mikeandpeggy

Dec/Jan GWOM: ΕΠΟΥΛΩΣΗ - HEALING

2012-01-31T21:44:00.002+02:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This seems such a strange way to start this message, but the last two months have just passed in a blur for us and we want to take this chance to extend all the love of the season of Christ's birth and our best wishes for the new year to you all.

Thank you for standing with us through difficult days. We have been buoyed by your prayers and by the strength of the Lord. He has met our every need and extended His lavish love on us.

The following is just a brief synapsis of recent events for us:

Nov 30-Unexpectedly, flew to Chicago to be with family and to say goodbye to Peggy's Dad who died Dec 2nd. Truly the best of times and the worst of times.

Dec 14-Unexpectedly, Mike had his left hip replaced. An incredible provision was made for us to have this surgery done while we were home for Dad's funeral.

Dec 24-Expectedly, celebrated Mike's Mom's 80th birthday together with his family and spent our first Christmas in 5 years back in Wheaton with all our kids and grandkids, 15 of us now!

Dec 25-Unexpectedly, took an ambulance ride to the hospital because Mike dislocated his new hip.

Jan 16-Returned to Greece!

We were so glad to have been home to spend time with Peggy's Mom and family and to be with our kids and grandkids for Christmas.

We were overwhelmed by God's goodness to us in providing surgery on Mike's hip. This has relieved him from tremendous pain that he has been struggling with for the last two years.

And now we are so glad to be getting back to "normal" life here in Greece. God is healing our hearts and Mike's body as He leads us day by day. He comforts us in our sorrow and strengthens us in our weakness.

Thank you for your prayers and your expressions of sympathy. They were greatly appreciated.

Please pray with us:
- to get back up to speed quickly here
- for Mike's complete recovery from his surgery
- as we work to complete construction on the Hope Center
- as we prepare for our first furlough, April-October 2012

November GWOM: ΟΡΑΜΑΤΙΣΜΟΣ - VISION

2011-11-29T14:15:00.002+02:00

Without vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18

This has been a rough month for the people of Greece. International pressures have increased, the old government has been replaced, more people are unemployed, the suicide rate is up, and crimes are becoming more common place. Greeks, all of Europe, and the rest of the world are waiting to see what will happen next.

Please pray with us as we try to share with all we see, the good news...that there is hope, there is freedom in Christ. There is One who knows the beginning from the end and He never slumbers or sleeps and He loves the people of Greece. He is their only hope.

During this month of Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for you all and your love and support that allow us to be here. The pictures show some of the highlights of this month including a vision tour of pastors from Canada, refugee clothes drives, hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner and Thanksgiving with the refugees.

As we look towards Christmas and the birth of Hope, we are planning again to feed and give gifts to many refugees and homeless. If you would like to donate towards the cost of the meals or the purchase of sleeping bags that we will hand out, you can give online at www.hellenicministries.com by clicking the donate tab or you can send a check directly to Hellenic Ministies, PO Box 726, Wheaton, IL 60187.

October GWOM: ΖΩH - LIFE

2011-10-31T12:35:00.007+02:00

This month we had the past week the privilege of hosting Fran & Anne from Life International, an organization that mentors and equips ministries worldwide to uphold the sanctity of human life.

These two women are a wealth of knowledge and resources, and we spent the week gleaning from all their expertise about the opening and running of a maternity home. They also helped us develop our vision plan for other areas of needs under the Hope Center Ministries.

The building itself is nearly completed, however we realize that there is still much groundwork to be done to prepare ourselves fully for all aspects of housing pregnant women.

Please join us in prayer:
• As we seek God’s wisdom and timing for the opening of the home.
• That God will be preparing the hearts of the house parents and house assistant that He wants to live at the home with the girls.
• Regarding finances, we still need funds to complete the building, and then we will need to furnish it as well as providing for monthly operating costs.

God is so good! Looking back we can see God’s hand at work in each step of the process, and we are looking forward with much anticipation to see how God is going to use this ministry to touch and change many lives!

Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

September GWOM: ΣΧΕΔΙΑ - PLANS

2011-09-30T16:50:00.004+03:00

How time flies. We can't believe it's the end of September already. We have spent a lot of time planning this month. Planning for future ministry, home assignment dates, work schedules, etc.

All this planning reminds us of God's sovereignty above all. He is the ultimate Planner! Listen to some of His words about His plans:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jer 29:11 (NIV)

He (God) controls the course of world events, He (God) removes kings and sets up other kings...Dan 2:21 (NLT)

Especially in this time of CRISIS here in Greece, we are reminded that GOD is in charge; He is the one who is directing the events of each day. In the midst of the strikes and rioting, austerity measures and potential bankruptcy, we acknowledge that God is in control!

So we press on, trusting Him to direct our path and our ministry. We are praying fervently that God will use this period of desperation for the Greek people to draw many to Himself and that He will use us however He sees fit in this plan.

Other neat September happenings for us:

PARE: God has brought Melissa to intern with the Hope Center Team for three months and she has been leading two groups of Post Abortion Recovery Education with us. We are excited to learn how to use this tool to offer hope to many hurting post abortive women.

DISCIPLING: Mike has begun to meet weekly with his refugee friend, who became a believer this summer at camp, to study the WORD OF GOD together. Mike is so enjoying this time of discovery together.

We appreciate your prayers for...
-God to use this crisis to lead many Greeks to salvation in Jesus
-Upcoming visit from the Life International Director and Loving and Caring Founder October 10-15
-Continued construction progress on The Hope Center maternity home

July/August GWOM: Ελευθερία - Freedom

2011-08-25T12:27:00.007+03:00

The freedom in Christ that all believers have and can share with others, so that they too can enjoy the same freedom.

In a world that’s falling apart, isn’t it nice to know that we have so much to look forward to in life with Christ, once this life on earth is over?

What freedom comes from understanding that all this (on earth) is just temporary. One day, everything will be gone, burned up, not anything that we’ll need in heaven!

We’ve had a busy couple of months. Thanks for praying.

Our sex talk with the kids at Teen Camp went very well. This is a topic most people don’t like to talk about but one we know needs addressing, especially here in Greece where the abortion rate is very high and multiple abortions are common. We look forward to sharing God’s plan for sex as an integral part of the Hope Center ministry.

We also participated in Operation Joshua (www.operationjoshua.net); packing up and handing out 103,000 New Testaments with 270 other people from all over the world. Our nephew Ian and his kids Maddie (10) and Parker (5) were visiting us and were able to join us. This was a great time, just sharing in the joy of serving together.

Additionally at the Men’s Refugee Camp, Mike was able to pray with his friend from Syria for salvation!!!

All in all, it has been a very hectic summer and now we are on vacation. Just enjoying time around the house and at local beaches with no schedule!!! We are trying to rest and gear up for the fall, which is right around the corner.

We appreciate your prayers for...
- God to open the hearts of the Greeks who received the NTs this summer and to draw many to Himself
- wisdom in planning strategies for the new ministry year
- healing for Mike's back

June GWOM: Ευλογίες - Blessings

2011-06-27T10:58:00.003+03:00

It seems too often our minds tend to automatically focus on the "have nots" in our lives instead of the "haves."

So with that in mind, we wanted to take this month to share with you some of the many blessings that are part of our everyday lives here.

Of course, KNOWING WHO WE BELONG TO. That we are children of the King and that one day we will live with Him eternally! Is there anything better?

EACH OTHER. After 32 yrs. of marriage, we are still best friends and so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord together.

YOU ALL. We probably don't tell you often enough, how important you are to us. Without your prayer and financial support, we couldn't be here. We so appreciate your willingness to sacrifice so that we can be part of the Kingdom work in Greece.

OUR FAMILIES: 3 kids and their spouses, 7 grandkids, our parents, siblings and many more. Our greatest gifts. We love them and miss them all.

ADDITIONALLY, the chance to be Jesus to many, many refugees each week, talking to youths about God's plan for sex, breathtaking glimpses of God's glory in the beautiful flowers growing out of the dry and cracked earth, gorgeous blue skies and sea, sunsets that light up the sky, and stars that glow brightly at night.

And finally, PEACE in our hearts knowing we are right where God wants us to be!

Thank you for continuing to stand beside us in this ministry.

We appreciate your prayers for...
- boldness for Sarah, Mike and I as we speak to the Greek youth at Teen Camp (4-14 July) about sex, STDs, abortion etc.
- Operation Joshua 4 (21-28 July) handing out 90,000 New Testaments in Greece (www.operationjoshua.net)
- God to open the hearts of all the Greeks who will receive the NTs and that He will draw many to Himself
- healing for Mike's back

May GWOM: Ερωτήσεις - Questions

2011-05-31T18:23:00.002+03:00

Is Christianity for real?
How do you know you have the Holy Spirit within you?
What's so different about you?

Do have any friends in relationships who are not having sex?
If your friend was facing an unplanned pregnancy,
what advice would you give her?
If there was a maternity home where young girls could go and live throughout their pregnancy, do you know anyone who would go there? Would you recommend it to a friend?

The above listed questions are ones we have been dealing with this month. The first set are the questions that Mike has been asked at different times this month by refugees that he sees each week.

One really interesting book that Mike is using in trying to reach his Muslim friends is The Camel, by Kevin Greeson. It presents a great tool for helping Muslims come to faith in Christ.

The second set of questions are some of the ones that we will use as we head to the local universities in early June with a group of 40 American students with the Agape Team (Campus Crusade for Christ). We will be polling students in order to spread awareness about the Hope Center ministries that we are developing.

Thank you for continuing to stand beside us in this ministry.
We appreciate your prayers for...
-the upcoming refugee camps the first two weeks of June:
single men the first week and Afghan families the second
-for God to open hearts of the Muslim peoples attending
and that He will draw many to Himself during this time
-for health and safety at the camps
-for boldness for Sarah and me as we speak to university students
about sex, STDs, abortion etc.

April GWOM: Πανεπιστήμιο - University

2011-04-26T06:01:00.005+03:00

April has been an exciting month as we have continued to make progress on so many levels in the Hope Center Ministry. We have been encouraged as we watch God shaping the ministry in His perfect timing and according to His plan.

Peggy and Sarah have been especially encouraged by weekly visits they have been making to the local university, with the Agape Team, to talk to students there.

We have experienced such openness in speaking to students about "taboo" subjects such as sex, STD's, abortion, adoption, their thoughts about the need for a maternity home, the Bible and Jesus.

We strongly feel that a huge part of our Hope Center ministry will be raising awareness and education about sex and the consequences of it, especially as it relates to pregnancy, abortion and God's plan for sex and we are really enjoying the opportunity to speak to students face to face about all these things.

Additionally, the construction work continues on the building, slowly but steadily and we are almost ready for the final exterior coat of paint which will surely give the place a whole new look.

We appreciate your prayers for...
finances to complete the building
help in developing a website and promotional materials
boldness as we speak to university students
the two interns that are praying about joining us this Fall

March GWOM: Eπισκέπτες - Visitors

2011-03-31T11:47:00.004+03:00

March began with a flurry, both literally and figuratively as we welcomed snow and an eight man team from Wheaton Bible Church. The team from our home church joined us for a week to work at doing some much needed repairs and construction at the hall where we work with the refugees and the homeless.

The team was a huge encouragement to us both personally and to the mission. They framed bathrooms and closets, and did many painting jobs which left the hall looking very refreshed. They also were able to spend a day playing games, talking with and serving the refugees who are at the hall on Mondays.

The 24th of March brought another group of special visitors to us as our son and his family arrived for a nine day holiday with us. This is their first visit to Greece and we are LOVING having this special time to spend with them and our three grandchildren, Jackson 6, Griffin 2, and Ruby who will have her first birthday here on Thursday, March 31st!

The stucco work has begun at The Hope Center Maternity House and it has really transformed the look of the place. Meanwhile at the office, Sarah and I continue to work developing the ministry. We are excited to begin visiting the local universities to make contacts with girls and to speak to them about this new ministry.

Please keep praying with us about this; for finances for the building, for wisdom for us in planning, and for the girls God wants to reach through it.

February GWOM: Πρόοδος - Progress

2011-02-28T14:01:00.004+02:00

Brick walls have been built and the electric and plumbing rough ins are taking place at the Hope Center! Mike is intrigued as he watches how the workmen here chisel the structure apart in order to run their wires and pipes and then patch it all back together again to prepare for the stucco that will cover it all.

Meanwhile, Peggy and Sarah spend time searching Athens for color schemes and exterior housing details that we like for the building. We also prepared promotional materials for Sarah to use as she visited the US and Canada in February promoting the Hope Center Maternity Home.

Progress on other levels:

Mike has had great opportunities to speak truth to the guys as he works side by side with them and they ask, "Why would you ever leave America to come here?"

Our Greek neighbors invited us to their son's first birthday party last night. We found that birthdays are the same all around the world, cake, candles, singing and families celebrating life. We felt privileged to attend.

January GWOM: Προσφορές - Bids/Offers

2011-01-30T18:12:00.006+02:00

January has been a busy month for Mike collecting bids, in Greek, for construction work that needs to be done at the Hope Center. He is in the process of trying to discern what the bids entail and how to decide which contractor and product is the best for our new maternity house.

In between, he loves the time he spends with his refugee friends, a couple of which are helping him cut out concrete where needed at The Hope Center.

Peggy is working hard trying to get promotional materials ready for the ministry.

Additionally this month, we had an awesome New Year's with an extended visit from one of Peggy's classmates from Moody, Emily.

