Saint Patrick - Beyond Shamrock Shakes, Corned Beef and Leprechauns

Saint Patrick's name is well-known throughout the western world, but his legacy is often overshadowed by the many traditions associated with the holiday bearing his name.

We as a family have Irish roots on both sides, so we have shamrock shakes, wear green and try to eat something "Irish" on March 17th of each year.

However, on closer inspection, there is much more to the man behind the "green".

Saint Patrick was born into a Christian family, however he was not a believer himself.  When he was 16 years old, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates, and taken to Ireland as a slave.  He worked as a shepherd for 6 years, during which time he prayed, and encountered God, eventually giving his life to Him.  As Saint Patrick recalls the story, in a vision God told him to escape, and that his ship was waiting for him.  He ran away, and managed to get to a dock, where he was granted voyage on a ship.  He made his way back home, where he began studies to be a priest.

He had a vision, which prompted him to return to Ireland - to the same people who had kidnapped him years ago - and share the Gospel of Christ with them.  And he obeyed.

And so, he became a missionary to the people who enslaved him.  He refused payments for baptisms.  He reached the wealthy as well as the poor.  He refused gifts from kings, so that he could not be persuaded by man.  He was beaten and put in chains for his beliefs. Legend has it, that he used a three-leafed clover to explain the Trinity to the Irish.  

What an amazing testimony of God's redemptive love!

So today, let us meditate on the words of the prayer attributed to Saint Patrick.  May Christ be seen in all that we do and say.  May Christ be seen in how we treat others.  There is no testimony in treating kind people kindly in return.  The real power is in reaching out in love to those who we don't understand, don't agree with, and those who even hurt us. Let us remember to ACTIVELY love those who hate us, or stand in stark contrast with us.  

The Prayer of Saint Patrick / The Morning Prayer

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation.

Starting Off 2019!

Hello, friends!

December and January were full of ministry opportunities, celebrations and festivities!  Here are some of the things we've been up to:

1. Church Christmas

Abigail was very excited to be a part of the Christmas program for our church! She sang in the choir, and led the kids' ministry bell choir, which debuted at our Christmas service. It was a huge success, and everyone loved seeing their children perform something new, so well!

2. Young Adult Ministries

Dan continues to be a part of the country's leadership team for the Young Adult Ministries. They are in the process of planning the Winter camp, and have had a number of worship nights. Dan has greatly enjoyed getting to know some of the pastors better - in fact, he and a pastor friend will be attending a symposium in Spain next month, hosted by the Assemblies of God, about reaching secular people. We are thrilled to be a part of the ministry towards the youth of Slovenia!

3. Bethany Global University Missions Trip

Our church in Ljubljana is a host site for Bethany Global University interns. We currently have 6 students taking part in the training. Our pastor asked us to help them find some areas of ministry. Abigail's mom, fellow missionary Jocelyn Gracza has taught English at one of the Hungarian high schools in Budapest (actually, the school where Abigail and her brothers attended), and was able to have the interns go and facilitate conversational English lessons. Dan even ended up substitute teaching for one of Abigail's former teachers! We were so glad to be able to strengthen the relationship with this high school, as well as help the Bethany students fulfill some of their academic requirements.

4. Friends and Neighbors


We have loved getting to know our friends from church, as well as from our son's school. God has blessed us with exceptional people, who we are blessed to live in fellowship with. We spent Thanksgiving with a family from church, have had cookie decorating parties, baby showers and play dates. At Christmas time, we once again baked cookies and delivered them to our neighbors. Through this we've gotten to know our one neighbor and her dog, another neighbor had cookies for us too, and we have a mommy-baby walk planned.

Najlepša hvala, thank you so much for your love and support! We couldn't do any of these things, if it weren't for your prayers, encouragement and partnership! As always, we appreciate you more than you know!

What's Up With The Blairs?

Hello, dear friends!

