With the arrival of a new team member, preparations for this summer’s outreach, the ongoing development and upkeep of our correspondence Bible course (CBC), and two growing little girls, our family is keeping pretty busy these days! Here’s a quick news update to fill you in on the latest.
Bryan Shufelt
When Bryan got here on January 16, he hit the ground running. For the time being, he has been living at our ministry center and has busied himself by handling some of the paperwork related to our correspondence course. This includes things like putting together “starter packets” for new students in the course, and packaging up full versions of Good and Evil for mailing. I recently gave Bryan the crash course on how we track our CBC students using a web-based application called CBC Admin. While much of the course management requires a knowledge of Ukrainian (such as answering letters or grading lessons) there are several things that Bryan can assist us with right away. And what a blessing that will be!
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Joshua and Bryan work on grading Bible lessons which we recently received in the mail from some of our students.
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
Yesterday, Bryan had his first language lesson with Veronica. They will be meeting three times a week from now on. We are excited about the prospect of having another Ukrainian speaker on our team! Please pray for Bryan as he studies the language. We believe that this will be a major asset to him and the rest of our team in the months and years to come.
We would also appreciate your prayers for Bryan regarding a roommate. Originally, we had planned for him to share an apartment with a Ukrainian man from our church. We made an agreement to this effect months in advance. Unfortunately, this man decided to back out at the last minute. While finding alternate housing for Bryan will not be hard, it would be best if he could share an apartment with a native Ukrainian. Nathan and I both had the opportunity of learning Ukrainian while living with a native speaker, and we know from experience what a profound effect this can have on one’s ability to achieve fluency. Please pray that we will be able to locate a responsible, single, Ukrainian believer who would be willing to share an apartment with Bryan.
Audio Bible Study (ABS)
ABS day is upon us once again. If you are interested in praying for ABS, it takes place every Tuesday at 11:00am CST. Many of you have written to us pledging your prayer support each week, and we are very grateful for your faithful intercession. We are excited to see how God is already answering those prayers. As I write this post, ABS is about 8 hours away. We’ll try to post again tomorrow and let you know how it went. Thanks again for praying!
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Standing (from left to right): Jessie, Evelina, Kelsie, Taras, Roman. Sitting: Joshua, Bohdan, Marian, Roman, Anya.
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
Family News
With each passing day, I become more and more aware of what a blessing it is to have a family. Our two daughters are growing cuter all the time (at least we think so!) and they are the delight of our lives. Rebekah started crawling a few weeks ago, and now she’s pulling up on everything she sees. Abigail can’t seem to put down her books. She is constantly asking us to read to her, and she knows large potions of several books by heart. Kelsie has already started her on phonics training.
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Abby is our little bookworm.
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
Another development in the children which we have really enjoyed of late is their growing desire to play together. With her now found mobility, Beka is roaming the house and making new discoveries by the hour. Abby is always nearby, liberally dispensing her childhood wisdom and enlightening Rebekah as to how the world works. For her part, Beka is enthralled by her big sister and does her best to follow her everywhere she goes. Both the girls are healthy, joyful reminders to Kelsie and I of God’s goodness to us. They are truly His reward. (Ps. 127:3)
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Abby loves to help Mommy in the kitchen.
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Everyday chores are a great opportunity for child training!
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
{: .article-image .article-image–has-caption}
Abby’s job is to put away the silverware.
{: .caption-text .article-image__caption}
