The Khitra Family

Hello everyone. For now I will have some updates not about just me, but about some needs we have here both financially and things in need of prayer. First we are trying to help this family in the photo. It is a family of believers not far from us that has 4 children now (in the photo only 3). They are working and spreading the news of Jesus Christ in their village and surrounding villages. And if you read my posts earlier you would have seen me planting potatoes in a big field in a village, well that was at their house. It is not the easiest life there and we would love to help them by purchasing a washing machine for the Khitra family. We need a special machine that can wash from a water reservoir because they don’t have running water there and need a well. Also if anyone has any used combine machines for the kitchen…to help with quickly preparing food and cutting vegetables and so forth it would also be a huge help for them. They have been a blessing to us and we hope to bless them in some way. We are still eating those potatoes … Thanks everyone for your prayers and support and if anyone feels lead to help the Khitra family please contact me. Thanks and God Bless!!!

Autumn update

Hey everyone sorry it was so long since the last update. Been busy but that wasn't really why I didn't update mostly was problems with internet. Even this morning when I sat down to write the internet went out again and I couldn't. I thought I would never get a chance. So what have we been doing in Horodok since summer. Well first I should say that I am not in the same apartment where we have been the past year or so. I had to find a new one and did not find one so I am living with the other Ukrainian missionaries here in Horodok, Andriy and Alona (and their year and a half year old son Zachar). Since school started I have begun to teach some lessons and classes in L'viv the main city not far from here for some churches there. I hope soon to begin here in Horodok the same.

It is a very good way to see young people on a regular basis and build contacts and then relationships with them, and then invite them to group, and eventually bible studies etc. So I hope we will be allowed to do that here and that it will be successful. I am very busy now with English and the 1-2 hour bus rides to L'viv and 1-2 hour back plus English is keeping me busy and making me tired. Also Zachar likes to scream/cry at 6:00 in the morning and again at 11:00 or 12:00 so trying to sleep isn't always so easy. Please keep him in your prayers though, he is healthy but has a rash that just won't go away.. Last fall/winter he had and for summer seemed to be all better but now again he has. If anyone could recommend or maybe even send a good quality skin cream (without hormones?) it would be appreciated. So for me, life has changed drastically in the last few weeks. Went from summer schedule to teaching a lot, and now i'm not in my own apartment and so it can be hard to just relax and have some quiet time...especially when the door doesn't lock and Zachar likes to visit me often and rearrange my room haha. No, hes not so bad just 1 1/2 and doing what 1 1/2 year olds do =) And on a positive note I at least don't have to cook so much.So that is great! And here is well into fall. A couple of nights ago was just above freezing. Today is not so bad though... Sunny, and not very cold. It really is great when you can actually see the leaves changing. For those of you in Florida, sorry you can't enjoy it too but I posted a couple pictures

. Really was very stressful couple of weeks moving. I had to do most of it on my own because Andriy and Alona were out of town for a few weeks, but I thank God that now have a place to stay and everything is much better. Just a different mind-set here. It takes some getting used to. If someone says they will come tomorrow to help, basically it means they might come tomorrow or in a week. If you don't believe me ask Sebastian, Merrie, or Tanya. So what I will say...be thankful that God blessed you all... really blessed you all by placing you in America. I know life can be hard anywhere and we should always trust in God and follow him, and there are benefits to living here as well, but to be born and to live in America really is a true blessing. Remember this and thank God for it! Thank you all for following this blog. It is encouraging for me when someone tells me to update because they are still following it! If you would like to give money for Ukraine Missions and the work here then just contact me, my parents, or even Calvary. Please continue to pray for us here! We need it and welcome it always. God Bless!!!

Home again...

