Ternopil, Ukraine was transformed into Middle-earth for one day in March. Actually, it was transformed into the mines of Moria to be exact. Every year for about ten years now, a few faithful followers gather to watch Lord of the Rings… in one day. Did I mention it was the extended versions? Yeah, that adds up to almost 12 hours!

Not only do they just gather to watch the movies, no, no, no. That would be boring. No, here we go all the way. We decorated the room to match a scene for the movies. Past themes have been Minas Tirith, Shelob’s lair, flags of Middle-earth, the library at Minas Tirith, Moria, and this year, the bridge of Khazad-dum. We even included the balrog as a shadow formed from red lights.

Many other YWAMers came from other bases to watch the movies. It was a fun gathering, about 20 people in all. We did pause for lunch which consisted of “lamb” stew (aka chicken soup), and lembas bread (or biscuits.) There were a few other snacks through out the day but primarily we remained focus on the movies. We all enjoyed being able to see friends from other cities and chat a bit during a least favorite scenes.

Our homemade flags lining the stairwell

No, it is not pronounced heed-e-beak, its pronounced hide-eh-bake. It is a small village in Holland, on the outskirts of Apeldoorn, which is about an hour train ride from Amsterdam. Lance and I have not spent much time in Holland in the past. Lane has actually never been outside the airport and I only spent a day and a half over ten years ago. This was a new experience for us and we are always up for adventures!

Our reason for traveling to Holland was to attend a European YWAM leaders gathering. We were invited to go and we both felt that it was important for us to go and build relationships with other leaders as well as to hear what is happening in YWAM Europe overall.

There were about 70 leaders in attendance from many different countries through out Europe. We had devotions together in the mornings, we were able to pray together for Europe and for each other. Lance and I were happy to be able to tell people that Ukraine is a safe place and teams are welcome to come to Ukraine. We left Heidebeek happy and with a sense of accomplishment.

A second blessing in coming to Holland was that Lance and I got to visit our dear friends Dave and Astrid! For those that don’t know them, they are friends from Washington that moved to Holland last year. It was so much fun to see them both again. We enjoyed spending lots of time together just talking and seeing a bit of the Dutch countryside. We can’t express how full our hearts were when we left the Swadberg family!

Family, Friends, Supporters,

This is our first state of the Roberts address together as a married couple. Obviously, there have been many changes in the last year.

Health Care
Physically
There were no major illnesses or accidents. There were only a few small head colds. Lance hopes to get new glasses in the next few weeks too.
Mentally/emotionally
This year was truly a roller coaster of emotions. The year began by us learning to work together and to communicate clearly to one another. The year ended with us learning to communicate with staff. We agreed to take up the leadership role of the base in October and this has brought many challenges with it but we are learning quickly and know that God is with us.
Spiritually
Lance and I have been reading through the Gospels together and are now into Acts. Lance is reading The Book That Made Your World, How the Bible Create the Soul of Western Civilization by Vishal Mangalwadi and has thoroughly been enjoying it. Megan just finished In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen, a book on Christian leadership. We read together every night and jump between spiritual books and other classics.

Foreign Policy
Lance and I did not do too much traveling outside of Ukraine this year. We made a trip to Moldova to teach in a DTS staff training and to get our Ukrainian visas. On our way back we stopped in Romania to spend some time with DTS staff there.  We received temporary residency and no longer have to make border runs, which is a huge blessing. Lance and I have made a point to explore more of Ukraine though. We felt that it was important to know more of the country that we call home. We have explored castles and other cities. We hope to visit other major cities in our oblast (state.)

Education
The first bit of teaching that Lance and I did, was debriefing the Ternopil DTS when they returned from outreach. We spent almost a week together looking over the last six months and what God has done. In the spring, we went to Moldova to train DTS staff for their upcoming DTS. That was also about a week long. Lance shared the teaching time with friends of ours who had also come to teach. On our way back, we stopped to visit a base in Romania. We only spent one night here but enjoyed connecting with the base and the DTS staff there. Also in the spring, Megan taught a short class for preparing students to take the IELS test. She focused only on the speaking portion of the test. It was a small class but a great opportunity to be in the community. Over the summer, both of us staffed the DTS Equip school which was six weeks long. There were guests speakers who came to teach but the school staff also taught on different topics. In the fall, we finally had a chance to be taught by speakers who came to teach our staff.

