Thankful!

Melanie —  November 23, 2023

Today is Thanksgiving – a day to remember God’s goodness to us! So it seems fitting to share a long overdue photo update of family highlights from the past few months  We will shortly send out an email update with more ministry related news and prayer requests. For now, here is a photo update.  It seems like it was a summer and autumn especially full of special events and celebrations!

 

At the end of July, we had a wedding celebration here in England for Hannah and Noah. It was really special to celebrate with friends and family who weren’t able to attend the wedding in the USA. It was an afternoon full of ceilidh (Scottish dance) and cake and lots of joy!

 

In August we started school . . . this is our traditional first day of school photo. As the years pass, I’m losing students, but still loving teaching and discipling my children.

 

Our next celebration was Peter’s Mum’s 80th birthday. We had a special weekend celebrating her.

 

Together as a family, we all came up with 80 memories of Mum and then we shared them with her (10 tied to each flower stem). It was such a special time of reminiscing together.

 

Next in the celebration line was Mariah’s high school graduation!

 

We celebrated with family and friends on an extremely hot September afternoon (crazy unusual weather for England!). The ice lollies were flowing and the children loved playing in the paddling pool.

 

We are so proud of Mariah for all her hard work in her schooling!

 

Mostly we are just so thankful that she loves Jesus so much and is pouring herself out to serve and follow Him. This is more precious to us than any academic achievement.  She has become a beautiful woman, inside and out.

 

A few days after Mariah’s graduation, we flew to Greece (using some free airline vouchers) for our first ever warm beach holiday! Due to the flooding in Greece, we had to change our accommodation at the last minute but it all worked out. We stayed very near to ancient Corinth and were able to visit the site.

 

The view from our air B and B was stunning. We all kept pinching ourselves as we couldn’t believe we were in such a beautiful place!

 

The sunsets were gorgeous. Being real though, along with the beauty and the blessing, we had some family conflict that was difficult.  (This is us being vulnerable . . . holidays and family life are far from perfect!) But I think it was the catalyst for us to start talking through some issues and that has been a very good thing.

 

We came from very hot weather in Greece, back to rainy England! It’s been a very wet autumn, but I can’t remember a season where I’ve seen so many beautiful rainbows.

 

The autumn colours were a little slow in coming this year . . .

 

. . . but they got there!

 

Also in October we were finally able to redeem a Christmas gift from my sister and go to Chessington World of Adventures. It was such a fun day out – the younger girls first time at an amusement park. They were amazing and went on all the scary rides!

 

Peter and I were able to take a couple of nights away together in October too. It’s always such a gift to get uninterrupted time with each other. Even though it’s such a joy, marriage can also be challenging and we find these times away together really strengthen our relationship.

 

It’s been such a joy having Hannah and Noah nearby and having them join us for family fun like carving pumpkins for the Light Party! Please would you pray for them as they have hit a snag with Noah’s visa application. This has been very difficult for them. Pray that they will get good advice on how to proceed next.

 

Here we are all dressed up for Trinity’s Light Party! We had lots of guests join us and we pray they felt the love and light of Jesus that we tried to share with them.

 

Next was sweet Jessah’s 8th birthday. How is it possible that our youngest is 8 years old?! Here she is with her siblings holding their gift to her . . . a Charlotte doll (replica of Laura’s from Little House on the Prairie.)

 

And as of last Saturday, our boy Joel is 17 years old! (not really our boy anymore . . . he’s almost as tall as his dad and well on his way to becoming a man!)

 

On the church front, we had a joyful baptism in October too! Our church is continuing to grow and grow and we thank God for his work!

 

So. Much. Joy! Tears and smiles and hearts full of thankfulness for the miracle of salvation and growth in Christ.

These have been some of the joyful highlights for us the past few months. However, probably every photo could also tell backstories of hard things we’ve faced surrounding those joyful events.  Life in this sin-stained world is hard.  We don’t want to paint a false rosy picture.  Instead, we want to be the first to admit that we struggle with sin.  We struggle with the effects of the fall on our bodies and minds that often feel weak.  We struggle with not having enough time to do all the things that feel really important.  We struggle at times with family conflict – clashes of personalities and opinions.  We have recently also struggled with grief and sorrow over some losses and major disappointments.  Praise God that his love, his forgiveness, his strength and comfort are constant in our lives.  An anchor for our souls. And we praise Him for the hope that we have . . . that one day the tastes of joy that we experience on this broken earth will burst into fullness beyond our wildest imaginations.

