Say What?!

Here is a picture of Eliana reading. Why is that newsworthy? Because Eliana doesn’t like to be read to or read books. She may look at the pictures but the cadence of reading seems to bother her.

In our last prayer letter, we slid in a little prayer request for Eliana’s speech and several of you caught it and asked for details. Eliana is turning three in April and she is a bright, fun loving girl but we noticed that her speech had not been advancing very much this past year. We brought this up to our pediatrician and within a month, Eliana was tested by a local agency and is now receiving weekly speech therapy at home. Within a week of our first session, Eliana started saying more two and three word phrases without prompting and began using verbs. And today we witnessed her reading to herself, repeating some phrases for each page and even reiterating what she remembered of the few favorite books we read with her regularly.

When Eliana turns three in just a few weeks, she will go to a special preschool for a few hours a day to enhance these skills to soon catch up to an age appropriate level of speech.

We appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we now have several people watching Eliana’s every move and sometimes possible over-interpreting things. We are asking the Lord for insight into our daughter and are thankful in a brand new way that He knows the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7).

Pray for Ukraine

I am sure you have seen on the news and on Facebook that riots are breaking out in the Ukraine. Joel has been to the Ukraine and was especially affected by scenes of riots and destruction in places he once visited.

You may be aware that we have a Josiah Venture team serving there. We received a prayer request from them this morning and would like to share part of it with you.

Would you stand with Ukraine in prayer? Two night ago, protesters in our city of Lviv took over government buildings and police buildings. The situation has remained peaceful but police are no longer working and university students stand guard at government buildings.

Our team is not afraid for our safety, but we worry for Ukraine. We are asking God to bring Ukraine to peaceful reform. You can also pray for discernment as we press forward in summer ministry planning; ministry partners are strongly considering canceling summer projects. We know that God is sovereign, and we trust his plans for summer.

We feel that this is an important time in the history of Ukraine. Our intercultural team of 8 doesn't have plans to leave Lviv. We are praying for safety and want to stand with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. You can especially pray for the Ukrainians on our team because this is even more painful for them.

They linked the following video that summarizes the protesters requests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvds2AIiWLA

Thank you for standing in prayer with our team mates and brothers and sisters across the globe!

Our IL trip

While traveling with kids is hard, we are so glad we all got to visit our friends and new team members in the Chicago area this past weekend. It was wonderful to reconnect with our congregation there and our team mates, the Millers. That time seemed to pass all too quickly!

We also met Reggie and Kim Frank in person and wish we would have been able to spend more time with them. Unfortunately, after two night of getting little and poor sleep, Eliana was a giant mess the whole time and just wanted to go back to the car to sleep. We rejoice in knowing we will get to spend plenty of time with the Franks down the road and are thankful for technologies like Skype.

We also met with another potential team mate, whom we hope to introduce to you soon.

All in all, a worthwhile and wonderful weekend for the Josiah Venture Eastern Germany team. We appreciate your prayers for all members of our team during each of our fundraising journeys which are filled with hope and disappointment, prayer and questions, and lots of other mixed emotions.

The Gift of Time

I, Ellen, Mom of two little ones, completed the following today: grocery list, tax forms (or as much info as I have), emails, work on a new support letter, began planning a potential fundraising trip, looked over a team member's budget question, shut my eyes for just a few minutes.

How was I able to do all that? We have been given the gift of time by a wonderful young woman named Malia who had volunteered to watch our kids one afternoon a week while Joel and I get some missions related work done. Wow. We are so grateful!!

I am naturally a doer and miss being able to sit at my desk and get work done for hours at a time. It's actually re-energizing. So join us in praising the Lord for Malia's help!

Ways to pray for us throughout the week and on Thursday afternoons:
- Use this time productively
- For Joel throughout the week to be able to focus on fundraising
- For energy and wisdom as we raise our precious girls
- If it is the Lord's will, for the remainder of the financial support to come by the end of the summer
- And pray a special blessing on Malia for her help to us!

Introducing our new team mates: the Franks

After months of only alluding to the newest addition to the JV Eastern Germany team, we are finally able to introduce you to them. Reggie and Kim Frank were accepted as part of our team a couple of weeks ago.

Their process started over a year ago when they approached Josiah Venture about their desire to serve overseas long term. Last spring, they attended the JV conference in the Czech Republic and visited various teams in several JV countries. They felt The Lord leading them to Germany even though they were not able to visit with us there.

Josiah Venture knows the importance of team unity so before a paper application is handed out, potential missionaries need an invitation by the country leader. We loved Reggie and Kim from the first Skype call on. They both have a heart for relational ministry and are talented in many areas.

Reggie and Kim have four children - Kaitlyn (in College), Alex (high school junior), and twins Ryan and Lauren (5th grade). The whole family led their church in a JV English camp last summer and every one of them is excited to move overseas to work with Josiah Venture full time.

Reggie and Kim will support a local church's youth ministry as well as launch Fusion camps in Eastern Germany. They are musically gifted and talented in graphic design. Their desire to is get to Germany in 2015. Until then they appreciate your prayers as they fund-raise and prepare their family for the mission field. It's never easy to move your kids to a new culture in middle school. While Ryan and Lauren are on board and excited, please pray for their transition especially.

Merry Christmas

Frohe Weihnachten!

We wish all of you a merry Christmas and wonderful celebration of the birth of our Savior! We are thankful for all He has done for us, in coming to this earth to seek and save us.

We have loved our first few months out in the country. Life here is relaxing - at least most of the time. We've had a few adventures in the pasts weeks including getting stranded at church with a dying car battery - and rescued by a caring member of the church who allowed us the use of his truck for a night so Joel could fix the battery the following day. (And by God's grace this happened the day before the weather turned from normal-wintery to icy cold.)
We also went without power most of this past Sunday but found refuge at our friends' house until our house was warm and lit again.

We have joined a young adult small group on Tuesday night and love it. Eliana and Johanna come with us and play with the other kids while we study Philippians with the others.


God has also provided a few new supporters these last two months. Joel has been busy coordinating the addition of new team members we hope to announce soon.

And here is a glimpse of a fun moment in one of my days:

Deep Dive

If we want to be effective ministers, we have to understand the culture in which we are serving. When we minister on the mission field, this will take time and lots of interaction with people... and sometimes some intentional research!

Josiah Venture did an intensive research project among 6 out of its 12 countries. They began by asking each of the country's JV missionaries and leaders to identify a predominant barrier to ministry they have encountered over the years and to form a question they set out to answer.

Slovenia: How do Slovene youth engage in groups?
Poland: What is the road to becoming a youth ministry "motor"  in the emerging generation in Poland?
Slovakia: What is the nature of emerging generation in Slovakia?
Ukraine: What is happening in the hearts of Ukrainian young people after English Camp?
Estonia: What makes followers of Christ equippers of youth?
Czech Republic: How are young leaders grown and developed in the local church? How are they growing and developing new leaders?

download here

Each team set out to conduct interviews with youth and young leaders in their country of ministry. The results are compiled in the recently published book "Deep Dive", which is now also available on Kindle. The book will normally be available for 99 cents - the lowest amazon allows it to be offered - but it is FREE to download this weekend. I encourage you to download this book today. I have only cracked the virtual cover but am enjoying learning about youth culture in Eastern Europe. It's well done research. Enjoy!