The highlight of the month of May was that I (Tomasz) was able to take part in a youth ministry conference geared specifically towards people actively involved in youth ministry in their congregations (from different denominations). The goal of this conference was to look at Jesus’ ministry and see what we can learn from His example. The teaching was done by our friend and fellow missionary Jay Hughes and was based on Sonlife Classic 
Strategy materials. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to enjoy this quality teaching but also to have fellowship with other people whose hearts are in ministering among young people here in Ukraine. It was really encouraging to meet these young Ukrainian leaders on fire for the Lord. 
Oftentimes I am told by young people in the German Lutheran Church that they cannot be more active in church because they need to study a lot for school or they have jobs and they need to work long hours because otherwise they would lose their jobs, etc. It is hard for me, as a foreigner, to judge the validity of these statements so most of the time I just accept them as facts. But it was very encouraging for me to see young Ukrainians who are able and willing to set aside time and energy for ministry. Seeing these young leaders gives me hope that it is possible. Unfortunately it did not work out for any youth leaders from the German Lutheran Church to attend this conference but hopefully next time.
Conference participants. Another thing that was really encouraging was to see so many guy leaders. Not counting foreign missionaries and pastors’ wives, there were two Ukrainian girl-leaders, the rest were all guys. It is great to have women serving the Lord, but since we believe that the Bible teaches male leadership in the church and in the home, it was really exciting to see these young men willing to be trained to be leaders following Jesus’ example. Especially in a culture where in general strong women often tend to be more active than men.
After Tomasz came back from conference, we needed to travel to Poland so we used the opportunity of already being there to take a week of vacation to give Hannah a chance to celebrate her first birthday in her “hometown” (she was born in Krakow, Poland) and also with her grandparents (Miriam’s parents came to Krakow, to be with us on the day of her birthday). We also used our time outside of Ukraine to shop for some things we could not find in Ukraine, like for example a new car seat for Hannah (switching her from her rear-facing seat).
May 18th – Hannah’s first birthday! (More birthday pictures are at the end of this email)
We were staying in the same Lutheran church guest rooms as we did when Hannah was born so on May 22 we took a picture in the same plastic basin in which she took her first bath after coming home from the hospital. Someone has grown a lot over the past year!!! :)
While in Poland and Czech, the dates just happened that we (as Czech citizens) were able to vote in the Czech parliamentary election. The newly-elected parliament will replace the caretaker government that has been in charge in the Czech Republic since last year. Since we have not been living in the Czech Republic for about ten years now, it was special for us to be able to vote like this.
We are back in Ukraine now and we are again working on something that we have not mentioned in our prayer updates yet — we are looking for a new apartment. Right now we are renting a two-bedroom apartment that is sufficient for our family but since all our ministry is also happening in our home (the Lviv congregation also only has an apartment to use as a church and it’s mostly used by the senior pastor) it has been pretty challenging to have guests and meetings (Bible studies, youth group, counseling meetings, confirmation class, etc) all happening in our living room quite a few times a week. So we have been looking for a different place that would work better for both our family and ministry needs. As we said, we have been looking for another apartment but all the apartments that the realtor showed us so far were not much better than what we have right now and the price was more than twice as much (compared to what we are paying now). Couple weeks ago we got a phone number for a Christian guy who is looking for renters for his house (he is a young doctor working mainly in Kyiv so he wants to rent his house in Lviv long-term). We went to see the place and both the house and the price are perfect (rent would be cheaper than most of the apartments we saw). There would be a kitchen, a living room/ministry room and a guest room on the ground floor (plus a bathroom with a shower) and then there would be our bedroom and two small bedrooms on the second floor. Such layout would allow us to continue doing ministry in our home while it would also allow for a little more privacy for our family. In that sense, this house is exactly what we have been looking for. The only concern we have about this house is the neighborhood... The house is still close to the city center so it should not be difficult for people to come to our house but we are wondering about the safety of this street, especially if Miriam needs to stay home alone. The owner says they have not had any problems so we asked for a week to pray about this and we wanted to ask you to join us. Your prayers for this important decision will mean A LOT to us!!!
The house for rent is the one on the right 
A quick update on E..., P... and Mrs. T...
We have been in touch with E… but unfortunately he kind of backed out of his desire to make a decision for Jesus. He has been saying things like “There is no hope for me anyways” or “I am too bad to be saved”, etc. I (Tomasz) told him firmly that these were lies from Satan because this is NOT what the Bible teaches. I also told him that God loved him enough to pay for his sins with the life of His own Son so there still is hope! But right now E… does not seem to be ready for any change in his life.
P…, on the other hand, is a huge reason for thanksgiving and praising God! What a joy to watch this guy grow in the Lord!!!!! Please continue praying for him. Now that God saved him, we pray that God would also use him in a big way for His own glory.
Pastor Don Richman spent a day with us earlier this month and here he is learning couple new Russian words from P….
Pastor Don also visited Mrs. T…with us and that too was a blessed time spent in God’s Word and fellowship. Mrs. T… says she is especially thankful for what Pastor Don told her about prayer (encouraging her to pray more and pray more specifically). We continue praying for Mrs. T… and her spiritual growth and also for more opportunities for her to consistently study the Bible.
As you are praying for us this week, we would also appreciate your prayers for our traveling to a DELKU Pastors’ Conference in Crimea. All the regular Pastors’ meetings are in Odessa but this is a “family version” of the conference and it is in Crimea this time. As you see in the map, the location of the conference is like the farthest possible location for us still in Ukraine... The thing is that most DELKU congregations are located more in the South and East so for most pastors and their families it won’t be as far as it is for us. Plus Crimea is a popular location so most Ukrainian pastors are probably happy that the conference will be there. But for us it will be three days of travel to get there and three days to get back, which is not something we are looking forward to. It is also really frustrating that even though the conference starts in less than a week, so far we have not been able to find out the exact time of when the conference starts and when it ends. And we still have no idea what the schedule of the conference will be like either. We asked high and low but nobody knows... For people who like to know things ahead of time, this is pure torture :)
All three of us are right now struggling with colds so please pray that we would all get well in the next three days. Also please pray for safe travel and for Hannah to do well for so many hours in her car seat.
And one last prayer request. As you probably know, we are organizing an English day camp here in Lviv (July 19-23). There will be an AFLC student missions team coming to lead the camp. Looking at this invitation (in Ukrainian :) ), please pray for the team that will be coming from the States for God to use them in a big way here in Lviv. And also that God would bring all the students He wants to be there at the camp.
Thank you again so much for being part of our lives! Thank you for reading our emails, for praying for us, for keeping in touch, for encouraging us!
Blessings,
Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah
