Love Story

Brian and I just celebrated SEVEN years of marriage on January 24th. WOW! We were able to get away for a couple of days and spend some time together just the two of us. It was great. As we reflected on the last 7 years it is so evident that God's hand has been all over us. He has been so faithful to grow us in Himself and grow us together as one body with one goal and passion in this life. We went from living a very comfortable American dream kind of life at the beginning of our marriage to living out our passion among the people of Macedonia. We have said numerous goodbyes together, poured over one another in prayer, learned really hard lessons together, and told each other the hard truth sometimes. We have learned a new language together, moved...a LOT, made new friends, we have cried together (ok, mainly I'm the one crying), we have certainly laughed together, we have had a lot of cups of coffee, a lot of fun and some very hard conversations. We have sharpened one another as iron sharpens iron. We have learned the meaning of grace in a whole new way. We have been blessed with two beautiful, healthy kids. We have prayed over them together. We have been blessed beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined. Our love abounds still more and more for one another.

We pray that you have seen an example of Christ and His love through our marriage. That is our passion and goal: we want to bring Him glory in our relationship with each other and with our children and we want others to see and know that God's hand is sustaining us and growing us together. We want you to see Jesus in our marriage. We pray that you have and that more and more you will see an example of His great love for you in us.

We hope you enjoy the song. This is our love story.

Girl Time

December was a big month for the our women's outreach. We hosted a Breast Cancer Awareness Day as well as a Taste of American Holidays. Both went GREAT!

We didn't have a fantastic turn-out for the Breast Cancer Awareness Day. I personally blame it on the rain. We had a believer from Skopje who is a doctor and a breast cancer survivor come and speak. She did a great job! We sent all of the women home with a bag of information on physical health as well as spiritual health. We have already seen fruit from that day. Praise the Lord.

Most of the women in the picture below are believers who came from Skopje to help out

with the event. They were a huge help and we are so grateful!!!!

The Taste of American Holidays was an absolute hit!!! The women loved coming and tasting all the yummy food we eat around the holidays. The menu was complete with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cheese ball, crock-pot weinees, spiced nuts, and lots of Christmas cookies. It was a blast! We were able to give every woman that came a cookbook full of American recipes, Bible verses and the Gospel presentation in it. This event will probably become an annual thing!

We had sugar cookies for the kids that came. They painted and decorated them, and I think they loved this American tradition.

Also, just so you all know our two new journeymen arrived the end of November and they are pretty stinkin' great!!! I love them both so much already and I am so grateful for how God has already used them here in Ohrid. Pray for them as they focus on learning the language for the next month and a half and for their transition into coffee house ministry after that.

Highlights

We have had some awesome things going on around the town and some great things that are getting ready to happen. Here is a run-down of the highlights:

• Heraldry Seminar-- a believer came from Skopje and did a seminar at the coffee house of heraldry and the Bible. Interesting? You bet.
• Women's Coffee time on Wednesdays at the coffee house. Hanging out. Starting conversations. Drinking coffee. Sharing stories. Sharing Life. Pray that many will come and that God will be glorified in that time.
• TWO new j-men, Ginna and Hannah, arriving in two days to start sharing their lives with whoever God puts in their paths. Pray for their safe travel, language learning, and that they will build strong and fruitful relationships here.
• Movie nights--bringing in people, sharing the English language and a good story.
• Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the coffee house on December 4th. Pray that God will do miraculous things on that day.
• Taste of American Holidays on December 18th. Sharing American traditional holiday dishes with the ladies of Ohrid. Handing out a cookbook filled with Scripture and American recipes translated into Macedonian. Pray that new contacts will be made stronger relationships built.
• Sharing and celebrating with the Macedonians during their busy holiday season.
• Also please Pray for our small group. Pray that the Lord will protect and strengthen the group. Distractions are a way of life, but pray that they will be strong in the faith and continue to keep our fellowship as a priority.

Please keep one or two of the above items in prayer. We are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in Ohrid. It is an absolute privilege. Pray that we endure with joy the days that are exhausting. Pray that our joy will spill out on to others and that the love of Christ will transform lives during this season.

HAPPY HAPPY Thanksgiving to you all and to your families.