Thank you for praying for us.  We are thankful for you!! Please see our mini update (coming to your inbox very soon if it hasn’t already) for more prayer requests and news.

 

 

 

 

In Family News, Pictures
 permalink

Albania Trip Update

Peter —  November 8, 2023

Albania – Looking Back!

This is a long overdue report of our trip to Albania in August!  It was really exciting to send a missions team for the first time as a new church.  We’ve sent individuals before, but this August we sent a team of 12 from Trinity Chippenham to serve in Albania.  That team included five Meads, which made it special for us as a family.

Our team, plus some of the local workers

We were based in the town of Lushnje, supporting a small local church there that has planted a church in a nearby village.  Despite being small themselves, they have a desire to plant a church in each of the 100 unreached villages in the area! Their passion is such a challenge and inspiration to us.  We spent 10 days working alongside the local believers.  This included five days of children’s outreach in the village, five church services in three churches (preaching, testimony, music, etc.), and several seminars for church leaders and the ladies of the Lushnje church.

I, Peter, enjoyed being on a missions team like this again.  I did quite a number of trips like this before we got married.  This time I experienced the strange combination of various worlds.  There was the world of ministry in a foreign setting which included preaching with minimal warning, through a translator, sometimes uncertain of details like expected timing, etc.  There was the world of a missions team with all the blessings and challenges that come from being involved in the leadership of a team doing ministry (actually, I was just supporting Aliyah who was the team leader and did a great job!).  There was the world of being a Dad, with four of my six children on the team.  And there was the world of being a church elder, shepherding the team from Trinity Chippenham.  It was a fun collision of worlds!  I found it stretching in some ways, but hugely encouraging in so many ways.

Here are some reflections from our children.  While I (Peter) had visited briefly in April to set up the trip, the three older Meadlings were returning as they had been on the OM team last year.  Here are some of their reflections:

Joel: “The Albania trip was a huge encouragement. I had been to the same town and village the year before, so to go again and reconnect with so many of the same people was very exciting. It was a blessing to see the perseverance the local church has in spreading the gospel to the surrounding area despite setbacks and difficulties. It’s exciting to see the way God is working in that part of the world.”  (Note: Joel is the shark in the picture with the children of Bitaj!)

Aliyah: “I was so encouraged to go back to the same village and see one of the girls who had become a Christian the last time still following the Lord. She excitedly told me how she has been reading her Bible and coming to church with her mom, and the fruit of the Spirit was evident as I spent time with her throughout the week. Saying goodbye to her was really hard knowing that she doesn’t have older girls to look up to or to disciple her in daily life. That spurred me on to keep heading in the direction of discipling where there is great need!”

Mariah: “Returning to Albania to love and serve the people there was such a great experience. Their love and devotion for the Lord was beautiful to see and through it I was able to know God’s heart for his people in a deeper way.”

We also had Kaylah with us.  As one of three under-18s on the team, Kaylah did great! She was able to share her testimony during the children’s program, and she eagerly jumped into serving each day in various ways.  Kaylah says, “I really enjoyed my first mission trip and I can’t wait to go back! It was wonderful to worship together with the Albanians at the churches we went to.  The Lord helped me in many moments when I had to step out of my comfort zone, including when I shared my testimony through translation and also trying to communicate with people each day through the language barrier.”

We are so thankful that we were able to help with evangelism and building up the church and its leadership. The Albanian church is tiny and lacks resources so it was such a privilege to come alongside them. We were also able to encourage a wonderful Ukrainian family who are serving as missionaries in Albania.  If you prayed for us in this project, thank you so much!

We were sad to leave Albania!

Albania – Looking Forward!

The believers there were eager for us to return, and we want to keep building the connection. We don’t want to just dip in and out of this mission field.  We have such a passion for building relationships and hopefully having a deeper impact as a result.  So, we have some follow-up plans!

Mariah is planning to visit the Ukrainian missionary family in January for almost three weeks.  They are having a baby and she is going to support them at this important time.

