Family
and Friends,
At this time of year I am
continually reminded of the faithfulness of so many in my life. I am touched by
the blessings that God has placed in my path. My parents are a blessing and a gift
that I continual thank God for the family I had the privilege of being raised
in. God blessed me with a sister who challenges me to see the world in a
different light than I would normally view it and friends who support and love
me despite all of my odd quirks and views of the world. In the year 2011, I am especially
thankful for the giving of all of you to my overseas ministry and to my missional
call. God has provided me with a support structure that has sustained me
throughout the highs and lows of overseas missional work.
As you are aware within the past
four months I have returned from a year in the Republic of Ireland, where I
served alongside locals at a church in Greystones. This past year has been a
very pivotal time in my life, one where I have see growth and a stretching of
myself beyond anything I could possibly imagine. Upon returning to the states a
renewed passion and vigor for Christ’s work in all people throughout the world
has been laid upon my heart.
A particular burden for the people
of Europe is being fanned in my heart and I desire to daily relinquish that burden
to God, allowing his guidance to help it grow. To fully understand my
burden/passion for Europe I need to start from the beginning of my journey to
follow Christ to the Republic of Ireland almost 482 days ago.
On August 17th, I was in
the backseat of my parent’s car on the way to the airport. As I sat there I was
thinking, “I don’t have to go, I can just tell my parents to turn the car
around and it is a quick trip home. No harm done.” At that moment my mom turned
around and said, “You know you can always stay here. You don’t have to go.” And
I thought, yes I do have to go. My heart swelled with an overwhelming sense of
terror at the unknown that was waiting for me but I knew that whatever waited,
I needed to go. God had something for me.
While
traveling over I met up with my teammate Dustin (I had only met him once for
about three hours) in Frankfurt for a three-hour layover and then the final leg
into Dublin’s international airport. Upon arrival in Dublin we met some
opposition in regards to our entering the country. Both Dustin and I were
detained in immigrations for over an hour and the officers made it known that
they were not happy about our entering their country. At this point I kept
talking to God and said, “Didn’t you want us here? Then you work it out.” The
officers eventually allowed us to enter under the understanding that we were to
seek more permanent visas within thirty days.
The
first couple of weeks were centered on the unknown. Visa issues kept coming up.
Neither of us knew where we were to stay. We, as a team, did not know why we were
in the country, why we were sent to Greystones. For thirty days my brain was
full of what ifs and doubts about coming to Ireland. Maybe I should have
listened to my mother and stayed home. God once again came through in this
area, the immigration official finally granted us twelve-month visas to remain
in Ireland. Lesson number one: God doesn’t call you where he can’t sustain you.
After we knew we would be in the
country for longer than thirty-days random doors started opening for both
Dustin and I to find places to serve within our community. I settled into a
knitting/crocheting group that met every Monday for three hours, started
volunteering with the youth in Greystones’ church, began shopping in the
community establishing relationships with local shop owners, building
relationships with peers my age at the local church, hiking/exploring the
community I lived in and exploring what possibilities God had for ministry during
my time on the Green Isle. Lesson number two: God has a plan. Be patient.
During the “patient” times, God
started tugging at my heart and prompting me to open up to more of the ministry
possibilities he had for my life. At this point I could not conceive what the
road ahead of me might look like, I only knew that I must be faithful. It is
difficult to summarize all of my experiences over the last sixteen months, so I
tried to compile a list of God’s faithfulnesses and his provisions throughout
my time in Ireland. I say tried because it is difficult to put into words
exactly all of the things God did for me because there is not enough room on
this page. Lesson number three: God is much bigger than the boxes we put him
in.
