December GWOM: Χριστούγεννα - Christmas

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Here are some pictures of the Christmas love meals HM hosted this year. We loved having the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with all we touched these days as we hosted three different meals for more than 700 refugees and homeless from the streets of Athens.

November GWOM: ΕΛΠΙΔΑ - HOPE

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You. Psalm 33:22

Finally, after 2.5+ of paperwork, construction work has finally begun on the building that HM is preparing as a maternity house, called the Hope Center. The final plans have been drawn up and clean up has begun.

We envisage the Hope Center to be a place where we can offer love and care for young women in need of shelter during their pregnancy. It will provide a chance for us to live side by side with girls and to share with them the hope that we have in Jesus.

With no shelter of its kind in Athens’ sprawling city of 5 million people, and one of the highest abortion rates in the world, there is great need for such housing. Our desire is to provide counseling and encouragement for girls to give life to their unborn children and not to seek abortion. Additionally, if they choose to consider adoption, we aim to help them journey through that process as well.

Our prayer is that God will meet each girl in their place of need and that they will find refuge in Him and a way to walk forward in strength.

Please pray for our team to have wisdom in our decisions and also, please get in touch with us if you feel that you can help us fulfill this vision.

God willing, we anticipate being able to open our doors sometime in the Fall 2011.

THIS IS IMMIGRATION-I NEED YOUR PASSPORT!

These are the words I heard as I answered the phone this morning. THIS IS THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE, YOU NEED TO COME IN AND BRING IN YOUR PASSPORT.

I didn't quite know what to say. So many thoughts raced through my mind. DId this mean they were kicking me out of the country? If so, it would have been nice if she asked for Mike's too! Had something new happened with immigration laws that I didn't know about? Even the word immigration sounded so serious, could this really apply to me?

As I got over the initial shock and listened more, I believe the lady was calling to tell me to bring in my passport to have my residence visa put in it. I am not sure. I will run off to her office in about a half hour and see.

It will be a blessing if it means that the government has finally approved our visas, they have been pending now since January 2009. Yep, we are already two years behind!

You never know what might surprise you on any given day here. How did a girl from Wheaton with no aspirations for moving or travel end up involved in such things? Only for Jesus' sake!

OK, crisis averted. I just returned from the immigration office. What a difference two years makes (since my first visit to this office). I found the place all by myself (without Mike-huge accomplishment) and was able to figure out what they wanted. They just needed a copy of my new passport since mine had expired in the two years since our last visa application.

No worries-they assure me that another office will call in about 10 days to give us the official stamp in our passports. It will be interesting to see what happens, if we are granted the visas, they expire again January 9, 2011 and we start the whole process over again-oh joy!

On another note, as I walked in to the office, I passed about 50 other immigrants/refugees that were waiting in line for service. I was almost ashamed to just march past them upstairs to be waited on. I was reminded again of the privilege of my US citizenship and of all those who have sacrificed so that I might enjoy such freedoms and my heart was also moved with compassion for those without such privileges. Oh that one day Jesus will return to right all the wrongs of this world.

Hunger strike ends!

A great feast marked the end of the Iranian hunger strike here in Greece. Many who had had their lips sewn together rejoiced together as 49 people were granted political asylum here, a landmark decision for this country.

Please continue to pray for humanitarian solutions to the refugee crisis.

October GWOM: Πείνα - Hunger

Please pray for these refugees who have been without food and who feel they are without a voice in this country. Pray for us as we live life by their side. Pray for God to give us wisdom and compassion. Help us to be Jesus to them.

If you would like to donate towards the purchase of sleeping bags that we will hand out to refugees at our Christmas Love Meal, you can give online at www.hellenicministries.com, and then click the donate tab. Or you can send a check directly to Hellenic Ministries, PO Box 726, Wheaton, IL 60187.

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Mt 25:40

Καλοκαίρι-Summer

We know summer is long gone, but we are hoping that you might enjoy these two recap videos of our summer ministries.

Thank you so much for partnering with us. God is busy in our midst!

September GWOM: ΕΠΟΧΗ - SEASON

July GWOM: Η ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ - THE NEW TESTAMENT

Πρόσφυγες - Refugees

What a privilege it has been to be part of two refugee camps this month. The second week of June Mike served a camp for 26 Muslim refugee men. These men were from Morocco, Algeria, Iran, Syria and Nigeria. They spent five days together at camp enjoying Persian food, fun times in the sea and sharing about who Jesus is.

The next week both Mike and I served at family refugee camp where we hosted 20 Afghan families (88 people total). It was an incredible time to just love on these people as we did crafts, archery, played games and swam together. They enjoyed the refreshment from the city and we loved sharing with them truths about Jesus from the gospel of John, Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, The Bread of Life, and the Way and the Truth and the Life.

Please pray that the many of these people will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Απεργία May 5, 2010

Please pray for the people of Greece as there is tremendous social unrest and tension here these days. We are praying that God will use this national crisis as a catalyst to bring people to Himself.

In the midst of all this, our pastor taught us from Ps 11:3 "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Stand in the righteousness of Christ and make use of every opportunity to speak about the unshakable Hope we have in Jesus.

