Spring has come to Mukachevo. As the weather is getting warmer, I'm enjoying more walks down our cobblestone streets and along the river. We moved our clocks forward last weekend, so I'm looking forward to longer days. The biggest advantage to extra daylight is the additional time we have to minister in the villages. It's difficult for me to drive through the mud and potholes in the dark, and the highways aren't lit well, so I really enjoy the longer days.
The last few months have been both wonderful and difficult at the same time. The wonderful part is that the Lord is with us in difficult times. There were many blessings in January and February as I was able to attend the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrietta, CA. I was asked to share my missions testimony in a workshop and have a time of questions and answers. I was so blessed by this opportunity and by the people who came with a heart to learn about or serve in missions. If any of you ever want to contact me with questions, please do. My heart is to encourage others to join us on the mission field, when or wherever the Lord calls you.
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| A reunion of friends and ministry partners at the conference. What a joy to see these ladies and so many others! Nancy Tumbas, Me, Sue Long, Miray Jaksa, Zuza Thompson, Icu Kolesnikov and Lynn Boshaw |
In February I also had the opportunity to attend the UK Ladies Retreat. I had been asked to come, and decided not to go, as I had already been away in the states. But the Lord made it clear to me that I was to go, and I was even asked to share in a seminar that was also being taught by one of the pastor's wives. It was a difficult subject and my heart was reeling as I prepared to teach about "Loving the Unlovable." What a convicting subject! So many times, I'm the unlovable! But as always, the Lord is faithful and allowed me to share some personal experiences and challenges through His Word. He led me to share the situations that would touch the ladies' hearts and move them to think about how to respond to challenging people. What really moved me was that so many were encouraged to stay in their work places or seek ways to show love to the difficult people in their lives in order to point them to Jesus. So often we focus so much on the hurt and the pain difficult people can cause, and not focus on how much these people need Jesus. I'm so thankful for God's abundant grace and forgiveness!
After returning to Ukraine, I have been regularly teaching the Women's Study at the Pavshyno Gypsy Camp. We are continuing to go through the Book of James. The ladies are opening up more and more and I really believe there is spiritual growth and a growing desire to study God's Word. This last week, eight of the women stated that they want to learn to read, so please keep this in prayer. They brought it up and they seemed very serious. There is a possibility of one of the girls from the Beregova Church teaching them, as she has already been teaching women to read in another village. Another blessing in Pavshyno, is that we have been able to provide bread for the families in the church. As I shared in a previous post, this village had worked very hard on a plot of land given to them by the government to grow vegetables. But the crop failed and they had very little food for winter. When I returned from the states I learned that one of our Christian brothers and his wife in the Mykachovo Gypsy Village started a bakery. So we have been purchasing the bread from them to distribute to the Pavshyno Village. This blesses me so much because we are able to help both villages. Perhaps we will be able to do more in the future. As the Lord provides!
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| Distributing bread in Pavshyno |
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| Me, Melissa, Kristin and Pam |
I would like to ask again for prayer for an English- Hungarian translator. I am so limited in where I can minister, as so many doors are open and I don't have a translator. This really is an interesting region as we have Ukrainian, Russian, Carpathian Dialect and Hungarian languages as the norm. I do trust that the Lord knows our needs as He has brought us to this place. Notika, my ministry partner who has been ministering in these villages for five years, will be gone until the beginning of June. So, until that time, I won't be able to go to as many villages as I would like to. Please pray that the Lord will direct me according to His will. I have also been given some ministry opportunities that I am keeping in prayer, so if you could please pray for me to know where the Lord is directing, I would really appreciate it. I love this ministry to the Gypsy Villages so much, but I need help. The Lord is on the throne!
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| Sunset in Mukachevo along the river, where I take my walks |
