– Croatian and Split.
– Italian and Rome.
– Ukrainian and Lviv.
** Kudos to a running commentary by Joshua Walker
Launching Team.710
After 1.5 years in Kyiv we have staffed/led a 9 month SBS (bible school) and led the Titus Project Training Program. These are normally two separate entities that work along side each other. On Monday we will be merging these two ministries into 1 team! It is an exciting time of unity, cooperation, and hopefully greater fruit as we work together. Please pray for us, this team will have 8 full time staff, and our dreams are far greater than what we are capable of! We will begin with 2 weeks of team building; aย time of fun, strategizing, learning and dreaming. We’ll let you know how they go!
team.710 “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10
Christmas Fun!
Budapest, Christmas Morning
The sun is shining in the windows and the cinnamon buns are cooking in the oven. It is Christmas! Cassie and Jay wake up happy. It is going to be a good day. After eating some yummy cinnamon buns (that turned out okay even with no brown sugar), we gave our gifts to Jesus- Cassie did a dance, and then we talked about the angels that appeared the day that Jesus was born. Then it was present time. Cassie opened up Barbie Bride (for the wedding obsessed girl) and Jay opened up a Hot Wheels Boat (for the transportation obsessed). Then they got one gift to share – a game of memory with cards from the movie Cars (which is the new favorite in the house!- not Cars 2 just the first movie, they haven’t seen number 2 yet).
It is always hard to be away from extended family on Christmas day, but we are thankful for our little growing family. Hard to believe next year we will have three kids on Christmas morning.
Merry Christmas everyone!
The Rest of God
It depends how you read it. The title could imply ‘the stuff about God you have missed’ but actually it is a book about rest. Our Pastor from Canada sent it to us and it arrived appropriately the day before we left on vacation.
We got in the car early the day after we graduated our Titus Project students and drove all the way to Budapest. It only took about 14 hours (including a 2 hour border line up). ย The next day we got up early and drive to Croatia where Ben and Josh (our good friend) taught a week on ‘God’s Father Heart’ to a DTS. But officially on Saturday we started our vacation. We drove down the coast of Croatia and have stayed in two cute little villa apartments. Tomorrow we will leave for Italy and then after a few days there back to Budapest. 5 squished in our little car (us + Josh) makes it a great road trip, lots of memories, screaming children, food everywhere! FUN!
But in all of this travelling by car I (Angela) have had a chance to read a lot from this book and am being inspired to really practice the art of rest, not ‘shutting down’ or ‘crashing’ or even ‘amusement’ but real, soul-reviving, spirit-saturating rest. Thanks Bruce for taking the time to send the book!
First Doc Appointment
Today was Bingo’s first appointment.
For now, Ludmila is our doctor, and she did a great job today! Of course, Bingo is still only 16 to 17 weeks old, so he’s got a lot of growing to do (does the phrase, “skin and bones” mean anything to you?). But we saw Bingo’s heart beating away, 135 bpm, strong, steady and very much alive! YAY! Still no conclusive evidence of gender, but not to worry, we’ll know soon enough… Speaking of, Bingo’s due date is also inconclusive, but anywhere between April 25 and May 10 we should have one more incredible experience in a hospital room (it better be in an hospital room!). Can’t wait to meet you Bingo! (By the way, don’t worry if you can’t tell what is baby on the image … I can barely tell either!)
Thanksgiving
In most of the places we have spent our fall in the last 5 years, there is usually more American influence than Canadian, which means celebrating American thanksgiving. So this week we will celebrate with all our friends here. (we found out that our friend Becky even imported pumpkin pie filling for the pies… we’re excited!)
This Sunday at church, we heard a really great line that defines thanksgiving for us. Most of the time, what happens on thanksgiving is a day of being thankful. So we do some special activities that remind us of how much God has blessed us. Which is good. But thanksgiving is so much more, it is an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are supposed to be thankful people. We’re not just thankful today, we’re thankful in all circumstances.
Paul, our pastor, reminded us of some of the times when we’re not ordinarily thankful. Like when the walk needs shovelling or something around the house needs fixing. Or when the clothes fit a little too snug or we can’t sleep in (because the kids are up bright and early!). Those are great opportunities to remember that we have a home to shelter us, plenty of food to eat, and kids full of joy and excitement for life!
