Ministry Update: Estonia

Dear Friends,

Your partnership is fueling a spiritual shift in Estonia! We are so grateful to share these highlights of God’s faithfulness and the miracles happening on the ground.

Recent Highlights:

• Youth Outreach in Pärnu: We partnered with a local church to launch their first youth service. After serving coffee in the city center, 60 young people attended—most hearing about Jesus for the very first time!

• Micro-Church Planting: We are piloting "relational gatherings" at Colab to reach those disconnected from traditional church. This is a foundational step toward establishing a new Estonian-speaking community in a new part of the city.

• Youth Missions Week: A visiting team from Texas helped us train local teenagers to live on mission. It’s incredible to see the long-term fruit; one former student from this program is now our Estonian language teacher!

• Tavai! Events: Our quarterly multicultural gatherings continue to grow, recently bringing together Russian, Estonian, English, and Sign Language communities in worship.

• Short-Term Impact: In 2025, we hosted 10 teams. Remarkably, several short-term volunteers are now pursuing long-term missions in Estonia!

Praise Report: A friend from a predominantly Muslim nation recently gave his life to Christ here! He noted the irony—and God's grace—in finding Jesus in one of the world's most secular countries.

Prayer Requests:

• Wisdom: For the logistics and timing of our new church plant.
• Partners: For the right Estonian leaders to join the movement.
• Boldness: For local youth to share their faith courageously.

With love and gratitude,
Patrick and Aleena

On April 23-28 a team of 8 of us went to Baliklia Kharkiv region in Ukraine. The weather was cloudy, wet and cold around 36 degrees much of the time, with one day of warm welcomed sun.We visited 12 villages and two churches. The villages are church plants. Some villages were mostly older women and some had men and middle age folks.

The team did a great job up at 6:30am and in bed by 11 or 12pm exhausted.Both Samantha and Arina were on this trip and Evan my right hand man. Ronaldo, a pastor and Bazillion from our base also was with us along with 3 new people.  Everyone did an excellent job sharing testimonies and two of the new guys shared testimonies and preached for their first time. These trips are special; you feel like you are doing exactly what Jesus called us to do. The new girl, Valya, had a special moment, as she was sharing her testimony she felt as did the team, God was speaking through her and it was a very emotional moment.

We prayed for the sick, fed the poor, shared the Gospel everywhere and built up the body of Christ. We also addressed corruption.

I personally got to see a military family I met 3 years ago; I have been praying for them the whole time. I told them that I have been praying for them all this time and then we as a team prayed for them. We were all in tears, especially the big military guy, they asked us to come back soon to share more time. I cannot express the very strong connection and love we all felt.

Both Samantha and Arina did an excellent job sharing and translation.

We did have a scare and our church in Lutsk was worried for us as communication is very important. The city of Baliklia was attacked and a few shaheed hit around 500-700 yard from us. The team ran and fell to the floor. They also attacked schools. We recently bought a drone and missile and rocket detector. If something is coming towards us we can get its signal and even see it. Technology amazes me.  Drone nets cover much of the roads near the front lines, it is eerie.

Thank you all for your support / prayers we did feel covered. There were literally 10s of thousands of potholes many deep enough to stop you dead. God is great!The local church we work with went out of their way to thank us for being a big part in their ministry. We love and appreciate all they do. They are the true warriors staying through all this.

God's blessings and love,
James, Valya, Arina and Samantha and the 99for1ulkraine team.

As of March 17, 2026 we are planning our next steps into the East. This is very difficult to plan. We are in contact with the local churches in the East and they have told us no one is going to them anymore. One of the main reasons being the drones. They are in need of food and the gospel. As a leader I need prayer for clear leading from God for safety, wisdom and empowerment to carry the weight of the stress of the danger.

Valya is helping make drone nets to save/protect the local people and military. She has two women groups, one ministering to the military women and the other ministering to women in trauma. She is also walking alongside a young girl struggling with suicidal thoughts and she has a lot of one on one meetings bringing hope and encouragment to those in need.

Our daughters are studying in and for University and will travel with me to the Eastern villages to do evangelism and humanitarian aid.

We have a scheduled trip April 23-28, 2026 we will work alongside a local church where there are 11 new church plants/home groups. We are hoping to see new groups encouraged and more to hear the good news of Jesus.

