While we had a team here from the states they decided to host a baby shower for us. It was a very sneaky surprise party, Lance knew about it but I did not.

Us sharing how Lance kept the party a secret.

We had gone out with a few friends for dinner (they also knew about the party) and they were being very cryptic about what to do after dinner. I was slowly enjoying my meal while they were ready to go and said “well let’s head out…” I was a little surprised they were not up for more chit chat but ‘ok’ I thought. They wanted to watch a movie but I was thinking ‘you’re leaving tomorrow, this is our last evening together why are we watching a movie?’ Then as soon as we got back to the YWAM campus, our friends seemed to disperse and I could smell apple crisp. One of the team members found me and asked if I would like to join the team for apple crisp to which I obviously agreed. When I entered the room there was the classic “Surprise!” And I can tell you, I was surprised!

Lance acting out changing the diaper.

Furiously writing baby names

They arranged yummy treats and games for everyone to participate in. One game involved coming up with baby names for each letter of the alphabet. There were some great suggestions but also some funny ones, like Zit for example. 🙂

The team pooled their money together and got us a baby crib and bedding. Other guests gave us cute outfits and toys for little baby Roberts. We are also stalked with plenty of diapers and encouraging notes from many friends.

Yep, that is small!

We were so blessed by this surprise party. Thank you to everyone that planned, prepared, and participated in the party!

My parents got to be part of the party!

Last year, Megan’s parents came for a visit for the first time. This year they decided to join a medical team in Romania and thought, “we are so close, why not come again?” We were happy to have them come again.

Working together

We got to help with the eye clinic for one day

We went on a road trip to Romania to pick them up and bring them back to Ukraine. They were just in time to experience the final week of the Equip school and see what the team from America did. We warned them ahead of time that we would be busy that first week but they did great getting out in the city, eating out and buying things in the market without any help from us! We are thoroughly impressed!

At the Equip graduation

After the school finished and we tied up a few things with the American team and then we were able to take both of them to some of our favorite places to explore.

At Terrakaniv Fortress

In Kaminets-Podilsky

As busy as we were, it was an honor to have family come and really see what we do.

Lance and I are quite often involved with the basic school of YWAM, called Discipleship Training School. This is a fundamental course for anyone wanting to work in YWAM which is why we also see the Equip school as just as important since it is for those that staff DTS schools!

Lance and I participated in this school in 2012 in Montana and then Lance has staffed it several times and we staffed together in Ternopil in 2014. We love being a part of this school because we love equipping leaders to be successful in what they do.

This year we had an awesome group of 11 students from 7 different countries working in 7 other different countries, some had years of experience, some had no experience. It was such a great time of learning from each other not just from a speaker or book.

The course itself is very intense, 6 weeks of classes that go all day and some evenings. Everyone needs to read 3 books, do multiple group projects, homework, journals, and an exam.

While we do invite speakers and teachers to come, we are also doing much of the teaching. Lance spoke on hearing God’s voice, preparing for an outreach, and one on ones and Megan taught on applications, evaluations, leading in the classroom, and outreach preparation.

Teaching through Skype

All 11 students graduated and took the skills they learned back to their locations and will be putting them into practice in the schools that they staff.

Since I never got around to publishing what we were up to this spring I will put a few pictures up from different activities.

750 YWAM staff from all over Europe came together in Albania.

Seeing friends from Washington in Albania!

After the conference in Albania, we took a trip with some of our staff to Montenegro.

Happy Birthday Oksana!

Montenegro is a beautiful mountainous country.

Marching in a parade celebrating families.

Meeting with all the YWAM leaders in Ukraine

Our DTS students graduated!

The biggest thing this spring, was finding out we will be expecting a baby in December!

This was our third trip to the Balkans this year, once at the beginning of the year, then later in June. Both of those trips were with our own staff and team, this third trip was actually to meet with other people interested in starting something in Montenegro.

The YWAM base in Albania hosted this gathering and advertised to other YWAM locations to get people together with a common interest: to work in Montenegro. Lance and I and one other staff represented our base, there was a British man working at a base in Sweden, a Norwegian man working in Norway, another Norwegian man and a Dutch man both living in Albania, and several of the YWAM Albanian staff from various countries such as Canada, Ukraine, Brazil, Norway, Chile and Albania. We were quite a diverse group!

Lance and I really enjoyed this time since our previous trips were just with our own team, this time we got to have a more diverse viewpoint of Montenegro. We spent two days in Albania listening to a pastor serving in Montenegro, then praying for the country, and coming up with a strategy for our next two days which were to be in Montenegro. We decided to pray and ask the Lord where we should go in Montenegro, we felt to go to several cities.

As a group, we traveled to Bar, a city in the south where we talked to the pastor of church, then we went on to Tivat to hear from some German missionaries. We spent the night in Kaminari with a couple from Bosnia who have been working with orphans and in the morning we went to Niksic to visit with a pastor there and ended our time in Podgorica, the capital talking with missionaries and a pastor there. It was a whirlwind tour with lots of conversations and fun memories with new friends.

It was sunny and warm when we left Albania…

We see this time as super important and valuable for us as a YWAM location since we have chosen to target Montenegro for future work. It was encouraging for us to hear from other people to get new ideas we didn’t think of and to have confirmation for some ideas we already thought about. We really believe that this is an important time for us and for Montenegro and that Ukrainians will be great missionaries, particularly to this part of the world, there are many similarities. Both countries have had communist governments, both use a Slavic based language, both are very warm-cultured, both are Orthodox, and both are super relationship-oriented.

We are truly excited for our future in Montenegro!