Hey guys!

I realized that I haven't written anything in a long time so here goes

This past week at the office has been cleanup. Since I've been in Greece the office has kind of been a mess and Johnathan said "Enough!" so we've been cleaning up. Different people have been placed in charge of different rooms and different cleanup areas so I was placed in charge of the computers in the back office. We have an office in the back that is FULL of OLD computers that nobody's been using. So I've been working on figuring out which PCs still work, which ones don't and how I can fix those ones, virus scanning and what not. It's been a fun challenge – a nice change from finances

Guys, Benny Hinn came to Greece and I went to see him. It was interesting…. All I have to say is that the whole evening wasn't exactly Biblical and that the glory did not exactly go to the Lord. This is not only my opinion, the general concessions of people that I met was exactly the same. We all agreed on one thing though – we cannot judge what happened because maybe the Lord was working – His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways – what do we know what the Lord was doing there. When I was looking over the group of people that were there they were worshiping earnestly. So I truly don't know what to make of the whole thing I just know that my spirit was not at peace with what was happening there. I hope I'm not offending anybody and I apologize if I am.

I have made a wonderful discovery about myself. Well a rediscovery. TCK – that's me! A Third Culture Kid.

"A TCK is an individual who, having spent a significant part of the developmental years in a culture other than that of their parents, develops a sense of relationship to both. These children of business executives, soldiers and sailors, diplomats, and missionaries who live abroad, become "culture-blended" persons who often contribute in unique and creative ways to society as a whole." Ref

Under TCK there are subcategories to describe the various circumstances one can be in as a TCK. Such as Brats – British Regiment Attached Traveler (typically used for army kids), Corporate Kid – a child of an employee or executive who is living or has lived overseas in a foreign culture, Dip Kid – diplomat's kid, Global Nomad – someone who has lived abroad as a child because of a parent's career choice, Global soul – anyone born in several cultures, MK – missionary kid, and other such names.
I'm in-between global nomad and global soul. I lived in Iceland because of my parents' career choice and was born in several cultures. Global nomad has a nicer twang to it so I think I'm going to refer to myself as a global nomad from now on hehe

I've heard that term, third culture kid, before and I've applied it to myself but I've never really researched it until now and it's scary how much of myself I see in that.          

"Because of frequent changes in geographic locations, a TCK tends to be a very independent person, often a loner. That self-reliance can be turned into an asset as the young person matures, contributing to the TCK's ability to make decisions and to exercise leadership. However, self-reliance is but one step away from isolation. If a TCK does not need or trust anyone, he or she cannot function in society in a healthy way." Ref

This is an area where the Lord has worked a lot on me these past two years. I'm a very social person yes, but superficially. Not many people realize this, but I'm a loner.  I'm a loner in the way that I never really trust or need anybody. Still today I have great difficulty in trusting people and I still don't need people. I look around at other young women in my situation – far away from everybody they know, in a culture that is not their own – and I see them missing their friends and family – especially their families – but  I don't. To tell the honest truth, lately it has been bothering me, I've been asking myself questions about my sensitivity and even going so far as to questioning me having feelings as a human being! I simply don't miss people and I really don't let anyone close enough to get to the core of me and truly get to know me. I'm wondering, after reading this, if it's not a defense mechanism. Why are TCKs loners and why don't they trust people? Is it because when we trust someone we give that person a part of ourselves and then when we or that person leave we loose a part of ourselves and after a while it just becomes psychologically too difficult? Or is it because as TCKs we never fit in anywhere and so making close friends is really difficult so we become self sufficient and we simply never learn how to trust people? Maybe a combination of the both? I don't know but I'm going to research this more! I love psychology so this could be a fun project for me

"The individual blend will vary, depending on such factors as the intensity of exposure to a second or third culture, at what age a child comes into contact with a culture other than that of the parents, and the amount of time a young person spends within a second or third culture. The TCK's roots are not embedded in a place, but in people, with a sense of belonging growing out of relationships to others of similar experience." Ref

