So...
I lost my cell phone on a bus last week...
A little frustrating when I first realized what had happened, not gonna lie.
I went through this whole "lost and found" Christian analogy lesson in my head, ya know, trying to smooth away all the angry feelings and let even this be an occasion for joy. LOL... right. Went through all the excuses in my head - oh, it's okay, it was a fairly cheap phone anyway... ah, but I liked my cheap, simple phone... ah man, I lost all my messages and contact info... ah shucks, do I really need to pay for a new one... hey, I can't get ahold of anyone tonight, I literally know no one's number but my own... hey... it's actually kind of nice for once to be out of such close contact with everyone who may "need to get ahold of me."
Soooo... the next day, God sent an encouragement my way - a HUGE, unexpected, overflowing care package from some dear friends of mine. Wow... what a blessing. And with the card, there was a check for exactly the cost of the phone I had lost... whoa. Okay God, tears... yup, the tears of joy, let them overflow.
And then... the search for a new phone. I was quite excited when I realized that at least I would be able to keep my same number so I don't have to tell everyone else a new number! And then I relentlessly tugged away at my "tight, Dutch" nature, and decided to splurge a bit on a "pretty" nice phone since I haven't bought anything for myself in awhile, and a few friends told me with their gifts that I should do exactly that at some point while I was here. Sooooo... I got a new phone - and it's a "jewel." Literally... the Motorola Jewel. pretty cool. :) And the best part was - I got to make another new friend - the girl who worked at the COSMOTE shop. She helped me for a long time that night, explaining things about how the phone system works that I hadn't understood so clearly before. And after that, I told her to enter her name into my phone as my first new contact... :) Her name was Natassa - the same name as one of my other really, really great friends here in Greece! It made me smile, really big. Thanks for another fun relationship that I could start with another beautiful Greek girl.
Okay God, thanks for greatly redeemed a mildly frustrating situation. :)
And then today when I heard of how a friend of the ministry's house got broken into last night - and so many things stolen - like a new laptop, camera, money, etc... I thought to myself, whoa... and I just had to deal with the very minor stress of losing a cell phone. What can I say to encourage this family? I could think of nothing except how surely I know that God somehow redeems every single minor or major frustrating, awful, evil, upsetting situation in this world for good and for his glory. I pray that this family will somehow be comforted by that powerful truth.
Monday, April 27, 2009
People...
I love people...
I love talking to people...
I love understanding people...
I love Greek people...
I LOVE my Greek neighbors -
Anna and her elderly mom - across the street on the opposite 4th floor balcony...
George and Ritsa - my neighbors next door in my apartment...
I love laughing with them as we stutter through broken phrases, a few words here and there in both English and Greek... trying to understand one another... aaaaahahaha...
I love it... but oh... it can be frustrating because, like I said...
I love people...
I love talking to people...
I love understanding people...
I want to understand Greek... NOW...
So I can TALK to these people...
and understand all people speaking GREEK to me...
AH!!...
patience Meg, patience...
For now...
At least...
I really love smiling at people... :)
(And I think smiles are worth a thousand words...)
I love talking to people...
I love understanding people...
I love Greek people...
I LOVE my Greek neighbors -
Anna and her elderly mom - across the street on the opposite 4th floor balcony...
George and Ritsa - my neighbors next door in my apartment...
I love laughing with them as we stutter through broken phrases, a few words here and there in both English and Greek... trying to understand one another... aaaaahahaha...
I love it... but oh... it can be frustrating because, like I said...
I love people...
I love talking to people...
I love understanding people...
I want to understand Greek... NOW...
So I can TALK to these people...
and understand all people speaking GREEK to me...
AH!!...
patience Meg, patience...
For now...
At least...
I really love smiling at people... :)
(And I think smiles are worth a thousand words...)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Turkey, Wedding, Germany...
What do these three things have in common?...
