In 2014, my dear friend Joanne moved to Turkey to volunteer with a group there. We went through TESOL together in Washington, we taught English together for several years in Ternopil, we were in Romania together, we lived together and spent many late nights together watching old black and white movies.

Our 2010 TESOL graduation photo, where we first met.

When she asked if I would be in her wedding, I of course said “YES!” Turkey is not far from Ukraine so it really was not difficult for us to go. Joanne knew my parents and family from our trip to Romania and from my wedding so it was a fun bonus to have my parents join in the wedding festivities too. We were all able to travel together to Turkey with other friends from Ukraine.

Together again!

We came a little early to be there for a bridal party and help with extra planning. We did get our nails done with all the bridesmaids and had extra time to fellowship.

Another happy couple

The wedding site was in an olive grove, how cool is that! Joanne had made simple decorations but the beauty was already there. Joanne met her husband in Turkey while he was also volunteering. They are both so loving and compassionate!

Giving a toast to the newlyweds

With the happy couple

There were a few fun Turkish elements to the wedding that made it unique and memorable. One was that there was a bridal party dance, the bride and her bridesmaids are on one side of the dance floor and the groom and his groomsmen are on the other. The bride dances and her bridesmaids must copy whatever she does, then the groom dances and his groomsmen copy his moves. Let’s just say it was hilarious! Turkish men know how to dance and have fun on the dance floor.

Bridal party dance

There are also lots of sparklers and flares and sparkler fountains, anything bright and flashy. They had sparkler fountains going all around the cake when it was brought out. Sparklers when they left and flares when they were about to leave.

Don’t worry, the cake was fine

We had so much fun celebrating Joanne and Isa. They will be a dynamic couple in Turkey.

After the wedding, we got to see more of the area and were able to take a day trip to Ephesus. We all enjoyed seeing the ancient ruins of the city that Paul writes of. There were interesting facades and motifs everywhere you turned, little passages to go through and colonnades to to stroll. It was quite a large area and of course there were mobs of people but we still enjoyed soaking in the history.

Exploring is our specialty!

With my parents at the library of Celsus in Ephesus.

At the amphitheater

At the Church of St. Mary

At the Basilica of St. John

Skipping rocks in the Aegean Sea

Two years ago Megan’s sisters came to visit, that was the last time a family member came to visit but now that has changed. Meg’s parents came for a wonderful visit.

We can’t tell you how AWESOME it is to have family here with us. It is encouraging and motivating to have people here to experience and see first hand what we do. It is one thing to explain over Skype and show pictures online but to see something in person solidifies what goes on.

Visiting a castle

Picnic in the shadow of castle ruins

George and Peggy joined us for staff meeting, worship and intercession, we roped them into helping us do some cleaning too. They even taught a new game in English Club! Besides having them join us in our day to day activities, we took them around the area to see some more of Ukraine. There were a few castles to visit, ruins to see, and cities to explore. Since we have made it a point to get to know our area better, we had lots of favorite spots to show off.

At Pidkamin

Abandoned palace

One highlight was getting to celebrate Orthodox Easter here. We brought them to the sunrise service by the lake and the main church service later. We all went to a friends house for plate upon plate of food! They got to try lots of different Ukrainian dishes.

Easter service

Reading the Easter story at sunrise in the park

They also celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with us. What a great way to celebrate 35 years of being married! We took them to our favorite restaurant.

Happy Anniversary!

Overall, we had fun just spending time together. We got to sit together on the same sofa and talk and not through the computer! Our time ended with us all going to Turkey for Joanne’s wedding. See the next post for details on our adventures in Turkey!

And we are off with them! Yep, outreach involves leaving your place of training and going to a new location. This year, our outreach was in Ukraine, Montenegro and Albania.

The students did a lot of work between these three countries. Montenegro and Albania were new outreach locations for us and therefore we did not know what to expect.

Home sweet home

In Montenegro, we were divided between two locations, some of us stayed in trailers, some of us in a church office, and some of us in a home. It got a bit chaotic sometimes for us to get together but we did! We were also in Montenegro for three holidays! Christmas on the 25th, New Year, and Orthodox Christmas. We did a lot of celebrating!

Our ministry was more spontaneous and fluid than we had hoped. We discovered that the holiday time is not the best time to come to Montenegro. It made it difficult to have events or meet with people. Our group was great at building relationships with locals and sharing the Gospel message with those they met on the street though and we did see a level of trust and understanding from those that we talked to.

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas again!

Kids club

Singing Ukrainian songs in church

Evangelism on the streets

Preparing tracts to give away

Albania held different activities for us. We were able to partner with the local Youth With A Mission to do some evangelism on the beach, prepare an English and craft lesson for a local public school, help with some practical needs, and share in a church. We have some gifted artists so they were able to show off their skills at church and in painting a prayer room for the YWAM base in Albania. We were able to serve the YWAM base by doing some practical work for them. They have just entered into a lease with an old hotel and there is lots of work to be done. We came at the right time to bless!

Sharing our talents and testimony

Craft time at a local school!

Landscaping at the YWAM base

Evangelism on the beach

Making vareniki for Ukrainian culture night

Painting a prayer room

The whole team in Durres, Albania

Every year, we plan to have a Discipleship Training School in the fall. It began this last year September 14th with 9 students from Ukraine and England. I will give you a pictorial review of our time.

The Team!

School always starts with lectures and some classroom training. Normally, we don’t have our practicum until after we have finished the 12 week lecture time but this year we decided to do a small 2 week mini outreach in the middle. We went to nearby town of Chortkiv and did all sorts of activities. Here are some pictures form that time.

Making free cotton candy for the public

Giving out Bibles and praying for people

Puppet show for kids

Painting and sharing testimony in church

After our outreach in Chortkiv, it was back to lectures. Students had a variety of teachers who spoke on a variety of topics. Here is a glimpse of what that time looked like:

Lance teaching on Hearing the Voice of God

Joint lecture with Calvary Chapel students

Busy writing

Where in the world is…?

Overview of the Bible

Biblical timeline

Besides lectures, we did have some fun activities and special events.

Loren Cunningham comes to Kyiv!

Dinner out

Ladies Tea

Praying for the city

Cleaning up the local Jewish cemetery

It was a long and tiring 3 months but everyone did it and we succeeded in learning lots. Students grew together as a team, grew closer to God, and the people they served.

**After a long hiatus, we will be catching up on blog posts! Sorry for the long wait. Some of the posts will be short and sweet but at least there will be pictures!

Another Murray girl gets married, just one more to go! Megan’s sister got married this summer to an awesome guy, Joel Kilmer. It was the event of the year!

They had the opportunity to get married on our parent’s property in Washington, basically in our backyard. It was a task to prepare the wedding site but it looked great in the end.

The happy couple being silly

First walk as a married couple

The sisters toasting the couple

We will always be sisters

Scenic wooded venue