I met two young men last summer, James and Matthias, MKs (missionary kids), and I've had some of my best conversations with them. We had a connection I have rarely felt with other people, like we understood each other perfectly. We started talking about being TCKs and I realized that I had a lot in common with them. Growing up I never understood why I didn't fit in anywhere I went. In Iceland I was the French girl, in France I was the Icelandic girl and the only people I was just simply Janet with were foreigners just like me. It was always a puzzle to me and to my mom but now I realize that I will always be this way no matter how hard I try because I've been influenced by too many cultures and too many different people to fit in perfectly anywhere. It's sad to know that I will never, ever, have a country of my own. When I got baptized at the age of 16 I had a sense of belonging somewhere and that my citizenship was in heaven, this only to find out last summer that that is actually the Christian TCK verse "But our citizenship is in heaven." Philippians 3:20a even if I don't belong anywhere here on earth I belong to God in heaven! That to me is the most comforting notion. Everybody wants to belong somewhere, wants to be accepted and loved by other people – that's the way the Lord made us. Even if you don't believe in the Lord and you believe that we're here as a result of some big bang billions of years ago, you cannot deny it. To be accepted is a psychological need every single human being has (how does the Evolution Theory explain that one I wonder?) and as a Christian my comfort is in the Lord, I belong to Him and in Him I have found a family that is like me a family of MKs and TCKs from all around the world and we unite in the body of Christ. We become one for Him and we belong in Him. I have a deep sense of compassion to those TCKs that don't know the Lord. They have no sense of belonging anywhere! I hope they do, that they've found their little sense of belonging somewhere. Anyway this has become a two page essay instead of a short blog entry so I'm going to call it quits here.

God bless

Janet

Hey you guys! Sorry, I know it's been a long time since I've written anything. Well not a lot has been happening these past few days. We're just winding down over here after the summer and tying to tie up some loose financial ends. Man, since everything this summer got stopped to concentrate on Operation Gideon and the Sports Camp things are kind of in a mess. A mess that has taken two weeks to figure out and there's still a lot more work to be done!

These days I've just been relaxing a bit. It's the first time since April that I am able to be alone at home. The two girls, Jenna and Natalie, who were living with us, have left. It's sad because I had become really good friends with both of them, and I'm going to miss them tremendously, but at the same time it's nice because now I have some, much needed, time for myself. This past week, during the evenings, because I am alone, I've just been painting and drawing. I miss being creative!!! With all these finances and administrative roles it's nice to get away in a creative way and just loose myself in art. If you haven't tried it, it's really relaxing, even more so than watching a movie! Or you could do what I do – watch a movie while painting!!! hehehe :)

Ok so you're probably wondering why I'm praising the Lord. Well there are two reasons. Today I sent out the first copy of my first newsletter to a supporter!!! I've never done this before and I feel like I've past a mile stone. This is the first one of many to come. If you would like to receive my newsletter, just to find out what I'm doing over here and what we, as a team, are about, send me an e-mail with your home address and I'll send you a copy :)

Second praise is, ok this is going to sound really bad at first but bear with me. Johnathan Macris, the HM president, walks into the office today and announces that the Morning Star broke loose off of its mooring!!! Now, given the nature of Johnathan – a guy that likes to get people with all kinds of jokes – we didn't quite believe him. Anthi, one of the Greek girls that works with us, had already tried to pull that joke on Alex Macris – Johnathan's brother and the skipper of the Morning Star – on the 1^st of April last year. After about 5min of Johnathan not giving up on his story AND keeping a straight face we started believing him. The Morning Star had indeed broken off of its mooring! Why is this a praise? Well because of the circumstances she broke off in. A few days ago we had some really wild winds! If the Morning Star would have gone a drift then she would have most certainly crashed on the rocks in the bay and that would have caused a lot of damage, if not sinking her!!! Second the timing. Paul, one of our missionaries that works mostly up at HM's property where the Morning Star is at bay, was taking one of our Albanian workers across and well as they were leaving they notice that the Morning Star wasn't quite where she was supposed to be but calmly sailing down the bay on her own – like the big girl she is!!! Hehehe J Needless to say, they got the shock of their lives!!! So they got on board, fired up her engines, docked her on a peer close by and called Johnathan to let him know what had just happened! Now if the Morning Star would have broken off earlier during the night and if Paul wouldn't have gone out they might not have notice her vacant spot until it was too late or worse not seen the Morning Star at all in the bay!!! We also get a lot of southern winds in the bay and if those winds would have been blowing they would have blown her right into the rocks. Instead there was a steady and light northern wind, blowing her away from the rocks and down the bay in all safety. Anyway we just thank the Lord that, if this was something that had to happen, that it happened exactly the way it did – with no damage what so ever to the boat. The Lord's hand was just so evidently over this whole situation that we can't do anything else but praise Him. I just ask one thing though. This incident has happened during Alex's vacation! He hasn't really had any time alone with his family or had time to just relax since before the summer. This summer was really stressful for him because he was in charge of getting the property ready for OG2 and thus had many deadlines to keep and quite a few close calls. If you could just keep him and his family in your prayers that would be a great blessing to us all.

