Feb GWOM: Προετοιμασία-Preparing

The GWOM (Greek Word of the Month) for February is Προετοιμασία-Preparing.

Who would have ever guessed that there was so much work involved in starting this new ministry? Certainly not me!! 

We have almost completed our 55 page Policy & Procedure Manual and our 16 page Resident Manual. It's amazing how much time and energy goes into these things. We have almost been tempted to lose heart, but God keeps giving us little encouragements along the way. 

Here are some of the ways God has encouraged us this month:

• Four girls from the Greek Bible College have been helping us make   video collages of THC, developing a correspondence format for us, translating one manual for us, plus accompanying us on campus to speak to the Greeks about this ministry. 
•  Marina Karava, who partners with us and who runs Hope for Life, a pregnancy care center, was invited to speak to the youth and parents in Thessaloniki about sanctity of human life issues. 
• We've made contact with two local gynecologists and hope to meet with them in person soon to speak to them about what we hope to do. 
•  We are beginning a post abortion recovery education class next week to help women deal with abortion losses. 

Please pray with us:

-For perseverance and diligence with the manuals.

-For us to find just the right translators for all our materials and that the translation can be done quickly. We can't present our ministry until this is done.

-For finances to complete the building, translation etc. 

HELLENIC MINISTRIES IS ALSO PREPARING FOR OPERATION JOSHUA 6. 

Check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFsnfjFvsM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

COME SEE US IN GREECE THIS SUMMER!

January GWOM: Βίζα - Visa

If you have followed us for long, you can tell that this month's word is not an original Greek word, especially since it is so easy to pronounce and it is so short! Nonetheless it was super important to us this month.

A week ago, we had an appointment with our local municipality regarding our visa. We are here with an annual residence permit and we need to submit a lot of translated paperwork every January to reapply for the next years' visa.

It is with much prayer, fear and trepidation that we approach these meetings, as we are never really sure what the outcome will be.

This year particularly, we were a little more guarded as we know many missionaries, including three co-workers, who have been denied visas, even with all the proper paperwork and qualifications.

We were ecstatic and so thankful to walk out of the office, with visa stickers in our passports! A minor detail is that the stickers were only good for two days, but we were able to file our papers for 2013 and received a certificate that allows us to live here legally while they process our papers again. Thank you Lord!

Please pray for this visa situation between the US and Greece. We know more full supported missionaries ready to come serve who are being denied visas. Please ask God to change this so we can grow our team and live legally here.

Please pray with us:
-Αs we continue to work on promotional materials and policy manuals for The Hope Center.
-For patience for us as we wait on the Lord for the funding necessary to get heat in the building so we can move in.
-For wisdom for our team in making decisions regarding the girls who will live there.

Dec GWOM: Γιορτές - Celebrations

December was a month of celebrations, the most important one being: Rejoicing in the remembrance of the birth of Christ our Savior! Unto us a child is born… Immanuel-God with us!

Other noteworthy celebrations for us in December:

The Greens. We said goodbye to Josiah and Jamie-Lee who served as THC interns from July-December. They are an amazing couple that impacted so many in their short time here.  They showed Christ’s love in amazingly practical ways all over Greece but most especially throughout the gypsy neighborhood of THC. We wish them well as they begin seminary in St. Louis.

Christmas Love Meals.  Three different opportunities to serve refugees and the homeless of Athens. The following is a link to a short video of the festivities. http://youtu.be/seL0Z7LKgdU

Christmas and New Years. The quiet of the season away from home and family allowed us more time to marvel anew at God's amazing gift to us in Jesus.  And also to remind us what a special privilege it is to be here serving in His name. Thank you so much each and every one of you who equip and enable us to be here. Looking forward to the journey ahead in 2013!

Please pray with us:

-For wisdom as we prepare policy and procedure manuals for THC.

-For Mike and I as we contemplate moving to THC as the first houseparents.

-For the completion of the construction, furnishing & funding of THC.

-For sensitive promotion of this maternity home and for God to bring us just the pregnant girls who need help.

-Praise for our connection with a Greek midwife who is spreading the word for us.

Nov GWOM: Επιστροφή - Return

We returned to Greece Nov 4^th after a 6 month home assignment in the US. What a whirlwind of activity! We are still adjusting to our new home again! We’ve hit the ground running-ok, not Peggy. Unfortunately she returned a little slower and with crutches due to an accident trying to get a motorcycle license! The crutches are now gone and her knee is almost back to normal. Mike, on the other hand, returned better than when we left due to another hip replacement surgery in August to match his other titanium hip replaced in Dec 2011.

We are very excited about the progress of The Hope Center (THC). While we were in the States, Josiah and Jamie-Lee Green have been living at THC and making friends with our gypsy neighbors. They hosted a kids club in September and due to its popularity, they began  an “Alphabet Club” three mornings a week in THC driveway. Their goal was to reach out in love and in practical ways by teaching the Greek alphabet as well as other fundamentals for education, such as forming a line, how to correctly hold a pencil, how to raise a hand to answer etc. The club has been a huge success and this week we will conclude this particular session with the Greens as we share the story of Christ’s birth.

The rest of our time has been spent trying to finish construction needs at THC as well as developing policy and procedure manuals so we can begin the job of hiring house parents and hosting pregnant girls. 

