Monday, July 18, 2011

It's Almost Time to Come Home.....

So hard to belive we have been here for almost 3 weeks! It has been fun and exhausting; exhilerating and frustrating; but above all I think it has made an impact on those we have ministered to and their families.
I am happy and sad at the same time that by this time on Wednesday we will be headed home.
We arrived in Ukraine the last Thursday evening in June, by Sunday afternoon we were at youth camp. We stayed at camp from Sunday-Saturday. It was rainy and cold most of the week, but so much fun!! Even cold showers and locked shower rooms couldn't dampen our spirits....only damp things were our feet and clothes. They weren't just damp but soaking wet most of the week! The kids who were allowed to join us (many parents would not allow their kids to go to camp with a group of Baptists) really opened up by the end of the week and had many questions about what they were learning during Bible time.
On Saturday morning the kids left camp around 12:30.....we weren't so lucky! Our ride "home" arrived at 7:30 that evening. It was a long day of sitting around waiting. We were back at the hotel by 8:30 pm, happy for hot showers and a bathroom we didn't have to hike to...at times only to find the doors locked.
Sunday after camp was a busy day with meetings to talk about how camp went and pray about how we could follow up with those who went to camp, talk about the day camp we did this past week and pray for that event, then go to the stadium to decorate and to walk around town to invite children to attend.
Monday dawned bright and early...we were excited to minister to the children in Horodok, not just the youth but children of all ages. We were not sure how many children would come...or what the day would look like- an adventure in the making!
Many children came each day and despite some rainy days and some very hot days we had a great week doing crafts, playing games, teaching Bible, singing and just hanging out together. Camp went from 10-2pm each day. Each evening we met at the feild from 5-8 for sports and games.
We had lunch between camp and sports and dinner after playing sports. Many nights we were eating dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 - it was totally exhausting but lots of fun!
Camp ended Friday at 1:00, then we invited parents to come to a closing program at 3:00...only one set of parents attended (which was a little disappointing) but many kids came back.
Saturday was a FUN day...the boys went to play paint ball with a group of youth from Horodok. Tanya and I went shopping at the market...for 5 hours!!! It was so nice to be able to take our time, look around, and purchase things without the "boys" saying are you done yet, aren't you ready to go? We did take a break and go to McDonalds between window shopping and buying. When the boys called and said they would be another hour we finished up shopping and went back to McDonalds for a snack.
Sunday we left for church at 10:00am and did not get home until 9:00pm! The kids from camp all met in Lviv and we went to an amusment park for the afternoon. They had a GREAT time just hanging out and riding rides. It was a long, exhausting day but well worth it for the follow up with the campers that took place.
In a few minutes we will head to the stadium for one last time with the kids, then off to Lviv this evening. Joey and Seb leave for camp for the next 3 weeks, tomorrow.
Guess that catches everyone up on what has been happening here....sorry not to post on the blog regularly but internet has been a problem to use this year. Joey and Seb's does not work much of the time, when it does work it is very slow. We really have not had time to get to the internet cafe.
Thanks for your prayers.
Merrie Spencer

Sunday, July 3, 2011

We made it!


Hello from Horodok, Ukraine! Merrie and I were greeted by Bogdon, Sebastian, and Joey at the airport in L'viv after more than a whole day’s worth of air plane rides. We are thankful to have made it here safely with all of our luggage. We had a delicious dinner at Ukrainian missionaries, Olona and Andriy's apartment. They have a beautiful 3 month old baby and his name is Zhar (Zachariah in English), and we also met Olona's little sister Daria, who is very nice. After that we went to the futbol stadium to reunite with friends and play catch with a baseball. Our friends were very excited to see us and made us feel very welcomed! On Saturday the weather was cold and rainy, so we stayed in for most of the day, playing Uno, Mafia, and Science with our friends, and then had a Bible study on the book of Luke. It worked out well because we read in English and then Ukrainian after each verse; so that we could all understand what was being read. We are looking forward for this upcoming week because we will be at an overnight camp for with about 20 kids, and we are praying for good weather! Hikaru will arrive tomorrow morning all the way from Japan, and he will add much comedy to our team. It is clear that Joey and Sebastian have made a great impact here in Horodok after being here for almost a year, and all of the children adore them. They have built strong relationships with these children, and are wonderful examples to them all. I look forward to the next couple of weeks and can’t wait to see what unfolds.
Much love, Tanya!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Busy Summer!

