The Six of Us
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The Meads: Peter & Melanie
In the summer of 1998 I moved over to
From the start of our relationship, we have shared the desire to serve the Lord in missions. After our wedding we moved to
In 2001 we were blessed with the birth of Hannah Grace, then in 2003 Aliyah Joy was born. Since moving to England we have been joined by Mariah Kaitlin Rose in 2005 and Joel Peter in 2006. It is a privilege to raise these beautiful children, and we consider our primary ministry to be impacting the next generation by our careful parenting of these little ones.
As Peter came to the end of his training at Multnomah, we received a phone call from George Verwer (founder of Operation Mobilization). George challenged us to consider developing a Bible teaching ministry within OM, using the
We moved to
In the first three years of this ministry we have enjoyed a full schedule of life and ministry both locally and internationally! Peter has been able to finish the Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary during this time, integrating every element of the program with the ministry. We move forward with anticipation as the Lord continues to develop the ministry He has given us here. (For individual biographies of Melanie and Peter, scroll past the children.)
Hannah Grace
Meaning of her names:
Hannah: Grace
Grace: Grace!
Birthdate:
Birthplace:
Hannah Grace . . . she is growing up before our eyes. We can’t believe we have an almost seven year old! Hannah is an avid reader and I do mean avid. We seem to have doubled our library of books this year and she still is desperate for more. The local library knows us well! Because she reads so much, she’s got quite an impressive vocabulary and surprises us regularly with the words she comes out with. Hannah especially likes books about animals – horses are her favorite. She is hoping she’ll get to ride a horse when we go to
Hannah also loves music. She goes to a weekly music class with Aliyah and she also takes guitar lessons from a friend at church. We often hear her whistling and singing through the house. When she’s not reading, she spends her time playing Playmobil or doing crafts. She is also a super help to me with Mariah and Joel and is getting very good at her chores, especially emptying the dishwasher.
Hannah always does whatever she does with passion and often drama and creativity. May God channel this for His glory!
Aliyah Joy
Meaning of her names:
Aliyah: rising up (as in the ascending smoke of an Old Testament sacrifice)
Joy: Joy!
Birthdate: 05 February 2003
Birthplace:
Aliyah is often our “quiet” and thoughtful child, but lately she has been surprising us with how much she has to say. When we go somewhere in the car, she often talks to me the whole way to our destination hardly stopping for breath! I love it.
This year, Aliyah is learning to read and is currently on lesson #40 (out of 100 in our reading program). I think she’s suddenly had her eyes opened to the excitement of reading so we’ll see where that takes her. She got a devotional book for Christmas and is eager for us to read it to her every night.
In our house, Aliyah can often be found taking care of Joel (she seems to have a special bond with him), playing Playmobil with her sisters, or helping me cook in the kitchen. She is a great help to me in many ways and is especially adept at folding laundry. This is probably due to her detail-oriented personality – it is fun to watch her organizational mind in action.
Please keep praying for her heart to be captured by the love of Jesus and that she will grow in her faith. At the end of 2007, she trusted Jesus as her Savior. We are excited to see how the Lord will work in her life.
Mariah Kaitlin Rose
Meaning of her name:
Mariah: God is my Teacher
Kaitlin: Pure beauty
Rose: We gave her this name because she was born on Rose Walk (our address at the time)
Birthdate: 19 February 2005
Birthplace: West
“Are me twee yet?” This is a question we get asked several times daily by Mariah. She is a delightful almost-three year old and makes us laugh so much. She seems to fit quite well into the typical third-born position of family entertainer.
If you lived in our house, you’d often observe Mariah dressing up, playing with her dolls, or singing her heart out. During school time, she loves to draw or write her “letters” at the table with the big girls.
Her favorite books lately are some old Ladybird topic books about the fire service (she seems to have a fascination with smoke and fire like her Daddy!), the police force and the ultimate favorite, nurses! This may have something to do with the fact that when she was just shy of 2 ½, Mariah broke her femur. She was in traction (bed-bound) for one month, including two weeks in hospital. It was quite a major injury for such a little girl, but she was brave and cheerful. We like to think it was a life event that will make her character stronger.
