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.

The building is coming together! It is super exciting to see the building finally coming into existence. It has been a long time since the thought was first birthed and now it is being born!

That's one big hole!

My YWAM base was started in 1994. It has gone through many changes since that time, people coming and going, foci changing and most notably from not having a building to having one. Now we are going through another major change, we are expanding! This essentially means we are growing!

Mysterious paths...

Growth is exciting, where there is change there is growth and where there is growth, there are almost always growing pains. The growing pains in our case comes in the form of being flexible. We have lost our kitchen and office space. The laundry room was converted into the kitchen and the lobby and living have become the offices. The kids room was turned into the laundry room while washers were moved into the girls and boys bathrooms. Things have all been moved around and changed, I’m still trying to find out where the mops went to… Everyone is having to adjust.

The paths become walls...

And we fill the rooms with dirt...?

Watching the the construction has been interesting. I was expecting to take pictures of them pouring cement for the foundation, but instead they brought these huge cement blocks and a ton of bricks. Bricks are cheaper than wood here so everything is made with bricks. When the basement was being built and the walls were coming up, I watched fascinated, as they filled the “rooms” next to the existing building with dirt. The new building will be attached to the existing one by the way. I thought “what in the world are they doing? Maybe it’s just a holding place for the dirt?” Nope, it’s a building code here meant to protect existing buildings from structural damage if the foundation settles on one building but not the other. (I hope that made sense, it’s my interpretation from a more knowledgeable source.)

Brick by brick...

We have also had some excitement. Last week a pipe broke, and we had to turn all the water off in the building since it was pouring into our new basement! The men on staff dug a trench, replaced the damaged pipe with a sturdier one, and filled in the hole. We are anticipating more such adventures…

The YWAM base in Ternopil has been so busy this summer. Team after team has come to work here. Different camps and projects having been demanding attention and assistance. Everyone has been here and there, this way and that way. We have needed a good time away to spend time together and simply rest without hurrying to answer the door or phone.

Sasha, our leader, stirring dinner

Everyone who is considered staff or a volunteer at the Ternopil base headed out to a village about 20 minutes outside the city on a cloudy, overcast Wednesday afternoon. We all settled in (there were 9 girls in my tent!) and ate pilaf for dinner. MMMMMMMM!!! That night we set up the projector and watched two movies before we dragged ourselves to bed.

Jumpin around

The next day, the sun was shinning, we set up a trampoline, brought out the volleyball and ate lots of food. Oh yes, there was shashlik, baked potatoes, salad, we had stir-fry and of course there was lots of desserts and tea and coffee. There was also a type of kite; it was like a full body kite. It provided some entertainment for most of the boys. Many people took walks in the woods or out in the fields. We had some worship and devotions together as one team as well.

Volleyball in the field

Alison trying to fly

 One of my favorite parts of the day, was when Roman and I set up a teambuilding activity. Hee, hee, hee. Some people considered it a form of torture, but really it was just helping them to learn to work as a team. I can’t give all the details incase some reader may partake in this activity, but it involved being blindfolded, ropes, and a bell. Pretty simple really. We enjoyed watching people suffer, [cough] I mean, work together. People enjoyed it, despite their earlier claims of torture.

Leading the blind

Joanne and I brought marshmallows to share with everyone. We roasted marshmallows and sat around the campfire chatting. One fun moment was at 1 in the morning, when there was only a small group of us left at the campfire, Elizabeth (6) and Annabella (3) were still up and wide awake. Elizabeth had already been sitting on my lap for an hour and wanted me to tell her a story. I started telling her Nancy Drew stories. She liked them so much I think I told her ten until she finally fell asleep at 2.

Dima playing with fire and my dinner

The party started to end on Friday before lunch. We had some more worship together and began to pack up our stuff. Some people left before lunch, while the rest of us stayed for some green borsch and more relaxation. Everyone enjoyed the time together and we all longed for our time to be extended. I look forward to more time their next year.

Visas. It is almost like a bad word now, it’s hard to not say the v word without cringing. I am happy to say we have overcome our fears and received our visas for Ethiopia!… almost.

We went to the Ethiopian embassy here in Ankara on Monday which proved to be a much more difficult process than originally thought. We wandered around trying to tfind the building and when we did find it, it was empty. A neighbor said that they had moved. By chance, Yulia pushed the intercom/doorbell and someone answered! They informed us that yes, the embassy had moved locations and she was able to give us the new address!