Well, another season has passed, and as we are on the cusp of Summer, which holds many exciting new ministry opportunities, we wanted to take the time to let you know what we've been up to lately! 

Language School



For the past 3 1/2 months we have been attending language school through the university. We have thoroughly enjoyed it, the teachers were excellent, we feel like we've gained a lot of knowledge, and we've enjoyed getting to know our classmates. Abigail has developed a real friendship with one of the ladies in the group (whose children actually go to the same preschool as Aidan).  It has been a great way to build relationships!




Church Life

We've become more and more involved in our local church here in Ljubljana. Dan has been a part of the men's group and has had the opportunity to help with many everyday things that go into running the church. He has recently been to an all-pastors' meeting, and has been invited to preach at the Slovenian superintendent's church in Ženavlje this Sunday. Abigail has been volunteering in the nursery, helping with kids' programs and has recently joined the worship team. 


Around Slovenia



We took a trip to one of the cities here in Slovenia, called Piran. It is on the coast, and one of its famous buildings is a church named after Saint George. As we were standing there taking in the beauty of the church, we noticed this sentence graffitied on the electrical box: "God is a joke". (Far right of the picture.) This image illustrates the general spiritual climate in Slovenia so well - churches are no longer places of worship, but rather tourist attractions, and most people feel that they have no need for God - that He is a joke.
The other picture was taken at the church in the main square of Ljubljana during a regular service. It was very sad to see so many empty pews in a building originally built for the worship of God.





Coming Up!



We have a very busy and fun-filled summer ahead!  This week we have a leadership conference that Dan is helping with, called Voditi z Namenom (Lead with Purpose). For most of July we will be helping with camp. Dan has been asked to be on the planning team for the young adults' camp, and we are hosting an "American Night", with games, American snacks and prizes. A special thanks to John and Temple Gracza for sending us party supplies, and to Paul and Lori Traver and Kaiserslautern Assembly of God for blessing us with the fun and yummy snacks! The local church we attend here has a book publishing company. They are in the process of translating a book called True Identity. Thanks to Light For The Lost, we have been able to preorder 200 of them to give to everyone attending youth and young adult camp! We have also been able to purchase 100 Action Bible New Testaments to give to every child attending kids' camp! Many of the children there will be from an unchurched background, and this will be their only access to the Gospel. We've also been asked to help with a camp specifically for Gypsy/Roma children, and will be able to give them Action Bible New Testaments too. We are so thankful for this opportunity to support both our local church, as well as the Pentecostal Movement.
We're also very excited, because "The Puzzle" (Sestavljanka in Slovene) has now been translated into Slovene! "The Puzzle" is a terrific children's outreach tool that we will be starting here in Slovenia soon - hopefully by the Fall. We are now in the process of finding voice actors, we've ordered the costumes, then after all that we'll be recording the performances, training the team and traveling to churches and schools all around Slovenia! Thank you, BGMC for making this dream a reality!




Prayer Requests



There are many of you who have reached out to us, asking what you can be praying for, and we'd like to share them with you:

- Summer Camps -  especially that the books and Bibles that we are able to provide will be a blessing! Pray that hearts and lives would be changed, and that the hope and love of Christ would be felt.

- "The Puzzle" project - We are very excited at the prospects of what we will be able to do with this ministry tool, and are praying for God's guidance each step of the way.

- Our Neighbors - as we've gotten to know more people in our neighborhood, the tug on our hearts for the Slovenian people has only grown stronger. Please pray that they would soon know the freedom we have in Jesus.

- The Churches - that we would be able to make connections in the other churches around the country, and would be a blessing to the Slovenian Pentecostal Movement.

- Our Pregnancy - so far, we've had a very healthy and normal pregnancy, and we ask that you continue to pray for health and safety for our little girl.



Thank you for your continued love, prayer and support. We are honored to have you as our ministry partners! We pray God's blessing over you!

Winter Update From The Blairs

Greetings from Slovenia!