Thankfulness is usually a matter of perspective and not usually circumstance – of course, that’s difficult to remember when we’re in the middle of it. Butย I hope that I become more thankful as the days turn into seasons and the seasons into years – becoming a person characterized by thankfulness, day in and day out!
Inspiring Thoughts on Reading
I recently read an article by Danny Lehman on the importance of reading. As I sit and teach Cassie to read,ย Danny’s thoughts and words remind me to persevere. Although I am a Mom of two (almost three), these words remind me thatย readingย time needs to beย intentionallyย included in my schedule because ‘Readers make leaders, and leaders make readers.’ I hope they inspire you too.
C.S. Lewis, well-known for his brilliant mind and sharp metaphors once said that one of the best ways to keep our spiritual senses sharp is to, “keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds.ย This can only be done by reading old books.”ย He wasn’t saying that “old books” are the only source of reading that will refresh our souls, but to supplement our diet on a regular basis by reading books from centuries past.
We stand on the shoulders of giants and we must read what these giants had to say. Wesley warned his preachers that “No one could ever be a deep preacher or even a thorough Christian without extensive reading.” “No man in the eighteenth century did so much to create a taste for good reading and to supply it with books at the lowest prices than John Wesley.” Hans Nielsen Hauge changed the nation of Norway by his incessant promotion of Bible reading and Christian books over a period of 30 years. Jesus is the Divine “Logos” – the “Word” in human flesh. Why did God use the word “Word” to describe Jesus? Because God is a Communicator and words communicate!ย No wonder OM founder George Verwer said “Readers make leaders.”
So if you have read any good books lately or ones you would recommend (old or new) please leave a comment. We are always looking to keep learning and growing.
Prayer Requests As Promised
– For God to provide an English speaking doctor for this baby– Health for Angela (we donยt want any repeats of the last pregnancy and going into labour early)
– The perfect home for our family for the long term (we are tired of moving!)
-Guidance in visa issues (Ukraine is changing their visa process and we arenยt sure how to go about getting one and being able to register here long term
– Rest for our soulsย
We are weary.
– For God to revive our hearts this month, He is our strength.
– That we could really connect with people far away on a heart level because we miss people and it has been a long time without good internet access.
A Month of Joys and Challenges
We have been in Georgia this past month with a team of bible teachers. We had very little internet access so that is why we haven’t updated this blog in a long time. Please forgive us. The picture to the left is a team dinner we had to celebrate Harald and Marjo’s 10th anniversary.
Joys: Our team included our co-leader Valya, Luba and a family (Harald, Marjo and their two kids Micah (5) and Grace (3). Our kids had lots of fun with their kids. Teaching in two different churches every week meant much more of an impact than a short seminar. The Georgia Ywam team was hospitable and fun. A park close by that our kids loved to play at. Lots of prayer, coffee (and tea), helping with teaching, and lots of sleep at night.
Challenges: Difficult to set up lots of teaching opportunities because it was the first time we had been there. We lived in a small apartment with 6 adults, 4 young children and a 75 year old Grandma who wanted us to keep her apartment perfect (good luck with 4 kids!). No hot water for half of the month. Very little internet. The challenge of raising kids in that kind of environment. Plus to top it off, Angela was very tired (due to the pregnancy) for most of the month.
Thank you for praying for us. Our team has gone on to Armenia and we have come home to Kyiv to get ready to welcome the 4 teams back for debriefing. We have big plans for this month, please see our post in a few days from now for some prayer requests.
“Can I Peek, Mom?”
‘Can I peek Mom?’ To find out what Cassie wants to peek at, take a look under our videos.
Survivor Titus
Well, we are nearly finished with the first 3 weeks of the training program. This is exciting because the theory (classroom) part is over and now we will get out into the real world and teach people.
Some of the special characteristics of this particular program:
– of 9 participants and 9 staff, we represent 9 different countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Canada) – wow!
– many of us went to see a ballet in Kyiv, perhaps you’ve heard of the Vienna Waltz
– of 15 class days, 7 of them were spent without electricity in the classroom, this also meant no hot water… (thus the title: Titus Survivor)
– this is the first ever Titus Project to run in Kyiv, Ukraine – also, it is the first ever Russian program to run! YAY!
It has been a great training time – as a group we’ve learned the core elements of teaching, had opportunities to practice, been encouraged, critiqued so we improve… let’s go out and do it!
