We were back in Canada and as I was singing some songs to Jesus, this idea popped in my head. How could I introduce people at home to the people we minister to? We always try a variety of methods to communicate, but this would be something a little bit different. Instead of long video updates, I would interview people that I teach with just a couple of questions. Keep the videos under 2-3 minutes, and let those who send us meet those we work with. So this was my first attempt. I still need to buy a tripod (my phone is balanced on a table) to hopefully get the angle and quality a little better, but still, this is start.
Enjoy! Ps. If you like this and would like to see more of them, you can subscribe to the playlist on youtube, or subscribe to this blog (on the right) and I will be posting them here. :)
There were many of you who gave to a love offering at our home church just before we left. That offering gave us the ability to:
restock our pantry
provide our landlord with the 2 months of the rent deposit that he needed
pay for the visa and registration documents we need to stay here in Budapest
be able to re-register our car to be able to use it here in Hungary
These were significant starting expenses that are not included in our monthly budget and we are grateful to each person who gave!
YWAM Kyiv incredibly continues to disciple and train young people in a nation that is regularly bombed almost daily.
Maybe overtime you have become so habituated to this thought that it doesn’t bring the same shock as it once did, but take some time to localize it to your own nation. Imagine you had a group of young people in your church that you had living in homes and coming together for classes everyday in discipleship, and at the same time, bombs, drones or missiles were being shot at your downtown, the nearby cities etc. What kind of strength and resilience would you need to keep your focus on the importance of God’s kingdom in the midst of it all? What kind of prayer support?
Well, at YWAM Kyiv, we have people from different nations, cultures, and backgrounds just starting this September—united in their desire to know God more deeply and make Him known.
We are so excited to see them walk together over the next months, and watch all that He will do in and through their lives. Please pray for them. Our family may not be physically in Kyiv at this time, but Ben and I still serve on the leadership team and our hearts are still deeply invested in this ministry.
Please pray for us and Ukraine over these next few weeks. We will be going to Ukraine October 23-27 for our YWAM Kyiv staff retreat and Leadership Team planning days.
Locally here in Budapest, Ben continues to serve at ICSB (International Christian School of Budapest). One of the best parts of his work is that he has relationships with almost every student from grade 3-8 because they all come through his classroom. If you add to that coaching Junior Varsity Volleyball, now that group includes Highschool boys.
All of these daily encounters are a part of impacting young people with God’s love. About 40% of the students are local Hungarians who are not usually from faith filled families, and the others are from countries as varied as Korea, China, Finland, Brazil, America, Canada, Bulgaria, etc. The influence that Ben has is extremely diverse and we would really appreciate your prayers!
Angela enjoys serving with YWAM Budapest as well as other international YWAM ministries. This past month has included a fun time of teaching the YWAM Budapest staff. It can be difficult, once a person starts working in full time ministry, to find time to allow yourself to grow, and to receive input. The YWAM leader here in Budapest recognized this and asked if I, along with two others, would be willing to take some time to teach on Tuesdays to the staff.
We have had a great time teaching so far! We have done one week of teaching the book of Titus (using the inductive method in a seminar format), one week on 3 great reasons to believe in God (apologetics), and these next few weeks will be on church history and heresies in the first 500 years.
We had a great visit from Uncle Charlie and Auntie Kathy (Ben’s mom’s sister). They were able to be in one of my sessions with the YWAM staff here and we asked her to tell us about her experience:
”While we were recently visiting Budapest, we were privileged to attend Angela’s teaching on the book of Titus. Her ability to connect with those attending the workshop was wonderful to watch. During her teaching, Angela never looked at notes; her knowledge of the book of Titus was obviously second nature to her. She involved the attendees utilizing the inductive Bible study method, with three key stages: observation, interpretation, and application. We personally learned so much from Angela’s teaching and plan to utilize this approach in our own future Bible Studies.”
We were SO glad to have them here!!
We’ll end this with a little update about the kids.
Cassie is enjoying her senior year! She is able to come home everyday for lunch, which is so nice for Angela to have her company! She is also in the middle of applying to many colleges – please pray for the right one to offer the best scholarships!
