We are in the airport, ready to head back to Budapest, Hungary. It has been an adventurous journey so far as our flight was cancelled from Montreal to Frankfurt. Thankfully the airline found and covered the stay in a dog friendly hotel, but we are hoping the rest of our flights today all go smooth.
It is always exciting to get back to our work – we truly love what we do as we teach the Bible and multiply Bible teachers. We love serving YWAM Kyiv, even if it is from a far. We’ve also really loved getting to know the YWAM Budapest community over the past few years and serving at the kid’s school (ICSB). Now that we are beginning our next 5 year term, we have all sorts of exciting goals, dreams and plans! We can’t wait to tell you the stories as they happen! But even though we are excited for getting back to our work, we leave Canada with heavy hearts…
On July 29 Ben’s mom passed from this life to the next. She was an incredible woman, beautiful in every way. She was a mom and grandma that served her family and demonstrated a deep, loving faith. At the celebration of her life, many stories were shared about how she would pray with people, encourage others and make special baking for each child and grandchild (she knew just what everyone loved!) If you knew her, you knew that she loved to laugh and her joy was contagious! We will deeply miss our mom and grandma, but we know it isn’t forever. We will see her again soon. We received so many notes, emails and cards of support from people. We are very grateful to each of you.
Sometimes life is very difficult and hard things happen one after another. It was on August 2 we found out the sad, unexpected news that Angela’s 3rd mom also passed into the arms of Jesus. Angela has been like a sister with her best friend Liza since she was 4 years old. She and Liza grew up next door and of course were at each other’s house everyday. Carolyn (Liza’s mom) always had hugs, love and unending patience for Angela and Liza and all their antics growing up. She was the one who drove Angela to church with the family starting in grade 6, she was the honoured speaker at Angela’s wedding shower, she always wrote emails to check in when Angela was overseas, and every night after a long day selling fruit (Angela’s job in the summers from age 14-22) she would have a warm meal at home waiting for Angela and Liza. It is so hard to imagine missing out on her hugs, but we are thankful she passed peacefully. We are sure that Ben’s Mom (who was a great friend of Carolyn) welcomed her to heaven.
Thankfully someone graciously and loving offered to fly Angela back from Budapest for the funeral and so she will be flying back to Winnipeg for Carolyn’s celebration of life.
Life is filled with unexpected events. This last term 2019-2025 was filled with many great people, fruitful moments and events. It was also one of the hardest of our lives. We’ve experienced the challenges of covid, losing Angela’s mom Colleen, being displaced because of war in Ukraine, losing Ben’s mom Sandra, and losing Angela’s 3rd mom, Carolyn. And yet, we have known the faithfulness of God through it all. The two songs that were sung as a congregation at Ben’s mom’s funeral were, ‘It is well’ and ‘Goodness of God.’ Both of these songs celebrate that even in difficult times, we can experience God’s faithfulness and comfort.
Teaching Adventures 