Monday, December 5, 2011

This Week

So it has been a good few weeks. I’ve just been praying and spending time with people really. God has been opening up new friends and it has been cool! I’ve also been spending time with old friends too. It has been really good. Sometimes you just don’t realize how much you make a difference in people’s lives. But if you think about it, you really do. You could be the only person that smiles at a person today or says something encouraging to a friend! We all matter to God and to each other! The Friday night home group with the young people is going good. I feel like we are starting to get connected! New people are coming too! God is really doing stuff there! Thanks for your prayers with it. Amy talked about this week hearing from God and He calls us by name! It was good!
The gypsies are going well with Jana! She does such a great job! There were a lot today and there were really little kids too. Jana did such a good job of teaching them and getting them to participate. We went over numbers today! They of course did a good job! I’m really proud of all of them! We also went over sour and sweet. Jana gave them a lemon to show sour, and sugar to show sweet. Then we had carpet time, and they all sat around in the circle. She put on sum Gypsy worship music, and they all lit up when they heard it. It was good! The kids are really learning, and more moms are letting their kids come!
Thanks so much for all your love, support, and prayers! They make so much of a difference here! You all are a big part here!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Kindergarden

The gypsies have been going well. We have been going every week Jana goes three times a week, and I go two times a week. We are really seeing so much improvement in them. They are getting really well with the colors. They are getting really well with knowing the fruits and animals. This morning we had carpet time for the first time. This is a miracle in it self. When I first started coming, we spent half the time trying to get them to sit much less teach them anything. And now, we are having carpet time! They are also doing listening exercises where we act out the things we hear. They are learning so much! They absolutely loved it! You can really see they are learning so much. They love playing with play dough. We do puzzles with them. At first they didn't know what to do with them, but now they are pros! You can tell that they treat each other better too. They have really started to show love and affection more to us and each other! God is really moving there! Jana has done such a great job! I have been doing little dances with them, and they love it! Please pray though they all have running noses and bad coughs! I', so proud of them! There is this little one named Nickoleta, and when she sees me she runs and gives me a hug! These kids will be so much more advanced then their older siblings!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Coming Back For His Bride!

So tonight before church we went to Starbucks. Right next to Starbucks is a church. It was so amazing because we were having coffee, and I look over and they were getting ready for a wedding. People were gathering and anxiously awaiting! There were people all dressed up waiting, and there were also complete strangers standing around waiting to see the bride come to meet the groom at the church. There were even some druggies hanging out there that stopped to just take part and to see the bride. I thought that is was so amazing. Eventually the bride came in the car, and drove up and got out to meet the groom. Everyone just gasped. They were just so excited. From people who knew the couple to people who were complete strangers. Everyone was affected by the bride coming to meet the groom. It was amazing! This totally made me think of Jesus coming back for His Bride (us). It made me especially think that you know everyone will be affected when He comes back for us!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

This Week

Hey everyone! This past week we have had people coming in. It has been good. Last weekend we had a conference on Maturity, and Stojan Gajicki was here to teach on it. It was so cool that they picked this theme a year ago, before all that has happened here. It was such a timely word for Greece, and our church. Now is the time we have to walk in Maturity in the world, in our families, and in the church. There are so many things going on right now, and our reaction to them can affect how others see us, God, and the circumstances we are in. It was cool to hear him talk about if a brother does something to you to go that brother. It was such a good word for here. Especially now! People need friends and family there is no room today to push someone away because there is an offense a friend. We have to show each other mercy! It was cool people came from the Michaniona group, and from Mike’s church. It was good all everyone together! This weekend we will have Ellie, Beverly and Margie doing a seminar Friday and Saturday at Mike Long’s church about Prayer and Prophecy. Please be please be praying for this! Last night Ellie did a presentation on “What art sells and what does not sell.” It was very good. People came, and they really enjoyed it. One guy brought his stuff, and she gave him advice on it! It was amazing! I was actually interested, even though I am not an artist. It was cool to hear her and her family’s stories of her journey through selling art. God just blessing them every step of the way, and just the God would use her art to touch the life of others believers and non believers! She just had really cool testimonies about paintings she had done. There was this one of the Tree of Life and this couple who are Christians bought it. The lady told her people would come over to her house and cry when they say it. The lady asked Eli why and Eli told her. Here is her and her husband’s webpage http://www.milanartanddesign.com/Welcome.html. I of course love the dance ones! It is cool to meet people who are so using what they got to love God and reach others! I love it!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Today

Today I went with Jana to the gypsies to start the kindergarten up again. There was about ten of them. We went over the colors red, yellow, and green with them. They all tried to figure what was red, green and yellow with cards. Then we played with them some games about washing hands, brushing teeth, and washing their bodies. They did well. By the end, they were ready to go play. It was so funny, because there was a girl who could not sit still who kept moving around and asking Jana a lot of questions, but when we went to leave she had a group of kids around her. She was acting like she was their teacher. It was funny!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Missions School in the Spring

Hey Everyone! Check out the mission’s school for the spring. Here is the link. It will be here in Thessaloniki.
http://www.metamorphosis-som.info/#

Germany and the 24/7 Prayer Europe Meeting!

