Conference in L’viv, Ukraine

At the end of April went to a conference in the beautiful city of L’viv, Ukraine.  MTW occasionally sponsors a conference for team leaders and their wives and we were blessed to be able to attend this year.  The conference included times of worship and prayer, and lots of great fellowship with fellow missionaries from all over Europe. 

We were able to connect with couples whom we haven’t seen for a long time.  The English worship was very much appreciated.  The times when we prayed for each other were a huge blessing.  One part of the conference focused on the introduction of a new vision for MTW in Europe and a new leadership structure.  We also heard a very interesting report from the MTW team in L’viv about how their work got started and some of the ways that God has led them in the past several years.

After the conference ended, we stayed in L’viv for a few extra days to visit with Vitaliy and Marissa Voytenko, Jenni De Jong, and Adam Garner – all of them friends we met during our days of training and support raising with MTW.  The weather was perfect – warm, sunny days, and cool evenings.  L’viv is a gorgeous place with a long, widely varied history.  Some of the pictures we took are included in the post.

 

Team Retreat

Last weekend we enjoyed our last team retreat with the Deutschmanns and Andersons.  Both of these couples are retiring and returning to the US within the next month.  Liz and Paul Meiners, member care coordinators for Europe, joined us in the city of Olomouc.  Although our time together was brief, it was sweet.  We enjoyed a time of singing (in English!) and Paul spoke to us from Ecclesiastes.  We will miss our friends and partners in ministry who have helped us so much over the past two years.  Please pray for them as they make the transition back to the United States.  We have heard that returning to your native culture after living abroad is actually a more difficult adjustment than moving into a foreign culture.     

A Visit from Katie and Ellie

We enjoyed a special treat over Easter weekend. Katie and Ellie came for a short visit! Katie is an old friend whose family has been part of our home church for many years; Ellie is a friend of Katie’s, and now, a new friend of ours. These young ladies have been teaching in Spain for the past seven months and were doing some last-minute traveling before returning to the States. We were delighted that we made it onto their schedule.

We visited Kroměříž (don’t try that with a mouth full of Rice Krispies), which was the home of several Czech archbishops. We also took them to one of our favorite events: the meeting of the Zlín home group. We were very grateful for our time with them.  

We’ve Moved

Well, actually, the church in Zlín has moved, we are still living in the same apartment.  As the departure date for the Andersons and Deutschmanns draws near, we no longer need the rented space we were using for the English teaching center. So, we moved out at the end of February.  Many of you know that the Reformed Church of Zlín also used the space at the center for Sunday worship.  When the decision to move out was made late last year, we started searching for another location for the church to meet.  We looked at rental properties in apartment buildings, storefronts, and factories – none of which seemed satisfactory for our congregation.

In the end, the Lord provided an opportunity for us to meet in the lovely building of the local Seventh Day Adventist church.  Some pictures of the inside of the building are nearby.  This is a wonderful facility!  It has seating for over 100 people (we only have 40 on a good day), a kitchen (we didn’t have one at the center), and a large area for meals and fellowship. So, it provides some room for growth.

Please pray with us that the church will see this change of venue as a challenge to grow. Thank you for your generous support!