Ukraine/Amsterdam Healing Hearts

Amsterdam

2008-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

We had a great last day in Kiev on Monday. It was a beautiful sunny morning & we went for walks and then had a great time of worship with our IPOD's in a grove of Apricot trees in the park across from the church - sweet smells, beautiful flowers and a sweet time with the Lord. We packed, took showers and had tea with Larysa & then ice cream with our translator Yulia and said our good -byes. We arrived in Amsterdam on time and took the train to our little canal house...smile. Tuesday had our first full day of training at the home of a dear dutch couple who have a great heart for pro-life ministry. There were 6 people present and we had a great day together...some teaching, practical ministry ideas, fellowship, prayer & lots of good food! We felt like God knit our hearts together. Today (Wednesday) we had a few hours to take a walk and explore the parks and canals in Amsterdam - it was a glorious sunny day! This afternoon Dawn took us to meet with the director of a pregnancy center. We had a great meeting with him and he is very excited about what God is raising up at Crossroads. We are at Crossroads Ministry Center tonight and will continue our training tonight & then finish up tomorrow night. Pray for God to clearly lead each person as to what He wants for them individually as well as for this church. Tomorrow Teresa and I plan to take the train to Haarlem ( a city about 20 km south) to have a little adventure...it is a quaint town with some cute shops, outdoor cafes and some beautiful churches to explore. We are praying for a warm sunny day. There are some daffodils still blooming and some tulips beginning. Friday morning Teresa will head to the airport and Barb will enjoy a spiritual retreat day biking around the parks of Amsterdam. Barb flies home Saturday morning. Pray for safe travel & for our transition back home. God has been so Faithful & Good and we are doing well.... a few little tinges of getting anxious to be home, but thankful for the ministry opportunities! Blessing to You! Serving Him, Barb & Teresa

Sunday in Kiev

2008-04-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

We have had a good day today. Teresa and I took the subway by ourselves and even changed subway lines to get to church this morning. We attended Transformation Church and heard some great music & worship and had a chance to share about HH briefly. We had one gal pick up a copy of the study for her sister. We went out to lunch with our friends the Marchenkos and are now at Andrew & Oksana's apartment and had a few minutes to get online. Our conference yesterday went very well. We had about 50 women there for the day. The ladies that organized the event did a great job putting it together - very sweet spirits that understand this ministry. The put a lot of work into the details and it was very nice - great worship music, a few special singers, great slides & a wonderful lunch. Every woman took home a bible study and we are praying for abundant fruit from this event. We felt a good sense of relief last night after completing our last ministry event in Ukraine - ahhh...it felt good to relax and rest in all that God has done! Tomorrow we will pack and prepare to switch gears for Amsterdam. We leave for the airport at 3:00 and arrive in Amsterdam at 7:30. Pray for us to get a good night of sleep Monday and for our training on Tuesday. Pray for the transition as we need to get used to not using a translator - we need to remember to talk in full sentences again...smile. Pray for them to be teachable and receptive and for us to have a very relational training. Will try to update this at least once from Amsterdam. Thanks for your prayer support. love, Barb & Teresa

Back in Kiev

2008-04-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Kiev this morning at 7:00 and our train ride went well.....we got some sleep off and on. Barb had a little encounter in the hall with a drunk man swinging his empty bottle around....and we decided to lock the door to our coupe while we slept - God is our protector! We had a great meeting with Rhonda & Lueben at their home yesterday afternoon and they took some copies of our bible study, so we will pray for God to open some doors for her to minister to post-abortive women and to find someone that has a heart for this ministry in their Baptist church. We were glad to get to our little room and take showers, use a nice bathroom and catch a little rest. We had a brave adventure today. We gave Julia our translator the day off and we ventured downtown alone for the first time. We took the subway, exchanged money, bought phone cards for our cell phones, went out for lunch, bought ice cream cones, took a walk down Kryshatuck street and took the subway home!!! It was a lovely sunny day close to 70 and we enjoyed a little freedom around Kiev. We just met with 6 women all involved in pro-life in Ukraine - it was good to learn more about what they are doing and some interesting facts & statistics about abortion. We gave them each a copy of our HH study and will pray for God to bring some fruit. Pray for our conference on Saturday and our opportunity to have lunch with the Marchenko's on Sunday - We want to talk to them a bit about establishing a ministry at Transformation Church - pray for us to be bold and to understand them and their church better. Thanks for your support & we will update when we can. love, Barb & Teresa

