Volunteer program

 

 

Last weekend Asya and I attended the final set of lectures in TCI's volunteer program and graduated from that. All together we took four intensive weekend courses on different topics related to volunteering in wartime Ukraine. The picture above shows most of our group at the tactical medical weekend. We also learned about psychology, PTSD, missionary skills, and ethics at other sessions. Asya’s favorite subject was tactical medicine, and I especially loved ethics with a visiting professor from Estonia. It was all great, though. We’re very thankful that we had this opportunity to learn and be with so many wonderful people who are working to help others, especially those who are in Kherson region. 

Graduation night was also a time for local churches to say goodbye to TCI, the Christian institute from Kherson that we followed to Ivano-Frankivsk. They have had two years here, and now that's coming to an end. The campus in Kherson is completely destroyed, so they're moving in a different direction now, instead of planning to go back. We’re really going to miss all our TCI friends as they move on to Kyiv.

Summer of camps

We're getting ready to jump into a summer of camps. 

Next week Will, Bogdan, and I are going to help at a camp for kids with special needs and their parents. Each kid is teamed with a leader for the week. I was invited to be one of those leaders a while ago, and we were just planning that I would go by myself. However, yesterday they decided that they need Will, too. Very few of the men who have helped in the past are available now because of the war. So, Will and I will be paired with campers, and Bogdan is going to be in the "working team" who run the camp program.

Raia has a job for June working in LCC's English camps. She'll be putting all these years of experience volunteering in camps to use to earn some money now.

Then at the beginning of July Bogdan will probably go to the summer version of the Young Life camps he's enjoyed so much.

And we also hope to be able to help with camp at our church in Kherson.

Blackouts

After many warnings and lots of partial blackouts that didn't reach us personally, we're now back to electricity scheduling. So far, it's only a few hours off in the mornings and evenings. I think it will be much easier to handle this time around than in the winter of 2022-2023, since it's not dark and cold now. 

Yesterday was "exciting" and frustrating as they got started. Exciting, because there were several explosions in our courtyard when they tried to turn the power on around 6:00. (Explosions are not good for people who actually know the sounds of war.) Apparently some transformers went out. Bogdan and I got to watch firetrucks and police and electric brigades and were amazed that we did get electricity after several tries, even though they continued work throughout the rest of the day. And I was frustrated because none of the announced schedules matched up and nothing went according to any of the schedules anyway. Like I kept saying last time, I would rather have less hours on, but know when they're coming, than the chaos that we sometimes end up with! But today has been exactly on the dot with the schedule so far, so I'm fine.

Overall we're thankful to the electric workers and all the people working so hard to give us comfort, relative safely... and freedom! I remember how amazing it was when we first got here to Ivano-Frankivsk and the electricity actually did come on. Even if it was off sometimes, after those last few weeks at home in Kherson, it was a treat to have it at all.

Please keep praying for and supporting victory in Ukraine!

Spring Break and Bogdan's birthday

I want to have a summary of our wonderful Lithuania trip here. Will wrote about most of it and posted photos on Facebook, so I'll mostly just collect that here; click through on the links.

Saturday, March 9: Travel on two trains from Ivano-Frankivsk to Warsaw, overnight there

Sunday, March 10: Travel from Warsaw to Kaunas on two more trains, bus to Klaipeda

Monday, March 11: Curonian Spit

Tuesday, March 12: Bogdan's 13th birthday! Tour postponed for weather. Amber store, coffee shop, LCC, presents, pizza instead.

Wednesday, March 13: The amber tour

Thursday, March 14: Apparently Will didn't post any more about the trip? On Thursday everyone was tired, and the weather wasn't great for being outside. Bogdan and I couldn't stay in, though, so we headed down to the ferry and went across to the spit relatively early. It was so foggy that we could barely see the ferry, much less where it was taking us. We hunted for amber, and since we were pretty much the first and only people on the beach, we got some bigger pieces right away. Then we were frozen. We went back to the ferry landing, to see if we could figure out the coffee/hot chocolate machine there. I consulted with Jaan, who was at work in the city, and he made it "magically" dispense hot drinks for us. Well, he did it with an app on his phone, but it certainly felt like magic, in the midst of a cold, foggy forest scene with no people anywhere around us, when the machine just started talking and making treats for us. Will and Raia joined us a little later, and we went back to a good spot we had found on the beach for more amber. Bogdan and Raia camped out in cold water and collected quite a bit. Then we ate lunch that Will had brought, they saw deer, and went back for a little more amber. After that we went back to the city, joined the rest of the family, visited bookstores (wow). That evening we went out for dinner, one last time all together. I'll put a bunch of photos from this day below:

"Magic" hot chocolate

 

 

Pieces with holes are special.

