Hello y'all!  Would you mind - May I just refer you to the blog of the team that returned last Tuesday from the most recent mission to Macedonia?

It IS the news for this month!  Remarkable.

Soon.  Very soon!

http://teammacedonia2013.blogspot.com/

~Елизабет

Floor Number Four

How does one get to floor number four? Try taking the elevator from floor number 3.  And that's what my parents and I did on March 23rd. 

The news struck suddenly like a lightening bolt.  On floor number 3 my Mom, Fran, was admitted into the hospital to do some tests - she had been very recently feeling "out of breath" when giving minimal exertion, like climbing stairs in her home.  Within a few hours, in comes a man in black with news that my mom will be moved to floor number four in 1 hour to receive immediate blood transfusions for Acute Lymphoblastia Leukemia (ALL).

What...?....?

The bone marrow and blood transfusion unit.  Strict isolation.  Blue cover coats and shoe covers must be worn from visitors.

Shock sets in with cold sweats of disbelief. My legs buckled.

Three weeks later Mom has gotten through the worst and is now on the road to recovery on floor number four.   Lord willing, she should be home in 10 days. This road is a long one and it won't be easy.  She has shown her true colors in the midst of crisis...resilient faith in the Lord's capable healing and His love for her, perseverance in pain, continued kindness in her character towards others, and her neverending wit.

And the news for today: floor number four is.....temporary. 

"Christ alone - Cornerstone,

weak made strong, in the Savior's love -

through the storm, He is Lord-

Lord of ALL."

Hillsong -  "Cornerstone"

 

 

 

~Elizabeth

SUPERNATURAL-SIZED FRIES

I wonder just how big those batch of fries WOULD BE if they were called "supernatural!"  I have no unearthly idea WHY I wrote that for a title....I think I am fixin' to find out as I write an unplanned blog!  Gimme a second....

* People joyfully opening their hearts to missions (of any kind)
* hanging out with family from Macedonia for 3 1/2 full days this week
* getting commissioned as a missionary from NP Church within 2 years of first mission to Macedonia
* specifically meeting 100+ people within those 2 years who are all now very involved with Macedonia-- where I never knew them before and now we're family
* newsletters and blogs and facebooks and SKYPES -- OH MY!!!!!!!!
* students of all ages in Skopje who are impacting me... like, off the chain
* parents who endure many trials and still thank God for each day
* having nothing but having everything
* officially commissioned as a missionary with GlobalX and North Point Church
* the Daube's Resort
* knowing I am loved unconditionally
* a loyal newsletter scribe TC
* truck breaking down, waiting over 2 hours for tow-man and in the meantime getting a bloody nose while waiting ; but while waiting singing loud "God's Great Dance Floor" in the truck  & eating dried cranberries and peanuts with a NEW, not OLD Coke...
*having a plethera of elementary school teachers at Little River wanting a clean car on Fridays and some Thursdays


YUP.  Thems up there are definitely SUPERNATURAL-SIZED FRIES. whoa.....

~ Елизабет

THE SERVICE OF ROYALTY

Hi :)

Downton Abbey.

Yup.  Got yer attention, huh?  Whooo-hoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!  LOL 
 
The other week I was watching an episode with my Mom at her house.  One of the story lines has to do with the mother of Matthew Crawley, Isobel Crawley (a widow, not re-married), reaching out to unfortunate ladies and giving them a second/third chance to get off the streets/poverty, and giving them a path to see there's a life outside all that carnage.  Then one former maid of Downton Abbey shows up on the scene as a prostitute, and its Isobel (who is of royalty) that remembers and persues her and wants to help her in any way she can.  Everyone else at Downton is trying to "get rid" of this maid who is the cause of gossip.  I looked at my Mom and said, "I really love Isobel.  I love her character and how she is courageously reaching out to people who are so stricken and kicked around by everyone else.  I love how she willingly extends them a second chance in life and stands up for them when no one else will."

 

Well, thinking about it on my walk today, that's exactly how Jesus lived.  Everyday.  The King gave people His time showing them unconditional love and acceptance, no matter their faults.  He hung around the "unfathomable" tax collectors and sinners that everyone else would point to and look down upon. Even when 10 lepers came to Him and asked Jesus to heal them, only ONE out of the 10 lepers came back to thank Him...He already knew it, but He healed all of them anyway.  GRACE.  And then He died for EVERYONE and defeated death.  Unconditional love.  I want to be that every day for the kids and beautiful people in Macedonia. That is my prayer.

SO, on the Masterpiece Theater website, there is a link to take this silly test to see how you would be best suited to serve at Downton Abbey.  I was thinking, hhmmmm.....would I be the Lead Maid at Downton, or Mary Crawley's maidservant (then I could be married to BATES!!!) or the short, chunky, lady cook?  LOL--  I SUURREEE didn't want to be Carson or Ms. O'Brien ...LOL !!!  So I took the multiple choice test and the answers to choose from were so off the wall I wasn't sure how to answer many of the questions - but I chose the BEST possible answers.  Finally, I received my result: they showed me I was best suited for.....Isobel's service.

I smiled... 
Had no idea they were including the service of royalty. Hhmmmmm....

Here are people doing the same thing for women and young ladies-
In Georgia:  www.wellspringliving.com
In India: www.saribari.com
In Australia, Greece, and Ukraine:  www.theA21Campaign.org

----Елизабет
"Come to Macedonia and help us."  ACTS 16:9

ANONYMOUS - What's in a NAME?

Whaazzzuuuppp friends, family and all you ANONYMOUS PEOPLE (who are most likely friend or family)!  ")

What is the meaning of anonymous?  The Merriam-Webster dictionary reads:

1.       Of unknown authorship or origin

2.       Not named or identified

3.       Made or done by someone unknown

Soooo…the word “unknown” is the best synonym! LOL

Many of you are aware we are in the middle of adding investors to the 5-year mission in Macedonia.  I have truly been humbled by the response.  In December, the “unknown” have placed over $10,000 in one-time investments.  Incredible.  Awesome.  God.

Though names were not revealed, I totally respect your decision to remain unknown.  But God knows who you are and that is enough… immeasurably more.  I hope all unknown investors are able to read this blog if not today, soon.  I thank you all for your belief, trust, and am so happy you are jumping into the river rapids with us. JESUS FLOATS.

I leave you with this: What’s in a name? THIS is what’s in a NAME:

 

(Paul is in Athens, in the country of ACHAIA, bordering MACEDONIA which he just arrived from….)

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.” – ACTS 17:22-28

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