Wednesday Leaving Odessa

2008-04-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

A quick update before we head back to Kiev. We had a tea last night with about 15 ladies from the Baptist Church. We both shared our testimony's and about HH and each women went home with a copy of the bible study. The woman who organized the event was very touched & the pastor's wife was also present. So, again pray for God to raise up 2 women from that church to give leadership. We slept well last night & are getting packed today. This morning we had an amazing meeting with the regional pastor and a few other men. Pastor Bronyslav is very open to our ministry and wants to partner with us to help move this ministry forward in Ukraine. He recognizes the need and wants to help us educate pastors, print studies and work through the challenges of growing this ministry across Ukraine.....so Praise God for His favor in connecting us with people that can help us. We also discovered that Lydia, the women's ministry leader of Odessa region is in the US and we have never gotten the chance to meet her....we found out she has a house in Seattle and will be there until May!! So, Teresa is planning to contact her and meet with her. Pray for that connection. We also had another amazing contact this morning. A missionary from Lansing Michigan is ministering with the Baptist Union here in Odessa. They moved here after 5 years in Russia and his wife Rhonda has a heart for doing post-abortion ministry here in Ukraine!! We are going to their place for tea at 2:00 and then he will drive us to the train station. He was so excited to meet us and they want to find out more about HH. Pray for that meeting and connection - we know God put that together.
Teresa and I have to get this laundry finished & pack....we were laughing as we were lugging baskets of wet laundry through the seminary to find a dryer (making sure our undies weren't hanging out, smile)....but we are very thankful for a washer and dryer...it is the only ones we have ever used in Ukraine! We are happy & blessed...it is awesome how God energizes us for ministry through His Spirit. We may not have very easy access to a computer this next week, but will update when we can. Thanks for your support...we love you. Barb & Teresa

Tueday in Odessa

2008-04-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

We got up at 6:00 this morning and took the bus into town - we were waiting in a long line and God brought a van that picked us off and whisked us off to the downtown. We spoke from 9:00 until 10:30 and it went great. We had about 80 students and they were very receptive and good listeners. They asked questions and the director of the business department invited us back for next year. We are very blessed with the connection with Mark Huffman - the American missionary and professor at the University. He teaches business and theology. We went downtown to the market and had lunch at an outdoor cafe in the warm sun - it was delightful! We are preparing for our tea tonight at the church at 7:00. Tomorrow moring we have our meeting with the regional pastor at 10:00 and then do laundry, pack and have a 12 hour night train ride back to Kiev. It has been a fruitful time in Odessa & God has blessed! Today when we were walking Teresa and I said our legs and arms felt really heavy or else gravity is much stronger here!!! Pray for sleep on the train and for physical strength. God has been so Faithful!! Thanks for your prayers. love, Barb & Teresa

