Hanna Miecznikowski - World Race Setup Coordinator - A Journey of Obedience & Joy

Remembering the Journey

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Once upon a time, long ago, a young girl boarded a plane in Chicago and flew off into a life she never imagined. One hour and forty-five minutes later, she stepped off that plane, onto a bus and into the clay red dirt of Gainesville, Georgia. And now, six years, dozens of flights and fifteen countries later, here she stands again, and it's the same. But it's different.

The dirt is the same and the place is the same, but the girl has changed. She has taken a beautiful journey from the US to the Caribbean to Mexico to Europe to Asia and so many places in between. She's met incredible people and seen the Lord work in awesome ways.

More than anything, she has come to know and love her Maker with a genuineness and depth that she never expected. He has revealed Himself to her over and over again:

Faithful, Trustworthy, Rock, Provider, Protector,

Help, Friend, Father, Lover, Joy...

I am this girl, and here I stand, looking at the dirt one more time, one last time.

You see, today is my last day working in the AIM office. I'm moving on. Many times, I have told the Lord that I will follow wherever He leads, and now His path is going in a new direction. I am excited to share that with you, but first, I want to take a minute to revisit some of the places I've been.

Mexico April-May 2005 GA Training Camp June 2005

Ireland & England June-July 2005

New Orleans September 2005

England Fall-Winter 2005-2006

England Spring 2006

India Fall 2006

Hong Kong & China Fall 2007

The Philippines Fall 2007

As you can see, it's definitely been a journey.

With all of it's ups and downs, highs and lows, I wouldn't trade a single second. Thank you so much to all of you who have made these last few years possible. Your prayers and support have changed lives around the world and have changed my life in such a way that I will never be the same.

As I leave AIM today, I start a new season. I have joined the staff of Calvary Chapel Clermont, where we will be working to help our church grow in the Lord and reach our community for Christ. Please join with me in prayer for this new venture.

For more information on how to be prayerfully and financially supportive and for continued ministry updates, please email me or look me up on Facebook. Remembering all that the Lord has done, I look forward with great expectation to all that the Lord is about to do.

He is good, and His love endures forever!

IT'S A BOY!!!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As a very proud, first-time parent, I am pleased to introduce my newest and cutest family member:

There is an exciting God-story coming soon to this blog about how he joined my family, but, in the meantime, I need your help thinking up a good name for him. Please comment on my blog and leave any boy-name suggestions you have for my new kitten...

Kenya Relief Effort!

Wed, 9 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Dear friends, family and supporters,

If you've been watching the news, then I'm sure that you've heard by now about the flawed elections in Kenya and the huge upheaval they are causing. At this point, 300 people have been killed, 70,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and the economy has collapsed.

AIM has a base there as well as a school and an orphanage, and we minister in the midst of the worst slum in the country. In the midst of the chaos, we are trying to take care of those who are suffering the most--those who live near our base and have no food to eat and and no medical care. We are trying to share Christ by meeting their needs.

In response to this situation, AIM has established a special fund called the Kenya Relief Fund. Any money contributed to this fund will be wired directly to our Kenyan staff and used to by food for those who are starving because of the situation. Would you please join me in helping to be Jesus to the lost in Kenya by reaching out to them in their time of greatest need? I will be making one as soon as I post this blog.

You can make a contribution by following this link:
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=kenyaBaseRelief

My friend and fellow staff member, Denise, who serves in Kenya, writes, "When we buy food, we work with local pastors to distribute it to those in the worst condition. There are a few staging areas beginning to develop and two have been identified thus far that we are going to try and fund. Please help bring hope to this horrible situation."

Thank you very much!

Hanna

Safe & Sound!!

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I'm Home!

This is just a quick note to let you guys know that I'm home safe and sound. After being temporarily delayed by a TYPHOON, I finally made it back to Georgia a week ago Thursday. Since then, I have take my youth group girls to Revolve Tour for the weekend, attended one of their basketball games, and moved into a new apartment.

As you can see, it's been a LITTLE busy for me, but overall I am adjusting well and enjoying being home.

Soon, I will try to get up more pictures from my trip, and those of you on my newsletter list should be getting a snail mail report of my 10 weeks in Asia sometime between now and next year!

Thanks again to everyone for being such a wonderful prayer covering, support and encouragement while I was gone and for the great welcome home that many of you have provided. An extra thanks to those of you who have been helping me out with furnishing and decorating my new apartment.

