Dear Brethren, 

I can hardly believe it is almost time to return to Ukraine! We are counting the days (April 24^th!) and the girls are rehearsing over and over all the people they "can't wait to see" and things they "just can't wait to do"! We are so excited to get back and settle in our village before the Carpathian Mountain Project begins. We've been told that the mice have taken over our house but other than that it is in good shape. 

Since leaving Rochester in January we have journeyed over 15,000 miles. We have been in or traveled through 36 states, reunited with family, fellowshipped with our dearest friends, and presented the ministry in 23 churches. We can’t praise the Lord enough for His mercy throughout our travels. As demanding and chaotic as our lives have been during the last several months, the Lord has more than made up for it with “showers of blessings” on our family. Many thanks again to all of you that helped to make our lives a whole lot easier while here in the States. 

Well, as I said our hearts are intent upon returning to Ukraine. There is much to pray about and much to be busy about. First, upon our arrival in Warsaw we will need to have several repairs done on the van. We just barely made it to the airport to come home in October! The van has been parked at a friend’s house and awaits our arrival. The Lord has already blessed tremendously and supplied the finances necessary (many thanks to our new supporting church in Texas!!!) to do all the repairs and some much needed maintenance that otherwise would have been put off for another time. Please pray that this work will be done honestly and WELL, and that parts will be available so the work can be done in a timely manner. 

We also want to request prayer for our border crossing from Poland into Ukraine.  Because Jessie’s visa expired while we were in the States, our van registration also expired. We attempted to remedy this situation BEFORE we went back, but there was just no way of getting everything taken care of. Please pray the border officials will simply issue us some type of temporary registration and let us go through. (As a side note: no worries for Jessie’s visa, it’s already renewed for five years, praise the Lord!) 

Once we make it to L’viv I’m afraid we may have a few things to contend with in our house beside little creeping visitors! Please pray that all our systems (water pump, electricity, heaters, gas etc.) will still be up and running, or at least that we’ll be able to get them up and running in very short order. 

As we reported in our last letter, we are still in need of a ministry center in L’viv. The apartment that we are renting now is no longer suitable (due to increasing rent) and Nathan is currently undergoing the real-estate rat race as he hunts for an apartment that will meet our requirements for Bible studies, our ever growing correspondence ministry and CMO housing.

Since returning to the US, and especially since beginning our travels in January our family has experienced a great deal of sickness. We so want to be healthy on our return flight!!!  Please pray for that and the strength and wisdom to deal with getting back into Ukraine. 

Lastly, please continue to pray for dear friends and neighbors that live in our village. We’re praying that our absence won’t hinder ministry amongst them— hopefully they’ve missed us! And also please pray for the mountain ministry this year, there is still much to accomplish. Praise the Lord; we have six young men that have committed to coming this year! 

The Lord gave us a special blessing this evening; we were invited to have dinner at a Ukrainian couple’s house. Actually, Victor’s wife Owstra is Latvian, she fixed us a wonderful meal and we talked and talked about the many Slavik peoples, particularly the differences and peculiarities between American and Ukrainian culture. Halfway through the evening Victor mentioned that their neighbors living across the street are also Ukrainian and from L’viv! So, in true Ukrainian spontaneity, Owstra called and Roman and Oksana came right over to meet us. After talking for awhile about L’viv and how it’s grown, Jessie mentioned that we now live in the village of Citiheeve.  Roman, looking completely astonished, sat straight up and with absolute correct pronunciation said, “You live in Ci-TI-heeve??” (Even Ukrainians living in L’viv have no idea where our little village is, and most don’t pronounce it like the people that actually live there.) When we heard Roman say “Ci-TI-heeve” like a native it was akin to a sonic boom in our ears! It turned out that Roman was born and raised in a very small village just two miles from where we live.We began talking about all the little villages in our area, calling them all by name. It was so exciting!! What an example of the Lord preparing our hearts to go back! As if we weren’t already biting at the bit to get back to Ukraine, the Lord intensified our desire ten times more!!!

In conclusion, we have to say again: every church that we were able to be in was such a blessing to us! We have been humbled again by God’s mercy, by the love of His people, and by His incredible provision. We can never thank you all enough. You have encouraged us in the ministry, you have made us want to go back and do more to serve the Lord, to proclaim His truth, and to represent Him and all of you in Ukraine.  We are overwhelmingly blessed and privileged to be your missionaries.  

Our next letter will come to you from UKRAINE!!!!!  

You’re Missionaries for Jesus Sake, 

Jessie, Teresa, Cassia and Alexandria