Odessa

2008-04-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! We are glad to have access to a computer so we could give you an update. We are at the Odessa Seminary and happy to have a quiet day after a busy weekend. Last Friday we took the train down to Odessa. It was kind of a gray & rainy day, but the train ride gave us a chance to rest and take catch a nap after hitting the groud running on Thursday. We had a great weekend of ministry & God was so Faithful! Saturday we held a women's conference with about 50 women from the various churches in the Odessa region. We held our conference in a beautiful chapel here on the campus - the sun was shining and a very pleasant day. We were blessed to have the regional pastor, Bronyslav share & pray for us at the beginning of the conference - God has given us favor with the Baptist Union. The women were warm & friendly and the content was well received - each went home with one bible study. We are praying that some of these women will be healed as they go through the study, that some will go through the study with someone else and also that God would raise up some of these women to partner with us and grow this ministry in this region. Yulia our translator did a great job & we are blessed again to have her traveling with us. We so enjoy your willing heart & joyful spirit! We had Kim, one of our Odessa missionary friends here for the conference. We rode the bus back together into the city for dinner. We met Kurt & Rochelle zurBerg with their 3 girls and also Mark & Kim Huffman for a delightful dinner and sweet time of fellowship. The zurBerg's are missionary's from Michigan and the Huffman's from Minnesota. (Kathy they send their greetings.) Sunday we decided to take the bus into town to attend Holy Trinity Church with the Huffmans. we wanted to meet their pastor as he was very interested in Healing Hearts. We had a great time of worship in with a small congregation of about 35 people. The pastor is a Japanese man who preaches in English - he and his wife and 7 year old son have lived in Ukraine for 9 years and began the church 6 years ago. He preaches from the Word and is a very dynamic Spirit-filled pastor. We had the opportunity to share for about 10-15 minutes in the service about HH. After church we had 20 minutes to talk with the pastor - great connection! After church Mark & Kim blessed us with a picnic at the sea.....we have wanted to see the beach and it was a sunny day about 60 degrees and the Black Sea was lovely. We enjoyed a picnic with them and their 3 boys and then spent a few hours hanging out at the beach. Yulia and I took off our shoes and got our feet wet as we walked along the seashore - smile! We took the bus back into the city and went out for tea & "bleannies" which are Barb's favorite food in Ukraine. ( they are little crepes filled with a sweet cheese and served with sour cream & jam.....yum!!) We were tired by the time we took the bus and did our walk back, but good to be back to our comfortable rooms. We may be attending a special service at a church tonight, but haven't heard yet. We need to spend some time today preparing & planning for our time at the Christian University Tuesday morning. Most of these students are not believers so it is a great opportunity to share our testimonies, share truth about life & abortion and share the gospel. Pray for open hearts and minds - pray for salvation & for God to water the seeds of truth. We will also have some time for questions & answers. Pray for any girls that are post-abortive that they would be open to go through the study. Tuesday evening we have a tea with a small group of ladies from Second Baptist Church here by the seminary. Pray for a few of these ladies to catch the vision. Wednesday morning we have a meeting set up with Pastor Bronyslav before heading to the train station in the late afternoon. This meeting will be a good opportunity to not only share our vision for Ukraine, but also seek his counsel on how we can partner with the Baptist Union. (someone told us he is second in command). Thanks so much for your prayers. Please pray for health & strength. Barb is feeling a bit weary today & longing for a little nap this afternoon. Pray for our families at home that God would bring protection & comfort and special strength & grace for our husbands. Remember you can send us a post - smile. love, Barb & Teresa

We are in Ukraine!!!!

2008-04-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your prayers - all of our flights went well. We both had delays on our last leg of our trips, but we landed in Kiev and settled in Wednesday evening to our rooms at Christ Cathedral Church. We slept well & were out the door at 8:00 this morning. We had our conference with the ministry leaders at the Baptist Union & it went well. We had 93 women there from all of the regions of Ukraine....they were very open and eager to learn. They each went home with 2 copies of the HH bible study & a challenge to go through the bible study themselves and to ask God for one other woman to take through the study. We also shared the vision for all of Ukraine & cast the vision for each of them to go back to the leaders in the churches of their regions and share this information with them. So...pray for God to bring fruit and leaders with a heart for this ministry in all of Ukraine. We had a Seattle kind of day today & Teresa felt right at home with her umbrella walking in the pouring rain!!! We are off on a train tomorrow morning at 9:00 for Odessa - we arrive at 7:30 tomorrow night & have someone from the seminary picking us up. We will hold a conference on Saturday for the Baptist union women's minstry leaders from that region - we are planning for 80 women. Pray for safe travel & effective ministry. We will leave a post again from Odessa. We are good and excited to be back!!

Our Itinerary

2008-04-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Schedule for Ukraine Holland Trip April 1, ~ April 18, 2008

Ukraine ~ Please pray for Barb & Teresa

Tuesday April 1 Barb departs in Grand Rapids at 6:51 PM
Pray for connection in Paris – only a 1 hour layover

Tuesday April 1 Teresa departs in Seattle at 1:00 PM

Wednesday April 2 Barb and Teresa arrive Borispol (Kiev) 4:30 PM
Yulia’s dad will transport to Christ Cathedral Church

Thursday April 3 All day women’s meeting Central Baptist Kiev
8:30 am -5:00 pm with all 125 Women’s Ministry leaders from every Region in Ukraine.