Ooh one more thing – I'm about to move out of Lahela's house and into my own little apartment, which I'm really excited about! A good friend, called Emily, and I are going to be moving in together into this really small but really neat house right by the sea! This house is a real praise in every way! The rent is very good and we know the landlord as he is Mr. Costas Macris, the founder of HM, so our rent money won't leave the kingdom's work but will stay right in the game to bless others. If you could just keep us in your prayers, though, that the transaction will go well and that we'll be able to settle in nicely and easily. Also it really is a small place so please pray that Emily and I can be patient with one another and that our friendship might grow and not go in the other direction!

Hey if you guys want to see some pictures I finally have a web album! You can click here and see some pictures of the new apartment and 20 of my best pictures from Folegandros – my OG2 island.

God bless,

Janet

Hey you guys I’m finally back in Athens!

I can’t believe it, summer is over! You spend 6 months out of the year preparing for something and then it’s over. I have no sense of purpose now! What will I do with my life?! Hehehe J So this summer, two Sports Camp and Operation Gideon 2 later, was interesting. This summer wasn’t as physically challenging as the past two summers I’ve been here but it was mentally challenging. I’ve never been in charge of something as big as literature distribution for OG2, it was fun organizing it. And the fact that I don’t speak Greek made it kind of interesting too . Anyway everything went well and we only had a couple of arrests in a group of 220 people and 27 teams - we think it was pretty good. The Orthodox church, as I told you before, was waiting for us this time so the fact that there were only two arrests was pretty good! In one of the two teams, as the police was questioning them, (find out who they were, passport checking bla, bla, bla - nothing too serious) one of the team members snuck out and started evangelizing the police officers outside!!! Isn’t that wonderful?! That was the team spirit. NOTHING came in-between us and spreading the Good News, not even the police!!!

What did the Lord teach me this summer through all of this? Well I think that He taught me to rely on myself and take responsibility.  For the first time in my life I was the one in charge of organizing something, it was my responsibility and if it didn’t get done it was my fault not somebody else’s. People were relying on me and not me on them. So in that sense I had to rely on myself and be responsible. I guess the Lord wants us to rely on Him for our life and for our every need but at the same time when He places us in a specific situation and gives us a responsibility He wants us to be responsible and take action, not just sit back and watch as others work. Because in essence when we sit back and watch we aren’t doing what the Lord wants us to do. We might be in His will but not doing it. The Bible talks again and again about lazy people and how laziness only ends in self destruction. Well I kind of saw that in action this summer. I really thank the Lord for giving me this amazing opportunity!

A second thing that the Lord taught me this summer is not to judge people. The Lord placed me in a team during OG2 where I didn’t quite see eye to eye with my team leader and he kind of got a lot on my nerves.  I like hard work and I’m a fairly active person and well he was and is not. And in my flesh I started judging him. I started saying if I were him I would be doing this and if I were him I’d be doing this etc. I also started comparing him with other leaders that I am under, leaders that is not even fair comparing him to since they are way older, more mature and more accomplished in leadership situations. And then what happened was that every time I’d open my Bible the Lord would cause me to read something about judging. John 15 was the first passage I read, it was on the way to our island, Folegandros, and it was kind of preparing me for what was to come. It talks about God being the gardener and Jesus the vine while we are the branches. It also talks about the Lord cutting off the branches that don’t bare fruit. We don’t cut the branches off God does, it is not our responsibility. Our responsibility, as is pointed out later in that same chapter, is to bear fruit and to love one another. I’m not going to write out all the verses but if you want to read them He also gave me 1 Corinthians 4, particularly verses 5 and 7a, and then again John 5:22, 27, and 30.

Anyway it’s getting late and I still have to pack. Oh yes we are moving houses this week. Since Lahela and Babbis are getting married they wanted a place of their own away from bad landlords. We’ve been having problems with our landlords well actually not our landlords themselves but their parents that live underneath us. They claim that we are hosting a hotel during the summer and that we keep them up all night with all our noise. Well we do host short termers and there is nothing we can do about it. We have to. And noise well we do our best to not make noise at all after midnight. We even restrain from taking showers after that time because it keeps them up all night! So instead of living under conditions where we have people yelling at us every so often, scolding us, well Lahela, in front of everybody Lahela and Babbis decided that enough was enough and we are moving into the new place on the 1^st of September.

