Easing In

On the one hand, life seems to have slowed a bit since moving to L'viv, but on the other hand, we have not taken our time in getting involved with team activities. Discovering the rhythm of life here in this western Ukrainian city and finding a routine of our own has been a bit of a bumpy ride.

After our 17 hour airplane ride from Orlando, FL to Charolette, NC to Munich, Germany and, finally, L'viv,Ukraine, we nearly had to pin our eyes open to stay awake until evening in order to adjust to the new time. Our team greeted us at the airport with a lovely pot of mums and directly shuttled us to our new, temporary apartment for the next month. With only a couple of days to adjust to the seven hour time difference from Orlando to L'viv, we joined our teammates for an overnight train ride to Kiev for a day-long, country-wide team meeting. We met nearly 30 new faces- all of whom are missionaries in various cities throughout Ukraine. That evening, we hoped back onto the train for another overnight ride back to our city.

Only a few days later, Vitaliy joined team mates, Heero and Jon, for yet another train-ride down to the southern part of Ukraine in the city of Odessa for presbytery. The presbytery was held at a medical clinic where pastors and elders from the Reformed Evangelical Churches of Ukraine all gathered for several days. The photo above shows all who were present. Below, is a photo of Vitaliy Voytenko meeting another Vitaliy Voytenko at presbytery (no familial relation)! This experience allowed Vitaliy to get an inside view of what is happening with the denomination at a nation-wide level.

In the days in between, we've been hunting for a longer-term apartment-- one that will accomodate our needs and possibly move us closer to our teammates and the university. In addition, Vitaliy has been navigating the process of clearing our sea container (containing all our belongings) through customs in the port of Odessa. (This has turned out to be a more complicated process than we'd hoped-- although we'd been sufficiently warned by teammates of roadblocks that we might encounter). Our evenings have been filled with ministry activities such as

Marissa has begun daily language lessons with a private tutor. As expected, it is difficult to engage with the culture without this valuable tool. Aside from learning something new, Marissa is excited to have a bit of structure to her day. She is also chomping at the bit to begin painting again, though to her dismay her art supplies are stored away in the sea container. Vitaliy is slipping into the culture fairly well, although he's been experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock. Living in the U.S. for 10 years, has nurtured a certain expectation of life to work efficiently and fairly neatly. He is finding the speed at which things are accomplished here to be a bit syrupy. However, he is diligently coming up with a plan for what it might take for him to begin private practice as a psychologist as well as investigating teaching psychology in the future.

We do appreciate all of you who follow our blog and ask that you'd continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to "ease in".

Last Stop California

As we forecasted our timeline for our support-raising travels, we knew that our last stop would be California. Not because it's a nice place to visit, but because Marissa's family lives in the small, but growing town of Woodland. (As you can guess, our "last stop" means that we are extremely close to our take-off to Ukraine-- Woo - hoo!). Although we did take advantage of Marissa's aunt and uncle's condo in Lake Tahoe as well as a trip to Muir Woods and San Francisco, we pretty much planted ourselves for two-weeks in Marissa's hometown.

Marissa has a unique family living situation where the majority of her relatives live within walking distance of one another-- this includes grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This,

of course, makes it easy for visiting. So, on more than one occasion we were able to spend time with everyone over pizza, Mexican food, or swimming in Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gary's swimming pool. Overall, our visit was extremely relaxing with the exception of Marissa developing a sinus infection.

In addition to vacationing with family, we attended to some "business" as well. Support-raising is never done, until you've reached 100 % of your support need-- and even in that case, there is still the part of staying in contact with your donors. Thankfully, visiting donors and staying in contact is something that we enjoy doing. So, we met with the missions committee of Woodland Bible Church (Marissa's hometown church), had a "meet and greet" at Mom and Dad's house and spoke at WBC on Sunday morning. To our delight, the end result paid off well. The Lord answered our prayers for partnership with WBC as well as gaining several individual supporters. In sum, our trip to the golden state was, well, golden. With both the prayers, the support of our family and being sent off by the support of WBC, our trip to CA wrapped up as well as we could have expected. In fact, we had prayed that our funding would be complete by the end of that trip.