Praise God because He is very, very GOOD!!

Stories from the Philippines...

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Wow. I have so many stories to tell, and yet I feel like I haven't had the time to tell them... Today I want to share the story of one of the pastors that I met in the Philippines. In total, I've made three trips to the Philippines now and spent a total of 3.5 weeks there. It is an amazing place, and the Lord is doing some awesome things there!!

For two weeks, I travelled through three cities and spent time visiting with Filipino pastors that are a part of the International Care Ministries network. As I visited each pastor, I talked with them and asked them two main questions:
1. What are your needs that no one is meeting right now?
2. What are your prayer requests?

In answer to the first question, pastors stayed pretty quiet. They're rather humble men, and they don't like to ask for much. They just trust the Lord to provide.

However, in response to the second question, pastors' hearts tended to flow freely, sometimes with tears. As I listened to them, I learned of the desires of their hearts and the things that they daily cry out to the Lord for. More than anything else, I learned that they love the people in their communities, and they want to see them reached for Jesus. In fact, most of these pastors have surrendered all that they have to make sure that the Gospel goes forth. They have surrendered things you and I never dream of surrendering...

For example, consider Pastor Fedil:

He and his wife and their two kids used to live close to a city, and he made a living by making signs for businesses. In this way, he supported his family and was able to work as a pastor. His ministry focused on children, the disabled and those in prison. He has a huge heart for each of these groups!

A couple of years ago, God called him to move to a new place and plant a church in a mountainous region. He obeyed. As a result, he now lives too far away from a city to make a living by selling signs and the village he's in has no other work to offer. He and his family have to trust the Lord for their every need. For several months, they have been eating unripened bananas at every meal because they cannot afford to buy food and the bananas grow near their home. To you and me, this might seem like a terrible situation. When I tell you that Pastor Fedil prays with tears to the Lord every day, you might assume that he is petitioning the Lord for food or money.

He's not. Do you know what he cries out for? He wants to see the people in his new community come to Jesus. Nothing else matters to him. He is willing to sacrifice anything to make sure that the Gospel goes out. What about you? What do you give up to make sure the Gospel goes out? Would you go so far as giving up the ability to guarantee that you could feed your children each day? Do you trust the Lord enough to believe that where He calls, He will provide?

I, for one, can testify that my faith was truly challenged by Pastor Fedil and others like him. Over and over again I met pastors who have laid their lives on the line and are deeply depending on the Lord in ways that go beyond what I can imagine.

Please pray for these pastors. Right now, there are three teams from AIM working with them for one month. I know God is going to move in awesome ways this month, and I cannot wait to hear the stories. Please join me in holding these teams up in prayer this month, and I'll let you know how everything goes. God bless you, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Quick Update

Sun, 4 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't written lately. I've been super busy. I have several hundred pictures though so I will try to get some of them up soon, k?

Here are some prayer requests:

1) My grandmother has a blocked artery in her abdomen, which is a serious problem. Doctors attempted a surgery to put in a stint the other day, but it didn't work. Pray that the doctors will find a successful alternate treatment, pray for her healing, and pray for her salvation.

2) My dad's work recently restructured which resulted in a serious paycut for him. Pray that God will provide for my parents' financial needs and that He would give them wisdom about whether to seek a new job or what to do.

3) Pray for me as I continue to solidify plans for our teams debriefing in a week. Continue to pray for good locations. Three teams will debrief in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.

4) Pray for a baby boy I met in the Philippines. He is one month old and very sick because of a blood type/liver condition. His parents had two previous children who both died from this problem because they couldn't afford treatment. I paid for the baby to go to the hospital and have initial tests run. Pray that God would heal the baby, that God would give the doctors wisdom, and that God would raise all the rest of the money necessary for medical bills.

Here's My Schedule:

November 5 - Several meetings in Hong Kong

November 6-9 - Debrief preparations in Hong Kong

November 10 - One team arrives in Hong Kong for debrief

November 11 - Two more teams arrive in Hong Kong for debrief and I attend a church service raising support for the ministry we are working with in the Philippines

November 12-13 - Debriefing of three teams in Hong Kong

November 14 - I fly to the Philippines to help with a debrief there, that team arrives in Manila

November 15-17 - Philippines' debrief

November 18 - I return to Hong Kong, three HK teams finish their debriefs

November 19-27 - I'm in Taiwan visiting a friend and fellow missionary

From Dumagete

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Here I am in Dumagete, Philippines!

