This is some of the best news of the year! Syava, our long-time Ukrainian friend and head youth leader of our New Life group, is an official Josiah Venture full-time missionary! He is considered a national missionary, meaning that he is sent to serve his own people in Ukraine, particularly to the youth and in the form of outdoor ministry. Syava will be coordinating and leading outdoor trips to the mountains, out on catamarans and on hikes, all with either an evangelism or discipleship focus.

Just today he sent out his first support raising email to over 120 potential future financial and prayer supporters. If you would like to get this newsletter and/or financially support him, contact him at sgarvas @ josiahventure.com. Here is Syava’s official biography from the Josiah Venture website. You can also click here to support him.

This is our friend, Dan Hash, a long-time missionary with Josiah Venture in Poland. He is talking about Advance, the healthy reproducing churches movement that JV is a part of. Ben recently went to a JV conference in Czech with some Ukrainians who are leading young churches? ~ This is what they are talking about! ~ (BTW, if you look hard, you might spot Ben in this video.)

As a prayer team and as part of a personal study on the life of Jesus, we’ve read all the accounts of Easter week through Jesus’ ascension from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Today on Ukrainian Easter, we shared this visually with Marissa and Dylan.

John 19:38-20:7 – Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.⁴⁰ Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. 
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”  ³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.

This blog post and pics are a month old. Oops. Today we’re taking the kids’ 20 mo./5mo. pics. That is called life sweeping you by. (I’m no longer surprised to hear that moms of more than 1 child never get around to doing a memory/scrap book for anyone but the oldest…)

Dylan is showing that he is four months. Such coincidences sometimes just happen.

He looks like one of those roly-poly bugs. So cute. But he won’t be this size for long…

John 12
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Is my fellowship with Jesus as valuable to me, say, as a year’s wages, or as treasured as a day of hard work behind my desk? Where are my priorities, and how can I honor him in this week leading up to the remembrance of the most important day of history?

Today begins our Easter week. Ukraine celebrates Easter on a different calendar than the US or other parts of Europe. We will celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday, culminating on 4.15.2012. I have grown to love the weeks before Easter. My spiritual life and time with the Lord look differently, as I focus more on the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the stories leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It made me sad at our prayer group when people just stared blankly when I asked how we can prepare our hearts for Easter. It is times like this when I miss daily Moody radio, where the preachers are talking about Easter weeks before the actual day. I don’t practice a 40-day lent, though I’d like to. I try and fast, although it is hard.

But after reading an account of the Good Friday experience in the red light district of Phenom Penh from my dear friend Kim, who is serving the Lord in Cambodia, it made me want to fast and pray and seek the Lord all the more for people to understand that only Jesus saves.
Click here to read Kim’s story.
Click here to read about MST, a unique organization reaching out to the men involved in human trafficking.

Our youngest nephew, Mason, is Ben’s sister’s 10-month-old and is just the sweetest little boy. (He is on the left, with Dylan.) They have recently discovered some serious medical issues regarding Mason’s heart, spine, and kidney. The most recent dr. appt. was an MRI reading of his spine on Wed. that shows that he will require spinal surgery in the near future to correct the congenital kyphosis in his lumbar spine. If you’d like, you can click to read more on Ben’s sister’s family’s blog.

We praise God that He created Mason, and that Mason’s family have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, the great Healer and Sovereign over all. These are scary times, but the Lord is with them. We are standing by them with great faith that God is at work, even in the midst of such unknowns. Join us in standing in prayer for Mason’s healing.

After feeling really sad about Mason’s condition and all that faces the Cox family in the future, I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to read 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. It gave me such encouragement for our family while facing “not so light and momentary troubles”.

2 Corinthians 4
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body… we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Please pray for mercy from our insurance company and from the person who will accept our Ukrainian long-term registration application.

I want to spare you the details, and boy are there details, but we are drowning in two bureaucratic issues and could really use your prayers. All has come to a head today…

Visa Situation in a Nut Shell:
We had Cultural Visas, which means that New Life Church, as a registered NFP charity organization, invited us for 5 years to serve with them. We were continuously threatened by passport control that we were breaking the law and staying in Ukraine longer than legally allowed (living in Ukraine only for 3 months out of 6 months). As of 9/2012, the law changed again, cancelling cultural visas entirely, leaving us to get a religious invitation from a church registered in L’viv, which we now have, thanks to our dear teammates and Ukrainian friends who partner with us here. We had only 90 days to get this invite, which we got and almost immediately traveled to Poland to get the new religious visa sticker in all 4 of our passports. Look closely at these 2 pics to check out our border.