Hey everyone! We are back from Germany! It was an adventure all around! We left and drove to Germany. It was good just a good trip. It took a while to get there, but there was so much to see on the way there. It seemed like all the little towns we stopped at were just so beautiful! It was such a beautiful and different part of Europe I had never seen before. It was just so lovely. Even this random place where we stopped for lunch was like a little café, and it has amazing wood details all on the inside of it. It was cool trying Austrian and German food too. The people were so sweet, and they were so helpful whenever you asked for directions and stuff.
We got to the conference, and we had a day to go around and look at Frankfurt. It was cool finding new stuff and looking around. It was interesting and different. The conference start the next day, and it was cool to see people from all over Europe on fire for Jesus! There were people from all over. From students, to teachers, to missionaries, to business people, there were all types of people there for three things. Those three things were Jesus, Europe, and prayer. It was amazing, and encouraging. Some people were fighting to help stop the human trafficking. Some people were living in communities to change the area they live in. It was good. The teachings were encouraging. People shared what was going on in their areas. They talked about Ireland. It was amazing to hear what God had done there in the past year. They said things had changed from everything from the area the people lived in to government that the queen had come for the first time in so many years! I spent time that night with three girls who lived there, and they said it really has been such a big change. I met a girl who worked in Turkey as a teacher and she was actually from Tennessee. It was cool meeting her; I told her we are neighbors. The first night they opened by having us all bow down and asking to hear from God. The place was an open room, and when everyone did it I could just feel two things. The power of what was in these people from all over Europe and just the gratefulness on God’s heart that we would just all bow and praise Him. Just the positioning of ourselves makes a difference and a statement sometimes.
I really enjoyed one of the outbreak sessions. This woman talked about the different kind of praying people do and how God created us. It was cool, I felt relieved after coming out of there. It was funny because I talked to people who were there, and they said the same thing too. She said it was like people going to the beach. There are sunbathers, snorkelers, ice-cream givers, and surfers. It was cool, because I am totally a sunbather. I sit and focus on who God is what He shows me, and I forget to pray about what is going on or things people need then you just feel guilty. She just went through what all they were, and then she was like embrace what you are, and yes be aware of what the challenges are about that. Like for me I have to intentionally remember to pray for people and stuff going on with others. Another breakout session I went to was about making a missions mind set. It was cool because in that the guy said that when you live somewhere, you will end up praying the same thing over again. Sometime I would think it is stupid to be praying the same thing like all the time, but it was encouraging to hear that yeah you are going to pray the same thing over again and again. He also said everyone has a stumbling journey. Which I thought was really interesting. You know I feel like we always teach that we are going to be blessed, but we never teach about hey sometimes we screw up and have to try again or something different. I really liked when he said that “Your calling shouldn’t be insignificant to anyone else’s.” Basically, don’t compare your calling or what God does in you, because it will be different then everyone else, but yours is just as important as everyone else’s calling.
Then there was a night was we prayed for all the countries and that was cool. They encouraged people to take sticks to pray for a country and to pray for another country. They also encouraged people to go places in Europe. People took big sticks if they felt like they were suppose to go somewhere, and people were so excited! It was cool the last night we prayed for people and I prayed with this girl and gave her a word. It was cool, because you could really see the peace of God just really fall on her afterwards. It was totally a cool Jesus moment. God was doing some good stuff in her. It was just a good time and encouraging hearing what God was doing in people all over Europe. The conference was called “Aufsthen,” which means to stand. The whole time it was really encouraging people to stand where God has them!
Then we left and went to Munich, and met up with Tommie’s oldest son and his family. It was cool. We took some time to walk around there too. It was good. It was so amazing to drive home too. We drove through Salzburg and through the Alps. I loved driving through the Alps it was just how I always dreamed it would be because it had snowed. It was cool! I am so grateful to have gone and met many different people all over Europe, and to see what God was doing in different places, and to see beautiful places in Europe. Thanks for all the prayers and support to make it possible.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