For those of you from Calvary Chapel Clermont, you will appreciate that fact that there is a Calvary Chapel Dumagete, and I ended up attending there last Sunday morning. Ha, I didn't even know I was going to a Calvary Chapel, but then there I was! Isn't God funny? I met some really cool people who teach in the Calvary Chaple Bible college here in the Philippines. Yea!!

Manila is the star on the map.
Bacolod (shown) and Dumagete (not shown) are both on Negros Island.
Bohol is a city (not shown) on its own Bohol Island.

So, in the last week, I have been in Bacolod and Dumagete meeting with local pastors and setting up for our teams and their ministries. Today I will travel to Bohol, and on the 29th I will go to Manila, meeting with people in each place. The Lord has opened many doors. Keep praying!

Also, here's a special prayer request: One of our teams is finishing their year of ministry in November. During their last week, we usually take teams to a nicer place and spend time with them helping them process all that they have seen and done and learned over the year and getting ready for whatever they are doing next. We call this debriefing. Anyway, this particular team will be in Hong Kong, but we still need to find a good place for them to go. Please pray that the Lord will show up a great spot. Thanks!

Alright, sorry this doesn't have too many exciting details... I will try to share some more specific stories and pictures when I have a longer time on the internet. Love you all!

One Day

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

One day, while I was walking the streets in a tourist-filled Asian city and wondering why on earth we were planning to send a team there, the Lord showed up. When I went home that night, I sat down to spend time with Him, and this story came out. I'm not often a creative writer, but that day my writing was really an act of worship more than anything else. It just flowed in response to what the Lord showed me that day. Here, I want to share it with you. May you also be led to a place of heartfelt worship as you walk an Asian road with me and meet Jesus in the moments of your own day.

I saw you today Jesus.

You had no eyes and no hands, just empty, red sockets on either side of your nose and hard, brown nubbs at the ends of both your arms. You knelt on a croweded city street, awkwardly perching and empty bucket between your limbs, waiting for coins.

As I approached you, I heard myself say, "Ni-hao" -- the only word I knew in your language. My friend and I had brought you dinner, and we wanted you to know. You could not see or feel it so I gently craddled a bit of chicken beneath your nose until you inhaled and understood.

Since you had no hands, I carefully held food to your lips until you took your first bite. Then I contnued holding it there as you slowly took your second and your third, each careful, each deliberate. When you seemed thirsty, my friend moved a straw to your lips and waited as you gingerly sipped your drink.

Minutes passed by quietly as we sat with you Jesus. I enjoyed every moment. Rarely do I find such a simple opportunity to serve you even though you have given your whole life to serve me.

Thank you for a chance to love you tangibly. Thank you for a way to spend time in your presence. As I walked away today, I had tears in my eyes becaus you showed up in my day, quite unexpectedly, and you changed my life forever.

Thank you Jesus.

I love you.

Amen.

More from the Philippines...

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Here are a few more photos from the time I spent in the Philippines. These are from the pastor's conference I attended in the city of Bacolod, and I didn't have a chance to put them up earlier...

My dear friend and sister in the Lord, Vichie, works with ICM's medical team.

We spent much of our time building relationships with the Filipino pastors and staff that work for ICM in the Philippines, encouraging them and helping them catch a vision for the future of their ministry.

Here you see many of the Filipino ICM staff as well as Jane (girl in front of me) from the Hong Kong staff and Sharon (two to the right of Jane) who founded the ministry 15 years ago (and of course me too!).

Recent Stories

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The last few weeks have been incredible! The Lord has opened many, many doors for us as we travelled doing Asia setup. While I can't mention specifics for security reasons, praise the Lord with me for His faithfulness and favor the whole time. I look forward to catching up with you guys in person and through snail mail newsletters when I return home to better explain where I've been and what I've done.

Meanwhile, let me share a few highlights that aren't super-secret...

After the Philippines, I visited six different places, which means that I rode on

         5 planes in 7 days

                        one of which we bought the ticket for only 30 minutes before taking off

Innumerable passenger trains

Most of which took 1-2 hours

But one was 28 hours and 43 minutes!!!