-James

Prayer Requests:

• God's leading will be clear
• Safety and Wisdom
• The stress and danger is hard to put into words, so as a leader I need to continually lean into God for direction and next steps. Prayers that I am able to do this. 

1.) We are fully funded for our adoption! Thank you so much for your amazing generosity: the Lord is providing for us through you. We don't have any more updates here: we are still just waiting and praying to be matched with a baby.

2.) Things have been going well at Moody. My training supervisor has been stepping back a lot, letting me take the reins for supervising the private pilot crew. We have 20 flight students in the private pilot curriculum, and 10 of us instructors. It has been quite a challenge managing all the things that go into supervising! There are lots of administrative tasks involved, but I love getting to be actively involved in mentoring our flight instructors and students. I have learned a lot about how to care well for our crew and how to have hard conversations when necessary. I have gotten to see some real life-change in our students: only the Lord can bring about those kinds of changes. Praise Him!

3.) Shelby and Lewis are doing well. Lewis is heading into kindergarten in the fall! Shelby will still be actively homeschooling him, but a kindergarten will give him more opportunity to learn about how to be around other people.

Shelby has been doing some critical work with our staff and student families. She has organized and provided childcare for some of the larger events, giving wives the opportunity to attend with their husbands. She also has been writing a curriculum in conjunction with some of our staff that has served overseas. "Field Foundations" is an exploration of what it means to serve overseas, whether you are single or have a family. She is half-way done with it. Shelby, Lewis, and I provide childcare for these lessons, which happen every-other month.

4.) Our private-pilot crew will be getting to their first solo flights by the end of April and all through May! Please be praying for our instructors and students as they work hard toward the goal of the instructors sending their students solo.

5.) We have a missions conference taking place on May 5th and 6th! Please pray that the Lord would bless this time to give our students guidance on how to take the next steps toward overseas missions. If you are interested in attending, please let me know! I have the ability to invite some guests to join in the fun.
Thank you so much for everything that you do to support us. We love and appreciate you, and can't wait for the next time that we get to see you all!

In Christ,

Zander (Shelby and Lewis, too!)
509-393-2105

cIn the same city, a men’s group meets every Monday to pray for and support local youth. Brian is hoping to see a similar group begin in Waterville soon.

Thank you for your prayers for Brian’s healing following recent surgery on his left foot. He has been getting around on a knee scooter and is expecting a full recovery.

Please continue praying for Harrington, Almira, Malott, Okanogan, and Coulee City. These are some of Brian’s key focus areas, and encouraging things are already happening. This spring, he has traveled many miles meeting with people, sharing about Jesus, and inviting them to get involved in reaching kids and youth.

Bridgeport, where Brian lives, has become the home of what he calls his “front porch ministry.” When he’s home, kids often stop by after school, creating natural opportunities for connection and encouragement.

“There are so many people who just need a chance—an opportunity to make a difference. And on my watch, it’s going to happen.”

Brian Paine shared recently that he is burdened to identify more youth workers, people who have a heart for reaching students. Pastors are not often able to help him here. The volunteers that pastors know are typically already serving in another arena. Pastors themselves are also strapped for time to reach students.

Brian meets with as many people as he has the opportunity to. Occasionally, he connects with someone who feels called to outreach. Often, these connections happen serendipitously—like when he spoke with the father of a student who, under Brian’s leadership, had begun reading his Bible. Brian asked the man, “How are you doing with Jesus?” That simple question opened the door for a deeper conversation—the man was ready.

Recently, Brian has been connecting with people in Harrington, Hartline, Omak, Tonasket, Bridgeport, Cashmere, Wenatchee, and Mansfield. He meets weekly with a men’s group in Pateros. Connection is the name of the game. Brian never knows when a new contact might bear fruit. He said that he often finds men, particularly, are ripe and just need to be asked. Let us pray, Lord of the harvest, send more workers.

Brian is currently transitioning into a new role within Youth Dynamics. Formerly serving as an Area Director (now called Community Director), he has become the first Communities Ministry Developer for the organization. His initial focus began in North Central Washington, working in communities such as Pateros, Brewster, Bridgeport, and Mansfield.