School Supply Distribution

In September we did our second annual School Supply Distribution which was made possible by the Stanly Baptist Association of Stanly County, North Carolina. They raise enough money to by a substantial packet of supplies for 85 kids. We went to the city hall where the director of public schools created a list of the most financially challenged kids and invited them to a gathering where we handed out the supplies. The kids didn't understand why they were there and all they know is that they got free school supplies. Below are some pictures of the process from beginning to end. We hope that this continues to be an annual event and that it might even grow to include more kids!

School supplies for 75 kids. We bought the additional 10 later as a follow-up

Our assembly line! Each packet included a backpack, colored paper, folding paper, three notebooks, modeling clay, markers, crayons, colored pencils, two pencils, a pen, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener.

Here are the finished products. We had 46 boys and 39 girls for the distribution.

This is Charlie and me unloading all the backpacks. We ended up having to tie them together in sets of 5.

After the kids saw that we were there, we had more than enough help.

Here is the representative from City Hall giving an introduction.

They called out the kids names one-by-one and we handed them their backpacks.

For all of you who have been brushing up on your Macedonian, here is an article about the event on the city hall website.

Changed Lives

Grandma, Brian's mom, came and stayed for about 3 weeks, and we had a BLAST with her. The kids soaked up the time and while we can never quite get enough of Grandma, we are so grateful for the little bit of time that we had to share with her. She certainly changed our lives for a few weeks. Brian and I were able to go on a few dates which was great. And the kids loved having grandma at their beckon call. :)






As for other changed lives, we are happy to announce that we have a new teammate, Kaleb Williams, who was born to Jeff and Amy Williams yesterday. We are so thrilled!!!! Praise the Lord with us for this new little life!

Teeny Tiny

Have you ever felt small??? I'm talking, teeny tiny. Maybe when you sat on top of a mountain and looked over the valley? Or maybe when you sat on the beach and looked out at the ocean as it fell into the horizon? I have been feeling really small lately. Little biddy. I am no small woman, I am above average in height and well, let's just say my cheek bones don't protrude out of my face like that of a super skinny super model. I often feel like I am ginormous. But in the grand scheme of things I am tiny. I have been utterly amazed at even the fact that the car that I drive down the road, that I have semi-control over (emphasis on "semi" I'm not so good at driving-- at least not here), is bigger than I am. Amazing! Perhaps you are thinking that I have been living in the climax of a blond joke for most of my life. "Don't you know you are smaller than most visible things in this universe? Duh." Although, I did, in fact, catch onto this fact quite sometime ago--most obviously in trying to follow my long-legged beast of a back-packer and rock-climber husband up one of those giant mountains. With every pant of breath and every POUND of my heart, I thought, people aren't supposed to climb these things unless God sends them up one to... bring down the ten commandments.

And yet, as tiny as you and I are when we look out over the world from the top of the Grand Canyon, or the Empire State Building or better yet, an airplane, we are created in the image of the everlasting God. The God in which we live and move and have our being. The God that breathed life into us and continues to sustain us. And not only that, but He became tiny man. The one who formed the mountains and breathed out stars from His mouth became a tiny little baby. He let those whom He had created spit on him and fashion a cross out of a tree that He had planted, and then He let them nail Him to it on top of a hill that He formed. He gave up His life becoming sin so that we might be the righteousness of God. That is no tiny thing. That is no small gift of love. So as small as I feel when I look out over Lake Ohrid, I can remember that "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is no God like my God.

I LOVE It!!!!

God has given me the awesome privilege to be able to work one on one with one of the ladies that we met a couple of years ago, A. She started studying the Bible with M (our former j-man). M took her through the chronological Bible story plan that Brian had put together. That went great and we are pretty sure that through that time, she came to know the Lord as her Savior. Since then I have been able to start going through the Gospel of Mark with her. I am blown away by what God is doing in the life of this woman.

I got to sit with her and as tears rolled down her cheeks, hear her thank God for beginning to open the eyes of her husband to the truth.

I also rejoiced with her as she said, "Before you came hear, I was like a sheep just wondering around by myself trying to find the way to know God. But I couldn't do it on my own. Then you came and told me about my shepherd, Jesus. And I am not wondering anymore. My Shepherd found me."

She spent time this week teaching some other people who were staying in her home about Jesus and His deep love for them.