So we got our Ukrainian visas from the Ukrainian consulate in Krakow, Poland last weekend. Our old visa was for 5 years; this round’s visas are for 45 days. This means we have 1.5 mo. to get officially registered for one year in L’viv’s immigration office. We’ve been through this process before, but they are making it incredibly difficult with tons of red tape for foreigners. One of those is the kids’ birth certificates with a special apostille stamp that proves it is legitimate outside of the US. Because otherwise we might have kidnapped them and brought them to Ukraine for missionary work… anyway, the IL Secretary of State records dept. is about as bureaucratic as former Communist L’viv, and even ruder! The hoops we are jumping through! Basically, there is no likely way to physically get the stamped certificates so we are begging for mercy that the woman accepting the docs will be so charmed with these American kids, that she’ll accept that they are ours, understanding that the legal proof is on its way in the mail. We covet your prayers for these two little ones!

Second Issue: Insurance Deductibles
Today we were told that our insurance policy might require us to pay much more than our already high deductible.  This is due to a poorly written policy, which of course we are appealing, but I’m ready to start throwing things. It’s bad enough having insurance that expects you to get your service in your foreign country of residence, but to suddenly, after 5 months of waiting and creditors knocking on our “door”, it is coming to this.

It’s not JV’s fault. The money is part of the issue but it’s more about the headache, the anxiety, and the waste of valuable time taken to manage this process that is blowing up in my face. We only have so much to give every day, and these issues quickly zap all the energy that we want to give to the Lord’s work…although somehow this is part of His work, too.

I have had the privilege of meeting with Olya and Lena for over a year now. You’ll find us in the Opera Passage Italian cafe at least a few times a month. I usually give my two cents on their “girls party” planning that the lead, and then we talk about life. They have grown very dear to me, especially in 2012. We’ve laughed, cried, prayed, rejoiced, and mourned together. They love the Lord and desire to serve Him in all spheres of their life, even when it’s hard. Between job changes, apt. changes, Lena getting engaged, being challenged in evangelism from the Shift 1/9 project, being challenged in the premarital class that Ben and I are leading, and being responsible for a ministry that aims to unify the girls in our youth group and help them grow, there is plenty to talk about!

Recently I have found myself praying for them a lot; I remember going through those big changes, and I feel blessed that I can pass along my experience. I’ve also been praying for and reading a lot about wisdom.

Proverbs 4:7-8 The beginning of wisdom is this: Getwisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.

The past 18 months have resulted in changes for me in ministry choices. My babies at home require so much from me, so I am definitely limited to what I can give my time to. And with Ben having become the JV Ukraine country leader, we realize that we need margin to devote more to regional and JV ministry in Ukraine. But the one thing I have not pulled away from is investing in the lives of the young women around me, and in this I need wisdom more than ever. My girls are complex spiritual beings, and I don’t have all the answers. I can’t change them or their circumstances, but God promises to grant me wisdom in our conversations, provide that I rely on His Spirit. Some of Ben’s spiritual gifts are wisdom and discernment, but those are definitely not mine. I will be definitely looking into taking a class like “Counseling 101″ in the fall to be better equipped to invest in the lives of friends like Olya and Lena.

Those who watched our latest video update know that Ben was headed to India for a Global Youth Initiative gathering. That left Mommy at home from the 11th to the 19th with Baby Boy and Big Girl. Today is our last full day before he returns!

Dylan is showing his Dad some Purdue Boiler Maker Pride before that onesie gets to be too small, since he is a growing boy. And as a 4-mo. old, 9 days without Dad means that Dad missed a lot. Like Dylan finally being able to sit “behind his desk” as my mom refers to this thing. Marissa was obsessed with the toucan and the dragonfly. We’ll see what Dylan is into. He doesn’t last super long. I am sure it is heavy to hold up his big, cute head.

You learn a lot about yourself when the bulk of your time is spent playing with a 1-year-old. Let me rephrase that. We read, color, and do logic activities together, but when it comes to playing, I usually watch because Marissa is a wonderfully independent “woman”. “MARISSA JUSTINE WILLIAMS FOR PRESIDENT”

So with Ben away, I did some soul searching. And typing. Obviously by the length of this post, it is evident that I need to voice the average 20,000 words a days that women speak! Here are a few of my conclusions from the 9 days.