It seems like only yesterday I was posting about how it was already spring. Now it is already summer! I can't believe this year has gone by so fast, but we still have a lot of work to do. This summer will be very, very busy for us. Already it is more busy than usual because we have started doing more activities in Horodok since the kids are out of school. It has been pretty hot and some days it feels to me like Florida, but then it might rain and cool down for a day or two and you might even have to grab a light jacket or sweatshirt again. In general the evenings and mornings are pretty comfortable which is nice since we don't exactly have an air conditioner.

Some of the activities we have recently started doing is on Friday we go to the big stadium and play many games. Relay races, sports, and even a sort of tag game where you choose prince, princess, or dragon (like rock, paper, scissors) are among some of the games we play but it is a great time getting to know some of the kids and families in Horodok better and connect them with some of the Ukrainians that are also working here. This picture doesn't show all the kids there were more than 30! Also on Saturday our group is still going strong, we have been trying to meet every Saturday and get our group reading the Word and much as possible than discuss it. It has been pretty cool. Even one week we had only 2 people because a few were busy studying for exams so we thought this week we will just maybe play games, or go outside and play football or something, but one of our students asked, "well aren't we going to read the Bible?" That they actually wanted to read is a very good sign I think, and very encouraging to us, and I pray, and hope that you will pray also, that God will really work on these young people here in Horodok.

We ask expecially for your prayers in the coming weeks as we will be taking a few of them to camp where they will pretty much hear the Gospel everyday, without distraction or interruption. The first one will be July 4th-9th and we will take 20-25 students away to some lakes not far from Horodok. We will be staying there for 5 days. I will try to take a 3g modem or something so we can keep everyone updated while we are there. The next week we will have a day camp like we usually have here in Horodok with games, bible stories, and other activities. Please pray for this also and that God would use us, and draw these people to Him. After this our team from America this year (Merrie and Tanya) and our friend from Japan (Hikaru) will be going back home and Sebastian and I will be going to 3 camps in a row with GrapeVine church. It will be in the mountains. We will do a social camp, youth camp, then family camp. We will keep you updated on this as well, although I am not sure what internet capabilities we will have in the mountains. Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support and we ask that you continue to pray for us as we start our camps in a couple weeks. Talk to you later and God Bless!!!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Spring Is Here!

After a much colder winter than I was used to, I think it is safe to say that spring is here. Although it could get cold again and it was snowing a little only a week ago, today was warm and comfortable. Still it is chilly when the sun is down, but not really uncomfortable. All in all, even with the cold weather, it has been a nice change from Florida.

We have still been very busy and we even added some more work to our schedule. We are teaching one more English Class on Wednesday for our friends at GrapeVine and have met 2 times already. It is going very well. I have around 8 people for that group and Sebastian also has a group of beginners each Wednesday evening. It is great to see these students show up every week for English, and then stay for the Bible study which the Ukrainians do after our English lessons. I think I mentioned it before, but GrapeVine does an amazing job at building relationships with students and people that attend their camps. They are always willing to help them and try to include them in whatever they can. They don’t just have them at one camp, tell them about Jesus, then say good-bye, but they build strong friendships with them. Sunday we spent time with some of them at one of their houses and had a really great time playing a version of catch phrase, eating together, and just enjoying one another’s company.

A couple weeks ago we had a week long English camp every night in L’viv with Trinity Church. It was a long week, but a good week. There were probably around 60 people there every night and we had a really great time. A team of 7 came from Texas from Clear Creek Community Church and we were blessed to get to know them and to serve with them during the week. Each night we had 1 hour of English, 1 hour of bible study, and 1 hour of games and singing. Many students, 26 to be exact, said they would be interested in continuing in some sort of Bible study, and many of them wished to continue with some sort of English lesson, and so after this camp we decided to add a Bible study class in English and Ukrainian and will be starting on Monday.