Friday April 4 Travel by train to Odessa to Seminary housing 9:00am
Yulias brother to station Nadya will pick up at Od. Station

Saturday April 5 All day women’s meeting Odessa Churches Women’s Ministries Leaders from all churches 10:00a -4:00p
80 + women/ 2 women from Lugansk will share testimonies
Dinner with the ZurBerg family.

Sunday April 6 Attend Seminary Church

Monday April 7 Day time and evening events at two different churches
Details to come

Tuesday April 8 Morning event 10:00 am-12:00 Christian University
Evening event at the Seminary Church 6:00p-8:00

Wednesday April 9 Travel by train to Kiev/ Christ Cathedral housing 6:34p train arriving in Kiev 6:43 am on Thursday the 10th

Thursday April 10 Meetings…Kiev Seminary ?Central Baptist?Baptist Union?
Meet with Larysa - Speak 5:00 pm Pro Life Ministers in Kiev

Friday April 11 Rest day / Shopping / Prep for Christ Cathedral

Saturday April 12 All day women’s meeting Christ Cathedral Kiev
10:00 am – 6:30 pm

Sunday April 13 Attend Transformation Church – Dinner w/ Marchenkos

Monday April 14 Fly from Kiev to Amsterdam 5:30 PM/ housing Ros’s

Holland

Tuesday April 15 Training 9:00 AM ~ 5:00 PM Crossroads Int. Church

Wednesday April 16 Training in the evening, not sure what time yet
Free during the day for shopping

Thursday April 17 Training in the evening, not sure what time yet
Possibly meet with Pastors (Crossroads/ C Chapel)
Possible meeting ~ Crisis Pregnancy Center in Amsterdam

Friday April 18 Departing Schiphol Amsterdam / Teresa 1:05PM
arriving 2:15PM SeaTac-Home sweet home

Saturday, April 19 Departing Schiphol Amsterdam / Barb 8:00AM
arriving 1:15PM Grand Rapids-Home sweet home

We are off an another adventure!

2008-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

It is Tuesday afternoon and Teresa is on her way to the airport in Seattle and I am finishing packing, errands and those last minute details before heading off to the airport. Please pray for safe travel today & also pray for our connections - Teresa in Amsterdam & Barb in Paris. Our flights are scheduled to arrive within 10 minutes of each other. We are looking forward to seeing each others smiling faces in Kiev tomorrow afternoon! Kiev is 7 hours ahead of Michigan time & 10 hours abead of Seattle time. Pray for a good night of sleep Wednesday night & for our first conference on Thursday with the Baptist Union Women's Ministry Leaders - pray for God to stir the hearts of those He is calling to bring this ministry back to their churches. Thanks so much for praying for this ministry trip. May God annoint us with His power as we serve Him! I am going to try to post our itinerary for you.