Mariah is very cuddly and loves to “hold” Joel (if she can keep him from wiggling away from her!) and to make him laugh. At the dinner table, she often says, “Thank you Mommy for making this dinner.” Melts me every time.
A few more “funnies” from Mariah:
- “The moon is leaking!” (when she saw the moon and its rays)
- “I want to be a snowman when I grow up.”
- And . . . this is our family’s favorite “funny” from Mariah. When Peter remarked in a conversation that Mariah probably didn’t remember
Joel Peter
Meaning of his names:
Peter: Rock
Birthdate: 18 November 2006
Birthplace: Redhill,
OK, where do I start! This little guy has completely stolen all our our hearts, especially Mommy and Daddy’s, with the girls’ not far behind. There are many occasions every day when we are all totally beside ourselves with joy as we watch his sweet ways! Babies are such a nice way to start people (can’t remember where I heard this quote) and we are all enjoying watching the start to this precious life. Mariah loves to play peek-a-boo with him, Aliyah reads him stories (among many other interactions) and Hannah has special times with him every morning when I am doing reading lessons with Aliyah. He is pretty doted on!
Joel is a super contented child. In fact, for about the first two months of his life, I don’t think he cried much at all. He usually loves to sleep and currently sleeps about 13 hours at night plus a long afternoon nap. Yikes, how did we get so blessed? Anyway, all the sleep must do him good because he is usually content and happy (unless he’s teething, then he’s miserable!)
He is just beginning to talk, entertaining the whole family each day. His sentences are stretching from a couple of words and he usually knows when he’s being cute (“coot!” as he would say). I’m sure his funny comments will soon start appearing on the site, just as Mariah’s have over the past couple of years.
Pray for Joel to come to know Jesus as His Savior and for us to raise him (and all of our children!) in a way that would honor Christ. We want all of them to follow Jesus with total abandon.
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Melanie
I was born in the middle east in 1977 into a missionary family. My parents, Dick and Nita Papworth actually met when they were on an OM team. (Another Operation Marriage (OM) love story!) Due to political changes in the region, our family returned to the States when I was almost two.
My childhood was very happy and I trusted Christ at a young age. My parents were constant examples of godliness and sacrificial devotion to the Lord. However, it wasn’t until my early teens that I really made my faith my own and had to start standing up for Jesus at school. I look back and see how God strategically placed Christian friends and youth leaders in my life to help me along in my relationship with God.
By the time I graduated from high school, I was eager to attend Bible school and I spent the next 2 years at Emmaus Bible College in Iowa. God used His Word, missions classes and a special event commemorating the death of the five martyrs in Ecuador to grab my heart for missions. He continued to burden me for the world when I took a missions trip to North Africa the summer between my Emmaus years. At the end of my time at Emmaus, I decided to go back to Oregon and get a degree that would allow me to get into a closed country as a tentmaker missionary. At this point, I had told the Lord that I would serve Him as a single woman if that’s what He wanted for me. However, He had other plans!! (see the “Peter and Melanie” section to read how I met Peter!)
Today I am very happily married to a wonderful husband and we have 4 beautiful children. God has blessed me way beyond what I deserve. My first passions in life are to help and support Peter in the ministry God has given him to do and to raise our children to love and follow Jesus. At the moment, my primary ministry is focused on them. I realize this is just for a season and the years with our children will fly by all too quickly. So I am committed to keeping them my main priority while God has placed them in our home.
Because of our need for flexibility in our schedule so we can travel with Peter, we have decided to homeschool our children. This also allows us maximum input into their lives while they are so young and impressionable. We are now in our second year of homeschooling and I am finding it very addicting! The more I do it, the more I am enjoying the time with the kids, the great books we get to read together and the things I am learning about education.
