Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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"

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?