He has already hired a Community Director in Tonasket, is planning to hire one in Omak this summer, and is prayerfully working toward placing a Director in Brewster later this year.

As a natural connector of people and resources, Brian is deeply committed to building lasting relationships with pastors, leaders, congregations, and organizations. His mission is to support the call of inviting and challenging youth to a lifelong pursuit of Christ and His Church. In his expanded role, Brian's influence now reaches across all of Eastern Washington and into other areas as the Holy Spirit leads.

In addition, Brian is spearheading a property and program development in Malott, a small town south of Okanogan. The property includes unique food storage facilities and is envisioned as a cooperative ministry hub for teaching, discipleship, renewal, and recovery in the region.

Brian greatly values prayer for wisdom and direction in each connection he makes, as he seeks to reclaim territory for the Kingdom. He is actively pursuing new ministry partners and working to raise an additional $2,000 per month in support, as his travel commitments are expected to triple in the coming year.

Jesus is using Brian to encourage and unify the Body of Christ. His vision over the next four years is to see a relational, adventure-based youth ministry presence (YD) established in every community across Eastern Washington.

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas! Praise the Lord for His provision of salvation to us!
We had just enough new updates to share that we wanted to send a quick email. We hope you enjoy the pics!

The Experience Moody Aviation event was SUCH a huge blessing to us. Even as I type this, joy and thankfulness well up in my heart. You all blessed our hearts in ways that are impossible to describe. Thank you, so much!

This is the RISE team, the women's ministry at Moody. Many of the wives of our students at Moody have several challenges: they are often newly married, pregnant, recently moved to Spokane, struggling financially, with a new job, with a husband that is working in a rigorous program, and in a new church. The RISE team wraps their arms around these ladies in their many transitions. Shelby has been very involved in this, working to provide healthy community to the women at Moody. Last month, Shelby was one of the leaders that set up a RISE women's retreat! 42 ladies attended the event. It was an amazing success, and I'm so proud of my wife for her heart and talents for others!

I have been wearing so many different hats lately! The biggest responsibility I have had recently is managing the flight schedule for the 5th year class. Every afternoon, I have assigned 15 students to their 6 instructors to their airplanes, while managing inspection intervals, maintenance problems, poor weather, checkrides, and target dates. Sometimes this took 45 minutes, and sometimes It was all day long! I also organized a 3-day cross-country that our students flew for their instrument rating. It has been a lot of work, but I have really enjoyed it!

Dear Friends,

We hope that you are doing well this season! Praise the Lord that we have so many things to thank Him for, each and every day.

Things got a little hectic there for a bit: sorry for not keeping up with communication! Here is a brief update:

1. July, I served as a supervisor for the first 2 weeks of the new term. At the same time, I taught 2 new groundschool courses. It was an incredibly full 2 weeks!
2. During one of those weeks, Lewis got to play with Grammy and Papa for a whole week while Shelby was the CAMP SPEAKER at Camas Meadows Bible Camp! It was an amazing week for her and the camp, and I am so proud of her for saying "yes" when the Lord prompted her heart.
3. We also got to celebrate Lewis turning 3! We are so proud of that little man.
4. We had a family reunion in Yakima with Shelby's family
    surrounding Steve getting inducted into the Washington Officials Association hall of fame! It was a great time to celebrate with family.
5. Shelby and Lewis were in a car accident: no injuries!!! The Lord blessed us so much with everyone's safety. The car is totalled, so we have been waiting on insurance money and hunting for a vehicle.
6. We got to participate in "New Student Retreat" for the 1st year incoming students. It was great to get to see who the Lord brought to Moody this year and help them build community!
7. Lewis dropped the toilet lid into the tank, cracking the toilet (impressive, I know). We replaced the toilet and installed new flooring, a first for me!

What has been going on in your world? Has a child ever broken YOUR toilet before?

Please pray for:

1. The car hunt!
2. Wisdom how to serve our church in Spokane well this fall
3. Continued community building for the 1st year students
4. I am finishing up the 2nd of the 2 classes the first week in September: pray that the students and I finish well, and transition well to the next task (unknown at this point).
5. Small groups started up at Moody: prayer that the Lord knits our small group together as we draw near to Him.

We love and appreciate you so much! We could not do any of this without you. Praise the Lord for the community we get to share in!