Read more about the A21 Campaign, an anti human trafficking movement here in Greece, at www.thea21campaign.org.

December GWOM: Χριστούγεννα - Christmas

2010-12-29T12:32:00.003+02:00

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

2010-11-29T11:14:00.005+02:00

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!

2010-11-29T11:04:00.004+02:00

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!

2010-11-21T13:42:00.001+02:00

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

2010-10-30T11:00:00.003+03:00

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

2010-10-27T12:28:00.003+03:00

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

2010-09-28T22:06:00.001+03:00

July GWOM: Η ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ - THE NEW TESTAMENT

2010-07-31T07:10:00.003+03:00

Πρόσφυγες - Refugees

2010-06-26T21:36:00.004+03:00

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

2010-05-31T11:04:00.006+03:00

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

2010-04-26T11:30:00.005+03:00

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?

2010-03-08T14:11:00.005+02:00

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

2010-02-20T12:46:00.005+02:00

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?

2010-02-20T11:22:00.002+02:00

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!

2010-02-17T21:48:00.002+02:00

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

2010-01-11T14:43:00.003+02:00

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.

Christmas Love Meals 2009

2009-12-31T14:47:00.003+02:00

Christmas is a special time of year for us at HM. The whole team joins together to prepare an unforgettable day for the refugees and the homeless of Athens and this year was no exception.

Preparations began weeks before as we contemplated what gifts would best suit our guests; sleeping bags, coats, blankets, and food bags. Then the week before Christmas we were blessed to be able to purchase a new convection oven so that we would be able to cook our chicken dinner on site, instead of cooking offsite and needing to transport pans of hot chicken and potatoes across the busy city of Athens.

The hall was decorated, the gifts were wrapped and on Saturday Dec 19th we hosted a meal at 2pm for about 200 homeless Greek people and just hours later at 7pm we served dinner to over 350 Afghan men, women and children. The hall was bursting at it seams, and we even fed an overflow crowd in the balcony! And one last time, on Monday Dec 21st, we fed over 200 Muslim refugee men.

What a joy it was to share the gift of Jesus’ birth with so many. At each meal, Bob Hill, a Christian illusionist, presented the clear message of the gospel in an entertaining series of tricks on the stage. Christmas songs were sung, a warm meal and treats were served, and gifts were handed out to all. What a privilege to serve Jesus in this way. We think that the servers were blessed more than the recipients!

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Fathers, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14. Glory to God in the Highest!

We are ungovernable!

2009-12-20T14:25:00.004+02:00

I passed this painted on the wall of the University of Athens last week on my way to class. It clearly reflects the mindset of Greek youth. This graffiti was commemorating the anniversary of the riots that broke out in Athens last year at this time during which one 15 year old boy was shot and killed. A new government is in office this year and they have chosen not to let the students break bank windows, burn cars and garbage dumpsters and keep the university locked up. Needless to say, this has made the past weeks much more peaceful and easier to do business in the center.

Please keep praying for the Greek young people, they are really without hope. They don't have hope in the educational system, the government, the church, or in their ability to provide for families in the future.

Please pray for God to pour out His Spirit and draw this generation of "ungovernable" young people to Himself through Jesus Christ!

Another Blessing – Surgery for Mike in Greece

2009-12-07T21:41:00.001+02:00

It’s hard to believe it’s been a week already but last Monday Mike had hernia surgery. I am pretty sure this was the scariest thing I’ve faced here but God, as usual, took great care of us!

Mike is recovering and in good spirits. The pain he was in before surgery was much worse than the post-op surgery so he is relieved.

We are so grateful for God’s protection and provision for us in this situation. Here are just a few of the ways that God blessed us throughout this process:
• By providing an excellent English speaking doctor and staff
• By providing a Greek friend to sit with me while Mike was in surgery
• By providing nice roommates
• Being able to share with the doctors about the work we are doing here
• By being prayed for by so many around the world

And an encouragement from Mike…
I had a cool thing happen the night I stayed in the hospital. The head nurse working the 3 to 11pm shift came in and asked me if I was staying more than one night. I told her no, that I would be leaving the next day and she said no, that she would ask the doctor if I could stay longer. I asked her why and she said that I had made her year by being such a gentle man and by being so nice to everyone. Then she asked me if Peggy was my girlfriend or my wife. I told her that she was my wife of 30 years and she said she couldn't believe how nice we were to each other and how much we cared for each other.

All this is to say is that we don't know who is watching us and how I am encouraged that we can be sharing with others without us even knowing it. Being a Christian is 24/7 so stay strong!

Thank you all so much for praying!

Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating!

2009-11-29T17:56:00.003+02:00

We celebrated a different sort of Thanksgiving with lasagna and chocolate cake and it was great. A good time to reflect again on God and His goodness to us all. Then for the first time in three years, we put up a Christmas tree and decorations. We "borrowed" our friends' kids for the day and they were a great help and inspiration to us! We are trying to learn new ways to celebrate the holidays! No turkey, no football games, no black Friday, but we are thankful none the less! Looking forward to remembering more of God's goodness to us in the coming advent season. Siga, siga (slowly, slowly) we are learning contentedness comes from our relationship with Jesus rather than from our circumstances.

Two Years in Greece!

2009-11-15T16:09:00.003+02:00

Nov 7th marked the two year anniversary of our arrival in Greece. It is hard to believe that two years have flown by. Some who study missions say that the two year mark brings with it a sort of lull in enthusiasm for the job and I must agree. There are so many times when I wonder what God was thinking by calling us here. As one used to only one hometown and people group, sometimes I am still overwhelmed by our surroundings here. It continues to be a struggle to keep God's perspective on things and to live each day fully for Him instead of longing for the past or dreaming of the future!

We were recently encouraged by these words from the Jesus Calling devotional:
I am working My ways in you: the divine Artist creating loveliness within your being. My main work is to clear out debris and clutter, making room for My Spirit to take full possession. Collaborate with Me in this effort by being willing to let go of anything I choose to take away. I know what you need, and I have promised to provide all of that-abundantly!

Your sense of security must not rest in your possessions or in things going your way. I am training you to depend on Me alone, finding fulfillment in My Presence. This entails being satisfied with much or with little, accepting either as My will for the moment. Instead of grasping and controlling, you are learning to release and receive. Cultivate this receptive stance by trusting Me in every situation.

We are living these words right now. Striving to learn all God has to teach us; to shed the comfortable for the uncomfortable, to surrender more fully to Him and to His ways and to learn to lean more fully on Him and not on our understanding.

Highlights:
knowing how to get from one place to another
relationships, conversations we have had with encouraging Greeks
opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ to the needy here

Continual struggles:
learning to speak Greek
missing the kids and grandkids and family back home

Thank you all so much for your faithful partnership with us. We so appreciate you all!

Peggy turns 50!

2009-10-18T20:34:00.003+03:00

Still recovering from an incredible two/three weeks with the girls and their families as they were here in Greece to celebrate Peggy turning 50. Michele and Jeremy and Mia (10 months) were here for three weeks and Missy and Paul and Hannah (6) and Amelia (2) for two weeks. It was so great to all be together and to get to know all three of these granddaughters whom we had only met once before at the end of last year. We went sight seeing, saw all the HM properties, but spent most of the time at the beach. The weather was fantastic and we all enjoyed hanging out in the water and the sand.
We are so blessed to have had this chance to spend time with family.

Rome and Greece with Mom and Dad

2009-09-17T17:57:00.003+03:00

At the end of a crazy busy summer, we were so excited that Peggy's parents were able to come visit us in Greece. We met them first in Rome for 5 days and then they returned with us to Greece for 10 days. It was their first trip to both Rome and to Greece, and Dad says it their last, but we hope not!

We had a great time seeing all the sights in Rome in the 90+ heat and humidity. Mom and Dad ( at 78 and 81) were troopers as we toured the Vatican, the Colosseum, and many other attractions in Rome. The double decker bus was a fun way to see the whole city but didn't offer much in the way of shade or air conditioning! The only bummer to the trip was that Dad got his wallet stolen the one day that we rode the Metro :(

We all arrived back in Greece and spent a wonderful 10 days resting and showing Mom and Dad a little of our life here. Many of our ministries were closed for vacation but they were able to see the places where we work and meet a few of our co-workers. We played a lot of cards, saw the Acropolis and other tourist sights, and just really enjoyed each other's company!

I think after all they experienced abroad, they are pretty content with their life in America and were happy to return there!

Fires in Pikermi

2009-08-24T14:56:00.004+03:00

Yesterday started with a rude awakening when our landlord called us at 5:45 am and told us to prepare to evacuate. We looked out our balcony and the sky was red around us with fires. I was struggling to figure out what to bring, what to leave, what would burn etc. A frantic call to Missy and Paul (whose house burned to the ground a few years ago) for any advice. Not sure it helped, Mis said bring everything and Mike was wanting me to just pack a few things and get out!

We finally got everything packed up and I had learned on facebook that some friends of ours had been evacuated down to the bible school so I drove over there to get more info. It is so hard to watch the news with your town listed on it and not know what they are saying about it. The people at the bible school were a big help and assured me that things would probably be ok here from what they heard on the news. One family had left their house on the mountain at 3 am and had just come back from observing it, and praise the Lord, they said it looked like the fire just jumped their house. All was black around them, but their house was in tack. The mop on the balcony was melted and there was a turtle burrowed into the ground but the house and the propane tank outside it were both fine.

Today, we thought the worst was past but when we got up this morning the skies were full of smoke again and the fires were closer than yesterday. We "evacuated" twice down to the bible school and were so grateful for friends there who could communicate to us in English what was happening. Today the winds have been very strong and shifting. The fires came very close to the bible school and our house, within 4 blocks we think.

Thank goodness, we think the worst is over. The planes seem to have put out the fires by us and we are taking a deep breath.

We will be in touch later. We thank God that we are safe and are concerned for so many others that are not.

Thanks so much for all your prayers. Please keep praying for this country.

Camps are over, back to civilization

2009-08-16T21:59:00.004+03:00

All the camps at Porto Astro are done for the season and we can hardly believe it. How could summer have come and gone so quickly? Hope you enjoy these pictures, the young adult camp, clean up and saying good bye to friends. We are back home now and trying to recover from a non-stop summer. We have two weeks to tie up loose ends from the summer before we go to meet my parents in Rome for five days and then they will come and join us here in Greece for a week. We can't wait. Please pray for us as we try to process all that God has done this summer and all that He has in store for us in the future!

Teen Camp "Party in the House"

2009-07-28T21:00:00.003+03:00

Not only have exciting things happened this month with the Operation Joshua outreach... but also young hearts have come to know the Lord out at HM's campsite property during the 10 day long TEEN sports camp.

Be encouraged by this powerful story...

During the worship time on the second to last night of camp, a dual "call" forward was given. The speaker asked for those who wanted to commit their lives to Christ for the first time to stand up and come forward and for those who already knew Christ as their Savior but wanted to take the step of completely surrendering and dedicating their whole lives to Christ to come forward also. The response was immediate and comprehensive as within seconds nearly the entire camp of 60+ young Greeks stood to walk to the front! Δόξα στο Θεό!!

Thank you for praying for the Greek young people! The Lord is definitely answering prayer. Please continue to pray for those starting a new relationship with the Lord and for the others who are seeking to grow closer to their Savior. Pray for them to have the eyes and ears to sense the Lord's call on their lives, and the strength and courage to obey Him. Finally, please don't forget to pray for the hearts of the three or more teens who didn't stand up and commit themselves to one side or the other that night. Pray that the Lord will continue to pursue them and draw them closer to Himself, using the experience they have had at camp as a memorable landmark on their journey to come to know their loving Savior.

1 Cor 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

Operation Joshua 2 Completed!

2009-07-04T22:13:00.004+03:00

This year we passed out almost 44,000 New Testaments in the Messinia area of the Peloponnese,Greece over a period of 6 days. We had about 120 volunteers from 11 countries represented. God's Word makes quite a stir as we made the front page of the local newspaper, "Proselytism in Plastic Bags." Not everyone was thrilled to receive the gift we gave out but we are encouraged as we know that God's Word does not return void. Is 55:11.

Family Refugee Camp

2009-07-04T21:42:00.003+03:00

10 Afghan families comprised our family refugee camp this year. We all had an incredible time. These are the faces of the people who captured our hearts as we strove to share the love of Christ with them in very practical ways all week. They were overwhelmed and commented on the difference they noticed in us. Glory to God!

Mens Refugee Camp

2009-07-04T21:32:00.002+03:00

We hosted a refugee camp for the men who have been coming to the love meals and to our discussion times on Thursdays. It was an awesome time to share some fun with the guys and to just love on them. We had many great conversations with them about Jesus.

Retreat for Muslim men this week

2009-06-07T08:16:00.003+03:00

The temperature has risen here and so has the pace of ministry.
Ready or not, the summer camps begin this week!

Please pray for us...

This week we host 20 refugee men for a three day retreat at the property.
They are all Muslims.
Please pray that God will be working in their hearts to draw them to himself.
Pray that the love of Christ will shine through our lives to them.
For understanding of the gospel of John as it is shared this week with the men.
That Jesus will make Himself know as God.
For safety, logistics, etc.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

30 years of marriage!!

2009-06-07T08:01:00.004+03:00

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will beome one flesh.

It's hard to believe that Mike and I celebrated thirty years of marriage this week! How would a 19 and 22 yr old have been able to even guess where they would end up 30 yrs later?