What is new

Wow what to say! I don’t really know where to start. There is so much going on right now, in different areas. Well we are starting the new group for young people which I am really excited about! There is a couple who moved here from Kos who are in their thirties. Amy and I are going to do the home group with them. That is one thing.
We are leaving for Germany on Tuesday for a week or so. We are going for a 24/7 Prayer conference. I’m really excited, because I have never been to this one before. I’m excited to meet people all over Europe working with 24/7, and hearing what God is doing all over Europe! Please be praying for us, and we are going to be driving there so you can pray for that as well.
Tommie is doing a lot to get the school ready for March. They are going to announce it at the conference in Frankfurt. So you all can pray for that. That God will bring the students and the people to help. They have found a place to have it that is nice. Please be praying that it will all come together!
Also, I had a chance to go the gypses this week and it was really cool! I’m excited for spending time with them this year! Also, there was a miracle with them. The government kept coming and saying we will send them to school. Every year they would come and say this. Well, finally this year it happened. Please pray though for the teachers. Some teachers have already quit because of not wanting to teach them. Also, pray for transportation for them to school. Right now they have to take themselves. So pray for a bus or something. Whatever God wants to do. When I get back from Germany I will work with another lady with the younger ones for kindergarden and they will be more ready. It was so cute working with them the other day. One just gave me a hug and just did not want to let go. We were working with puzzles with the older kids. It was really cool, because one of them in Greek said, “Where is the number five. I see one, two, three, four… but where is the number five?” I showed it to her, and she was like oh I get it. It was such a honor to teacher her even just that. It was cool!
Thanks for all your love and prayer and support!

Friday, September 30, 2011

A Finder of Peace

So as many of you know there is a lot going on here in Greece! That is an understatement. But here is what I feel like God is said to me, I was reading Song of Solomon today, and I read chapter 8:10. The verse says, “Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.” This really stuck out to me when I read it because it seems like what is shaking people right now is them not having peace. What people had peace in before has been shaken. I felt like God was really speaking to me about being one who finds peace! Like to live it, but to find it. It is really cool, because I mean we are taught you know the fruits of the spirit and they are love, joy, peace…. So I guess it all goes back to remaining in the Spirit in God’s presents. And we are the ones who are to be there and find it in even in a shaking world. I don’t think this is only for Greece! I think it also goes back to the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5:9 “Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the sons of God.” When we are sons of God we show peace and “find” it. When we are in a situation that we are surrounded by people are struggling with it we are the ones who have it or are to find it. Even in my own life there is stuff going on, but I to be one who finds peace. It is a challenge, but one worth it. It affects us and the people around us.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Summer Update and Going Back

Summer
Hey everyone! Well Saturday is the big day! I can’t believe it is here! It has been an honor a privilege to have been able to be in America for the past three months. It has been good. There have been ups and there have been downs, but God is faithful. I had a chance to go to Florida and work for a daycare for two and a half months. It was a blessing to be with my friends and family down there. It was a good time of reconnecting with family. It was cool! I wasn’t sure what God was bringing me there for, but I knew I was supposed to go. I first went to the daycare that my friend Tiffany worked for in June. I was able to work there from June until the Middle of Aug. It was such a blessing to work with kids there, and the teachers there. I really learned a lot from the teachers because they were Pre-K teachers so they really knew how to organize and run a classroom. We really helped out with the field trips. It was so cool!
When I finished, I came to Virginia. It has been amazing and awesome to be around here. First there was a conference where Chris and Nancy came from Oklahoma. There was also Jim and Mimis here from South Carolina. It was really good they shared each of their revelation about the prophetic. It was really good and encouraging. Chris had a forum about the prophetic. Someone brought up healing, and the Lord did a thing in me about healing. We prayed for anyone who had prayed for someone to be healed, and they were not. That helped a lot, and I felt freedom when they prayed over us in that. It was cool.
It has really been good to meet up and catch up with old friends. It was good to make some new ones! It has really been so encouraging! I really feel so blessed to have family all over the world. It was good to hear what God is doing in people’s lives here. It was amazing to hold friend’s children that were born while I was gone.
Seriously big thanks to everyone who made that happen! Thanks DP and Grace Tab! Especially thanks to my parents and grandparents for helping me so much when I was at their place.
Upcoming
So Saturday is the day. I am flying from Washington D. C. I’m really am excited what God is going to be doing this year. I’m excited to see what this year will be like. I’m praying that the Lord will open the doors on the campus. There are some many people there who are just searching for something more, and just long for relationships. There are also people who are just so passionate to be involved in something, and they just get involved in unhealthy stuff and support that. You just know they need Jesus and that is really what they are looking for. I know we will continue to meet to pray for Greece and the other nations five days a week together. Prayer does make a difference there! We will continue to go around and travel where God is building relationships. In November, we will take a trip around to Germany to meet up with all the 24/7 Prayer crew. I’m really excited about meeting all the different people from 24/7 around Europe. I’m really excited to see what God is going to do in the different relationships that I already have. Like the two girls we met last year. I do believe the Lord is also going to do so many new and different things that I don’t even know of yet. I heard this today when I was praying about it. So I’m excited that God is like listen and hear and write it down. Hab. 2:2 “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run.”I really like that, “The one who reads it may run!” Just part of the fun walk in faith! I’m just walking in this to know Him more, and to love others! That is my heart!
Finances
Right now financially I’m at $1,700. With a totally of $75 a month in monthly supports. The budget I have is $700 a month. Please be praying for this!
I cannot say thank you enough for all of you who pray and give! It really makes a difference in my life and the lives of the people I’m involved with! Thank you! Thank you!
Points of Prayer
To hear what God is doing in Greece and the Balkan area we are in for this year. That the Lord will open up doors in and outside the church. That the joy of the Lord will be my strength. That the Lord will just direct my footsteps wherever I go personally, and as a team. Just to know Him more and love people there more! Just to see more people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior there! More mercy and grace in this season. Finances. For wisdom and revelation!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Team Leaving and USA trip Beginning