So, since returning to Orlando, we've been wrapping up lose ends like: obtaining airplane tickets to Ukraine (October 1st is our take off date---HOORAY!), waiting on our visas, completing paperwork for MTW, buying a Vonage phone, mailing off artwork (Praise God that it is still selling!) etc.. With all little odds and ends that need to be done, we've been slowly coming to the realization that our move to Ukraine is becoming a reality. At times, we experience waves of excitement and other times waves of fear. The one thing we cling to, however, are our "Ebenezer stones" that reassure us that God has been in this plan every step of the way.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! We certainly could not have come this far without God working within all of your hearts! Please, remember to keep us in your prayers in the following ways:

1. Marissa has 12 more paintings to sell-- please pray that all of them sell.

2. We still are in need of a few more monthly pledges, please pray that we have them before October 1st.

The Home Stretch: Boston, Saint Pete, FL and Chicago

It is always good to return to Boston, especially when you are being sent out in style. Late last month, Vitaliy and I made our final trek to Boston, MA for a commissioning of sorts from our home church in Cambridge, MA and a meeting with the Southern New England Presbytery. On Saturday morning, we drove to Winchester, CT to meet with the SNEP missions committee at the fine southern dining experience that is known for its enormous gift shop- "Cracker Barrel". Vitaliy and I felt honored and encouraged that our pastor, Rick, drove down from Cambridge on his motorcyle to meet us for the breakfast that morning as well as show his stamp of approval for us. Thanks, Rick!!

That Sunday, We could not have been happier to see familiar faces again and join the music team in leading worship. Perhaps, one of the most memorable and encouraging things that happened during the worship service was the gathering of pastors, elders and members of the missions committee who wrapped around the stage and us like a blanket and prayed for us. Though Christ the King is not a mega church, the body of believers have supported us tremendously and we feel strengthened by their support.

Our next trip was with our small group Bible study to the west coast. For Floridians, the "west coast" is the west coast of Florida. For this California girl that was a tough one to learn. We spent two relaxing days together playing field games (think hoola-hoop contests, wheelbarrow races and egg relays). It's pretty hystarical to watch adults play these games because people really do get competitive! In addition, we brought back the 70's by playing a round of "The Newly Wed Game" (yes it is a board game). And last, but not least we celebrated both my 31st birthday and our friend Anthony's 26th (though I made the awful mistake of wishing him a happy 30th). That weekend finished off by waking up at the crack of dawn in order to drive to Tampa for a missionary presentation at a new and thriving PCA church plant called "Westtown". Both Vitaliy and I felt warmly received and encouraged by the pastor, the church leaders and our friend, Chris Hull. One of the things that struck us so much about our visit was not only that we seemed to have more surprizing connections than we realized, nor that we were super-excited about the growth of this relatively new church, but the sincere gift of listening that they gave us while we spoke of God's call on our lives and what we pray He will do. I know that both Vitaliy and I appreciated their graciousness and interest.

Our last support raising trip ended today. Vitaliy and I traveled up to Chicago for four days to visit and share about our ministry with his old grad school professors, friends, and his (and now mine) adoptive parents- Rich and Eileen. Rich and Eileen are those kind of couples that have several "adopted" adult children. Vitaliy met them several years ago when he worked as the children's minister at their church and they've been family ever since. Most of the people we visited with I am just now getting the priviledge to know since this was before I came on the scene. I am always proud of my husband when I see how much he has touched the lives of others in ways that I never knew before.

That sums up the last four weeks. However, It would be a shame to not share and give praise to the Lord for His faithfulness to us. We are now at 90% of our monthly support goal!!!!! Praise the Lord!! We certainly could not have done any of this without God working through each of our supporters and all the prayers.

You can continue to pray for us as we have a few things in the cooker right now: 1. My art exhibit and reception at Northland Church in Orlando this weekend (Aug. 22-24). Pray that ALL the work would sell as we are applying ALL sales to our reach our one-time support goal.

2. Pray about the logistics and details of shipping our household over to Ukraine. We are running into some snags. Please pray that we'd make wise decisions, TRUST the Lord, and that He would make our path clear and straight.

Thank you all! Until next time...

