Calm Before the Storm (well sort of!)

Thank you to my Mother who mentioned we were in this state.  However, as of Wednesday, I am now full time at KCA and already feel behind.  But that sort of thing can wait until another post.  We went to the Black Sea, near Odessa Ukraine for the annual SEND Ukraine Conference.

Worship Service

We were very blessed to have a team from St. Marks Missionary Church in Mishawaka, Indiana come and lead worship (in English) and teach the Word (in English) and take our kids to nursery (In English) and bring over tons of stuff from North America we can't get over here (all with English labels!)

Ellianna at Nursery

We had a great time fellowshipping with other team members from all over Ukraine

Drinking Starbucks Coffee late into the night!
(they don;t have Starbucks here, sorry Yuya, no mug for you!)

Going to the Beach

Jolen at the Beach

Swimming in the water (more on this later!)

Avoiding Jellyfish (they sting you know)

Team Building Games

Fun games

Mölkky

and Long Walks up steep hills

All in all, it was a great time of refreshing (Mentally and Spiritually) and exhaustion (Physically)

We personally did not use our phones or the Internet for the entire time there, which was difficult as the sale of our house was supposed to close during our time, (it got extended again, (Starting to sound like a broken record?))

I though went into the week with a lot of intimidation; these are career people who know what they are doing, what can I, a short termer share?  The group made us feel like we were old friends and were warmly welcomed into the fold!  So if you are thinking short term, come to Ukraine!

My biggest renewal of Spirit related to the water

 At first (Monday), the water was ice cold.  Now I am from Canada and when I say the water was ICE cold, I mean it.  you could stand in the water for maybe a minute and then your legs turned red, you lost feeling and it hurt to be in the water.

That is what I have been feeling in regards to ministry, especially with youth aged kids.  I was blessed to help out will the youth at Bow Island Evangelical Free church, and then we moved to Sexsmith to pursue Youth pastor training at Peace River Bible Institute and I helped with youth at Grace Bible Fellowship.  I applied to KCA to teach Bible to Jr/Sr High.  I was living out my God given passion to see youth take hold of the Faith and make it their own.  Then Jolen was born.

Don't get me wrong, I love him and wouldn't change a thing but through this God taught me about limitations.  The reality was that I was a part time student, a part time carpenter, the college team soccer coach, and a full time Dad of 2 kids under 1 1/2 years.  My time and energy was limited to these things.  I had to choose to take myself out of youth ministry after Christmas and only aid at a very limited capacity.  I learned a ton of things and I know I learned more about God and myself in the last Semester of school (Jan-April) than I had in the last 10 years of life, but somewhere along the way my passion for youth got lost in the shuffle.

As the water warmed, (it was like bathwater by the end of the week!) so did the fire in my heart for passion towards Youth!

Cooking Smores one Night!
they don't have marshmallows over here so this was quite a treat! 

By the end of the week God had renewed a blazing fire within towards my Jr/Sr High students this coming school year.  And it came at the right time as work started Yesterday and Classes start 1 week today!

Again, we thank you for your prayers, your support and your Love.  We know we are surrounded by such a great network in Christ and are looking forward to the coming school year!