Tag: Celebration

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Ukraine / Russia Article

One of the teams that we sent out stayed for one month in Ukraine and then moved on to the mid-west of Russia. Here is a quote from one of the interns, James from Germany:

“From the training time on God began to show me that teaching the bible and even teaching in general is not really about me as the teacher, it is all about honouring God and serving the people in my audience. As a teacher I can be so focused on myself and overly concerned with my performance and what people think of me, but I’ve come to realize that what really matters is what the audience “walks away with”. Throughout outreach I was able to put this revelation into practice and learn how to better make God’s word applicable to people of different backgrounds.

One of our main goals was to equip Ukrainian and Russian believers to study God’s word for themselves using inductive principles. We guided them through small books such as Philemon and Jonah and were amazed to see and hear what they “got out of it”. God gave us many opportunities to strengthen his body, the church, and encourage believers to dig deeper into the bible.
I think it is just amazing how God speaks to his people. Our audiences were encouraged by the truths they discovered and how these principles could be applied in their own lives. That is really what it is all about. We study and teach God’s word in order to be transformed, becoming more like him and giving him glory!”

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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. But 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!

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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.

 

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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!

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Happy Birthday Cassie!

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Look at me me me, I’m three three three, I’m as happy as can be be be, Can you tell? Can you see? I’m a very very happy me! I can build my blocks, put on my socks, I can even draw a circle.

We love you little girl – you’re a wonderful treasure in our life!

You have a wonderful attitude, bring such joy to us with your singing and dancing. You blow our socks off with how intelligent you are, you’re always learning new things, drawing new conclusions, using big new words and really surprising us at every turn! You’re the most wonderful gift from God we have ever received! You are finally three three three! :)

PS. You can watch a clip of Cassie performing the above song with her mom here or a different one here.