Hehe, well nothing much except that I will have gone to all three of them in less than three weeks! :)
Here's the e-mail I just sent to my supporters. I just painfully realized my e-mail lists aren't even completely up to date anymore, so I haven't been sending to all of the contacts I want to, oops... Oh well, it will be okay. I don't need to let this sharing of the blessings God has poured out in my life become a burden or a stress. And as soon as it gets to that point, I need to immediately stop what I'm doing and re-focus my main goal - to bring glory to God in absolutely everything! :)
So anyhoo, like I was saying... here's that e-mail I sent. Enjoy! :)
Hi friends,
I just wanted to say a quick thanks for praying for me as I made a trip to Turkey last week. It was a wonderfully blessed time of encouraging the missionaries we stayed with while we were there. I wish I had time to share more details with you, but I'm actually preparing to go on another trip to Germany in the next couple of hours... I will be going to the Mission-Net conference to promote our Operation Joshua vision and Hellenic Ministries in general. It should be a blast! Visit http://www.mission-net.org to find out more about it.
Right after I get back from that I will be going straight to the Hellenic Ministries campsite property, Porto Astro, where we will have a family conference, sharing our stories of God's faithfulness in our lives through the year, and just truly enjoying the fellowship of our amazing staff. I'm super excited for it. We each wrote up a year in review report. A lot of mine is information that I have already shared with you, but I thought I'd attach it and copy the report for you anyway. :) Enjoy!
The picture I've attached was taken after I went to a wedding this past weekend (right after I got back from Turkey!). It was a truly blessed celebration of perfect love - 1 John 3:16... there is no greater love than this - that you lay down your life for your brothers. The Gospel was shared and beautiful music was sung. I was so blessed to be there... my first "big fat" Greek wedding, hehe. After the wedding, my Greek friends went and hung out at a great cafe and had yummy drinks and desserts.
The next day we went to church together, had lunch, and then... they asked me to go bowling with them. I still hadn't been home yet to change out of the dress I wore to the wedding. But I absolutely cannot say no to bowling.. sooo... yes, I went. And I was the bowling queen, hehe. I totally beat everyone...even though it was my first time bowling in a dress, lol! (You must share this with Grandma & Grandpa DJ, Mom & Dad... it's all because of the great practice we've had all these years every thanksgiving!!)
Anyway, I really must go for now. May you be blessed to be a blessing this week. And make sure you share this e-mail with anyone and everyone who may be interested... and share their e-mail with me so I can add them to my list!! :)
Until I have the opportunity to share more of God's blessings with you...
Meggan
**And here's my report, copy/pasted...
“Where are you leading me, Lord? I want to follow. Help me to be obedient!”
I have been blessed to be a blessing…
…just like God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. Through countless opportunities and experiences, I have been able to learn and grow and let the blessings overflow to everyone I meet! I have also been loved so deeply by God and wonderful family and friends that I feel especially empowered to share that amazing love with others. And I have been invited into an amazing adventure of living life to the fullest through the grace and hope I have in Christ, and I want to spend my life spreading that invitation to the ends of the earth!
Last year at this time…
…I was preparing to graduate from college with a double major in Music Ministry and Christian Education Ministry, and I was constantly coming up with new ideas for what God and I might do together next! Random options ranged from being a princess at Disney World, to traveling the world writing travel guide books, to staying right in Iowa working at a Christian college or as a youth leader, missions coordinator, and/or worship leader at a church. I told everyone that it did not matter where I went or what I did, because I would have a “missionary” focus wherever I lived. It was just a matter of discerning where my passions intersected with the needs God kept on my heart.
So I applied for a job at my college…
…that everyone told me I would be perfect for. While I was trying to make my plans work together, God decided to throw in a spectacular twist. All of the sudden, the dream I thought I had always wanted was being offered to me on a silver platter, but I did not feel any peace about it. This created perfect timing for God to give me a glimpse of the plans he wanted to lead me towards for my future.
