So let’s back up.  As many of you know, we worked with a young man, Ben, on a filming a documentary in July.  It went very well, even better than we could have hoped!  It is not yet finished (Ben is working on it on his side of the ocean, and Dave on ours), but we hope it will be finished in the spring.  We hope and pray that it will be a valuable gift that we can give back to the people we interviewed, showing that God cares and sees and knows their story.

In August, Dave was providentially introduced to a foreign man visiting Ukraine.  This man was here for a short time to study and observe.  He and Dave quickly found common ground in the way they think and wish to do ministry.  This man came to stay with us and visited Dave’s friends here.  His presence in the community gave Dave credibility that he would have not otherwise had and has opened new doors to help build new relationships and give better access to ones he already had.  This man hopes to come to Ukraine again in the future and help with our ministry.

In September, we began homeschooling with David (1st grade) and also began taking language lessons ourselves.  This, plus continuing in ministry with the visitor who was still here, made September and most of October fly by!

At the end of October we had a team meeting in the city of L’viv with our other CMF teammates in Ukraine.  In November we were able to slow down a bit after several busy months and decided to wallpaper our living room (finally!). 

December is looking like it will be a busy month once again.  We have many people that we want to visit, as well as needing to continue on with homeschooling and language learning.  “Christmas season” does not begin here until the end of the month, but at home we’re already listening to Christmas music and Annette is trying to teach our kids American Christmas carols.  (They won’t learn them otherwise!)

God has worked some amazing things since our return to Ukraine this summer, even more already than we had dreamed of or hoped for.  We are grateful for your prayers and support.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance as we continue and seek the Lord’s will in ministry and life here in Nizhnegorskiy.

If you have specific questions about anything in our ministry, please write!  We would love to hear from you.

We’ve been spending most of our last month trying to get life in order.  As you can probably imagine after 9 months in the USA there were a few things to get used to, and we needed to get a car since we had sold our car before coming to the US.  We also had to tame the “jungle” that was growing wildly around our house, and reestablish relationships with Christians and non-Christians in our community.  We have only just come to the point where we are feeling settled in the most basic sense, but at least now we can start living like normal (whatever normal means!).

Dave has had several significant opportunities to share with friends of another religion about Jesus and things are moving forward in exciting and new ways as the Holy Spirit is opening unique opportunities for relationships to be built.  Keep these new opportunities in prayer.  If you’d like to hear more about what is going on or have a specific question about something–send us an email.

Dave picked up an American in the beginning of July who will be staying in our village for the entire month of July helping us get some video material put together.  Pray for the project they will be working on and for the experience this young man from the USA will have in Ukraine.  Pray that they will be able to accomplish the goals they have and that the result would be something that can be used in ministry on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  The main thrust of the video will be to allow a non-Christian people group to tell their personal stories about their history.

Last fall and winter was primarily spent here in Greenfield, IN.  We are grateful that were able to take the time we needed to grieve after losing our daughter, Samantha.  Although we still miss her greatly, God has brought about much healing and has been preparing us to return to our home across the sea.

In January, we were able to do some training that will help us in ministry.  Dave took a graduate course in SC, went to a church planting seminar, and then we both went to a conference about relational ministry in WA.  God really used these events, as well as time and reflecting while we’ve been here the States, to affirm the direction we are going with evangelism and also to give us new, specific ideas on how to pray for people and how to better share our testimony.  We look forward to going back to Ukraine and renewing the relationships we have there.

Starting in February and up until now, we have been visiting our supporting churches and spending time with friends and family, sharing about what God is doing in Ukraine among the people and also in us.

Now we are in the throes of packing and preparing to go back to the field.  We leave May 14^th and would appreciate your prayers for us during this time of transition.  We’ve been asked by many people if we’re ready to go back.  The answer to this question is a difficult one because it involves many elements.  Are we excited to pack up everything we own, say goodbye to friends and family, leave behind convenience, spend time and energy in transit and readjust to a foreign culture and language?  Maybe not so much.  Are we ready to reengage in relationships, to reconnect with people on a practical level, to have meaningful conversations that lead people closer to knowing who Jesus is?  Are we ready to share life and build memories with friends?  Are we ready to learn who God is on a deeper level while walking on that path of Spiritual Maturity with individuals who are considerably important to us?  Absolutely.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Pray for our family’s health – that we could all be well while we travel and as we prepare to leave.