Please pray with us:

-Praise: for our safe return and good transition back to life in Greece, for the continued recovery of the stress fracture in Peggy's knee.

-For the Alphabet club in our gypsy neighborhood: for a clear presentation of the gospel this week in the Christmas story and that God would draw many of these children to Himself.

-For God to bring us the house parents He wants for THC so we can open the doors to pregnant girls soon.

-For the completion of construction, furnishing and funding of THC.

Jul/Aug GWOM:Ευχαριστώ-Thank You

We thank our God every time we remember you. In all our prayers for all of you, we always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3-5)

We are dedicating our communication this month to you, our partners in ministry. We are so excited to be able to report to you how God is at work in Greece because of your sacrificial giving.

We are finally in Wheaton and will be here, God willing, until Nov 3rd.

We would love to be able to meet with each of you and to tell you stories first-hand of how we've seen God moving there over the last five years. The country is certainly in chaos, but we know that this is no surprise to God and we are praying that He will use this new vulnerability of the country to draw many to Himself.

We so appreciate you and consider you our "silent partners" as we live our lives in Greece. We are continually encouraged and empowered by your faithfulness in prayer and in giving to the ministry.

Please pray with us:

-Praise: Mike has his right hip replaced on Aug 17th and is recovering well. We are so grateful for the doctors and the hospital that enabled us to have this surgery.

-For the Greens who are living in The Hope Center currently until we return. For good relationships in the neighborhood and for wisdom in all their dealings with girls who would live there.

-Praise for the successful summer ministries: 7 summer camps and 126,000 New Testaments distributed in Northern Greece.

-For Greece: to endure and to find economic and political solutions. Please pray that many would find Christ as their Hope in the midst of the current chaos.

-For God to equip & enable us to raise awareness and partners for our personal support and The Hope Center (THC) support.

June GWOM: Παιδιά - Children

We have been busy with kids in June, our eight grandchildren and hundreds of others as we worked with two churches in their Vacation Bible School (VBS) programs.

Mike and I led Bible adventures for preschoolers at Grace Community Church in Loveland, CO and then for the elementary aged kids at Grace Chapel in Englewood, CO.

It was a great way to serve with our kids in ministry and to connect with others in these churches. We were tired, but had a lot of fun. It is always a joy to see kids respond to the Word of God and to experience the world again through the trusting eyes of children.

While we were here in CO, camps were taking place at Porto Astro Greece. HM hosted a refugee men's camp, refugee family camp and a junior sports camp in June. The camps are such a good place to get away from the hectic life in Athens and to spend some quality time just loving on others. We heard many good reports about lives touched by the love of Jesus at camp.


Please pray with us:

-For Greece:  Economic solutions, perseverance to withstand the austerity measures, hope for better days. Please pray that many would find Christ as their Hope in the midst of the current chaos.
-For HM summer ministries -sports camps, and bible distribution: wisdom, finances, staffing, strength, health & safety.
-For God to equip & enable us to raise awareness and partners for our personal support and The Hope Center (THC) support.
-For the Greens, who will be coming to Greece from July-Dec to be interim houseparents at THC. For wisdom for all those who will make decisions regarding THC while we are on furlough.
-For favor with the city officials where THC is located. We are having some complications in getting our electricity connected and the Greens arrive there July 2!

May GWOM: ΕΠΑΝΕΙΣΟΔΟΣ - RE-ENTRY

April has flown by and so have we! We made a hasty exit out out Greece at the end of April and have begun our first furlough of our missionary career.

People have asked us if we are resting and relaxing, not sure if that's what you call it! We have been on the move, literally, traveling with our suitcases packed commuting between our kids houses. We've been preparing promotional materials for the mission, getting reacquainted with our kids and grandkids and making new contacts for the ministry in CO. We were the featured missionaries at Grace Community Church in Loveland for the month of May, so we've had the privilege of sharing before the church, in the youth group and this weekend with the childrens' ministry. Grace has warmly embraced us and we are hopeful for more opportunities to connect our ministries in Greece. We also had the chance to talk about our work with our granddaughter Hannah's school. What a special time to be able to be the visiting grandparents and missionaries! We were especially touched by the students' heartfelt prayers for us. We plan to be in Colorado until July and then in Illinois from Aug-Oct. If you would like us to speak at your church, Sunday school class, home group, missions committee, etc. please let us know. Also, if you know of someone else (individual or group) who may be interested in having us share how God is at work in Greece, please pass this on to them for us. It has been difficult to be away from Greece in these days. Our hearts are breaking for the Greek people as they are facing incredibly tumultuous times. We are praying for our teammates as they are living day to day in precarious situations such as refugee beatings, economic disaster, political failure and potential default from the Eurozone. Please continue to pray with us for Greece. Please pray with us: -For Greece: upcoming elections, economic solutions, hope for better days. Please pray that many would find Christ as their Hope in the midst of the current chaos. -For HM summer ministries -refugee camps, sports camps, and bible distribution: wisdom, finances, staffing, strength, health & safety. -For God to equip & enable us to raise awareness and partners for our personal support and The Hope Center (THC) support. -For the Greens, who will be going to Greece from July-Dec to be interim houseparents at THC. For wisdom for all those who will make decisions regarding THC while we are on furlough. -Praise: the kitchen has been installed in our absence, now we need to find a hot water solution so the house can be lived in soon!