The day before I flew to Greece to start a summer of ministry with HM…
…I heard the news that they offered the college job I had applied for to someone else.
The next day I arrived at the Athens airport…
…and heard the news about the trip to China. I am not sure what Johnathan thought when I raised my hand to say, “Yeah, sure, my plans have changed recently; I’ll go to China with you…” But a few weeks later when I reminded him of my call to go, he immediately put me on the phone with Sarah Wheway who helped me settle all of the practical details for joining the team! I am still in awe of the Lord’s guiding hand through it all. What a privilege it was to serve and worship with the OG3 team, following an already amazing summer at the sports camps and Operation Joshua.
As I cried out to God…
…that he would give me the eyes and ears to sense his leading, and the strength and courage to follow, I can testify excitedly that he answered my prayer! As I continued to cry out to the Lord about the next step to take after our summer adventure together, I had no question about the direction he was giving me the peace and assurance to follow. I was praying for less attachment to my possessions and comforts and more reliance on God alone for my every need. I was praying for God to help me follow him with abandon – to trust him more with each and every life decision, big or small. I was praying for a place to use my gifts and passions. I was praying for clarity in the BEST ways to encourage my friends and family with what God was doing in my life... and basically I had no other option but to follow the Lord calling me to share my story, raise support, and move to Greece.
And after four months of tremendous blessing and provision through my friends and family in Iowa, I returned to Greece on January 16, 2009, to live and love with joy.
So I continue to pray…
…because prayer isn’t just for the greatest work… it IS the greatest work, drawing me into an ever more intimate relationship with my Creator, Lord, and King. My Father, Savior, Friend… :)
I pray for…
…FOCUS on THE goal - running after Jesus Christ with all of my heart, soul, might, and strength... for I am NOTHING without you, God. Lord, I need you near me, and I thank you for your presence that I feel amongst my brothers and sisters at our family staff meetings, and I thank you that we are united together through our individually seeking you first.
I pray…
…that I will be in TUNE to the Holy Spirit's leading. It is so annoying when an instrument in the band is out of tune with the others... so Lord, keep me united with your Spirit, empowering me with the courage to add my part to the glorious harmonies of the beautiful redemption symphony you are composing in this world. :) Thanks for those moments your Spirit has led me to share a special song in these last few months, and thanks for clarity for which Greek church family to invest my time with.
I pray for…
…connections and relationships. I have already had the chance to catch up with many friends that I made last summer, and I have also made SO MANY new friends through the Bible school, HM ministry events, visiting various church congregations, and taking advantage of opportunities like Mission Konnect. I am very excited to get to know more of the HM “BASIC” extended family. :) And I want more and more and more of this, God... Thanks for making me such a relational person! :)
I pray…
…that God will continue to keep me filled up to overflowing with his joy, peace, and love, empowering me to pierce the darkness of this world with the light of Christ.
I expect…
…to be a blessing and encouragement. After arriving once again at the Athens airport this January, my buddy, Janet, picked me up, and on the car ride down to my new home, she asked me what my expectations were for my time in Greece. I said, “To be an encouragement – that is my only expectation.“ As our OG3 team “archerers” (inside joke) theme verse says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as In fact you are doing.” (1 Thess 5:11).
And I am filled…
…with a huge sense of passion for the Operation Joshua vision that I get to spend the majority of my time working with according to my role in our HM family. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
There is so much more I wish I could say…
…but I feel helpless to share the massive list of things I have been praising God for since my arrival – because once you start seeing Jesus all around you, it is quite hard to stop. So for me who likes to record every special moment, I grieve the thought of forgetting something. But then I remember, God knows - he is writing my redemption story and using my voice in his redemption song. I am so excited to see the next chapter and sing the next chorus as I continue to surrender all of my plans, hopes, and dreams into the hands of the One who blows my petty, tiny, puny visions out of the water… and I hope that it includes me staying here and working with you all as long as possible!