Thus the USA tour has begun…. But before we get there… We had the Virginia team in Thessaloniki for the past two weeks and a half. They did great! I’m really proud of them. They went to the gypse camp and they loved it! We went to campus a most days in the week. They did a great job of meeting people and talking to people. One day they ended up doing back flips with this girl. It was cool because we reconnected with a girl we had met before. They also connected well with a friend of mine Alex and her boyfriend. They did a great job spending time with them and just pouring into them. They all were such troupers and did a great job of meeting people and jumping into whatever was going on. One night we had an outreach at the Perea pear. Annette, Alex, and I talked to this girl for a while about God. She really had a hard time about if God is really why you can’t see Him. She also had a hard time that if God loves us then why do we go through pain. It was so interesting talking to her. At the end I challenged her to ask God to show Himself in her life. As well as I also told her, that I believe that God sent us to her that night to tell her about God. We had a party and had some going away fun! It was hard saying good bye to my friends there, even though it is only for three months. I really miss it already and I am just sitting in the DC airport hahaha. Please pray that I will find a summer job, and that I will raise all my support for next year. Thanks everyone that has made this possible! I really am so grateful! Jesus is really doing a thing!!!
I had read in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 “You are out letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with Spirit of the living God, not on a tablet of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” This really spoke to me about the people I have poured into this year. They are the letters in my life of anything I have done this year and the year before that. It is cool I wish everyone could meet them.
Thus begins the USA trip I will be here until September. If you want to meet up e-mail me or call me. I would love to meet up with everyone! I will be in VA from June 2, 2011- June 6, 2011. Then I will be in Florida.
Thanks again for all your prayers and supports!!!! They really do affect so many people and change lives. God is doing stuff!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Yesterday

Yesterday we went to campus with the interns. We started, and then it started to rain. But before that we talked to this sweet girl named Iris. Her mom is from America. Alex talked to her. It was good. We asked her to go swimming on Saturday. So we are praying that the weather will be good. We thenh just went to the church and prayed with the interns. They are doing a great job! I’m proud of them! The night before it was cool because I went with Alex (the girl) and met a friend of her’s. It was really cool! I am excited! She seems really cool! God is doing so much it blows me away. I love it here!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Different Teams

A lot has happened in the past week. As many of you know, we went to Skopje last weekend to do a women’s conference with Paula Sizemore, Jen Cesareo, and Tammy O’Reilly. It was really a quick visit. God did some really cool things! They would teach, and then we would break up into groups. The groups went really well! There was a crew that came down from Serbia, and they were so precious! I had the chance to stay with them one night! They were so sweet! They really helped when it came to small groups, because they would be so open! It was good!
Then the crew from Virginia came. There are four interns here! We took them to Thasos where there was a Swedish team helping out our sister church there. It was great! They jumped right in and started helping on a skit they were going to perform the next day. They all got involved! We did it the next day and a group of people came. About twenty people saw it. There were two girls that Annette and Taska spoke to that got saved! It was really cool! One of them knew Lena (one of the missionaries living on the island). It was great. The next day we all prayed together for Thasos! It was all really good! God is moving and doing good things! He is awesome!!!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Aslan is on the Move!