Thursday

2007-10-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings From Amsterdam!! This is Barb & I stayed in Amsterdam an extra day to rest, bike around the city & have a spiritual retreat day before heading home. It is Thursday evening about 6:00 and I have a computer in my room which is awesome! We have had a great time in Amsterdam & really nice fall weather...it has been sunny and a little cool. I biked all over the city today and my body is a little sore & tired...it feels good to sit down. We left our ministry guest house at 9:00 this morning & Teresa and Kathy took the train to the airport. I took a trolley to my bed & breakfast & dropped off my suitcase and picked up a bike. I am across the street from a beautiful park. I rode through 3 parks, along the canals and spent a few hours at the biggest park, Vodelpark. They have some great outdoor tables for tea and a croissant. I read and worked on my bible study..it was great. I again biked along the canals, shopped a little and had lunch/dinner at my favorite little cafe. I plan to rest this evening and get to bed early...I have to catch a trolley at 8:00 and then the train to the airport and fly out at 11:30. Wow...i can't believe I am coming home tomorrow...I am excited...ahhh, my bed and clean bathroom & my family and home will be great. It is hard to explain but because we have done so much and gone so many places we feel like we have been gone at least a month!! Ministry in Amsterdam has gone really well. We stayed with Carolyn & Johan Roos - he is Dutch and she ia an American..they are about our age & have 4 grown children. They are with WYAM and have been ministering in Holland for about 30 years. We stayed in bedrooms on the 3rd & 4th floors in one of those tall row hours. It was built in 1746..very old & quaint. We had a great outreach on Tuesday night & had about 20 people attend & got to pray with most of them. Wednesday we spent some time praying, planning & preparing for our evening meeting. In the afternoon we took a train to Haarlem and toured Corrie TenBoom's house..it was very interesting & a little emotional. We had lunch at a cafe on a beautiful town square. We met with lay leaders from Cross roads International Church last night and it went very well...we had about 15 people in attendance. They are very interested in our bible studies and we anticipate beginning a ministry with that church. Thanks so much for all of your prayers ...this trip has been one of our best ministry trips despite a few health problems...whew, we are all a little weary and ready to get back to America!! Pray for Teresa as she heads right to training at Sue's and then home on Saturday. Pray for all of us as we transition back & recover from jet lag. I will post some pictures from our trip by early next week. Blessings to you...Barb ,Teresa & Kathy

Sunday

2007-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are in Kiev & arrived by train this morning & attended Transformation Church. It was great to have Pastor Semenchek there as well. Barb had lunch with the Marchenko family & Pastor Semechek. Teresa & Kathy are staying with Natasha & Ivan. Barb had a good opportunity to talk with Pastor Semechek about future ministry...I got a good picture of these two pastors who helped us start the ministry in Ukraine. We will spend the day in Kiev tomorrow..shopping, lunch with Vanessa, dropping off HH studies at a few places & then dinner with our friends here. We will meet tonight to plan for Amsterdam. We had more health problems!!! Teresa came down with the flu on Friday night and was not able to attend the outreach in Pervomaisk!! Barb did a longer teaching time and Kathy shared her testimony. Teresa is mcuh better today...an answer to prayer. The outreach yesterday was the best ever...about 80 ladies & we felt like they really connected with us. We heard great testimonies, lots of tears and sweet fellowship. Valentina, our Ukraine leader did a great job! Pray for our last day in Ukraine and for a good start in ministry in Amsterdam...it will be much different there. Thanks much, Barb (Teresa & Kathy)

Friday

2007-10-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today. We had a leaders meeting at the church with 16 HH leaders. We spent some time hearing from each of the leaders..it was a blessing to hear what they are doing in ministry & to hear the tesimony's of the new leaders. We had 6-7 new leaders. Also a great answer to prayer...Tatiana contacted Valentina a few days ago (we were praying that Valentina would be able to get in touch with her) She joined us for the day today & shared a great testimony of how God has been working in her life. She is a key leader in the Donetsk region...more later. Valentinia shared her passion and vision for the ministry and we shared with them about the Big picture vision for Ukraine. Teresa and Barb taught from the Word regarding 'Living Out Your Calling". We had a great response & we know that they were hearing & in agreement....Valentina said to light a fire under these ladies!!
Kathy was feeling much better today & began eating again...an answer to prayer!
Teresa and Barb are taking a taxi at 6:00am to pick up Lera, one of our past translators, from the train station...she will help us tomorrow. We will also have some time to meet with Lera & Valentina tomorrow morning regarding future communication & ministry. Lera will be helping us with communicating with Russian speaking people after we return to the US. We are packing and getting ready for a 14 hour train ride tomorrow night...pray for sleep as we will change clothes on the train and go right to the church service at Tranformation Church. Thanks for you prayers...we will be in touch from Kiev before we fly to Amsterdam on Tuesday. Good night.... love, Barb (Teresa & Kathy)