2.       Pray for us, for the transition of leaving our home culture and returning to another.  Pray especially for our children as they adjust.

3.       Pray for all of us as we say goodbye.  Pray for our families too as they send us off.

4.       Pray that God will be preparing hearts – both ours and the people we’re planning to see when we return.

Praises:

1.       Thank God for the way he has provided for us while we have been living in the USA.

2.       Thank God for the surprises He gave us through friends, old and new.

3.       Praise God for the way he has chosen to work through and inspire His people.

4.       Praise God that His plans are greater than ours.

We had a private graveside service for Samantha on Friday afternoon.  Today, September 27^th, was her due date.  She made it to exactly 39 weeks, and her last full day with us was Lily’s birthday (the 19^th).  We are so glad she was still with us on that day.

We know that so many people prayed for Samantha, even prayed for a miracle, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  Samantha was dearly and deeply loved and has forever touched our lives.  We appreciate your continued prayers for us.

Some have begun asking if our plans are still the same in regard to our return to Ukraine.  We will still be here on furlough in Greenfield, IN at least until March.

Oh Yes! We're back in the USA!

Well, we’ve been in the USA for about 4 weeks now.  In that time we have received a lot of new news and have been figuring out what some of it means.  We haven’t posted an update for quite a while, but hope to do so more often now that we’ve settled in a little!

About our baby

After we went to the doctors in July we have needed to go back several times for checkups and prenatal care.  We had an Amniocentesis done and the results came back with some big news.  Our baby has Trisomy 18.  If you want more information on this chromosomal condition you can google it and find plenty of info.  This was hard news to get because it means that our baby will probably not survive long.  You can keep us in prayer as we work through this situation.  We still don’t know what all of this means for us, but we’ll know more after our baby (Samantha Marie) is born, hopefully around September 27.  In the meantime we will be staying close to Greenfield, Indiana and enjoying what time we have with our little girl.

Please feel free to add us to prayer lists and share about our family’s situation with friends, Bible study groups, your church, etc.  We appreciate as many people praying as possible.

We welcome communication, so feel free to email or call us.  Our phone numbers are: 513- 293-3902 (Dave) or 513- 293-4254 (Annette).  We would like to stay in contact with you, so even coming up for a visit or meeting somewhere is something we’d enjoy.  If you’d like to get together with us, just call or email and we can get it on the schedule!

Our address while we are here is:

1223 Apple St.

Greenfield, IN 46140

Other News

Waiting for the bus

In other news, David has started Kindergarten.  This is day 5 and he seems to like it.  We decided to let him go so that we could get ready for the baby, spend some time with Lily, and let David have some social interaction with his peer group (since he is an extrovert, if you haven’t noticed!).  He is going to the morning class at a public school.  Are we really old enough to have a kid in school!?!  Guess so!

Our Baby

We also wanted to update everyone in regard to our baby. On Tuesday we went to the hospital to have a fetal echo-cardiogram done and get the US doctor’s perspective on our baby’s health. In Ukraine we were given some information, but wanted to double-check their findings here. We’ll tell you what we know for sure as of now. The cardiologist said that the baby has a heart defect. She called it a Mal-aligned VSD, which means that there is a hole in the heart (she said it was a large hole that will not close by itself) and a misaligned aorta. The short of it is that our baby (a girl) will need surgery within the first year after birth. She will also need some follow-up visits after the surgery. We still don’t have a great time line of what that could mean for us. We will be better able to understand that after the birth. Please keep our family in prayer and pray that our baby will be born as healthy as possible.

Our Time Line for the Near Future

We are currently in Cincinnati, Ohio staying with Annette’s parents. We have had an opportunity to see family members and catch up a little with them. We will be going to Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon to attend a retreat for furloughing missionaries with our organization CMF International. The retreat is a week long. After the retreat we will be moving into a house in Greenfield, Indiana and living there. Once we have an address we will provide that to you. This house is missionary housing provided for us by one of our supporting churches, Park Chapel Christian Church. This house is a tremendous blessing because it will help our family stay in a stable location, making transition into the US easier.