Hey everyone so much has happened in the past two. One thing was that really big was that a whole house came to know Jesus here. Tommie and Gunialla have friends here that they have known for a long time. This week Tommie went over there, and spoke to their family about Jesus. When he did, the whole family accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior! There was a father, mother and three kids. There was also another friend of their daughter’s there. Amy and I had the privilege of meeting the two girls on Saturday! It was so cool! It was totally God! They just were awesome! Then Amy asked if they wanted to read the Bible together, and they both were like “YEAH!” So we are planning to meet with them regularly. Like I’m so excited and just want to jump for joy and cry of excitement at the same time! There is also another family God is moving in! Their cousin came to town and introduced us. Alex is just so hungry for God! It is just soooooo cool to see what we have been praying all year to come true and just to know God is just moving so much! And just that everything we have sown is happening! And that God has so much more than that! I’m so excited! God is truly doing so much here!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Just Thinking

I was reading today in Act 9-10 and I really liked what God was doing in two people in these chapters. The first was really in verse 9:36 where Peter comes to Joppa and he hears about this woman who had just done so much for all the people around her that when she had died the community was shaken up by her. Two things that stuck out to me about her were that it was said of her in verse 36 “this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.” She really lived such an example that people really praised and saw what she did. She really made such a difference in her community. The second is later on in it talks about what the widows thought of her in verse 39, “And all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.” She really knew how to reach the people around her! She saw something she could impact, and she did so much when she died the people begged Peter to raise her again. I pray that we will be people that make such a difference in the people around us! That God will show us how to impact the people around us. We have a friend here in Greece named Yana. She really reminds me of Dorcas, because she really sees the needs of people and really does whatever she can to help. I really look up to her! She really makes a difference here in Thessaloniki. I believe we all have things/people in our lives we can impact or make a difference in! Whether it is a neighbor or a people group… I pray that God will show us all individually!
The other person was Peter when he had the vision about the meat in chapter ten. Act 10:9-16 “On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.’ Again a voice came to him a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.”
The verse that really hit me was verse 15, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” When I was in intern in Virginia, we talked about this. I think sometimes we are really hard on each other and ourselves! Whenever we think of people in our lives we should see them how God sees them. I think it was neat when Dorcas was talked about in Chapter nine she was talked about the things she had done. They did not mention the mistakes she had ever made. They did not talk about her as whatever she looked like. They talked about the positive influence she made on the people around her! That is how she was remembered and talked about! I like how Jesus uses people in the Bible who have had pasts, but He sees every single one of them as “holy.” We all have an opportunity to “see people as holy!” We have an opportunity to see ourselves as “holy.”
It has been really such a good opportunity meeting new people recently! God has been bringing new people in our lives here in Greece. One person asks frequently do you mind when I do such and such. Is this ok to do so and so. She then said the other day, “I want to learn the rules of your religion.” God has really given me a heart to see this person and others as holy. I told her the rules God has is to love Him and love others! Over time God will take care of everything else. The such and such, and the so and sos will be ironed out as she walks with God!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter!!!!!!!!

I love Easter in Greece! We had such a great time! We went and watched my Big Fat Greek Wedding on Saturday with everyone! It was so much fun! Liz and Nickola even came! It was fun! Then at 11:30pm we went to the Orthodox church in Mihanona. There were so many people there. The streets were full of people. It was crazy. We went inside the church to look, and there were so many people. There were flowers on the Icon stuff. It was cool to see! Then at midnight the priest came out, and everyone lit their candles from person to person. It was so amazing to see! You just look down the streets and see all these people with candles lit. It was beautiful. Then everyone gave each other kisses! I loved it! Then there were fireworks! It was awesome! Then everyone drove home with their candles lit.
The next day Costa’s did a lamb on the spit. It was so cool! The pictures are on Facebook. There were so many people! It was awesome! It was amazing because our friend Alex and her family came. It was really good, because they really connected! It was so a God thing! We enjoyed them, and they enjoyed us! Her dad even helped with cooking the lamb! He had a restaurant for 15 years before. It was totally a God thing meeting them! People got connected! It was just an amazing day all over! It was awesome!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Quick Trip

The other day we went to Thasos to see the church there. We took about 15 people from Thessaloniki to there. It was a good time of spending time getting to know people for me. Liz and a lady named Alexandra road in the car I was in. It was cool getting to know them more. That night Rick spoke on the Holy Spirit. It was awesome because I had prayed that Liz would be baptized in the Spirit before we went on the trip. So when Rick talked about the Holy Spirit it was such a good opportunity. When we went to pray for people I asked her if she wanted to pray for what Rick talked about and she said yes. So it was so God and cool! We got to see the people from the church there! It was really good!
It was a good trip! We also found a really cool beach. It was good to see Danielle from Serbia. We walked up to a small village near the hotel and it was so beautiful. It was a place where they watched for Pirates coming in. It was a really cool view.
Quick Rev
I was reading in John and in Chapter 14 Jesus says in verse three “’And you know the way where I am going.’ Vs. 5 Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’ vs 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.’”
This passage really spoke to me this week when I read it! First I love how Jesus is so confident in His answer! He doesn’t say oh you need to learn the way or one day you will figure out the way. No, He said “You know the way!” Second, we always talk about a “relationship” with Jesus. It just also shows Jesus’ teaching style of He lived it then He taught it! He showed them a relationship with Him, and then He explains to them through this relationship they had the “how” to get to the Father! They already “knew the way” because they knew Him! I love it also in John 10:14 Jesus says “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” I know we always say this, but it is not about doing whatever, but about knowing Him, and in that is everything! That is what He was trying to teach the disciples and us today!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Beirut

