The Whirlwind Continues...

Dear Friends,

We had such a great time visiting our family and friends in Missouri. “Operation Get-a-Hug” was a huge success! In just 14 days we had 40 meetings with well over 200 people! It was busy, but wonderful. We gathered lots and lots of hugs! It was also hard to say good-bye all over again. We have such a great support system in this part of the world. We praise the Lord for that over and over.

With only two weeks at home before our big trip to Eastern Europe life has been a bit hectic. There’s work to catch up on from being gone and work to prepare ahead of time for meetings we’ll be participating in and office details to take care of for the time we’re away.

Can we humbly ask that you follow us in prayer? We’re thankful that we know we have people praying for us.

Our itinerary for our trip is:

May 4 - Depart from San Diego by air

May 5 - Arrive in Budapest, Hungary

May 6 - Meet with EGM-Hungary staff and assist with board orientation

May 7 - Travel to Kiev, Ukraine to meet our regional leaders Igor and Natasha

May 8-9 - Ukraine Board Retreat in Uman, Ukraine

May 10 - Meet with Sunday school teachers then travel to Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

May 11 - Seminar for Children’s Workers in Dnipropetrovsk

May 12 - Meet with Churches interested in Children’s Camps

May 13 - Training with Michael Lozovoi, National Director in Ukraine. Night train to Kiev

May 14 - Meetings with EGM contacts, then fly to Oradea, Romania

May 15-17 - Children’s Ministry Trainer Conference in Oradea then travel to Cluj

May 18 - Romanian Board Meeting then travel to Bucharest by night train

May 19-21 - Meet with Alex and Cami, regional team for Central Europe

May 22 - Travel by train to Galati, Romania

May 23 - Leadership Conference for Children’s Workers in Galati. Train to Bucharest

May 24 - Return to San Diego


Remember that we will be 7-10 hours ahead of your schedule (depending on where you live in the US) so pray ahead! Here are some specifics to pray for while we are on this trip.

Pray for Jon to stay focused on school while shifting from one home to another during this time. It is not easy for us to be away at this time just prior to his graduation.

Pray that God would unify the hearts of the board members as they plan for the ministry and that together we would do the work that God has called us to do.

Pray for clear understanding as we share cross-culturally with the national boards, at the conferences and with individuals.

Pray for strength and safety. There’s a lot of extra traveling on this trip. Planes, trains and automobiles along with mass transit buses and taxis will keep us hopping from place to place. We’ll need God to schedule moments of needed rest.

Thank you for praying for us!

Joe and Julie