An Arrival in Ukraine

That may sound like a birth announcement. Well, it's not. Garry and Teresa have landed in Ukraine, and are already hard at work setting up their house and making preparations. They even have their very own Lada -- you can't get much more Ukrainian than that! :-) Their teen sons have accompanied them, and their older sons are running the farm back in Canada.

Garry will be working with local farmers, helping with best practices to enable better results. Teresa is hoping to begin ESL teaching, as that fits within her training. And together they'll be looking for opportunities to share their faith and create lasting relationships.

Pray for them as they get started. Russian is a challenging language to learn, and there are lots of challenges associated with initiating a ministry like this.

You can follow their own personal blog by clicking here.

Transition Home News

The Transition Home is a project that has been a dream of EFCCM missionaries Vanessa and Jackie, and now they have a place for it in Santa Cruz. I look forward to hearing more about this as it develops, and the facility is readied for its new purpose.

If you're not sure what it's all about, recent laws regarding Bolivia so-called orphanages (resident children are there for a variety of reasons including being orphaned) have mandated that children must leave when they reach 18yrs, to make room for new kids. The problem is that 18 year olds -- especially girls -- aren't ready for independence. This ruling leaves them in a vulnerable position with no support system. The Transition Home gives young women a place to stay while they're taking the next steps, whether that's university education, or job skills training. It's a way that they can transition from living in a home to living on their own, within a faith-affirming structure.

Almost Completely Unexpected

Last month, I was asked to make a video clip to be shown at a golf tournament for local business people. The EFCCM was to be highlighted as the nonprofit of choice, and they wanted to feature some projects of ours in Bolivia. I jumped at the chance, but you never know where these things will lead, if anywhere. I started with fairly low expectations. And my expectations were lowered further when I heard that the venue wasn't really suited to video playback, the audio didn't carry well during the presentation, and while it was onscreen the attendees were boisterous and distracted. So imagine my surprise when I was handed the report that we just received $12,000 from the event.

$12,000! That's going to be a big boost to our ongoing projects in Latin America. As I type this, I'm doing a little happy dance inside. :-)

Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By (Updated)

Currently our main website is down (both efcc.ca and efccm.org). It's a known problem, though the ETA of the solution is unknown. This is also causing a problem with our e-mail functionality.

Apparently this is a rather large problem affecting a number of companies and websites. We're hoping that a solution can be found quickly.

I will update this post when the problem is resolved. Sorry for any inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!

Update: it looks like everything's back to normal.

News from the Summer Institute

The EFCCM's annual Summer Institute is on now. A team of teachers and business professionals have been connecting with people in St. Petersburg, Russia for a number of years running. They do training in some of the latest teaching techniques as well as best case business practices.

The biggest joy is the relationships that have been fostered over the years. These have enabled our team members to introduce their faith to our Russian friends. It's been amazing the fruit that this ministry has generated in various places, and we are trusting God for more again this year.

Follow their story on the blog they're keeping by clicking here.

Off on the Road to Haiti

Excuse my oblique Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "road movie" reference above. That's reaching way, way back. But it kind of applies. Because most places where Bob and Bing ended up on their various adventures, you couldn't actually drive to either. :-)

Doon and Kelly are approaching their departure date. They will be leaving Erskine, Alberta next month on a road trip to Florida. There they will be attending a school devoted to tropical agriculture and community development. And in September they will be travelling to Haiti.

Here's a quote from their latest newsletter, under the heading "Needed: Cliff Divers":

Will our old van survive the trip? We have no idea. Where will we live in Haiti? We don’t know yet. There are many more similar questions for which we have only limited answers, and sometimes just guesses and hopes. And yes, at times, the UNKNOWN looms pretty large. But even bigger is our God who loves us—He is a faithful safety net on whom we can always depend. And although we struggle at times with doubts, we do know that He has it all covered. Our job is just to take a deep breath…and JUMP!! Please pray that we will not falter or fear.

Updates to the Hermosillo Story

Greg and Shelli have posted updates to their blog about doors that God is opening in ministering to the burn victims and their families that I've been following here.

See their stories here and here.

I'm still at a loss for what to say about this story. The stories are so hard, and the pain is so deep. We know that suffering, grief and death aren't the last words. But they are certainly the prevalent ones right now.

Another Introduction

Wally and Esther have spent the last couple of days finishing up their orientation with the Home Office staff. They have been independent missionaries in Nicaragua for the last 1.5yrs, and will be returning in July under the banner of the EFCCM. Their primary ministry is with an orphanage. It's become apparent that I should define that term, and why it's becoming increasingly important to the EFCCM.

In Western countries, an orphanage is usually thought of as a temporary solution until foster care or adoption becomes available to children. In most other countries, that isn't so. There are few people that can ably adopt children. Typically, they have been abandoned because families don't have the ability to provide for them. Or they are at risk of abuse. Or they have been orphaned by war, famine or disease.

Children in such desperate situations have few options and little hope of a better life. Through an orphanage we can provide safety, nutrition and hygiene. But we can offer so much more. When we can intervene at a young age, we can change negative trends and thought patterns. We can offer hope. And we can introduce children to their Creator. That's the path which offers the most improvement and healing.

The EFCCM is committing to orphanages in Bolivia and Nicaragua, and at least one of our EFCC churches is supporting orphanages in Ukraine too. God certainly has a heart for children, and we at the EFCCM do too.

Letting You in on Something

I thought I would share some of the communication ideas and plans that we're working on here at the EFCC and EFCCM.

First, we've chewed on the idea of starting a Facebook presence or a Twitter feed for the denomination. Frankly, I don't think it makes much sense for us. There isn't a crying demand for such a thing. (Actually, just building awareness of our current efforts is challenge enough.) It doesn't seem to be worth the time investment, not when it all basically comes down to one guy. If there was a cause that I thought was worth championing, or a way that I could harness social media for a larger collaborative effort, I'd jump at it. So it's something that we'll continue to think about, but it makes sense to me to keep things within reason for now.

With that said, we're working on unveiling a brand new website for the EFCC and the EFCCM. It will be handled almost entirely in-house, so that we have the control for the layout and we'll be able to make changes much quicker for you. That will improve not just how information appears, but also how the site functions for online donation, Conference registration and things like that. Our hope is that the new site will be a much better presence for connecting the whole EFCC community.

Perhaps you'd be interested in helping EFCC/M Communications. There are a number of ways you can. Most of them don't take a ton of work or thought.

• Start a dialogue. If you've seen something that connected with you, tell your friends, your family, your pastor, your missionaries. If the blog is only words on a page, it's pretty much useless.
  
• Content is king. Offer suggestions for stories and posts that you think would be a compelling reason to keep coming back here.
• Join the gang. Are you a writer, photographer or videographer that would be willing to volunteer time to tell great stories? There's no shortage of stories to tell -- and at Home Office we want to tell more of them!