Lance & Megan's Blog

The spring, condensed.

August31

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!

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In Albania and Montenegro… again

November3

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!

team-mne

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.

team-in-mne

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!

a-river-runs-through-mne

map_of_montenegro

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Short visit home

October21

In July, my grandfather passed away at the age of 97. He was always seen as solid, faithful, hardworking, and witty. His passing was peaceful and with family but no less difficult to process. Lance and I decided that it would be good for me to go home to be with family during this time. My time in the states was only for two and half weeks since Lance stayed in Ukraine.

I was honored to be at my grandpa’s memorial at the National Cemetery where he was given military honors. I enjoyed being able to see family members I hadn’t seen in a long time. I am very glad that I made the short trip home for this time.

gpa

I also got to spend some good quality time with my family doing a few hikes together, eating meals together and running errands together. Had a short trip down to Oregon also to see family there. I can never get tired of time spent with family.

mama-ali-and-me

alison-and-me

start-of-the-family-hike

backsides-of-family-hike

sisters-hiking

muff-and-i-in-or

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Memories of Marilyn

June26

A dear friend and role model died this June to leukemia. Marilyn Gibbs was an important figure for my first years in Ukraine. She had been in missions over 20 years in different countries such as Austria, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine. I was inspired by her fearlessness and determination in all that she did. She loved the Lord and it was evident in all that she did.

Marilyn always opened her home to girls for movie nights, dinner parties and Bible studies. I was very often at her home for movie and dinner, there were more than one occasion where we watched multiple movies in one day and stayed in our PJs all day.

One memory I have is when we were preparing for a friend’s bridal party she suggested doing the limbo. “I can totally get down to the limbo,” were her words. She was always ready for a party and good laugh.

When I first came to Ukraine, Marilyn was already doing the English Club that we have kept going since that time. She was faithful to come every Wednesday and loved on every person that came through that door.

My first Christmas in Ukraine, I invited Marilyn and two friends over to my place Christmas Eve. She came and stayed until almost 1am. We ate good food, talked late, and watched movies. Wherever Marilyn was, there was bound to be good food and good conversation.

Since she was single and was happily doing ministry in Ukraine, I was determined that I could also remain in missions no matter my marital status or where I was. She was someone I looked forward to being with when I chose to move to Ukraine.

Here are some photos and memories of Marilyn.

First time I ever spent time with Marilyn

First time I ever spent time with Marilyn

English Club adventures

English Club adventures

Easter sunrise service

Easter sunrise service

party with Allison

tea out with tesol girls

Giving Marilyn her TESOL certificate

Giving Marilyn her TESOL certificate

Playing games at my bridal shower

Playing games at my bridal shower

Last time Marilyn was in Ternopil

Last time Marilyn was in Ternopil

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Staff Retreat 2016

June4

Every year we take time as a staff to stop what we are doing and just have fun together. Youth With A Mission values working in teams, we are not just a group of people who happen to work in the same building. We want to have a sense of family and to nurture this we need fun times together.

Last year was the first time we stayed at the base, we decided to do the same thing again this year. The retreat started on Monday evening with dinner and devotions. We had different staff lead devotion time each day, we can always learn from each other.

Senya leading devotions

Senya leading devotions

Lance took some time to share the different goals we came up with during our Leadership year planning meetings that were in March. We came up with some 1 year goals, 5 year goals and 10 year goals. It was important that the goals be shared and that everyone understood where we want the base to go.

Lance sharing on goals

Lance sharing on goals

We also planned a little scavenger hunt that took teams ALL over the building. We strategically made sure that no two clues were on the same floor at a time so everyone got their workout! And because that wasn’t challenging enough, all teams had to be linked together.

Traffic jam in the stairwell

Traffic jam in the stairwell

We made use of Lance’s corn-hole game he made for Marriage Week and had a corn-hole tournament in the evening. We drew names for the competitors, there was a kids bracket and an adult bracket, first to 11 won. It was really close for some pairs but there has to be a winner!

Let the games begin!

Let the games begin!

corn hole winners

Our winners just happen to be father, daughter. Conspiracy?

Wednesday, after devotions, we had some hangout time and after lunch we had an outing to see some castle ruins. Just some time to get out of the city and be in nature. It was good to get some fresh air! Wednesday ended with pizza and a movie in the evening.

Taking in God's creation together

Taking in God’s creation together

Thursday we just had devotions and clean up before we ate lunch and parted. It was a great time where everyone got to spend more informal time together and have good conversations over food. Looking forward to seeing what next year will bring!

All together

All together

We are just missing four kids in this picture.

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