It’s hard to believe that two weeks have already passed since our last Tuesday Tales post. (And that it took us till Thursday to actually post because – no wifi in the village.) We have lots to catch you up on! Lets just say it’s been an adventurous couple of weeks full of traveling, an engagement, lice (yes, you read that right), new windows, and the beginning stages of village ministry.
Last week we had the opportunity to escape village life and travel as a team to Western Ukraine. We stayed a couple nights in the beautiful city of Lviv and a couple of nights in the Carpathian Mountains. It was a week full of rest, adventure, an amazing excursion in an Indiana Jones like jeep, and excitement. The highlight of the trip was getting to watch two of our own get engaged!! It was an exciting day and we could not be happier for Sasha and Melissa.
In the midst of all the excitement we ended up with lice. Thank you mayonnaise, essential oils, and plastic bags for helping us get rid of it. Please pray that we were able to get rid of it completely. It’s hard to kill it all without a washing machine or shower.
Expectations are a funny thing. We dream and plan and try, but find ourselves waiting more than we anticipated. We were thinking that tomorrow would be a “Big Day” kids outreach event in Ivanivka. Our church was coming with a team to help run games, a Bible lesson and all kinds of fun. But we ran into some road blocks with needing more official documents and permission than we thought. So we are talking with the Sumy church and working towards it happening later this summer. For now, we keep working on our house and establishing ourselves as residents of Ivanivka. As we sat on the floor of our veranda, with dust and construction and chaos in the rest of the house, gaping holes to fill where the new windows got put in, and layers upon layers of wallpaper waiting to be stripped and refinished, we felt like God has us in this time reminding us to trust that His timing is always perfect. We thought for sure we’d have more formal ministry running by now, but it seems like God wants us to wait, to keep preparing our home, to show the people of Ivanivka that we’re here to stay. We’re wanting to do things the right way and to build trustworthy relationships. Even though it will take longer, we will jump through the hoops that we need to so that Village Ministry can reach it’s full potential. Please continue to pray with us as we dream and plan and wait on God.
Please be praying for us in this next week. The heat is getting to us, we are tired, we had lice. All sneaky little ways we feel that Satan is trying to slowly tear us down. We are so grateful for all of your continued support and prayers. We truly could not do this without you.