Two years ago Megan’s sisters came to visit, that was the last time a family member came to visit but now that has changed. Meg’s parents came for a wonderful visit.

We can’t tell you how AWESOME it is to have family here with us. It is encouraging and motivating to have people here to experience and see first hand what we do. It is one thing to explain over Skype and show pictures online but to see something in person solidifies what goes on.

Visiting a castle

Picnic in the shadow of castle ruins

George and Peggy joined us for staff meeting, worship and intercession, we roped them into helping us do some cleaning too. They even taught a new game in English Club! Besides having them join us in our day to day activities, we took them around the area to see some more of Ukraine. There were a few castles to visit, ruins to see, and cities to explore. Since we have made it a point to get to know our area better, we had lots of favorite spots to show off.

At Pidkamin

Abandoned palace

One highlight was getting to celebrate Orthodox Easter here. We brought them to the sunrise service by the lake and the main church service later. We all went to a friends house for plate upon plate of food! They got to try lots of different Ukrainian dishes.

Easter service

Reading the Easter story at sunrise in the park

They also celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with us. What a great way to celebrate 35 years of being married! We took them to our favorite restaurant.

Happy Anniversary!

Overall, we had fun just spending time together. We got to sit together on the same sofa and talk and not through the computer! Our time ended with us all going to Turkey for Joanne’s wedding. See the next post for details on our adventures in Turkey!

As you may remember, we sent our Discipleship Training School students to Montenegro and Albania for their outreach. There are DTS schools all around the world sending their students to different locations for their outreaches. We recently had the honor of hosting one team from Montana for their outreach!

A team of 11 people came for two weeks. We got to set up a little schedule for them to experience different ministries and activities that we are normally a part of.

Helping with Coffeehouse Ministry

They had students go to the public school and help in an English class as well as other English courses and our English Club. The shared testimonies and did dramas in our coffeehouse ministry as well as in the parks. They went to another city and helped with evangelism and shared in church on Sunday.

Sharing stories in English

It is always an encouragement and blessing to have teams with us. Yes it is a lot of work to set things up and help them around the city but it is worth it. It is like get a shot of energy and excitement for what you do. Teams draw attention and bring more people to us.

Playing games in school

Anyone thinking about coming, you are more than welcome to come!!