Thursday

2007-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Pervomaisk this afternoon and the home where Teresa and I are staying has a computer! The train ride went well except for the fact that Kathy came down with the stomach flu at 2:00 in the morning. She was up most of the night and hasn't eaten anything all day. Please pray for healing for her and pray that if it is a flu bug that it will not spread through the team. So far we are all feeling fine. I am fighting a bit of a cold...so health issues have dragged us down a bit. We are very encouraged and know that God has Big things planned for Ukraine! Valentina picked us up at the train station and we went to a home for a nice lunch. We had a great meeting with Valentine & got updates on ministry and planned for our leaders meeting. Teresa and I are staying in a very nice Ukrainian home - it is very European. Warm showers felt great after a 23 hour train ride! Will post when we can. Pray for good health & for effective ministry tomorrow as we meet with the leaders. Valentina also invited some people from the Bible Institue & reported that the new director is very supportive of this ministry. Thanks for your support. love, Barb (Teresa & Kathy)

Wednesday

2007-10-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

We are getting picked up by a taxi van in 30 minutes & are all packed and ready for a 23 hour train ride!! We have had an incredible time in Odessa. We had an awesome meeting this morning with 3 men, one of which is the Regional Pastor over 138 churches in this region. He told us that this topic is much needed in this country and they would like to help us organize a conference for the women in this region on our next trip back. It was another of those God moments when we were humbled and awed at all God is doing! We even had a dear missionary man play 'How Great Thou Art' on his accordian for us! When Barb went back to their office to drop off additional copies of our study, she peeked into the room and they were all on their knees praying...a sweet picture of God filled humility!
Please pray for our Friday leaders meeting that we would really hear from our leaders and know how to encourage & equip them. Pray for an outreach in Pervomiask on Saturday that God would direct our planning today. Pray for our time at Transformation Church and with the Marchenko's on Sunday & Monday...they are dear friends and have been pivital in getting HH started in Ukraine. We also need much prayer for our transition to ministry as we head to Amsterdam next week. We have never had to do such a quick cultural turn around...we know God has purposed it and will use it.
Wow...it seems like so much has happened since we left and it seems more like a month than a week! It has been a sweet time in Odessa and this seminary has been perfect for us...we are blessed and thankful! Keep praying and do not grow weary. Serving Him, Barb, Kathy & Teresa

Tuesday

2007-10-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful morning. Our meeting with the students went well last night, they asked good questions and we had a favorable response. We had a great meeting this morning with the Seminary Director, Academic Dean & Deveopment Director. They wanted to hear more about HH and our plans for Ukraine. It is interesting because they were surprised that the abortion rate in Ukraine is 2-3 million abortions per year. They also told us they had never heard a pastor speak about abortion in the church. They are very open to support us and they set up a meeting for us for tomorrow morning with the Regional Pastor. We have not yet been able to reach the Regional women's director for Odessa. We will try to set that up - pray for contact with her. We are off to the city and then dinner at the verBerg's. We will try to post Wednesday morning before we get on our long train ride. Thanks for praying.

Monday

2007-09-30T23:36:00.001-07:00

It is another beautiful sunny day & a glorious morning! We had a great weekend in Odessa. Saturday we spent some time planning & praying together. In the afternoon we took the bus into downtown Odessa. It is a beautiful city and we walked around the market at the central park and listened to a beautiful orchestra in a quaint park - flowers & a fountain, surrounded by outdoor cafes along with lots of people enjoying a perfect 75-80 fall afternoon. We walked past the wedding hall and saw many young couples in wedding attire. There is a beautiful park along the bluff overlooking the Black Sea. We had dinner with Mark & Kim Huffman, a missionary couple from Minnesota serving in the Christian University here in Odessa. We had a delightful time getting to know them and sharing about Healing Hearts. Mark is a professor and invited us to come back to speak to their students on our next visit to Odessa - there would be about 100 students, 15% of them would be believers. He suggested that we train some of the women in the area churches so they can follow up with the students...he would arrange that as well. Yahoo..... God is opening the flood gates for future ministry! Sunday we worshipped in the Baptist Church here at the seminary. It was a Harvest Day celebration - lots of beautiful music and displays of colorful fruits & vegetables! We meet with four women from Holy Cross Church in the evening. They prepared a nice dinner for us...we had a sweet time of fellowship, shared our testimony's and left copies of the HH bible study with them. Please pray for Nadia as she shared with us that she was not yet a believer, but is searching for God....she is close to making a decision for Christ. (She is post-abortive...pray she will do the HH bible study) Today is a day to study and prepare for the rest of our week. Tonight we speak to the students here at the seminary...pray for open hearts & understanding for them as we share about how abortion affects women & how to minister to post-abortive women...they are mostly young men preparing for ministry. Tomorrow we go back into the city on the bus and then will have dinner at the zurBerg's. Pray for a sweet time of fellowship with them and for continued opportunities for future ministry. We leave here Wednesday afternoon for a long train ride to Pervomaisk. We are looking forward to being with our ladies....Lera who was a previous translator for us & now works as our contact person here in Ukraine will be joining us on Saturday. That is an answer to prayer as she will have the opportunity to get to know Valentia, our HH Ukraine coordinator & also we can talk to her face to face about her responsibilities in helping us.
God has been very good...we are all feeling great....Yulia's (our translator) cold is getting better....we have been sleeping & eating well! Thanks so much for your prayer support!
We will plan to post an update on Wednesday before we leave, as we will not have computer access until we are back in Kiev on Sunday. Blessings from Barb, Teresa & Kathy

