Uncertainty seems to be the theme of this trip.

Hello everyone,we hope you are well. It is approximately 10 pm on Saturday 4/25/26 in Nizhyn Ukraine.

I say the theme of this trip up to now is uncertainty because there are things that we haven’t shared yet. And as I am writing this, I am uncertain if I will post this publicly or not but I need to write it either way.

Every night and most days since arriving in Nizhyn have been littered with air raid sirens. Most of the time they are going off because of drones or missiles fly over Nizhyn but not aimed here or even that close. That wasn’t the case last night. Last night Nizhyn was definitely one of the targets. 

We were awakened around 2:30 am to not only the sirens but explosions and sonic booms of missiles flying past so low and close that the building shook. We quickly gathered and went to a bomb shelter a couple of blocks away. After a little while, I’m not sure how long we got the all clear to go  back to our rooms. Just as we were getting back in bed, we were told to evacuate again. The rest of the team was able to get to the shelter but Melissa, myself and another couple decided to wait it out in the hotel lobby. After another 30 or so minutes things seemed to calm down so once again we headed back to bed. 

This is life in Nizhyn and many other areas of Ukraine. Some have gotten good at ignoring the sirens while others live in fear of the very sound that is meant to help keep people safe. Either way, you can’t escape the damage to your mind, to your emotions, to your mental state of being of night after night of poor sleep which quickly affects your physical well being. Combine that with not knowing if your home or workplace be destroyed during the next attack. Will someone you know be killed? Maybe a neighbor or coworker. Will it be a family member? Your mother or son or siblings.

And yet, the church here in Nizhyn,  as with so many Bible teaching churches throughout Ukraine, is growing, bearing fruit from the ashes. They are breaking free of the confinements of “religion” and moving towards a true relationship with Christ. They are teaching Gods Word, not the opinions of men, and God is blessing them.

We have also had and still have uncertainty in our travel arrangements. Melissa had our flights for this trip booked weeks in advance. From Roanoke to Krakow, Krakow to Tbilisi, Tbilisi to Manila and finally Manila to Washington DC.

A couple of days before we left, our flight from Tbilisi to Manila was canceled due to issues in the Middle East. The morning before we were supposed to leave, our flight from the states to Krakow was canceled due to the airlines employees going on strike.  God provided another flight, last minute, from the states to Krakow for basically the same price, so we were able to leave on schedule.

Since we were not able to secure a flight from Tbilisi to Manila that we felt even remotely good about, we are pretty sure that the Tbilisi part of the trip is not happening. We plan to stay in Ternopil for an extra week and then go to Manila about a week early. That being said, we have yet to be able to book a flight from Krakow to Manila. The flights are available, the funds are available but every time we try to book something, the booking is rejected for no apparent reason. The only thing anyone can come up with is the payment is being blocked because of how close we are to Russia. We are scheduled to return to Ternopil tomorrow after church so we will try again to book a flight once we are back in Ternopil.

We thank all of you for your continued prayers and support.