LOVE it! YOU have prayed for her through the last year or two and GOD has done and is doing abundantly more than we could have asked. Give Him praise.

Summit RDU Brought Hope

I know this is awfully late, but I wanted to brag on the team from our home church that was here in June. God totally did some awesome things through them. Some highlights:
Working with the local Red Cross--handing out bottles of water and cleaning up a nearby beach.
Building relationships with those people from the Red Cross and having coffee with some of them A LOT!
Watching Ashlee break it down to some Michael Jackson at a local coffee house. She was a hit.
Making brownies and cookies with the girls for our party on Friday night.
Doing the LIMBO with Macedonians. Man, I wish I had pics of that!!!
Watching the World Cup with people who actually care about it.
The girls going to ORO class to learn some of the traditional dances.
Handing out copies of New Testaments and "More Than a Carpenter" to all the people they met.

It was great. They also loved on us and our babies and SHOWERED us with gifts from the states!!!

Thanks Summit RDU for sending hope our way. The seeds that were sown will surely bring forth fruit!!!!

Wonderful Week

I am extremely excited to tell you about this week because in the last month or so things have leaped forward. As I get ready to write this, I realize it might not sound like momentous steps, but if are you are familiar with our work and the people of Ohrid, then you will rejoice.
I am sitting in front of my computer because I need to prepare for two Bible Studies and these are not normal circumstances.

I have been studying the Bible with "Steve and Samantha" for a while now and they have just recently started asking questions about church. They have also been asking a lot of questions to the nearby priest and people at the church about studying the Bible. We have had long discussions about people in Orthodoxy who start following the Bible. We have also talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the church meeting in a house or in a building. I am surprised at how fast our discussions are moving forward. Steve took a Bible with him to work and is already halfway through Matthew. We have covered the Gospel in more ways than one and although I am sure that they know the Gospel, I am not so sure they understand it. My goal at the moment is to continue to work with them through spiritual growth to the point that they grow (i.e. they are saved) or they realize that can't do and get saved. I would not be surprised if in about a year we have a church in Ohrid! Please pray for this couple that God would protect them as well as help them grow!

The second person is an old acquaintance, "Tim" who is becoming a friend. For no discernible reason with my human eyes he told me he did want to start studying the Bible one day after I asked him, again, if he wanted to. About a month ago I got to talk to a police officer in his store and ended up giving the police officer a Bible to read and Tim wanted one as well. Since then he hadn't mentioned it, but from that point Tim has been asking a couple of questions. Just last week he said he wanted to start doing our Chronological Bible Study. We did the first lesson, Creation, yesterday and I told him that before we did the second, he had to re-read the chapter (Genesis 1). I called him today to see what he was doing and he had re-read the chapter and then some. That made me very excited because vary rarely does stuff like this happen. On a personal note, when I was meeting with him yesterday and we opened to the beginning and read those famous words, "In the beginning..." I stopped and asked him if he had ever read the first verse of the Bible before. His response was that it was his first time ever to read the Bible! At the end of the lesson, I always ask if there is something that the person has learned from the lesson that he did not know before. His response was, "ahh, from the beginning to the end" and smiled.


So both Tim and Steve are reading on their own and joyously! I thank God that He has allowed me to share in this experience and I pray that it continues to grow. Please be in prayer for Steve and Tim (God knows the real names). And also be in prayer for us that we will be ready and equipped for whatever questions and challenges come ahead!

Awesome Video

I need to get an update on how the trip from our home church went, but until I can get that up and running, I will leave you with this. It's an incredible video done by the president of SEBTS. I know some of you just tuned me out. BUT it's beautiful and the quotes within it explain why we do what we do-- just in case some of you were wondering.

WATCH IT! NOW!

Mission Trip to Sudan from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

Summit

I just thought I would let you all know the team from our home church, The Summit, is rockin it this week. You can follow updates at http://jasongaston.com/

The team has done a great job of enduring the heat this week and have built some good relationships with a few of the teenagers and college students that they have been working with from the Red Cross. Check out Jason's website for more detailed updates and even videos.

Keep praying!

This is Summer?

With temperatures reaching well above 95 degrees in Raleigh, NC, our volunteers from The Summit Church are asking us if 86 degrees is true summer temps in Ohrid. Those of us who live here are roasting, but the vols seem to be enjoying it. It's spring to them.

