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!

Lance celebrated his birthday a little over a month ago but I still thought it would be good to post some of the pictures from our birthday adventure.

Shortly before his birthday, we finalized buying a car, hooray!! We got to take it on it’s first real adventure! Lance mapped out a few castles and locations he has been wanting to see and off we went!

Went to a place we have now rated a 5 out 5 according to our rating system, it was awesome! Lots of nooks and crannies to explore, had beautiful scenery, and is a great place for a picnic.

We also stopped at a few other places along the way home but nothing compared to the fortress we saw first!

The next day, the celebration continued with friends from English club. We have been trying to get together for a year to go to a waterfall and castle not far from Ternopil. We finally made it happen! It was such a peaceful place, the waterfall was small since it was the end of  summer but still beautiful and refreshing. We put up our hammock, relaxed, went on a hike together, played badminton and frisbee, ate lots of food, swam, ate more food and finally explored a castle before heading home. We love being able to get together with our friends from English club, they are always ready for a good time together.

Explored nearby abandoned buildings

Yes, he really is that tall.

In July, my grandfather passed away at the age of 97. He was always seen as solid, faithful, hardworking, and witty. His passing was peaceful and with family but no less difficult to process. Lance and I decided that it would be good for me to go home to be with family during this time. My time in the states was only for two and half weeks since Lance stayed in Ukraine.

I was honored to be at my grandpa’s memorial at the National Cemetery where he was given military honors. I enjoyed being able to see family members I hadn’t seen in a long time. I am very glad that I made the short trip home for this time.

I also got to spend some good quality time with my family doing a few hikes together, eating meals together and running errands together. Had a short trip down to Oregon also to see family there. I can never get tired of time spent with family.

Over the past year and a half, you may have heard us mention things about Montenegro and use the term “target nation.” Target nation means what you think it means, a nation that we target for ministry and outreach.

In January of 2015, we had a staff retreat at the base where we gathered all staff and kids to pray for a nation to focus on. We ended up with a big long list of countries; it felt like half the world could be a target nation! At that point we slowly kept narrowing our list down. We felt it should be in Europe, we wanted it to be a country that needed help in ministry and growing the church body, and it needed to be accessible and open to ministry. We eventually got our monstrous list down to 4 countries: Albania, Slovenia, Poland and Montenegro.

This past year, we thought we would take our DTS students on outreach to Montenegro and Albania as a way to “spy out the land.” We were able to make contacts and talk to the believers there and see first hand what was going on in the country. It was very beneficial for us to be there for an extended time.

Since not all our staff were with us when we first went to Montenegro, we wanted to take other staff to also experience and meet the believers there. We recently went back with one other family from our staff. Together we were able to pray and talk together what it would be like if Montenegro was our target nation. When we chose a nation, it was to be for all staff and for a long-term commitment. This would not just be a Megan and Lance decision.

So the time has come, we have prayed and talked with our staff and prayed some more, we felt that we should adopt Montenegro as our target nation.

‘And now what’, you may ask. Well our goal is to come along side the existing churches and believers to encourage them and assist them in building the ministries there. Our goal would be in 3-5 years to have a YWAM base planted in Montenegro. There may be other things that come out of this partnership but we are excited for the future and look forward to what God has in store for this beautiful nation!

Back in 2015, we worked with a local coffee shop to bring hope to the city, read about it HERE, Lance was able to work with the same people again to bring a love for Ukraine.

Lance and I try to get out into the countryside as often as we can. We believe that getting to know your surroundings will encourage a greater understanding of the people and nation we are serving. Not to mention, a greater love for the beauty it holds! Some of the pictures Lance has taken has captured the attention of others in Ukraine.

Our favorite coffee shop asked Lance to print a few photos to display in the shop. Of course Lance was excited for the opportunity to share his photos and his love of exploring Ukraine. Lance printed about 20 photos and prepared a short speech to encourage exploration of Ukraine.

We truly do love Ukraine and we have realized that many people do not know the beauty that is with in the country. We want to inspire Ukrainians to love their country and to see more of it. This opportunity of showcasing the beauty within Ukraine was a great way to motivate others to visit historic sites in Ukraine. Each photo was printed with the name of the village and the number of kilometers it was from Ternopil.

We are hoping that more young people will get outside of their city to experience first hand, the beauty of Ukraine!

You can see most of Lance’s photos on his Flickr site.