March

Spring has sprung! Somewhere underneath all the piles of snow and ice I'm told there are flowers, ha ha. I doubt it, but I've been told! March has been a bit of a ridiculous month weather-wise and it's affecting the willingness of people to get out an do activities but we're hoping it gets warmer soon! 

Another morning spending 20 minutes scraping a layer of ice off the car:

This month has been busy: 

 - Steve was able to be in some of the older classes at Dez's school to teach English. Hopefully it's an ongoing thing because it's always great to make new connections with teenagers heading towards summer

 - Our usual weekly events are ongoing ("Home" youth group, our small group, supper with Steve's guys and the drop in evening at church)

 - We're praying for more and new ministry opportunities 

 - We're planning the April #JustYouth with the band from Molochansk. Hopefully the snow and ice storms are over by then so that they can drive here safely! 

 - We are attempting to help Jessica in her search for an appropriate vehicle 

 - I am starting to work on visa paperwork, it's my favourite time of the year, ha ha

 - Our church is starting a new format where they have a short (10 minute) message at the beginning of the service so Steve is on the schedule for April 1st 

 - Dez has spring break next week which we weren't sure was going to happen due to the two week mid-month quarantine break, then a two day snowstorm/gas shortage and THEN two days of holidays for Women's Day. 

 - We were able to skype with two guys from G42 in Spain who will be joining us for July and August as part of their practicum. We're starting to plan our summer activities and having two extra sets of hands will be very helpful and welcome! 

 - Steve and his floorball team have two tournaments on back to back weekends mid-April to finish out the season. 

 - I have been fasting once a week and I have been feeling fantastic. I still have an ache or pain here or there from time to time but my quality of life has improved drastically, praise God! He continues to bless us and show us just how good and awesome He is all the time! 

#JustYouth March: Movie Night

While Steve was away in Poltava playing floorball, we had #JustYouth without him. We had planned to do a movie night for February but then Steve found out that this tournament would be the same weekend as our March date so we decided to save it for this month. 

I bought chips and pop and we picked out a great Christian movie to show. Unfortunately, there was a blizzard in the days before with five inches of snow and then the day of #JY it absolutely poured rain all day long! There was ankle-deep slush everywhere and it was horrible trying to get around! This meant that we had an incredibly tiny crowd show up which was kind of disappointing but not unexpected. 

We started off with eight teenagers plus our team members but we proceeded with our true/false game with movie trivia.

Just as we were finishing up with the true and false game, Garry and Teresa's crew from Nicolaipolia showed up along with a few others so our crowd grew to thirty people. Everyone was really attentive during the movie (once the chips were gone) and there was laughter at all the right spots, ha ha. Andre wrapped it up at the end for us. 

Despite the weather circumstances a smaller crowd is always a bit disappointing but we always trust that God brings the people that need to be there every time. We love that #JustYouth is a continuing and growing ministry and it's always great to see what the Lord is doing in the lives of the people who come. 

Floorball Tournament in Poltava

Last weekend Steve traveled with his floor ball team to Poltava to play in a tournament. Steve had a brilliant idea to rent a marshrutka and driver to get there but because there was a three-day snowstorm in the days before they left, they ended up on the train. It was definitely safer but with a marshrutka and driver they could have been gone only one night but because of the ridiculous train schedules they were away for three. 

They did fantastic in their tournament! 

They won their two games on Saturday and the team they were supposed to play on Sunday didn't show up so that was an automatic win as well.

Steve received the MVP award for their first game in which he scored two of their six goals. He got a great t-shirt that actually fits (isn't Ukrainian-sized).

They came in first place at this tournament which means that they are first in their division and will be going to playoffs.

It was a great time for Steve to connect with all of the guys on the team and to share more about God and his faith.