June: Travel, travel and more travel

The month of June turned out to be a whirlwind of travel excursions to North Carolina, Boston, MA and Texas. In early June, Vitaliy and I flew to South Carolina and then drove up to Asheville, NC for a training conference called Living In Grace and tacked on a couple of days on the front end of the trip to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary. As neither of us had spent any length of time in this part of the country, we were awed and surprised by the beauty of North Carolina's lush, green mountains and wildflowers that speckled the fields. As we visited Asheville, we fell in love with it's funky and artistic character as well as the beauty of the natural beauty surrounds it. From Asheville, we wound our way down to RidgeHaven Conference and Camp for a week long training for Mission to the World missionaries. That week, Paul Kooistra (President of Mission to the World), led us through a series of lectures which spurred much introspection as well as conversation. Though the week was packed full of information, one golden nugget of truth that stuck with me was the idea of having a "posture of repentance". "It is a posture in which we believe that if there is any maturity in our lives, it is borrowed from the One Who died for us" (Paul Kooistra). Or, as Martin Luther says, "Repentance is a way of life for a Christian." Needless to say, this will be something that is not fully grasped during one week in the mountains of NC but will be a daily challenge for Vitaliy and I.

Only a few days after our return to Orlando, I made a u-turn and journeyed up to Boston to participate in a dear friends wedding and then flew out to meet Vitaliy in Dallas for an 8-day support raising trip. It was neat for me to meet the individuals and groups of people who have impacted and supported Vitaliy since he has moved to the States. Many of these folks have known him for 10-plus years and have had the privilege to see him grow and mature in his faith, knowledge and study of psychology. It was neat for me to observe him reunite with these old friends which I have heard so much about.

In Dallas, we attended another wedding for his dear Ukrainian compadre- Max- to his southern bride- Shara. We shared a meal with a mixture of Ukrainians and Texans-- many of whom were cross-cultural couples like us. It was a unique experience to be at a table where two to three languages (Russian, Ukrainian and English) were being spoken at once. I had a chance to create friendships with two other American women who have Ukrainian husbands and found our experiences to overlap. From Dallas, we traveled to the western part of the state to a small town called Robert Lee. The population of the town is so small that if you blinked you'd miss it. There, we were welcomed by Sid and Carolyn Long who are ranchers and long-time supporters of Vitaliy. We spent time feeding their goats, playing with their seven kitties, riding their four-wheeler, watching their sheep, eating home-cooked meals made by Carolyn and staying out of the scorching, dry 106 degree heat! On Wednesday evening we gave our testimonies at Robert Lee Baptist Church. We were met by some 25 old-timers who had warm hearts and loved to play Dominoes. I was humbled by their kindness, warmth and Spirit-filled prayers for us.

After saying our good-byes to Carolyn and Sid, we made our way south to Burnet where we were greeted by an entourage of people who Vitaliy has come to consider like family-- namely a good old friend named Kim. Kim and her mother- Mrs. Buckner- extended their hospitality to us so generously that it was obvious that it was their spiritual gift. One evening, we gathered with their many friends to share God's calling on our life to Ukraine over Subway sandwiches in Mrs. Buckner's home. Everyone was so genuinely interested-- it was an encouragement to us.

Our next stop was a brief but lovely visit to an old friend from Boston- Oliver and his wife Leslie and their newborn son- Canon- in the fun city of Austin. Vitaliy and I were uplifted by their prayers for us and enjoyed their company so much that we only wished we lived closer! After our visit, we stopped for a bite to eat at "The South Congress Cafe"- at the recommendation of Leslie and Oliver- for some mouth watering gourmet food at very reasonable prices. It was a nice repreive from the heavy Southern meals from which we'd been partaking.

That same day we made our way to Waco-- a town that I never thought I would visit-- to stay with Brother Richard and his wife Nelda. Brother Richard is a hospital chaplain as well as a minister at First Evangelical Church of Waco. I enjoyed his humour and intellect as well as Nelda's sweet spirit. I was enthralled as he spoke of experience as a hospital chaplain and felt a small tug on my heart as I recalled my days as an intern chaplain at San Francisco General Hospital 10 years ago. The next day, we spoke at Brother Richard's church and shared a potluck meal. It dawned on me that day as we were sharing our testimonies during the time that is generally the time reserved for the sermon, that I was at ease with giving my testimony to a crowd of people. It seemed to come easily without a whole lot of thought or preparation. I am thankful for these opportunities that God has given us to share what He's been doing in our hearts and pray that it touches those who hear it.

