with Ben and Ang
One day we were in the shopping mall and I wanted to test Jay’s ability to read Russian cyrillic. I pointed to a sign and asked Jay- “Can you read that?” He said, “No, the words are too blurry Mom”… and that is when I knew.
After a few tests at the eye doctor it was confirmed, Jay has Myopia :( Sad but at least he found some cool glasses to wear, and it is so nice for him to be able to see clearly!
We are so thankful for a white Christmas- it has been snowing for over a week and it is getting deeper :) We’ve built snow slides, snowmen, snow forts, and a snow volcano. We really enjoy snow, especially during the Christmas season.
Tomorrow we will go to church and make a gingerbread house in the evening.
Christmas morning we will open up some gifts from Grandparents and family…we will eat cinnamon buns and have all of the ywamers over for a Christmas dinner (at least the ones that aren’t gone to be with their families). It is a wonderful season of rest, family, and wonderful traditions.
But I guess, the most challenging thing about Christmas is remembering that it is about Jesus. Immanuel. God with us. I hope that as a family we will be able to find that sacred time where the kids are settled, and the parents are in a good mood :) and we can talk a bit about why we celebrate Christmas- how it isn’t about the presents and the food, but about Jesus coming to be with us, for God ‘so loved the world that he gave his one and only son…’ This can be difficult to really celebrate and have our hearts in the right place, but it is worth the effort, to have the fullness of the season. We hope your Christmas is deep and meaningful!
Merry Christmas!
SBS Video 2017 from YWAM Kyiv on Vimeo.
Nadia, Sonya and I (Angela) are in Georgia teaching people how to study the Bible. We started with Philemon, now we will spend two days in Ephesians and one more day to study Jonah with them.
There are 10 students in our Bible course from many countries. Azjerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, USA, Armenia, Iran.I can’t put a picture of them in this newsletter because some of them are not allowed to be Christians in their country. It is so interesting to hear each one of their stories. One girl is a very new Christian and as we talked about when the letter to Philemon was written by Paul she said “Well, I guess it had to be written after Jesus rose from the dead.” Good point. :)
Most of these students want to do the 9 month course we offer. Thank you to the many people who help keep Ben and I here overseas, we couldn’t do it without you!
A few years ago I asked some of you to consider supporting financially our missionary Ukrainian friends Nadia and Sonya. It is a pleasure to be here with them teaching and I wanted to say thank you also to those who responded to that request and have faithfully supported them monthly.
Be encouraged, people all over the world are still responding to the call of Jesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-10) and as you send us and pray for us you are a part of that!
Cassie’s Blog- I just got into school, well maybe three months ago. Me and mom are reading a book called Anne of Green Gables. It’s about an orphan girl that’s adopted into a family that wanted a boy. She’s VERY dramatic she’s a Drama Queen… only much more expressive.
It snowed yesterday the big fluffy kind. I was so happy! Fall break it’s more like winter break is coming. School is the best ever! My teacher is nice but firm. In science were learning about plants and animals were growing them in class. In history were finishing up are unit about The American Revolution. In math were learning about data and probability.
We looked back and thanked God for all He has done (that is the feature picture, if you zoom in you can read all of the papers). We looked forward as well. But most of all we just listened. We took time to listen to God and to each other and it was a GREAT day! Of course there are still many things to think about and plan fort, and we wish we could have more time together, but we are thankful for the day we had! And Ben and I are thankful for this great team that we can spend time with and work with every day! See more pictures from the day here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/badoerksen/
Ben and I don’t work alone. We are part of a large missions team of about 45 people here in Kyiv Ukraine called YWAM. And in that big group of 45, about 10 of us are a part of the Bible teaching circle. So our main role is to help people understand how to study the word of God for themselves, and we train up new Bible teachers too. I thought since we work with so many wonderful people I would put up a picture of our Bible teaching team. I’m so glad we have such great people we work with! Here is a picture of the whole big community as well :)
I love fall. I love the colours changing, I love the new season of beginning. The routine after a summer of relaxation begins.
The kids are back in school and SBS is in the final quarter! It will be a great fall that is for sure! There are 22 DTS students coming from around the world and from Kyiv to have their lives changed and turned upside down! They will learn what it means to live with an eternal perspective. They will practice living life with spiritual ears turned towards God and both hands outstretched towards others to help in this life.
Picture and videos to come in the next day or two from summer and kids going back to school!
Mark 1
Mark 2
Mark 3
James
Galatians 1
Galatians 2
Luke 1
Luke 2
Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 3
Acts 4
Romans 1
Romans 2
Romans 3
Romans 4
Romans 5
1 Timothy
2 Corinthians 1
2 Corinthians 2
Ephesians 1
Ephesians 2
Matthew
Philippians
Titus
1 Peter 1
1 Peter 2
Hebrews 1
Hebrews 2
Hebrews 3
2Peter and Jude 1
2Peter and Jude 2
John 1
John 2
John 3
1 John
2 John 1
2 John 2
Revelation 1
Revelation 2
Revelation 3
Revelation 4
Revelation 5
.
It is August 11, school starts again for the kids in 12 days! That means we have to get organized, cleaned up and supplied for the first day! Always an exciting day! We bought the kids their new school shoes from Ashan (like Walmart) and put them aside for the first day of school. The kids are all excited!