I also met girls from an unreached people group that I've never heard of, and they attempted to teach me their cultural type of dancing. (Let's just say that I'll probably keep my day job!) They also took me out for their native type of food, which was awesome (except for the huge rat that almost fell off the ceiling and landed on our dinner table!)

And, though I didn't visit Korea, I ate some amazing Korean food, which included an octopus pancake. (Yep, that's right... Imagine a lovely, fluffy pancake full of thin, squiggly purple legs. Yum!!)

Actually, it really was pretty good!

Alright, I guess that's all I can say for now. I hope you all are doing well. That's for your constant love, support and encouragement!!

PS--Thank you very much to my H2O friends and to my family members who sent me over here with encouraging cards. I had a day last week that was rather frustrating, and they were exactly what I needed to lift my spirits. You guys are the best!

<<SCROLL DOWN, THERE ARE TWO POSTS TODAY!>>

Off the Map!

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hey again! I'll be away from my blog again for a while. Look for updates around October 9 or 10 or so. Your prayers continue to be appreciated!!

A Day in the Philippines

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We left our hotel early this morning and headed to the third and final day of the ICM pastors' conference. Everything has gone extremely well there, and it has been a joy and priviledge to learn and worship alongside 1,000+ national pastors.

After taking in a few hours of the conference, we ducked out to head to the slums. We began by touring some houses. Above, you see a baby sleeping on the floor. In this one room house live her parents and five older siblings. They have no kitchen and no toilet, just this one simple room.

Early on, we visited one of ICM's "special medical cases." They find and fund the medical care of poor Filipinos would not otherwise be treated. The woman pictured above is married and has four sons. She also has stage four cancer. ICM has helped her have two surgeries and will help her receive radiation treatment. We encouraged her family and prayed for her healing. Why don't you take a moment and pray for her healing and for her family to know Jesus as well?

Harvesting and selling mussells provides a small livelihood for some families.
Unfortunately, eating mussells is unhealthy because of the contaminated water they come from.

Click here to see a video of these mussells (still alive in the bowl):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW-XwsS-dZ0
If you watch closely, you will see them spitting water in the air!

As we walked through the slums, we visited people, praying for them and encouraging them. Most are participants in ICM's feeding program. They come weekly for six months for Bible study and hygiene training. In return, they receive 4 kilograms of rice, which equals one meal per day for a family. Local churches do all the training and have seen most of their congregations grow from and average of 15 members to 50 members as a result of feeding programs.

Many families live in houses on stilts above the water.

The little tiny building at the end of the bamboo bridge is the toilet--the only one in the village!

These kids live in the house pictured above (the one with the toilet).

To see a video of our drive away from the slums and through a Filipino village,
click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r18q0AWKu6M
FYI, it's not edited or anything, just raw footage through our van window.

After our time in the slums, we visited ICM's Tuberculosis clinic. Every six months, they admit 48 patients. These patients have been found by ICM staff all over the Philippines. During their 6 month stay, they are nursed back to health, fed three meals a day, taught the Bible and taught livelihood skills. Many adults enter the clinic weighing only 70 pounds and just days away from death. Most leave the clinic weighing more than 100 pounds, knowing Jesus as their Savior and with skill that prepare them to begin a new life.

This girl shared a testimony of how she was saved from TB and came to know Jesus.
She and the patients you see behind her are all 4 months into their treatment program.

After several testimonies, they also sang us a song. To hear it, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYki4UFZQA

I spent my afternoon with these three TB patients.
You would hardly believe it, but they are ages twenty-five, thirty-four and twenty-two.

After the TB clinic, we returned to the pastor's conference and sat in on the last two sessions. Then I had time for a quick nap before myself and two others took a bunch of ICM staff kids out to dinner. ICM staff are almost entirely Filipino. Most of the families lived in the slums or on the street before ICM took them in. Somewhere along the lines, they came on staff as well. These are their children. What a joy to spend the evening with them!

ICM Youth Dinner

Tomorrow morning, we head to the mountains for a staff retreat with the ICM pastors. Pray that we will be able to encourage them and also that the Lord would make any connections He desires between them and us. It is entirely possible that we will eventually bring in AIM teams to work with some of their churches. Thank you very much!!

Pictures from the Philippines!!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

These children are part of a Preschool Project run by International
Care Ministries in one of the Filipino slums we visited called Riverside.