See the deer?

 

 

Friday, March 15: Bus from Klaipeda to Kaunas, one train to Polish border, another further on to Warsaw, overnight in Warsaw

Goodbye, Jaan!

New book from used book store

Saturday, March 16: Bus all day from Warsaw to Ivano-Frankivsk, reunion with Leo, end of amazing trip

Quick and easy border crossing

The whole trip was so wonderful that I can't even express it in words. I had a great time looking back through the photos and what Will wrote to pull this together today, too. Thank you for reading!

Capernaum

I am enjoying getting to help some with the Young Life Capernaum club for kids with disabilities. Yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day, and Capernaum did a small bake sale and gathering to raise awareness. Will, Bogdan, and I went and spent time out with my new friends and their families.

At club on Saturday, the team made a video to share for this day. In the middle part, where Andrei is talking about the twin brothers, I was sitting on the floor, spinning tops for them. He was trying to talk over and through their excitement. I don't know how many times they had to refilm that bit!

Christ is Risen!

We had a very nice Easter, celebrating that Christ is risen from the dead and the hope that gives us. We hope you had a lovely day, too! Click through for a few more photos from Will....

Another good thing

We're going to Lithuania! We have wanted to do a family trip since last year, but it just hasn't been possible. Now we're going to go for Spring Break and Bogdan's birthday. I have worked really hard to pull everything together to find the cheapest and best travel options. Travel is so complicated here now. We'll be gone for eight days, and a full half of that is travel time. I made a dated checklist of when the different kinds of tickets for each leg of the trip would go on sale, and I finally worked through all that. When Raia first started talking about LCC it was just a few hours on a low cost airline to hop to Lithuania. Now it's all this. But we're going, and we're excited.

Yes, we're going to have to leave this poor little fluffball behind again:

Can you see how he's clinging to Bogdan with both front and back paws? That was just about going out into the scary stairwell. Leo doesn't know about the trip yet. But he had a wonderful time with friends when we went to Kherson, and he'll be staying with different friends this time.

Good things

Facebook shows me that the last photo I posted before the full-scale invasion was snowdrops in Kherson. Here are some snowdrops in Ivano-Frankivsk:

Tomorrow will be two years since we've had a day without war.

I tend not to write much here when there’s nothing good to say, and there’s been too much of that lately. Well, I can always find little good things, but they might not be much to write about. However, lately we’ve had a few big good things. 

Raia made the honors list at LCC! And actually Jaan’s grades are also just a fraction of a point behind hers. I’ve never thought grades are a big deal, but after raising them basically without grades, it’s fun to see success there. 

We’ve made contact with a lawyer about Raia’s Ukrainian documents. Any time I ask a document question online, the sharks circle in. I had given up on finding a lawyer who doesn’t start off by asking for a ton of money. This time, though, a nice Christian woman wrote to me and offered to help. We hope and pray that she might be able to get somewhere with this. 

I’ve been able to help with the Young Life club for kids with disabilities a few times. Last week I was supposed to be there, but got sick. Their craft was making picture frames, and each kid got a photo of himself or herself from an earlier meeting. One boy who I had worked with before got a photo of himself with me. Apparently he went around asking where I was by pointing at me in it. (He doesn’t usually speak.) And then the club leader sent me a video where he actually did say my name! I cried. 

Asya and I are going to the first part of a volunteer program today. We will be studying one weekend a month at the Christian college, learning to be better wartime volunteers. 

And Bogdan won a first place award in a music contest!

Advent 2023

I was going to put an Advent photo in our prayer letter, but the activities of the church here in Ivano-Frankivsk aren't secret, so I can add some more and post them here. Asya and I have been doing the baby/preschool Sunday school group here in Ivano-Frankivsk. We usually have 5 little displaced Khersonites (although 2 of them were born here) to enjoy on Sunday mornings. Advent with Sunday school was a special treat this year.