We are so grateful for the gift that marriage is. Grateful to both sets of parents who modeled love and faithfulness in marriage to us.

We spent the day at the office with staff meetings and then found a steakhouse (quite rare here in Greece) for dinner. We waited to go to eat till 8 pm but still were almost the only people in the restaurant!

One interesting thing, a new friend asked me, what was it that used to get on my nerves about my husband in the earlier days, and I couldn't remember a thing! Does God erase our memories as we grow older in marriage together or just use the early struggles to bind us so closely together? Either way, I am so grateful for my dear husband and his incredible love and friendship over all these years!

A word of encouragement for other marriages: keep on working at it, it is the best, an incredible gift from God and a lasting heritage to our children.

Mike is at the shipyard

2009-05-06T21:11:00.005+03:00

Every three years or so the Morning Star is taken out of the sea and brought to the shipyard to be overhauled. This year Mike has been joining the team working on repairing the boat. It is stripped down, sanded, sanded and more sanded. Rust is removed, holes patched, rotted wood repaired and then it gets its new coat of paint and it ready to be launched back in the sea again.

Please pray for energy and safety for all the workers there. Pray for all that is needed to make the repairs complete to come in, including parts, finances etc.

This boat is a big tool that HM uses to take the gospel to the islands and surrounding countries of Greece. To read more, see our new HM website wwww.hellenicministries.com or on Facebook become a fan of Morning Star Santa Cruz.

Greek Easter and Mike's Birthday

2009-05-06T16:20:00.002+03:00

Mike and I celebrated Greek Easter with a co-worker and her family down in a village in the Peloponnesos. It was such a treat to be received so warmly by this family and to enjoy an authentic cultural experience with them. Goat and octopus were served for dinner, fireworks and miniature hot air balloons were released on Sat. midnight, and Greek music and dancing in the square on Sunday! Additionally, we celebrated Mike's 52nd birthday there on Easter Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together and realize it's hospitality like this that causes so many to love Greece.

HM Family Conference a Success!

2009-05-05T13:14:00.003+03:00

Mid April found almost all of the HM team gathered up at Porto Astro for a four-day annual conference. This was the first time we hosted this event out at the property and a great time was had by all.

God graced us with mild weather so that we were all able to remain warm enough in our unheated cabins and trailers. It rained a little a couple of the days, but nothing too drastic to keep us (abt 100 of us) inside all day.

A team of adults and high schoolers from Prairie Christian Academy in Canada came and blessed us by cooking, providing camp maintenance and childcare so we were able to enjoy our time together.

The days were filled with personal quiet times, study of Philippians led by guest speaker Jacques Teeuwen, ministry reports, corporate worship times, brainstorming sessions and fun game times together. We all came away refreshed and energized to begin the busy summer season of ministry.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. Ps 33:16-17. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Neh 8:10.

HM Family Conference April 12 - April 16 2009

2009-04-11T16:51:00.002+03:00

Hi Friends,
Happy Easter to you all. While you will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, our HM family will be gathering out at Porto Astro for our annual family conference. Please pray for us, there will be 100 of us out at the camp this week!

Please pray:
for good weather; there are no heaters in the cabins and trailers, and 22 children to keep busy inside if it rains!
for Peggy as she is co-coordinating this conference. for her to be flexible and gracious in all the details of the conference.
for us all to be able to have great time with the Lord and His Word.
for team bonding.
for it to be a great time for the team from Canada who will be cooking and providing child care for us.
for safety.

We will celebrate Easter here in Greece next weekend on Mike's birthday, April 19th.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Work Day at Porto Astro

2009-04-05T18:00:00.003+03:00

We had a great work day Friday at Porto Astro preparing for our upcoming family conference. Thanks so much to all of you who were able to make it. The place looked much better after our visit!

Adventures with Scott and Emily

2009-04-05T16:51:00.006+03:00

We were so excited to host our first family visitors, Scott and Emily Fedyski (Peggy's nephew and his wife) last week. They came to spend a week with us, checking out Greece and HM. We had a blast. We showed them everything we could think of in just a few days here. In fact, Mike did such a great job as a tour guide they thought maybe he could do that for a job if missions didn't work out for him! Probably our most memorable time was in Corinth when we did not pay attention to the signs and got ourselves locked in at the ancient castle!! We were so thankful for the friendly hospitable Greeks who called for help for us and the lady with the key who came and let us out!

Scott and Emily joined us at working at our weekly love meals and for a work day out at the property on Friday. They were stuck cleaning the bathrooms and did a great job getting those things in shape!

They were able to make a short overnight trip to Nafplio by themselves mid week as well, so it wasn't just all work and no play.

We had some awesome Rook games while they were here, although Peggy and Scott never won a match :( Sorry Scott, my first time playing and I was terrible! I guess you were learning perseverance huh?

Now they are off, and we are back to work. Family conference begins in a week and Peggy is helping coordinate it, so there is lots to do. Please pray for all the last minute details that need to come together this week and for good weather. We don't have any heaters at the property which could make sleeping challenging for all!

The Most Important Thing in Life?

2009-03-13T22:08:00.002+02:00

In a recent Greek language class, I was asked to answer a question written in our book. "What do you think is the most important thing in life?"

It was my chance to answer first, in Greek, of course. I told the class in my very fundamental Greek that I thought one's relationship with God was the most important thing in life. Others answered love or understanding one self.

As we got up to go to break, my teacher said he respects people who think God is important but that he just found it really hard to believe that there is really a God who loves him. I said really, to me it makes everything make sense. It was an interesting conversation around the table and was quite eye-opening to hear other peoples' views about God.

Another conversation from my class this week was one man who said he didn't want to have kids because he is so discouraged with humankind in general.

Gosh, I am no longer in Wheaton anymore and I pray that I can be an effective tool in sharing with others in my class the love of God that I know and that gives my life purpose.

An Ancient Theater

2009-03-08T21:37:00.004+02:00

We called up some friends, jumped in the car and took about a two hour road trip down to Epidavros yesterday. It was fun just to get out of Athens and check out more of this country. It also was fun to take new friends with us. This ancient theater is supposed to have been built back in the last quarter of the fourth century B.C. It was awesome and you will be glad to know that I did NOT get out in the middle and sing as several other people did. The acoustics were incredible and you could hear a coin dropped in the middle stage all the way up at the top of the theater. An incredible architectural feat, mind boggling to imagine how it was done back in the day.

Eye Opening!

2009-03-08T16:13:00.001+02:00

Last week we volunteered with another Christian organization that ministers to prostitutes and trafficked girls on the streets of Athens. We went out of the street from 11pm till 1:30 am. I am still reeling from the experience. We went to their office and were educated about what we would see and do and then we split into teams and went out. Four of the girls on our team were on one side of the street and Mike and I and another team member were across the street. Our job was to pray and to keep our eyes open for trouble and to be ready to step in and protect our teammates if any threatening situation arose.

It was incredibly sad to watch these young girls, mostly from Nigeria or Algeria, who were scantily clad standing on the side of the road, yelling at the cars that drove by slowly to stop and pick them up. Some of them chased after the cars, banging on the driver’s windows for them to stop and take them in. Some were joined by customers and then walked together across the street into a hotel. They have “work quotas” to achieve each night.

We were informed that the girls were observing that night we all victims of trafficking. In other words, someone brought them into this county illegally and is making money off of their forced prostitution. It is a very complex situation, tied into organized crime and apparently very prevalent here in Greece. Most of the victims of trafficking are not aware that the job that they are offered is selling their bodies in prostitution. But once they get here, they are without legal papers and see no way out of the situation. The girls are often kept under lock and key together in a house and the trafficker maintains control over them by threatening their families with voodoo curses.

Our teammates approached the girls and offered them tea and tried to initiate conversations with them. They also handed out cards with contact information on it about the organization. This other Christian organization goes out on the streets three times a week and makes frequent contact with the girls. Their goal is to help the girls however they can and to share the love of Christ with them.

Please pray for this organization, for the girls on the streets, and for the destruction of the sex trade here in Greece.

Another Family Reunited

2009-03-01T21:51:00.005+02:00

Recently, Hamza, the other Albanian who has been living and working at Porto Astro for the last seven years, was granted permission to bring his wife and sons to live with him here in Greece. This is the last of the refugees who are employed by HM to have his family reunited! We rejoice to see Hamza’s, Aurturo’s and Akbar’s families living together again after so many painful years of separation.

Hamza brought his wife Maria and his two sons, Elton, 14, and Zudi, 12, home to Greece in mid February. They join Aurturo and his wife and son who also live out at the property. It was with incredible joy that we saw this family reunited. Some of the HMers have dreamed of this day for many, many years. In fact, this was another dream of the late Costas Macris; for Hamza and Aurturo to be able to bring their families to Greece.

Please pray for Maria and the boys in this transition period. They left behind life in a two-story house in a big city with lots of relatives near by to begin living in trailers on a remote location without most of the conveniences of a city. The boys will also have to integrate into the Greek school system. Elton was the top student in his class in Albania and will miss the stimulus of school until they are able to get the paperwork sorted out and the boys in school, hopefully by the fall. Additionally, in their 16-year marriage, Hamza and Maria have never lived together for longer than a short period of time.

So amidst the joys of reunion there will also be challenges. Please remember to keep them in your prayers. For now, we are rejoicing in God’s goodness in bringing this family together again.

Aurturo's family's house at Porto Astro

2009-02-09T08:59:00.003+02:00

After living and working on the property for ten years, Aurturo finally got all the red tape cleared and was able to bring his wife and son from Albania to live with him in Greece last year. Costas Macris had promised him that if he were ever able to get permission to bring his family here, he would provide a house for them. So now, 10 years down the road, and after the passing of Costas, Aurturo and his family are moving into their own little house at Porto Astro. Mike worked along with some of the other men on the team to help convert this little place from a storage room to a house! How fun to be part of this project.

Just two days ago, the other Albanian man who lives and works at the property, brought his wife and two sons to live here too. I guess we know what Mike will be doing next!

It's a blessing and privilege to be part of this work and to see what God is doing in the lives of these men and their families.

Rioting and Openness to Spiritual Things

2009-01-25T21:41:00.007+02:00

The month of December was marked as one of anarchy and rioting in Greece. While many things were destroyed in the capitol city of Athens, our HM staff and our buildings were protected from harm.

Johnathan summarizes:
If you've been following the news, you will know that Athens has been wrapped up in flames! Store after store, banks, supermarkets and anything that breathed capitalism with a capital 'C' was pillaged and burned...not only in Athens but across Greece, Istanbul, Spain, Italy and France among other places! A 15 yr old teenager was accidentally shot by police. Young Alexandros was among the anarchists who refused to stop hurling obscenities and threatened police with rocks and Molotov cocktail bombs that were literally raining on the streets of Athens. Over 1,000 garbage bins were burned, 400 shops ransacked, 100's of cars charcoaled, 100 arrested, 70 wounded, two police men imprisoned, one boy killed...a nation divided!

Will it be a Christmas of Hope? Where there is no desperation, pain or loss, there is no need for hope! So, yes, it is a season where we will celebrate and proclaim HOPE.

Has our ministry been affected by the rioting and the fires?

We had to cancel one Worship Event in December due to the rioting and burning in the streets directly below our meeting hall but the Christmas Love Meal was served! The poor and the refugees managed to make it through the disrupted city center to our downtown hall for the Love Meal on Monday, December 15th. As Bruce McAtee was preaching the gospel before serving the food, large flames and debris were seen outside of the 7th floor from the burning on the street below. The tear gas was so bad, that even through the closed windows, eyes were stinging. Bruce was able to calm calmed the frightened people and assured them that they would be okay. He continued with the program as usual.

Man on Fire – As our staff was helping some of the elderly to the bus station after the meal, Liza and Elias saw a man up ahead of them whose jacket had caught on fire as he brushed by a burning garbage bin. Elias ran and helped the man get his coat off just in the nick of time. The man's hand was slightly burned, but his life was spared. No sooner had they saved the man from his flaming jacket than two strangers ran up, grabbed the blazing jacket and searched the pockets for something to steal! Again, Elias ran after the two strangers on behalf of the old man who was on fire. This describes the spirit of unruliness in the streets of Athens.

…for such a time as this…Esther 4:14

These troubled times have produced an openness in the people here to listen to the words of the gospel like never before reports one young Greek police officer, Yiannis, who is a friend of the ministry.

As Yiannis was working out in the gym in December, he believes he received a message directly from God. He got up from the equipment, grabbed a pen and paper and recorded what he had heard. He was inspired to create the postcard shown below:

The Greek words say, (rough translation by Peggy):
In whom do you stand/lean on? In the government? In the minister? In the holy mountain? In the monk? In the police force? In the special guard?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Jesus Christ, the only one who keeps his word.

He had 800 of these cards printed and at present has handed out over 600 of them. He sent them to many government officials, including the President and the Prime Minister of Greece, with a hand written note on the back. He also passed them out amongst all his colleagues on the police force and to rioters and others he encountered in the streets.

Yiannis tells us that he has never experienced such a time of sensitivity and willingness to listen to the hope of the gospel as in these days.

Please pray with us that God will continue to inspire many other Greek believers to speak the truth and to move in the hearts of others to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Greek language progress

2009-01-25T21:15:00.005+02:00

We began language school again this week and Mike is having a good time. Exact quote, "it is even fun!" We are thrilled. He has a new teacher who speaks only Greek in class which he thinks is good because it helps him keep mind focused in Greek. She is enthusiastic and is trying many different methods of communicating with their class of 6 students which Mike finds helpful. This is truly an answer to prayer because he had such a bad experience last time he attended class.