Beirut
This past week we went to Beirut, Lebanon. It was really an interesting trip. There was a conference scheduled between Syria and Lebanon, but with everything going on in Syria there was a thought to cancel it, because the boarders were closed. So we were all coming from all over to go to this conference and help out. The consisted of our team from Thessaloniki, people from America, a group from England and a guy from Germany who were coming. We all felt like we were supposed to go. So we went. We got there and it really was an interesting place.
They said in the past it was a known place of war, but right now it is the calmest place in the Middle East. We arrive to do the conference and there are more of us then them. It was cool though, I really connect with two sisters. One led worship and one played the drums. The one who played the drums was just soooo good at it. I told her that and she said, “Oh yes, it is a gift from God.” It really was such a joy to get to know them. I also got to know the daughter of the pastor there really well, and they were awesome! They were so sweet.
It was crazy the first day went and prayed in the middle of the city. There was a statue there that stood for freedom, and it had all these bullet holes in it. The city is actually divided into Muslims and Christians. It was interesting. We went and prayed were the divided line is. It was cool. The next day we had another meeting. It was good. I think it was important to be with them even though there wasn’t that many of them. We had another meeting the next day and God really started to move. I even got messed up. That night a group of Syrians crossed the border and came. It was cool to meet some of them, and to hear their stories. It was good! The next day we prayed for the churches together. It was huge. That night God did a lot in people’s lives. It was cool to be a part of it and be there. I really felt blessed to be there. We spent the next day with everyone, and ate together and saw a few sights together. It was really neat getting to know the people there.
It is really interesting for a city that has seen so many wars. You can tell on the people that they just have been through a lot and that life has not been easy. The down town they have really refurbished it. Ben and I found a book shop. The lady in the shop showed us a book of what Beirut looked like then and know. It is crazy the difference.
On Sunday we had a chance to attend a church service with the Philippine women who work as house maids there. It was really a blessing to meet them. They go through so much! They live there so that they can work and send money home. Well they also are not always treated very well. They are not always paid. They are not always given the days off they deserve. They are away from their family for so long. It is really an in just situation.
It was really a privilege to meet the people over there! I really thank God for it and Tommie for making to it happen!!! God is really doing something there!
Oh yeah and on Sunday it was my birthday! It was really such a blessing to be there for my birthday and see what God is doing there. They had a cake and they put fireworks on it. It was cool!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Yesterday

Our friend Eva needed surgery for her stomach. The doctors were going in to cut off a piece of her intestine. She has been in a lot of pain for a while. Like about ten years. We have been praying for her this year because she had been in and out of the hospital for pain in her stomach. She went yesterday to have the surgery. The doctors opened her up and saw that they did not need to remove the piece they thought they did, and they made the area larger. The doctor said she is not going to have any problems after this. Jesus seriously did a miracle!!!!!!!!!! She is now recovering. Thanks for all the prayers!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Quick Update

I know I haven’t written in a while. I do apologize. There has been a lot going on recently. Which is exciting too! This past weekend went really well. We had about twelve young people from Skopje, Macedonia here. We had a prayer and worship night. It really went really well. They came on Friday afternoon, and we hung out for a bit. Then we went in to church. It was really a good time of worship, and prayer. We prayed for both nations. People shared what was going on in their nation. Nikola got up and shared what God is doing in him. After a while we went through the different stations, and prayed in them. At the end of the night, we went out on the streets and walked and prayed. The next day the Macedonians were here, and we just hung out with them. It was cool having a lot of friends together.
We are still meeting with the girls from Crete. They are such a joy. God really does give us favor with them! I am still praying for them to get saved!
We have been spending a lot of time with a girl who is from Estonia and her roommate who is Greek. She is an exchange student here. It has been really good getting to know them. We met her Greek roommate at the coffee outreach one day. She belongs to one of the churches in town.
The coffee outreach is going good. Especially when the weather is good. We went yesterday, and it was funny because all radical young people were out selling coffee. They all came to us and took our free coffee. It was cool this guy really enjoyed Ben and he just really opened up to Ben about his life.
Please be praying! Our church is doing a conference in the Middle East in April. Please be praying for open doors and protection for the people!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Seasons

Yesterday I was walking up the hill behind our apartment and I could smell spring, and it was just lovely!!! I just felt like seasons are important. If we spelt spring all the time we would not enjoy it as much as after winter. I smelt the flowers and it really just makes you feel so happy. It reminds me of in Song of Solomon 2:11-13.
It is kind of cool, because I got a word from a friend that I was in a field with flowers and wearing flowers and dancing.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Feb 8th

