June '09 Newsletter
For those of you who may not know, I have just returned from a 10 day trip to Ukraine with a team of 6 ladies from the States and 6 Joshua House girls. I will give you my version of the trip and how it came to be, but I love how my Mom tells her experience of this Ukraine mission. She has given me permission to post the email that she sent to the people who sponsored her to go on this trip. I have her letter posted below this update…so please check out her story too!
Our mission began in Kiev, Ukraine with a woman’s conference held every year which I knew would provide a perfect opportunity to bring together the team and the girls, and set the stage for what God had planned for us at the Joshua House and the village in ce so much of my role as a spokesperson for The Joshua House is about networking, relationships, and raising awareness – and since this was all of my passions (The ‘Sisterhood’, The Joshua House, my Mom & some of my friends) collectively in the same place at the same time – I didn’t want to miss out on what God wanted to do here! The miracle is that only 6 weeks prior, none of this even looked possible. But due to a last minute curveball from God, what I thought was a closed door was not and so began a very busy time of planning and preparation.
The biggest objective for this trip was that it couldn’t just be a sweet little missions trip overseas…it had to be intentional and fruitful from beginning to end. The trip had several goals: To go to the conference in Kiev to be a support and encouragement to the ladies of that region, to make life-long friends through networking with other visionaries and for us to get inspired to make the world a better place. Then after conference the plan was to travel to L’viv to meet up with The Joshua House and go out into the mountain villages near Turka to bring food, supplies and most of all hope to the people who live there and also to gather stories in order to go back to our own communities and raise awareness for the cause.
With such a short time to prepare, I knew that I needed to be specific about who to invite. After praying about it I felt that God had given me names of some people to email about this trip. This was by no means an ‘exclusive’ trip I just wanted to make sure that I heard from God who He wanted me to extend the invitation to. Amazingly, with only a 3 week notice, I received emails from 5 ladies in the States committing to go plus I got confirmation that 6 of the Joshua House girls were coming to Kiev as well! Then, to make the team complete, I secretly conspired with some of my Mom’s ‘spiritual daughters’ to raise money for her to join us. I have been involved in mission trips all over the world since I was a teenager and my mom had never been on a trip with me before…I thought it was about time! The fruit of everything I have done belongs to her and everyone who has supported me in the ministry. I wanted for her to get to see it with her own eyes. With Mother's Day in May (during the trip) I just thought it would be a great gift for her.
On May 4th I arrived with the team in Kiev, Ukraine where we met up with the other girls on our team who had travelled from L’viv – 13 of us in total. We had a great time over the next 3 days being encouraged, challenged and inspired at the conference. We also connected with a lot of new friends from the church there in Kiev. In fact, I just received an email from Julia, my friend from Kiev who hosted us during the conference. She said that she was so moved by meeting all of the Joshua House girls and hearing all of our stories of the orphans and the people of the village that she and her husband were planning to take a few people from their church to go visit in the next month. They want to see for themselves how they, as a church, could play a part in helping the Joshua House reach these communities. This is just one testimony of the fruit of this trip.
After the conference ended late on a Thursday night, we took a 10 ½ hour overnight train from Kiev to L’viv. We arrived early the next morning and spent the day with the kids at the Joshua House. The kids were so excited so have so many new visitors. I had a great meeting that day with Jim & Sandy McCann (founders of The J.H.) dreaming and planning and getting God’s direction about the next season for The Joshua House.
In the next few months, Jim & Sandy will be taking all of the younger children and moving to Turka near the villages where they do most of their ministry. This gives Jim & Sandy the ability to focus on parenting the young kids and also helps them to better impact the village community as they will be living among the people. Meanwhile, the older kids (late teens-late 20’s) will remain in the house in L’viv and maintain more of the administration and things such as hosting guests/visitors, starting small businesses, running the local community church which is already established. I look forward to seeing how God will use J.H. as they expand their vision.
