For most of our lives we worked hard to keep our family safe.
Platform
There are times when people in the know suspect the world may come to an end before most of us are ready. For me, most of the time, I believe that the world will manage somehow to survive us.
I suppose I will go on writing/blogging. What I write will never reach as wide a readership as I would like. Unless, of course, it has anything to do with politics in Alberta or America. If my writings are worth a larger platform, they will earn it.
A picture I captured on my latest trip in Ukraine in April 2024.
One thing I know for certain, I will be writing about what God is doing in Ukraine until I lose my cognitive abilities. And then you will have to share them for me.
Is It Safe?
And that leads us to share our plan for the immediate future.
I’ve been two Ukraine twice. Our friends invited me to come back in May 2025.
Jocelyn wanted to do something unforgettable and significant for her milestone birthday year. So, we are going to Ukraine for a month and a half. Our departure date is May 28th.
The team I work with in Alberta and NWT have been supportive and generous to allow me time away to work in Ukraine. They see it as an extension of what we are doing with churches in Alberta and Northwest Territories. Thank you.
We are planning our work in partnership with Steve Hertzog, and with Ed Dickson and Loads of Love.
We’ll make Poltava, in Eastern Ukraine, our home base. Our friends Vadim and Tanya pastor there.
Honour to the fallen in Poltava.
Tanya and Vandim, December 2023
Is it safe? Sounds like a question about Aslam in the Chronicles of Narnia and I will answer, “Of course it’s not safe, but it’s good.” We understand the risk and are not being foolhardy. There will be no shortage of positive activities available to us. As well as kava, perogies, and borscht.
Our plan is to:
Be present. Support. Listen. Pray. Love. Give.
Help with the Loads of Love Kids summer Camps.
Work with the Bishops to do whatever they need.
Go to the front lines to deliver food, supplies. Jocelyn would come.
Offer Spiritual First Aid help, training – initial support for PTSD.
Work at the Missions Training School in Poltava.
Preach on the Church Anniversary weekend in Poltava with Vadim and Tanya.
Speak at pastors conferences.
Preach in country churches.
Visit Krivvy Rog, Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaparizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv.
Go to the Super Humans Centre in Lviv.
Go with chaplains to the front lines to deliver coffee, pray.
We’ve been learning Ukrainian.
Yes, that is an unexploded, Russian rocket nudging up against a church.
If you’ve ever attempted something mind-stretching, you’ll appreciate the mental gymnastics two seventy-year-olds have undertaken learning how to read and speak Ukrainian. But we have a hero maker of a language teacher in a young Ukrainian, Olya. She is very patient.
Mission Trip/Adventure
It’s been almost 40 years since we raised funds for our first short-term, missions trip. We are investing a good portion from our own savings in this trip. We would also like to have financial resources available to use for humanitarian and church work. The need in Ukraine is enormous. So, we’re targeting $30,000.
You may wonder if the investment is helpful. Will it endure? Let what the first $70,000 accomplished speak for the outcomes. Again, thank you to all who generously supported the work. And yes, the investment will last.
If you’d be inclined to support us, you can donate through Loads of Love, B&J Ukraine Ministry. You could support our work on a monthly basis as well. Thank you.
A year ago, I had an impression that there would be peace, victory, and security in Ukraine by June 2025. You heard it first here. This may simply be the musings of a hopeful heart. Who can say?
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