Camp(s)

I saw Bogdan off to Young Life winter camp this morning. He loved this camp last year. This year we didn't think he would be able to go, but it worked out beyond what we expected. The only problem is that his friend from here--the one he was so looking forward to going with like last year--came down with chicken pox and had to stay home. But a friend from Kherson, who was here then went home at the start of the school year, is back now for this camp, so Bogdan has her and his friend's sister to keep him company. Plus, he makes friends well. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time. All the rain we got here last night apparently came down as snow in the mountains, so they're all looking forward to sledding and other snow fun.

The ice we braved to get to the train

There are no "OPSEC"* challenges for this camp, no threats of various military strikes, only fun, snow, and mountains. I'm taking my morning off from homeschooling Bogdan to go back through Kherson camp memories and photos, the ones that can't be shared here. Hopefully I'll get something written up to share in email. It's so hard to know what to say.

Edited to add: I’ve already gotten two photos from camp. That’s Bogdan in the lead, rolling down the hill:

*Almost all my military-type vocabulary is in Ukrainian, but that actually popped into my head in English, so I used it.

The holidays

Here's the beginning of an article (from Єдині) I read today: 

Probably, this year, each of us heard the phrase from acquaintances that the Christmas holidays passed too quickly, and the mood is not festive at all... Perhaps this is connected with the shift of the holiday period in connection with the transition of the Ukrainian church to the New Julian calendar. Maybe because there was no snow or frost. Yes, I think it is because Ukraine is losing its best sons and daughters in the war every day, and the news from the front, unfortunately, does not add optimism. But, despite everything, we should celebrate. Not loudly and pompously, but quietly, in the family circle, thanking those who give us such an opportunity. We must preserve our traditions not only for ourselves, but also for future generations....

The article then goes on to tell about the holiday of the Baptism of Christ, which used to be towards the end of January and now is January 6, tomorrow.

So, yes, our holidays are already coming to an end, and yes, they felt short and strange and mixed up. (Although, here in Ivano-Frankivsk, it seems like the Catholics are really trying to hold on to the old calendar, so we might not see Baptism until January 19.) Yesterday we returned from Kherson, today Raia left for Lithuania, Monday will be the start of lessons, homeschool, and the next semester for our university students.

I will plan on sharing more about how we spent our holidays, but a good part of that needs to be more private, so be sure that you're signed up to get our prayer letters, if you want to hear about that.

For now, I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best in 2024! Thank you for your love for us and for supporting us here.

The birthday puppy

 

 

Last week Asya turned 16. She has wanted to have a dog for a long time, and she knew that was the plan for this birthday. She had been saving her money, we had been researching what kind and where to get it, and we consulted with our neighbors about if they would be able to live with a dog back in our shared house in Kherson. But we were still able to surprise her. I found toy poodles online. Will started calling back and forth with the lady selling them, but Asya didn't know anything about what we were doing. This breeder had available an older puppy and one that was almost two months old. We knew Asya wanted a baby, so we choose the little one. A week before her birthday, the lady brought him into Ivano-Frankivsk on a long bus ride. We met her, talked for a while, and got the puppy. Asya was still asleep when we brought him back, so we just put him in bed with her. I think it was love at first sight.

After that excitement earlier, her actual birthday was mostly a quiet day: church, coffee with her best friend, and a nice dinner. The puppy, Leo, is exactly what she wanted. We're all enjoying him.

 

This was her second wartime birthday. We were talking about how we celebrated last year, and she couldn't even remember. Looking back at photos, we remembered that Will grilled meat, and we ate in our yard. She said that's exactly what she would have chosen this year, too, if we had been at home. But this year she has her best friend nearby... and now a puppy.

День Знань 2023

10th and 6th grades

Yesterday was a strange first day of school. Strange because it was Friday, here (not Kherson), just after I got back from Lithuania, and strangest of all, because there are so few of us. But we did our traditional photos and started. 

Afterwards we went out to celebrate/cry with friends. (That was how my friends worded her invitation to me, and it was just right.)

And while we were starting here, the older two were finishing their first week of university in Lithuania.

I have done lots of hard things in my life, but leaving them was the hardest.