Jay is just loving being back in school and has really enjoyed the volleyball season so far. There are many weekend tournaments to come so pray for safety and health for his body.
Kai is at the top of the middle school (grade 8) so that is always fun. He is in the middle school musical called Seussical, and is right into the swing of things!
In a couple of weeks the kids will all have school retreats and then a fall break (which is when we will be going to Ukraine), so you can also pray for the fall retreat as that is a time when the kids really get a chance to get to know their friends in a deeper way, there is a speaker, and there are lots of games etc. Pray for each one of our kids to have a great time, and more importantly, for all of the kids in the school to meet Jesus in a personal way.
We were so blessed to have a visit from Auntie Kathy (Ben’s mom’s sister) and Uncle Charlie this past week! We were able to have them over for dinner, went on a city tour with them, and then they treated us to a delicious meal of Indian food and Gelati for dessert! YUM! It really is amazing how full of blessing our life is. When you have people who you love come and spend time with you, it means the world! They were even kind enough to come and sit in my teaching of the book of Titus to the YWAM Budapest staff.
The blessings didn’t stop there! Our friend from Ukraine came to spend a few more days with us. Vovka was in a DTS class that Angela taught back about 10 years ago and from there he decided to be a missionary using his gifts and talents in film making for Jesus. He met his sweet wife Yulia at YWAM Kyiv, and now they serve together!
On Saturday Ben drove to Ukraine with Vovka and he was able to get our car and bring it back here to Hungary. He was only gone one day, but he made it back very late Saturday night. Just in time to celebrate our 23 year anniversary on Sunday. We didn’t do anything particularly special, but we did get to spend it with our small group – these are all families that served in Ukraine before the war. Our kids all go to school together and we spend every second Sunday evening together. And of course, those beautiful roses grow in our yard, so…flowers for free!
We have been praying this blessing over our sweet daughter for years as she left for school, and we will continue to pray this over her during her final year at high school: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 The best is yet to come!
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.
We invite you to pray for us over these next few weeks. We are going to be setting our next 5 year plan including projects, goals, budget etc. We are excited to tell you that so far we have most of the new monthly supporters we were hoping to add to our team this year but we need a few more. During this next season our kids will all be in high school, graduating, moving on to college and their futures as adults! There are many things to consider, not the least of which is the ongoing war being waged on our beloved Ukraine. We would love your prayers and if you have words of encouragement or advice you sense as you pray for us, please let us know.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our invitation to pray, listen and share :) Love Ben, Angela, Cassie, Jay and Kai
“But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” We love this from the book of Acts 12:24 (a book describing the work of the Holy Spirit through the church right after Jesus rose from the dead). This is what we are trusting for our next term!
As we come to the end of this term, it is important to share with you what has been accomplished throughout these past 5 years, especially since you have financially supported us. It has been a term like no other, but we have seen God’s faithfulness in a way we can’t even express in words. In the book of Lamentations, the author has gone through a devastating experience, displacement, and the destruction of his beloved home, but he can still say, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
The life of the long-term missionary is really based on trust.
First, the missionary must trust that God will take care of them and their family, year after year. The missionary must also trust that the people that are back at home believe in the calling that God places on his church to ‘Go into all the world’ and that they also believe that some people have a unique calling to be sent beyond their own country’s borders. Missionaries must also trust that those same people will act on their beliefs and will financially support the people they are sending. Finally, the senders put a great degree of trust in the missionaries themselves since the senders are not there to oversee the work. We are so grateful for this wonderful gift of a trusting relationship, because it really shows forth the uniqueness of God’s kingdom and we believe brings him glory! He is trustworthy, and therefore, his kids walk that way too because we are made in His image. Nevertheless, as so many have done their part to send, we want to do our part to share a bit of the past five years. Although you haven’t been there in person, you can see that we are working hard for the kingdom and we are using our time and energy in a way that you can be confident in us. This email is a bit longer than others, but we hope you will take the time to read it, especially because the work we did was done by you as well as our partner.