Anyway I have to go now.

I hope I’ll be able to write soon again.

God bless

Hey guys!!!
Its been a long time since I've written anything - I promise there's a good reason – lack of time!
So what's happened since the last time I posted something? Well loads!
First things first, Operation Gideon. We're experiencing major spiritual warfare, so if you are willing, your prayers will be greatly appreciated. I don't want to post anything here, at this time, but if anybody wants information don't hesitate, write to me and I'll tell you everything. I'm also personally experiencing spiritual warfare; I really feel under attack. The enemy will take anything and twist it into something that it's not supposed to be! I am craving sugar these days and for some reason or another I completely indulge in it and then I feel guilty! This has never happened to me before and I really feel like it's Satan trying to get to me and demoralize me. If I get demoralized I get depressed and I do not need to enter Operation Gideon 2 depressed. I have been feeling this immense sense of joy. A true, honest and deep-felt joy and I don't think Satan is liking it. Please pray for me.

At the same time that we're experiencing spiritual warfare we're also experiencing major blessings! We ordered the 30,000 New Testaments by faith; that's 72,000 euros worth of New Testaments with no finances to back them up. Well somebody told us about three to four weeks ago that they are going to give the money for the Testaments! Isn't that amazing?! Since we had already raised money earlier, all the literature for Operation Gideon 2 has very nearly been paid before the whole program starts! Isn't the Lord wonderful! Thank you Father! You truly take care of us. It's when things like that happen that one realizes that one's on the right track. Also because we are experiencing spiritual warfare we know that we're dead on what we should be doing! If, as we are marching forward, there's no resistance we know that we're not scaring Satan and if we aren't scaring him we're on his side! So it's a good thing to experience this. If there is anybody out there who feels like he's under attack please take courage because Satan is scared of you, and why is he scared of you? Because you are doing our Father's will! And His will will always end in His glory! Amen?! If you are experiencing warfare and need to talk about it please write to me about it and I'll pray for you and see if I can help you sort it out.

Ok so we held our first Sports Camp Junior about two weeks ago. It was amazing seeing all these little kids running around Porto Astro and realizing that this is the future of God's kingdom. These little boys and girls are future leaders of the church and it is important to invest in them now at an early age. If you have little cousins or nieces and nephews I really want to encourage you to talk to them about God, chances are that they are thinking about Him and are trying to figure things out. Kids think in wonderful and very imaginative ways. Jesus wanted the children to come to Him when He was here, walking on this earth, and now that He is resurrected I firmly believe that He still wants the children to come to Him. So please don't be shy to talk to the young ones in your family about the Lord! They have just as many questions as any adult may have, they just ask them in different ways. Help them to understand who our heavenly Father is, please.

What else? France lost at the FIFA World Cup!!!! I was soooo disappointed!!!! We had a party over at my place, with pretty much most of the people rooting for Italy (for some reason or another) so when Italy won there was a lot of cheering, except from Natalie (my French roommate) and I. Then to make things worse my friends that were out of town called me after the game and as I answered the phone all I heard was laughter! It was a funny joke just at the wrong time.

I'm really encourages as things are finally coming together for Operation Gideon 2 – we are finally packing the literature! We have a team of about 5 young men and women doing the work for us – may the Lord bless them richly! Ladies and gentle men my work is finally bearing fruit. With all the frustration and stress (which has been building up for the last few months now) of getting things ready and up at GrBI (The Greek Bible Institute, which is the Bible school I attended last year) for packaging it is amazing walking into GrBI and actually seeing it happen! Now I just need to figure out how to get all those boxes to the Greek islands! Now for those who don't know Operation Gideon or OG2 is an outreach to the Greek islands, where we'll be fasting, doing street evangelism and distributing literature bags to every single house on about 40 of the Greek islands. Now in the literature bags we have a New Testament (which I mentioned earlier) we have a response card, and an envelope containing a – Jesus film DVD, two advertisements for a gospel comic book and a another free DVD, a couple of tracts on salvation, a children's bible/tract and a booklet about The Da Vinci Code. So yes these bags contain a lot of ammunition and a lot of truth in the form of little various goodies. We have 30,000 of these bags heading out and I can't wait to see them actually leave the pier and see them on their way to their final destinations! It's going to be an amazing feeling!

