Thanks so much for your initial responses to our blog! I am already finding that the difficulty is going to be in keeping this thing up to date! Well, the last week was an eventful one. We had planned a family camping trip for the end of the week. However, on Tuesday, I hurt my back while playing squash. This is an old injury and I knew the proper cure- flat in bed. So, Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday I spent in bed, other than a couple of necessary visits, a Bible study and a meeting. Despite the injury we decided to press on with our trip, but instead of camping we decided to head down to Greece for some R&R. We picked a hotel with a pool that was also close to the beach. We arrived on Thursday about noon and stayed till Sunday morning. It was a very relaxing time and the pool was pretty good therapy for my back!

Rebekah, Josh and Daniel really enjoyed the beach and are eager to go back for a more complete vacation at the end of August.

Today is a turnaround day. We are washing clothes and repacking to leave tomorrow for our annual mission meeting in Poland. We will be together with several hundred colleagues from around Central and Eastern Europe. Our time begins with two days of meetings for fellow Strategy Coordinators and then the full session begins with all of the missionaries from all over. The kids are really looking forward to seeing their friends, most of whom they see this one time a year.

So, a few prayer items:
1) For a safe trip to and from Poland and a time of renewal there.
2) A renewed vision for our church here in Skopje.
3) Preparations for our summer camp, the first week of August.
4) Help with our digital camera! It quit working our last day in Greece and we want to be able to post more pictures for you!!!

In closing, here are a few more pics from the last couple of weeks:




Jackie and Josh at his kindergarten "graduation" ceremony!









Well, I wanted to post some more pics, but for some reason the upload is giving me trouble!

More after Poland!

Kyle

Summer is here and things are cranking up to full-speed! Joshua and Rebekah are home for the summer holidays. Rebekah finished third-grade and Josh wrapped up kindergarten. Meanwhile, Daniel will continue with pre-school throughout the summer.

We have a full summer ahead of us, beginning with a few days of camping later this week. The weather has been really bad, lots of rain, so that trip is in question, but we are sure excited about getting up in the mountains and enjoying a few days of hiking, relaxing and quiet.

Then, on June 20th, we head to Poland for our annual mission meeting. The IMB's Central and Eastern Europe region is hosting the meeting which will be a great time of fellowship and training. Our kids are really excited about going, since this is the only time of the year for them to see some of their best friends who live in other parts of Europe.

July will be full of activities. Josh and Rebekah will go to a 10 day camp on Lake Ohrid, in southern Macedonia. The camp is sponsored by their local Christian scouting organization. I, Kyle, will have plenty of work getting ready for an English camp among Macedonian villages in southern Albania. These villages are in a very remote area. We are trying to begin an evangelical house-church in that area, but are meeting with strong resistance. Most of the local people consider themselves "Orthodox Atheists." In other words, they are Orthodox by tradition but atheists with regards to actual belief and practice. The actual English camp will be held in early August and we would appreciate your prayers!

Pray for us as a family to be a light in the darkness. We really want to reach our neighbors and while we have had some success in that area we also have met with some hard walls. We believe that God is powerful and we must be faithful!

We'll keep you posted as to whats going on, although we will be out of touch off-and-on throughout the summer due to our travelling.
Grace,
Kyle