ATOM Magazine

I am very proud of this little publication! It is a compilation of stories and testimonies from the school I just staffed. It came together in about a week and a half, and was a mammoth effort for a few dedicated people. We printed 2,250 copies for distribution all over the world and within 2 days the online copy had been read 1000 times. Please pray that many people are moved by the stories and photos!

This is a poem I wrote inspired by Liz and the Lions. Hope you like it!

Photo courtesy of Dan Ax

You might remember I was able to go on tour with this band, Liz and The Lions, a while ago. They are moving on to great things with the release of their EP. I love the music, every song is from the heart. You can download 3 free songs on noise trade or get the whole CD! They are fellow missionaries who live to share God's love and they want to do big things in the music world. The above photo is from their gorgeous release party at the Wasser Schloss.

Radio Recording in Moldova

We had the chance to be interviewed a while ago to talk about what we had seen and felt while we were in Moldova. It's 23 minutes long, but I recommend it! http://www.sendspace.com/file/o1jnny

A glimpse into outreach

Moldova.

Hi from freezing cold Moldova!  We arrived at night into Chisinau last week without any contacts or accommodation and God totally led the way to this local Baptist church. Chad (the other leader) and I were coming by train from Budapest where we met with one of the founders of Not For Sale. We had sent the students ahead of us by car from Romania and were to meet with them in the train station. When they arrived we were really happy to see them, but we realised that we still didn't have any place to stay that night and no contacts either. As we all sat in the vehicles in the train parking lot  we were just thankful we were all together again. Some of the students decided that they wanted to go and look for the YMCA that we saw on the map and check it out for accommodation. As they left we sent out emails to supporters to pray right now for open doors (literally).

An hour passed and the students arrived back with positively giddy with excitement and beaming smiles. After they settled down a bit...they began to tell us the crazy story of how God provided. As they prayed before they left one of the students, Charlene, heard God say, 'Bread of Life.' They arrived at the area where the YMCA was supposed to be and nothing was there, I think it was a P.O. Box or something ridiculous like that, but they were not phased and pressed on. They realised there was Internet in the area and decided to search if there was a 'Bread of Life Church.' Nothing came up in Moldova, but through some random clicking they found a pdf. file that was from a church called 'Light of the World.' At the bottom was two phone numbers and they called the first one and it didn't get them anywhere. So they called the second and heavy Russian sounding gentlemen answered. He was blown away and could not believe that we had found his number and wanted to know how we had discovered it. He spoke little English, but could speak Romanian and Russian. Through some translation we told him who we were and at the end of the conversation his words were, 'You come here.' Meaning his church. 

They have been wonderful about getting us connected to the country from the get go. We have been working with a house for children thrown out of the orphanage system at 16, with a human trafficking program that runs a rehabilitation facility for women rescued from the sex industry, with an 'old peoples orphanage', a prison integration centre, a burns hospital, a Central Asian student English college, about 6 local churches and more!!!! Seriously I never imagined in a million years that God would use me as one of two leaders on a team of 25 that has been involved in so much ministry. We have seen a number of people come to know God, more return to faith and many encouraged and emboldened by the story of faith that God is continuing to write through this outreach.


A lot people in Moldova are lost in a 'face culture' that blinds them from seeing the blessings of their country. They have a lot of corruption, there has been no President for three years, and the unemployment is amazingly high. Moldavians want to leave there nation and will take any opportunity to jump ship that they can get. But after all of that, I have seen their love for foreigners, the love for their community, and love for the land that has been blessed to them.


In general, the students are amazing and many want to go into full-time ministry after this outreach which is the real outcome of this time. We head back to Herrnhut via Slovakia for a quick debrief next Friday and its really weighing on me how special this time has been and how much we have seen God move in this time. I had to give up my little piece of home in Herrnhut, my room, as I couldn't afford to pay rent on it while I was away and I wanted to be able to contribute as much to the team as possible. I will be sleeping on friends floors as I once again try to head up creation of a full size professional magazine in 2 weeks. All of us are exhausted but it is so exciting to see the finished result and to realise what an amazing tool print media is to reach a wide audience.


