Count Your Many Blessings, See What God Has Done...

The Lord has really poured out his blessings on me these past couple of months!

Blessings #1 and #2 - A great wrap up to my English class in XTZ and a fabulous time with my momma!

April was a busy month getting stuff done before my mom came to visit. And then we had a great two weeks together here in Kharkov. Mom came to visit both of the English classes and shared about what life in Alaska is like. My class in XTZ surprised me with a little party as we had our last class together. The gave me an encyclopedia about Ukraine (written in Russian on a children's level), and candy and flowers. The flowers and gifts are very traditional for the last day a class meets as a way to show appreciation to the teacher.

It was really fun having my mom here in Kharkov and getting to experience all the local culture through a fresh set of eyes. I enjoyed taking her to see the local monuments as well as getting lost at Barabashova (the largest outdoor market in Ukraine).

Blessing #3 - Getting to do my dream vacation - a mediterranean cruise!!! (Which I have wanted to do since I was about 16 years old and studied european history in High School.)

Mom and I flew to Barcelona to begin our cruise. The first couple of days on the boat both mom and I were sea sick. But we got over it and really enjoyed our time. Every day was a new adventure and even now I can't believe all the sites we saw. The only downside was not enough time to soak it all in.

I think my favorite sites were the ruins at Ephesus and the scenic views around every corner in Venice. Someday I'd like to go back and spend a couple of days checking out all the art museums in Florence.

Blessing #4 - Serving alongside our mission team from Grenada, Mississippi doing a medical clinic at XTZ!

Our biggest medical clinic of the year was the week right after my mom left to go back to the States. The team was split into two groups and worked in five different locations throughout the week. And Praise the Lord!! - The team served over 1,000 people in those five days! They had been praying and asking the Lord to send them at least 800 and He really blessed our socks off!

During that week I served with the team holding the clinic in XTZ in the building where we have our church plant. The church was launched last year just after this medical team left. I helped regulate the flow of people into get registered. Ukrainians are no strangers to standing in line - expecially for medical care. When we arrived there were over 60 people waiting for us each morning!

Blessing #5 - Serving alongside a team from Lynchburn, Virginia doing Kids Bible Clubs!

A group of three from Liberty, Virginia came and joined with 4 Journeyman (2 year) missionaries from Kiev and did Kids Bible Clubs in the Gagarina and Gorizont areas of Kharkov. It was a great week and I really enjoyed being out in the sunshine and watching the kids have lots of fun.

Blessing #6 - Getting to spend a fabulous week in Greece with my fellow coworkers from across Central and Eastern Europe and Russia (CEE). We got to hear preaching and worship together in our heart language and we got to relax, sunbathe, and swim in the ocean. We celebrated what the Lord did over the past ten years in the areas of CEE and began to plan and look forward to what the Lord will do as we begin to operate under a different organizational structure. Instead of being group by countries, our mission agency will now be group by "people groups." Where I serve is now part of the "European Peoples Affinity Group." That group covers most of what used to be called the Western Europe Field and the Central and Eastern Europe Field. But most of our discussions about ministry will not take place at that level. Within the European Affinity and smaller people group "clusters." I am serving in what is now called the "Black Sea Orthodox Cluster" of people groups. The people we are targeting for ministry are primarily of a slavic ethnicity, their culture is largly influenced by Russian Orthodoxy, and they live in the areas surrounding the Black Sea. Our new organizational structure doesn't change anything about our ministry strategies. Our goal of leading people to Jesus and gathering them into reproducing churches hasn't changed. We pray that this new structure will allow our teams of missionaries to better strategize and minister to people of simmilar backgrounds regardless if the target people are physically located in different countries.

I can't post pictures of all the other folks that were there during the week for their security purposes. But here are a few snapshots of me. This first one is at our resort and the second is me at the base of the Acropolis in Athens.

Blessing #7 - I am blessed by all of your prayers and financial support for me!!

Your prayers for me mean more than anything else! Thank you so so much! Your financial support - coming to me through the channels of the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - is what makes it possible for me to serve here in Ukraine. Thank you!!

Did you know that the IMB is currently have to turn away new folks who feel called to serve as missionaries or that short-term missionaries are not being able to return at the end of their terms if they want to? What the IMB received from last years Lottie Moon Christmas Offerining was not enough to meet our budget. It is a heartwrenching thing when our board had to decide to put a cap on new and returning missionaries going to the mission field.

A fellow missionary had this quote in her recent prayer letter: "Our current economic struggle is worldwide; I come across very few people these days who are beside themselves because they have too much money and no idea what to do with it. However, none of us is exempt from our responsibility to give sacrificially (those of us serving overseas included). The 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal was $170 million....The total receipts fell approximately $29 million short of that goal… the single biggest drop from one year to the next in the history of the offering. When just looking at those numbers it’s pretty overwhelming. However, it all comes into perspective when you realize that entire shortfall could be made up by each Souther Baptist giving only about $2. That’s giving up one cup of coffee, one hamburger, one Route 44 from Sonic, one tots and cheese…Our missionary force is having to be reduced by almost 700 personnel." Please prayerfully consider what you could give up for the sake of furthering the Good News. Thank you for supporting me and all of us serving with the IMB. You play such a HUGE part in our ministries.

Blessing #8 - Bella!! I am so thankful for her!

On Saturday, July 4th, Bella will be 2 years old! I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me the perfect little friend! Today I was especially thankful! Bella is such a great way for me to meet my neighbors and chat with them. Today, because of Bella, I got to chat with a lady about the resurrection of Jesus. Thank you Jesus for how you open up doors!

My good friends Tanya and Anya (they are sisters) stayed in my apartment and took care of Bella while I was off traveling so much these past couple of months. It was so good to come home and love on her! These past couple of days she has been driving me nuts wanting to play all the time. More than usual. She follows me everywhere with a toy in her mouth. But she is SO cute and often too hard to resist! :)

So it is good to finally be home and know I'm going to be here for a while! I don't have any more trips again in the near future except maybe a trip to Kiev.

Prayer Requests -

1. Next Saurday, July 4th, all of our English classes will come together for a picnic and a game of softball. Please pray that it woiuld be a great time of relationship building. and please pray for the weather. Rain is in the forecast so please pray that it holds off until after the picnic. :)

2. My desktop computer crashed about two months ago. It is a new computer and I used it only about two months before it crashed. I havn't been home long enought to take care of getting it fixed. Please pray that I can quickly find a professional computer repair man that can fix it.

3. We have two mission teams coming back-to-back this month. They will be doing kids Bible clubs, and construction work. Please keep them in your prayers for safety in travel, physical and spiritual health, the effectiveness of their ministry, and the Ukrainians they will be serving and reaching out to. My team mate Linda's weekly prayer request blog/emails will have more details about the teams as the time gets nearer.

Please forgive me for not being so regular in my communication with you all. :( Depression was a factor in that struggle. It really made it hard to concentrate and I wasn't enjoying life so that made it kind of hard to think of thinkgs to write about. I really am doing better now!! The increase of sunshine and being outside coupled with a lot more social interaction has really helped a lot! Thanks for all of your concerned emails wondering what's up with me! It means a lot to know you care!

Wow! This is a huge post!! I'd better cut it off here. May the Lord overwhelm you with His blessings like He has me! Bye!