Hehe, well nothing much except that I will have gone to all three of them in less than three weeks! :)
Here's the e-mail I just sent to my supporters. I just painfully realized my e-mail lists aren't even completely up to date anymore, so I haven't been sending to all of the contacts I want to, oops... Oh well, it will be okay. I don't need to let this sharing of the blessings God has poured out in my life become a burden or a stress. And as soon as it gets to that point, I need to immediately stop what I'm doing and re-focus my main goal - to bring glory to God in absolutely everything! :)
So anyhoo, like I was saying... here's that e-mail I sent. Enjoy! :)
Hi friends,
I just wanted to say a quick thanks for praying for me as I made a trip to Turkey last week. It was a wonderfully blessed time of encouraging the missionaries we stayed with while we were there. I wish I had time to share more details with you, but I'm actually preparing to go on another trip to Germany in the next couple of hours... I will be going to the Mission-Net conference to promote our Operation Joshua vision and Hellenic Ministries in general. It should be a blast! Visit http://www.mission-net.org to find out more about it.
Right after I get back from that I will be going straight to the Hellenic Ministries campsite property, Porto Astro, where we will have a family conference, sharing our stories of God's faithfulness in our lives through the year, and just truly enjoying the fellowship of our amazing staff. I'm super excited for it. We each wrote up a year in review report. A lot of mine is information that I have already shared with you, but I thought I'd attach it and copy the report for you anyway. :) Enjoy!
The picture I've attached was taken after I went to a wedding this past weekend (right after I got back from Turkey!). It was a truly blessed celebration of perfect love - 1 John 3:16... there is no greater love than this - that you lay down your life for your brothers. The Gospel was shared and beautiful music was sung. I was so blessed to be there... my first "big fat" Greek wedding, hehe. After the wedding, my Greek friends went and hung out at a great cafe and had yummy drinks and desserts. 
The next day we went to church together, had lunch, and then... they asked me to go bowling with them. I still hadn't been home yet to change out of the dress I wore to the wedding. But I absolutely cannot say no to bowling.. sooo... yes, I went. And I was the bowling queen, hehe. I totally beat everyone...even though it was my first time bowling in a dress, lol! (You must share this with Grandma & Grandpa DJ, Mom & Dad... it's all because of the great practice we've had all these years every thanksgiving!!)Anyway, I really must go for now. May you be blessed to be a blessing this week. And make sure you share this e-mail with anyone and everyone who may be interested... and share their e-mail with me so I can add them to my list!! :)
Until I have the opportunity to share more of God's blessings with you...
Meggan
**And here's my report, copy/pasted...
“Where are you leading me, Lord? I want to follow. Help me to be obedient!”
I have been blessed to be a blessing…
…just like God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. Through countless opportunities and experiences, I have been able to learn and grow and let the blessings overflow to everyone I meet! I have also been loved so deeply by God and wonderful family and friends that I feel especially empowered to share that amazing love with others. And I have been invited into an amazing adventure of living life to the fullest through the grace and hope I have in Christ, and I want to spend my life spreading that invitation to the ends of the earth!
Last year at this time…
…I was preparing to graduate from college with a double major in Music Ministry and Christian Education Ministry, and I was constantly coming up with new ideas for what God and I might do together next! Random options ranged from being a princess at Disney World, to traveling the world writing travel guide books, to staying right in Iowa working at a Christian college or as a youth leader, missions coordinator, and/or worship leader at a church. I told everyone that it did not matter where I went or what I did, because I would have a “missionary” focus wherever I lived. It was just a matter of discerning where my passions intersected with the needs God kept on my heart.
So I applied for a job at my college…
…that everyone told me I would be perfect for. While I was trying to make my plans work together, God decided to throw in a spectacular twist. All of the sudden, the dream I thought I had always wanted was being offered to me on a silver platter, but I did not feel any peace about it. This created perfect timing for God to give me a glimpse of the plans he wanted to lead me towards for my future.