2019 (September-December) – Our home assignment ended in August and we returned to Ukraine. We had many students in our Bible school and we were busy with teaching them through books of the Bible such as Chronicles, Nehemiah, multiple prophets, Mark and Romans. Our students graduated in December and most participated in Titus Project at the beginning of 2020.
2020 – The beginning months were very exciting – training 11 new Bible teachers! We love this because it multiplies our work – more Bible teachers who are not easily tossed about by ‘every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14)’ and are strengthening the body of Christ. We sent a team of teachers to the French speaking parts of Europe, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and we kept one team in Ukraine (which we led) to teach in churches and in our evening Bible school for professionals.
Obviously, in 2020, Covid began. We still chose to run our yearly Bible school and all the students came in just before restrictions began everywhere on travel. This was a very full year for us. While many places around the world slowed right down, our work just got busier. We had many students and teams coming to Ukraine because Ukraine was quite open, even throughout covid. Also, Ben was asked to help co-lead the base while our base leaders were on a 6-month furlough, he needed to help oversee a large building project, and as YWAM Kyiv, we also ran multiple courses beyond our Bible course. We ran out of classroom space, so our living room turned into a classroom for awhile.
2021 – Once again, the year began with Titus Project. We sent one team into Belarus and we kept two different teams in Ukraine. Our goal is always to have the teams teaching people how to study the Bible. It was very exciting because these teams had very fruitful outreaches and as we moved towards March, we could see that our Bible school that we run each year was receiving more applications than ever before. Our staff team was also growing very quickly. Our Bible teaching team alone was at 18 people (YWAM Kyiv had grown almost up to 50 fulltime staff), with new Bible teaching courses being pioneered. After a very full few years, we endeavored to get home to Canada for the summer, even with all the covid restrictions and quarantines. We were thankful that we did because while we were there Angela’s mother received the news that her cancer had returned and there would be no option of further treatment.
Instead of leaving in August as planned, we stayed until the end of the year. During that time, Angela’s mother passed away (October). It was a very hard time because Angela was so close to her mom. Of course Ben and the kids also went through so much grieving – Angela’s mom was such a wonderful, loving person to everyone, especially her family and grandkids. Some YWAM work did get done during those months. Angela wrote a book to help graduates from the Bible course that YWAM runs all over the world called After SBS and Ben finished another course towards his Biblical Studies degree. It was also a special time to be home with Angela’s dad and her brother’s family as everyone grieved together.
2022– Just after the New Year, our family returned to Kyiv, Ukraine. Russian troops were gathered around the border, but like most people, we didn’t believe a nation would really attack another nation right in Europe. We trained new Bible teachers in Kyiv with Titus Project like we do every January. We sent one team to Armenia and we kept a team in Ukraine. We were preparing for our largest Bible school yet, which was due to start in March, and we were also anticipating beginning a new course on Church History.
Everything changed on February 24. Our team in Armenia continued to teach for a few weeks, but found they were unable to really focus on teaching while worrying for the safety of their friends and family in Ukraine. Our team in Ukraine obviously was unable to continue (the churches in the area we were teaching all turned into rescue and refugee housing. Many of our staff gathered at the YWAM base to seek the Lord for safety and guidance. Our family went to nearby Romania for a month while we prayed and asked God what to do. He led us to Norway for 3 months, where our kids finished up school online and Ben joined a team there to teach 20 students how to study the Bible (the same course we run in Kyiv, but a 3-month version).
Angela began a new role for YWAM Kyiv in the area of communications, since this became very important due to the war. After the 3 months, taking much time to pray as a family, we decided to temporarily relocate to Budapest, Hungary. This enabled us to stay close to Ukraine, and we also had a great school there for the kids (International Christian School of Budapest – ICSB – a sister school to the one in Kyiv). Many of our children’s friends from Kyiv were in Budapest as well. Now it was Ben’s turn to take on a new role: Educational Technology teacher.
Despite the difficult circumstances we faced in 2022, we were still able to teach students from all over the world how to study the Bible. Angela pioneered a new Titus Project location in India where she was able to take a staff team and train 9 new Bible teachers. We continued to lead and support YWAM Kyiv with our work in administration (Ben), global communications (Angela) and team leading (off-site staff displaced during the war). Ben also helped disciple younger students as he taught part-time at the kid’s school, which helped reduce tuition costs.
2023- We began the year with our first trip back to Kyiv since the war began. We went for two main reasons: to meet as a leadership team for planning 2023, and to clean up our house in Kyiv so it could be used for hospitality. The time as a team was fruitful as we planned for ministry during wartime. There was very little electricity, so it was cold, but we were safe.
We returned to Budapest after a few weeks and Ben continued to teach at ICSB part time. During this year, Angela was able to teach the ‘Bible week’ in the Budapest Discipleship Training School. Ben also finished his last course for his bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministries (with a focus on Biblical Studies) with the University of the Nations.
One of the teams of which Angela has been a part for about 10 years is a team of Bible department leaders in Europe that bring together YWAM Bible staff on our continent. The purpose for gathering everyone together is to encourage, serve, and equip one another. The trend away from a biblical worldview, even among Christians, can become discouraging, and so Angela helped to convene a gathering in Norway with over 40 in attendance.
A significant area that we developed in 2023 has been an approach to humanitarian aid work in Ukraine which we call ‘Waves of Hope.’ Each Wave of Hope is approximately 10 days. We bring in teams from all over to build homes, run kids’ camps, and share the gospel while praying for people. We built over 70 homes in 2023. Coordinating all the teams, translators etc. was a lot of work in communications (Angela develops all of the registration forms, builds the websites, manages the social media team and writes the newsletters).
Of course, our primary focus is still to teach the Bible and train up new Bible teachers. We continued to do this in many locations, including Quebec during a trip home to Canada in the summer. Angela helped develop an international team for Titus Project – our Bible teacher training program that currently works in over 15 locations around the world – this small team is responsible for curriculum updates and resources. Ben also became more involved in the kid’s school with moving into coaching basketball and volleyball for the middle school and high school boys.
2024 (January-June)
This year has been full as usual. We have done our best to continue to be involved and help with the work in Ukraine. We have been there to visit multiple times in the past few years for leadership team meetings, staff retreats and just to say hello. We took our children to visit Kyiv this spring so they could go through their things. This was their first time back home since the war began. It was good to be there all together. It was a bit emotional, but life-giving. We have also been Bible teaching in multiple locations, preached in our church here in Budapest, spoke at a lady’s outreach event for Hungarians, filmed Titus Project training videos, and helped run a new fundraising campaign called ‘Give a day for Ukraine.’
Now we are just over two weeks away from travelling back to Canada for our one-year home assignment. It is good to reflect on the work we have done, the people that we have served, the goodness of God. We understand this update was a bit longer than usual, with many more details. However, like we said at the beginning, we know that you are not here with us to see the many people’s faces we teach, the programs we run, the hours we spend in preparation, teaching, serving, working. We are so grateful for your trust, and we always want to do an excellent job communicating so that even though you are not here, you can be confident that we are being faithful to our calling as those who have been sent.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. We previously sent out our plans for our home assignment in an email, but if you would like to revisit those plans and can’t find them, they are posted on our website.
As you can see, God has been so faithful to our family, faithful to the people we have served, and has definitely surrounded us with his loving kindness. We are really looking forward to a year in Canada and to the future ahead.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our work summarizing the last four years.
With love,
Ben and Angela (Cassie, Jay, and Kai)
Ps. Here is a list of most of the teaching topics that we have done during this past 4-year term (in a somewhat chronological order), in case you are curious:
• The books of 1 & 2 Chronicles
• The gospel of Mark
• The book of Romans (multiple times)
• How to prepare a teaching
• How to present a teaching
• How to teach creatively
• Cross cultural ministry
• How to study inductively (multiple times)
• The book of Philemon
• The book of Jonah
• The book of Genesis (multiple times)
• The book of Song of Songs
• The book of Ezra
• The book of Nehemiah (multiple times)
• The book of Ruth
• The book of Malachi (multiple times)
• Why can we trust the Bible is God’s Word?
• What happens to the church when people stop reading and studying the Bible?
