Ahhhh, run for your lives! Craziness and silliness will ensue when the Murray girls unite!

Together again!

All three sisters were together for a short time in Ukraine!

I can’t even begin to say how wonderful it was to have my sisters with me in what I have been calling home for almost three years!

We did a lot of sisterly things, like eating out…

Yum!

Shashlik!!!!

sightseeing…

Clock tower in Lviv

Looking at old churches

Castle in Lutsk

Visiting more castles

and of course, just being plain ole silly.

We need more weight!

Sadly, Alison had to leave after just 5 days together. Kathryn stuck around though to help with YWAM Ternopil’s 20 year celebration. We had a whole 9 more days together! Kathryn helped organize my kitchen, she worked hard in getting things ready for the 20 year celebration and just over all hung out with us where ever we were.

This past spring I was able to teach a very short course on speaking. This was not any speaking class, it was for those wanting to pass the IELTS exam, or International English Language Testing System. Scary sounding isn’t it?

Deep in conversation

It was a small class but I was happy to have a chance to teach some English. They really wanted to focus on speaking since that is the hardest to practice or study for and is really best done with a native English speaker.

Sorting phrasal verbs

We did simple activities such as sorting phrasal verbs and collocations. We looked at common idioms and used them in speech. We put an end to dead, dumb, and boring words such as “good,” “like,” and “fine” to exchange them for more exciting words.

Can you answer these questions in a concise manner in 2-4 min?

There were basically lots of discussion times, all they really wanted was a place to practice speaking English. We went through a lot of practice test questions and just general chitchat. Overall, it was a great class and time well spent for all.

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!