T.E.A.M. Ukraine is a ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission

The past 10 days have been filled with family events (and a few other things, too!). Sunday, May 20 we spoke at Lashburn Community Church and met some very friendly and encouraging people. In the afternoon, we celebrated Shannon's dad's 80th birthday. All of my siblings, their spouses and some of the grandchildren gathered at my sister's farm near Alsask, SK for a BBQ and birthday cake. Saturday, May 26 was a family reunion on Shannon's mom's side of the family. We drove to Cappon School south of Oyen, AB to visit with extended family. We enjoyed a delicious turkey supper and drove home just before dark. The grill of the car is covered with dead bugs!! Yeah spring! Sunday, May 27 we were in Neilburg to speak at Manitou EFC. Again, we met many friendly and encouraging people and had some great conversations about what God is doing. That evening we got to meet our granddaughter, Eve, in person! She gave us lots of smiles and cuddles during the three days our ...

On Saturday as we drove to Wolseley we spent time in Souris, Manitoba and walked across Canada's longest suspension bridge. We wondered the downtown in search of the free-range peacocks! It was a beautiful day for a walk. We chatted with a local lady about the new apartment/hotel complex under construction. Canada's Longest Swinging Bridge, Souris, MB Free-range Peacocks, Souris, MB Wolseley's Swinging Bridge, Wolseley, SK When we arrived in Wolseley it was still a great day for a stroll so we crossed the suspension bridge that crosses the lake in town. These past 8 days in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have given us the opportunity to meet new people who have blessed us with their hospitality, friendship, encouragement and support. God has been filling our lives with treasures. Thank you to Del & Louise, Roy & Carol, Walt & Carol, and Merrylin for your wonderful hospitality, comfortable beds, great cooking and good conversations! After sharing at...

We have met many new people this week in Manitoba! Manitoba licence plates says, "friendly Manitoba" and we have found that to be true. We have enjoyed warm hospitality and much generosity wherever we've been. We had some really good conversations with people Saturday evening and Sunday morning at Winnipeg EFC. Monday we went for a long walk in Assiniboine Park. The weather was fantastic! We saw a very interesting tree and put on a few miles on the trails. We had lunch with Pastor Dave and then stayed for a short time at the Maranatha EFC and observed their many volunteers in their Food Bank ministry. In Steinbach we met some of the team that had been to Ukraine this spring to work on our house. We got to drive out to the Verhoog dairy farm and meet some of Garry and Teresa's family . Garry gave us a tour of the farm and we drove around the countryside to see some of their fields, some of which had been planted to corn already. Today we are off to Boisseva...

Our friend, Dan, once said, "Write your plans in pencil and give God the eraser." That's what happened this week! We had planned to be in Manitoba making connections and building our support TEAM, but God obviously had a different idea. The really cool thing is that we recognized this right away and we weren't even frustrated! So with the unexpected extra days we were able to get several things done. We (mostly Scott!) got all of the yard work done. Tomorrow we hope to plant some of the garden. The birds are back. It's so nice to hear something other than magpies!! The farmers are starting to get out on the land. I'll bet they're excited! Yesterday, out our window we watched field work being done and after supper we saw hundreds of geese enjoying the freshly exposed food! I was able to get quite a bit of sewing done for my customers and I got 2 last-minute calls to sub for the secretaries at our local schools. Scott was able to hand out brochu...

Today the farmer in us got to come out and play! We were outside cleaning up the flower beds, discovering the lilies and tulips poking their way out of the ground. It was so nice to play in the dirt again! It seems like such a long time since we put away all of the gardening tools and parked the lawn mower. By the time we return from this next speaking trip, we hope that more of the perennials will be poking through the ground. Yesterday we went to a funeral for Shannon's great uncle, who died of a heart attack last Friday. It was one of those happy and sad occasions. Sad because life for Uncle Ken's family will never be the same, but happy as we shared memories and visited with friends and family we hadn't seen in a long while. And since there is no time like the present, we used the opportunity to take another 5 generation picture. In the picture is my Grandpa who is almost 97, my mom, our youngest daughter and her two sons.     Last Sunday we drove to Meadow...

Saturday, April 14 was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for celebrating a milestone birthday with friends. We drove to Fullerton, CA (Los Angeles, really) with a friend to celebrate Russ' 100th birthday with about 250 other people! Russ was enjoying every minute, smiling and laughing, getting his picture taken hundreds of times during the afternoon. Friends gathered from all across the continent for the special occasion. We met Russ and his wife, Carole, five years ago at Gleanings for the Hungry and became fast friends. Phone calls, emails and visits are part of our relationship with them. They are an example to us of caring, serving others and trusting the Lord. They are a big blessing to us. Our time at Gleanings was too short!! We enjoyed visiting with old friends, meeting new ones and serving alongside others to meet the needs of the less fortunate around the world. We were able to share about our call to missions in Ukraine with the folks at Gleanings. We were ...

Time sure flies when you're busy!! It doesn't seem so long ago that I was typing on our last post, but evidently it was longer than I thought! We spent last Sunday with dear friends at Imperial Bethel Church, sharing our hearts for the ministry in Ukraine. After a delicious potluck lunch and much visiting, we were on our way south. Our trip down to California was uneventful, thankfully! The roads were good and the car was reliable. We arrived at Gleanings for the Hungry to +30 degrees Celsius! What a change from winter's last stand that we left behind in Cut Knife a few short days ago. Here at Gleanings we are reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones, and of course spending time with our "adopted granddaughters" Liana and Timea. Helping out around the base never seems like work because you are with others who also have a desire to serve the Lord. We were able to share Thursday morning about our call to serve in Ukraine. It was great to share and ...