Contacting Us

We have phones and email as well as internet that will all stay with us while we are in the USA. Feel free to email us if you want our cell phone numbers. We also have Skype, so if you want to call there are many options for you. Let us know if we can do anything for you or if you would like to plan a time to meet.

Since we last wrote, our plans to come home have changed. We had another ultrasound about two weeks ago to check up on a cyst that had been seen in the baby’s head. At this most recent ultrasound, the doctor also discovered a heart defect. Because of the potential seriousness of the heart problem, we have decided to come home earlier than planned (based on the advice of several Stateside doctors) so that we can get everything checked out in America and be sure to be home in plenty of time before the baby arrives. (Nothing has changed as far as where we will be living during our furlough, which is in Greenfield, IN.)

We will now be arriving in the US on July 15th. Please be in prayer for us at this time. Pray for our baby’s health, for getting packed up and ready to go, and for saying goodbye. Pray for our health (it would certainly be great to travel without any of us being sick!) and for safety in travel. Also pray for David and Lily during this transition time.

Ministry Update

Along with getting plans together in the USA for our return we are in the midst of transitioning out of the culture here in Ukraine. There are a lot of things that we will need to do in the next week and a half. A lot of those things will be events where we will see certain people for the last time before leaving. Many of those people are non-Christians who know that we are leaving earlier than we expected to due to the health of our new baby.  Pray that God can use our situation to witness to these people.

Pray that as we plan our last full week we make the best use of our time, not only with non-believers, but with Believers as well. We have many friends here who help us a lot. Pray that we can show them our appreciation and encourage them as we leave.

Aside from the plague we are doing well.  A lot of things have happened this past month.  For starters we have been living without transportation (nothing happened, we just had to send our paperwork to an office for registration and legal stuff to stay in Ukraine).  Usually this type of thing takes a week or so, but this time it was an entire month.  That makes it harder to keep alive (meaning many, many more trips to the market since we can only carry so much food home in our arms in one trip!).  Things that should take 30 minutes with a car took 3-4 hours by foot.  Being without a car isn’t all bad though.  It makes us slow down a little and do things differently.  We reconnected with our shoes, met with some neighbors on the street and chatted longer, made new friends, spent more time doing things, which lends itself to more conversation, and were reminded that our village is pretty peaceful.  Life in a car is basically the same everywhere, but when you walk across town you appreciate details that normally fly by as you drive.

I, Dave, helped some friends of mine (all non-believers) play on May 9^th in the center of town for Victory Day celebrating the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.  That was an experience!  I was invited to participate in the ensemble by my friend Mark.  We practiced Soviet marches for about an hour, then they were ready to perform.  I ended up filming the performance and plan to play with them next year (I play clarinet).  I didn’t feel ready after one practice, hearing 15 new songs for the first time in my life, to confidently stand with them and play before the whole village!  I did gain a new circle of musician friends through the event–that in and of itself has already been worth my time.

Besides the 9^th of May, we had a few other major events take place this past month.  One of which was David’s 5^th birthday!  Yes, David is five.  That’s hard to believe!  He had just turned 2 when we moved to Ukraine to serve long-term.  That means he has spent at least half of his life here in Ukraine!  Needless to say his childhood will be significantly different than either Annette’s or mine, but we know that God is using the calling he has placed on our lives to shape who David and Lily will become.  It is amazing to think about how many things contribute to the way He teaches us through life.  God knows what is best for us even better than we do (even though we sometimes think otherwise!).  That fact gives us comfort when we think about all of the changes and differences, languages, cultures, and ways of thinking that surround us and contribute to the experience of our children as they grow here in Ukraine.  God, when he called us to Ukraine, also called our children to participate in this journey and will use things here to shape them into who He wants them to be as adults (and these experiences are definitely different than the ones they would have had stateside!).