Peggy's teacher, on the other hand, is not as challenging and it will be harder for her as he is "too easy." He communicates a lot in English and doesn't give any homework. Way too easy since she does much better with pressure. Please pray that she will continue to work hard on her own.

We really believe that we need to be able to want to communicate with Greeks in their heart language in order to share Jesus with them. Please keep praying for us and we will keep trying.

ONE FUN LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE:

While I (Peggy) was out for an early morning walk by our house, I was approached by a Greek taxi driver. As I saw him slowing and rolling down his window, I began to recite in my head the Greek words to say, I don't speak Greek, so that I would be prepared to tell him. Before I could speak, he asked me for directions and sure enough I understood what he was asking and miracle of all (those who know I am so directionally challenged) I knew the place. So instead of telling him that I didn't speak Greek I was able to give him directions!!! The truth is though, that the place he was asking about was right across the street as well as the only restaurant on the country back roads where I walk! So I pointed and said, Δουκατο, ειναι εδω. It's right here. OK, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that they will be hiring me as a GPS consultant (now or ever) but I did walk away smiling thinking, I just gave a Greek taxi driver directions-wow that was really cool and it encouraged me to keep pressing on!!

Back to work

2008-12-28T21:04:00.002+02:00

After a six week hiatus in the States, in which we met three new granddaughters, we arrived back in Greece just one week before Christmas. While the rest of the world was busy shopping for gifts and baking Christmas cookies, we were busy getting settled back into life in Greece.

The transition has gone smoothly. We had money to collect downtown, bills to pay, government offices to visit and finances to be done at the HM office. Mike has a construction project to finish out at the property for an Albanian family who will be living out there beginning mid January. Peggy continues to work at the HM office handling the overseas finances. We will both begin language school again mid January so we are trying to get caught up with all the other things to get done before the school work sets in again. It feels great to be back to work.

Another blessing: on Monday we finally got our official residence visa after waiting almost one year! We are so thankful since this saves us having to leave Greece every three months for a visa exit,which is both costly, nerve-wracking and exhausting. Thank you Lord.

We have not been disturbed by any of the rioting here except for one day that they had the downtown area roped off due to a demonstration. Some of the results of the violence are still obvious; broken windows, burned up ATM machines, bank lobbies that have been destroyed. It is very sad. There appears to be a spirit of anarchy amongst some of the youth in this country that is alarming. Although as our pastor mentioned at church today, without a thought for God or Jesus, it is as if God does not exist or that He is not interested in our problems. Thus the young people are filling this gap with other things. In fact, in one nativity scene, baby Jesus was replaced with a TV. Please pray for God to use this unrest to bring many to the saving knowledge of Jesus, who gave His life for them.

Praying you all have know the peace of Christ this season.

Hannah days

2008-12-12T03:31:00.003+02:00

I (Peggy) have had the privilege to spend this week at home with 5 yr old Hannah and Paul while Missy has been in Guatemala picking up their newest daughter, Amelia, 18 months.

We have had a great week spending lots of time playing outside, cooking, dancing and coloring together. We spent most of today getting ready for the big homecoming tomorrow afternoon when Mom and Amelia come home. We are so excited and have made lots of posters and welcome home decorations.

What a testament to God's perfect timing that Mike and I are here to meet three new granddaughters this month. We feel incredibly blessed!

Amelia is coming home Friday-Praise the Lord!!!!

2008-12-11T05:11:00.006+02:00

An excerpt from our daughter Missy's blog this morning:

GOOOOOOOOOOOD NEWS!!

God truly answers prayers... specific ones... and I experienced that this morning!!! GOD IS GOOD!!

We (Missy and Amelia) went to the embassy this morning for our visa appointment, and the first embassy lady (submitting documents) said that since Paul wasn't there, and since we didn't have a specific power of attorney form and his passport, that we'd have to come back the following week and have Paul fed-ex those documents... of course, this was the news I most feared, and I even started crying with that fear. Our adoption agency representative told me to expect the worst.

Then I went into the official interview and the lady was an amazing girl from the States, who's Dad lives in Colorado, and she just amazingly approved us, regardless!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was AMAZING!!! I don't know if I've ever taken that big a sigh of complete relief!!!

When I got out of the interview, our adoption agency rep said that God must like me, because that NEVER happens!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD IS SOOOO BIG! I love that it was such a true blessing!!

Anyway, we are pooped emotionally, but SOOO thrilled to be done! We pick up our visa tomorrow at 3:30 and get to come home on our flight on Friday morning!!! USA... HERE AMELIA COMES!! :)

Thank you for the prayers... they truly made a difference!!!
~Missy

We are so excited to be here in the States and waiting for Amelia's arrival!

Missy and Paul's blog address is:
http://coloradobennetts.aboutmybaby.com password: bennett

Enjoying Family Times

2008-12-01T06:00:00.003+02:00

Hopefully these pictures will tell a thousand words!!

We are loving God's goodness to us in allowing us this precious time with our children and new grandchildren. Treasuring the moments together before heading back to Greece shortly!

Baby Mia is born!

2008-11-21T17:28:00.003+02:00

We are so excited to announce the birth of another granddaughter. Mia Elizabeth Weinland was born Tuesday morning, November 18th at 5:50 am. She was 7 lbs, 6 ozs and 20.5 in long. Mom and Dad and baby are doing well and are settling into their new home. I (Peggy)was so privileged to be there at her birth. What an incredible miracle it is, each new life that God gives.

We are loving spending time getting to know her as well as our new 5 yr. old granddaughter Hannah. It has been a real joy to spend time with her at the park and playing games, singing and talking. Hannah is infatuated with her new cousin too and is anxiously waiting for the arrival of her new sister, Amelia, from Guatemala due home by Christmas, hopefully.

The rest of the family, Michael, Nisha, Jackson and Griffin are heading out here to CO for Thanksgiving and we are excited to all be together again.

What incredible blessings!! How great is our God!

Home for MisssionsFest

2008-11-21T17:13:00.004+02:00

How exciting it was for us to be home in Wheaton for Missionsfest (Nov 2-8th)at Wheaton Bible Church. Once a year, the church makes global missions and missionaries their main focus for the whole week. We were only able to there for the last half of the week but what an encouraging time for us. The church did an incredible job of providing opportunities for us to be refreshed and challenged and networked with others who can partner with us in ministry. We feel so privileged to be sent from this church to reach others with the gospel. For more info see wheatonbible.org

Lunch with Mehlbergs

2008-11-04T10:13:00.004+02:00

If life was always so easy!

We had an incredible day Sunday spending time with Bob and Jeanne Mehlberg, a couple from our home church. It was such a taste of home and an excuse to spend the day taking a long Sunday drive and eating lunch by the sea. The weather was marvelous and so was the company and the view!

If you are ever in Athens, don't hesitate to give us a ring. We would love the company.

Oxi Day 28th October 2008

2008-10-30T17:21:00.003+02:00

So we became a part of the Greek culture this week as we celebrated the national holiday "Oxi Day" with Mike's tutor and her family. We visited with them at their house and heard stories of Greek history. We watched Irini cook some traditional Greek dishes and then we rushed to the center of their town for the local parade. All of the school children march through town and it is a big deal. The parade route was lined with people four or five back waiting to see their favorite kids march by. It was a new adventure for us that we were excited to be part of. Thanks to Irini and Efthemis, Dafni, Giorgos and Anna for letting us join their family today.

Residence visa granted

2008-10-25T12:46:00.002+03:00

Last week we sat before a committee of six Greek officials and were finally granted approval for our residence visa. We had begun this process almost a year ago at the Greek embassy in Chicago. We reapplied upon arrival here in Greece and have been waiting since March for news. The visa should be ready in about 20 day and then it expires January 1, 2009. So as soon as we get the visa, we will need to reapply for another annual visa!

We are thanking the Lord for this. Because we have been granted this visa, we do not have to leave the country every three months,as most of our fellow missionaries do, for a visa exit. As you can imagine this saves a lot of time and money and stress. We are the first HMers to ever receive such a visa and we are thrilled. Just another affirmation that this is where God wants us to be.

Thank you so much for all your prayers with us for this. Another mark of God's faithfulness to us.

A new granddaughter

2008-10-25T12:31:00.003+03:00

We are so excited to share with you all the news that this week Mis and Paul were granted custody of Hannah and she will come to live with them beginning this Sunday, October 26th!! She is five years old and these pictures are from when she came to spend a weekend with them a couple of weeks ago. It has been a very long process but she will come home soon!

We are all so excited and can hardly believe it all! If you want to know more details you can check out their blog at http:/coloradobennetts.aboutmybaby.com.

They are still anticipating the arrival of their other daughter, Amelia Faith, 17 months old, from Guatemala one of these days hopefully before the end of the year.

We are all so thankful to God for His hand in growing their family. They have been waiting for almost five years now to bring a child home and we have all learned and grown in our faith as we have watched God directing His plan for their family. Please continue to pray for all of them as their are many transitions to come in the days ahead.

Crew on the Morning Star

2008-10-05T18:52:00.001+03:00

We had an interesting time this week. Peggy and I were asked to work as crew on a trip with the Morning Star, which is the HM sail boat. At first we thought we would decline because we had just started back to school but then we figured why not. We had never been out sailing on the boat and thought it might be a nice get away. We changed days with our teachers and off we went on the boat to a town called Limni on the island of Evia.

As we got to the town, Alex told us how he has been to this town many times but had seen no response in sharing the gospel here. We got off the boat and headed into town looking for a bakery for some bread. Along the way, we stopped and talked to two men that were sitting at a table drinking coffee. As he was talking I noticed that the man had a necklace. Now since I don't yet speak Greek, I just told him in English what a nice necklace it was. He responded back to me in English and asked where I was from. It turned out he had lived in the states for 30 years and had come back to Greece 5 years ago. As we talked he asked what we were doing here and with whom. So I told him we were working with a mission organization reaching out to Greeks. He didn’t say much else and so off Alex and I went to get bread.

Latter in the day, Peggy and I went out for a walk. We had just begun our walk and ran right into this same man. We said hello and the next thing you knew this man was telling us his whole life’s story. Next he told us how here in Greece the Greeks don't want to know anything personal they just want to give their opinions. And that if you say anything out of the ordinary, they won’t listen. At this time we shared our faith with him and what we know as the truth and he thanked us and we both went our separate ways.
As we were walking I told Peggy that we should give him a Bible or at least see if he would like one. When we got back, I went to see if I could find him but no luck.

The next day was our last day and so I carried the Bible with me thinking that if I saw him I would give it to him. I went walking through the town, but it soon became apparent that he was no where to be found. As I went back to the boat I began to pray for this man and others like him. When I reached the boat, they sent me out for ice so I put the Bible away and went on my errand. And sure enough, what do I see on my way back but this man. Now he calls for me to come over to talk and sit down with him, as I realize that I needed to get the ice back to the boat. So I asked if he would wait for me because I had some things to share with him. When I got back to him, he and I started to talk like we were close friends and I shared my faith and my passion for the older people in Greece. I explained to him that I did not want him to be left out of heaven and how important it is to have Christ in his life. As I walked away from him, he told me he would read the New Testament and watch the Jesus DVD that I gave him. As I left I prayed that he would come to know the Lord in the same way I do.

Alex commented on what a God thing this encounter was as this was the first time in the 15 years of him visiting the island that we ran into American Greeks! Please pray for this man, for God to work through His Word to make an eternal difference in his life!

We're back!

2008-09-21T21:24:00.002+03:00

We've arrived back in Greece after a very busy two weeks in the States. We very briefly got to see only a few of you but were so grateful to be in town when our new grandson, Griffin Michael, was born and to be able to see all our kids and other families. It was a great but hectic time and we are glad to be getting back to "normal life" here in Greece. I never would have dreamt this would be "normal" living for us but after almost 11 months here, I think we are finally feeling at home.

I, Peggy, have started back at language school. I am re-taking Level 2 Greek, which I took in the Spring but spent most of the class trying not to cry because it was so intense. This time around, there are no other students in the class, just me and the teacher. Not sure yet what I think about this. It makes it easier since I don't have to worry about feeling so stupid in front of others, but harder in the sense that it is only me and her. No time for distractions or learning from listening to the others answer the questions. Oh well, just trusting that God knows best and trying to keep my head above water. It is nice to not be so new to the material and to realize that I did actually learn a little last time!

Meanwhile Mike has been busy working with the HM team out at Porto Astro as we are preparing for the visit of a very special HM donor. We are likening it to when the kids got married and suddenly we needed everything done at the house that we had put off for years. Needless to say, he has been quite busy, doing maintenance, building windows, rolling out astroturf for the soccer field, repairing things etc. He will be staying out at the property this whole week and then will begin studying Greek full time again with his tutor next week, we hope.

The pace of things here continues to swirl as more and more people are visiting and considering ministering with us here in Greece. We have lots of planning to do for the year and years ahead. Just two weeks ago another couple joined our HM team from the States, Matt and Nikki Gulley and their six month old daughter. We are looking forward to getting to know them more and to helping them get settled here. We have laughed as we recalled our own first days and are glad not to be the newest kids on the block anymore! Please pray for them, settling here is difficult!!

One other really exciting thing going on here is that we are planning for a "Hope Center." A building was donated to HM that we are hoping to use for a pregnancy care center and perhaps as a refuge for young girls to escape the sex trafficking life. We are very early in the development stages, but I am going out to see the building on Tuesday and can't wait to see what God has in mind for this ministry.

