We Have Our Tickets!!!!

Do you want to see our dance of joy? Okay, maybe not. We are so excited to finally have a date to leave for Ukraine. We've gotten close enough to our support goal that Greater Europe Mission has given us the "go ahead" to get our tickets. Lord willing, we will leave on February 21. We still have a small amount to raise to meet our monthly support needs. God has been so good to us! We want to praise Him for His love and provision in all of this. We also want to give you our deepest thanks for the prayers and support you have given us. God has used each of you in a special way in our lives to get us to this point. We are so grateful for your help and encouragement along our journey.

We were hoping God would have provided our remaining support before Christmas, so we could have been in Ukraine by now, but He had a better plan. We only received half of the $550 we needed by Christmas, which meant we were not going to be able to get our tickets to leave in January. That also meant not making it for language school and the beginning of the kid's second term of school in Kiev. Since that time, however, we have received several more pledges, which have brought us much closer to our goal. We believe all things are working together for His glory and see many things that will work out better with the change of dates - tutors instead of language school; more time for packing; and better closure with family and friends. We also are thankful for an opportunity Jody will have before we leave in February to attend a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training program put on by Greater Europe Mission in cooperation with two of our supporting churches that have sister churches in Ukraine. Jody is very interested in helping with this type of ministry. The training will build on her previous TEFL training as well as give her a chance to work with some of the people she hopes work with later in Ukraine. Through all these things, God is showing us He will take care of us. We can see the Lord is providing in His way and in His time. Please pray we keep this perspective in focus. Please also pray for us as we pack, say goodbyes, and attend to many other details.

We have almost all of our support pledged now with only $150 a month left to be raised. That is only 6 more people giving $25 a month! If you would like to add your support to this ministry, please call or email us as soon as possible. You could be the one to take us over the top!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are ready for what God has in store for you in 2007. We really enjoyed reading the many cards and letters we received. We want to celebrate your joys and pray for your sorrows. Please continue to pray we would glorify God in all we do and that we would be alert and ready to follow His leading, regardless of where that might take us. We look forward to sending you our next newsletter from Ukraine!!

In His service,

Andrew