Monday

2007-09-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

In Odessa

2007-09-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely in Odessa. We got a little sleep on the train Thursday night and the coupe was fairly comfortable. We are staying at the seminary for 5 nights and have a very comfortable room on the outskirts of town. We even have a balcony overlooking a small lake. We had a day to rest, prepare, make some plans and take a walk to the market to stock our little refrig. for breakfast. We took a walk down to the lake tonight & were greeted by a few cows on the path, but headed for home because the mosquitoes were carrying Teresa away....We were excited to find computers and the internet at the libary. Tomorrow we are taking the bus into the downtown area and to the Black Sea to explore Odessa. Today was at least 75 and sunny & we are praying for another nice day tomorrow. Ministry plans are coming great...we talked to the seminary today & will be teaching 35 students for 2 hours on Monday night. Sunday evening we will be at a small church in Odessa and Tuesday will be having dinner with the zurBerg's (a missionary couple from Barb's church). We are trying to connect with the Women's Ministry leader from the Baptist Union in this region to meet her for lunch, explain the ministry & set up future plans. Pray we can get through to her...she sent an email to us and was very supportive & open to help us with a future conference.
We saw God open some Big doors for future ministry in Kiev - an answer to prayer. We had a very sweet time of prayer with Larissa (Regional Director of Life International) behind the church in Kiev...it backs up to the hospital property & we were told that on that little grassy spot by the dumpsters they dumped thousands of unborn babies from abortions...sigh.....we prayed over that place, the city of Kiev and the country of Ukraine. It was a very powerful & moving time together. We know that God's heart is for the hurting women in this country!
Barb is feeling better & so glad to not have ended up in a Ukrainian hospital with doctors that don't speak English...smile. Our team needs a good night of sleep tonight...we are enjoying a great sense of purpose & unity & fun!
We are excited to have talked to Valentina (our Ukraine HH coordinator) from Pervomaisk today & have great plans set up with her. We will meet with our HH leaders all day Friday (about 25 of them) and then do a half day outreach on Saturday. Julia our translator is a sweetheart & a great help to us...she is 19 and on a great adventure with 3 crazy American moms!
Ways to pray:
Pray for safety, good health, productive ministry, productive bathroom time...smile (it's not for Kathy & I....sorry T.)
Pray for our preparation & planning for our teaching opportunites - Sunday evening at King Cross church, Monday evening at the seminary & the Pervomaisk leaders meeting & outreach on Friday & Saturday.
Pray for our travel by train...23 hours Wednesday night arriving in Odessa Thursday afternoon. The trains are an adventure, but the bathrooms are not so great...we roll up our pant legs...smile. Then a night train Saturday night arriving 8 AM into Kiev and directly to Transformation Church Sunday morning...pray for a sweet time of fellowship with the Marchenkos.
Thanks so much for your prayers,
Serving Him....Barb (Teresa & Kathy)