Arrived home this morning from my 8th summer in Ukraine. I am happy to be home, sitting in my favorite spot drinking coffee, but I really miss my Ukraine family. It is always hard to say goodbye because in the back of my mind, even though I plan too, I wonder what next summer will bring and if I will be returning. I love these faithful servants of God. They are family in Christ and family in love and friendship. Looking forward to the day when we will be able to understand each other...imagining a day when we can sit down over a cup of tea and plate of cookies, and chat with each other. Not sure there is tea in heaven, but it makes me smile thinking of it as we spend many evenings in Ukraine doing this. Joey Kader is doing a wonderful work in the small town of Horodok, Ukraine. He is loved and trusted by many of the kids and their families. It is because of the relationships he is building we were able to take a group of kids to Bible camp for a week, meet the kids for games in the stadium, go for pizza, go ice skating, and many other things. "A good name is worth more than great riches." There is a young missionary family ( Andriy, Alona, and their baby Zahar) living in Horodok and working along side Joey. They are Ukrainian. Their hearts desire is to buy a house in Horodok where they would live, take in orphans, and have church services. I am so excited by this since the plan from the beginning has been to start an Evangilical Church in this small town. They own land in the village where they were raised (and their families live) that they are trying to sell. Andriy is willing to leave his family for 3 months and come to America, doing construction work, to make money. They want to buy without taking out a loan and are willing to do what it takes to make this happen. At this point it takes over an hour to get to church on Sunday morning. Up early to take a 45 minute marshutka ride to the bus depot. Get on a bus for a 15 minute bus ride, then walk about 10 minutes to the church. By the time you attend church, eat lunch and get home, the day is pretty much over!! So exciting to think there could be a church in Horodok in the next year or so. I know many of the kids, and possibly families, relationships have been formed with would attend. Proud of the team that went to Ukraine this summer. Tanya returned for her 5th time. She just loves the kids and has fun with them! She makes them feel loved and they like hanging out with her. I love her laugh....especially when she is tired and finds everything funny! I am proud of her for staying and extra week and flying home on her own. I know the impact she has next week as she and Joey minister together will be wonderful. Little jealous she will be staying with Andriy, Alona and Zahar (who is 16mnths)as I know she will be playing with Zahar, and having evening tea and cookies with all. It was Katelyn Goode's first trip out of the country! She was amazing!! She quickly feel in love with the Ukrainian people and was loved back. I was amazed at how quickly she picked up reading Ukrainian and speaking many words. The kids loved giving her Ukrainian lessons, and she laughed along with them when they laughed at her pronunciation. She was willing to try everything from food to activities. She accepted each day and adventure with a sweet smile and good attitude. She was always willing to do what was needed. I love you Katelyn, thank you for coming and being so delightful!! Carissa O'Harrow was the fourth member of our team. I have known Carissa all her life, her mom has been my closest friend for about 27 years. I was proud of Carissa for wanting to come to Ukrain for two weeks, a long time to be away from home when you just turned 13. But, I cannot say I was surprised as it has been evident for many years that she has a heart for missions. She did great! I was pleased with how well she adapted to the Ukainian life style. Proud of her for not feeling pressured to eat or drink (tea really is good, Caris) what she didn't like, and amazed by her willingness to just have fun without reservation! She danced for the "Ukraine has Talent" show at camp and won 3rd place. She made friends easily and joked and laughed with all of us. She was aware of what was going on and often asked if I needed help, was ok or if another person needed something. She never complained even though I know she missed her family. Carissa, I am so proud of you!! It was a great trip! So glad we were able to do youth camp again this summer. The kids who came spent a week hearing God's Word and seeing believers live out His love. So happy we had many opportunities to follow up with the kids-lunch at McDonalds with some who came to church, pizza and ice cream one day, and lunch and ice skating the day before we left. Glad to be home.....sad to be home! Merrie

Ukraine 2012

Hard to believe tomorrow is our last full day! It has been a great trip. We have done a lot of fun things and created some great memories. Tanya and I have been here many times and know what to expect-lots of walking, different foods, carrying what is needed every day, cold showers, long days.... Katelyn and Carissa came for the first time and have met every challenge with a good attitude and smile on their face. I am so proud of all of us! We spent 6 days and nights at camp. It was hot, cold, sunny and rainy. The shower house was locked more than it was open. My favorite line was "maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow", when Tanya asked about having a shower. We did eventually get showers and they were hot. Since we have been back from camp we have shopped in Lviv with some kids from camp. Played at the stadium, taken kids out for pizza and ice cream, had kids over for dinner and played many games of UNO. tomorrow we will meet many kids from camp and go ice skating. That should be fun. Praying for no broken bones. This evening I made dinner for 10 people. It must have been good, I was finishing dessert and when I came to the table the food was almost gone. I made lots of food. We are still sitting around the table, drinking tea and eating apple pie with ice cream. Tomorrow is Katelyn, Carissa and my last full day. It has been a grat trip. Many exciting things happening that I will blog about when home. Must get these girls packing their suitcases. Merrie

We made it!

We are finally here! It was a long 25 hour trip....but not to bad. We had enough of a lay over in New York to have a nice last American meal. Our six hour lay over was a little more stressful as we had to keep up with all our luggage. We found a cafe where we ordered pizza, played UNO and chatted over tea and coffee. Tomorrow we head to youth camp, we will be there until next Saturday. Today we are relaxing at Joey's house, drinking tea and playing Uno.