God’s faithfulness
|
God’s provisions
|
Enough money
to pay the bills
|
Friendship
|
Strength
when missing family
|
Laughter
|
Internet
for communication with loved ones
|
Warmth,
even on the coldest night
|
Opportunities
to minister to non-believers
|
Food
|
A home
away from home
|
New
opportunities for growth
|
New church
family
|
Fun
|
Safe
travels
|
Smiles
from children at church
|
Saw the
start of new ministry
|
A great
teammate
|
God was
always there (even in dark times)
|
Preaching
opportunities
|
Fellowship
|
Learning
moments of grace
|
Lent
(Daniel Fast)
|
Happy Pear
|
Each day
was a new day
|
A vast sea
outside my window (Beautiful)
|
Now fast forward to the present and
where am I now? After returning from Ireland, I found myself back in Kansas
City, Missouri continuing my education towards ordination within the Church of
the Nazarene. Only upon my return have I begun to process what God did during
my time in Ireland. I come back with a renewed sense of purpose, with a focus
to follow whatever path God has laid out before me, and to be able to daily say
“yes” to God’s calling upon my heart.
Ireland will always be a part of me
and I look forward to the doors that may open for me in the future in relation
to ministry opportunities in Europe. God sent me to Europe for a reason and I
am excited to see what those reasons might be in the future. For now I am still
learning the mini-lessons with God that contribute to greater masterpiece of my
life.
Once again, thank you from the
bottom of my heart for you contributing to all of these growth opportunities.
May you all be richly blessed in the seasons to come! Remember the God we serve
is faithful in all times and works for good, we just have to trust through the
learning times! For his placement of you in my life, I am thankful!
Grace and Peace,
Hannah
If you would like to follow the journey God has me on,
please feel free to check out my blog or send me an email and I would gladly
send you updates on my random adventures. I know God is not through with me yet
and for that I am thankful!
Blog: lifeistooshortnottolive.blogspot.com
Missionaries from America now serving in Ireland Steve and Annette
Morley
I had the privilege of
beginning the journey with their family that lead this wonderful couple to
Ireland. Both Steve and Annette visited Greystones in November and felt the
call of God to move to Wicklow, which is about a twenty-minute drive from Greystones.
God provides friends in such random places. I had the opportunity to
travel with these women to the Netherlands for a Nazarene Youth Conference. Gillian
Birnie (far left), and Elli Wallace (behind the red tulip) became two of my
closest friends. God knew I needed the support of fellow Christian females and
he faithfully provided. I miss these girls very much! Gillian is now serving in
Kosovo for a year as a volunteer.
Dustin Wine (my teammate) and I with Pastor Erich Fischer in New
Castle, Northern Ireland for a pastor’s fraternal.
Both Dustin and I had the
privilege of being mentored by Pastor Erich during out time in Ireland. Pastor
and his family moved from Germany three years ago to serve as full time
ministers to the church in Ireland. He is the only Nazarene pastor serving in
Ireland.
Ireland has lovely Georgian
doors throughout the city of Dublin. Each door is unique and has a special
glass buttress that rests above the doorframe. As guided by God doors of ministry are opening in Ireland
for the light of the gospel message to spread. There is a great stirring of
God’s people and it only a matter of time before a revival starts. Ministers of
the gospel are knocking on doors and seeking new areas of ministry each and
every day. As unique as each of the Georgian doors is, so are the people being
ministered to, and the hope is each person would have a personal encounter with
the living God.
Pray for the ministry of
“open doors” because where there is an open door there is an open heart as
well!
While in Ireland I had the
opportunity to go to two special events. All-Ability Camp, which is a camp
specifically for adult with developmental needs and to Disney World in Orlando,
with seven lovely women as a sponsor for a lady with developmental needs. God
placed both of these events in my life to show me different ways of ministry
and the beauty of everyone. God doesn’t make mistakes and the mistakes humanity
sees in the world are the most beautiful creations of God.
(The picture above is of
Beverley Smith and I during All-Ability Camp. She patiently taught me Irish
Sign-Language during my year. Beverley is a gem of God’s and I am blessed to
call her my friend.)
(Picture Right: Is the group
of Irish ladies I had the pleasure of traveling with to Orland for two weeks. There
were four helpers and four lovely women.)
