Praising Jesus in Ukraine!

Here is a very small view of the passion and hunger for God that is present in the youth of Ukraine. What a blessing to be a part of it! Go Jesus!!


Here is my latest update....without any flavour or photos....just text!

Building Project / Staff Retreat

Kings’ Kids Camp

I’ve MOVED!

Youth Camp / Russia

Worship / Intercession

Wow, well it has already been three weeks since I have been back in Ukraine! I just wanted to give you quick update on some really awesome things that God has been doing since I have been back!

Building Project / Staff retreat:   We are building!! I have made a short video, and attached the link, of the first part of the year long building project we have begun. We first had to tear down the old building, and now have built a fence and prepared the ground for the builders to come and begin laying the new foundation. We are expanding to make room for more missions teams, training schools and general hosting capacity. The YWAM staff have been working hard here…and it has been a blessing to be here in such a foundational time!

Tuesday, July 10 we all leave for staff retreat for three days. All of the staff and volunteers of YWAM Ternopil will go away together to the country. We will camp, cook over a fire and draw water from a well….and most importantly have focused team time seeking God for vision, dreams and future personally and corporately.  I am honoured to give leadership to our times of organized worship and also will be leading a session on Encouragement and Blessing for each ministry team.

King’s Kids ministry has a vision to equip families; parents and children and everybody in the family, in ministry and missions. We have three staff that ran a weeklong Kings kids camp here at the YWAM base in Ternopil. There were a total of 13 kids/youth, ages 7 to 14, and I was super blessed in serving them by helping in the kitchen, cooking for them, and also leading them in worship. I was very touched and by God to see how He moved in their hearts and spoke to them in so many different ways.  Today one girl shared that the Holy Spirit spoke to her during worship that she needs to visit orphanages more often. Visiting orphanages is one of their ministry outreaches that they're doing in this mini-missions camp, along with receiving Biblical teaching and team building skills. This was a SUPER blessing!!

I have moved in with a dear Ukrainian lady, Totya (Auntie) Olga. She is probably in her 60s and she is going to have me stay with her at least for the summer months. One of the purposes is to put myself in a language/cultural immersion (Russian and Ukrainian). Olga is a believer and she's so excited to have me as a missionary and believer I live in her house and and become a part of their family. She has been a widow for over 20 years and has two children, both married and four grandchildren.  Her daughter worked with YWAM and is now married and living in Korea. She is familiar with our work and heart to reach out and has already shown me so much hospitality and care. She talks very slowly to me (lol!!) and I am learning more and am trusting God that this will be a time to integrate into the community and build more relationships with local people. Another highlight is that I have to walk to the base/office through a beautiful park!! This is such a blessing for me, and I just see that God is answering many of my prayers to serve and bless Ukraine, through this move and change, although I am not ignorant that there will be some challenges as well! It has already been strange and different having to go “home” at the end of the day!!

I AM GOING TO RUSSIA! Truly by God’s grace, I will be going to help the discipleship training school (DTS) staff lead a youth missions training camp and outreach to Russia with local Ukrainian churches. I have applied for my visa to Russia and was granted a tourist visa! PRAISE GOD – this is a new nation for me and I am very expectant to go and co-work with Holy Spirit!  We will go to Eastern Ukraine for 10 days to train youth at the camp. I will be teaching one session on cultural differences in missions, and one session on spiritual world/ worship & intercession. For me it is a great honour to have part in training young Ukrainian believers and walking with them as they rise up in Evangelism, outreach and missions.  After the camp, we will break into three teams and go on 10 days of practical outreach, preaching, praying, building relationships and partnering as God leads us. One team will go to a new church plant, one team will help a woman who started a new work in another city from Rick Renner’s church in Moscow, and one team will go to a new city, where there is no church or Christian witness.  Trip dates : July 16- August 6, 2012

BASE WORSHIP / INTERCESSION: I've had the privilege of leading worship to three times since I've been back already and really just so expectant to be the one to set my heart to see heartfelt worship and intercession birthed anew, here in YWAM Ternopil and also for YWAM Ukraine. I have started praying with another missionary in Kiev for YWAM Ukraine and it has been blessed. Durning our prayer time, we both realized how precious and important seeking God on behalf of the body of Christ in Ukraine is!  Also, I have made some really awesome God connections with YWAM Herrnhut, Germany. This is the home of the Moravian Church, the Moravian missions movement and the birth place of the 24/7 Prayer movement. The Moravian Church is known for its 120 years of 24/7 prayer which sparked the largest missionary movement in history. YWAM has a very active base there, and they are right now running schools of intercession, worship and school of the kingdom, frontier missions, etc. They are willing to host me for a time just to receive impartation, vision and refreshing in those areas so that I can bring that heart back here to Ukraine and see it established and implemented here at our based in Ternopil and in Ukraine at large.  Right now the tentative date for this adventure trip with Jesus is September 11 – 24…ish J!

