We're back!

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!

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!

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

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

Pre Operation Joshua Days

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

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.