Dear family and friends,

Again, life has continued on very much like the last time I wrote. I like that; routine is good. Will works at the Agape office, I stay busy at home and visit “my” orphanage every week, our children grow, we spend time with friends and neighbors, we enjoy life… and we pray for Ukraine.

On office days Will has translated many Agape sponsor reports and other correspondence and kept the English site up to date. Last time I wrote a quarterly update he was also still working on our residence documents. That’s finished now, and we’re set for another year. Now, on Will’s days at home, he works on translations, just like before, but he also “does babushka duty.” Our elderly landlady is here for the summer, and she’s full of plans and projects to do, but physically they’re too much for her. So, he works with her and helps her out.

Will is also finishing up his studies in the year-long Agape ministry school. More about that later, probably. It’s been a very good experience. The rest of us are excited about going to graduation in western Ukraine and meeting his fellow students.

My main ministry is still my family, of course, but beyond that, I have the great opportunity of visiting sweet kids at a special needs orphanage. I had to take a break from that for a while, when the friend I go with left Ukraine for a time. However, she’s back now, and we’re going again. Now that we’re moving into warmer weather--and while my friend has been busy with various projects--I’ve been mostly playing outside with the kids on our visits. This last time we celebrated May and June birthdays with cake and presents and games.

I have also been putting a lot of time and emotional energy and even study into how to counsel a certain very needy person. Of course, I can’t share personal details, but I beg you to pray for wisdom for me and healing for her. I am in so far over my head here. There are many times when I just want to give up, and I wish I could hand her over to a professional or some kind of expert. But, even though it’s all way beyond me, God knows what is going on here, and He has a plan.

Another new situation popped up for a while: the neighborhood craft class that Raia attends had to take a break, so, for about a month our home became the after-school gathering place for a bunch of little girls. Some of them seem to come from rather broken homes, and they needed as much love and attention as we could give. We were refereeing, feeding, playing with, hugging, and listening to them from the end of school until bedtime many days. Now that classes are going again, it’s not so intense, but we still see a lot of our new little friends.

Just in family news, we’ve especially enjoyed spring this year. We’ve started keeping ducks, planted a garden, taken care of a new little batch of puppies…. If you want to read more about that and our various other adventures (Family Day, Missionary Saturday, Easter, and more) please come visit our blog.

As always, we would love to hear from you. How can we pray? What are you up to these days?

Love and prayers from,
Will and Phyllis Hunsucker
with Jaan, Raia, Asya, and Bogdan