Our Saturday group is also still going strong. Every week we have had no less than 9 people and usually there have been around 11. Please, please, please pray for this group. We have been going through Matthew and are currently on Matthew 7. If you aren’t familiar with these passages or haven’t read through them in a while, please read them. There are so many things in this book. It is a very heavy book, and I also ask that you would pray that God would give us the wisdom as what to say about these verses and how best to explain them to our group. We can’t just read through this chapter in English and then in Ukrainian. There is just too much there that we want them to fully understand, and so we are bringing in a friend to translate and Sebastian will be presenting the Gospel to them. Once again please pray for this. Your prayers are our biggest need right now!

Also we have some good news regarding our friends and fellow family working here in Horodok Andriy and Alona. They had their first child yesterday and as far as I know everything went well. I haven’t seen them yet, but I think they both will be home on Saturday. Thank you for your prayers for Alona and her baby. As far as I know everything is great with them.

On top of all of these things we are doing every week, we celebrated Sebastian’s 20th birthday last Wednesday. We invited many friends and students to go ice skating at the big mall in L’viv called “King’s Cross.” It was a great time to spend with friends and celebrate the birth of such a great guy as Sebastian. If you haven’t yet wished him Happy Birthday, I’m sure he would love to hear from you! Thank you for everything you all have done for us and continue to do for us! We love you and appreciate all that you do very much. God Bless you and I will fill you in again soon!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Small Group

Well tonight was exciting and I just wanted to share about it with you, my friends and family. A few weeks ago we started a group in our apartment for young people… they are between the ages of 15-19 and we have had 9-11 people each time. It is wonderful! We actually had to buy more mugs this week and for next week I think we will need to find a few more chairs. I am glad to have and really praise God to have such a problem as this! For group we usually start with games, then tea and cookies, and then we have an English/Ukrainian Bible study. Tonight was the first night we had a Bible study and everyone stayed for it! It was great to read the Bible with them in English and then in Ukrainian. To listen as they tried to understand what it was saying in English and so, of course, they had to understand what the Bible was saying in general. Please pray for this group. The Bible is God’s Word and I know it can and will do great things in the lives of those who hear it.

Isaiah says in 55:10-12

10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.


We know and trust that the Bible will do what it says it will do, and without it and the power that is in the Word of God, we can do nothing! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can’t thank you enough! Thank you Calvary and Pat Marder for getting together and sending us some Bibles so we can continue to minister in this way! We love you all and miss you. God be with you and Bless you! Oh…. And don’t forget to read the Bible for yourself!

Other prayer requests:
- We could really use a printer for our ministry in Horodok.
- Sebastian and I are still without internet which can be hard sometimes.
- Alona and Andriy, missionaries living and serving with us in Horodok, are in need of a baby bed as they will be having a baby in the next couple months!

Monday, January 17, 2011

What we have been up to

It has been a while since I wrote on the blog but a new update is finally here. Many things have happened since I last updated this blog so I will try to give summary of these events from the last two or so months.
During 2010 the people of Ukraine elected a new president. Since coming into office this president has been changing many things making it harder for people who are not native to Ukraine to stay for extended periods of time. Before it was required that any non-resident must have a visa in order to stay in the country for more than 90 days. If someone wanted to stay longer, all they had to do was cross the border, cross back, and then they could stay in the country for another 90 days without problem. Now the law requires that a person must be out of the country for 90 days before the person can re-enter the country for 90 more days. This change made it so that and Joe and I needed to acquire visas in order to stay in Ukraine. My deadline to leave the country was December 24th, and Joe’s was the 31th. So with help from our superiors (friends at Central Baptist) we made preparations to leave for Poland with the necessary documents before that date. After much prayer and preparation we had everything organized and left on a bus for Poland. We left on the 21st , a Tuesday Night, and arrived in Krakow, Poland on Wednesday morning. We went to the Ukrainian consulate, handed over our documents, and praise God received our visas with no problems. We took a bus that night and arrived back home Thursday evening.
We had been working on our normal activities, which are ESL classes for Grapevine, Trinity, and for a small group in Horodok every week. Before we left for Poland Grapevine had invited us to join them for a camp they were about to hold later that month. We were unsure if we could make but after receiving our visas so quickly we were able to join them for a few days of the camp. Altogether the camp had maybe 40 youth attending. Most were children from internats (orphanage schools). It was an amazing camp filled with a lot of activities, songs, games, and most importantly bible reading and preaching. God used the leaders in powerful ways as they shared the gospel message with these youth again and again. Every single people who came had the gospel preached to them in full and are now without excuse. The number of those who came forward to profess faith were at first four but later became five when our ski instructor for the camp also professed placing her faith in Christ. Please pray for these five people, their names are: Kostya, Ira, Tanya, Roksolana and Ira.

