KIDS CORNER
The boys had Joy (a fellow American missionary kid) over for their first sleep over a couple of weeks ago. They had so much fun!!! They put together puzzles, watched movies and ate popcorn and when they woke up in the morning they asked if Joy could stay again that night!
While Grandma and Grandpa Gainer were here, we got to go to Kharkov for a couple of days. We stayed in a hotel with a jungle themed indoor waterpark attached to it. The boys had a blast playing in the various pools and going down waterslides! The next day we were able to go to the "Dolphinarium" and see a live Dolphin show. Jonah's favorite animal is dolphins, so he was especially excited. I don't think he closed his mouth for the whole show!!!! 
We got to spend Grandma and Grandpa's last day in Ukraine in Kiev where we were able to wander around Dreamtown Mall and eat ice cream and let the boys play on the giant trampolines to get some of their energy out!!! The boys had a great time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and they can't wait for Christmas to come when they can see them again on their side of the ocean!!! |
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Ministry News.....
Although we are still continuing to do our English Clubs on Wednesday and Thursday nights, we have seen a bit of a drop off in attendance since the weather has warmed up. We are going to be trying to contact the students who haven't been there for a couple of weeks to find out why they haven't been coming and if they plan to return. We are also going to be handing out surveys to our students to find out how they like the class and what we can do to improve it. Please pray that our class attendance would go back up and that our students would open their hearts to the truth and light of Jesus Christ. We already have a busy summer planned. We have an intern coming to shadow us on May 31st and we are all going to help out with a Vacation Bible School with some team mates from Bettendorf Christian Church from June 3rd (Jon's birthday) till June 19th. Then the first 2 weeks of July we will be working at the family camp that our church puts on. Jon will also be helping out a lot at the new church building trying to get it ready to hold worship services there by this winter, and Jenny is going to be starting a card making ministry with the help of the women at the church. Please pray that we would be good stewards of our time, and that people would see Jesus light shine through us! |
| The BIG Surprise!!!!
Well, in our last newsletter we told you that we had a BIG surprise coming for the boys on March 18th and that we would tell you what it was and their reaction so here goes!
The surprise was that Jon's parents came to visit again! It was so hard to keep it a secret, especially as the day of their arrival crept closer. But I made it! Well, almost. When I was picking up Alex from school on the day that Pat and Larry were to arr ive I heard him talking to a little girl in his class and her mom. I heard him tell her that he wasn't going to be there the next week and then it happened. She ruined the surprise! She said, "Yeah I know, that's because Grandma and Grandpa are coming." As I stood there in disbelief, knowing that I only had to keep my mouth shut for another 6 hours and here someone else ruined it, I heard Alex repeat, "Yeah, Grandma and Grandpa are coming." I asked him if he understood what she had said and then he said, "Yes Mommy, she said that Grandma and Grandpa are com......GRANDMA AND GRANDPA ARE COMING?!?!?!?!?!" He practically floated home from school repeating over and over how excited he was. Of course I had to keep repeating over and over that it was still a surprise to his brothers and that he was going to have to help keep the secret. Of course this made it even better because he felt really special to be in on it too.
So the surprise I was hoping for was ruined for Alex, but I still had 2 other boys. Could I make it all the way to Kiev with Jonah and Isaac and not spill the beans? I did make it despite relentless attempts by Jonah to try and figure out who we were picking up at the airport. Unfortunately, the surprise wasn't much better there. I saw Jon's parents through the doors at customs s o I knew they were there, but it took forever for them to come out. And then I saw that they were standing at the "Lost and Found". I went and asked the security guard if I could go and help them and he was nice enough to let me. But by the time I followed the lost luggage attendant out of the doors followed by Pat and Larry, the boys were so excited to see me again that they didn't even see Grandma and Grandpa!!! They yelled, "Hey! There's Mommy! Hi Mommy!" I said, "Mommy? Don't you see who's behind me?" Of course as soon as they saw their grandparents they were thrilled and Jonah climbed through the security gate to give the first hug. Unfortunately since we were being escorted somewhere I didn't have time to stop and take the videos and pictures that I was so wanting. But none of the boys cared about that. They were still so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa that the only time they stopped talking was when we stopped to eat dinner on the way home!!!
(PS, we found out that if the airline loses your suitcase they will drive the 4 hours to Kremenchuk to deliver it!)
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Why We Love Kontaktmission.....
We just returned from our annual meeting for our sending organization Kontaktmission in Germany. I love going to the conference, not only because it is in beautiful Germany, but because it reminds me why we chose to work with Kontaktmission.
There is just nothing quite like sitting in a room listening to a speaker giving a presentation in G erman and hearing it being translated into English, Russian, Polish and Romanian. We met a couple where the husband is German, the wife is Latvian and they are serving in the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine. We know another couple where the husband is American, the wife is Lithuanian and they are serving in Ireland. There are Ukrainians serving in Russia. There are Russians serving in Greece. There are Germans serving in Israel. This is one of the reasons that we love Kontaktmission so much! There are 217 people from all over the world serving in 20 different countries!
We had a great week at the conference. It is so nice to sit down and be able to talk about what your experiences , accomplishments and struggles are with someone else who can actually understand what you are talking about because they either have gone through it in the past or are dealing with it right now. We met a lot of new people and were able to reconnect with some old friends too. It was a wonderful week of mental, emotional and spiritual renewal!
We would like to give a shout out to Rob and Carla Harris who work in the KontaktmissionUSA office. We love you guys and are so grateful for everything you do to make it possible for us to do what we do! THANK YOU!!!!
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Prayer Requests
- Please pray for us to continue to make time to work on learning our Russian.
- Please pray that our attendance for English Club goes back up.
- Please pray for Jenny as she begins making preparations to home school Alex this coming fall.
- Please pray that the boys would stay safe and healthy this summer.
For daily prayer requests please visit our website at: www.five4one.org.
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