Later We will go out and invite people to camp, then go to the stadium, play and visit with the kids and encourage them to come to camp. Will try to have one of the girls blog before we leave for camp. Thanks for praying for us. Merrie and girls

Registration Complete...Finally!!!

Well as you can see from the title I have finally finished registration. This is registration to have permission to live in Ukraine. Just one of the many changes they have made in the last year is making this necessary so it was the first time I ever had to do it. It really was such a long and arduous process. I am finished after working on it for more than a month, which is depressing to think that all of it was only for one year. If I feel led to stay another, I will have to do it all over. It is hard to explain how frustrated I was, the process here isn't as smooth when it comes to government forms and offices, and when you add on top of that the fact that almost every week has some sort of holiday,

AND the offices I needed were only open two days a week, then you can start to imagine my frustration. So basically it was almost impossible to get anything done. Really just venting my frustration here so sorry, but thank God it is finished. Now I can start working again without any interruptions from this. Already started a couple new groups this week, or rekindled them I guess I could say. Anyway, that's all I will say about that, thank you if you were praying for my registration. Many friends had more problems than me and even some were using a lawyer, I did without and although a long process, I can be very thankful because it could have been much worse.

 So what have I done in the last few weeks besides registration you might ask. Well I don't know if you read earlier about when we planted potatoes, but of course we had to weed this large field of potatoes too so they will grow better. It was a long day...woke up at 5:45 and worked until about 5:00 pm, but besides a few blisters it was a good day. We were helping some friends not far from here. It is always nice to go to them and to eat nice fresh vegetables, and Ukrainian borshch...especially after a long day of work. And on the plus side, all my potatoes throughout the year come from them anyway...so in a way I was working for my own food ;) I am no expert...but I can say I now know much more about planting and growing potatoes, so if you ever need help with this don't be shy to ask, haha.

 If you have been following this blog or my newsletters you probably know that we are helping one poor family with 7 children, the youngest of which has some developmental problems that we just found out is cerebral palsy. As you know this isn't something that will just go away, but there are some treatments that can give baby Liza a better standard of living, maybe even a chance to walk, and at the least to sit up on her own. Praise God for generous donations for baby Liza, without which she would probably just be bedridden all her life. She is actually making some progress already with the medication and is holding her head up more on her own. Also she has gained some weight and is looking much more healthy. Pray please for her and her family...her mother was having a hard time accepting that she is really sick.

 Other things that we could really use some prayer support for: We are preparing camp and are in need of funds and some cooks to be in the kitchen. Without these we won't have this camp so please be praying for that. Also, looking to the future...the family I am working with here feels called to take in some children from the orphanage to help raise them, but they need first their own house and not an apartment. Just pray that God would provide for this if it is his will for them. They have some land they are trying to sell back where they are from which could help in this, but are having some problems getting the necessary documents. Anyway, that is their dream for this place, one which I also think would be great for this place as there is no such place for orphans in Horodok, and it would be a great witness in this place, as well as a chance to bring up children in the truth of the scriptures and give them a real family, and place were they will be loved and cherished.

 I am really enjoying the warmer weather and the fresh vegetables and fruits. If you ever get a chance to come here I promise you wouldn't forget it...it truly is a beautiful place with such beautiful people. Also, in about a week the European championships for football (soccer) will begin here and in Poland...so please pray for safety for all. Thanks for following my blog and for your prayers and support. See you soon!
God Bless

Time to Plant...or at least try

Well for any of you still following this blog, I haven't updated in about a month so I have a few things to say. First of all I would like to thank anyone who prayed for my travels to Poland. I was there a little longer than I wanted (11 days) waiting for documents I needed to make my Visa, but all in all it was a good trip and God kept me safe and guided my feet as to where to go and which buses to take and so forth. I couldn't wait in Ukraine any longer because without Visa you have only 90 days. And unfortunately for me it was 27 minutes into my 91st day so I had a fun time on the border getting singled out, called forward, and then questioned by a few guards (in Ukrainian of course) as to who I am, what am I doing in Ukraine, and where am I living and stuff like that. Miraculously after about 5-7 minutes of this, they said I need to count better my days that I can stay, and asked me what are they going to do with me...but finally ended up giving me my passport and stamp. I think they understood I wasn't going to give any bribes or anything, so they just let me go without having to pay something. So now I have visa for 45 days in which time I must register to live here for the year. So please pray for this as it is an even more complicated process than the visa application.