Yesterday we went to campus it was an interesting day. We went to campus. Um I’m not going to lie I was ready to go after like a half an hour. People weren’t coming, and there were people selling coffee everywhere where we were trying to pass out free coffee. Three people came to get to get coffee. So we waited and waited for a while. I think it might have been an hour and a half. I was even asking people if they wanted free coffee and there was no one really coming. After a while, these two students came up. They were like so what are you guys about? So we ended up talking to them for a while, and their friends came by and we started talking to them. We really connected. Like Ben pointed out that it was cool that everyone in the group was there from our team who was there because each person was using their gift in this situation.
I think it is cool that God is moving, but I think there is something big right now about Persevering! God has a plan! He has a purpose! If you hear from Him to do something, we need to act on it and do it, but not only do it we have to persevere through it. Even when we don’t understand what is going on. This is definitely an act of Faith. I think also a big stretch is even more so how long it is going to take. James 1:2-4 says Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. That word let there is defined as: steadfastness, constancy, endurance) in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings
b) patiently, and steadfastly
2) a patient, steadfast waiting for.
It is interesting what God is doing! I think He is moving and doing things in so many different places and areas. This was just an example in my life this week. God gave me this word about endurance James 1:4 on Friday and Monday was the “test.” I think the funny thing is that the promise in this is that we will in the end be perfect complete lacking in nothing. That is a pretty cool promise to stand on! It’s like that Brian and Jen Johnson song “Where you go I’ll go, What you say I will say…” Of course we have Jesus who says He only did “What he saw the Father doing.” It so worth it in the end for the other person, and for us! You never know what God is going to do!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Feb 4th 2011

This week has been really cool. We went to campus on Tuesday and passed out coffee. It was really cool when we first started there was a girl that came up. She stayed and talked for a while then three of her friends came. It was really awesome talking to them. So we are going to try and meet up with them.
Today my friend Tiffany and I went to the gypsy village with Yana to see if we could help Yana. It was amazing to see what Yana had been doing with them. She has about four teens she has been teaching Greek to. She has been doing such a great job. You can tell the kids really respect her. You could tell they really wanted to learn from her. It was cool because they sang a song with her and they really loved it. We will probably go back with her to help with the younger kids. I definitely need to work on my Greek! It was so eye opening to see their living conditions. They were worse then what I had seen in Skopje. Their stories are just heartbreaking. It is cool though that Yana and the crew she is working with are making a difference.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

This Past week

On Wednesday we took a road trip to Skopje. Kim, Ben, Amy, Tiffany and I went. We had a good time. We met up with people. Amy did some teaching on the Father’s heart. It was really good. Tiffany got to meet my old roommates. It was good to see Bethany; she had just arrived there that week. It was really good to see Phil and Anna. Kim was able to take some pregnancy pictures for them. Kim did such a good job they look amazing! Phil was too precious to make us dinner one night. They both really have servant’s hearts! It was cool to catch up with them even though it was a short visit. It was cool to see Tina, Kiko, and Mihela that night.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Jan 24 2011

Today we went to campus and passed out coffee in the Engineering building. It was the perfect day today it because it was very cold. It was really an awesome experience talking and meeting new people. We are praying for open doors on campus. One person asked if we were going to be on campus frequently, and we said yes. They said that they would see us around. Each cup of coffee is making a difference, because through that we shook hands and had conversations. I know God is doing/going to do something big on this campus and I can’t wait. Please continue to pray for favor with people and relationships to be formed! It is cool my friend Tiffany is here from Florida and she really enjoyed going along with us. She was like I really like campus!
Yesterday I texted some girls we have been hanging out with and they texted back today and asked to hangout this weekend. It was cool that they asked to hangout. God is moving!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Jan 23 2011

I feel like so much has happened since we got back. Tiffany and I came in Tuesday night and we got caught up on some sleep. Thursday Kim, Ben, Amy, Tiffany and I went to campus and prayed on campus. It was cool because we got to meet some of the people that Kim, Amy, and Ben had met on Tuesday. I’m so excited because we are going to try and go every Tuesday to campus to do the coffee outreach. So please be praying especially on Tuesdays for campus. We are also pray for other ideas too for what God wants us to do there. Step by step He is leading us.
Thursday night we had an awesome home group Tonya and Steffen’s house. Jesus was doing some really cool things. They were talking about prayer. After Tonya spoke on it, we prayed. Then people were getting words left and right for each other. It was cool. I believe everyone left there encouraged. At the end they asked if anyone had words for the group, and this one lady shared that Europe basically would be rocked for Jesus by miracles. That some will believe, and some won’t. But God wants to do something and it has to do with country to country. It was definitely a cool word.
Then last night we had a bunch of people over for Jared and Brandon from Dwelling Place to speak about prophecy. Then they prophesied over people through Skype. It was really cool. Then we had some fun back here and did it over Kim and Ben. It was a lot of fun with friends. I think everyone left encouraged.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Seeing Family and My Grandparent's 50th Anniversary

