The Sullivan Family
Missionaries to Ukraine

June 2003

Hello Everyone,

Yes, it has been a very long time since many of you have heard from us and for that we apologize.  Time just seems to get away from us sometimes.  Hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the beginning of summer.

Everyone here is doing very well.  This is officially the first week of summer here and so we are trying to get used to a new routine.  The kids are out of school now and though they say they will miss it, they are glad that they don't have any homework for a while!  They are both looking forward a little break and a much better summer than we had last year!

Since our last update we have keeping busy with various things.  Spring was a good time for us even though the weather was crazy - we had snow and freezing temperatures all the way into April.  We thought spring would never come, but it finally did and now everything is green and beautiful all over the city. Even though it is officially summer, the weather has been very spring like - this is our favorite time of year here - flowers and trees are in bloom everywhere and it is just so beautiful.

March was a relaxing month with spring break for all of us.  The kids had a week off from school and we had a week off from language school, so it was a nice little break.  We had a very nice Easter - two of them actually.  Since Ukraine celebrates their holiday one week later than we do, we had an American service here at our house first, and it was so awesome!  There were about 21 people here - we had a wonderful song service and then a kids message and three of the men (including Shawn) spoke for about 10 minutes each - all giving a little different perspective of the resurrection.  It was so good!  Then we all had lunch together, talked and played games - it was a great time of encouragement and refreshment.  Then for our Ukrainian Easter we went to the small church that we have been praying about working with (in the village of Gatnoe) and had services with them.  Then lots of food and fellowship - it was really nice. 

Speaking of the little church in Gatnoe (pronounced got-noi-ya), we have been attending there for a little over a month now and are trying to help them as much as we can, with our limited language ability.  Shawn has preached a few times for them, with a translator, and is hoping to start some sort of a Bible training with a few of the men there in the near future.  The church family is seeking God's direction in regards to a piece of property.  They need to build a facility as soon as possible.  The small home that we are meeting in is overcrowded already and many people in the community are hesitant to visit a church that meets in a house and not a "building".  Please continue to pray about what God wants us to do in regards to this group of believers.  There is so much potential there but we want to be sure this is where God wants us.

April and May was also the time for baseball.  Shawn was able to coach Cody's team again this year and they were all surprised when they won all but one of their games.  It was a very exciting season - we were second in the entire league.  Our team was a great testimony to the other teams and because the interest in Little League baseball is slowly growing here in Ukraine, it will be a great evangelistic tool for us. 

In April, Shawn was able to lead an evangelistic youth trip to Kmelnitsky, a town about 250 miles from Kiev.  He and a couple of other adults took a team of over 20 high school students and they spent a week setting up sports camps and holding evangelistic meetings and had over 200 teenagers in attendance.  The first night there Shawn spoke and one of the young ladies on the team (a Muslim girl who all the others had been praying for for months) received Christ - that was so exciting!  Many other decisions were made and they had a really great week together.  Shawn was invited back to do some leadership training with some of the men there this summer.

Last week we had our last English Clubs for the year.  Many Ukrainians go on vacation for the summer, so we will have to take the summer off and start back up in the fall.  We had an end of year party at our home and had a good crowd turn out.  It was a nice time and one of the ladies even commented on how she had never been to a party where people weren't getting drunk and were still having a good time.  That really impressed her and confused her a little at the same time.

The kids are both doing very well.  As I said before, they have finished school for the year.  They both had a very good year and made excellent grades - we are proud of them.  Kayla will now be going into the 3rd grade and Cody will be going into 6th grade (first year of Middle School).  He constantly reminds me that he is now a "pre-teen".  I tell him not to rush it - but I remember doing the same thing.  It is just so hard to believe how fast they grow up!!  Where does the time go?!

As far as Shawn and I, we are still going to language school throughout the summer.  We will do three days a week for June and July and then will take August off (our language teacher will take a break).  We plan on studying full time for one more school year (we lost about 6 months of study last year due to all of our housing problems) and then we hope to be able to start full-time ministry of some sort.  We are doing small things now, part time, but are just not able to do what we really want to do without knowing the language much better.  Please continue to pray for our language study - it is very difficult and will take some time before we are fluent enough to do what we came here to do, and that can also be frustrating at times.

In August, since we will all be out of school, we are hoping to take our first real vacation in many years!  We wanted to take a little time last summer, but because of all of our housing difficulties we weren't able to have any time off at all.  We have been offered a place to stay in Austria (in the Alps!) for a week and since it's only about a 500 mile drive from here (we would drive across borders of different countries like you would drive through different states in America, except we will have to deal with a different language every time we cross a border).  We have always wanted to see more of Europe and didn't know if we would ever be able to, so this is an opportunity we would hate to pass up.  From what we hear and the pictures we have seen, the place is absolutely breathtaking and the location in Austria is right near the German border, so we may be able to see a little of Germany as well!  We are so excited - it will be a very nice break if it all works out!  We will let you know and will send pictures!

Well, this has been a very long email, I know, but we just wanted to catch you up on some things that are happening around here.  Please let us know how you are doing and what is happening in your lives - we really do love to hear from you, even if we don't answer you right away.  It is always wonderful to hear from our friends and family, most of the time it is the highlight of our day (and week and month)!  Thanks so much for keeping in touch and for praying for us - it means so much more than you could ever imagine!

We love and miss you - take care!

Love,
Shawn, Amy, Cody and Kayla