Be My Valentine
We are leading Titus Project training program right now, first time ever in Ukraine, first time ever in Russian, first time ever with 9 staff for 9 participants, first time … there are a lot of firsts here! One of those firsts for us is co-leading a team with someone.
So we’re really excited to be leading together with Valya (“Valentina”). We will head to Georgia when the 3 weeks of training are finished. Actually, Valya has done much of the work setting up outreach, including scheduling and budgeting. God was very gracious in providing her for our team, because on it we have another family (from Netherlands) like ours (a family with a little boy and girl) and another lady named Luba who only speaks Russian. We may look kinda funny, lots of kids and not so youthie (the “y” in ywam is supposed to stand for youth), but that won’t stop us – or more importantly, it won’t stop God from touching peoples lives! Thanks for being a part of our team Valya!
What a day!
Happy anniversary. 9 Years. It was a really long day, not the best anniversary yet, that’s for sure. But we’re surrounded by
people who care, they found out yesterday and brought a little cake today for the whole school to share. Ever feel like you’re surrounded by really great people? We do. We always have been. What thing could one possess that is more precious than incredible people? We think .. very little. Very little indeed. We are blessed!
Speaking of school. We’ll put up some pictures soon, but we have 9 participants and 9 staff – almost all of whom will be leaving in 2 weeks for other places in Europe and Asia to preach and teach about Jesus. Pretty awesome. Thanks for helping us do this with our lives!
It’s Dark Out Here
So we’re starting the training program for Titus this Sunday. We’ve been working really hard, along with our team of 7, to make it an excellent experience for all involved. We’ve been praying together, learning about leading Titus teams, preparing for our participants. Our 3, very full weeks of staff preparation are coming to a close this weekend before we embark on a 3 month adventure of teaching the Bible and serving people from the Mediterranean all the way to the Baltic and across to the Pacific.
One little aspect of that has been preparation for the first (to my knowledge), training program at the YWAM property just outside of Kyiv. It’s been used for many camps and there has been lots of work put in, but this is a very exciting time! We ran into a little snag this week, though, when suddenly to everyone’s chagrin, the power went out, and stayed out. Finally, after 3 long days (long enough for you to die of thirst) it came back on. There will be some mad vacuuming (we wiped windows, but you can’t vacuum without electricity) tomorrow and Friday our participants start arriving. WAHOO! This is what we love to do!
Travelling with Children
So lots of our friends often ask us how it is travelling with kids. So I thought we’d do a little bit of a journal of sleeping since leaving Canada:
The Flights
Depart Calgary at 15:30
9 Hours to Amsterdam – kids sleep about 4 of those (thank you gravol!), Ang 2.5, Ben – zippo!
Layover in Amsterdam is 4 hours long, Ben gets 20 minutes on the cold floor another 40 min sitting with legs draped over luggage carts.
2.5 Hours to Kiev – Jay – 2.5 hours, Ang 1 hour, Ben and Cassie – zippo! (sensing a pattern?)
Arrive Kiev at 16:40 the next day, skipped forward approx 9 hours.
Night 1
8pm Start with a warm bottle of milk, mix in equal parts love and gravol, hope for the best! :)
11pm Wake to crying baby … crying is the nice way to say it. Ben sleeps through it, Ang saves the day. Cassie is zonked out.
1am Wake to screaming baby … screaming is the nice way to say it. Ang makes warm bottle of milk (no additives), Jay was just hungry. Ben feeds baby. (How do parents do it?) Cassie remains zonked out.
4am Wake to screaming baby … hear a small thud. Pitter patter. “Mommy, Jay is crying”. Evidently, Cassie is no longer zonked out. Dad rescues the day, mom and Cassie fall into a deep slumber.
Wonder how naps and Night 2 will go? Stay tuned! :)
Night 2
10pm Kids are sleeping peacefully, parents think, maybe this will yet be a great night.
1am Thud .. pitter patter, “Jay is crying” says Cassie. Bottle (no additives) for Jay, change his bum and life is back to normal.
1:05am Thud .. pitter patter, “I don’t want to sleep in there with Jay”. We convince her to sleep in her bedroom anyway.
1:10am Thud .. pitter patter… This time we move her to the living room couch.
2am Thud .. pitter patter… Cassie is still wide awake. Gravol for mom and daughter. Convince her once more to stay on the living room couch (Cassie flips and flops worse than a fish out of water).