It has been a fun summer, we have tried to organize fun things that didn’t cost too much money, along with some special events like a ballet, a water park and Ninja house. Of course there was a lot of down time too, just hanging around, reading books, playing and of course sibling arguments, all of the good stuff that summers are made from. We did our best to limit screen time to 60 minutes a week, sometimes adding a few extra videos on extra hot days or when Mom was going crazy.
Life didn’t slow down for Ben with the SBS, lots of people studying the Bible and getting closer to God. It has been fun, but I would also say a bit tiring. We are looking forward to a few days break for our 15th anniversary in September.
Hope your summer was a fun and fulfilling as ours!
ps. We had an awesome roofing team come from Canada and help us put a new roof on one of our YWAM buildings. It was from Ben’s sister’s church, so that was SUPER special!!!
Check out our pictures from the summer on the link or here: Summer Time Fun!
Prophet Seminar 1
Prophet Seminar 2 with Amos
Prophet Seminar 3 with Amos
Hosea
Micah
Isaiah 1
Isaiah 2
Isaiah 3
Isaiah 4
Nahum
Habakkuk 1
Habakkuk 2
Habakkuk 3
Zephaniah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2
Jeremiah 3
Ezekiel 1
Ezekiel 2
Ezekiel 3
Ezekiel 4
Ezekiel 5
Daniel 1
Daniel 2
Daniel 3
Obadiah 1
Obadiah 2
Ezra
Esther 1
Esther 2
Haggai
Zechariah 1
Zechariah 2
Nehemiah
Malachi
.
Great question! Ben is still leading our 9 Month Bible School. Right now the students are in the quarter that looks at each prophet. Ben taught last week how to understand the different types of oracles in the major and minor prophets. He led the students through their study of Amos and Joel.
Ang has a variety of things on her plate. First and foremost she is full time mom this summer, with a great schedule of things to do for the kids every day is an adventure. On top of that, she is hosting the different teams that come here in the summer to help with camps for orphans and refugees. She just helped coordinate a team that is currently in the East part of Ukraine serving with medical expertise there.
We definitely appreciate your prayers, summer is hot and full of lots of details. We are also in charge of coordinating the new staff that are joining YWAM Kyiv this summer! 4 new people have come to serve here full time! Exciting!
One thing that we often think about is how to teach our children about money and work. It isn’t just chores through which we want to teach them. We also want them to see how as we work to benefit mankind and God’s earth with creativity that we can create wealth which can in turn be used to benefit mankind and God’s earth that he made.
So we were really proud of Cassie as she took her creativity in photography and made something that can benefit others. Beautiful greeting cards. Check out her work as an almost-nine-year-old. www.CassiesCreations.ca
Usually we take our annual report submission to our church and make it public for anyone to read. I realized this morning we hadn’t done that yet.
So if you are interested in reading a summary of our work last year here is the pdf. It isn’t very long, should take about 3 minutes to read. Plus it has some nice pictures!
More importantly it shares the work we do, which really is done by everyone who participates in sending us in some way, whether financially, prayerfully, or simply emotionally (“You guys can do it!”).
At the beginning of 2016 I began the journey of writing the thesis for last part of my Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies. This past week I finally completed this huge project in my life! (You can read the thesis attached to this post if you would like). It was quite the road to travel. I learned a lot about myself and had to learn how to keep persevering even when it felt like there was still so much to do! I want to acknowledge many people that helped me with this project:
Many people helped me to write this thesis. First, I am thankful for the team of people that send and partner financially with our family. I could not have taken the time to study, nor could we do ministry here in Ukraine and in the surrounding countries without them. I want to acknowledge the team of overseas workers that we partner with here at YWAM Ukraine, specifically our Team.710 biblical studies circle as well as the leadership team. I have been less available to teach and lead due to the time it takes to complete a project such as this. I am grateful to them for their grace and patience. Special thanks goes to the 40 people who willingly volunteered to be a part of this research, dedicating 28 mornings and evenings to complete the program. I am also very thankful that my home pastor, Bruce Adams, has always encouraged my husband and me to continue academic studies in the midst of ministry.
I also want to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Wilrens Hornstra. He never failed to push me to be concrete in my aims, narrow in my target and broad in my application. He challenged me personally with the content of the study, as well as professionally in excellence. His numerous revisions and comments helped my language to be more precise and consistent. He also helped me to think deeply and critically, and yet have a positive outlook, on the results of the study. The process of writing this thesis lasted over a year and he always made time every week to pray with me and talk me through the next step, I truly would not have completed this study without him.
My family has patiently watched me focus and study day after day, usually waking up to find me at the computer. My husband has taken on extra responsibilities with ministry and our family throughout this year as I have sought to grow deeper. I’m so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful family, and specifically a supportive, faithful husband. My parents have also always challenged me to do my best and to never stop learning.
And lastly, I want to thank God whose purpose for me in this master’s thesis has been much deeper than completing a degree. It has been to truly experience theosis in my personal life. I pray that this process does not stop now that I have completed this thesis, but that I grow more and more to be the human that God designed, empowered by the Holy Spirit living within me.
Teaching Adventures 