It's been a while since we've given you all an update, and to be quite honest, it's because of... life!

We are really settling into our new home, and getting used to our new normal.

We were delighted to get to spend our first holiday season in Slovenia, and our first "real" winter in a long time - this Florida-transplant family forgot about the cold!

So, we just wanted to give you all a short update on what we've been up to in the past couple months.  

Christmas

We were so excited and honored to be a part of the Christmas program at the local church we attend, here in Ljubljana!  Our big guy played the part of a wiseman, and was part of the children's choir!  It was extra special to hear him singing Christmas carols in Slovene!

On Christmas Day, we were so thankful to have Christmas dinner at the church with a few other families.  One of the families from the church hosts it every year, especially for those who don't have family nearby.  We loved getting to spend Christmas day with our new church family!

We also delivered cookies to our neighbors in our apartment building.  With the help our language teacher, we wrote each one of them a note, wishing them a very Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year.  Then, we went to each door and introduced ourselves - in (broken) Slovene!  It can be difficult to get to know one's neighbors, especially in an apartment building, but we're hoping that through interactions such as these, we'll be able to build meaningful relationships with them!

Language Learning

This is definitely NOT the glamorous side of missions, but it is the foundation, the groundwork without which we won't be able to truly reach Slovenia.  So, we have been working hard at our Slovene language classes.  Here are some examples of how much we've learned in the past few months:

We've had language classes for about 3 1/2 months.  We have learned how to introduce ourselves, talk about the weather, give directions, talk about motion, conjugate verbs, express possession of nouns, describe our families, lots and lots of grammatical rules, and we just started learning the past and future tenses.

We could not be more pleased with our tutor - she is very knowledgeable (she teaches at the university), patient, she loves her language - which in return makes us love her language, and she has a wonderful way of tying in what we're learning about Slovene with the culture.

Our teacher is actually leaving for 3 months, for a job outside of the country.  Please join us in praying for her, that she would be able to adjust well to her new surroundings, she would enjoy her job posting, and would... come back!

In the meantime, we will be taking a course at the university for the 3 months that she is gone.  We took a placement test earlier this week, and classes start at the beginning of March.  Please be praying for us, that we would make new friends at our courses, that our Slovene knowledge would deepen, and we would have a good time doing it!

Ministry

We were so excited to visit one of the other churches in the Pentecostal movement, a church in Murska Sobota.  In the type of coincide that only God can bring together, the pastor of that church was actually a friend of ours from college, at Continental Theological Seminary in Belgium.  We had a wonderful time sharing with them!  We introduced ourselves in Slovene, as well as we could, and then Dan shared his testimony, and how the Lord orchestrated everything for us to be able to come here.  We look forward to being able to visit more of the churches in the future, and building relationships.

Speaking of relationships, we've been very excited to get to know some of the children and parents from our son's school!  In the afternoons, we all seem to pick up our kids at the same time, which has been a great way to meet.  These pictures were taken on a hill near buddy's school, where we got to have some fun.  In the next few months, we're hoping to meet some of the parents for coffee, or arrange play dates, so we would appreciate you praying for those relationships as well!

As always, we appreciate your prayers, your love, and your support!  Thank you for making it possible for us to minister in Slovenia, we couldn't be here without you!

Blair Family Update - The Finish Line is Near

We've bought our tickets!  Most of our bags are packed!  We are leaving on Aug. 28th!

These are all such EXCITING sentences!  But they don't come out of the blue.  The past two months, God has been blazing a trail for us, and we're really looking forward to sharing some of these moments with you.  Here is what we've been up to the past few weeks:

1. Texas Trip

 We spent a little over 3 weeks in the Houston, Texas area in the month of July.  We were so thankful to stay with Abigail's family friends, the Dunns.  They were so generous to have us stay with them, and it was so nice for us to have a quiet place to regroup.  It was great catching up, and reminiscing about childhood memories.