Also I want to thank those of you who have been praying for baby Liza, a small 1 year old girl with many health problems. We are ministering to her and her family of 7 children and have a good relationship with them. My mom's wonderful class and parents of children in her class generously gave money for us to use to help some poor children and families here in Ukraine so we used some of this money to take Liza to the hospital to check what exactly is wrong. It was some discouraging news so I ask for even more prayers for her please. She has some slow reaction times with her brain,(including no reflexes), blood in or around her brain, and she is 1 year and can't sit on her own. Also, the doctor believes that the nerves in her eyes have atrophied and she maybe can see only silhouettes. She will have another checkup sometime this week. It will be more intensive, like a full examination of everything. Please pray that God will heal her or at least that we will get a more encouraging report. I included here a picture of her and her mom, Yana.

And lastly just want to tell you of my interesting time last Saturday in a village not far from here. We went to the house of some of our friends that minister and meet with us sometimes for Bible Study and other activities, to help them plant their potatoes. So with two hand plows pulled behind a small tractor we plowed and then planted maybe 20 large sacks of potatoes. There were about 15 of us and we planted the whole field in 1 day...which was no small feat...My friend Andriy said such a field and so many potatoes usually takes 3 days. Also we had to cut the potatoes in a certain way so they would grow, which I also learned to do. Anyway, it was interesting for me to learn how to plow a field, and plant potatoes, and we had fun afterwards playing games,singing, and eating some grilled hot dogs. However, it was an exhausting day and I slept very well that night! We will see in a few months how our potatoes turned out, and I have a feeling it will be even more "fun" to harvest them... but that will be another story for another day.

Thanks, if you are reading this, for your interest in my blog, and in my work here. Thank you for your prayers and support! God bless you and your family! Don't forget to pray for baby Liza when you can! See you next time.

March Madness

Well as you can tell probably by the title, this month has been a little hectic. And I am not talking about the basketball games (of which I have not seen one minute. This month was filled with my normal tasks and responsibilities...Youth club, English Bible Study, English classes in L'viv...but added on to that a couple more things. First of all, time has gone by very fast and already I am nearing my 3 month mark which means I must get my Visa. This requires some official stuff, documents, etc. and then a trip to Poland since you can't actually make the visa while you are in Ukraine. So have been busy, to say the least, and still a little nervous about it, as of course I need the visa to continue living and working here. Please pray that this process would go smoothly without any problems and that I would have a safe trip to Poland next week.

Last week, as I mentioned in some earlier posts, we had an all week English camp. Nine Americans came from Texas, and along with myself, we spent our mornings teaching some English classes in some of the local schools, and in the evenings we had our English club from 5 until 8 o'clock. The first hour was English, the second bible study in English and Ukrainian, and the third hour we had like a fun time of games and singing, as well as testimonies from our team. It was a great week, very exhausting, but super. There were round 60 youth at this camp ages 14-18. A lot of great relationships were built and we will continue to work with these young people in the coming year. This Tuesday I started an English class with them, like I had done last year and 15 of them came from camp which was super. Please pray that the relationships they made, the words they heard about the Bible, and about Jesus, that they would grow in their hearts and lead to salvation.

As for me everything is super, everyone around me seemed to get sick but so far I have stayed healthy, praise God! And I know many of you prayed, as I asked, for some open doors here in Horodok. Today we met with a leader in school number 3 and it seemed to go well, so I will be able to let you know more about this in the coming week. Thanks for your support and interest and prayers in what we are doing here in Horodok and in L'viv, Ukraine. God Bless you and have a nice week!

March Update

Well it is March already, here in Ukraine March 1st is known as the first day of spring. It is warmer and I have had some enjoyable days this week, but still can be cold and will probably snow a few days this week. Actually last week was Sunny then out of nowhere a snow storm came. It was very windy and crazy for me, but kind of cool! Here is a small video for you to enjoy of how crazy the weather can be here sometimes. It was taken from my phone :)



Anyway, my schedule here still has some free days so I am really praying and hoping that we will be allowed to teach some sort of English class or English club in the schools here in Horodok. It would be great to have on a regular basis contact with some of the youth and children here in Horodok that we have been working with for the last 7 years. For now we just can invite them to group and hope that they will come. We have one Saturday "Youth Club" which is many fun activities, crafts, games, singing, and then a short message from the Bible. And for English we are reading through the gospel of John with the children. We read in English first and then in Ukrainian and talk a little about it. For both groups we have seen from 5 to 12 people, but we would like to see that number increase a little so please pray for that. Really just want to reach out to as many people as we can so please pray that we will have more opportunities to serve.

