Hello family and friends!
I am sorry that it has been so long since I last wrote! Things have been busy but great over here… where is here… Europe! I am now in Ukraine but spent the past month in Latvia working at a Missions Outreach Center in a small town called Saldus. It was a great month but with a HUGE transition. Transitioning from Southeast Asia to Europe has been very interesting! It’s cold, there’s hot showers, cars actually stop for pedestrians to cross the street… there isn’t even that many cars really at all not to mention, no mopeds! We didn’t eat rice every day, there is cheese and dairy products! Lots of differences. These differences made Latvia very exciting but that wasn’t the best part of Latvia!
We loved working with our hosts. Our hosts were very missions minded in a community and culture that is not. We were inspired by their passion to reach others for Christ and to grow a mission mindset within the body of Christ in their community. We were able to help serve them in many different ways. Sometimes cleaning the church, washing windows, playing with children, homes visits for prayer, speaking at churches and high schools and even being recorded by the local newspaper and radio station! haha … we were big news in the small town of Saldus!
*Missions Outreach team!
*St. Paul’s church in Saldus.
*Norwegian Missions Team singing at church.
*Birthday Celebration for our host’s daughter.
One aspect of this past month that kept me very busy was that we had a Leadership Development Workshop (LDW) at the end of the month. This meant that the whole squad came together and Emily Rae and I taught on being a servant leader for Christ. Our goal was to empower the entire squad to be leaders for Christ where ever and in whatever they are doing. We were both really excited about it and spent a lot of time preparing the LDW schedule and teachings. During LDW we had time for members on the squad to lead group discussions on a topic of their choice. It was a great time for the squad to learn from each other, worship together, and refocus our hearts on what is Kingdom leadership! 😀
*LDW training session with sleeping bags. It’s cold in the basement of a church!
*This is how I get everyone’s attention.
More exciting news is that this month in Ukraine Emily Rae and I are training our replacements for the role of Squad Leader!!! How the World Race operates is that the alum squad leaders train and lead for only the first half of the year. We then select new ‘raised up’ squad leaders from within the squad and train them to continue to lead for the remainder of the year. All this month we will be training two lovely ladies, Vicky and Jessica, who we feel the Lord has called to step into our roles for this next season! It is all very fun and exciting to be training these girls and also because that means soon I will be off the field and going home!
Though I have absolutely loved being on the field and working with this squad, I do feel that by the end of this month it will be time to go. I feel the winds changing and that our time has come. What we were sent here to do is finished; raise up the squad, teach them the way of the World Race, and then empower them to finish the race on their own! Boom. Mike drop. Get ‘er done. Finished…. well, almost there that is.. hahaha
*Squad Leader training in Lviv, Ukraine!
Please pray that our training will continue to go well and that the Lord equips and prepares Vicky and Jessica’s heart for serving their squad as Squad Leaders! I am very blessed to know that I will be returning twice to the field during their debriefs to check on the squad and support them in their growth in the Lord. Cannot wait to see what the Lord will continue to do in the hearts of these wonderful men and women of the God! God has so much for them!
With Love,
Steph