WOW--It has been an amazing week. (I mean, I've been in four countries...How could it be anything less than amazing??) Anyway, I have so far spent a few days in both Hong Kong and China, and I am currently in the Philippines. So far, the Lord's hand of favor has been all over the trip. We've made a number of good connections with local contacts, and we've seen the Lord provide for our material needs over and over again. Praise Him!!

Right now, I am in the Philippines with International Care Ministries (ICM). ICM works in the slums and runs food and medicine programs through the local churches. At the same time, they teach pastors and lay people Bible knowledge, counseling skills, worship leading skills and livelihood skills. They are also working to rebuild some of the slums.

Their ministry is meeting the emergency needs (food and water) of the poorest of the poor and also helping them develop the resources to move out of poverty. At the same time, they are growing local churches and leading many people to the Lord. They have seen 125,000+ decisions for Christ in the last seven years, and the majority of those have been one-on-one conversations, not mass evangelism. God is doing an awesome work here!

I have so much to say, but because a picture is worth 1,000 words, let me just put up a series of them and save the rest of my stories for later...

HONG KONG

Hong Kong is an amazingly beautiful island!!

THE PHILIPPINES

Landing in the Philippines - Tuesday Evening

Visiting Riverside Slum - Wednesday Afternoon

Riverside Preschool Project

Students from the Riverside Preschool Project

After visiting the school, we walked through the slum.

This included walking across crazy, unstable bridges like this one.

These bridges help people stay dry because they live in the flood zone.
However, sometimes the water comes several feet higher than the bridges!

Today, we visited a slum that has been rebuilt:

Mariposa "Butterfly" - 100+ Homes, built by GK

ICM & GK Ministeries are working together to rebuild more slums in the future.
Riverside (several pictures above) is scheduled to begin soon and will look similar to Mariposa.

While at Mariposa, we played with kids for about an hour.

Afterwards, we attended a pastor's conference in Bacolod, that has been going on since yesterday and ends tomorrow night. In attendance are 1,000+ pastors that have been raised up and trained by ICM.

Do you see their passion as they worship together?

It's incredible! Take a moment and listen to it by following this YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q65tiBTto3A

To the Philippines

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I'm headed to the Philippines today (Tuesday), and I will stay until Monday morning. I will be observing an amazing organization there and attending a training conference for nationals.

I'm in Hong Kong

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I arrived safely last night and successfully met up with my coworker here. We've already had a great meeting here, and we're on to more.

For the next three weeks, I will have no email access at all, which also means no blogs. Please continue to be in prayer for us and feel free to leave comments on here. I will update again when I return to Hong Kong the second week of October.

I'm in Tokyo

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone, after a short flight to Chicago, a brief layover, and then a LOOOOOOONG flight to Tokyo (almost 13 hours), I am safely in Japan. I layover here for a couple of hours, and then fly on to Hong Kong. Thanks for your prayers!!

Off to Asia!

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As most of you know, I have recently switched departments at AIM and am now working full-time as our World Race Setup Coordinator. (Please check out www.theworldrace.orgin order to learn more about the World Race Program.) As such, my first setup trip begins this Wednesday, and I will be in Asia, travelling between many cities.

While I am gone, please be in prayer for:

Good Setup - The first three weeks of my trip are filled with travel as a coworker and I meet with various pastors and missionaries to setup ministry for future AIM teams.

Good Ministry - We will be teaching English, doing earthquake relief work, building relationships in unreached villages, and partnering with local missionaries.

Health, Safety and Travel Mercies

God to Be Glorified in all We Do!

Please follow my journey by regularly checking my blog: http://hannam.myadventures.org.

As always, thank you for your support, encouragement and prayers!! I couldn't do this without you!

Final Pictures from Toccoa Trip

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

So... I promised to put up more pictures from my Toccoa trip, and they have been a month in coming... But finally, here they are!!

Each of them is a picture of our group with someone we served during our trip. Our ministries included prayer and encouragement (when they were believers), evangelism (when they were not), visitation, housework, gardening, and singing worship songs.

Miss Mary - A Sweet Sister in the Lord - We helped her with her garden.

Charles - Our "Ninja" Friend that We Visited Daily

Miss Rachel - Savannah, Hannah & I were able to read her Bible stories.

Miss Thelma enjoyed our singing and our company.

Howard, an Army Vet, loved to tell us stories!

Quinon & Theresa - A believing couple with some health problems that we were able to
encourage and pray with after we spent a morning helping them out around their house.

