night we had a planning meeting for the July trip. As I hear all the details, I get so excited, but I'm also aware of fear creeping in. That's something I'll have to keep giving to the Lord. If He has called me, He will equip me, and He will take care of all the circumstances.

Thus begins the wild and crazie journey of watching God fulfill his purposes in me as I say "yes" to serving Him in the Ukraine in 2009. Stay tuned.