OK, off to finish homework and get ready for the week ahead. Mike is already at a meeting to get the week's agenda. Blessings to you all. Thank you so much for partnering with us. We are privileged to be the hands and feet of Christ here in Greece through your love and support.

Officially homeless!

2008-09-06T15:27:00.003+03:00

We finally sold our house in Wheaton and are now officially homeless! It feels great! After 14 months in a depressed real estate market and three sales contracts, we closed on our family home of 22 years this week on Wednesday while we were back in Wheaton. Praise the Lord!!

This means we return to Greece without the burden of mortgage and utility payments and without the concerns of trying to manage a vacant property.

We are overwhelmed with RELIEF and GRATITUDE and a touch of sadness as we remember the happiness of the days spent in that house raising our family. Tears and joy mixed together. We find that common these days!

Thank you to all of you who have prayed so faithfully with us about this. God has been faithful to answer our prayers. We have learned to continue to trust Him and His perfect timing, even when we don't understand it.

Finally, thank you to all of you who have helped us so much while we weren't here to take care of the house. Thanks Michael and Nisha for managing it and troubleshooting for us. Thanks Sheryl and Rebecca for the great job you did marketing the house and for the agonies you shared with us! Thanks Don for negotiating the legalities of three contracts. Thanks Mom and Dad Bollweg for the multiple clean up jobs you did. Thanks Mom and Dad Lowe for your vigilance in checking up on the place daily. Thanks Don and Bob for your help with inspection issues. Thanks Espo for shoveling and mowing. Thanks dear neighbors for your help, bible study friends and sisters for the clean up job and the list goes on and on.

While at times it felt like we were alone in this, God provided for our every need. Thank you dear friends. Thank you Heavenly Father for your love and care for us. We are blessed!

Griffin Michael Lowe is born!

2008-09-02T16:21:00.003+03:00

Our second grandson, Griffin Michael was born on Saturday August 30, at 5:02 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well and are settled at home already. Mike and I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to be here in Wheaton to meet him at his birth. We are enjoying time with family and will be heading back to Greece in a few days. Thanks for all your prayers, what a precious gift from God!

Final Summer Days at Porto Astro

2008-08-13T18:38:00.007+03:00

The summer is winding down and we are only just a skeletal crew here at Porto Astro. All the campers are gone, the short term summer helpers, the clean up crew and other staff friends. We can really tell that summer is coming to an end. Mike and I are spending our last week here at the property. Mike is busy with lots of construction jobs to do and I spend my day in the office trying to balance all the finances from the summer. Many of our HM team, along with some Greek friends and others from around the world are in China now serving with missionaries there. Please be praying for them.

We leave at the end of next week for our first trip home to the States. We can only imagine how it's changed/we've changed in the last 9 months since we have been gone. We are looking forward to being there, God willing, when our grandson, Griffin arrives. He is expected Aug 30th. We can't wait.

That's all for now. Thank you so much for all your love and support that keeps us going over here.

For God's glory alone, Mike and Peggy

Operation Joshua

2008-08-02T17:26:00.003+03:00

Pre Operation Joshua Days

2008-07-21T20:51:00.007+03:00

Another day here in Greece, another camp site! Wow, I never thought we would grow up to be such campers. In fact, the younger people here tell us this is something that we should have started when we were young and by now we should have graduated to a RV or something!

We are in the Peleponese, the western land mass of Greece where there was a lot of fire damage last summer and also earthquake damage this Spring, to begin the first year of Operation Joshua. This is HM's attempt to take the land of Greece with the Word of God. In five years, we are hoping to pass out New Testaments to every house in every village of the mainland of Greece.

We have a skeletal crew here on site and the excitement is building as we anticipate what God will do through the distribution of His Word. Already we have shared a New Testament with the owner of the camp ground and she says that this is the first time that she has ever read it.

Our plan is to pass out 40,000 New Testaments in this part of the Peleponese, Ilia from the 23rd to the 29th of July. We are anticipating about 80 people to help us get this job done. For now, we are under a big tent that friends from Thessaloniki generously lent us and we are packing up the bibles into bags. Assembly line work does get quite monotonous day after day and I am glad I never had a factory job!!

Camp days at Porto Astro

2008-07-14T14:13:00.001+03:00

Camp days are busy and sometimes it reminds me a lot of the movie “Groundhog Day!” Same thing, just another day, if it were not for the neat interactions with people each day it would be hard to tell one day from the next. The days are full and fulfilling. We have breakfast, a time of prayer and daily quiet time with God and then we are off to start the day. Some are helping with the campers, presently we have about 70 at the camp, some are directing work teams about 40 people, many are preparing the delicious meals we have each day, and then there are the other chores such as cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes, taking care of the finances, the arrivals and departures, boats, waterfront activities etc. As you can tell there is much to do here and we are enjoying serving here at Porto Astro. The weather is hot and the water sparse so we bathe and cool off in the sea. Here are just a few glimpses of life here at camp.

Refugee camp was awesome!

2008-07-06T19:49:00.003+03:00

We hosted for the first time a refugee family camp here at Porto Astro June 15th to the 18th. Being a pilot program, we had no real idea of what to expect but God knew exactly what He had in mind for this time and it went really well. We hosted ten families, almost 40 people, about 30 kids!! The pictures really tell the story best but is was a great time. The families were able to spend time together away from the city in a restful place together and we were able to love and serve them with the love of Christ. They were all Muslim families so it was a unique opportunity to minister to them. We ran programs for the children, ladies and men where we clearly presented the reason for our hope in Jesus as the Messiah. We did crafts, made bracelets, did rock climbing, swimming, had a magic show, ate and laughed and talked together a lot. They were some long discussions and one family has even been to church the last couple of weeks. Our new friends were sad to leave and said this was the best time ever for them. They had trouble putting into words the gratitude they felt for this incredible fun family time here at Porto Astro. Thank you all so much for your prayers and financial support that made this camp possible. We were all so blessed to be a part of this.

Refugee camp, prayer vigil, camp prep and more…

2008-06-07T20:54:00.000+03:00

The speed has picked up for us here in Greece and summer and a very busy workload is here.

Mike has been spending most of the weeks at the property trying to get it ready for the summer. He has been building screens, cutting bunk beds to fit the cabins, installing shelves, boat repairs etc. The list is endless and he is busily working away there. It is good to have real work to do after so much time in language school but challenging as there is not a FE Wheaton or Home Depot nearby (in all of Greece!)

Next week he begins the process of rebuilding the 21 ’ x 24’ barge that we use to transport all big items across the bay to the camp. It will require new stainless steel corners (delayed already at the shop), foam blocks and treated 2” x 14” wood planks across the top. This will be especially challenging because we will need the barge to bring all the cooking pots and pans, dishes etc from the downtown hall to use at camp this summer. There is never a dull moment around here!

This weekend is full, heading up to help another Christian organization open their camp Saturday morning, going to a wedding in Athens at 5:30 and then to a HM all night prayer vigil Saturday night. Sunday evening we have our last worship event of the year down at the hall.

Peggy is working on summer finances as well as organizing a first ever camp for refugee families out at the property. We were hoping for about 40 people and 120 signed up!! They are all fairly new to Greece, Farsi speaking Muslims from Afghanistan. We are dealing with everything new with this camp and the challenges are countless, from being able to leave their government sponsored hotel, to Muslim women who don’t swim or wear bathing suits, to having 50 refugee children at a sea-side camp with parents who are not diligent in watching them!! Although there are many unanswered questions, we see God at work in big ways such as providing 6 former Muslim Christians who speak Farsi and will help us at the camp. One of these men, who doesn’t live in a house because he can’t afford the rent, is taking three days off work just to be there to love these people with the love of Christ.

Please keep us all in your prayers, big plans ahead, lots to do, but mostly we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!

Pre-summer in Greece!

2008-05-25T17:39:00.005+03:00

The daily temperatures have increased and so have our schedules. Our formal language learning is over for the summer (we start again in the Fall) and now we have both begun summer responsibilities with HM.

Mike spent three days this week out at the property, Porto Astro, HM’s seaside camp. This is a very rustic camp that you get to by boat and which runs without running water or electricity. He spent his time this week installing bunk beds and making screen windows for the 10 cabins we have there. One of the Albanians who lives on the property cooks for the workers so he is well fed there!

I spent this week reacquainting myself with the refugee community that we serve. I am helping run our first International Family Camp June 15^th to the 18^th. This is an opportunity for refugee families to get away from the city and to enjoy relaxed time together. It also gives them a chance to be surrounded and served by Christians. We planned for about 40 people and already have 120 people signed up!! We explained to the people that this was a very rustic place, not kid friendly-especially for little kids-of which we have 15 children aged 8months to 5 yrs. registered. The people were not discouraged. They said they had come from conditions much worse and they are looking forward to this respite. Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do! We are overwhelmed but are trusting God that He will provide all we need.

We also had the privilege of attending the wedding of Anthi and Haris last night. Anthi is one of the Greek girls who has worked with HM for at least 15 yrs. It was a beautiful God honoring ceremony that started at 8:30 last night and we arrived back home at 4am this morning. One more piece of cultural adaption for us!

HM has many programs planned for this summer including distributing 40,000 Bibles to Greek villages, hosting 5 different sports camps at the property, and sending teams of Greeks to China in August. If any of you would like to partner specifically with us towards one of these projects, you can make a donation through the HM US office, PO Box 726, Wheaton, IL 60189. 1.800.469.8972. info@hmnet.org.gr

Please pray for us and for the entire HM team as we begin the busy summer schedule. Pray for us to be people of spiritual integrity most of all. That we will love the Lord and serve Him in all we do in ways that bring glory to His name. Thank you.

Mothers Day and Babies on the Way!

2008-05-12T15:41:00.003+03:00

As we celebrated Mother's Day yesterday in Greece, both Mike and I realized what a blessing both of our mothers have been in our lives. We are grateful. Thank you and we love you.

Because we are talking about mothers, we thought this was a great time to announce new mothers-to-be in our own family.

Michael and Nisha are expecting their second child, a baby boy, Griffin, August 30th. Older brother Jackson will be 4 just in time to meet his new brother. He is excited that it's a boy!

Missy and Paul are expecting possibly two babies this year. One sixteen year old birthmom, Gwen, has chosen them to be the parents of the child she is carrying that is due September 6th and they are still waiting for the homecoming of their Guatemalan daughter, Amelia Faith, who turns 1 this Wednesday, sometime before the end of 2008.

Michele and Jeremy are also expecting their first baby November 15th. She has had a good first trimester and is feeling great!

All the Moms (and Dads) are doing well and we are overjoyed at all these gifts from the Lord. These new lives are especially precious to us as our family has been dealing with infertility for almost 5 years now. We have many grandchildren that we will meet for the first time in heaven and another that is still living with his birthmom. It is humbling to sit back and see the hand of God blessing our family. We are awed!!

Please join us in praying for the health and safety of all the moms and babies involved.

Kalo Pasxa! Happy Easter!

2008-05-05T20:11:00.003+03:00

We celebrated Easter here in Greece on April 27th. Mike and I enjoyed an overnight with our HM friends out at Porto Astro (the mission's seaside property). We were joined by about 30 others from our HM team and some other Greek friends as well. As you can see, we roasted lambs as is the tradition here in Greece. The weather was cool and damp, the food was excellent (even though I was too chicken to try any lamb) and we had a great time as we rejoiced together over the Risen Lamb of God who is now seated at the right hand of God interceding for us. What other God would sacrifice so much, His perfect Son, for sinful people like us? We are amazed at His love for us and long to share this love with others!

Akbar's family reunion

2008-04-28T19:39:00.001+03:00

It was a special privilege for us to be part of a welcoming team that met at the airport in the very early morning hours Saturday to welcome to Greece Akbar's wife Lela and his almost 7 yr old daughter, Bita. Akbar is a refugee friend of ours from HM who fled from Iran almost 5 yrs ago. He had not seen his wife or his daughter since that time. As long as we have known him, he has been working to get them here with him. He has tried various means, including hiring smugglers and locking himself in at the UN building, to get them here but until now he had not been successful. Lela and Bita were even arrested and imprisoned in Turkey recently. Akbar is a very strong, intelligent, prideful man who is not used to not being able to provide for his family. The challenge of securing his family's safe arrival here has humbled and consumed him. With the help of the HM team, largely Bruce and Johnathan, and a multitude of praying friends, Akbar has been able to obtain the paperwork necessary to reunite his family. It was a hugely rewarding experience for us to be there with him as his daughter ran into his loving arms. There were lots of hugs and tears and love flowing that night as we clapped and praised God for this answer to prayer. The really neat part of the story is how God used this whole process to draw Lela and Akbar both into a loving relationship with Him and their surrender to Him.

Mike's birthday

2008-04-21T12:58:00.004+03:00

I played a little surprise on Mike for his 51st birthday this past Saturday. I got him up at 7am and whisked him off to the port where we took a two hour ferry boat ride to the island of Andros. We spent the day site seeing around the island and then spent a very peaceful afternoon and evening at a great little villa that overlooked a bay. We had a nice dinner with phone calls from family back home and then watched a beautiful full moon and a sky full of stars together. On Sunday we spent more time driving around the island and then coming back home in the late afternoon. It was a very quiet but restful time together and I think Mike really enjoyed the surprise!

Spring is here and so are visitors!

