A Letter of Thanks...

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 17^th, 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

Email: hbmiss@gmail.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.)