Please take a moment to pray for all of these folks, as well as several others (not pictured). Pray that God would heal their illnesses, provide for their financial need, reconcile their families, encourage their hearts and (for some) call them to Himself, to accept Him as their Savior.

Esther's Miracles

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

For those wondering how my friend Esther (mentioned in a previous post) is doing...
Health-wise, she is still recovering, but doing well. Her digestive track is still working on getting back to normal, but everything else has healed well. Financially, her medical bills turned out to be $38,000, not covered by insurance. She applied for financial aid, and she found out today that the hospital is only going to charge her about $875 of the $38,000 she owes. What a miracle!!

To add to that, a church she has been attending this summer has raised some money for her, and they told her today that they will be able to cover that $875. Now she only has a few minor, non-hospital bills to deal with. Praise God!! He is good :)

URGENT: Get the Updates on my Toccoa Trip!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Please enjoy the three posts below this one. (Don't worry, there are lots of pictures!!)
If you scroll all the way down and then read them "up," you will get them in order :)

The girls and I in a creek near our cabin during our one hour of free-time during the trip!

They describe about half of my recent mission trip to Toccoa, Georgia with the youth from my (Georgia) church: Calvary Chapel Clermont. I will post the rest of the pictures and some more stories in a few days. Thank you to all of you who prayed so much for this trip. God did awesome things!!

Calvary Expedition: Toccoa - Day Two

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

On our second day, we headed to a housing authority for the first time. We would then spend the rest of the week working there, serving people by cleaning their homes and doing yardwork so that we would have opportunities to encourage believers and share the gospel with the lost.

Hannah and I were able to read Bible stories to Rachel who can't see well.

John was able to share the gospel with Charles (who we saw MANY times) while Anna beat the dust out of carpets in the background.

Everyone worked really hard at cleaning. In most of the houses it was light, routine work that people were unable to do only because of age or illness. In a few houses though, some serious scrubbing and disinfecting was needed.

Everyone worked really hard. Savannah became an expert at cleaning bathrooms, and Cassie specialized in tubs. Ashley and Hannah mastered all types of sweeping, mopping and dusting, and I wonder if Anna's parents know how much she likes to wash dishes... It was definitely a team effort!

Calvary Expedition: Toccoa - High Ropes Course

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In addition to ministry, we also spent time developing the relationships within our youth group and growing in unity and friendship. One way we accomplished this involved a high ropes course at Camp Mikel. Picture this:

You fasten yourself into a harness that attaches to a series of ropes and caribeeners. Then you begin by ascending a 40' high ladder into a tree. The ladder consists of two pieces of rope with logs for steps, and it attaches only to the ground and the top of the tree. The rest of the ladder swings as you climb. Once you make it to the top, you find yourself standing on a 2' x 3' platform 40' in the air!

You must then transfer your caribeeners, one at a time, from the rope they have been clipped into to a different wire that hangs above the next obstacle, a short wire between two trees. Once you cross the wire, you must then transfer your clips again before moving onto the balance beam.

However, if you want to avoid the balance beam, you can take an alternate route that involves swinging on rope loops like Tarzan. You must jump for the first rope, and then swing yourself loop to loop until you reach the next platform.

No matter which way you choose, you then find yourself crossing another wire that has a few rope hand grips to the side of it. Of course to reach each successive grip, you must first let go of the one you are holding thereby standing on a thin wire way high in the air. After this, you walk through a set of ropes hung in a V-shape. Then it's one Tarzan-loop swing, and you're almost to the end. You find yourself sitting on a platform, waiting, while the nice lady straps you into the zip-line.

After that, all you have to do is get down, which happens quickly once you sike yourself into scooting off the platform. You race down through the trees and enjoy one of the most freeing and exciting rides you will ever experience.

Before you know it, you reach the end, and you start flying back in the opposite direction. At that point, it's up to the break crew to run in and save you! It takes three people, but they catch you, put up a ladder and slide you over to it. You finish by unhooking yourself and climbing the remaining 15' down the ladder to the ground.

Any takers? I had to include pictures of myself doing this (because otherwise my mother would never believe me!), but almost all of us completed the course. Those that didn't still performed huge feats, conquering their fears of heights and climbing the first ladder up into the trees. It was great fun as well as a great challenge. By the time we finished for the day, we were all quite proud of one another!!