Peter was invited to return and offer some training for the local church leaders.  We are planning to go as a family (6 of us) for five days in February.  Peter will run a seminar for local church leaders, and preach in the three churches that we visited this summer.  As a family, we hope to continue to build relationships with the precious brothers and sisters in these churches and let God use us in whatever way he sees fit!  We are excited to bring Melanie and Jessah along for the first time.

And . . . .Trinity Chippenham is making plans for another team to visit Lushnje in the summer of 2024!  More information to follow, but please pray for us as we make these plans.  If you would like to get involved in praying for our family’s trips or the summer team from Trinity Chippenham, please do let us know.

Albania is largely unreached (0.5% evangelical) and we are thrilled to be able to join in with what God is doing to build his church there!  His heart is for every person on this planet to hear about his love and we want to have that heart too.

In Ministry Report, Prayer Request
 permalink

A Month of Joy – Part Two

Melanie —  July 31, 2023

In my last post, I wrote about the joys of the first part of our USA trip, the wedding and surrounding days.   (Click here to read it – A Month of Joy – Part One.)  Here are some photos of the second half of our trip.  NOTE: At the bottom of this post, I’ve shared a few current and pressing prayer requests.

After the wedding, we were incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with many dear friends and family members. On the Monday after the wedding, the owner of the air B and B we were staying in out of the blue offered us the use of another property she had.  We spent a glorious day in the sun using the pool and private lake!  Swimming, kayaking, fishing, playing games and eating good food made it such a sweet day to remember.

 

Precious cousin time!

 

Kayaking on the lake

 

Matthew and Joel – 6 months apart in age – are now more men than boys!

 

Because we usually live so far away from each other, Amy and I treasure our sister time.

 

My parents stayed for a couple more days after Amy’s family left and we had some sweet time with them too.

 

Our next stop after staying in the air B and B with our extended family was Noah’s parent’s house!  What a joy to connect with these dear people.  We had lots of good conversations  – serious and humorous!  We truly feel like the Mozingos are our family now.  The Lord has knitted our families and our hearts together in love.

What a joy to connect as mothers and sisters in Christ.

 

Some of the Meadlings with Noah’s brothers, brother in law and sister in law.

David and Lisa and Kaylah and Jessah loved playing games together.

And the girls loved playing with Mozingos’ dog, Maggie.

 

Here we are getting ready to ride the cable car up to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It was such a fun day out all together!

 

We couldn’t imagine how a cable car could even fit inside the arch! It was definitely a tight squeeze. Not recommended for the claustrophobic!

 

The view from the top was amazing!

 

Here we are at the base of the arch. You can see how huge it is, from how tiny we look!

The wedding, time with Noah’s family and the time with his church family were all so rich and meaningful.  Peter spoke at Noah’s church the last Sunday we were there and we felt such a warm connection with these brothers and sisters. Lord willing, we’ll be back one day to reconnect with them all!

Our next mini-stop on our travels was Chicago.  While we were in the Chicago area, Peter and I celebrated our 24th anniversary and my 46th birthday. Amazingly one of my aunt’s friends blessed us with the use of her 42nd floor apartment in downtown Chicago the night of our anniversary. It was incredible. Peter and I kept saying to each other that we couldn’t believe we were actually staying in a place like this!

 

This was the view from the apartment’s bedroom window! I only managed about 5 minutes out on the balcony. My stomach was flip-flopping the whole time!

 

The 18,000 steps we walked on our anniversary took us past many of the major sights in downtown Chicago. Here we are at the end of Navy Pier on Lake Michigan.

 

We even rode the Millennium Wheel – we felt like a couple of teenagers!

 

The next day was my birthday and my aunt and all the Meadlings (minus Hannah – well she’s not technically a Mead anymore!) came down to meet us in Chicago.  We played a game in the apartment, went out for pizza and finished the day by singing worship songs together in the apartment, watching the sky grow dark and all the city lights come on.

 

The beautiful view and the memory of our family praising God together from the 42nd floor will stay with me for a very long time. What a gift!

 

Next on our agenda was a road trip (only 1500 miles round trip!) to see my mom’s extended family in Minnesota and North Dakota.  We had not seen any of them for 11 years! Again, it was such a precious time with everyone.

My aunt Bonnie and her husband Lloyd are some of my favourite people in the world. They are such gracious, hospitable people who just radiate the love of Christ.

