Last year, Megan’s parents came for a visit for the first time. This year they decided to join a medical team in Romania and thought, “we are so close, why not come again?” We were happy to have them come again.

Working together

We got to help with the eye clinic for one day

We went on a road trip to Romania to pick them up and bring them back to Ukraine. They were just in time to experience the final week of the Equip school and see what the team from America did. We warned them ahead of time that we would be busy that first week but they did great getting out in the city, eating out and buying things in the market without any help from us! We are thoroughly impressed!

At the Equip graduation

After the school finished and we tied up a few things with the American team and then we were able to take both of them to some of our favorite places to explore.

At Terrakaniv Fortress

In Kaminets-Podilsky

As busy as we were, it was an honor to have family come and really see what we do.

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!

We had the great privilege to host a team from Holland December to January. They were a huge help and blessing to us and the city.

English Club gift exchange

We set up a week’s worth of activities for them and then let them make their own schedule. Quite often Christmas season turns out to be a tricky time to host teams because of the weather and unpredictable schedules. This team was super flexible and they were able to make their own plans without needing someone with them the whole time.

Sharing a testimony at the tea

Practicing English

The team helped with the women’s tea, English club, orphanage visits and church meetings. They were able to go to some English classes in the city and they wandered into a hospital to sing Dutch carols. They also made meals for homeless and even though they did not have any interpreter with them they were able to still bless the people of Ternopil.

Almost a year and a half ago, Lance and I went to Albania for the first time to attend a gathering of Discipleship Training School leaders (read about it HERE.) This same sort of gathering happened in December in Hurlach, Germany.

One fun fact about Hurlach is that this was one of the first YWAM locations that was started! It has continued in ministry since it’s start date in 1972 for outreach to the Olympic games in Munich. Even cooler fact is that it is actually a castle!

The Eastern Europe Gang

All the fun facts aside, we had a great time in Hurlach meeting new friends in DTS as well as old ones. We love going to these meetings not just to see friends and have a good time but it is so important to really talk about what is happening in our regions. Sometimes we don’t get to see people in our own regions for a long time, not only because of distance but because of busy schedules.

These meetings allow us to encourage one another and pray for different regions and individuals. Of course we do have some fun. Every time there is a gathering, each person claims their country has the best chocolate. Well we finally decided to figure it out. Everyone brought some chocolate and we had a blind taste test. I have been racking my brain trying to remember who won, but I honestly can’t remember! I guess Ukraine won… 🙂 It was a fun event for sure!

Chocolate tasting

DTS Leaders of Europe

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!