Calvary Expedition: Toccoa - Day One

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

At 6:30am on Monday, July 30th, we met up at church to begin what would turn out to be a very grand adventure...

We spent the first afternoon baking cookies and brownies to take to the bread ministry that night. It was very hard for us not to eat them!!

The Bread Ministry is a family who picks up "left over" bread (and other food) from a warehouse in Atlanta and distributes it to needy people in their community. Every Monday night, they minister to people from many walks of life: the poor, the disabled, the drunk, the drug addicts, and the prostitutes. The evening begins with prayer, and then those ministering attempt to build relationships with the people who come to "shop." This time, we were blessed because it POURED rain. That caused the people to stay around longer (not wanting to walk home in the rain), and it gave us a greater opportunity to talk and share with them. All the while, we were distributing the baked goods we had made as an extra treat for them. Praise God for the rain!!

Mission Trip to Toccoa This Week

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Monday to Thursday this week I will be on a mini-mission trip with the Jr. High youth from my church in Georgia (Calvary Chapel Clermont). We will be going to Toccoa, Georgia, where we will do service projects for elderly people as a means of building relationships in which we can share Christ. We will also partner with a bread distribution ministry on Monday night. Also, because we are a small group and pretty young, we will spend some time doing team building exercises and really pouring into our kids.

Pray that the Lord would bless our ministry and strengthen our group.

Pray that people will come to Jesus and that God will be glorified.

Pray for leaders: John, Justin, Katie, Hanna (me) & Stud ents: Hannah (12), Savannah (12), Ashley (14), Anna (13), Cassie (13)

Please Pray for Esther

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Please pray for my good friend Esther Fahim. She is currently a missionary in Sweden and home in the US for the summer. After not feeling well with flu-like symptoms for for several days, she went to the doctor. They were surprised to discover that her appendix had ruptured about a week earlier. They did an extensive surgery to remove it and some of her small intestines and to clean out her body from infection. The prognosis is good, but they expect her to be hospitalized for at least a week.

Please pray for healing and no complications. Also, please pray for God to cover the medical bills. She is insured in Sweden, but that insurance does not cover her here in the US. Her relatives are trying to find out if there is coverage available from Missouri (where she's at). Otherwise, the bills will be very large.

Thanks!

June Newsletter

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

HANNA'S HAPPENINGS

I will be "home" in South Holland, IL June 23 - July 10 to visit supporters and do some additional support-raising. If you are one of my supporters in that area and would like to visit, please let me know at hannam@adventures.org .

I will be giving an update at Harvest Bible Chapel New Lenox on Sunday, June 24th.

For those who are part of Harvest, I would really like to get to know people who have joined the church since I went on the mission field. If you are an existing friend or supporter of mine, I would love for you to arrange a visit with me and invite a family from church that I don't know. This would be a great way for me to connect with new people!

Update on Summer Teams

Real Life Training Camp (80+ participants, June 3-9) went really well, and all 6 teams are now on the field serving around the world. We sent teams to Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, India, New Zealand and Peru. They will serve for 8 weeks and return to the US on August 3rd. Praise God for a great camp!

The June World Race Launch also went well although it hit a few bumps along the way. 27 participants were scheduled to fly into the Atlanta airport the morning of June 5th. They all arrived safely, and we spent several hours with them giving last minute instructions. (These guys had trained with us in April.) Then we prayed over them and handed them plane tickets to Swaziland and they headed to the ticket counter to check in for their 6pm flight.

Much to our SURPRISE, they were ALL denied boarding due to a problem with their paperwork!! We ended up busing them back to Gainesville for a couple days. Half the team was finally able to fly to Africa on the 6th and the rest on the 7th. They are now doing very well and completing their training with our ground staff in Swaziland. Praise God for working it all out!

These guys will be on the field for 11 months, ministering all over the world. Follow their journey: www.theworldrace.org.

Update on Future Plans
Now-September: I am building our fall Real Life teams to India, Swaziland and Kenya and helping our September World Race team raise their funds.
September 1-12: Final training and launch for September World Race team in Gainesville, GA
September 12-19: Fall Real Life training camp in Gainesville

This fall: I head to Asia to help co-ordinate the ministry of our World Race teams!!!

Prayer Requests
I need to raise additional support and finalize a new housing arrangement now for where I will be living (still in Gainesville) after I return from Asia. There are several options on locations, but additional money will need to be raised as I have been living rent free with an amazing family from AIM for the last year. (More about how wonderful they are later...)