Here's to a good 2023-24 school year for all! And victory!

Next steps

I’ll probably write more about camp soon. It was just too wonderful to move on from without saying more. But for now, here’s a quick rundown of what’s next:

Jaan and Raia have to be at LCC on August 23. For Raia we have a reservation on a van going from Lviv to Klaipeda August 22-23. Jaan has a more complicated trip. He left last night, and he’s still on the road now. He needs to go to Warsaw and get his lost luggage from last month, then find a bus on to Vilnius, then bus or train or something from Vilnius to Klaipeda. Yana is going with him, and he’s trying to find a place for her to live and work near LCC. Jaan and Raia will move into their dorms on the 23rd, have a few days of orientation, and then classes start on August 28.

Back here in Ukraine Asya is going to a youth camp in the mountains, August 24-28. She wasn’t planning on it, because of the expense and the fact that her best friend isn’t going. However someone offered to pay for her to go, and she decided that she could do it without Sonya.

We also need to find a smaller, cheaper apartment here in Ivano-Frankivsk and move. I had really hoped to be able to go home, but Will still isn’t ready. The rental market here is still pretty bad, but not as insane as it was when we first arrived. Hopefully we can find something that still has room for for our Bible study group to meet, but isn’t so big and expensive as where we are now.

And then, of course, homeschooling and online music school starts with the beginning of September.

Please keep all of this in your prayers for us.

Camp videos of happy days

We are back from an amazing trip to camp and a little time at home. As one of the teens who traveled with us said, now we go home like guests and then leave home like... I don't know what. Also like guests? It's very hard and confusing emotionally. But our time there was wonderful.

We had a great camp photographer, and I'm going to post all the little videos she made. Maybe later as I have time to go through her photos and find our kids in them, I can put some still photos up, too. Enjoy!

 

 

  

 

On Sunday morning after camp, they showed one of these videos to the church and asked if one of the kids wanted to come up and pray to thank God for the week. Our Bogdan went right up and prayed. I know he expressed the thanks of many others, too. One little boy had said that it was like a week in Narnia, a complete escape from the war. That's exactly what it was for all of us.

Overcoming

(I am scheduling this to post on our first day of camp in Kherson, where Raia will be back in her element, working with kids and her friends at the church she loves. Please pray for us.)

Jeremiah 1:19 “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. 

HomeLife Academy gave Raia their Overcomer Award for this year. 

Here's a link to full year book: https://www.flipsnack.com/76D6C988B7A/hla-2023-yearbook.html 

I just took the one page about her to share here.

 

She has just officially graduated, and I am struck again but how much the word Overcomer fits her and what she has done in the past year. She has overcome 

• Fitting 11th and 12th grades into one year 
• While living, thriving, helping others under occupation and in an active war zone 
• During unexpected sudden evacuation 
• Through a dark winter winter without electricity 
• Far from her very closest friends 
• When her dreams of a certain university became very distant because Lithuania didn’t accept the high school diploma she was working so hard for 
• Not taking the SAT when planned with her tutor and then taking it later when she was stressed and not feeling ready 
• Passing the GED, which she never planned on taking 
• Retaking parts of the GED to raise her passing scores even higher.... 

 
She still has more to conquer, including right now figuring out applying for residency in two countries almost simultaneously, not to mention starting the whole new adventure of university. Thank you to everyone who has carried her and the rest of our family in your prayers and support all these years. Please keep praying! 

If we were in normal times, we would celebrate her graduation with our family and local friends. Even that isn’t really possible right now. If anyone here wants to congratulate her, send words of encouragement, or even little gifts, her email address for both notes and PayPal is raia.xansaker@gmail.com. Again, thank you! 

 

I’ll close with these words of Jesus in John 16:22. Glory to the One who is the real Overcomer: 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Good news

Jaan’s here! With Yana! It’s so good to have him back.

Raia got her answer from LCC: she’s in! We’re thrilled.

Finally.

That said, we’re still drowning. The war goes on. Jaan arrived without luggage and is caught up in the craziness of modern airline “service,” when he really has so much else to work on, too. Raia’s acceptance comes with some nuances. The logistics of everything for all of us are just too much. I can’t even explain. Stress levels are still very high. Please keep praying.

And praise God for good news.