Anyway guys it's midnight over here and I have an early rise tomorrow morning. The whole of HM staff is going up to the property (Porto Astro) for fellowship and re-groupment. I think it's going to be a lovely day.

I don't know when I'll be able to post anything here, so, goodbye for now. 

Have a good few weeks and may you stay strong in the Lord always. God bless you all!

Hey you guys!

So things have been quite busy for the past few days with travel, meetings, late nights, outings etc. etc. etc.

I went up to Leptokaria last weekend (that is from the 15^th to the 20^th of June) to a mission conference. It was exactly what I needed! This is one of the few events, in a very long time, that I've been to where I was not in charge of anything. So I just spent my time reading, fellowshipping and just relaxing. It was amazing! My Greek went up quite a few notches (because I was talking in Greek so much) also and that is always a good thing

A friend of mine, from our Sunday night Bible study, Katleen left last week so we had a good-bye dinner at The Mall. Yes with capital letters. The Greeks' first mall ever opened last year and it's named The Mall. It's so funny, Greeks crack me up man, you've got to love them. The night after I had a meeting, at The Mall again, for a China trip that I'm going on after the summer, exact dates have yet to be decided, and that went very well. The night after that I found myself at, surprise, The Mall yet again but this time for a movie – The Da Vinci Code dadadadadahh. I loved it! Personally I love the story and I think that it's a great tool for evangelism, it gets people thinking and thinking is always good. Now to you Christians out there please read up on it and get equipped because you are bound to get questions about this Da Vinci Code subject. Just browse the internet and ask any question you think you might receive and google it. Also you could read a book - Josh McDowell just wrote one - I haven't read it but I've heard it's good. If you want to talk about this please write to me. I would love to hear your comments, questions and thoughts.

So apart from all those late nights I've been having, my flat-mates and I have been following the football (by the way I really believe that Holland should have beat Portugal they were playing so much better – no offence to you Portuguese out there – but man was that a bloody match, no less than 4 red cards I don't think I've ever seen that before!) and I'm trying to co-ordinate every thing for the Operation Gideon 2 literature. Everything has been ordered and if it hasn't been we are well on our way to do it. So it's awesome. Things are starting to fall into place. My only real headache these days are the HM finances, who ever said I was an accountant was seriously mistaken. I am just not up for this task. Guys please pray for me (for wisdom and patience) because I seriously have no idea what I'm doing, plus with this whole thing with OG2 I don't feel like I'm giving it my all.

Anyway I have to go. I don't know when I'll have time to write again, I hope it will be soon though. I miss writing like this, it's actually a lot of fun. Who would have thought  

God bless you guys and if you have any prayer requests please don't hesitate to write to me.

Have a great week!

Guys I just heard this amazing song by Casting Crowns. The song’s called “Does Anybody Hear Her” it’s on their new CD Lifesong:

 

They are all around us. To become numb to their pain is to become numb to the very heart of God and the suffering of His only Son.

 

She is running

A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction

She is trying

But the canyon’s ever widening

In the depths of her cold heart

So she sets out on another misadventure just to find

She’s another two years older

And she’s three more steps behind

 

Does anybody hear her?

Can anybody see?

Or does anybody even know she’s going down today

Under the shadow of our steeple

With all the lost and lonely people

Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me

Does anybody hear her?

Can anybody see?

 

She is yearning

For shelter and affection

That she never found at home

She is searching

For a hero to ride in

To ride in and save the day

And in walks her prince charming

And he knows just what to say

Momentary lapse of reason

And she givers herself away

 

If judgment looms under every steeple

If lofty glances from lofty people

Can’t see past her scarlet letter

And we never even met her.

 

Guys how many people do you know that this song describes? How many people do we know that are running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction? How many people do we know that are yearning for shelter and affection? How many people do we know give themselves away to the wrong person because they are so lonely and don’t feel loved? We are so-called Christians and yet we ignore these people – our friends and family – because we are scared to share the good news with them! Or we deem ourselves better than them, we are too lofty, and so we can’t see past their sin, their scarlet letter. But who are we to choose? We can’t sit up there and say “I want him to be saved but not him because he’s got too much sin in his life and he doesn’t deserve Christ.” Christ died for all of us and we are all equally sinful – Christians or not. Christ loves us all and died for us all!