God is good and certainly ALIVE! It is so good to be back in Ukraine and I really see a greater hunger for God growing in all of our hearts as we continue to seek Him and I get into His word. It is a time of TRANSITION here at the base and so please keep the prayer coming!  Thank you for your prayer, support and encouragement in financial giving. I am so thankful to God for His grace, His provision, His call and for the wonderful relationships He has given me in all of you. The Father God bless you all and I continue to pray for you all and look forward to hearing from you and giving you all the great reports from these different things that are taking place! 

Caves and Castles!!!

So a couple of weeks ago we went on an amazing adventure on our day off....first we went on a caving adventure which turned out to be WAY MORE INTENSE than what we had expected. For us North American females we thought we would go on a relaxing guided tour of some caves, see some crystals and rocks and just have a gentle tour. OH NO....that was not it at all. 

Here is a little clip of our pre-cave excursion! 

After this video was taken the serious adventure unfolded as we were led on a 3 hour journey into some of the world's largest gypsum caves. I did not believe I could fit through some of the small cracks and holes that we did....it was stretching and challenging - I LOVED IT! There were some moments (I will post those videos later!) where I really felt like I could not survive or pass through the suspended crevices. I certainly cried out to God a number of times and He came through - even in an adventure activity! He loves us so much!)

There is much more to write on the cave experience....it was so much piled into one day - fun, team work, testing, physical work, victory, fulfillment of prophetic vision for my time serving in Ukraine...and MORE!

A word about the prophetic vision:

When we first came to Ukraine in May 2010 the Holy Spirit gave me a very clear vision that He was bringing us to an underground cave that was very large. I was inside the cave and as I praised and worshiped Jesus light came into the cave and I saw beautiful painting on the walls. It was very high ceilings...and it was a stronghold. God spoke to me, that there has been a stronghold of faith in Ukraine for a very long time and it is beautiful, but has largely been hidden and underground. He spoke that as we seek His face and PRAISE Him, intercede and worship that He will shake the foundations of even this stronghold and begin to enlarge it for more to find refuge here....(making His family bigger here!!)....

It was almost one year later when I found out that Ternopil region (where we live and serve) is famous for its caves....and boasts Europe's largest Gypsum caves!!! I got so excited and new that I needed to get on the inside of these real caves, understanding the parallels in the supernatural!

We sure praised Jesus when we were in those caves, as we admired the crystal and overcame personal and team weakness by His grace!

So excited for this playing out in the spiritual more and more....!

About the castles...that will have to be another post...stay tuned!

YWAM Ternopil Staff Retreat

Here is a short video I took from our 3 days of Staff Retreat in August. It was a great time of camping, cooking over the fire, outdoor adventure and just plain family fun time!

For me, this was the first "family" camping trip I had been on since being a younger person...and it was a blast. IT was so great to be out in the fresh air of the country. Ukraine is so beautiful! We saw many horses pulling loads of hay, had some great long walks in the forest, some times together being challenged as a team....and more!!

One of our friends, and fellow missionaries, Slava, brought a huge human kite out to the dacha....I tried it a couple times...and it was wild! It is the kind that you have to harness yourself into and that could cause you to fly!! I did not fly, although it was close a few times as it dragged me here and there...it was a blast for sure!

Another highlight was spending time with all the kids! They were great...especially their excitement with the entire experience...getting to wear their pijamas outside (that was really cool!!), roasting marshmellows, playing together and more! Lots of amazing laughs with them!

How good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity....this was a time of renewing that bond and love for one another and allowing God to make it go deeper :) Jesus is crazy about strong, loving, relationships....and so am I!

Back in Ternopil - Kings' Kids Outreach Team

Here is a little glimpse of some outreach in Ternopil....summer 2011 has been super busy! This is just a small look into a time full of God's grace and goodness in and through so many people!!  This outreach was happening when I arrived in Ternopil. I helped cook for them a bit while they were here...it was a blessing :) 

Port Townsend reflections

Relentless Blessing of the Generations

Just a few days ago I was radically privileged to sit with a multi-generational pioneering missionary to China. This dear saint is 88 years old and as sharp as whip! Mrs. Baker was born to missionary parents in Yunang Province of China in the 20's. They escaped when she was under 10 years old because of the national upheaval...she later married the son of well known missionary to China, H.A. Baker. Her story is long, amazing and totally a testimony to God's generation blessing that rests on families.