The day before I flew to Greece to start a summer of ministry with HM…
…I heard the news that they offered the college job I had applied for to someone else.
The next day I arrived at the Athens airport…
…and heard the news about the trip to China. I am not sure what Johnathan thought when I raised my hand to say, “Yeah, sure, my plans have changed recently; I’ll go to China with you…” But a few weeks later when I reminded him of my call to go, he immediately put me on the phone with Sarah Wheway who helped me settle all of the practical details for joining the team! I am still in awe of the Lord’s guiding hand through it all. What a privilege it was to serve and worship with the OG3 team, following an already amazing summer at the sports camps and Operation Joshua.
As I cried out to God…
…that he would give me the eyes and ears to sense his leading, and the strength and courage to follow, I can testify excitedly that he answered my prayer! As I continued to cry out to the Lord about the next step to take after our summer adventure together, I had no question about the direction he was giving me the peace and assurance to follow. I was praying for less attachment to my possessions and comforts and more reliance on God alone for my every need. I was praying for God to help me follow him with abandon – to trust him more with each and every life decision, big or small. I was praying for a place to use my gifts and passions. I was praying for clarity in the BEST ways to encourage my friends and family with what God was doing in my life... and basically I had no other option but to follow the Lord calling me to share my story, raise support, and move to Greece.
And after four months of tremendous blessing and provision through my friends and family in Iowa, I returned to Greece on January 16, 2009, to live and love with joy.
So I continue to pray…
…because prayer isn’t just for the greatest work… it IS the greatest work, drawing me into an ever more intimate relationship with my Creator, Lord, and King. My Father, Savior, Friend… :)
I pray for…
…FOCUS on THE goal - running after Jesus Christ with all of my heart, soul, might, and strength... for I am NOTHING without you, God. Lord, I need you near me, and I thank you for your presence that I feel amongst my brothers and sisters at our family staff meetings, and I thank you that we are united together through our individually seeking you first.
I pray…
…that I will be in TUNE to the Holy Spirit's leading. It is so annoying when an instrument in the band is out of tune with the others... so Lord, keep me united with your Spirit, empowering me with the courage to add my part to the glorious harmonies of the beautiful redemption symphony you are composing in this world. :) Thanks for those moments your Spirit has led me to share a special song in these last few months, and thanks for clarity for which Greek church family to invest my time with.
I pray for…
…connections and relationships. I have already had the chance to catch up with many friends that I made last summer, and I have also made SO MANY new friends through the Bible school, HM ministry events, visiting various church congregations, and taking advantage of opportunities like Mission Konnect. I am very excited to get to know more of the HM “BASIC” extended family. :) And I want more and more and more of this, God... Thanks for making me such a relational person! :)
I pray…
…that God will continue to keep me filled up to overflowing with his joy, peace, and love, empowering me to pierce the darkness of this world with the light of Christ.
I expect…
…to be a blessing and encouragement. After arriving once again at the Athens airport this January, my buddy, Janet, picked me up, and on the car ride down to my new home, she asked me what my expectations were for my time in Greece. I said, “To be an encouragement – that is my only expectation.“ As our OG3 team “archerers” (inside joke) theme verse says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as In fact you are doing.” (1 Thess 5:11).
And I am filled…
…with a huge sense of passion for the Operation Joshua vision that I get to spend the majority of my time working with according to my role in our HM family. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
There is so much more I wish I could say…
…but I feel helpless to share the massive list of things I have been praising God for since my arrival – because once you start seeing Jesus all around you, it is quite hard to stop. So for me who likes to record every special moment, I grieve the thought of forgetting something. But then I remember, God knows - he is writing my redemption story and using my voice in his redemption song. I am so excited to see the next chapter and sing the next chorus as I continue to surrender all of my plans, hopes, and dreams into the hands of the One who blows my petty, tiny, puny visions out of the water… and I hope that it includes me staying here and working with you all as long as possible!
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