I am finished with my commitment to the Next Step department on September 19th and am praying about taking over a setup roll with the World Race department. This job involves working with ministry partners (mainly in Asia and Eastern Europe) to co-ordinate ministry for each of the World Race teams that serve there and periodic trips to these areas to meet with local contacts and to help our teams as they arrive. There are many details that still need to be hashed out here....

Please continue to pray for my family as they continue to grieve, as my dad's hand heals (it's doing much better!), and as my mom figures out a treatment plan for a thyroid disorder.

Another Homegoing...

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hi all--I just wanted to let you guys know that my great uncle Kalin has gone home to be with the Lord. His immediate family was with him, and he went peacefully. Please keep my family in your prayers again this week as funeral services will be held this Thursday and Friday.

Please especially lift up my Aunt Deb as she has lost her husband and her father in the same month. I cannot imagine what that is like, but my heart breaks for her.

My great uncle leaves behind a wife, two daughters and their families and a bunch of other relatives and friends. For most everyone, this is the second family funeral this month. I won't be going home this time, but I do plan to spend some time at home at the end of June/beginning of July to be with my family.

In addition, please keep my dad in your prayers this week. He had an accident with a table saw on Saturday and had surgery to graft skin onto his hand last night. He will be fine, but it is really painful right now. Pray for comfort and functionality there.

Thanks again for all of your love and support to myself and my family.

Fantastic Fun!!

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As you know, most of my posts have been a mix of ups and downs lately so I want to make this post a little more light-hearted and fun....

One of the coolest things that has happened recently is that my mom flew down to Georgia to visit me for a week. It was a blast to spend time with her and to get to do some "extra" fun outings in downtown Atlanta. Below are some pictures. Enjoy!

Mom Checked Out
My Home & Met Our Pets

Mom Shadowed Me at Work

We Spent a Day at the Mall of Georgia

We Enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium

And the Brand-New World of Coke!

We Toured the CNN Tower

And Explored Olympic Cenntenial Park

Overall, we had a fantastic time!

I am so blessed to have an awesome mom and to have had her all to myself for a whole week!!

Prayer Updates

Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Quickly, here are a couple of updates:

1) My great uncle Kalin has been moved to hospice and is surrounded by friends and family. As my aunt put it, "we're just hugging him and kissing him and holding him until he sees Jesus face to face." Please pray that the rest of his time with us would not be painful and would be good times with those he loves. Pray also for my family members, many of whom are now numb emotionally because of the amount of major life events this month. Especially pray that my aunt Deb will be able to sleep sometimes. This has been a struggle since her husband got sick and continues to be a struggle after his passing and as she is with her dad in his battle. Thanks for all of your support.

2) PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY a lot for me and my Real Life students this week. I have 80 students flying into Atlanta for training camp this Sunday. They will be here until June 9th, and then they will divide into six groups and fly out. One team will minister in each of 6 countries: Swaziland, Kenya, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Peru. I'll try to get picture and updates posted as camp progresses.

3) PLEASE ALSO PRAY for my World Race team participants. 30 of them will fly into Atlanta on Tuesday, where they will meet me and a few of my co-workers for about 4 hours. Then they will get back on a plane and head to Swaziland, where they begin their 11-month journey around the world.

As always, thanks for all of your prayers and support!! Even in the midst of family hardships and the business of preparing our Real Life and World Race teams, God continues to demonstrate His faithfulness over and over again and to bless me in unexpected and delightful ways.

Check back tomorrow for some FUN PICTURES from my mom's recent visit to Georgia!!

Praise & Prayer for My Great Uncle

Tue, 29 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

This update has been a little long in coming, but I wanted to let you all know that my time at home with my family surrounding my Uncle Glen's funeral went really well. I am so grateful for having been able to go. Please continue to uphold my Aunt Deb and cousins Eric, Joel and Jill in prayer as they grieve.

Also, just a few days ago, my Great Uncle Kalin was diagnosed with colon cancer. He hemorraged and has been in the hospital since. Today we found out that he may not make it through today or tomorrow. Kalin is my Aunt Deb (who just lost her husband Glen)'s dad. Please be in prayer for Kalin's healing and for the family's strength.

Also, praise God with me because Kalin gave his life to Christ!!