2007-09-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

It is Thursday and we are leaving for Odessa on the train tonight at 10pm and arriving at 6:00am. We had a great days yesterday meeting with the Baptist Union & also with Laryssa from Life International - a God connection. Out schedule today was freed up, no lunch with Pastor Barnett or lunch with Vanessa. We are at Pastor Phil's taking showers...no hot water at the church. We have the afternoon to nap, prepare & pack. Barb had a very very bad night last night. We had gone out to dinner with Larissa..I ate some chicken. I think it was bad. I awoke at 3:30 with bad intestinal cramping. By 4:30 I was in extremem pain, curled up on my bed and crying and wrything in pain. Teresa & Kathy sat on their beds for over 2 hours and prayed. At 6:30 I made myself throw up, had one more series of cramps and God worked a miracle and healed me!!! Truly, it was His touch...we praised God read Psalms and went back to sleep. It was an attack from the enemy...we are excited because God has some BIG plans! We went to buy our 3 sets of train tickets yesterday & left because there were no schedules or seats that worked for us....Laryssa went back last night & God provided all of our tickets..whew. A walk of faith & trust! Pray for protection for us and for good health. Out team is strong and we are trusing God for each day! Thanks for praying! Will post again in Odessa if we have access to a computer.

We're Here

2007-09-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely! All of our flights went great, we met up in Amsterdam & all of our luggage arrived! We checked into our room at the church and it is perfect. We had dinner at Pastor Phil's, took showers and are ready to head to bed. It has been a good day & we are ready for 2 meetings tomorrow. God is soooo good & we are excited to be back here. Pray, Pray, Pray

Our Itinerary

2007-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Ukraine Schedule 2007
Monday 9/24 Kathy and Teresa SEA TAC depart 12:50 PMMonday
Barb GrandRapids depart 6:55 PM
Tuesday 9/25 Kathy and Teresa arrive Amsterdam 7:40 AM (7 hours later than Eastern time)
Barb arrives at 11:15 AM Kathy, Barb and Teresa depart for Kiev 12:50 PM Arriving in Kiev at 4:35 PM (Kiev is 8 hours later than Eastern Time) Pastor Phil picks us up w/ van.
Stay at Christ Cathedral Church, Kiev
Wednesday 9/26 10:ooAM Meeting with Alla, Women's Ministry Director w/ Baptist Union
Dinner meet with Larysa, Regional Director of Life International
Possible lunch with Vanessa
Thursday 9/27 Lunch meeting with Pastor Barnett and wife
Take night train to Odessa
Friday 9/28 Complete planning and teachings for outreaches Meet with Oddessa Baptist Seminary President
Saturday 9/29 Possible Outreach with Kings Cross. Sightsee Odessa
Sunday 9/30 Attend Church Odessa Sight Seeing Work on Training info. presentation. Outreach Kings Cross Christian Church / Dinner 4:00 PM
Monday 10/1 Work on Training info presentation Evening -Teach training at Odessa Seminary for students
Tuesday 10/2 Possible meetings with contacts for future outreach with Baptist Union Odessa Dinner with Kurt and Rochelle zurBurg
Wednesday 10/3 Travel to Pervomiask...day train
Thursday 10/4 Meet with Valentina(HH Ukraine Coordinator) to firm up plans Work on Leaders Meeting
Friday 10/5 Shopping Meeting with HH Leaders in Perivomisk
Saturday 10/6 Outreach Women's Conference Perivomisk
Leave on night train to Kiev
Sunday 10/7 Attend Church at Transformation
Lunch/Dinner with Pastor Peter & Anya Marchenko Oksana
Possible meeting with Andrew Semenchuk
Spend the night at Marchenkos
Monday 10/8 Pack Shopping Overnight with Marchenkos
Tuesday 10/9 Airport 11:50 AM depart Kiev Arrive Amsterdam 1:50 PM
Train to Carolyn's ministry guest house in Amsterdam.... settle in and have a bite to eat.
Outreach Conference at Crossroads International Church
Wednesday 10/10 Training with Crossroads International Church Leaders
Thursday 10/11 Kathy and Teresa to airport 1:05 PM arriving SEA TAC 2:15 PM Teresa goes to Sue's for training Barb stays in Amsterdam for one additional day of spiritual retreat.
Friday 10/12 Barb to airport 11:30 AM arriving Grand Rapids 6:04 PM
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