2008-04-08T22:26:00.002+03:00

The Wilson Family

Jennifer Fichera

The Caperwray Girls

One part of our assignment here in Greece is to manage the “HM Guest House” which is the apartment that is downstairs from us. Since we moved in in December one family, the Wilsons, occupied it. Sad to say, the Wilson’s left Greece after working here with HM for four months and are continuing their travels to visit a few other missionary families on this side of the globe before returning home to Seattle in a few weeks. Since then we have already had two sets of visitors through our doors. Three young girls on Spring break from Caperwray Bible School in England stayed with us one weekend and then the Bougas’s from South Africa were here for a few days last week. Needless to say, it has been busy, trying to get the beds made, the towels cleaned and dried and some basic essentials set up for the place. We are excited about this opportunity to meet new people as they come through and we have been blessed already by all those who have stayed here.

Other things about our home life haven’t been as fun. We have been struggling with some of the new appliances that we bought in December. The washing machine just quit, the refrigerator freezes things and the solar panels we had installed on the roof took four visits and 6 weeks time to work properly! It’s quite a challenge to call people and try to get repair men out here when we don’t speak the language. I am thankful that Mike has been handling most of the calls and we are about one third of the way there. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours and days we have spent trying to get these things done. Waiting at home for someone to come who never shows up etc.!!

Good news though, Mike has been successful in getting us the internet at home now and in getting all our paperwork done and turned in to the local government office to apply for our residence visa. It appears that everything is in order and they have granted us a temporary pass but the bad news is that the licensing agency that handles the paperwork now is on strike for a month!! We also learned that our travel is restricted by the government until the official visa is secured! One step forward, two steps back J

I am still struggling through language school. Level two is much more challenging than level one. I have just 4 classes (I’ve been counting since 16) left and then will hire a tutor for more individualized help-yeah!! I am learning humility in new ways as I find myself praying not to cry in class when I am often overwhelmed. I am in a class of 8 and am the slowest, oldest learner-aka the “dumbest kid” in class. Another uncomfortable thing!

One really neat story I must share. Because of one of the transportation strikes two weeks ago, I spent an extended period of time at a bus stop waiting with a group of people for a non-existent bus. The next day I saw the same young man at my regular bus stop and we got to talking about how we managed to get to our schools the day before. During the course of the one + hour commute, God gave me the opportunity to share with this guy the good news about Jesus Christ. The whole story about how God sent Jesus to rescue the world and our ability to have eternal life by believing in Him. It is interesting that God works in such mysterious ways-would I ever have chosen a strike that caused my trip to school to be 3hours and 25 minutes, absolutely not, but would I ever have known that this is what gave me the opportunity to share with this young guy about Jesus and life in Him!! Surely His ways are beyond our ways and understanding.

Oh well, the days go by and we often find ourselves with mixed feelings between what- in- the- world are we doing here and what an incredible blessing it is to be here! Thank you for your love and prayers for us. Glad to be partnering with you all. Blessings.

Studying Revelation on Patmos!

2008-04-08T20:29:00.001+03:00

I recently got the chance to go on a nine day trip to the island of Patmos with the Greek Bible School. Twenty of us went to do an Alpha Course Study (first time offered by HM in cooperation with the Greek Bible Institute) on the books of Daniel and Revelation. I (Mike) first must say thank you to Peggy for letting me go. It was hard being away but the time went fast.

I found it captivating to be on the island where John, who was exiled and about 80 years old, received the revelation about the last days of earth from God. We even visited the cave where scholars think he was when he wrote the book.

I really enjoyed the study of the seven churches in the beginning of Revelation. Things were not so good in them and I realized that we can learn a lot from them. We talked about how the conditions of the churches mentioned relate to the churches today. A few things that really hit me were:

-being lukewarm

-what we are accountable for?

-what is worship?

-how can we be in the world and not of it?

-how can I be on guard against Satan and false teaching?

-how do we not “water down” our faith?

-how can we prepare for suffering?

After looking at the whole study, one of the main things that keeps coming back to me is about prayer and fasting. Not just prayer to ask for something but prayer just to come before God and to thank Him and to find joy in Him. This really made me consider my own prayer life. I realize that I need to be spending more time with Him. I feel so bad for all the times that I haven’t done so well with this. I’m not good at fasting either but now I think I will try to do this more often.

I am back from my trip and life is getting busy again. Here I am writing this and already I am reminded how I need to spend more time before God. Satan sure is a good deceiver and he has ways to pull us into thinking we can put things off until tomorrow or the next day or week. Sometimes, we even think we are doing a good job or being close to God.

This trip to Patmos really made me look at my relationship with God. I realized that this is something I need to examine and I need to be honest with myself about how I am doing in this relationship. It also made me think that if the end of the world was tomorrow; would I be happy with how I’ve handled this relationship today? God is always there, waiting for us to come to Him. Don’t miss out.

House Guests, Family Conference, Strikes and More School

2008-03-17T07:41:00.005+02:00

Practically please pray for us:

To be able to learn the language well.

For the sale of our house. Yesterday we learned that the deal we had to sell our Wheaton house fell through, so it is back for sale again!

Real estate prices are sinking as well as the US dollar against the euro. Financially we are having to trust God more and more with things we cannot understand.

That we will continue to be open to the things God wants to teach us

It’s been busy these days in Greece. At the beginning of the month we hosted our first house guests, Carol Getz and Gary and Christy Bollier, all from our home church. They are also members of the HM board and were in Athens for an annual board meeting. HM combined the board meeting with the annual family conference this year so we all had the opportunity to get to know the board members and likewise for them to know us better.

It was an incredible week of busyness and fellowship. I was in charge of accommodations as the 60+ of us gathered at a hotel in Glyfada for a 5 day retreat. It was with such joy that we welcomed familiar faces from Wheaton and were able to spend time catching up on home. One night, we had an awesome candlelight dinner at our house with 8 of us from WBC. We weren’t intending for it to be lit by candlelight, but we lost power about 15 minutes before they got to our house. (Part of an ongoing strike by the power company. I think our power has been cut off at least 5 times in the last 10 days.) Our guests were gracious and we ate our cold food (it was ready two hours earlier) in a very intimate setting here around the kitchen table.

The family conference was a time to get together and for each of us missionaries to give a report about their life and ministry in 2007. For those of us new people, it was a great chance to learn about all the ministries that HM is involved with. There were long days sitting around the conference room soaking up the reports but we did have a break every afternoon so Mike and I took the opportunity to walk down to the beach and to enjoy the sun. Mike even took a dip in the sea on two occasions. It was quite cold but refreshing? (he said his chest hurt after the dip) for him.

We came back and hit life like crazy again. This time we had two new houseguests, the Bougas’ from South Africa. Mike has had to be Mr. Hospitality since I am in the city for language school three days a week. Mike is working on his Greek using the Rosetta Stone computer program and we are hoping to find him a tutor soon. Level 2 for me is quite difficult, I realize now how easy Level 1 was. It might be hard to imagine just how exhausting, both physically and mentally, language learning can be, but trust me, it requires a lot and we are grateful for the time HM is giving us now to study the language. Sometimes it is frustrating because we are so anxious to become more involved in ministry, but God is telling us “siga, siga, (slowly, slowly), first things first.” And so we wait, what else is new?!

Mike is off on the island of Patmos this week with the Bible school students doing a study of the books of Daniel and Revelation. Patmos is the island where John was exiled when he received the revelation from God (Rev 1:9). The trip was rather spur of the moment for Mike, they had a last minute cancellation and he took advantage of it. We are both so excited that he is having this opportunity to study the Word of God in this way. It does seem much better than the winter commute to Moody that I did!

A fun surprise: I spent the day today with another girl from Wheaton, Jennifer Fichera, who is here for 6 weeks for work. It was so fun to meet her and to spend the day talking of familiar things and people from back home and seeing some of the sights of Athens together.

Anyways, we are reminded again and again of God’s sovereignty as He is directing our lives. No day is predictable here; right now we are in the midst of a one week garbage strike (it’s piling up and it stinks) an ongoing power company strike (frequently losing power), and weekly general strikes where they close everything down including, banks, metro, buses etc. This makes it a little difficult getting around and knowing how and when to get to school and the office etc especially when we can’t understand the news in Greek! There is much we can’t figure out but we are always sure that this is where God wants us. He is doing a lot of uprooting in our lives but at the same time we know He is shaping and forming us anew so that He can use us here.

Big accomplishments this week!

2008-03-02T14:23:00.004+02:00

The weeks just keep flying by here. I can’t believe it is March already. We had several big accomplishments this week.

On Wednesday Mike got our clothes dryer hooked up. I know most of you won’t understand this (because in my previous life I didn’t either) but Wednesday night after I got home from school and the office, I was able to do two loads of wash; washed, dried, folded and put away in 2 ½ hrs. This was incredible!! Normally this process would have taken about two days from start to finish. Anyways, we are thrilled with the dryer and received it just in time as we have house guests coming this week and were able to get all the bedding washed and dried in one day!!

On Friday, we had our last day of Level One Greek class. That also meant we had a test that day. As you can see from our certificates, we did pass the class (do they fail anyone when one pays for the class?!). We’ve survived the first level and have had 60 hours of class. It has been one of the roughest things Mike has ever done. I am more used to it since I went back to college in my 40s. Certainly a challenge to feel so inept (stupid) at this age! It is also embarrassing to try to use the language on the street and still be misunderstood. Sometimes we concentrate so much on what we want to ask/say that when the people respond to us in Greek we have no idea what they have said!! Did I mention that Level 2 Greek class begins tomorrow-March 3^rd!!

This week (Thur-Mon) HM is having a family conference at a hotel in Glyfada, Greece which is about 30 minutes from Athens. It is different this year because we have HM Board Members joining us from North America, Australia, South Africa and Greece! We are all excited to have this time together, especially the three new families who have joined HM this past year. The conference will include reports from each team member about their work here in 2007. We can’t wait to hear more and to learn more about how HM works.

Needless to say, we have also been quite busy this week trying to get ready for the conference. Before the conference, we are housing Carol Getz and Gary and Christie Bollier so we've had a lot to do to get our newly furnished house (1 month) ready for guests. Lots of boxes to get through and clean out! We think we are ready which is good since Carol arrives in a couple of hours and the Bolliers tomorrow.

Mike has been helping at the office with some renovation projects and I have been working on accommodations for the conference as well as having four days of school this week and a test!!

The days go by really quickly and we are thankful to have so much to keep us occupied with.

The weather this week has been lovely, most days in upper 50’s and a couple in the upper 60’s. We are enjoying the weather and are sorry for those of you stuck in cold and snow.

Thank you again for your love and support. We are always mindful that none of these accomplishments is done by ourselves. You are part of our busy lives and ministries here everyday as you partner with us to share Jesus here in this country.

Mourning for Kela

2008-02-19T19:31:00.000+02:00

As we gathered at the HM office on Saturday for a group office clean up day, our fellow missionary, Lahela Hughes Tagaroulious, shared with us the tragic news that her 22 year old sister Kela had died the day before in a car accident in Seattle. We were/are stunned.

Mike and I got to know Kela from the time we spent here in Greece in 2006. We also spent time with her again this past Thanksgiving. She was here for a couple of weeks visiting Lahela and was the one who prepared Thanksgiving dinner for us since her sister was too ill with morning sickness to do any of the preparations. We marveled that one so young could cook up such a big feast and it was all delicious.

The Hughes family lives in Seattle Washington where their father, David, is the missions pastor at Antioch Church. They have been coming to Greece and sending teams to work with HM for years.

Please join with us in prayers for the grieving Hughes family. Parents David and Holly, siblings Lahela 26 (married to Bobis and 5 months pregnant), and brothers Keoni 20-studying at Moody, Kuni 17ish and Kepa 13ish. While we grieve with the family we do rejoice in the knowledge that Kela is now in heaven. She had made her peace with Jesus and had given her life to Him; accepting the free gift of salvation that He offers to those who believe on His name.

We are still reeling from this sad news and are even more aware than ever that the time is short. Death can come at any minute. Do you know where you will be one minute after you die? Will you live forever in heaven with God or will you be eternally separated from Him in hell? Have you been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus? It is in His name alone that we can enter the presence of God in heaven. It doesn’t matter how good you try to be or if you go to church, but whether or not you have chosen to follow the way Jesus prepared for you by His life, death and resurrection.

The time is now, the choice is yours. It is a free gift, but it must be received and opened by you individually. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

Snow Days!

2008-02-18T19:24:00.000+02:00

You guys in Wheaton aren’t the only ones getting snow. While snow is a common winter occurrence in the Midwest, it’s not so usual here. The Greeks are having a great time playing out in the snow as it only happens like this every few years or so. The cold and snow began Sat. night and ended Monday morning. The buses haven’t been running, the airport closed and the marble streets of Athens so slick that we didn’t even bother trying to get our car out, especially without chains. We’ve been home all weekend; no church yesterday, no school today (hurray!). I’ve been busy cleaning out closets while Mike has been a little under the weather. He is achy all over so has enjoyed the day off school and out of the cold too.

You can see from the pictures we’ve had to be inventive to clear our stairs; we never thought to bring a shovel!
Check out the gorgeous snow covered mountains in the background.
Happy Winter!

The container arrived!

