In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Hello Friends,
Hopefully your summer is off to a great start, as ours is here. The sun is shining, the garden is
growing and we are nearly finished wrapping up the loose ends of the school year. Of course
there have been some bumps in the road over the past few weeks, but things continue to go
generally very well and everyone is enjoying the great weather and the many fruit tree to forage!
Many things have happened since our last letter; please read on to hear about some of them.
Over the past year God has confirmed to us, in many ways, the importance of and need for
ministries geared to towards helping older teenage orphaned children. They truly are at a very
pivotal point in their lives and need all the love and support they can get. As you know, God has
brought us into close contact with 3 such boys ; Oleg, Vova and Vitaliy, who face uncertain
futures as they will soon be fully out on their own as they finish their secondary education. They
have become dear to us and we ask you to join us in praying for them to succeed despite the huge
odds against them. Throughout our time here, Joelle and I have been praying for God to only
allow those He desires to visit this home and for whom He has a purpose for their visits to come
here; while keeping others away. It is interesting to us that although we have invited and been in
contact with both boys and girls, ranging in age from 15-19, that God has used the bulk of our
time here to support 3 older boys, who will all be on their own very soon.
God has also shown us and impressed many new things on our hearts during the past year as
well. God has shown us that there is a tremendous need in Ukraine for ministries geared towards
reaching out to the many struggling families found here. During the many decades of Soviet rule
here in Ukraine, the Soviets attempted to remove God and Christianity from this society. The
spiritual darkness they spread over this nation has caused continuing damage to families here in
Ukraine. The large number of orphaned children is only one of the results this darkness has
caused here and in other parts of the former USSR. There is a huge need to help strengthen and
support Ukrainian families in many areas such as; parenting, marriage and family relationship
skills, financial management, alcohol abuse, etc. Obviously, the lack of these family skills is
also one of the reasons for the high number of orphans found here.
There is plenty of work to be done here in Ukraine. It is because of the great needs God has
shown us and our desire to see and support our “Ukrainian boys” through their critical transitions
into adulthood; that we are now planning to extend our time here in Ukraine for another
year. It is our plan to continue guiding the older teenage children we have been working with
(and any new such children God puts in our path), as we also plan to work with a new ministry
seeking to strengthen Ukrainian families.
God used many of the challenging circumstances we faced during the first few months here to
forge new connections and friendships. God particularly used our visa problems to forge and
develop a good working relationship with our dear Ukrainian brother in Christ, Vitaliy and his
family. Vitality’s father is also the pastor of our local church here. Many of you may recall the
awesome story I shared about how God clearly lead us to this church. Vitaliy operates a
Ukrainian ministry which aims to help orphaned children and families who
have adopted. We share many common thoughts, ideas, values and practices with Vitaliy and
are very glad God has brought our families together. Vitaliy is a very sincere follower of Jesus
and is eager to follow Him.
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 13:20
We have seen both sides of this verse over the past few months. During the past few weeks Oleg
and Vitaliy have both been spending more time with us. As a result, they have had opportunities
to accompany us to a few picnics and other events related to the family ministry we will be more
involved with in the next year. One of these boys is already a growing Christian, while the other
is not(yet ). We love both of these boys very much and, as with all of our children, we pray
that God will work in each of their lives, right where they are and as they need spiritually. It is
amazing to observe the effects that going with us to help at these picnics and other events has on
these boys. While at these events, they are surrounded by Godly people and behaviors; they are
removed from their normal companions, their normal environments and the normal expectations
for them. They are free to be something different than what is normally expected of them.
To say the least, it has had a huge impact on their behavior; especially on the one who often behaves
in very non-Christian ways. I believe that these opportunities have also affected their thinking
and, as time goes on, may also have an effect on their standards and expectations of themselves,
their lifestyles and even on their future families. God is good and has a good plan.
We had been having some difficulties with one of “our guys” over the past few weeks. We were
at one of these picnics and it was truly one of the best days we shared with him. He was eager
and motivated to help(which is not always his character) and he was just glowing as he was a
good leader playing with many of the younger children at the picnic. He also agreed that it was a
great day and we were proud of him. A day or two later, he was back in his “normal” setting and
some things happened that set us up for another few weeks of struggles and conflicts. It wasn’t
until Matthew, “the boys” and I went on another outing and spent time with the group of
Believers involved with this family ministry; that his behavior and attitude turned around and has
continued to be much improved since. As it turned out, we missed the last bus home that night
and had to stay overnight with some of these people. This unexpected extra contact time was an
unexpected blessing and was our most recent turning point on how things are going with this
young man.
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 13:20
God has used these and other events to confirm to us that He has a plan for us to continue getting
more involved with this new family outreach ministry. These events have served as a real
encouragement that we are heading in the right direction. We can now see that our involvement
with this additional ministry has the potential to simultaneously benefit the orphaned children we
are involved with, as well as, the families we hope to reach out to. Involving these young men
has also shown Vitaliy and other Ukrainian Christians the importance of ministries geared
towards assisting these transitional aged orphaned children. In fact, some of these people have
already begun to reach out to these boys to lead them in the right direction as they work to
complete their school and work documents in a non-corrupt way. With no prompting from us,
these Christian men are stepping up to mentor “our Ukrainian boys”. God always has an amazing
way of weaving and connecting all things for His purpose and glory.
It was our hope to continue living in the LC transition home; working in
connection with them to serve older orphaned children, while we also become involved with this
new family ministry. However, LC decided that it would not be in the best interest of
their transition home project to have a family living and working in the transition home while
sharing their time with other ministries. Therefore, we will no longer be working in through
LC for our second year in Ukraine. With that in mind, July 31 has been
agreed upon as the end of our time living and working here in the transition home and we have
begun seeking our next Ukrainian home. Finding housing large enough for our large family plus
our teenager visitors may be a bit of a challenge as most Ukrainian houses pretty small. Please
join us in praying for God’s direction and provision of this housing.
Obviously, other than finding affordable, adequate housing; the financial requirement will be the
other biggest need to be met for another year without income and employer provided medical
insurance. Although we were hoping to visit home for a while and return to Ukraine, we are now
looking more strongly at the option of remaining here straight through due to finances. At this
point in time, are still a bit short per month of meeting our estimated projected budget for the
next year. As last year, we continue to take comfort in knowing that if God desires for us to
remain in Ukraine for another year, He will provide the right place for us to stay in and work out
of, as well as, all our other needs.
In fact, we have already seen Him working this out. About one week before finding out that we
would need to find a new place to live we met a new Christian friend. Meeting him was in no
way the result of any effort on our part or his. He literally just showed up in our life. When he
first met us he did not know we were here working as missionaries. It turns out this new friend
is also the pastor of a small Bible church. He and his congregation were immediately eager to
help us find housing. It is through this connection that we have already found about a few
available houses; including one that is actually larger than the transition home and will provide
the extra space we need.
It is our hope to find a place here in the same town where we live now; the people of this town
have really been great to us. Many of them have taken an interest in our situation and have been
getting involved in different ways to try to help us find a new place. One day last week while a
friend was helping me look for a house we went into a small store to ask the clerks if they knew
of any available houses in the neighborhood. As my friend explained that he was looking for a
house for his America friends, I heard the store clerk respond, “наші американці?” (our
Americans!) It feels like the town’s people have adopted us!
Thank you for your continued interest, support and encouragement. Please pray for Joelle andme to have clear discernment regarding yet another major step for our family.
With sincere thanks,
Mike, Joelle and the kids
Please also see our Blog for recent photos
