Its out last month on the World Race and I'll be honest, I'm tired. Most of my clothes have holes in them, I am down to one pair of socks and I have permanent indentations on my shoulders from lugging around a 40 plus pound backpack. I guess I really never though I would make it till the end. Back in December, when I would think about the last month of my race, my attitude was, I will either give up and come home, or I will probably be dead by then. After I survived Asia, (three hospital stays and a stolen passport) I knew that there was no turning back, that the Lord wanted me on this trip and there was nothing the enemy could do to stop me from bringing Kingdom to this earth. Even after making it through Africa, it was still hard for me to think about what November was going to look like. It wasn't until the conference in Romania that I checked my ideas with the Lords and knew there was still a lot of work to do. In Odessa, we met 2 boys from Poland who pretty much offered their parents house to us for a week, so we came. In Kiev, for our debrief, I strongly felt the Lord telling my team to just "go." So, our last month, the shortest month, we are (Lord willing) going to attempt to travel to four countries in Eastern and Western Europe to end on a high note. After being here in Warsaw for a week, we leave for Prague, Czech Republic on the third, fly to Milan, Italy on the sixth, and possibly travel to Switzerland after ending the journey in Vienna, Austria for a week.

It is time to use everything that is left in me to finish strong. This trip is not about me, its not about how tired I am and that I have almost finished the adventure the Lord set out for me, it is about pouring out all that is still in me to those I come in contact with. However, it seems to be a never ending feat when you consider how God continues to fill us up when we empty ourselves for His good. Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This message is for all of us, not just the ones who call themselves missionaries. As believers, this is our responsibility. And, as long as He wants me too, it will be my intention.

After cancelled trains, sleeping on the streets of Moldova and backpacking through the city, we finally arrived in Odessa, Ukraine. We were met at the bus station by our new friend Natallica who took us to an apartment in the outskirts of town to stay the night with one of her classmates. They fed us borsch, a Ukranian potato type stew when we got there. After walking what seemed like miles and miles, we were so happy to have a place to stay for the night. After an interesting night of sleep we woke up and decided our first order of business was to find our own place to live for these next 3 weeks. Natallica helped us, (after about 5 options fell through) find a 2 bedroom flat in the center of the old part of the city. Although we don't all have beds, I cant tell you how nice it is to have a place of our own with hot water and heat! It is funny what gets me excited these days. Hanna, Kim and I are sleeping in the basement, it has no windows and is very quiet, kinda reminds me of our basement bedroom back in the states. We have a little kitchen and three TV's. We already searched all the channels, and they are all in Russian, even MTV. Having gone a year without TV though, we don't even miss it. I am really excited about our ministry this month, we will be working with college students from the local University. We went to "English club" last night and met several of them. A few of them came back with us last night to eat dinner and watch "Elf" with Will Ferrell. I don't think they all quite understand American sense of humor, but they had fun just spending time together and with us. We have already been to the black sea and have plans to pick nick there tomorrow and at least stick our feet in. Our team in the only one here in Odessa this month and I feel extremely blessed to be here. God has taken such good care of us already. I am looking forward to the relationships that we have already begun to build and just enjoying this beautiful city.