1. I’m tired of eating muesli, chicken nuggets and frozen vegetables. Ben motivates me to semi-cook, or at least shop for some kind of variety. Or at least shop period. I haven’t even had McDonalds in the last 10 days, which is a record for me in L’viv.
2. Watching our weekly shows is no fun without Ben. Actually very few things are fun without him. I love you! Come back soon! You haven’t been away from me this long since your LM South Korea days in 2005!
3. We love our helper, Yulia. She is an incredible help with the kids, with camps, with ministry tasks, and in language (for both us and Marissa). Check out the video at the end to see her speak in both. She is the extra set of hands needed when ours are not enough…as you can see here.
4. I love the silence here after 7pm. 7p-12a have been our productive hours of office work since we’ve been back, and I’m grateful to God for these moments, regardless of what gets done.  Although I do think I notice dirt and clutter too much…
5. I have been thinking a lot about anger and frustration. Scripture warns us to be slow to anger in James 1. It tells us “a fool shows his annoyance at once” in Proverbs. I have realized that I take a lot of frustration out on Ben. With him gone, I have had 2 choices – either take my anger out on the kids, which I will not do (even though Marissa had to have 3 spankings this week from hitting Dylan, hitting Mommy, and purposely coloring with pen on the couch. But I think she got it, because now she routinely shows me that ink spot, shakes her head and says “no no”. Same with the pages that she ripped in her books…). My other option is to release my anger to the Lord and move on, which I have been working on. I just hope that when Ben comes back, I will not revert back to old ways.
6. Lastly, I have been shocked by the difficulty of leaving the house with the children on my own. Regardless of the incredible Mountain Buggy Duet double stroller that I am ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH!!!!, some things are just not feasible as a single mom. Oh, did I feel it today…I’ve missed church for the past 3 weeks because of traveling, so I was determined to put on my WonderWoman cape and get us to church, even without Ben. I HATE missing church. And since it is finally dry and in the 50s here, which means I can start walking to church again. It had become a habit before winter and I love it. I was utterly convinced that I was to get us to church. So we were dressed, hats and coats on, plenty of milk and snacks. I manage to carry them BOTH down the stairs at the same time because there is no other option at the moment. I had to position both of them in our van while I got the stroller out of the back. They were troopers, and we were off. We even ran into someone along the way that we knew from another church. And I had already given in to the fact that, if the kids were acting up, we would have to leave early, which is fine. And Yulia offered to take one of them during the service, which I agreed to, provided that they were not disruptive. (Remember, nurseries barely exist, if at all, here…it kills me to hear Americans complaining about their church nurseries and Sunday School programs…walk a mile in the shoes of the rest of the world, people…) Anyway, for whatever reason, church was not meeting in the sanctuary but in the other room where I always feel trapped as a parent. If Ben were with me, great, we’ve done it before, but I physically could not handle my two little ones for a 2+ hour church service in that room. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I was so disappointed because we put forth such effort to go, but I refuse to be the parent who lets their kids disrupt the service for everyone. So we came, we saw, we left. Honestly, I am not sure what God wanted to teach me in that one. Perhaps breaking down some legalism issues. Perhaps showing me a bigger picture. Perhaps just allowing me to enjoy fresh air with Marissa and Dylan (and my favorite to-go frappuccino from Kredens!) Perhaps reminding me that it is ok to be dependent on other people sometimes.
   So, in place of church, we listened to some Bible stories on cd, talked on the phone, and stomped on some puzzles. Enjoy!

As time goes on after Winterfest, I have been blessed to hear from different youth about their impressions of this winter retreat. This is only our second year hosting such an event, and we certainly are learning as we go along. One leader told us that he was confused about how to process Winterfest because he had never seen anything like it before. (Wasn’t sure how to take that one, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

Another leader told me that as long as Josiah Venture Ukraine keeps hosting such events, they will bring their youth. For many students, this was the first time they have experienced such Christian fellowship in their lives. I remember feeling sad in junior high for kids who didn’t belong to a youth group because they had no opportunity to go on trips and experience community in a completely different light. It is amazing how much of an impact 48 hours away with your youth group can do!

When doing my one-on-one discipleship meetings with my girl leaders after Winterfest (I met with 6 different leaders this week while Ben was in India), a repeated theme was that the girls are believing lies about themselves. At Winterfest Ben taught about how Satan wants to attack our identity so that we will not obey God. Because Satan is the father of lies, he loves to lie about our identity. Based on “Search for Significance” (an awesome, foundational book that all teens and adult small groups should go through; on the same topic “Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free” by Nancy Leigh Demoss is also F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C.), Ben’s session on lies was a hit. Praise God for the way He speaks to us. Here is a bit of his talk.

God created you in the image of God. Why don’t you believe it? Why don’t you live with freedom? Here are the 4 common lies Satan uses…(I will humble myself and admit that I fall almost entirely under lie #1)…where do you find yourself believing Satan instead of our Creator?

1. I must perform well to feel good about myself. You might be listening to this lie if you are: fearful of failure, desire to do everything perfectly; inner drive to succeed and to be valued and loved; you are willing to manipulate others to achieve success; you quit from challenging opportunities because you are fearful of failure

2. I must be approved and accepted by certain people in my life to feel good about myself. You might be listening to this lie if you: have a strong fear of rejection; attempt to please people at any cost; are very sensitive to criticism; withdrawal to spend time alone to avoid possible disapproval by others; are fearful of what people say about you

3. Those who fail (including me) are unworthy of love and should be punished. You might be listening to this lie if you: have feelings of guilt about most things you do; have a fear of punishment; try to punish others the way you punish yourself, blame yourself or others for failures; withdrawal from God or others because you don’t feel worthy; do anything to avoid punishment.

 4. I am what I am. I cannot change. (I am hopeless) You may be believing this lie if you: have feelings of shame, hopelessness, inferiority, passivity; isolate yourself or withdraw from others.