I want to apologize in advance. I meant to send an update part way through our trip. But, after traveling in and through 9 countries, 2 continents and working with 7 different missionaries, it just didn’t happen. So, here is what the past 6 weeks have looked like for our family. Kayli graduated from high school the end of May and we headed overseas.

Flights to Romania were extremely expensive, so we looked for options to fly to Europe for cheap, then catch another cheap flight to Bucharest. We have missionary friends in the Czech Republic and they were in need of supplies. We were able to bring those supplies, see their ministry, pray over their church, spend time with their family and save a ton on airfare in the process. It is a hard place to plant churches, but they are doing a great job and it was great to see them.

We then travelled to Romania. We were able to work with Ukrainian refugees and Romanian youth at several church services and events. SAS Shoes donated shoes that we were able to take and hand out to the people living at Father’s House. We also spent time working at our feeding centers and children’s home in southern Romania.

While in Romania, we were able to help take supplies into Ukraine with a group of Romanian churches. Thanks to generous donors and great ministry partners, we were able to take 40 tons of supplies to help churches in Ukraine. We traveled in 8 box trucks and transport vans, on a ferry across the Danube River, and into Ukraine. We unloaded the supplies and got to spend the day with the church and their members. We also had the privilege of helping take a widow woman out of Ukraine to safety in Romania to be reunited with her son. There are not enough words to express all that happened in one day in Ukraine. Please continue to pray for them and their country.

A missionary in Italy has been talking to MANNA about starting an outreach near Rome, so we stopped in Rome on our way to Vietnam to meet with them. We were able to see their church, hear their story, see their vision for reaching people in Italy, and pray with each other. Italy is another very hard place to plant churches. It was an unexpected opportunity to potentially work with a missionary in a new area. Not only was Rome beautiful, but it was amazing to see where Paul was and experience church in a city where so much Biblical history occurred.

From there, we headed to Vietnam. We love Vietnam and the missionaries we work with there. Our time there started in Hanoi. We worked with the young adults and invested in them through teaching and one-on-one discussions. The Lord is moving in a great way in these young believers and they had a real hunger to learn and engage with us. Afterward we traveled to Saigon and worked at several of our projects, a feeding center, and a school we are partnered with. I was able to speak at church, we helped with a VBS, and were part of baptisms of new believers. Working with the kids, pastors, missionaries, and leaders was a highlight of our trip.

We finally made it home on Monday night, July 4, washed our clothes and repacked on Tuesday, and drove to West Texas on Wednesday. Not the best of timing, but it is what is needful. Be praying. We made it home this week and are working through the jet lag as I am getting ready to head back to Thailand in less than 2 weeks to lead another team. Other than that, it’s been an uneventful couple of months. LOL