My Family

I just found these on the computer. I'm the most blessed guy in the whole world! I love you my family!

Knock Out

An Encouraging Visit

A lot of you know Paul and Melanie Billings. Paul is the Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. They have been in Kyrgyzstan for the past 3 years. Last week they where able to come and visit for the day. It was really good to see them and their 3 beautiful kids, all boys! It was also wonderful hearing what the Lord is doing in Bishkek.

Paul and Melanie, thanks for visiting! It was a real blessing to see you!

Can You Dance?

She Got It!

Reenie just text messaged me that the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland gave her a 2 year personal invitation visa. This is great news because the documents that we have been waiting on are still not ready. Even with those documents she is only suppose to be able to get a 1 year visa and they just gave her 2! Praise God! Thank you all for praying.

Peddle Boats

Here in Chernigov!

Update On Reenie's Visa Situation

Reenie and Christina took off Friday morning for Poland. The papers Reenie needed from the government weren't ready for her to take with her. We are praying that they will be done on Monday so that we can fax them to her. Please be keeping Reeine and Christina in your prayers. Thank you!

Prayer For Reenie's Visa Situation

I thought it was time to bust out the bat-beacon again. Reenie is having problems getting all the paper work together that she needs to get a new visa in Poland. She is running out of time and could really use your prayers. This is a letter that she just sent out and I thougtht I would post it for you all to read. Thank you for your prayers!

Hello!

If you could all be praying for this that would be great. My registration in the country ends on Friday (12th) so I need to be out of Ukraine by then. My visa ends on the 16th and I need to get a new one in Poland. The problem is that it could take way longer than expected for the local government here to finish my invitation letter, which I need in order to get a religious visa. If the letter is not finished and I'm not out of here by the 12th I will have to pay fees at the airport, and I just don't want to cause any hassles with the authorities. We tried to solve the problem by going across the border near Belarus but they weren't in a good mood, so they didn't let me.

Also pray for God's provision to pay for the trip and the visa. I know that
God will show Himself graceful! Thank you!!!

Reenie

Let's Go Fly A Kite

We took an hour today and spent some time together. Gavin and Emma loved it!

Emma's a Pro!

Wedding Day

Today Sasha and Sveta were married. We had the privilege of hosting the wedding in our yard. The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful time celebrating their union. We really wanted to get a few picture posted for all you guys back in CA that were here when they got engaged.

Other Posts On The Trip

I just wanted you let you all know about a few other people that posted about our trip to help after the floods.

You can check out On Second Thought the Silva family blog and Anya Knotts also wrote a great post about the trip. That can be found at the Chernigov blog.

Trip to Western Ukraine

Well, first off I would like to thank those of you that where praying for our time in western Ukraine. The trip was amazing! I was blown away by how God led and blessed us.

So many people where affected by the flooding and have lost everything. After the waters receded many of the homes had so much water damage that they just simply collapsed. Everything was covered in mud and none of the villages had clean drinking water. ( You can see the water lines on the houses in many of the pictures.) It was extremely sad because the majority of the people we met there were older and so helpless.

Our goal was to go down and help any way we could, so that Christ's love would be seen. We were able to buy tons of flour, oil, sugar, buckwheat, bread, and pasta to give to people. Many times as we would hand a bag to people they would be on the verge of tears, they were so thankful. We met one woman whose house had been completely under water for a week. One of our days was spent trying to help her clean and salvage what she could.

This trip put a lot of stuff in perspective for me. We met so many people. Some had quite a lot before the flood and many had very little, but after the waters left everyone had about the same. Nothing! There was one grandmother who had lost everything. She was living in a shack. She probably had less than anyone out there. But, as they tried to give her food and cloths, she refused some of it and told us that she had enough and that God would lead us to someone in greater need then she was. This sweet grandma had nothing and yet was content. This grandma loved Jesus!

We also had the chance to get to know the coolest bunch of Romanian believes! That's right Romainian! We were on the border of Romania and some of the towns and villages are almost 100% Romanian. This Romanian church took us in and showed us so much love and hospitlay. It was very humbling! I know that we all left this trip feeling like we were the ones that were being blessed.

Again, thank you for all your prayers!



(thanks to Greg and Jake for some of these pics )