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Strengthening Families in Asia
 "I loved the stories, keep telling the stories," one of my students told me as we finished the class. One privilege of being with YMI is the opportunity to teach in other programs, and Steve Kaptain, the Asia Director (Pictured right), invited me to teach "Youth and Family Ministry" in Malaysia. in I love mission trips! Teaching a new course in a new context refreshed my soul and reignited my passion for training trainers in Youth Ministry (And living a short walk from the beach did not hurt either.)
 God is using the Kaptains in Malaysia and I was excited to be a very small part of it. As I prepared to teach, I read articles about family and classroom dynamics in Asia. One commented on the difficulty of getting students to discuss during class, because Asian culture views the teacher as the expert and you may not disagree with him. I prayed about this, wanting to interact, learn from them, and be as relevant as possible to their culture, and it was exciting to see how God answered. After some opening activities and sharing a couple fun stories about family life, by the second day, all 13 students were participating. Like at a youth camp, we grew pretty close throughout the week and they even bought me some durian fruit to try! Look it up online if you want to know what it is (Left: My students, who took me to eat durian)
 I also spent a day with Daniel Loh (pictured right), a youth pastor in Penang, whom I met as a seminary student 10 years ago, when he was also a youth ministry student. He has been faithful to make disciples at his church for longer than that. It was special to me to see God's hand in bringing us together once again and enjoy heartfelt fellowship about reaching the youth of the world. God changed me during that time. I returned home to Ukraine revitalized and ready to serve. It is good to get into a new context every once in a while.
In the Meantime....
 Knowing Sam would be in Malaysia teaching for 10 days, I had been praying about what the kids and I should do. A few days before Sam left, I found out there was still opportunity to go to our church camp and our pastor had invited Vasya (Sam's closest colleague/professor at the seminary) and Alyona with their family to come as well. I drove our car following behind them (my first road trip ever in Ukraine without Sam!) 5.5 hours south to the beach (Black Sea). The kids and I had an incredible week with our church family learning about missions, spending time with Vasya and Alyona, and hanging out on the beach.
Guest speakers for the week were 2 UKRAINIAN missionaries, one serving in Asia, and one in Africa, who encouraged our church family to think about missions and how we as a church could be involved. They spoke to all our kids, who were fascinated to learn about new cultures, participate in a Chinese tea ceremony, and learn a few Chinese words/characters. The teens and young adults were challenged to see how/where God might call them to serve Him. For most of the adults, it was the first time they had ever thought about missions or Ukrainians taking the gospel to another country and it was especially impactful for them to realize that there are countries where living conditions are much worse than Ukraine, as they are used to comparing themselves to Europe and the US. For me personally, it was encouraging to see that God is beginning to call out Ukrainians to serve Him, both as goers and senders, and that Sam's and my prayer to see God call Ukrainians to train youth workers in other Former Soviet Union countries (and beyond!) is not just a faraway dream.
 The kids and I also traveled 3 hours east to a small village near Poltava, Ukraine to visit our friends Radik and Sophia Tsurkan. While both our husbands were away on ministry trips, Sophia invited us to come and enjoy life in the country with her and their 3 girls: fruits and veggies fresh from their garden, running barefoot through their yard, and sleeping in a tent in the backyard - all novelties for us big-city apartment dwellers. Radik and Sophia are currently raising support to be full-time youth ministry trainers, Radik is the director of the youth ministry program at Kremenchug Evangelical Seminary. Our husbands work together (long distance), but it was a rare treat to spend a week together as ministry wives, realizing we are not alone in the joys and challenges of family life and full-time ministry. (Right: Evelyna learning some Chinese at church camp.)
Coming Up Soon:
- Aug 9 - Sept 6 Sam's parents come to visit!
- Sept 1 - First Day of School! Jarrett entering 4th grade and Evelyna entering 1st grade
- Sept 3-7 Help teach "Youth and Family Ministry" at KTS
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