For me, it is a great privilege to sit with this woman of God and hear her stories of life from childhood to present. Her and her husband married and returned to China as full time missionaries where they pioneered Bible Colleges and formed a foundation for the Chinese underground church, before they were kicked out at the dawn of communist rule in China. She is brimming with wisdom, love for Jesus and love for people. At 88 she has such a zeal for life and for the things of God. What an inspiration.

I could go on and on about how wonderful it has been to be acquainted with her and her one daughter.

The reason that I am posting this is because it is related to a book that I am reading at present, called Relentless Generational Blessings, by Arthur Burke. In the book (which you must read!!) he details our God as a generational God and how there are blessings that have been laid up for us all from all of our righteous family members past that we have never known. It was as a result of Mr. Burke's expounding on scripture surrounding the generational blessing that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to see Mrs. Baker a second time on this last trip to Port Townsend and ask her if she would bless me.

For me, I have no known ancestors that were full time missionaries, or Spirit filled ministers. (I am so thankful that my grandfather was open enough to become ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada - and I know that is heritage that I am very thankful for.) In this past year there have been times where I have felt like my endurance was growing weak and that God was testing my heart to see how committed to Him and His call that I was....and this seemed opportune and divinely appointed....that right at the time when God was speaking to me about the blessings of generations that can be imparted I have the time with this mighty woman of God who pioneered in the nations and has a mighty heritage....God's blessings simply continue and compound!! Talk about the kind of investments we must be making above all else - investments of the heavenly kind to leave a wake of blessing for our kids and generations to come...!

So....to the point - I asked and she immediately grabbed my hand and began praying for me. There was no lightning or thunder, but the sweet presence of God descended in that time and I was overcome by the GREATNESS of God and by His inheritance which transcends natural blood lines, but culminates in the all powerful and superseding blood of Jesus Christ. In that blood and by His power I received the blessing to move forward as a pioneer and builder of His kingdom in the nations, not without heritage of those who have gone before and feeling alone in the battle, but with the tangible blessing of God that will never leave and will continue to be enriched by God's presence and word as He receives honour and praise through my life! WITH A HERITAGE OF FAITH only in Jesus Christ....that is endless and relentless!

My life will never be the same....by God's great power at work in me!

Wrestling with contentment

Off the top of my head, I could define contentment as being satisfied, complete, not lacking or wanting anything else. Fully satisfied sounds like a good description. And in such a phrasing it sounds great! Don’t we all want this? Do we all have this?

For me, it seems that I am in a constant wrestling match with contentment...desiring to be content because I know that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6) and that Jesus has given me all things, so why in the world or heaven would I not be content in His amazing love and enjoy life with Him! Exactly – good point! I desire that great gain, that enjoyment that Christ came to give us, and above all I want to please my Father in heaven. I also desire the peace that accompanies contentment....a rest of spirit and soul – a settledness.  Ahhh – sounds perfect and it is indeed great gain. When we can cease striving, or when we are still, and know that He in fact is God, and I in truth, that we are not!! A great definition of freedom.

And right about the time that I am basking in the fruit of contentment (peace, rest, joy, love, gain) there rises this desire for change, for more, to let go of the old and reach for what is to come. So contentment quickly becomes discontentment and then a hunger for more. The wrestling match begins.

I go from enjoyment to dissatisfaction, knowing that there is something great on its way. The process of God bringing us to that new something great, however is where there is a battle within me. Wanting to maintain a content heart and not become unthankful for what He has done and given, it can become hard to let go and give what we have in order to return to the state of being empty handed before our Amazing Daddy, in order to receive the gifts and treasures that He wants to put into our hearts and hands.

Right about the time that I am able to put down the people and things that I have gained a contentment and satisfaction with and simply surrender, a grace comes to embrace the new and a new contentment begins to grow. But that is just it – contentment must GROW. As we are thankful and we continue to receive from God and recognize His working in our lives, contentment grows...and then when it grows to the point of change, a holy discontent arises, giving way for us to desire the new things in store. Yet I believe the even when we are in a place that we need to let go, and seemingly shed our contentment, God allows the fruit of contentment to compound in our lives and as we choose the right response to change it seems as though we lose our past contentment, but really the new contentment is added to our past measure.  Contentment is the fruit of our response to the circumstances of life, which is rooted in the state of our hearts.

I suppose that the wrestling match is resolved when we give up to the grace of God and go with His flow! When discontentment is recognized as a part of the growth of lasting, compounding contentment.  As I can see now, it is not a new story or prescription from Jesus – if we give it away, it will come back to us; if we lose our lives for His sake and the sake of the Gospel, we will gain live. God help us to receive the grace for the new and unknown, the things we have yet to see,  that will cause more godly contentment to grow in our hearts.