As for my role with The Joshua House…it just keeps getting bigger. I am already so blessed to see that all of my family has jumped on board to get involved and on a larger scale my spiritual family at The Rock FWC in Alabama have become a huge support to The JH as well! I am hearing of building teams and ministry teams from different places planning to go help The JH as they make a difference in the village communities near Turka and I am so thankful for that! I am always thinking about those precious people in the mountains of Ukraine. I follow my passion to want to bring them a hope and a future and God just keeps giving me more vision! I really could use an administrator or two to help me with all that I hope to do this year and in the years to come. Jeremy and I have already been working on some marketing ideas for The Joshua House…as in a new brochure and an updated video, then also some other ideas for starting small businesses, raising finances and raising awareness in general.
Jeremy really believes he is supposed to be more involved in helping me with the ministry. As fast as things are growing in our relationship with The Joshua House and other opportunities, there is no way I’ll be able do this without his full-time involvement, but since he is the boss of his own business it consumes so much of his time! Like many in the world, we have felt the impact of the crashing economy, and if Jeremy didn't work the 65+ hours a week that he does...then we wouldn't make it financially!
We sat down together a month or so ago and prayed that God would give us wisdom on what to do. We believe that the answer is to down-size the business so Jeremy works less hours and has a lighter work load so he can help me more in my role as the spokesperson for The Joshua House. We don’t know exactly what that will look like yet or how it will all play out, but we have been standing on the scripture in Prov. 4:18 that the path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter. We know that as we take each step God will make it clear to us what to do next. I know that my God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory. Please know that I am not writing about our finances as a complaint or for pity, I was only sharing our lives as an open book. I just wanted to paint a picture of the situation so you can better understand who we are, what we do and why we need your help to be able to accomplish the ministry that God has entrusted us with.
The curveball I mentioned at the beginning of my letter was to do with plans I had made to go with my friend Laura, to pick up her newly adopted daughter from Ethiopia sometime in February. In the back of my mind I was hoping to also be able to go to Ukraine sometime between May-July but it was already a big step of faith financially just to go on one of the trips let alone both trips. Jeremy told me that I would need to choose one or the other but here’s where I was torn because things were really starting to pick up and advance in my involvement with The Joshua House in Ukraine. I also knew that Ukraine was my biggest ministry focus, however I couldn’t think of anything greater than going with my best friend to Africa to experience one of the most special days of her life…meeting her daughter for the first time. Long story short, I chose the trip to Africa but... due to things beyond my control I wasn’t able to go. I honestly believe it is because God had plans for me in Ukraine. This was just another one of those times when the Holy Spirit stepped in to remind me that “good things” are not always “God things”. My heart is so big that I want to do it all…but as I tried to make my plan, God directed my step and kept me from getting distracted from what He had called me to do in the first place. I needed to stay focused on the mission He gave me - Ukraine! Laura went on alone to Ethiopia and was perfectly fine. She brought her beautiful new baby girl back to Alabama and although I was disappointed that I didn’t get to go, I knew God had something else planned for me, so I began praying immediately about what He wanted me to do regarding Ukraine… Who, What, When, & Where. :o) And the rest is history…
I really believe that this trip we have just come home from was a very fruitful mission! In fact, I already have several people from both Australia and America who are planning on joining me on this trip next year. Maybe you will be one of those people. ;o) Thank you for all of the prayers and support, especially to you girls who helped to send my mom on this special trip with me. I am still in awe of a God who can take this girl from Alabama, strategically place me in Australia among a company of women committed to making the world a better place, and bringing me an amazing husband from New Zealand to come alongside me all for the sake of being a voice for a people in the nation of Ukraine who need to know God’s love in a real and practical way!
Dream Big- You can make a difference!
-Holly Everett (Chapa)
Please have a look at some of the new photo's in the gallery and don't forget to read mom's letter (PDF) - she's a wonderful story teller.