I really was challenged by this song and that’s why I’m sharing this with you. So I want to challenge all Christians out there, if you know anybody out there who is in need, whether for affection or just don’t know our Savior to go and talk to them. To let them know that there is someone out there who loves them, who thinks that they are precious just as they are and who wants to have them in His life, to know them, to love them, and to cherish them.

Another powerful quote from Casting Crowns is “If we are the body why aren’t his hands healing? Why aren’t his feet going?” Why aren’t we out there? Why aren’t we healing? It is our responsibility, no one else.

Anyway I don’t want to be preachy but this song really touched me and so I wanted to share it with you and hopefully get you thinking also. Why aren’t we out there? What is holding us back? Is it fear? Is it shame? Ask yourself “What is holding me back?” and try to over come it. I would love to hear from you so please drop me a note, even if you don’t know me it doesn’t matter. Whoever you are if you want to talk about this don’t hesitate.

 

God bless.

Hey there.

Ok I'm getting a bit better at this. If I can keep this up for a couple of years I'll be doing great!

So many people ask me – "What on earth are you doing in Greece Janet?!" Well I think the question should be more like "So what are you NOT doing in Greece Janet?"

 

I'm working with Hellenic Ministries a.k.a H.M. as a missionary (so much you know if you've read my intro) but what does that entail? Well loads of fun work.

 

   During the year I'm involved with the Love Meals, which happen every Monday evening. There I'm part of the serving team. We serve refugees and homeless people – kind of like a soup kitchen. This is one of my favorite ministries because the people that we serve really need a friendly face with a loving attitude and they are always so thankful. I simply love the Love Meals.

   Another major ministry that I'm involved with is the Morning Star. The Morning Star is HM's sailboat. During the winters the Morning Star goes out with small groups of, usually Christian young people, where we disciple and challenge them. Also we sometimes take those same groups out and do evangelism (it depends on the group and where we go). During the summers we take the Morning Star and do outreaches in the various Greek islands. Last summer we sailed to 10 islands. On each island we held a program and did evangelism. That was interesting. My prayer for that trip was that the Lord would make me into an evangelist and He did answer that prayer! It was awesome by the end of the trip, I wasn't anything like a super evangelist but, I was way more confident with and how I shared. Also during the trip we watched "Way of the Master" which in my opinion is a brilliant way of doing evangelism. Everybody check it out!

   The third ministry that I'm involved with are the Worship Events, as the sound tech. Now those are fun! Basically, on an average of every other Sunday, the Greek Christian youth comes together to our hall and worships and prays to the Lord. It has been amazing seeing the Lord working in people's hearts, and just seeing the youth brought to their knees! Last Sunday was the last Worship Event of the season, so we held the whole program on the roof, overlooking Athens and the Acropolis, beautiful. It was really amazing because by the end the people that were there were shouting out song requests! Nobody wanted to stop so we kept on going till about 00:30! It was awesome, God is awesome!

   A fourth thing that I have just recently become involved with is finances! Can you believe it, me an accountant? Well that's just what I'm doing! HM has placed me in charge of finances, i.e. I see to it that people get money and then I need to keep up the paper trail of that money. That is I make sure that I know where the money is going (by keeping receipts of everything) and enter that information into a computer database that we have. It's fun, because I love mathematics and problem solving (and believe you me there is a LOT of problem solving going on!) but it can be kind of boring because now I'm stuck in the office. Oh well you can't have everything. I'm really thankful to the Lord though because He is teaching me loads of things through HM – even accounting! Hehehe God has a funny sense of humor.

   A fifth thing, that has kind of been put on hold for now, that I'm invovled with is the radio ministry. HM is trying to launch Global Vision Broadcasting Network, GVBN. It's a radio station that will be playing Christian (of course) music and various other programs over the internet. So that means that when we are up and working anyone of you can listen in on us! There I help in anyway that I can, I'm basically an assistant to George Vastianos our tech wiz. I'm learning LOADS of things there!

 

Summers with HM are the busiest time of the year. For example this summer alone we are planning two sports camps, one for kids and one for teenagers and in-between that we are doing our second Operation Gideon or OG2.

   Participants for the Sports Camps come and camp out for a week at Porto Astro(which is HM's property), spend time with the Lord, have fellowship (which the Greeks call parea – very important thing to know) and do water sports. It's great! Loads of fun.