2008-02-13T17:56:00.002+02:00

Sorry we have been so remiss on posting to this blog lately but we have been quite busy. Believe it or not, just when we were least expecting it, OUR CONTAINER ARRIVED!! Friday morning, Feb 1^st, we were just parking the car at school when we got a phone call telling us that our container would be at our house in a couple of hours. Mike was quite thrilled for an excuse to leave me at school and to take off for home. He made some frantic phone calls to round up some guys to help unload the 20’ container we shipped with all our household belongings from Wheaton on November 5, 2007. It was a beautiful sunny day and God provided plenty of help for us. The container was emptied in less than one hour!! Everything arrived in pretty good condition; nothing was broken, lost or stolen.

When I arrived home from school at 2pm that afternoon, the truck was gone already left and everything was already in the house. Many of our fellow missionaries and their children helped as well as students from the Bible school down the street from us. Our neighbors downstairs, who are here in Greece with HM for three months, were invaluable to us that day.

We have been enjoying sitting in comfortable familiar chairs, eating at a table and sleeping in our old bed (although it took a little getting used to!). Surprisingly, it was also a little sad to look around at our things because it reminded us of many great family times together. Another rite of passage from our life back home to our new life here in Greece sans children :(

We’ve been shopping again, trying to get settled before we have our first house guests in early March. There are many boxes left to unpack and pictures to hang but we are feeling quite settled and are so enjoying the comforts of home that we took for granted for so long until we were without them.

In the midst of all this chaos, we are still diligently pursuing language school. It is a challenge, but we find the people here respond so differently to us as we stutter to try to speak their language. We also are participating in HM ministries as often as possible, mostly with the refugees right now.

We are learning to watch and wait on God for the most basic things. It is surprising to be thanking God for helping me drive to IKEA by myself without getting lost! Our days are full and we are still amazed every day with God’s provision for us. It is a privilege to be serving here in His name.

Thank you for all your prayers for us. We rejoice with you in thanking God for His goodness to us.

Problem Free Living-A Fallacy?!

2008-01-27T14:06:00.000+02:00

The following words from the devotional we’re reading, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, have been our inspiration this week. Written as coming from the mouth of Jesus:

Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life. Part of you is still hungering for the resolution of all difficulties. This is a false hope! As I told My disciples, in the world you will have trouble. Link your hope not to problem solving in this life but to the promise of an eternity of problem-free life in heaven. Instead of seeking perfection in this fallen world, pour your energy into seeking Me; the Perfect One.

It is possible to enjoy Me and glorify Me in the midst of adverse circumstances. In fact, My Light shines most brightly through believers who trust Me in the dark. That kind of trust is supernatural: a production of My indwelling Spirit. When things seem all wrong, trust Me anyway. I am much less interested in right circumstances than in right responses to whatever comes your way.

These words express much of what we are learning as we continue to transition from the life we knew in Wheaton to the life and service that God has called us to in Greece.

The week passed with more surprises:

They recalled the truckers’ strike all week, so we waited day by day to hear if our container would come and no word yet. It was painful to get back onto the air mattress and in our sleeping bags Monday night after thinking we would be sleeping in our own bed snuggled under our down comforter that night! An interesting side note: Friday they started ripping up the road that leads to our street. We are wondering how the container will get here if they do end the strike tomorrow!

Got another parking ticket Monday. That makes two in less than one week. We felt blessed this time that they didn’t take our plates, it was only a 40 euro fine again! One has to laugh and trust God’s sovereignty in these things because we are trying so hard to obey the law and yet we are still making so many errors!

Language school heated up this week, getting really hard really quickly. We are trying to keep our heads above water!

Thursday Johnathan said we were witness to a miracle as the lady at the visa place, took our money to apply for our visa here even though we are missing much of the necessary paperwork. We worked with a woman who spoke good English and was very nice to us. The visa we got in the US expires this Sat so we are so grateful that she started the process for us without our paperwork being complete. Much more to do in that area, for example, getting a certified copy of our marriage certificate, sending it to Springfield to be apostilled, get it here, translate it, take it to the US Embassy here in Greece to get an affidavit that we are still married and then turn it in. We need to do this for several other things too like insurance and our income. A complicated process for sure but we have been blessed by the kindness and cooperation of this woman so far. Thank you Lord.

Had a great little get away Friday night with the other HM wives. We spent the night at a local hotel and enjoyed a great time together getting to know each other better and sharing what God is doing in each of our lives. It was a lovely break at the end of another crazy week.

That’s all for now. We continue to be encouraged by your love and prayers as we seek to serve here for the name of Jesus. We see the needs all around us and are anxious to be able to communicate the hope we have in our hearts to others. For now, we try to do that without words!

Amelia Faith Bennett

2008-01-23T16:05:00.000+02:00

We'd like to introduce you all to our newest grandchild. Amelia Faith Bennett was born May 14, 2007 in Guatemala and Missy and Paul met her for the first time at Christmas. They were able to travel to Guatemala and spend a week parenting her in a local hotel. They had an incredible time meeting and loving on their new child. They have a website that gives a lot of information about her if you are interested. It is http://coloradobennetts.aboutmybaby.com/. Please continue to pray for Amelia and her parents and for her to continue receiving loving care in her foster home. Please also pray that the paperwork will be completed soon and that they will be able to bring her home quickly. Yia yia and pappou (grandma and grandpa) can't wait to meet her.

More new beginnings!

2008-01-20T08:00:00.000+02:00

This week has continued along the same way as the last ones since we’ve been here in Greece. New learning experiences, new challenges, new glimpses of the power and glory of God.

Let me share some of the good things happening first:

We are building relationships with some new Greek friends. We are able to drive (OK Mike is) around without getting lost most of the time. We are privileged to be partnering with you all to serve Christ here in Greece. It is an awesome responsibility and an awesome joy (most of the time!)

We are where we KNOW God wants us. We are uncomfortable but not without cause. We are SURE that God is working in our lives right now to mold and shape us into instruments that He can better use for His purposes.

Think of the roads you drive, very few of them are totally smooth. There are potholes and curves and hills and valleys along the way. We know what that’s like. We’ve just left the familiar and comfortable for a new road. It has bumps as all roads do. But we are confident that God is leading us and is very present by our sides each step of this new drive. In fact, we are much more aware of His presence and His provision for us here each day than we were when we felt so self-sufficient back home.

We are trying to learning THANKFULNESS in all things. While this feels strange, it does shift our focus from our circumstances to the sovereignty of God. It reminds us that HE is in charge and that we are not merely just wandering aimlessly. We know the character of our God is good and that He works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

So on with the week:

Monday: Calling customs agent only to find the truckers’ strike was still on and would most probably continue all week. Spent the day helping do some “spring cleaning” at the HM office. In the evening we served the weekly Love Meal to refugees and homeless. This week was a challenge because we served a beef dish and the people were so excited for it that they wanted, begged for, endless refills. Some even tried to trick us, by hiding bowls under the tables 

Tuesday. Ministering to the refugee women and children as they come to the hall to take showers and to do laundry. While this might not seem to be such a challenging thing, it is for me. There are always too many clothes to wash and not enough time in the day to get them all done so some sort of system needs to be put into place. The question is how? I’ve given out numbers now which seems to work somewhat but then there are always the exceptions. Women who have five children and one load is not enough for them. Ones who stay there for 5 hours waiting to do one load. Those who attempt to sneak in a load while I am out getting more towels. The ladies arguing with each other about who is next, etc. It doesn’t help that I can’t distinguish well between them as many are wearing head scarf’s and I can’t tell one from the other very well. The constant begging, please please, in languages I don’t understand.

Then the showers: if the ladies take too long we run out of hot water for the others. So this week, I finally had to try to peek in the showers and tell them to turn off the water. 10 minutes is what I try to tell them. One woman, very pregnant, was in for almost 30 minutes. She would turn off the water when I asked and then turn it back on again when I left. How does one handle this situation, am I going to drag a naked woman out of the shower? It’s quite stressful for me and I am trying to respect their privacy in the shower and yet they are not doing what I’m asking, what to do? As I mop the floor, I pray, “God please give me wisdom to know how to handle this, I can’t even do this simple job without your help.”

In the midst of this chaos, and it is chaos, I had the opportunity to spend about 15 minutes combing out a young girl’s hair. Her mother was busy bathing her younger siblings and this girl had already showered and was struggling to get a fine toothed comb through her thick dark hair. I motioned to ask if I could help her and spent the next minutes gently working through all the knots in her hair. (Girls, I remembered how you always complained that I yanked yours, so I was trying to be real gentle!) It was such a joyful experience of showing her the love of Christ as I served her. She was smiling and I was smiling and I just loved on her. I must tell you my heart just swelled as I was able to spend this time giving this little girl, who has seen too much of the world and its pains and struggles, some special attention. That 15 minutes made this whole week worthwhile. In the midst of chaos, God brings joy!

More chaos this week:
Going to a Greek hospital this week for a chest x-ray and TB test for our visa application here. Two days: 4 hours. I felt very vulnerable putting my physical body in the hands of strangers whose language I did not understand and submitting myself to procedures I did not comprehend beforehand. When the lady approached my arm with a needle (and not wearing gloves) I thought, OK God if you want me to get AIDS it’s in your hands. Dramatic, I know, but what I was experiencing at the moment. After she stuck the TB test under my skin, I finally was brave enough to look and was surprised that she had not drawn blood which is what I thought she was supposed to be doing, wrong again-a common occurrence for me here!

Calling daily to the customs broker to see if we can get our container. The truckers have been on strike for two weeks now. Neil Macris went to the port again (4th trip) for us on Friday, we paid a lot of money that we weren’t expecting to pay (for storage since it’s been on the dock almost one month because of their strike) and we think it will be delivered to our house on Monday. We’ll see.

Language school began Wednesday! Now we know why older people like us don’t do these kinds of things-we don’t like feel so stupid at this time in our life. When we’re young, we expect to not know many things, but once we’ve hit middle-age we think we have a pretty good handle on things, but let me tell you-it’s difficult!! The first day our teacher called on each of us (only 5 in the class) to READ GREEK WORDS!! This is particularly hard when you don’t know the sounds of the letters of the alphabet. I was praying not to cry as I was so nervous and uncomfortable. Another tip: when one is nervous and scared, the brain does not function at its best!

We came out of our 3 hour class with our heads spinning. We walked to where we had parked our car and found that the license plates were missing and there was a parking ticket on the windshield. To make a two and one half hour saga short, after many, many tears and trips to two different police departments, we paid a 40 euro fine and were able to get the plates back that same day. We heard this is quite unusual as they normally make you wait 20 days to get your plates back. Thank you Lord.

Wednesday evening: as if we hadn’t had enough, we then came home and were trying to negotiate terms of agreement for a buyer with our house in Wheaton. We were trying to communicate with our realtor and our attorney through a very slow dial up speed connection on the internet. As it stands right now, we signed a contract, BUT it is with a 30 day contingency that the buyer has to sell their house in, so we are cautiously optimistic.

Thursday: Another trip to the hospital, Greek homework and studying. Doing laundry, having it get soaked in the rain (a 15 minute downpour while we were away) and having to bring it in, wring it out and re-hang it only to get it caught again in the rain the next day as we were out for a walk!

Friday: Language school again. This time Mike said after class that he’s not much of a crier, but that he was working hard not to cry in class that day. We are the oldest and slowest students in the class and the others are able to grasp the material much quicker than we are. Two of the young ladies are fluent in at least two other languages; one even works as a translator! School has been the hardest thing Mike has had to do here in Greece. I experience this same sort of being overwhelmed in almost anything I do here: helping the refugees, trying to drive and park the car, at the grocery store etc. I can’t believe this is the first time Mike has felt this way here.

Phone saga: We applied to get a home phone and internet Dec 15th. Still no word. We keep making attempts to connect with the right people through our landlord, the builder of this house, etc. and are still trying to get connected. We spend a couple of hours a week on this process. We are so grateful for the generosity of our downstairs neighbors who enable us to share their network card with them and thus are able to use the internet most of the time. So if we are slow in communicating with you all, please forgive us as we are not up and running yet on our own.

Thanking you all for your love and support. We value your partnership more than you know.
May God continue to richly bless each one of you.

A story for another time: trading the riches of home for the riches of Christ.

Horrible Holidays!

2008-01-10T15:02:00.002+02:00

I laugh as I type this and realize it will be a shock for some of you to read, but that was the reality for us. As exciting as this whole adventure seems (to some) the reality is quite difficult, especially for a hometown girl like me who has never been away from home for the holidays. Here are some of the highlights and the lessons learned.

Christmas Eve: We had planned on going to the International Church for a candlelight service and then to walk around downtown Athens to see the lights and to ride the carousel in the main square. We had bought preparations to make a nice steak dinner to eat before we headed out for the night. At 2pm, Peggy got the flu and spent the rest of the day vomiting and in bed shaking with a fever. Mike was left by himself, at home with no TV and a sick wife. A great new tradition!

Christmas Day: Peggy was better. Began the day skyping with Mis and Paul and new granddaughter Amelia in Guatemala in my bathrobe in our car at the Bible school parking lot (we don’t have a land line phone or internet yet but can connect to the net in the parking lot of the school!) Read the Christmas story together, went for a walk, had our first fire in our fireplace, shared dinner with 3 other families from the mission. Skyped with Mike, Nisha, Jackson, Michele and Jeremy who were together in snowy Colorado.

Lesson learned: Christmas is not a matter of traditions kept but something we live in our hearts: the joy and wonder of the birth of our Savior Jesus who left heaven to come to earth because of God’s great love for us.