3am Thud .. pitter patter… We give in and she moves from the living room couch to beside us in our room on the floor. Jay hasn’t made a noise since about 1:30am.
4am Ang finally falls asleep, Ben is left listening to the girls sleeping. After some oatmeal, rooibois tea and a peanut butter sandwhich (still haven’t gone for a proper shopping trip).
almost 5am Finally drifts off to sleep.
1pm We finally open our eyes big enough to get out of bed. We’ll definitely have to set the alarm tomorrow night – even Jay didn’t wake up! Jet lag definitely won this battle.
This is starting to sound like a big brother episode.
Homecoming
No we didn’t get all dressed up, but we have had a wonderful homecoming!! Our family and friends and church have embraced us with open arms! We have been plagued with a bit of sickness during these 5 weeks in Canada, but being with people we love has made a huge difference and we wouldn’t trade this time! One more week here and then we head back to Ukraine! We are excited to start staff training for Titus Project! We’ll update our picture page soon with shots from Ben’s new camera. If you want to see him receiving him camera (Surprise!) then go our video page.
A little bit krazee!
We graduated our SBS class last week on Friday. On Sunday we flew to the Netherlands where we began a 5 day intensive teacher training seminar with graduates from their own SBS. Well, we’re almost done, but its definitely been a whirlwind.
Although we’ve seen glimpses all week long of our participants teaching abilities, tomorrow is the real test – when they teach Inductive Bible Study through the Epistle to Philemon. Of course there was limited time this week, but we’ve given them as much as we could without overloading them. How will they do, the real test!
We’re really excited for them as they prepare to go out and teach the Bible in many places. Some will stay here in Holland, some will take flight to Indonesia. But no matter where they go, they will be better communicators of God’s incredible Word! What a privilege to serve his kingdom like this – thank you for being part of our team!
Last Week Countdown
We are counting down to School of Biblical Studies Graduation. Our students have studied the whole bible, verse by verse, reading it through 5 times. They’ve been writing observations, interpretations, and applications. In other words: What does the text say? What did it mean to the original reader? What does it mean to me?
It has been quite the journey. A few years ago we did this as students, this year we have been their staff. Each book of the bible has a lecture (to help with historical background) and we have taught some of these. We also read their work every week, grading it and making notes to help them learn and grow. There are also many logistics like housing, meals, tuition, hospitality for guest speakers, prelecturing other staff, going to meetings etc. etc. etc. But it has all been worth it! When we invest our lives into others, they in turn will impact even more people and we will make a bigger difference.
Thank you to all for your support and prayers over this past year. We couldn’t do it without the team that sends us. We don’t get paid by our students, which helps keep the tuition low enough for them to afford it. Thank you for those who really are the ones sponsoring their learning by sending people like us. This morning we had debriefing for the staff (picture on side), and this Thursday the students will graduate. It has been a privilege!
The Art of Effective Questions
What kinds of questions are you asking?
Here is the short list on different question types and what they yield:
Analytical Questions
These examine causes and not just symptoms.
Why has this problem happened?
Why did it do that?
Clarifying Questions
These result in further descriptions and explanations.
Are you saying that … ?
Could you explain more about the situation?
Fresh Questions
These challenge basic assumptions.
Must it be that way?
Has this ever been tried?
Questions that Create Connections
These give a systems perspective.
What might be the consequences of these actions?
Explorative Questions
These open up new avenues and insights and lead to new explorations.
Have you thought of … ?
Would … have anything to help with that?
Probing Questions
These cause the person to go into more depth.
Why is this happening?
What did the situation trigger in you?
Reflective Questions
These encourage more elaboration.
Can you help me understand what is going on in you?
What did you mean when you said that?
Affective Questions
These invite people to share feelings about an issue.
How did you feel about your presentation?
What was your initial reaction?
Open Questions
These give a high degree of freedom in how to respond.
What kind of things do you enjoy doing?
What comes easily to you?
Closed Questions
These can be answered with yes, no or a number.
How many people will be affected?
Do you agree with this decision?
Leading Questions
These encourage or force the person to respond in a way intended by the questioner.
Don’t you think that you should have … ?
You thought I wouldn’t notice, didn’t you?
Dare
“Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ.”ย – Francis Xavier
“Answering a student’s question, ‘Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?’ thus, ‘It is more a question with me whether we who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.'”ย – C.H. Spurgeon.
Teaching Adventures 