We took our Bridgeport Youth Group, A Proverbs Ministry of Bridgeport, on a little outing outside of Tonasket, a great time of connecting and continuing our conversation regarding the reverence of God. I've been referencing a verse from Psalm 139 attempting to initiate this deep intimate relationship with God, not only as the Father, but as an incredible Creator, where God thinks of them more than the sand of the earth. We then continued out of Isaiah. We know with the James Webb telescope that the universe contains billions of more galaxies, with billions more stars and planets, and yet, God measures it all with the mere span of his hand. Easier to talk about that when you're actually looking at a portion of the Milky Way than in some building somewhere.

Please continue to pray over our group, our new ministry van we hope to equip with a new vinyl wrap in order to work on a little brand marketing of Youth Dynamics in NCW. Pray for breakthroughs over these spirits of religion and begrudgery which is so prevalent here. Lastly, to pray over this vacant church building behind my house where we served communities during the 2020 Cold Springs Fire; I'd like to see a cooperative ministry there, although I'm not exactly sure what that looks like.

Peace and Wellness to All,
Brian

This last term went very well, with some really cool mentoring opportunities for our students. I had some great opportunities with some of our first year students this year!

We have a new graduating class! 6/22 is our graduation ceremony. I had the privilege of working closely with two of the graduates over their time at Moody. One of them is coming on staff as a flight instructor at Moody, too! Pray for them as they take their next steps toward serving the Lord with their aviation skills.

We have a vacation coming up! We are driving up to Canada to celebrate Shelby's 30th birthday at Banff. What an amazing opportunity to honor the Lord by celebrating the special person that He gave us. Please pray that the trip would be restful and wonderful for our family.

This upcoming term, I have a large workload for the first two weeks (July 8-19th). I will be teaching two new (to me) groundschool classes and stepping in as a supervisor while our supervisor is out of town. This is new territory: please pray that we start the term well, and that the Lord sustains us over those busy two weeks.

Please pray that our students rest well over the next couple of weeks, and that they draw near to the Lord whether they are resting or working.

- Zander and Shelby Robertson

Brian's work in "Bridgeport" has been renamed: it is now called "North Central Washington Youth Dynamics", to better represent the region where God has called me. What is this region you ask? Everywhere north of Wenatchee to Oroville, Twisp/Winthrop and east to Davenport, WA. Please pray for directors, staff and volunteers for the 20+ communities represented in this region.

Currently we have over a dozen middle school and high school youth along with over half a dozen adult leaders and volunteers from Brewster, Bridgeport and Mansfield attending our weekly youth group, A Proverbs Ministry. We will continue to meet during the summer to be consistent in the Word. Thank you for praying as opposition is always around the next corner.

Thank you for your prayers for our first ministry van. A 1999 Ford 15-passenger van with less than 40k miles, purchased from a Methodist church near Portland, OR.  We’re currently raising funds to replace the purchase fee of $8,000, licensing and applying a vibrant vinyl wrap with the YD logo and those of our ministry van partners. Anyone who would like to support NCW Youth Dynamics ministry or our van project, please email me at bpaine@yd.org.

Blessings and Peace to all of you!

-Brian

Youth ministry in Bridgeport continues to be one of the darkest and toughest locations to bring the Gospel message. Roughly 90% of its 2200 residents identify as Hispanic and believe Catholicism to be the default religion of their “culture", although nobody attends Catholic services here. For the first time last week, a dozen teens from Brewster, Bridgeport and Mansfield gathered in beautiful downtown Bridgeport to make introductions, break bread, and open the Word to learn about what Solomon had to say in Proverbs chapter 10. Amazing time together and answer to loads of prayer.

My new advisory team met for the first time, after 3 years of prayer and representing 4 main communities, on April 15th. Please pray for wisdom, guidance and provision, for favor and provision for the purchase of much needed 15-passenger ministry van, and for our first major fundraiser benefiting

NCW Youth Dynamics (name change) and Young Life of Okanogan Valley. This event is being set for late September with the proceeds assisting both areas with scholarships for camps and adventures, ministry transportation, food and snacks, staff and volunteer training, event and adventure equipment, etc.

