Technical problems and busyness

I was going to post pictures from Will's birthday, but they're on the external drive in our bedroom, and the internet seems to be working only if we skip the part of the phone line that leads into there. Yes, we've been having trouble with our internet, but we also haven't been home much. I think we mostly have the internet fixed, but--like I said--pictures will have to come later.

This week there's a group here from Izberi Zhizn, a mission that sends groups of young people who have immigrated to the USA back to this side of the world on short term trips. Personally, Will and I are really encouraged to see this! Especially here in Ukraine, where a good half of the church leaders have left, it's good to see some coming back and not being completely lost to "the American dream." This mission also involves youth from Ukrainian churches, and this year the team here even includes two from our own church.

They're doing a VBS program near the church. I took our children on Monday, and they loved it! It rained so hard that we almost couldn't get back through the mud to our dacha, though. Yesterday we skipped going, much to Jaan and Raia's dismay. Instead of VBS, we got ourselves moved back to our apartment. The walk from the dacha is shorter and nicer, but with the mud we have right now, it's not possible. Today Will walked them through the city, instead of through the mud, and they enjoyed another morning with the group. Please pray for this outreach and the children who are coming. Pray especially for the rain to hold off in the mornings. (We love rain, but they're trying to do this outdoors.) We spent the evening down at the beach playing with the group, too.