• The book of Revelation (multiple times)
• An introduction to wisdom literature
• An overview of the Bible
• How to teach the Bible
• The book of Exodus
• An overview of worldviews
• The book of Job
• The problem of theodicy
• Pneumatology
• How to teach online
• How to work as a team
• Conflict resolution
• How to preach inductively (multiple times)
• How to study the prophets
• The book of Amos
• The book of Micah
• The book of Zechariah
• The book of Song of Songs
• Biblical wisdom with the tools of today and the future
o Robotics
o Digital citizenship
o Typing
o Coding
o Using AI responsibly
o Digital presentations
• Leading 1 hour times of intercession on:
o Business in Budapest
o People in the technology field
o Music and Film
o Unreached people (Sentinelese near India, Nuiqsut northern Alaska)
Titus Project is an international ministry (check out our website http://www.titusproject.com to see all of the locations) and in order to strengthen the different locations and their training, those of us who have been serving in the ministry a long time (including the founder) created a new international team this past year. There are just four of us on the team, and we gathered together in Taiwan last week to film different training video resources. This trip happened to fall right on Cassie’s 16th birthday, and since she was born there and we found cheap tickets, we decided it was a good time for her to see the land of her birth. Cassie and I (Angela) had a crazy experience trying to get there (including getting an emergency passport at the last moment in Vienna) but once we arrived it was a great time of making memories, showing Cassie the hospital where she was born, and of course filming many hours of videos. Amy and Michael (founders of Titus and our hosts) were so wonderful. Sonya Yakovenko and I are the other two members of the team, so we were busy with recording videos. Cassie was our amazing ‘audience.’ Amy and Michael also have 4 adult children and they joined in on the fun of being our live studio audience.
I was preparing for a prayer time I will be leading in Kyiv in a few weeks when I came across this article. I found it very interesting as public opinion is usually quite negative towards missionaries. See what you think
1) Ask for parents’ insight about how to relate with their kids
Parents know their kids best! If you can, talk with the missionary parents before they come to church on Sunday, or before you meet up with them, and ask them how you can best support their kids while you are together.
Some kids genuinely enjoy standing with their parents and listening to the adults talk and have conversations (that was me as a kid!). Other kids love making new friends and want to jump into the Sunday morning programs. They might prefer to blend in and make friends, or simply observe the world around them.
Ask parents about each of their kids specifically, since every kid has different needs. Then, see how you can help!
2) Introduce yourself like it’s the first time you’re meeting
MKs often hear something like, “Hi, I’m Barbara, do you remember me? I used to babysit you!” or “Oh, it’s so good to see you! Wow, you’ve grown so tall!” While these are warm and well intentioned comments, this can put MKs in an awkward position. They may feel guilty for not remembering you, or they may want to act like they do indeed remember you (even if they don’t). If MKs are back in their passport country for the first time in three years, it may be really hard for them to recall a lot of names and faces from previous years. Help them out by introducing yourself!
If you introduce yourself in the same way you would if you were meeting for the first time, or if you remind them how you’re connected to their family, it will give them more freedom to be themselves. And, who knows, maybe one day they will actually say, “Oh yeah, I remember you!! You’re the one who picked us up from the airport a few years ago and told the story about the alligators!”
3) Ask specific, open-ended, simple questions
“Which country do you like living in better?” or “Do you have any friends there?” can feel like a lot of pressure for MKs. These are specific, yet very closed-ended questions. On the other hand, questions that are open but too broad or abstract can also feel intimidating. “How can we be praying for you?” or “What’s it like living in Hungary?” might be great questions for adults, but MKs are often at a loss for words to answer these questions on the spot.
Here are some other tips on tweaking questions to help MK’s feel more loved…
Instead of, “Do you have friends there?” ask, “Who are some people you enjoy spending time with at home in Budapest?”
Instead of, “Which country do you like living in better Hungary or Ukraine?” ask, “What’s something you think is cool about Hungary?” or “What’s something you miss from Ukraine when you’re home in Budapest (or Canada)?”
