Lance and I are quite often involved with the basic school of YWAM, called Discipleship Training School. This is a fundamental course for anyone wanting to work in YWAM which is why we also see the Equip school as just as important since it is for those that staff DTS schools!

Lance and I participated in this school in 2012 in Montana and then Lance has staffed it several times and we staffed together in Ternopil in 2014. We love being a part of this school because we love equipping leaders to be successful in what they do.

This year we had an awesome group of 11 students from 7 different countries working in 7 other different countries, some had years of experience, some had no experience. It was such a great time of learning from each other not just from a speaker or book.

The course itself is very intense, 6 weeks of classes that go all day and some evenings. Everyone needs to read 3 books, do multiple group projects, homework, journals, and an exam.

While we do invite speakers and teachers to come, we are also doing much of the teaching. Lance spoke on hearing God’s voice, preparing for an outreach, and one on ones and Megan taught on applications, evaluations, leading in the classroom, and outreach preparation.

Teaching through Skype

All 11 students graduated and took the skills they learned back to their locations and will be putting them into practice in the schools that they staff.

Since I never got around to publishing what we were up to this spring I will put a few pictures up from different activities.

750 YWAM staff from all over Europe came together in Albania.

Seeing friends from Washington in Albania!

After the conference in Albania, we took a trip with some of our staff to Montenegro.

Happy Birthday Oksana!

Montenegro is a beautiful mountainous country.

Marching in a parade celebrating families.

Meeting with all the YWAM leaders in Ukraine

Our DTS students graduated!

The biggest thing this spring, was finding out we will be expecting a baby in December!

This was our third trip to the Balkans this year, once at the beginning of the year, then later in June. Both of those trips were with our own staff and team, this third trip was actually to meet with other people interested in starting something in Montenegro.

The YWAM base in Albania hosted this gathering and advertised to other YWAM locations to get people together with a common interest: to work in Montenegro. Lance and I and one other staff represented our base, there was a British man working at a base in Sweden, a Norwegian man working in Norway, another Norwegian man and a Dutch man both living in Albania, and several of the YWAM Albanian staff from various countries such as Canada, Ukraine, Brazil, Norway, Chile and Albania. We were quite a diverse group!

Lance and I really enjoyed this time since our previous trips were just with our own team, this time we got to have a more diverse viewpoint of Montenegro. We spent two days in Albania listening to a pastor serving in Montenegro, then praying for the country, and coming up with a strategy for our next two days which were to be in Montenegro. We decided to pray and ask the Lord where we should go in Montenegro, we felt to go to several cities.

As a group, we traveled to Bar, a city in the south where we talked to the pastor of church, then we went on to Tivat to hear from some German missionaries. We spent the night in Kaminari with a couple from Bosnia who have been working with orphans and in the morning we went to Niksic to visit with a pastor there and ended our time in Podgorica, the capital talking with missionaries and a pastor there. It was a whirlwind tour with lots of conversations and fun memories with new friends.

It was sunny and warm when we left Albania…

We see this time as super important and valuable for us as a YWAM location since we have chosen to target Montenegro for future work. It was encouraging for us to hear from other people to get new ideas we didn’t think of and to have confirmation for some ideas we already thought about. We really believe that this is an important time for us and for Montenegro and that Ukrainians will be great missionaries, particularly to this part of the world, there are many similarities. Both countries have had communist governments, both use a Slavic based language, both are very warm-cultured, both are Orthodox, and both are super relationship-oriented.

We are truly excited for our future in Montenegro!

Lance celebrated his birthday a little over a month ago but I still thought it would be good to post some of the pictures from our birthday adventure.

Shortly before his birthday, we finalized buying a car, hooray!! We got to take it on it’s first real adventure! Lance mapped out a few castles and locations he has been wanting to see and off we went!

Went to a place we have now rated a 5 out 5 according to our rating system, it was awesome! Lots of nooks and crannies to explore, had beautiful scenery, and is a great place for a picnic.

We also stopped at a few other places along the way home but nothing compared to the fortress we saw first!

The next day, the celebration continued with friends from English club. We have been trying to get together for a year to go to a waterfall and castle not far from Ternopil. We finally made it happen! It was such a peaceful place, the waterfall was small since it was the end of  summer but still beautiful and refreshing. We put up our hammock, relaxed, went on a hike together, played badminton and frisbee, ate lots of food, swam, ate more food and finally explored a castle before heading home. We love being able to get together with our friends from English club, they are always ready for a good time together.

Explored nearby abandoned buildings

Yes, he really is that tall.

Back in 2015, we worked with a local coffee shop to bring hope to the city, read about it HERE, Lance was able to work with the same people again to bring a love for Ukraine.

Lance and I try to get out into the countryside as often as we can. We believe that getting to know your surroundings will encourage a greater understanding of the people and nation we are serving. Not to mention, a greater love for the beauty it holds! Some of the pictures Lance has taken has captured the attention of others in Ukraine.

Our favorite coffee shop asked Lance to print a few photos to display in the shop. Of course Lance was excited for the opportunity to share his photos and his love of exploring Ukraine. Lance printed about 20 photos and prepared a short speech to encourage exploration of Ukraine.

We truly do love Ukraine and we have realized that many people do not know the beauty that is with in the country. We want to inspire Ukrainians to love their country and to see more of it. This opportunity of showcasing the beauty within Ukraine was a great way to motivate others to visit historic sites in Ukraine. Each photo was printed with the name of the village and the number of kilometers it was from Ternopil.

We are hoping that more young people will get outside of their city to experience first hand, the beauty of Ukraine!

You can see most of Lance’s photos on his Flickr site.