Another major event for us was an ultrasound we had.  Yes, you read right, we’re having another baby!  The doctor said that it is a girl (but here a frequent occurrence is a complete gender misdiagnosis—probably as bad as 60% accuracy).  We’re due at the end of September/beginning of October.  Yes, we will be coming home to have the baby, and we will also be taking our first furlough when we come home.  We are coming up on the completion of our first (three-year) term on the field.  Our plane tickets have been purchased now, and we are beginning to plan our furlough schedule.  We will be arriving in the US on August 13 and will be staying for about 7 months.  While in the States, we will be staying at the missionary house of one of our supporting churches in Greenfield, Indiana (just East of Indianapolis).  We will be planning on seeing as many people as possible once we are back on your side of the Atlantic.

Our meetings have continued with the group we wrote about last month.  The meetings have not been every week, but about once every other week.  Being without a car has limited our ability to meet with them outside of the planned meeting time (but maybe there is a reason for that), but they have met without us once (there were other evangelists who traveled to meet them).  Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the hearts of the people who gather with us.  Pray for the Christians who have decided to take part in first-hand evangelism.  Pray that God would strengthen all of us so that we can bring Him glory.

There are many things to pray about with us.  Pray for our children.  Pray for our health. Pray for our new baby.   Pray for the work of the Holy Spirit.  Pray for the people with whom we meet regularly and semi-regularly.  Pray for our relationships with believers.  Pray for our relationships with non-believers.  Pray that God will continue to direct our ministry and show us what to say and when to say it.

It was a Thursday.  Usually on Thursdays Dave meets with his friend Mark.  Having gone to the meat shop in the morning, Dave had chatted with Mark and come home with the news that their meeting wasn’t happening because Mark was sick.  Dave was a little disappointed, but what can you do when things don’t work out?  About thirty minutes after Dave got home he got a call from an evangelist friend (Paul) asking him to go and talk with a Thompson family in a neighboring village.  Since plans fell through, Dave was free and agreed.  This began the journey.

In this Thompson household there is a woman about our age (late 20’s) who had accepted Christ around five years ago.  She (we’ll call her Grace) has been living with her family who were all of a different religion.  Her neighbors and friends are all of that same religion, but she has remained Christian.  Grace had somehow met Paul and had invited him to come and tell her relatives about Jesus.  He gladly accepted, invited Dave and another eastern evangelist, and there they sat.  From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. they sat and talked about God.  They opened the Koran and read from it.  They opened the Bible and read from it too.  The result of the meeting was that 4 of the Thompsons wanted to go to church to worship God with their own nation.

Sunday rolled around and Dave picked them up to drive them south about 40 miles to a church where there is a group of Thompson believers.  They attended the service, stayed for tea and talked about a few topics with the believers there, and Dave drove them all home (“driving them home” is not as simple as it seems.  “Driving them home” means that Dave had tea again with them, then ate dinner, and then met the family which continually became larger as time went by eventually numbering over 20, he was adopted by a Thompson grandmother, and then drove a handful of them home to yet another village 4 hours later.).

Two weeks ago, Dave called Grace to touch base and see if they wanted to meet again in their home to talk more about Jesus.  She said “yes” and told him to come Wednesday with the evangelists that had come last time.  They met again at the Thompson’s house with 12 new people, not including the evangelists.  Almost all of them could say that they believe Jesus is God and that they believe in Jesus (for as much as they know about Him).  This time family members and neighbors were present and they were all open and accepting of the Bible and Jesus.  They read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and talked about it.

It is amazing to see how God works through many different things to reveal Himself to people.  The Thompson people group, being an Eastern people group, understands life in different ways than Westerners.  The story of the woman at the well seen through the eyes of a Thompson is much more quickly understood and related to life.  The longer we’re here the more we appreciate the fact that the Bible is an “Eastern” book with many facets we don’t pick up on.