Instead of, “How can I be praying for you?” (which can sometimes be a tough question for kids to answer!) you could ask, “What’s something kind of stressful or challenging that you experience here in Canada?” Listen to their answers, and ask follow-up questions if they want to talk about it. After listening to their stories, you can say, “Wow, yeah, that does sound tough! I’d love to be praying for you for ________ .“ Here you could insert that area of their life—e.g. for new friends, for kind teachers, for school in their second language, etc.).
4) Invite them to join you in what you’re doing
If you’re welcoming MK’s into your home, share your hobbies and interests with them. I still remember the time one of our family’s supporters taught me how to knit. Knitting became my new favorite pastime on long car rides during that home assignment. I’m actually not much of a knitter today, but I still feel loved when I remember the woman who once took the time to teach me how to knit while we were in their home!
Think about some of the things you enjoy doing. Ask MKs if they’d like to join you and try something new. Do you make the best homemade kettle corn? Invite the kids to learn how to make it with you! Do you love building birdhouses? Do you play baseball in your free time? Let them paint a birdhouse you made, or coach them in pitching a baseball. You’ll not only teach them valuable skills, but they’ll feel so loved that you’d care enough to spend that time with them.
On Sundays, this may look a little different, but the same idea goes a long way. Are you teaching Sunday School? Ask them if they’d like to come with you and introduce them to other kids their age. Are you setting up chairs for the service? Invite them to join in and have a fun conversation as you go (and ask their parents first, of course!). Are you the same age as the MK? Invite them to play in the church gym with you and your friends after the service. You can even introduce them to other teenagers from the youth group and find out what you all have in common together.
5) Welcome them into the fold, rather than asking them to perform
In general, MKs long to belong wherever they go. They spend much of their lives observing and adapting to the world around them, and they are skilled at figuring out how to fit in. Give them the chance to feel at home in your church or community whenever they visit.
If you’d like for an MK to share something about life as a missionary kid in Sunday school or youth group, ask them beforehand. Then, give them the chance to say “sure!” or “I’d rather not.”
In conversations, ask them about their lives in their countries, and be intentional about getting to know them for who they are. At the same time, give them space to belong and feel like they are welcomed to belong (and not stand out so much!), even if they’re only at church for a day or in town for a week. Treat them “as your own,” and remind them that they matter to you.
Thank you for investing in missionary kids! We are like sponges, constantly observing and taking in the world around us. When you spend time with us and take time to see our needs, it really means a lot. Your words of encouragement, and your actions of love and care, help us feel less alone, and point us to the kindness of God. Sometimes it’s the littlest things that make the biggest difference in our lives.
Kai had the idea to take 200 digits after 3.14 and give each number a music note (for example 1 is A 2 is B etc.) then he transposed them on a music sheet and had his piano teacher play them (it was a bit complex for him). We thought this was a really fun idea! Similar to many people who have taken the constants of the universe that God made and made them into art (an interesting book about this is Nancy Pearcey’s book called Saving Leonardo). Here is the music it made.
On March 4, every year, I will remember how thankful I am to have had the best mom. If she was still here, I would have called her, wished her a happy birthday, have sent her a beautiful bouquet because she loved flowers, and have had a nice chat about what she and my dad have done today to celebrate her. I miss her so much.
Lately I have been going through our family photos so that I can make a memory book for each year. Of course, I come across so many that make me smile, especially ones of my mom and dad being amazing grandparents, and sometimes my mom just being silly (like holding up a book about Cranbrook). Here are a few from 2011 when we were in Canada visiting, and from 2012 when my parents came to Ukraine after Kai was born.
Today marks the 4th day of the Wave of Hope in Ukraine. It is also the Day of Independence of Ukraine. At the moment, over a hundred volunteers and YWAM staff are building homes for people who had their homes destroyed when the Russians invaded. It is a tangible way to show the love of Jesus. We are also running a camp for the kids in the village during this Wave of Hope as well as helping to rebuild a youth center. There is a lot going on, lots of Hope! We are hoping that next year, on the day of National Independence of Ukraine we will find that the whole of Ukraine is independent and the war is over.