New Year’s Eve: We gathered with many of the other HM missionaries at the home of Johnathan and Miriam Macris. There were about 25 of us there and we had dinner, sang some Christmas songs, shared prayers requests and then were praying when the clock struck midnight. Peggy spent a lot of this night trying to fight back tears as she looked around the room and saw all the families together and was aching for her own. For some reason this night was even more difficult than Christmas.

New Year’s Day: We lit a fire in our fireplace and watched the DVD which was made to celebrate Peggy’s Dad’s 80^th birthday Dec 23, 2007. Needless to say, another day spent in tears. Poor Mike, you can imagine how fun all this crying is for him. Then we spent the night babysitting for other missionaries here. The only problem was that the kids were more awake than the babysitters!

Blessings (among other things): Spending some great times with other missionary families during this season which made us realize and appreciate “our family” in the body of Christ both here and back in the US.

We are grateful that the holidays are over and are hoping that the first time away is the hardest!

Lesson in progress: Our Needs + Christ’s Riches = a Perfect Fit.

God didn’t make us to be self-sufficient. He carefully crafted our longings and feelings of incompleteness, to point us to Him. We are to rejoice in our neediness which enables us to find intimate completion in Christ. We're learning how to seek Christ to meet our every need and are grateful that He is faithful in all things!

GOD’S BEST TO YOU ALL IN 2008!

We love you and miss you all dear family and friends!

One of the best days of my life

2008-01-10T14:50:00.000+02:00

Mike and I were privileged to serve with the Hellenic Ministries team to provide a Christmas dinner to over 400 less fortunate people on Monday December 17th. The meal was a special time of hard work and sharing the love of Christ with people who don’t have homes or the safety of their own countries any longer.

The day started early. Peggy spent a lot of time in the kitchen washing the lettuce, tomatoes and onions for the Greek salad. Mike was busy setting the tables on the main floor. There were many helping hands that joined together to make this day possible. The china was used and a five course dinner was served. After dinner, oranges and Greek sweets were passed out as well as a gift bag for each family container food, a blanket and a devotional calendar for 2008. The story about the birth of Jesus the Savior was shared during the meal in many languages. It was amazing! The presentation of this meal and the many, many hours of work and preparation so practically demonstrated the love of Christ through His people to all who attended.

As we worked throughout the day, preparing food, serving the meal, doing dishes, one thought kept coming back to my (Peggy’s) mind: this is one of the best days of my life! Words cannot express the joy I had as I served others in His name. It was particularly fun for me to see and greet some of the refugee women (whom we have met through the Tuesday laundry and shower ministry) who came with their families that night. It was the first time that we shared greetings with a kiss, 3 times on the cheek! Mike and I sat at the table and spoke to some of the families. It was hard to see them dressed in their finest clothes, telling us about their life in Afghanistan where both the men were doctors and how they cannot find any work here. Oh the plight of the refugee-it breaks our hearts.

After a very long day, we reflected together what a great time we had serving others. We pray that we will become better servants of the Lord with each passing day. This day truly was the highlight of our holiday season here in Greece.

Our new home

2007-12-08T19:08:00.003+02:00

Working with refugees

2007-12-08T18:38:00.001+02:00

This last week Mike and I have had the privilege to serve in refugee ministries with HM. On Monday nights we serve a “love meal” to the homeless and refugees. The number of people attending this dinner has increased significantly since we were here in 2006. The number of families, women and children is eye opening and heartbreaking. The people seem desperate for food as they reach out to receive the soup or other dish that’s been prepared for them. Looking at the faces of the littlest kids, like one year olds, breaks my heart. Their looks of desperation and despair make me think, “God, I’ve never been hungry.” How is that depending where one is born, one either has a life of abundance and freedom or of squalor and oppression? The inequities of the situations are hard to justify. And I wonder why? Why did I never have to have someone else provide food and clothes and diapers for our children? Why were we always able to live in a nice warm house with bathrooms and a kitchen? Why did I grow up experiencing the best of freedom-to work, to go to school, a home and a family etc? Why are so many people without these basic things?

On Tuesdays, the hall is now open to women and children for showers and to do their laundry (the men come on Mondays). Even though we try to make it as nice as possible, a stranger never had to tell me to hurry up my shower nor did I ever have to ask for feminine hygiene products from a stranger. I never squatted to nurse my babies, nor had to sit in a hallway for most of the afternoon and wait for my clothes to dry outside. The boredom and monotony of it were depressing for me. The children range in age from toddlers to teenagers. It’s hard to watch the face of a teen as her mom asks me if I know of any work for her husband. They have six children and no work. I am like a deer in the headlights. I am speechless. I can’t even begin to understand what this feels like, and I am ashamed that I can’t even begin to understand her situation. The teenage girl seems bright and somewhat embarrassed of the situation and I think of teens in the US with so much who are rude and just demand more from their parents. I look at the faces of the women and they look tired, hopeless. I can’t communicate well with them other than to smile. So I try to treat them with respect, share smiles with them, change their laundry, clean up after them in the showers. I know Jesus is the peace and hope they need but how do I share this with them? I cannot rescue them, I cannot give them work. I cannot financially support them or give them housing. It’s overwhelming to me and yet I just do what I can at that time.

Thank you for helping us help others in the name of Christ. Too often we Americans want to see solutions; we can usually fix things quickly and efficiently. But here we are left to just love the best we can, for the short time we have contact with these people. Please pray for the needs of these refugees and the strangers and aliens among you. They are there if we just open our eyes beyond our own needs to see those around us. Look them in the eyes, let them know you see them and that you care. The answer is not up to us, just the responsibility to help when we are shown the opportunity to do so.

Thanks for letting me share my heart with you.

A Reluctant Servant

2007-12-02T08:41:00.000+02:00

A week ago, when most of your were enjoying your Thanksgiving holiday, eating leftovers and putting up Christmas decorations, Mike and I had the opportunity to spend the night out at HM’s seaside camp, Porto Astro. On Saturday, I spent the day cleaning a boat on shore while the rest of the team did repairs on the Morning Star (HM’s 67 ft. sailboat). The five hours or so that I spent cleaning the boat by myself gave me a lot of time to speak and to listen to God and to learn more about myself.

While I was washing the boat I kept thinking how much I didn’t enjoy doing this task. I was thinking of everyone at home shopping and celebrating and feeling somewhat sorry for myself. I was rationalizing that I was too old to be climbing up into this little dinghy and cleaning it, after all, I am a grandma! I couldn’t picture any of my friends back home doing it or even any of my kids doing it. Then I told God “I am a bible study teacher, not a boat cleaner. Did you forget that I just graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies from Moody?” And God said to me, “Do you think you are too good for boat cleaning?” And I answered, “Yes, I think I am.” And He said, “Was Jesus not too good in His perfect holiness to come to earth and take your filthy sins to the cross?” And I was silenced. He said “You say you want to be my servant, but now you are complaining about the work I have given you today. You are telling me what you are willing to do to serve Me.” And I was humbled. He said, “Peggy, in order to use you to do anything here in Greece, I need you to come before me in brokenness, not in pride.” And I was quiet.

This was a shocking, painful day of self revelation for me. How is it that we say we will serve God with all our hearts, mind, strength and soul and then we put parameters on that service? How easy it is to speak words, how much more difficult it is to surrender to God’s plan not our own. I still have so much to learn, but am trusting The Teacher! I won’t quickly forget this lesson in boat cleaning!

We're in Greece!

2007-11-17T14:42:00.000+02:00

Contact info:
Cell phones: Calling from the US dial 011-30 then our cell phone number
Mike 698-169-4082 Peggy 697-966-1835
For international calling card try www.callingcards.com
Temporary mailing address:
c/o Hellenic Ministries, 12 Lydias St, Athens 11527, Greece
Skype name: mikeandpeggy79
Email: mikeandpeggylowe@gmail.com
Our web albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/mikeandpeggylowe

We arrived without incident in Greece and have been busy acclimating to this new place that we will call home.

We are staying in the most beautiful house that I have ever seen here. I especially love this view from the living room out into the courtyard-more green than I ever saw here last time. We are enjoying the peace and quiet and beauty of this location while we spend most of our days running around trying to get settled.

Our friend and fellow Greek missionary, Alex Macris, has been our personal shopper and chauffeur these last 10 days. So far we have purchased cell phones, registered for Greek tax numbers, bought a car (although we don't have it yet-waiting for the government papers to be done), begun the process of applying for a resident's visa and have been apartment shopping.

It is good to be back in Greece. It's not nearly as disorienting as it was last time we were here. It's nice to remember things, streets and some Greek words.

Hard to believe that it was just two weeks ago today that we were loading our house into the 20' container in our driveway. Today Mike and I took a walk around the neighborhood looking for places for rent. Imagine someone dropping you off in downtown Chicago and telling you to find a place to live, either there or in any of the surrounding suburbs. How does one choose? We don't quite know. We're considering all the possibilities. It's easier to get around downtown Athens (HM office) by foot but very difficult to find a parking place. It's noisy but there's always some action to be had just by walking the streets. Or do we live in a quiet suburb outside of Athens. A long drive (40-50 minutes to the office) but a quiet neighborhood and plenty of places to park and even some green spaces. Or by the sea-a long car trip to the office, but an incredible view!
Adding to our confusion is that everyone we talk to has a different opinion about it! We feel it's like looking for a needle in a haystack BUT we are certain that God knows just the place that's best for us. So we go through the day, reading the classified adds (in Greek), searching but mostly just trusting God to lead us. It's quite a combination of action and faith. Personally, I'm all for Him just sending me an email with our new address!

We are so grateful to God that everything went so smoothly getting us here, for the gorgeous temporary accommodations (with DSL), no sicknesses etc. and we continue to wait on Him to sell our home back in Wheaton and to provide us with a new one here. These words, sent to us from our realtor, have been an encouragement to us this week:

To be related intimately to our Father is to trust him when things are difficult, the money is short and the future unknown. He has promised that he will see that we have all we need. He commanded that we not dishonor him by worry, murmuring, grumbling or self-pity like the pagans do. For the fruit of the Spirit is love of God, joy in trusting him, and peace, which is freedom from anxiety. Remember Phillipians 4:6-7

Thanks again friends for partnering with us in this ministry. We look forward to the days when all the "settling in" is done and we will be more able to participate in ministry

Getting Ready to GO!

2007-10-31T12:40:00.001+02:00

We leave for Greece in less than a week now -Tuesday November 6th to be exact. There is so much to do and the days seem to keep getting shorter.

Here's the abridged scoop on what needs to happen in that time:

Pack up our entire house and move it into a 20' container that will be in our driveway this weekend
Obtain a visa from the Greek embassy in Chicago
Sell our house
Say too many goodbyes

We've contracted for a 20' container to arrive at our house this Friday in which to pack up personal effects and household goods to ship to Greece. They pick up the container on Monday morning and then it starts its 4-6 week trip across the ocean to the port of Pireaus in Greece where we will have to meet it and arrange for its contents to get to our apartment. Since we haven't ever done such a thing before we are praying that everything we had hoped to bring with us will fit in the container and that we will pack it all well.

The visa deal continues to allude us. We went well prepared (we thought) last week downtown and they are stymied about what kind of visa to give us. This facilitated a call from HM in Greece to the Chicago office and maybe will take another trip down there for us. They are offering no guarantees just another look at it. Ironically, if we sold the house, we would qualify as "independently wealthy" for their visa and one would be issued right away!

Our house still has not sold. One of the many BIG things that we are still waiting to see how and when God will take care of this. It will be in an auction on Nov 10th-so we'll see if anything comes out of that and if so how to negotiate internationally.

Our kids: Missy was in last weekend helping us with some last minute planning and Michele and Jeremy will be here this weekend. It might not be our most hospitable time as I am trying to pack up bedding, towels etc. We may all be sleeping on the floor together! We continue to soak up as much time as possible with Mike and Nisha and our 3 yr. old grandson Jackson before we go. Jackson still tells his parents that he's going with us to Greece (Oh how I wish that were true!).

Goodbyes: not my favorite thing in the world, in fact something that is really difficult for me(Peggy). I would think God could have given me the spiritual gift of detachment if He knew how many goodbyes would be part of my life!

Thank you for all of you who are praying for us and who are partnering with us financially. We are privileged to be ministering alongside you. As we look ahead, there are so many uncertainties-but one constant-the love of Christ and the knowledge that He is the One who is calling us and leading us to Greece. These words from Psalm 139:10 comfort us and tell us that God will be our helper and our leader in what's ahead for us...."if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

Waiting again!

2007-01-30T20:29:00.000+02:00

Mike and I are living in Wheaton and preparing for our return back to Greece. We are busy trying to catch up with life in the States and to reconnect with family and friends. We're finding that transition time is not so much fun....too many uncertainties, but we see no other way through it than to just keep taking one step at a time and to keep trusing God. There is much to do regarding shipping of furniture, obtaining resident visas, getting overseas health insurance etc. and we are trying to make good use of the time He's given us.

Our biggest news is that we are waiting for an adoptive grandson that is to be born May 20th and placed with our daughter Missy and her husband Paul who live in Colorado. The timing of this grandson's birth would seem to facilitate a change in our departure date from April to perhaps some time in June. We wait with expectant hearts to see a new family born for Mis and Paul.

We are starting to get the word out that we are seeking people and churches to partner with us as we minister in Greece through both financial and prayer support. This is another time of waiting on the Lord and watching expectantly for Him to supply all that is needed.

The challenges before us are big, but so is our God. Please pray for us to be patient and trusting as we wait on Him!