 

My aunt seems to have endless energy! She’s always doing something to bless someone else. She made pie and cookies with the girls which they loved.

 

Bonnie and Lloyd live right on the water (one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes!) and they took us on two pontoon boat rides. So much fun!

 

Nothing like a sunset over a lake.

 

Lloyd’s son, who was equally as loving and hospitable, let us use their fun water equipment.

 

The water was a little cold but still lots of fun!

 

Peter finally got to fulfil his lifelong dream to drive a jetski!

 

I also was so thankful to get to spend some time with 2 of my cousins. Nate even took Mariah and Joel for a flying lesson one night. Amazing!

 

I enjoyed some beautiful morning walks in the area, just drinking in the splendour of God’s creation. I found it really hard to leave Minnesota too.  It was such an oasis for us of refreshment, love and beauty.  I don’t know if I’ll get to see some of these relatives again in this life which is hard.  We’ll treasure the memories for sure.

 

Our next stop was my relatives’ farm in North Dakota. It was a joy to reconnect with my Aunt Lynn . . .

. . .and also my cousins Joy and Blair.

Lynn remembered Peter thinking jello “salad” was funny (to his English brain!) last time he was there and so she made him some!

 

The kids had so much fun – playing basketball, going on the trampoline, driving the “gator” around the farm (thanks Ellah for chaperoning all the wild rides!) and playing with the dog. My cousin Blair took Kaylah and Jessah on a tractor ride just like my uncle Dean (his dad) used to do for my sister and I when we visited as kids!

 

We also got to meet Joy’s husband, Bob, for the first time. Kaylah and Jessah had an epic game of Trouble with them!

 

Mariah and Ellah (2nd cousins) connected really well.

 

It was a joy to hear them playing and singing worship songs together.

 

Goose, the dog, was a highlight!

 

Here we are with one of the (HUGE!) outdoor farm dogs.

After our long road trip, we landed back in the Chicago area and stayed with my aunt Carol. Those days included playing baseball in her yard, playing pickleball nearby, going for walks, having a water fight, playing school, spending time with Aliyah and trying to catch up on laundry!  On the Sunday, Peter spoke at two Moody Church Sunday School classes and then did an evening service at another church. Busy days!

 

With two cars full of luggage (quite a bit for Hannah and Noah) . . .it was time to say goodbye to aunt Carol and head for the airport.

 

My heart is just overwhelmed thinking about God’s abundant blessings to us! So many undeserved gifts from the Lord.  We are so grateful to him for all his kindness. Every good and perfect gift is from Him!

Life has been full since we returned to Chippenham.  It’s been wonderful to be back home with our church family. The older 5 kids attended/helped lead Trinity’s youth weekend away. Peter has preached every Sunday and has finished the first draft of his latest book which I’ve been editing.  We’ve also been busy helping Hannah and Noah settle into the cottage they are renting and also planning their ceilidh reception which was last Saturday.  We all wore our wedding clothes and it was really sweet to celebrate with our English family and friends. We’re so happy to have them living here in Chippenham.

Here they are in front of their little cottage.

This past week has been a pretty intense one as Peter’s dad has been in hospital since last Sunday.  Initially things weren’t looking good for him but he’s improved so much since then. It’s been an emotional week for all of us, especially for Peter and his mum. We are so grateful Dad seems to be getting better. We would appreciate prayer for him as he hopefully comes home from hospital this week.  And prayer for us for strength and wisdom as we support them both.

Lastly, on Friday, Peter, Aliyah, Mariah, Joel and Kaylah are off on a mission trip to Albania with a team from Trinity Chippenham. We’d very much appreciate prayer for them and also for Jessah and me as we hold down the fort at home and support Peter’s parents. I’d especially appreciate prayer for no migraines while they are all away.  I have had more frequent migraines since we returned, including a severe one last Sunday.  We also have some illness in the house at the moment, so would you pray with us that everyone will be healthy to travel to Albania on Friday?

We hope to send out a short email update very soon with specific prayer requests for Albania the team. So watch your inbox for that! Thanks so much for reading to the end of this long post.  We are so grateful for each of you and for all of your prayers for us! Thank you from our hearts for partnering with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Family News, Pictures
 permalink