Economy
Lance has set up a new budget system for us which has helped us in managing what we spend on ourselves versus what is spent on ministry. Sometimes those get a little mixed up and this has been something we are trying to just be more aware of. We started the year with a modest income but God has been faithful and each month seems to be more than we thought. We are so blessed by all who support us financially! We continue to set aside money for blessing others around us and for the church that we are a part of. We love our little apartment and have been slowly making it more our own. Our car, nicknamed “The Silver Bullet,” a Daewoo Sens, has been hanging in there. We are realizing that we will need a new car in the very near future. Currently, the car does not want to get into 1st, 2nd, or reverse. We barely made it back to Ternopil from Romania in the spring. We are setting money aside for a new car and are looking into what would be best for us, buy one here, buy one in Europe, or buy it in the States.

This year we also wanted to add something new to our address. Below we have added a chart of where all our spending has gone this past year. It is as accurate as we can make it with using multiple currencies which is nothing short of a headache. We want to be accountable and open with our finances.

Thank you again and again for everyone who has been a part of our lives. You have been an encouragement and support through out this past year. We couldn’t do it with out you!

Much love,

Lance & Megan Roberts

Every year, we give vacation to all our staff for about 10 days during the holidays. Most staff are away visiting family while just want time to rest. Lance and I decided to rest some at home but to also get away and explore a new place. Lance and I have discovered that exploring energizes us and refreshes us. For our new adventure, we decided to explore Krakow, Poland.

Krakow is not far from Ternopil, it took us about 7 hours to drive there, that is including the time at the border. Krakow is a city rich in history and legends. It is the site of Schindler’s Factory and it’s not far from Auschwitz. There is also lots of history dating further back than WWII of course and to learn about it Lance and I went on a walking tour. Two free walking tours to be exact. Volunteer tour guides took people around the city and give a history lesson on the various sights.

The dragon of Krakow, it really does breath fire!

Not only did we learn about the city but Lance and I took time to go to Ikea (we don’t have Ikea in Ukraine,) we saw the Hobbit in English (we can’t see movies in the theater in English in Ukraine,) found an English used book store, and ate some food not found in Ukraine (Indian and Thai!) We spent our evenings reading together and resting.

Lance and I were in Krakow during the festival of the three kings which is all about Epiphany. I was so confused when someone told me that it was Epiphany since we knew Epiphany to be a different date and for a different reason. In the Orthodox church it is to celebrate when Christ was baptized. I forgot that Poland is very Catholic and that Epiphany was an important holiday in the Catholic church. It was fun hearing the churches ring bells and to see people hurrying to church. I love that Epiphany is all about the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. What an important thing to recognize and celebrate.

Our base has joined forces with the other YWAM bases in Ukraine to help relief efforts in the east. Our base has been at the forefront of the work by hosting families from the east as well as sending supplies and people to help and encourage those there.

Art therapy

We have hosted a number of families to come for a respite at our base. These families are not looking for a new home in the west, but are wanting to remain in the east to help others left behind with out any way to leave. They continue to help others, encourage people, and give aid where aid is needed. We felt it was important to be able to give them a break and fill them up as they have been pouring out to others.

Most recently, we prepared 100 gift bags to give to soldiers. We wanted to send some Christmas cheer to those away from families and loved ones. Each bag was filled with chocolates, candy, a flashlight, a pair of socks, a card, razors, gum, and coffee. Some of our staff went to the east to deliver the gifts and to also give extra warm clothes, Bibles, books, sausages, nuts, oranges and homemade goods. They also brought a coffee maker and plan on making fresh coffee for the men.

The relief work that we have been organizing and participating in was featured on the main YWAM website, you can read about the last trip HERE. If you would like to help financially with the work, you can click HERE and choose Ukraine relief from the drop down menu.