Parents for a week

Okay friends, we are a little behind on keeping the blog up to date. Currently, we are in transit back to the US for Emily's brother's wedding. However, I wanted to share about our past week and a half in Ternopil.

You may remember us mentioning our good friends from the local baptist church that we have been serving alongside for the last 6-7 months. The pastor and his wife and two other servants from the church went on a mission trip to Russia for 10 days. We had the privilege to serve them by housing their two teenage children. As you know, Emily and I are not parents, so this past week was very interesting for us as we suddenly had two teens under our care. 

Parents for a week!

I think at times the 10 days were challenging for all of us, but it ended up blessing Emily and I so much to have these awesome kids living with us. Although the language barrier was difficult and confusing at times, The Lord showed us all grace as we lived life together. Playing Wii "Just Dance," eating Coke floats, and having a number of their friends in and our of our place almost every night was a great way for Emily and I to finish our time in Ternopil (And, of course, our great friend Vitya was with us almost every evening as well). 

We are going to miss these people terribly as we leave Ternopil. But we are so blessed by how they are serving the Lord faithfully in Ternopil.

A little more about the parents of the children that stayed with us. I (Byron), am personally encouraged and stirred up as I watch them serve The Lord in Ukraine. 

I have a huge desire to see more Ukrainian Christian leaders and missionaries step up and serve the former Soveit Union. This couple is one of the greatest example of servanthood that I have seen, and I am so excited to learn from them as they are doing ministry.

I'm so blessed by how intentional they are in their ministry. Everyday I see them consciously seeking new opportunities and ways to serve God.

A story that really blessed me: As we were preparing to move out of our apartment, we were trying to find a van that could move our bags into storage for the next few weeks (thank you so much to our team member who is letting us leave our stuff in her apartment). We arranged for a van the week before we were to move out, but the night before our move, those arrangements fell through. We didn't know what to do. How were we going to move all our stuff? 

While we were trying to work out all our moving logistics, the kids staying with us were going to be picked up from their parents, who were just returning from their exhausting mission trip in Russia. As we were catching up with the pastor and his wife, we mentioned that we were searching for a van or truck to move our stuff. 

Although they had just returned from the mission trip, the pastor said that he could bring a van and he would be at our place at noon the next day! This was such a blessing as we were feeling pretty stressed about moving and traveling the next day.

I was just so blessed by his heart to serve. I could see the exhaustion on his face. Even though he could have easily said that he needed a few days off after going on this mission trip, he was ready and willing to serve immediately.

His family and their whole church leadership team, and of course Vitya, showed up at the bus station to say fair well to us as we left Ternopil.

As we waved goodbye, and tears were coming down Emily's face - I just saw a group of people that really represent the body of Christ. I am so blessed by this small local baptist church, and encouraged to see this group of Ukrainians totally sold out serving The Lord.

Goodbyes at the bus station