We pray that the Greeks will see the foundations being destroyed and will turn to the only One is able to save them.



Our city May 5, 2010. Mike rode his bicycle through this mob to get to and from our center, about two blocks from here, to work with the refugee men. So thankful God kept him and the others safe, so much work to do.

Police say 25,000+ people demonstrated in Athens during a nation-wide general strike. As usual, it began peacefully, but became destructive and violent. We ran our Wednesday like normal with refugee men's showers and laundry along with a Bible study discussion group with lunch. All this to the sound of sirens, chants, tear gas canisters going off, smoke rising from the city, etc...

νέα εγγονή (feminine) - new grandchild

We were so blessed to be in Wheaton for the birth of our sixth grandchild, Ruby Renee Lowe born Mar 31, 2010 to parents Mike and Nisha Lowe. She joins her brothers, Jackson 5.5 yrs. and Griffin 1.5 yrs.

A Muslim or a Man?

Today at the shower ministry I met a man from Palestine. He had tears in his eyes as he talked to me about his family and what took place in his hometown. He is from Gaza, which is controlled by Israel. He told me how one day he was part of a group of Palestinians throwing rocks at the Israeli troops to protest their lack of food and medicine when suddenly helicopters and troops opened fire on them with machine guns. He watched as his brother and his father were gunned down. He just managed to escape the shooting spree with his life and then realized that he had to escape from Gaza or he would die too. So he left all he had and traveled to Greece by way of Turkey. When he arrived, he found no work and no hope. He told me of being beaten and robbed by the police here on the street.

He approached me because he said he could see my heart as I was serving the refugees and asked me where I was from and what I was doing here. I told him that I was from America and that I was here to help people like him. He asked about the organization that I was with and I told him that we were followers of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. He told me that he knows God and that there is only one God. I agreed with him but also told him that to get to God he needs to come through Jesus. He looked at me and said, “I am a Muslim” and I said, “I don’t see a Muslim, I see a man.” He thanked me and stayed by my side the rest of the day helping me translate and moving the men through the showers. As he got ready to leave, I turned and gave him all the change in my pocket and I said I hoped to see him again.

As he left and I began to clean the showers, I prayed that he will see the Truth.

Please pray with me for this man and for the many others who see a difference in us as we serve them. Pray that they keep asking about why we are different and that Christ will shine through in all we do.

Wheaton Bible Church GO Team! κουζίνα

What an incredible privilege it was to host a construction team of 8 men from our home church this last week. From the beginning to the end of the trip, Mike and I were incredibly blessed by their visit. It was so fun to meet up with people that we knew from back home and to work alongside them at the HM hall in downtown Athens.

With their help, we were able to begin a remodeling project that HM has been dreaming of for years; moving the kitchen from the 8th floor to the 7th floor. In just 5 working days the team was able to accomplish so much. They tore out existing structures and laid floor drains, plumbing, electric, did plastering, framing, drywall, taping and poured a concrete floor for the new kitchen and adjacent office space.

It was a long week of work, with many, many hours of labor but also filled with plenty of laughs and spiritual fellowship as the guys worked side by side. I am sure the hit of the week was the cooking that was done for the team by Akbar's wife, Leyla. What a gift her gracious and joyful service was to the team, not to mention a huge relief for Peggy!

Now that we have started this renovation, it is only a matter of time before it can change the way the hall is used as we serve the refugees and the homeless there each week! We ask you all to continue to pray that God would send more teams here to finish the work that this team started.

Could God be asking you to be part of a construction team to Greece in the future?! We hope so!!

Many thanks and blessings to these guys. We love you all, Mike and Peggy

How much of God do you want?

We are able to have as much of God as we want. Christ puts the key to His treasure chest in our hands and invites us to take all we desire. If someone is allowed into a bank vault, told to help himself to the money, and leaves without one cent, whose fault is it if he remains poor? And whose fault is ti that Christians usually have such meager portions of the free riches of God?

Alexaner Maclaren from Streams in the Desert.

I've been challenged by this lately, how much of God do I want and whose fault is it if I am lacking? Are the things I consider so critical in my daily life more important that the treasure of Himself that He offers me each day?

Please pray for us to seek all of Jesus in our lives each day.

Gagging Gas Prices!

We are shocked by the changing price of gasoline in Greece these days.
Last week we bought gas for €1.049 per litter and the next day it was €1.189 and three days later €1.249!!
Now there is a customs strike and many gas stations are out of gas altogether.

Just for comparison, 1 gallon of gas equals about 3.78 liters so €1.249 per liter = $6.50 per gallon!!

So the next time you think the price of gas is high in America, think again!

Visit to Northern Greece

Mike and I traveled 8.5 hrs north to visit with Panagiotis, a HM missionary and evangelist living in the city of Komotini. He hands out tons of Christian literature at the open air markets there. It was an incredible blessing to visit him and to see the work he is doing. 50% of the population there is Turk Muslims and they readily receive the materials he gives them for free while the Greeks were much more hesitant to take anything from us. Please pray for Panagiotis as he works by himself there, that God will continue to be his constant support and encouragement.