   OG2, which is the biggest thing that we are planning this summer, is an outreach to 40 of the 80 islands. We will be sending out 40 teams to each island where each team will pray and fast for two days, do evangelism for another two, and then distribute literature for the last two days. Click here if you want to know more and/or if you want to join a team this summer. One can also adopt and island in prayer. For OG2 I'm in charge of the literature. That is I need to find it, order it, see to it that it gets packed and then send it to the islands, which is a lot of work considering that we are ordering literature for 30.000 packs!

 

Ok this has turned out to be wwaaayyyyy longer than I had planned on  but at least now you know exactly what it is that I am doing, and why I'm here in Greece.

I want to try and make a photo album online so you guys can also SEE what I'm doing.

Anyway I have to go.

 

God bless and please if you have any comments or questions or just want to say hi don't hesitate to write me an e-mail!!!

Guys today is my two year anniversary here in Greece!!!
I've survived two years! Can you believe it?!

I just wanted to share that with you.

God bless

Hey you guys!

Ok, ok I know it's been over a year since I've posted anything but I've been busy. Ok, ok not that busy, lazy then. I've been lazy and I'm sorry, I'm going to try and do better. My goal is to post an update, if not once a week then once every other week. How does that sound?

So what's up here? Well we're busy getting things ready for the summer with H.M. Lots of planning to do with the two Sports Camps and Operation Gideon coming up soon. The first Sports Camp is up in less than a month! Man time flies fast here!
Can you guys believe it, I've been here two years almost!? My two year aniversery is next week! The Lord has been so good to me here, and I've come to know Him in a way that I never thought possible. It's amazing seeing the Lord work when one relies on Him for his every need! I've really enjoyed seeing Him provide through litle and big means. Guys I'm hooked on the Lord - I love having Him in control of my life and watching Him not only be my Savior, Father and Friend but also Provider. Also being far from my family, at times it does get tough but, the Lord is always there for me! Always. I've never been truly lonely since I've been here.

Anyway I just wanted to say hi and to let the world know that no Janet is not dead she is still alive and kicking, happy and loving life!

I hope to write again soon,

God bless you all.

These are from a book called "Disorder in the Court." These are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters. How did they keep from laughing while these were all taking place???? > > __________________________________________________ Q: What is your date of birth? A: July fifteenth. Q: What year? A: Every year > > __________________________________________________ Q: What gear were you in at moment of the impact? A: Gucci sweats and Reeboks. > > __________________________________________________ Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all? A: Yes. Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory? A: I forget. Q: You forget. Can you give us an example of something you've forgotten? > > __________________________________________________ Q: How old is your son, the one living with you. A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which. Q: How long has he lived with you? A: Forty-five years. > > __________________________________________________ Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that morning? A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?" Q: And why did that upset you? A: My name is Susan. > > _________________________________________ Q: And where was the location of the accident? A: Approximately milepost 499. Q: And where is milepost 499? A: Probably between milepost 498 and 500. > > ________________________________________ Q: Did you blow your horn or anything? A: After the accident? Q: Before the accident. A: Sure, I played for 10 years. I even went to school for it. > > __________________________________________________ Q: Trooper, when you stopped the defendant, were your red and blue lights flashing? A: Yes. Q: Did the defendant say anything when she got out of her car? A: Yes, sir. Q: What did she say? A: What disco am I at? > > __________________________________________________ Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning? > > ________________________________________________ Q: The youngest son, the 20-year old, how old is he? > > ________________________________________________ Q: Were you present when your picture was taken? Q: So the date of conception of (the baby) was August 8th? A: Yes. Q: And what were you doing at that time? ___________________________________________________ Q: She had three children, right? A: Yes. Q: How many were boys? A: None. Q: Were there any girls? > > _________________________________________________ Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement? A: Yes. Q: And these stairs, did they go up also? > > _______________________________________________ Q: How was your first marriage terminated? A: By death. Q: And by whose death was it terminated? > > _________________________________________________ Q: Can you describe the individual? A: He was about medium height and had a beard. Q: Was this a male or a female? > > _________________________________________________ Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people? A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. > > _________________________________________________ Q: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to? A: Oral. > > _________________________________________________ Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body? A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m. Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time? A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy. > > _________________________________________________ Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for pulse? A: No. Q: Did you check for blood pressure? A: No. Q: Did you check for breathing? A: No. Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? A: No. Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor? A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar. Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless? A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere. > > _________________________________________________ Judge: "Well Sir, I have reviewed this case and I've decided to give your wife $775 a week." Husband: "That's fair, your honor. I'll try to send her a few bucks myself."