July means retreat. Retreat means staying in the village and stayin in the village means relaxation.

Group shot

Every July we have our annual staff retreat. It’s a time to get away, to hide from the busyness of ministry and rest together.

Everyone comes prepared to camp out in tents for two nights/three days. The дача (country cottage) is reserved for fixing food and for a few people to sleep in. We take time to just chat, eat, pray, eat, play games, eat, worship, eat, take walks, and eat some more. There is always good food, always.

Setting up home

Like flies to meat…

Roasting bread on a stick

Sometimes we have some kind of agenda or program. This year, our only agenda was to pray for each other and have some time of devotions. It was simple but refilling.

Worshiping together

Playing Dutch Blitz

Every retreat needs a hammock

Every time I come out to the дача I feel like I’m back at home in the country. You never know what you miss until it’s gone.

Highlights from this year are having four new staff with us at staff retreat, having a hammock, playing with a slack line, having a few bikes, making bread over the fire, and having Lance there was a huge personal highlight!

Resting together

Watching the sunset

If you have been receiving my email updates, you will see picture updates of the building that is in progress. (If you don’t receive my email updates and have always wanted them but didn’t know how to ask… you can click HERE to see last month’s update and then click on ‘subscribe’ in the top left corner to receive next month’s update!)

I always show pictures of the outside of the building since that has been the major part of the construction so far. Recently though, there has been some major progress on the inside and it is much easier to get up and down without remembering what it was like to crawl on a jungle gym.

For the first time today, I got a tour of the whole building! WOW! There is so much space and LOTS of possibilities! I’m super excited to see how everything will look when it is finished!

First floor:

Dining Hall

The kitchen is also on the first floor but I couldn’t get a good photo of it.

Second floor:

There are two classrooms and an office on the second floor with some lounging space.

“… and this is what a conjunctive adverb looks like.” Future statement in the future classroom.

April can’t wait for this classroom to be filled with students!

Potential office

Third floor:

Third floor is mostly all bedrooms. There are 4 showers (2 girls, 2 guys) which I didn’t bother to take a picture of since they are really just dark looking brick closets right now. There are four bedrooms total on the third floor.

Bedroom for the geometrically inclined

Double balconies in the bedroom? Yes, please!

Fourth Floor:

“He leads me into a spacious place…”

Fourth floors is really a glorified attic that will be turned into a living space. A place to relax, hang out, sleep, chat, it’s a multipurpose room! There is also space for another bedroom.

View toward city center (west)

View to the east

Looking to the south

There is also a basement to our new building. I couldn’t get any pictures since there isn’t any lighting there yet. The basement will be used for community events and storage space.

Our 2013 school year has begun!

5 Staff and 1 student

As some of you know, this year we have just ONE amazing student. We started with several applications and people claiming that they will come, but slowly one by one people cancelled, their plans changed or I simply never heard from them again.

We spent time in prayer wondering if the school should continue? Should we cancel? Should we change the dates? We were inundated with questions and doubts.  As we prayed though, all doubt vanished. We were 100% sure that God wanted the school to continue no matter how many students came.

As the time drew near for the start of the school we had one student who seemed determined to come. I emailed her and let her know that she may be the only student and should feel free to reconsider if she did not want to do the school alone. I did not hear back for awhile, but when I did she wrote that she had bought her ticket here! Ok, I guess that means we have a school!

We of course have had to readjust lessons, activities, and plans to fit having only one student. Lucky for our student, she gets to have every lesson tailored to her needs. God made a way for her to be here financially and with other plans. It really is a miracle that she is here! She is so happy to be here and we are blessed to have her.

Want to know what I look like in the classroom? Here is a tiny clip of me… pretty much I’m doing nothing but nodding my head and listening to students explain their answers to my activity.

I had no idea I was being recorded, the person just happened to catch me at a time when I was not talking. I am thankful to be able to give you a small glimpse into the classroom though.
I taught on relationships and the importance of working in a team and with different people. This was part of a bigger teaching that was all about that destiny that God has for each person.

You can check out more of the curriculum that was used at the website here.

Herrnhut has been called the little town that blessed the world. I had read the book by the afore mentioned name and wondered what it was like there. At the time that I read the book, I had no idea that I would one day visit the places mentioned in the book.

Herrnhut’s history begins in 1722 when a group of Moravians arrived and asked Count Zinzendorf if they could settle on a portion of is property. This soon turned into the town of Herrnhut which translates to “under the Lord’s hat.” The little community continued to grow but disagreements between the churches of the area also grew. In 1727, Zinzendorf worked to reconcile the churches and bring people together. They did and in August they had communion together which was followed by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the start of one of the longest lasting revivals.

Hanging out with the count

Out of this revival came a 24/7 prayer movement that lasted a 100 years! The Moravian church was one of the first church bodies to begin sending out missionaries. They sent missionaries to the Caribbean, North and South America, the Arctic, Africa, and the Far East. They actually came to America and worked with Cherokee and Algonquin Indians! Their missionaries started new works, they learned and translated the Bible into other languages around the world.

View of the prayer tower from afar

Inside the Moravian Church

Zinzendorf's grave

And I got to see where it all started first hand! Allison and I visited Count Zinzendorf’s house, the first Moravian church, the prayer tower, and various places of note in the area. The YWAM base in Herrnhut wants to carry on that tradition of sending missionaries out. The base functions out of a small castle that is nestled in the woods and surrounded by peaceful trails. They are over 100 staff and have over a hundred students at the moment. There are lots of things going on!!

View of downtown

It was great to see this base that has a large focus on areas of justice (human trafficking, prostitution…) as well as focusing on the arts. They run different DTS schools that have different foci; for instance, at the moment they are running a justice DTS and a Marriage of the Arts DTS, earlier in the year they ran what is called a fire and fragrance DTS. There are examples of art all over the building; paintings, photos, sculptures, handicrafts… you name it. The leadership of the base love to have young people leading therefore many of the leaders are under 30. You can learn more about the base by visiting their website here.

Allison and I met with so many people and gathered so many different ideas, we had a hard time sorting everything out! It was great to meet with the students there and encourage them as well as challenge them. We connected with people interested in Ukraine and helped them make more connections for the surrounding countries. We of course encouraged lots of people to come to Ukraine, we are naturally biased and think that everyone should experience Ukraine.

I look forward to being able to visit Herrnhut again.