This week they will be working along side the Red Cross doing some community clean-up and service projects, doing some sports evangelism, helping clean-up some of our friends yards and gardens and hanging out watching the World Cup with people who will teach them how to appreciate "FUTBALL!" It should be a great week.

Pray for them as they minister to whoever God puts in their path. Pray that they will have many opportunities to share the love of Christ through deeds and words. Pray most of all that God is honored in all that is said and done.

"Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Hab. 1:5

There will be pictures to come!

Fun with Family

No, our precious biological families haven't been able to make the very expensive trip from the states to see us, and YES we MISS them all terribly, but we are so grateful to the Lord for giving us a family here in Macedonia. We got together for the weekend to fellowship, encourage one another, celebrate new teammates, Spencer, Janae and Kate E., and say goodbye to one family, the Williams, leaving for their stateside assignment.
On Saturday, just the ladies got together to have some much needed girl time and to celebrate Amy's new little baby that is to be born in August.

Jennifer, my much loved neighbor who lives just down the road, did an AWESOME job making a very cute cheesecake for Amy and her growing baby.

The guys and kids joined us all Sunday morning when we spent some time worshipping our Creator in English, eating Mexican food and hanging out.
Kate had a blast playing with the other mk's. She just comes alive when she is with these kids! It's amazing the bond that mk's share! It's like no other.


Thank you Father for these AmAzing people--what an overflow of love!!!

Growing

In the last month, things have really jumped forward with a family that we have been working with. A month ago we discussed Ephesians 2:1-10 and I believe they really understood the passage. They even said, "We have never understood salvation like this!" Needless to say, I was very excited.

Two weeks ago, we did John 3:1-21 and once again they understood it. They even said they liked the picture of John 3 better than Ephesians 2 because it flows and is not so technical. After the John 3 Bible Study, I started getting really excited.

As a result, this Wednesday I asked them if they wanted to start getting more serious and to really start learning about the Christian life. They said yes and next week I am going to start discipling them even before they become believers (as to why, I will write another blog on that soon). After that we did 1 Peter 1:1-12 which talks about focusing on our future salvation and enduring trials in life. Afterward we had a fantastic conversation about church and the Orthodox Church in Macedonia. This last month they have started talking to a few of their friends about our Bible Study and even asking people at the Orthodox Church nearby if the church holds Bible Studies. One of the guys who works at the Orthodox Church near him laughed and said that the priest is never there and L invited him Wednesday night.
In the end, it appears that they are starting to understand that the faith they have heard and which has been handed down does not necessarily agree with what Scripture teaches. They have now become my main focus and these next couple weeks will be critical to see what direction we will be going.

Below is a picture of our Sunday Night Bible Study.


They love to sing praise songs.


Please pray for them!

Samaritan's Purse in Ohrid

We had to privilege of working with Samaritan's Purse to distribute wheelchairs to people in Ohrid who needed them. The director in Skopje called me, after talking to our teammates, Jeff and Amy Williams, and asked if they could use the coffeehouse for the distribution. A group of specialists from America, working with Hope Haven, brought the wheelchairs here with them and custom fit every person with a wheelchair. A week before the distribution we called each person on the Samaritan's Purse list to invite them to the coffeehouse. I made it clear that I had no idea what I was doing and explained that a group of professionals was coming to do it :).

As a result, I got to know the director of the Handicap Association (Zdruzenie na Telesni Invalidi) in Ohrid. He has invited me to speak at one of their big meetings. This is one of the reasons why we do outreach or ministry with other organizations. We always meet people who are interested in what we do and want to hear what we have to say. Also, they normally give us access to other places as well. This association has 120 members and although all 120 do not always meet at the same time, there is a chance I will get to meet a good percentage of them and hopefully get a chance to share the gospel.

Below are some pictures from the distribution.
Above is the director of Samaritan's Purse in Macedonia (left) and the director of the handicap association (right).




Now the people above don't look too excited, but that is because the director was explaining something when I took this picture. Please be in prayer for follow-up and new relationships with these new contacts. We were able to hand out More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell, Jesus our Destiny by Wilhelm Busch, and a New Testament.

Not a Single Picture

Jennifer and I "made a party" for mothers today at the coffee house. It went REALLy great, but we didn't take a single picture. Urgh. I'm sorry!!!

