For those that receive our email updates, you will have seen the monthly picture of the progress on our new building. (If you do not receive our monthly updates go to our About page and click Subscribe.) I am STOKED to tell you it is finally finished!! I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours were spent on our knees scrapping paint and grout off of the tile floors. Just way too many…

It seems appropriate to show you some before and after pictures, mostly after actually.

The base as I first saw it.

Front view 2010

Back view 2011

That cute little house to the right was our kitchen/dining room/office. Once the water line to it broke, we knew it was the en, though all its cuteness and quaintness couldn’t save it. A good friend made a fun video of the destruction of this quaint building, you can see it by clicking HERE.

Once our little office building was removed from the picture, the digging began!

Beginning of July 2012

End of July 2012

End of August 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

After December, much of the work had to stop due to snow and cold weather. We had a long and cold winter that year and work could not begin again until the end of March!

March 2013

April 2013

June 2013

Sadly, I left Ternopil in July to begin my trek back to the states to get married. I forgot to get a July picture and was emailed a picture from November of that year after it was painted.

November 2013

April 2014

July 2014

The finished product is amazing! We are so happy that it is done as well as to have extra rooms for more ministry and activities!

Opening the new building with worship

The new classroom is being put to good use!

It’s pronounced Y-awe-sh, for the record.

After teaching in Cahul, Moldova, we went to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, to apply for our Ukrainian visas. We stayed in the capital over the weekend with friends and after we received our visas (praise the Lord!!) we headed out to Iasi, Romania.

Looking out over the city

This was a quick trip. We were only there for a day and a half but it was still enjoyable. Lance has a friend who is staff with the YWAM base in Iasi. This friend has put us in contact with the girls who will be leading the DTS in Iasi. She asked Lance if he would be willing to come for a visit to explain and give some insight into leading/staffing a DTS. Since Iasi was only a few hours away from Chisinau, we couldn’t say no.

Enjoying mamaliga together

We only had one full day of DTS training but it was fun and enjoyable. They were so hospitable and we loved being able to visit a new base and hear of what God is doing there. We wish we could have had more time there, we will just have to come back another time!

Cahul is a city in southern Moldova. It’s actually a few hours away from the Romanian border. Lance and I both love going to Moldova since we both have dear friends there.

Lance teaching

This time we went for the purpose of leading a DTS staff training with YWAM Cahul. They will be starting their DTS mid June and asked us if we would lead their staff training time. It is a joy and pleasure to help them in any way we can. There are 5 staff members at this base in Moldova, which is also the only base in Moldova.

Our friends teaching

Group photo!

We started Monday morning and started out right, with worship of course. We shared the teaching time with some friends of ours from another YWAM base in Ukraine. They have been involved in DTS for many years and have great bits of wisdom to share. It was fun to be able to team teach. We shared on how our beliefs and values will effect how we act, communication, how many hours of lecture should be in a DTS and how the outreach should look as well as other topics. We had time to fellowship and play games together in the evenings. We are blessed to be able to pour into another country and equip them to be effective in what they are doing.

Last meal together

Lance also had the opportunity to share in a church!

Normally Ukraine celebrates Easter on a different day and therefore we get to celebrate two Easters. The Orthodox calendar uses the Julian calendar and has different dates for Easter and when the vernal equinox occurs, but this year they happened to be on the same day!

This year for the first time (possibly the last time) Lance and I decided to attend a sunrise service for Easter. I can’t say that we are early risers but we thought that one day out of the year we can rise well before we needed to. We met in a park by the lake and sang a few worship songs. We read through the Easter story and prayed for our city and Ukraine. It was special time that can only be enjoyed at the crack of dawn. Sadly it was a foggy morning and we did not get to enjoy the sunrise but it was still fun to fellowship by the lake in the wee hours of the morning.

By the lake at the crack of dawn

After our jaunt to the lake we had friends over for an Easter meal. We ate WAY too much food; roast chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli, salad, banana cream pie, and apple pie. We played games and finished the evening with a movie.

The day before we had also gathered together with friends for a pre-Easter celebration. This time we colored some eggs and then hid them for a few kids who were quite excited about finding them. Of course there was tons of food and plenty of desserts. We were fooded and peopled out by Monday, but it was all worth it!

Mr. & Mrs. Egghead

Getting ready to hide some eggs

Our front door

I know many of you have wanted to see what our apartment looks like. We have been putting off showing too many pictures until we actually had some furniture to show you. Now I think we have enough that it actually is looking like a home!

Here is what our place looked like before we moved in:

The bedroom

The kitchen with small balcony/pantry

The living room

The shower room (toilet is in a small separate closet-size room)

In the midst of moving in and unpacking:

Organizing the kitchen

First meal… picnic style!

Now that we have settled in, we have been able to buy a sofa, a desk, some lamps, and even a treadle Soviet sewing machine!

Our lovely new couch, it also turns into a bed!

Looking away from the window

A Podolsk 142

The sink is out of view since it was full of dirty dishes…

The bedroom

We are still hoping to get a few more items, a small freezer, a drill for Lance, a coffee table, a chair or two, and a cabinet for our pantry.

There is also a spare bed for anyone that would like to come visit! Please come see us! It’s not pictured since that room is being used as a storage space and it just doesn’t look very neat and tidy…  🙂

Sunset view from home