Also we are working with some poor families here in Horodok, and some families with handicapped children or people. It is sometimes hard because we don't just want to give them money but want to help to teach them how to live better, to make better choices, and to be more organized in caring and feeding for their children (most have 5-7 children). Some of the families need this more than just financial help. It is great though and many of these mothers are coming regularly to a woman's bible study which Alona leads from their apartment on Sundays after church. Please pray that God would open up for us more opportunities to serve her in Horodok.

I know I keep saying it, pray, pray, pray but really for now the most and best support you can give us is to lift us and our ministries and the people we are working with up to God in prayer! Also pray as we are beginning to plan the Summer trip with a team from Calvary. Pray that God would lead the people who should be on the trip to have the courage and means to come! Thanks so much for your support. I hope this month will be completely used in every way to serve God here in Ukraine.

brrr.....It's Cold!!!!

Well as you can tell by the title it is really cold right now!!! You must wear multiple layers, scarf, gloves to even stand a chance at being warm and your face is definitely not going to be anyway! Here is the forecast for the next week. Keep in mind in Ukraine forecasting isn't as accurate...could be colder or warmer. But for your enjoyment .... Friday (h -11 C l -14 C feels like -19 C), Saturday (h -8 C l -17 C feels like -22 C) Sunday (h -9 C l -20 C feels like -27 C) Monday (h -12 C l -20 C feels like - 28 C) and it continues for next week. So maybe if it will be -20 they might close some schools and stuff. Ukrainians are much more aware about cold weather and scared to venture out into it for fear of being sick. As for me it is cold but a new experience being a Florida boy! (as for the photo...you can guess for yourself...and yes i took that photo...poor little birdie)

We started last week our "Youth Club" ministry. We wanted to have it in this store we own here in Horodok, but the building is too old and we couldn't make it warm, so we were in our apartment. It was good for a first meeting. There were about 8 youth there. So we watched some videos, and sang some songs, and had tea and cookies. This youth meeting will be like our evening meetings were at camp in the summer. A fun time with singing and interaction with the youth. This will be every other Saturday. This Saturday we will start our Ukrainian/ English bible study. I invited many people from camp last year and who we know from the neighborhood, so I am hoping again for about 8 people minimum. Please pray that God would lead me to the people he wants to be in this group and that I would have the wisdom to invite them and they the courage to come! This is the most important group we have here in my opinion and ask that you please pray about it.

Also I will start teaching classes in L'viv again once or twice a week. For these classes I teach English and then after English they have a Ukrainian bible study, so it is also important that I do a good job, so that many people come and hear the Word of God. So please pray for this as well and that God would lead me to where he wants me to work this year. I still am praying for him to open up opportunities to teach such classes as these in some of the schools here in Horodok. Once again thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. Talk to you soon! God Bless. And enjoy your Florida weather ;)

Back in Ukraine

I finally have internet, at least for a short while, and some time so here I am back in Ukraine posting for the first time in 2012! I first want to thank all my friends and family and fellow brothers and sisters at Calvary for all your very, very generous donations which are the only reason I am able to be here! I thank God for all of you. Such generosity is really such a blessing to me! I have more than met my goal for 1 year (without having to sell my car), and I even have a good portion for a second year. Praise God!!! If still you want to give or wanted to but didn't have the chance you can of course give to Calvary with my name on it and it will find its way to me, and I will just stay longer here =) As of now though, my needs for this year are well met and I am not in need of anything besides your prayers!

Today is January 6th, which in Ukraine is Christmas eve. Tomorrow will be Christmas here. It is maybe the first time in a long time that there is not snow for Christmas which is a little crazy...and for me bad because it is so cold but without snow. It will still be great though. They have so many Christmas traditions...the children sing carols all day at your door for money, also they come to your door and throw buckwheat at the threshold...also for money! Also there is "holy supper" which is a traditional 12 course meal for Christmas, which I will celebrate with Andriy and Alona the young Ukrainian missionary couple living and serving here in Horodok with me. Here is a picture of Andriy and Zachar...their son. They are doing well. They like it here and have a real heart to reach this place too...which is great. And also living with me is Marko another young Ukrainian man who is serving here as well.

Anyway...just wanted to update everyone a little and let everyone know I made it here safely and am back living here in my apartment. Almost like I never even left! Although I am grateful for the precious time I got to spend with friends and family and with my church for the 3 or 4 months I was back home. Thanks again for all your love and support and keep the prayers coming! Will update you more soon. This week we will take some presents to some poor families in Horodok. Games and stuff for the kids and food for the families. So please pray that this would open many doors for some evangelism and for building some good relationships, or strengthening some existing ones! God bless you all!!! and thank you, thank you, thank you again!!! Have a great new year =D