After our most recent meeting family and friends alike asked us to come every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. to hold a meeting where we can learn about Jesus.  We consider this the makings of a new house church.  A few Thompsons even brought up the issue of baptism themselves without anyone having mentioned it yet.  Pray for these meetings.  There is a lot of work to be done in order to maintain these relationships.  Pray for the individuals who are interested in moving forward in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Pray for these people who have just found freedom.  The twinkle in the eye of a couple men says more than words.  When they shake hands with Dave it is not the handshake of some there shaking hands goodbye.  Their eyes flash with a secret that is held between those who understand.  They are on a journey that makes grown men weep because the power of the Holy Spirit is working inside their hearts.  Young, strong, hardened men who are broken and scared inside—but who have now met someone that gives them joy that they don’t understand.  Joy that makes them cry when it is illogical and not socially acceptable—in front of women, in front of men, for no reason other than the fact that Jesus Christ touched their hearts and the only response is to release that feeling that swells inside.  Praise God for his mercy and wisdom.  In His name the Gentiles will hope.

We Got Sick

Kind of self-explanatory, maybe, but let’s explain it anyway.  Living in a foreign country with children lends itself to odd illnesses and, usually, illnesses that are similar to what we’re used to, but seem to be on steroids.  We get a common cold and are sick much longer than would be normal in the US.  Kinda messes up our plans sometimes!  Maybe it’s a way for God to tell us to take a forced rest.  I wish He’d send an email instead!  As a result of our sickness we weren’t able to go to a conference we had planned on, we didn’t meet with people we really wanted to meet with, and we basically faded out of Ukrainian social life for 2-3 weeks.  The up side is that now we’re on the mend!

Spring Came

Finally, after 2 months of winter we have spring!!!!!  No—really—it didn’t hit freezing temperatures here until after the new year.  It was 60 degrees on New Year’s Eve!  Yes, that weather is odd.  It was in some ways nice, but in other ways we wanted more snow.  Well—January and February gave us the snow we wanted!  We had plenty of snow plus a few days at 20 below zero.  Even with the short winter we started itching for spring a couple of weeks ago (almost as if winter had been really long and we hadn’t seen a day above 40 for 6 months).  Now it is 60 again and we’re enjoying the outdoors with the kids.

Spring coming has given us opportunities to make new acquaintances since we’re outside more now.  I, Dave, have been talking with some neighbors we haven’t yet been able to talk to as much before.  We’ve also met new people around town while on errands and such.  All in all our sickness has made us move slower and, as a result, we have met more people than we might otherwise have.  Warm weather means we’ll be able to chat outside while cooking out with friends.  A simple walk down our dirt road will take hours with all of our neighbors stopping us to talk for 30 minutes at a time.

Saying Goodbye

Another development is the fact that our teammates left Ukraine to move back to the States.  It was a transition that has been in the works for a while (especially with their daughters getting ready to go to college).  If you remember (some of you may) in 2003 Annette and I came to Ukraine on an internship while still in college.  We stayed in Feodosiya under the oversight of Cory and Janice Lemke.  They have been in Ukraine for 14 years and we were introduced to Ukraine and ministry here by them.  Coming back full-time as missionaries in 2007 we again lived near the Lemkes and were able to ask questions and lean on them when we were figuring out what Ukraine was.  We wouldn’t be in Nizhnegorskiy today if it hadn’t been for the relationships they made with Ukrainians here through their ministry.  We have seen how God has used their willingness and sacrifice to accomplish a lot of things on both sides of the Atlantic and are sad to see them leave.  At the same time God has plans for different phases of our lives and we are confident that God will use them in the US.

Small Interactions

A conversation here—a hand shake there.  Pay for parking at the market—eat a bowl of cold ram soup with a neighbor.  Buy a drill bit (or 3 because they keep breaking)—pick up some kids for youth group.  Through small daily chores and seemingly insignificant interactions with people it is easy to push hard and hurry through life trying to DO something important or make something happen.  The hard thing is to BE someone who God can use as we talk to our neighbors, pay the parking attendant and stand there for a few minutes to chat, give some attention to the clerk in the store that sells something, joke with a person who feels uncomfortable to help them relax (even if you feel not quite comfortable yourself).  God uses our disposition toward life to speak into the lives of others.  As we share life with people we have the opportunity to learn something ourselves, but also to build rapport and give them something more important to think about than simply money, comfort, and stuff.  Praise God that he gave all of us the opportunity to share life with others and show His truth with many people, even if all of our conversations don’t end up being lectures on Christology.  That’s nice sometimes, but people hear better when they know that someone cares about them.  Our love can say more than our words.