Thank you to everyone who came to hear about our year of transition from a war zone to Budapest. If you couldn’t be there, we hope you will take some time to watch the video below. You can even speed it up and listen while you are doing dishes 🙂 That is our favorite way to enjoy a podcast.
Every year we begin to prepare for the new season. Not spring, or winter or even summer or fall… but birthday season! From April 15-May 25 we celebrate all of the kid’s birthdays. We sit down with each child and ask, “What do you want for your birthday breakfast and dinner? Is there a special dessert? Do you want a party with lots of people, or just a small one with a few friends?” Each of the kids always choose different things, but we hope that each knows that they are loved and celebrated. Of course, throw into the crazy birthday month an exciting volleyball season, a high school musical ‘The music man’, awards ceremonies, and let’s not forget mothers day…oh and… well let’s just say that it has been a full month!
We don’t often write about our involvement with YWAM Budapest because of the strong focus we have right now on YWAM Kyiv and also the Bible teaching we are doing around Europe. However, we do want to highlight the work happening here in this beautiful city.
YWAM Budapest is a team of staff from many backgrounds, and they are involved in a lot of different types of work. Steve and his wife Barbara are the base leaders and have been here working for 30 years! They have seen tremendous changes over the years here in central Europe and have raised their children all here at the same school our kids are attending (International Christian School of Budapest). They are really wonderful people that love the Lord and love Hungary. The rest of the staff are very diverse, from Serbia, Macedonia, Poland, America, Canada and Germany and of course Hungary (I’m probably missing some).
Some of the good work they do here: They own and run a fantastic cafe called Selah that employs Hungarians and others and functions as a meeting space for churches, organizations and just every day people. Every Tuesday is what they call the ‘Sandwich run’ where they make sandwiches and bring them around the city to the homeless people. This ministry has been going on for over 10 years and Rosie who leads it knows almost every person living on the streets by name. Of course, there is the DTS that runs here, there are art workshops and there is much more work that the staff do, but that is just a little picture of YWAM Budapest.
They have really welcomed Ben and I to be a part of the community here while we are living in Budapest, and while we don’t have much time to contribute to all of the work they do, they are quick to let us be a part of whatever we can be, and for that we are grateful!
Yesterday we couldn’t help but reflect on the past year. It was a year like nothing we have ever experienced before. As Canadians, we don’t have nearly the same experience our Ukrainian friends have had, but at the same time, as someone reminded us, ‘Your family, too, has been displaced from your home and work.’ True. We are quick to remember that there is always someone that has had it harder (like our close friends who have been separated from their husband and father since February 24, 2022) but it is also important to let ourselves grieve and see the difficult year this has been for our family as well.
We really miss Ukraine, our teammates, and our friends. The work we had been doing there was starting to really build momentum. Our Bible teaching team had reached 18 people and we were really beginning to multiply (not to mention that our entire YWAM team had grown to just under 50 people and all of our ministries were growing and being really effective)!
Now many of our staff have moved on, our team of 18 Bible teachers has shrunk to 13, others on our staff have left, and the 20 students who were going to study the Bible with us last March may never do that (because we were the only Russian option for an inductive study through the whole Bible). If we are able to run the course in 2024, hopefully some students will still be able to, but life changes, and people move on. This brings a particular sadness for us.
But, thankfully that is not all we see. We also see the tremendous faithfulness of God. He has provided for us in every way. We found new ways to serve as Bible teachers in Europe, made new friends, found a new school for the kids, Ben has a new part time job, we have a new house to live in for now. And not only that, but we still have our friends from Ukraine staying with us from time to time. We even have friends from Ukraine living here in Budapest. Plus, we are still VERY involved with all of the humanitarian work going on in Kyiv and surrounding regions.
And so, this was a passage of scripture from Habakkuk 3:17-19 that was very meaningful for us at the beginning of this year and still encourages us today:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.
He has enabled our feet to tread on the heights, and no matter how hard it has been, we will continue to rejoice in the Lord, and be joyful in God our Saviour.
Please pray for them. Our family may not be physically in Kyiv at this time, but Ben and I still serve on the leadership team and our hearts are still deeply invested in this ministry.
Teaching Adventures 