Aside from serving my family, how else do I spend my time? I am passionate about serving the Lord in many other ways and often find it hard to say “no” to opportunities! I am part of the team that leads our church’s mother and toddler group outreach (called Open House). Each week between 25 and 40 women, mostly unsaved, come with their toddlers for a chat and a coffee. My job is to organize the book table where we have evangelistic and parenting books and leaflets available. I also lead a book club (called Oasis) for young women at our church. We meet once every month or two and discuss a book we have all read together. I am passionate about books and I love to see people impacted by good ones!
I enjoy doing administration, organizing and writing. I love to spend time with other women and spur them on to a greater love for Jesus. And I love to be hospitable and just spend time with people.
Peter and I are very excited about this adventure of faith that is our ministry with OM. This life is not always easy. There are bumps in the road, unforeseen obstacles and times of tears and heartbreak. However, we pray that our love for our Savior will only grow through it all and that our small sacrifices for Him will be of eternal significance in the lives of those we are privileged to touch.
Fun Stuff
Melanie likes: the colour purple, Mexican food, Italian food, well . . . lots of food 
, reading thought provoking books, spending time in the mountains and taking photos of her children!
Prayer requests:
- A growing love for Jesus
- A close and biblical relationship with Peter
- Patience, wisdom and energy in parenting
- Fruit from Open House (Mother and Toddler Group)
- Fruit from Oasis (book club)
- For deep friendships
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Peter
I was also born into a missionary family. My parents, David and Marion Mead, have been serving in Italy since 1968. In the early sixties, my Dad served with OM on some of the first summer outreaches to Italy. Years later, now married, they hosted and led OM teams. They currently serve among the Brethren Assemblies of northern Italy, and are listed in Echoes of Service.
Although I grew up surrounded by missions and was saved at a young age, by the time I was in secondary school I was living for my own goals rather than for the Lord. I knew how to talk the talk but my relationship with Jesus was weak and not dynamic.
Looking back, I know that people were praying for me and finally God got through to my heart. In my late teen years, at a youth event, God really challenged me to live the life He had for me rather than the life I was planning for myself. I knew that this included being open to serving Him in missions. For several years after that, I joined OM and other short-term teams in France, Scotland and Wales. I also spent time in Italy with my Dad where I had opportunities to try preaching (something in my younger years I vowed I would never do!). In 1996, I spent my placement year for university on an OM ship. I never dreamed I would meet my future wife all the way across the world in Portland, Oregon, USA! (see the “Peter and Melanie” section to read how I met Melanie!)
God has used many influences to shape me into the man I am today. Early on, there were my parents and youth leaders. On the ship, there were godly mentors and the many opportunities I had to preach in churches and at events. Over several years, God used the godly professors at Multnomah Biblical Seminary to shape my thinking, my heart and my philosophy of ministry. Since rejoining OM in 2004 I have enjoyed and benefited from interaction with George Verwer, the founder of OM. I have also been privileged to study under and interact with Haddon Robinson at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (the DMin was completed at the end of 2007). Haddon has also been an inspiration on many levels, as well as the best teacher of homiletics (preaching).
My life’s passion is to faithfully serve the Lord by equipping others for Biblical ministry. I love to study the Word and then preach the Word. I believe the Bible is exciting and relevant, so in my preaching I seek to motivate others to study it for themselves. I believe Biblical ministry occurs in the context of relationships, so I prioritize opportunities to be mentored and to mentor others. I believe people live what they love, so I seek to ignite the hearts of those I teach.
The greatest human privilege the Lord has given me in life is to be the husband of Melanie, and the Daddy of my children. So we are very careful about our ministry schedule. Our priority is ministry within the family, so that all my ministry beyond the home is an overflow of a strong family life. Whenever possible, we like to travel together, and I enjoy sometimes taking some of the children with me on short ministry outings!
Fun Stuff
Peter likes: Italian food, studying Bible and theology (yes, I actually enjoy it!), play-wrestling with the children, karate, and I’ve enjoyed supporting the same football (soccer) team since I was eight years old.
Prayer requests:
A growing love for Jesus
A faithful and healthy relationship with Melanie and the children
Humility and continued growth in ministry
Fruit from every element of ministry (preaching, teaching, writing, etc.)