Below is a game that was recorded at the camp. I won’t give any details except to say watch it.

Click here for Sumo Video
A while ago Joe and I put together a video to show what the apartment where we have been staying looks like. The link below shows an unexciting before clip but keep watching the video and click on the link for the after video.

Click here for Our Apartment Videos

Prayer requests:
Guidance in what new ministries we may start in Horodok.
Those who are attending our events in Horodok that they would open to the Gospel and that God would draw them to Himself.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year friends and family! I hope everything is well with you back in the States. As for us everything is getting back to normal. Today is Old New Years, so last night we celebrated New Years again, it was very cool. You are probably thinking, “What is he talking about” and I was also thinking the same, but apparently Ukraine and Russia had a different calendar, an orthodox calendar, so they celebrated Christmas on January 7th and New Years on the 14th. Now they have joined the rest of the world in celebrating the New Year, but they still celebrate both days and January 7th is still their main Christmas. And so we had the pleasure of enjoying two Christmases and two New Years.
The Holidays were really great though. L’viv had very cool decorations and added some small vendors near the center. It was really beautiful. Hot chocolate, candy apples, and many souvenirs were there among other things. There was also a big, live Christmas tree! For our Christmas (Dec. 25th) we spent it at our friends the Ledford’s house. As I said in one of our previous posts they are a missionary family that has been here about 5-6 years and has been very good to us. We go to their house every Saturday for an English Bible Study. And for those who were praying for them I appreciate it, they needed to get some documents in order for their visas and everything worked out, so thanks again for your prayers. As for Seb and I we also got our visas so if you were praying for us in this matter we really appreciate it also. God took care of everything. We went to Poland in one day made our visas and came back. It was a fast trip, but we did everything we needed to do and even got to enjoy the mall there for a few hours as we waited for our bus. (It had Starbucks, Subway, and KFC!)
For New Years we went to a winter camp with GrapeVine church. It was great to get to spend time with some friends from GrapeVine , to serve with them, and to enjoy the holidays while reaching out to Ukrainian youth and telling them about Jesus and his love for them at the same time. GrapeVine does a great job of reaching out to the Ukrainian people, loving on them, and sharing with them from God’s Word. They often have camps which take people away from everything they know, and expose them to the Gospel for a week or two while they are away from home. This combined with love and the power and working of the Holy Spirit on their hearts is just so amazing to witness and be a part of. It is a real pleasure to serve with them in furthering God’s Kingdom, and we hope to be a part of more of their camps in the summer. It is also heartening to see how much they all serve. It isn’t a large church especially by American standards but they are very active in serving, maybe 80% or more of them are involved as much as they probably can be which is a great example and encouragement to me. Pray for them that God would continue to use them and bless them.
The Holidays really were great, but they did make us miss you more! To our friends in family back in the states, Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for us. For all your sacrifices and prayers! We love you and miss you. We will update you again soon. Please pray for our work here that God would continue to use us and that He would use us even more here in Horodok. That He would increase and we would decrease! We are still having trouble getting things started in School #3 here so please pray that God would open doors there or lead us in a different direction. Thank you and God Bless! - Joey