So off we went, and since it was snowy and cold and we had already been wandering about in the snow for almost an hour, we took a taxi. Upon arrival, we were met with friendly staff who seemed eager to help us. After we explained our situation, I was asked to go back and answer a few questions. I got a little nervous remembering all the trouble the India team had the interrogations they ahd to go through. The man at the desk was quite friendlt though, we shook hands talked business and then he said ‘wait here.’

The words ‘wait here’ can be so scary. What does that really mean? Is he trying to help us, is he asking for advice from soneone else, is he going to get the visa forms for us? Who knows!!! So I waited. It really was not all that bad, it just was so uncertain.

He did come back though, and said with a smile, ‘ok we can help you out!’ Hooray, hooray!!! He told me that normally people from Ukraine and Moldova are under the jurisdiction of the Ethiopian embassy in Moscow and he only needed to check and see if you could actually give us visas. Everything was fine. We shook hands again and he told me to come back on Wednesday afternoon.

We filled out our forms, paid the money and away we went. Simple as that!

All is good, we came back Wednesday to pick up our passports and visas as planned. I was again, called back into the room. ‘Ah, man what could this mean? Did he discover that he could not give us our visas? Was there a problem with someone’s? What???’

This man was so friendly and nice, he greeted me with another smile and hand shake. It can’t be that bad if he is smilling. He said everyone was able to receive their visas except for me. Me? Didn’t see that one coming. He said that apparently America and Ethiopia have a special deal. Americans MUST apply for a 2 year visa, which he is not authorized to give. No problem though, I can still get mine in the airport in Ethiopia. I can handle that problem.

So we walked away with our visas and passports in hand! We are ready to go to Ethiopia on Tuesday the 21st. We have been going to the local universities here and talking with students as well as seeing some of the history and culture of Turkey. We are enjoying our last few days here with Riza’s sister and family.

Whew! What a whirlwind of a time we have had! We are not in Ethiopia like some of you might be expecting. We are currrently in Turkey, Ankara to be exact. Let me tell you how we came to be in Turkey.

Things started out a little crazy in Ukraine, they almost did not let me go on the flight since I had apparently overstayed *we are still not sure how this worked out.) Anyways, I had to pay a fine.

Our flight was delayed so we missed our connecting flight in Istanbul. We ran around with this man who was trying to help us find our plane, but it had already left. So, luckily the airlines put us up for the night in a nice hotel with yummy food!! We got to see some of the city, take some photos, and buy a few things. We changed our flight, went through security, were about to board and just as we were handing our tickets they told us Ukrainians could not go to Ethiopia. WHAT?!?! We were completely confused. The man we talked to did not speak perfect English nor was he very helpful. All we understood was that Ukrainians and Moldovans needed a visa before boarding a plane to Ethiopia.

So the man led us back through the passport checkpoint and told us we simply could not go. We stood there dumbfounded for awhile, not sure of what to do next. So we went to change our tickets again and explained to the man our situation. This man was a bit more helpful. He told us about some visa database that said Ukrainians could only go on business visas. He helped us change our tickets to Tuesday since we were hoping to go to the Ethiopian embassy on Monday.

After asking about hotels, we found that hotels in the big city of Istanbul are very very expensive. So after waiting for almost 2 hours for our bags, we sprawled out claiming a chunk of benches as our home for the night. We ate kielbasa, mandarin oranges, and chocolate for dinner. We slept alright except for the 3:30 cleaning crew and a few other loud stranded passengers looking for a place to sleep.

The next day we went in search of information. We borrowed a computer, and were able to skype with Riza, a fellow DTS student back in Ukraine who is conveniently from Turkey. He told us many great things. The Ethiopian emabssy in Istanbul does not give visas, but the one in Ankara does. It takes about 5 days to process a visa so that meant we needed to change our tickets again. Where should we stay in Ankara? With Riza’a family of course!!

Riza quickly explained how to get from the airport, to the metro, to the bus station, buy a ticket, and go to Ankara. It is still a miracle to me how a group that does not speak much English get from one city to another that is 7 hours away!! Oh the Lord is so faithful!!

So now we are staying with Riza’s sister and enjoying Turkish hospitality. His family is Muslim, but not devout Muslim. The do not speak English or Russian so our conversations have been very interesting to say the least! Hopefully I will be able to give you more details soon!