After we get the magazine into print, we head out on a tour of churches for 10 days to share first hand with people and to call more into missions. I don't know where I will be yet but we'll see what God wants to do. After DTS graduation on the 24th of March I will make my way over to Australia for the first time in nearly 4 years!! Crazy to think about it that way. I'm really looking forward to some time with family and connecting with churches.


Thanks so much for all your prayer and support.

This video is from one of the ministries that we are investing a lot of our time in. It is an incredible privilege to work with these girls and to come alongside them as they find a new future in relationship with Jesus. I have so much more to say about them and will try and write more soon. Stella's Voice


Another ministry we are working with is Beginning of Life. They run a rehabilitation center for rescued women and publish an educational magazine which they distribute through an anti-trafficking program in local schools. They reach an estimated 16, 000 students with this crucial message every year. 

At 6 ft 5 inches Treg looks pretty ridiculous holding the tiny ukelele that he plays, but he has incredible talent and an amazing passion for Jesus. Every purchase of his EP goes to support our team. Listen, it's so worth it.

Some of the team in the mayhem of the Roma settlement built in the main rubbish dump of Thessaloniki. It's highly likely that a child took this picture. 

My 'plan' to always escape winter by going on outreach in Africa at this time of year was foiled immediately by God's call to take a team around Eastern Europe right through the heart of winter. I was blessed by the provision of proper snow boots which has probably changed my life. At least the snow is very pretty...

Macedonia, Greece, Romania and more.

My outreach team en route to Thessaloniki, Greece.


Last I wrote that we had seen God's miraculous guidance in Serbia- a lot has happened since then! The day after Christmas we packed up all the vans and sat down to ask God where the next step was. Almost overwhelmingly He spoke Greece. As it was a long drive we took off with Skopje, Macedonia in mind. A member of the team had been there before and knew of a few people we could stay with. We showed up and they were very gracious to accommodate us. While we were there we explained that we felt God was leading us to Greece but didn't know where and had no contacts at all. They immediately contacted a church in Thessaloniki who said they would house us.

We set off having no real idea of why God was leading us to this very specific place. When we got there the pastor of the church told us that they were wanting to establish a house of prayer, with a night watch scheduled for NYE, but weren't really sure how to do it and when they heard that a team of missionaries from Herrnhut felt God leading them to Greece they were blown away! We were able to pray with them, support their new church, engage in street ministry and work in a Roma settlement. It was an extraordinary week, completely full of God.

As I am involved in an anti-human trafficking organization, Chad (the other leader) and I were determined to make some connections with people fighting this injustice in Thessaloniki. The scale of the problem in this particular part of the world is huge. One organization I wanted to connect with was A21 Campaign- conveniently they were located literally one minute away from where we were staying. We were also put in touch with a woman, Maria, who works for the Salvation Army and has been working with woman in prostitution for 15 years. I cannot describe how amazing she is! She is completely dependent on, and full of, the Holy Spirit and shared with us more wisdom and information than our hearts and heads could handle.

We ended our time in Greece and were asked to come and serve a church and adoption ministry in Sighisoara, Romania. We drove for 25 hours and arrived a week ago. This past week was mostly spent at 2 state-run Romanian orphanages. Both were heartbreaking. One of them was buried deep in the woods of rural Romania and housed about 150 kids. They had very few facilities but all the beds had handmade quilts and the children responded immediately to any affection and love. We experienced the power of prayer when dealing with some of the more difficult kids and all of us left changed. Both are under heavy government supervision and so we weren't able to take any pictures but I know all of us will remember their little faces for a long time.

This week we will mostly serve the community in practical ways. Some of the students will visit a family with 2 severely disabled adult children, others of us will work with an anti-domestic violence group. We have been involved in a number of churches and even with pretty severe illness sweeping the team, we have managed to do more street ministry.

On Thursday night, Chad and I will leave the team briefly for a meeting with the co-founder of Not for Sale,  in Budapest. We hope to start planning for the Europe Forum on Human Trafficking which is in Romania this October. We will catch an overnight train Thursday night and arrive Friday morning for two full days of meetings before catching the train back on Sunday. I really need 65 euro for the train fare and some money for food and accommodation while I am there. I would really appreciate your prayer on this matter.

On the 23rd, we leave with the team for Moldova and will be based there, with smaller groups going to the Ukraine, until mid-February.

I love and appreciate your prayer and support- you are all so a part of this!