I was able to share a little from Proverbs 31:25-31 about how we feel versus what is truth. We had a great time getting to know the women, most of whom have young kids like us, and we are planning on starting a group with these ladies much like a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group in the states. We are thrilled to see what God has already done just by bringing these ladies in and we can't wait to see what He is going to do in the future.

I will leave with a picture of my Mother's Day breakfast. WOWzaas! I ate MAYBE a fourth of it.

And this is a picture of the gift the kids got me.

It is a painting of our old neighborhood--where we brought Kate home from the hospital and where we brought Thomas home from America. The hint for it was "From Kate and Thomas, to remember their beginnings." I love it! Brian, I mean, ahem, the kids are so great!

CNN in Our Little Corner

If you have questions about this or about why we are here, please ask us!!!

And One More

Yesterday morning when I was writing out Mother's Day blessing to all the dearest moms in my life, my husband was trying to run me out of the house to take me to lunch. So I didn't forget one special mom, I just didn't have time to write about her. To Gommie Poe ~ I LOVE YOU! You are so wonderful. You are so much fun to be around. Your sense of humor is so great and you know how to laugh and love in spite of life's ditches. I love your sweet spirit and your tender heart. And I love your daughter. She is the best friend a girl could ever ask for. You did an awesome job raising her. Happy Belated Mother's Day! Love you!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there.

To my sister in law, Tabatha ~ Happy First Mother's Day. Your faith and perseverance is such an amazing example to me. I am so very thrilled for you as your celebrate your first Mother's Day. Nathan is such a blessed little boy to have such a tender and kind woman as his mommy. I love you!!!!

To my sweet sister, Elley ~ You are an old and experienced mom by now. ;0) I am so proud of you. You are such a strong woman. You have taught me so much about keeping your head up in spite of circumstances. I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day!

To my Mother-in-Love, Thank you so much for your son. ;) I am so grateful for you. Thanks for letting me be a part of your family, for sharing old Polish family recipes with me, and for loving my kids so much! I love you! Happy Mother's Day!

And last but certainly not least, to my Momma ~ Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you and love for you! You are such an amazing woman and you served as example for who I want to be when I grow up. One day maybe I will be there. Thank you for putting up with all of my drama through the years, headbands through the nose, sucking hair with vacuum cleaners, open-heart surgeries, a move overseas, I could go on. You have been there as my care-giver, support and helper through all of it. I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day!

It's Official

Yep, it's official. We stink at keeping our blog up to date. I am so sorry. These days I get on the internet during nap-time and late in the evening after the kids have gone to bed and I am done folding laundry, etc, and when I am on the internet it is so much easier to just read other people's blogs and, ahem, facebook statuses than it is to actually write one myself. Sorry. I will try and do better. I am not saying that from here on out I will update every week, but I am saying I will try hard. HA. We'll just have to wait and see.

Things here are good. It has been a semi- long and semi-hard couple of weeks for our whole team. After the awesome volunteer team left (see below), we had so many plans and intentions to follow up with all the new people we met, and then sickness set into the whole team. The entire Dover family got the stomach virus, since then three of the five of them have been dealing with viral cold mess. Their littlest, Noah was put in the hospital in Greece on Monday night and has been there all week. They should be coming back today. We hope. Pray for them.

And our poor Thomas got the stomach virus on top of second degree burns that covered his entire left thigh and a spot on his arm. He had to spend two nights at the hospital in Greece. And about the time, things were looking like we were going to be able to start going full force again, I got sick with the viral cold mess.

It all kind of just makes me want to scream a little, but that is only when I think about it apart from Christ--when I take my eyes off of Him. He is sovereign. He is good. And He is working in spite of us and all of our sicknesses. There is a big chance He is doing more of a work in our hearts than in the people around us, but His arm is not too short. He is not deaf to our needs. He has been here, right where we are. He walked this earth long before we did and we can take heart because He has overcome the world. He continues to show me things that confirm "He is here and He is not silent" (Schaeffer).


Brian has been meeting with one of the guys we met when the team was here. He has had some good conversations with him about his worldview and his "Christian view." He has agreed to start coming to our Sunday night Bible study.

So like I said before God is working....in spite of us. Praise His Name!