- Brian

Last week we found out about a medical need with our partners the Benedict's--whose daughter Adison needed treatment for abdominal pains related to food poisoning. They had prayer and financial need and you responded. Thanks so much! Your generousity met their need and they are so grateful. Their work in Costa Rica is on-going because of Jesus, but also because of our support.

Justin, Grifyn and their kids are active in evangelism, preaching in churches, discipling others through children’s ministry, youth ministry, pastoral/leadership training, humanitarian, building projects, restoration of those in addictions, and distribution of food, clothes and bibles. Please keep praying for them.

Zander had the privilege of representing Moody there. He said, "one of the coolest things about this trip was the many opportunities that we had to minister to people. No matter where we were, we got to share about how the Lord’s great love empowers us to join with Him in reaching the lost with Christ."

Zander represented Jesus well...saying, "No Christian is exempt from living life “on mission.” That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to be in another country to be involved in missions. Missions is right here, right now, wherever God has you. Let’s be bold together and say YES to whatever God is calling us to do to reach the lost."

Justin Benedict and his family, our missionary partners in Costa Rica, have come into a difficult situation this past weekend and need our help. Several of the family members received food poisoning from eating at a church lunch. All but one of them recovered fine. Their daughter Adison (2nd from top right in photo) required much more help and is still recovering after a hospital stay. Their insurance did not cover all of the expenses and they have asked if we could help.

We want to give you the opportunity to help if the Lord would direct you. They need at least $3,000 to cover the additional expenses. You can give in person at the church, through this link or by mail (to Christ Center, 5800 Kimber Rd., Cashmere, WA 98815).  Specify: for the Benedicts.

Let us also be diligently praying for them, particularly Adison's recovery, but also for their whole family and the mission in Costa Rica --Justin & Grifyn, Hailey, Adison, Chloey, Makensie, Landen, Levi, Jubilee, Kaeden & Olivia.

Lord Jesus, thank you for this family through whom we have opportunity to partner with to reach people in Costa Rica. Restore Adison's health. Help them continue to live with Your joy. Supply their needs in abundance so they can freely give to those they serve. May Your word and love pour through them today.

Thank you,
Pastor Andy Robinson

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus!

I know many of you are praying for me and my family and our 99for1ukraine team. First thank you for your ongoing support for us and the team, it's very needed. The enemy does not want us to keep going.Pray for my health, I am struggling with knee and foot, back, and kidney and liver problems, it is not all but enough. I am working on exercise, changing my diet and of course praying!

Valya and the girls are doing well, Valyas still working with the military wives and also some ladies from Bakmud, a city that was totally destroyed. Also she is taking great care of our girls and our home, which for me is my garden of eden where I can look at and see God's blessings, beauty and creation. It's where I have many of my personal times with God and rejuvenate after and before trips.

Last month, I was in the USA sharing about the war and our ministry. It was a very focused time of sharing and sadly I did not have much time to visit some family and friends. But it was a fruitful trip.

Since I got back, I helped my family get ready for the summer. Spending time with my beautiful girls,  just good times together.  

Our 99for1ukraine team was planning a trip into a new location about two weeks ago but had to cancel because of scheduling conflicts. But we rescheduled and are planning on going to the new location, it's called Slavyansk, It's near Donetsk close to the front.
We don't know much about this area. We are in contact with another team in the Poltava region that has gone there several times to bring in humanitarian aid and share the gospel. They asked us to come and to show them what we do by bringing in the salvation message, something they have yet to do, that's all I know. It is obviously a bit of a dangerous area. The Russians have been aggressive there since the start in 2014.

We need your prayer support, prayers are very needed. We will leave April 24th-May 2nd - First- That we would be very full of God and boldness. Safety for the team and all vehicles to run well, great teamwork, good health. Also that hearts of all the people we meet will be open for receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.  Also favor, with the local authorities and military posts we need to go through.

Heads! up for anyone interested- Valya and I will be helping with a DTS school our base is running in September 22. It's a 5.5 month time of getting to know God more intimately. I call it, a honeymoon with God. If you're interested or know someone that might want to be going through such a school, let me know. It's 3 months of lectures and two months of outreach. part of that is with me. It's for married or single foks,  I would recommend this school, yep it's in Lutsk.

Thank you for your support in prayers and finances.

Love,
James and Valya, Arina and Samantha Hopkins YWAM Lutsk Ukraine