Hey everyone! I have not dropped off the face of the planet! As many of you know I have been in Florida spending time with my family and friends down here. It has been such a blast to see everyone I have been able to see. I feel so privileged and blessed to have been able to see a lot of my family, and church family. The holidays were a blast. Christmas Eve we (Jew, Papa, Mama, Dad and the Olivers) were at United Methodist to Madison, Max, Mona, and John sing and play in their Christmas Eve service. It was really a lot of fun! I really enjoyed seeing them, and sing Christmas Carols with everyone! Then of course we went to Jew’s house for Christmas Eve. I really enjoyed spending time with everyone! Nana was a hoot! It was cool too because Jamie and Justine and Angie came. Jew had gotten them barking dogs and they just loved their toys soooooo much!!!! They were so ecstatic. It was cool to still have kids around! Then we had Christmas at my Mama’s house with the couples. It was a blessing to see everyone. Tristen and I went out and did some BB gun shooting. Just for fun. He was a hoot!
Today and the week before were really an exciting one. Today it was such an honor to celebrate my grandparent’s 50th Anniversary! It was such a pledge and an honor to be there and celebrate with them and our family. That is not something you do every day! Especially now with divorce at such a high rate. They had started planning last year about what to do. It was so much fun going through and getting ready for it. My grandmother asked if we could show her dress at the reception. So one night I went over and opened it to see if was still together. It was so cool to see her open it up. I of course got my camera and was like ohhh we have to take pictures of this. It was like looking at a piece of history. Not just any history our history. It was so cool to see her just get so excited looking at it.
I feel so blessed to have such awesome grandparents! They have really done so much for my family. They are just wow. They really have left a Legacy to live up to. One is 50 years. I know they have been through a lot, but they did not give up. Two is definitely they loved and would do anything for family. When I was in college, they would come and help my mom move me out of the dorms every year. They were at so many recitals, anytime any of us sang or dance or did anything they were there. Papa would take my brother and me out every Saturday to get an orange soda and peanuts when my brother and I were kids. Jew taught my brother by home school till he graduated. They would do anything for us. They just know how to die to their selves and love unconditionally. They even got me the plane ticket home to be able to be here for the anniversary. It is a good remodel to look up to. Three, which is how they made it through one and two, is the Lord. They definitely left behind a legacy of personal relationship with the Lord. They even were short term missionaries to the Guatemala and my grandpa went to the Philippines (they probably rubbed off on me a bit). The funny thing is they ask me where you got what you are doing from. Hahahaha. The fourth, I think friendship is something they have really captured too. They have three couple best friends, and a number of good friends. They just really enjoy their friends. Just other day though, we were cleaning Jew’s house and she was like you gotta keep good friends. They help you in many ways, one of them is it helps you to clean your house. They definitely are a couple to look up too. I pray that they will be blessed. I feel honored to be a part of their family and legacy here.
I like what our friend Larry said that going to this event was like getting ready for the ultimate wedding to Jesus. The time will have passed. Everyone will be there. It will be just so much fun!!! Anxiously awaiting!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Hey guys!

I'm doing a fund raiser in Lady Lake, FL.


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158186827562512


It is with Chick Fil-A in Lady Lake. Just come out around 5-8pm on Jan 13th if you are free. If you would like to come just e-mail so I can send you the paper to be printed off.
Thanks,
Jenn

Monday, January 3, 2011

Road Trips

Hey everyone I haven’t written in a while. I have been in Florida since a week before Christmas. It has really been a blessing to see everyone here. My family is so excited too. It has been cool seeing old friends as well. I feel blessed to have friends and family all over the world. The other day I road trip with my grandparents and it was cool hearing them tell stories about their lives. They were so sweet. We are having their 50th Anniversary while I am here. It is cool to see a legacy they have left here and on our family!
I took another road trip with my friend Tiffany to meet my friends Matt and Jacki and their kids from college. It was really soooo good to see them. It was cool at the end Cadence and Thomas were getting fussy and each of them at a time would be like I want to sit in Daddy’s lap. Then they would sit there and stop crying and go back playing. Cadence did it once and Thomas did it once. It really made me think of God and us. There are sometimes where we just a frustrated and are not sure what to do. So we are like “Daddy I want to sit with you.” Of course our heavenly Father is like “Yeah!” Then we are ok we walk away with confidence doing whatever He has called us to do. Thanks Cadence and Thomas!