For now, we're settling back in to Orlando and are trying to figure out how to schedule our days as we continue to raise support. For today, at least, I have taken down my exhibit at Campus Crusade's Headquarters at Lake Hart, written this blog and have an art lesson to give--- in 5 minutes. Well, that's all for now! Until next time, continue to pray for God's strength in our lives and for us to continue to wait upon him trusting that He will provide.

"Back In The Saddle Again"

We took a short break from support raising these last several days to focus on our HUGE move- ha!- from zip code 32708 to zip code 32708 (literally 2 miles away). With 63 boxes, a few furniture items, lots of sweat, one 20' UHAUL, one storage unit and many helpful hands we are nestled into the gracious home of Zach and Laura Young for the rest of the summer. Or, rather, that is our home base for the summer as we have a few support raising trips in the works for June, July and August. BUT, thankfully we can now say we are officially at 61% of our monthly support need- can I HEAR an amen?!

We passed over the 50% marker after a trip to California, Massachusetts and a surprising phone call from from a dear church in Orlando while taxing on the tarmac at Logan Airport.

In the month of April, Vitaliy and I travelled to my home town of Woodland, CA- affectionately termed - "Woodpile" (I can say this without incurring some grief unlike our golden boy Dustin Pedroia). While there, we were able to visit and spend the Easter holidays with my family- mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents as well as visit with several churches and catch a few meals with dear, old high school friends. A few highlights from that trip were: playing a mean game of Scrabble with Mom, Dad and Vitaliy; meeting with friends at Crepeville and Cafe Bernardos; having tea with Woodland Bible Church's Mission team; watching my cousins hunt for eggs; seeing old college friends that moved to NorCal; and having a sweet visit with Grandma and Grandpa Sheaman. Vitaliy and I left Woodland feeling warm and full of encouragement.

In early May, we jetted to Boston for an 8-day trip where we- once again- fell in love with beautiful BeanTown. We thoroughly enjoyed riding the "T" and commuter rail as we criss-crossed the city and outer-boroughs of the metropolis. We joined the crowded commuters as if we'd never left. With the help of our pastor, Rick Downs, we met with some lovely folks in Concord, Dorchester, Ipswich and even a gentleman from Springfield, MA on Skype (web-cam). In addition, we visited with nearly 20 different couples/ individuals during our stay. With every visit we were encouraged and met by dear friends who hope to join our ministry. There is just not enough room or time to write about each one of our visits but it is suffice to say that each visit was full of memories that we'll hold dear. In fact, we love the people and area so much-- we just might return in June and July!!

Now that we've returned to Orlando and have been settled into Zach and Laura's for a total of 5 days - we are off to the "Living in Grace" conference in North Carolina tomorrow. It is one of our last trainings with Mission to the World before we head to the field in September (Lord willing!). But before we leave- in less than 24 hours- Vitaliy needs to clean out his office at RTS as his last day was officially last Friday. As for me, I am praying that my artwork will sell this summer and feel encouraged by the group of people who attended my opening exhibit at Campus Crusade's International Gallery this past Tuesday. All in all, the Lord is GOOD- all the time- the Lord is good.

Things you can pray for:

1. Our marriage- that God would continue to knit us together and help us to extend grace.
2. Our ministry- that God would continue to pave the way for us and our team already in Lviv.
3. Artwork- that it would sell!

Grace and Peace~ Marissa and Vitaliy

Seasons of Change

A few weeks back we made the 8-hour drive from Orlando to Atlanta for MTW’s “Interview and Orientation” (I&O). Basically, it was a week-long training to introduce us to all the nuts and bolts of raising support. While it was great to reconnect with old friends we’d made at Readiness Evaluation (our first official training with MTW), the week itself was slightly overwhelming as we realized all that needs to happen before we get to Lviv! Thankfully, we have many wonderful family and friends praying for us.

