In the end of January, Stacey and I were able to return to Ukraine. We are so thankful to be back here working and to be back in this community of believers here in Transcarpathia, Ukraine. It is such a blessing to be back and to again be among friends and among students who lives we enjoy being a part of. We are thankful to God to be back and we are thankful that western Ukraine is peaceful and quiet despite what is happening in the eastern part of the country. We will be here in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe until August of this year. Our stays in Ukraine have been dictated these past two years by my health. After getting diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma last February and receiving radiation therapy we returned to Ukraine for the spring and summer months. We returned to the U.S. in August for checkups and while my tests, labs, and scans came back clean, a biopsy taken of a second growth on my head came back again as non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer. In December I received four weeks of intravenous drug treatments with a drug that is similar to chemotherapy, but thankfully not as harsh as chemotherapy. I feel great and we will wait until August when I must return for more tests to see if all the cancer is gone. Being open and sharing with others about sickness is uncommon in Eastern Europe and it has been amazing how often I have been asked to speak in both Hungary and Ukraine to groups of people about the cancer and how God has worked in my life through this. This sickness has been an amazing blessing as a way to share the gospel with people and to give an account and testimony of God’s grace.
This past autumn Stacey and I both enjoyed our time back in Michigan and North Carolina. It was great to be near family and we were very thankful for this time. I was again able to work during the harvest season. I enjoyed working on farms and helping with the corn, soybean, and cotton harvests. Stacey was able to do a variety of jobs. She was a nurse, waitress, secretary, and janitor on any given day. We are thankful for the jobs and opportunities we were able to have.
I am going to try to be a more active blogger this coming year, so please check back regularly for new blogs, and photos.
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