One Door Closes, Another Opens

Greetings Friends and Family!

This past April and May could be defined by this rhetorical question, is it good or bad to be busy? Do the phrases, "I am so busy" or "Sorry, I am too busy, I can't." flow out of our mouths all too often? Why? Is it true? Are we all just "too busy"? At the end of February and beginning of March, I hit a very low point. Going at a pace that was not sustainable, caught up with me. Fortunately, talking to some people gave me a new perspective and directed me to the Lord. They showed me that what I was feeling was not because I was crazy or lazy but it was because I had been working and doing way too much for a normal person to live a healthy lifestyle.

I find that in our society we praise busyness. It seems that if we do not answer the "How are you?" question with "I am busy...etc" then we should get busy and do something with our lives. On the contrary, there are several people (myself included) that sometimes need a little more motivation than others and need to strive to live up to their God-given potential.

However, I believe that we are missing the point of life when we are constantly weighed down by busyness. We are called to rest in the presence of the Prince of Peace. How will we do this, if we are always busy with the next thing? I recently read, that we do not learn from experience, but we learn from reflected experience. If we do not take time to ask God what He taught us through an incredible season or an incredibly difficult season, we could be missing major life lessons that God was graciously trying to teach us.

Through the Lord teaching me these lessons and revealing that I was not living a sustainable life, I realized I needed to change. Yet, it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Once you are the person that usually says "yes" to every request and sees it through to completion, people exploit you without even realizing it. I took on so much responsibility even when I should not have. It is a process to leave behind a mindset that I need to be the rescuer of all the world's and the people's problems, but it is a lie that I do not want to fall into anymore. With God's strength, I am on the road to resting in Him while pursing His will for my life with excellence.

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As I have mentioned in my previous update, my two-year commitment with YWAM Kyiv is coming to an end. After prayer and counsel, I feel led to return home in September. At the beginning of July, I will be hosting a Teams and Volunteer Seminar at our base to train some of our staff in how to host teams, present an orientation, give city tours, be the team's main point of contact, construct a schedule, and bridge the gap between foreign teams and the Ukrainian culture. I am also creating a manual that explains everything for the Team's and Volunteer Department so it can function properly for many years to come. I highly value providing adequate training for the people that will take over my responsibilities. I am so glad I am able to do so!

As I am exiting this country, I was thinking about what I was going to leave behind. I noticed that some of our staff lacks training in how to work with Children at Risk. Initially, I was told that this training was not available in English. I started to do some research myself and I discovered someone who is a qualified trainer in TBRI (Trust-Base Relational Intervention) who has materials in Ukrainian and English! This training was actually written by a lady's aunt who just visited the base to give a seminar on how to effectively run a camp. You could see God's hand over the whole thing and I could not be more thankful. I am excited to see how this base could be better equipped to work with Children at Risk.

Being able to train and equip others and provide possibilities to carry on mission service with excellence, is such an incredible blessing. I am so humbled that God allowed me to help in these areas before returning home to pursue my degree.

As you know, I have felt called to serve orphans. In order to contact orphanages, it is necessary to speak Ukrainian. Our orphan ministry on base currently has only ministered in orphanages about three times this year. They have focused most of their time on other ministries. I have continually asked them to let me know of different opportunities to serve in orphanages. Almost two years later, I was not provided with any information. So, I decided I would need to find opportunities on my own, and that's what I did. I located a foster-type home near where I minister to my refugee children. I literally walked into the gates of their facility and asked for the phone number of the director. Then we found a time to meet and I presented her with my vision on how we/I could help. Praise God - we started working together!

When the government finds children in unfit living conditions or with alcoholic/drug addicted parents, the children are taken away while the parents are given a chance to go through rehab. If they complete rehab, they are allowed to have their children back. This home, called the Ark, was started by two American women. It is a safe, Christian, and 24/7 place of care for kids during such a difficult time in their lives. The Ark's hope is to keep as many families together as they possibly can, but many times the parents do not complete rehab. Unfortunately, the children are then categorized as social orphans and are sent to a government orphanage. Prior to this step, the Ark tries to find families that are willing to adopt to stop the kids from every stepping foot into an orphanage.

These children have captured my heart. Recently, we had a dance team from YWAM MT serving in Ukraine. The team and I have been going every week to play games and teach the kids dance, crafts, and English! It has been an incredibly life - giving experience and has solidified my desire to adopt in the future! Since the dance team left Ukraine, I would love to continue going there. I would like to teach ballet classes and make it just like a real Ballet Class experience for them. Years ago, they had leotards, tights, and ballet shoes donated but they have not had the opportunity to use them! One little girl, months before I came, told the helpers that she wanted to be a ballerina when she grows up! I am hoping and praying that I can continue serve with these kids while I am still in Ukraine.

New Beginnings...

Seeing how God is orchestrating my exit, provides me with complete peace. Although I will miss my children so much, I know that they are in the best hand's possible - the Lord's. They could not be any safer anywhere else. I know that the Lord will continue to care for them even though I will no longer be there. Yet, doing many things alone, the long nights, the many responsibilities, the last minute expectations, the late night emergency phone calls, running around begging people for help, constantly reminding people of things they promised they would do.. I will not miss. Yet, this is life... it is messy and it is what we do with our circumstances that truly matters. I will never forget these kids and my love for this country. I hope to bring outreach teams here in the future and to remain connected to my children from the East of Ukraine.

I used to think that these past two and a half years was just me coming to serve Ukraine and Children at Risk. Of course, that was a huge part and focus, but now I have a new perspective. Most of my time was consumed with teams and volunteers, coordinating camps, caring for a dear friend who has a terrible sickness, scheduling, meetings, and dealing with emergencies. Therefore, I truly believe that God has used my time in Ukraine as a time of character building and refinement by fire. I learned how to interact with all sorts of people with different cultural backgrounds, mentalities, and personalities. I learned how to lead others and deal with leaders who do not actually lead while being immersed in a different language and cultural. These experiences have been a microwave for learning life lessons that I will carry forever. I am so thankful that I can look back and say, "Wow, that was not easy, but God you taught me, guided me, revealed to me, and loved me through everything!"

I will be in charge of two more large teams and then in September I will officially exit as YWAM Kyiv staff. It is extremely bittersweet to leave a place that I have called home for about 3 years. Yet, I am excited to see how God will use me in America as I continue on my mission's journey towards living a life dedicated to advocating, caring for, and spreading awareness for Children at Risk and global missions. My goal is to look at the source of the problem that causes children to become at risk. Many times, it is due to a poverty mentality, ignorance, a lack of resources/jobs, and ultimately a personal relationship with Christ. Possibly through a degree in Business Administrations – Project Management, I envision addressing a part of the problem by empowering others to rise above their current circumstances through opening their minds to the world of possibilities through ingenuity that often comes after accepting Christ.

Please, keep me in your prayers as I transition from overseas missions to stateside missions! Thank you for being a key part in God's work in Ukraine and in my personal life.

With love,

Morgan