He is Jehovah Jireh! Soli Deo Gloria!
Hello! We pray your day is blessed! Thank you for your interest and support in what God is doing through MIA in Ukraine!
When we first stepped out in, what is to date, the biggest step of faith we have ever taken, we knew it would present many challenges, but we had no idea really just how hard it would be. We knew we may lose some supporters in the transition and that the beginning process of getting things up and running would prove a challenge. For a little while we thought we would have to move out of our apartment we had just moved into.
Now a year has passed and no we never had to leave our apartment, thanks to Lera landing a nanny job just in the nick of time and we’ve now just finished selling all of the temporary furniture we needed, back through Craigslist, with minimal loss if any at all. Each month God has provided our needs whether it was by me driving for Uber and Lyft or renting the car out through Turo, our amazing CPA’s redoing past years taxes and helping us with the 501(c)3 application, receiving generous unpredictable donations, gaining above and beyond the monthly partners we’d had in the past, getting a pay adjustment from the salmon season, or selling something we needed to sell. It’s been tight, but it’s been amazing to see. If you only knew how uncanny it has been. In some weird way only God could do we’ve made it past every obstacle not knowing how it would happen.
We are so thankful for the ones who have stood with us making all of this progress possible!
In a years time we have accomplished so much and now we are learning so much about running board meetings, networking and doing presentations, and managing a non-profit. We’ve been fortunate to be getting tips and suggestions from leaders of other religious non-profits we have had the pleasure of meeting with. God continues to provide and teach us with each continued step of faith forward!
I will not say it has not been difficult. We have faced so many discouraging things, if you knew how many discouragements we have faced it has been completely unreal. I do not think a day has passed where we haven’t seriously considered giving up. But, each day we draw once again upon the Lord for strength. While all of Israel may be enamored by the size of Goliath standing before the camp with his taunts, we aim to be like David and so enthralled with God that Goliath is not intimidating in the least. Yes he is there, but he will fall!
We have one person seriously considering a position as our executive director. We are also in the beginning stages of forming a grant writing committee. As well, there is a good chance we may be having a new treasurer come on board!
Our plan is to fly back to Ukraine in October but that will depend on how long it takes the USCIS to respond to Lera’s naturalization application. She is allowed to live abroad as I am legally employed abroad by Mission Impact Alliance and continue the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen without being on U.S. soil. We are beginning this application process just now so please pray that the government can have it processed speedily and that we fill out the forms correctly and completely and provide all the proper documents.
Until we leave the States we will continue to network and present at churches, home groups, or other meetings. You can view an example of our presentation in the video below. The church I presented at had it set up so I could not see a monitor with the slides and the notes, so I had to keep turning around to be sure the correct slide was showing.
MIA Presentation at Legacy City Church
Current MIA Projects and Praises
- God has brought key people along our path to teach us and guide us. We are so grateful for their help as there is so much to learn and we want to do things well.
- Since mid April we have shared at 6 churches and 2 home groups and have been building new ministry relationships with literally dozens of new churches.
- The Lord is crossing our paths with many people expressing interest in short-term missions, including a basketball and soccer camp.
- We were able to sell all of our furniture!
Please let us know if you think your church would be interested in talking with us about our ministry in Ukraine. Our vision to start a Gospel-Centered Life Center and a Church Plant is a big one and it’s going to take many people being involved in a small way to make it work. Please consider joining our army of people giving $10/month to help us make this center a reality in Ukraine. There is such a huge need there for something like this and God will use it tremendously!
Don’t forget about our Miracle Worker Awareness Campaign coming up in September when you can easily be involved and help us spread the word about the vision online!