In the last few weeks since we’ve returned from Atlanta, Vitaliy has had his nose to the grindstone studying for his Comprehensive Exam to finish his MA in Theology from Wheaton. In addition, he has managed to squeeze in meetings with possible supporters as well as run the clinic at RTS. I know that he’ll be happy when the exam is finished so he can focus more on wrapping thing up at RTS and raising support. However, despite having only been on the support-raising trail for brief time we are at 28% of our monthly goal. Praise the Lord!

Meanwhile, I have spent most of my time painting and gearing up for four different exhibits in the next 3 months! We are praying that most of my work sells as we plan to apply the proceeds toward the “one-time amount” we must raise before moving to the field.

We have a lot of work ahead of us… So far we’ve managed to write up our support letter and send it out to a few to confirmed supporters. In the next three months we will be flying to California, Boston, Ashville, North Carolina, Dallas, and New York to either support-raise or participate in pre-field training. We are anxious to see what the Lord will do in these next several months... It is certainly overwhelming to think about all that needs to get done before we leave (have a garage sale, sell my artwork, decide what needs to stay or go, find a storage company and a shipping company, sell our cars, move out of our condo, move in with friends, raise support, apply for a Ukrainian permanent residence… and the list goes on). It is enough to say that we covet your prayers!

Until next time...

Peace,
Marissa.

On the support-raising trail...

Yes, it's true... It has been a LONG time since our last post! But we're back in the saddle and this time heading down the support-raising trail... Much has happened since last summer, but one thing has stayed constant--our call to serve as part of the church-planting team in L'viv. We began the arduous application process with Mission to the World last August and were approved in January. Our initial assignment will be for 3 years and our plan is to re-new as "career-track" missionaries at that point.

We have begun the support raising process and hope to have 100% of support raised by the end of this summer. The official support-raising "kick-off" took place in Birmingham, AL, where we were warmly welcomed at Covenant Presbyterian Church's annual Missions Festival. As far as missions events go, Covenant set the bar pretty high. Foreign missions is the heartbeat of this congregation of 1,600, as the church supports some 200 missionaries. About 25 missionary families (including yours truly) were invited to participate in the festivities and share with the congregation about their ministry in different parts of the world. Every detail of this 5-day event was completely thought-out: from beautiful wall calendars with photos of missionaries, to delicious meals, host families and loaned vehicles for missionaries, guest speakers (Dr. Richard Pratt), care packages, and--not to forget--the "Nice 'n' New" clothes closet :). At the closing prayer service on Wednesday night, Pastor Bill Hay addressed the missionaries and simply said "We love you, guys" and we certainly felt that!

While in Birmingham, we met a lot of new people and made a few new friends. We got to share our vision with families and individuals, over meals and afternoon coffee. Everyone was supportive and encouraging to us, and several special connections were formed. We hope to see these new friendships develop and grow in years to come. 

We also had a chance to re-connect with Doug Shepherd (the L'viv MTW Team Leader) and his family, as they also were invited guests at the Missions Festival. It was good to spend some time with them stateside. In addition, we learned that a former L'viv summer intern, whom we met last summer (a bright young woman named Jenny), would be joining our team and we were delighted to visit with her as well. 

The second leg of our trip took us to Nashville, TN--Music City, USA where we visited with four sets of friends. We stayed with long-time friends of Vitaliy's, Andy and Corrine, his former roommates in a Christian medical fellowship in Boston, MA. Our visit with them and their two young toddlers included a trip to Centennial Park, lunch at Provence (a French cafe), dessert at Fido's, and an amazing music experience at the legendary "Bluebird Cafe" (we especially enjoyed the amazing emerging artist, J.P. Williams).

We also took a drive in our "Yellow Skittle" (the sporty Pontiac G5 rental), to the military town of Clarksville (which exists more for the military base Fort Campbell than anything else) to visit Jenny, an old friend of Marissa's. Jenny is married to a military helicopter pilot who is currently on deployment to Afghanistan. We also snuck in a visit with Marissa's cousin, Jared (who is also in the military), and his growing young family over breakfast at IHOP. Our last night in Nashville was a romantic Valentine's Day double-date with a good friend of Vitaliy's named Ben and his girlfriend. Both the meal and the fellowship were wonderful!

We returned home on Sunday slightly tired but satisfied. Off to a good start with support- raising, we are now at 25% of the goal! God is good!! As we continue on our journey on the road to Ukraine, please keep us in your prayers...