Randy and Esther Dunn were also kind enough to host a missions dinner for us, where they invited their friends, and we were able to share our hearts for Slovenia in a very close and intimate setting.  There was a sweet presence of the Holy Spirit that night, and we were greatly blessed by all those who were there.  Thank you!

 We enjoyed catching up with some long-time friends; like Abigail's parents' former Chi Alpha students, Ted and Nancy Menard.  We are so excited that they've joined the Hope4Slovenia team!  Thank you for your love and support!

We also made new friends; like Pastor James, who is a pastor at a Vineyard church in Houston.  He is actually the missions pastor at our friends, the Dunns' church!  We are so thankful for friends who introduce us to their friends!  Thank you for joining the Hope4Slovenia team!

 These dear friends are Pastor Raul and Cecilia Garza.  Many of you may remember, a few months back, we shared that we were contacted by Pastor Garza, as the Lord had laid Slovenia on his wife's heart, and they were looking for missionaries to support in Slovenia.  Since we are the only Assemblies of God missionaries to Slovenia, we were ECSTATIC to make their acquaintance!  When we met Pastor and sister Garza, it was like meeting old friends!  We immediately felt our hearts knitted together!  Not only did Pastor Garza allow us to come and share in their church, but he actually booked us 3 more services!  Wow!  That is every missionary's dream, right there!  We cannot explain how thankful we are for his, and sister Cecilia's love and support personally, as well as from their church.  They have been a huge blessing to our family, and we thank God for friends and ministry partners like them every day!

 We loved connecting with some of the churches who have loved and supported Abigail's family throughout the years - some since before she was even born! One of those churches was Galena Park Assembly of God.  We were so thankful to be able to see Pastor Glenda, and we so appreciate her partnership with us!

It was also super fun to reconnect with her granddaughter, Taylor, and her beautiful family!  It's always encouraging to see generations serving the Lord!








We met with, and saw so many more people, there isn't enough room to name them all, but here are a few more pictures:

 
 



2. When the Student Becomes the Master

One of the sweetest meetings was on our way home from Texas.  We loved getting to see Bradley and Ariel - they were students in our youth group, who then became leaders, then got married, and NOW they are youth pastors themselves! God is so good, and we are so thankful for his faithfulness.  We are so proud of Bradley and Ariel, our hearts could burst!  On a "missions" note, Bradley also took our information to his senior pastor, a man we've never met, and he and his church pledged support to us that day!  This past month has simply been filled with God-ordained moments like that one.
In our talking and praying, we knew that to meet our monthly goal we would need to have a certain number of partners at a certain amount.  God met that VERY specific need, and we are just blown away by his provision.

3. God-Ordained Moments

A few weeks ago we were ministering in a church in Venice, FL.  We had a blessed time, and also found out that the missions pastor we had been in contact with, and his wife were having their last Sunday with this church, as they were about to begin a church plant. As we were leaving, he came to us and told us that they wanted to partner with us, and wanted us to be their first missionaries!  Talk about stepping out in faith!  We were so blown away by their gesture!  Please be praying for them with us, and their new church plant, WellSpring!

4. So, Where Does That Leave Us?

We have bought our plane tickets, and are waiting for final clearance from Assemblies of God World Missions.  We are mostly packed, and are having a garage sale soon to sell the remainder of our belongings.  We are so excited and anticipatory of what is ahead!

Beloved prayer partners, please be praying for these specific needs:

1. Traveling mercies as we make our way to Slovenia.  We will be flying to Hungary, and storing our belongs there while we search for a home.  Please pray that we would make all of our connections, and that all of our bags would make it.

2. Our new home.  Please be praying that we are able to find a home quickly, and with no hiccups.

3. Our Speed the Light vehicle.  The youth in our district, PenFlorida have already raised the funds necessary for us to purchase a vehicle once we're in Slovenia.  Praise Jesus, what a huge blessing!  Please pray with us that we are able to find the perfect, reliable vehicle quickly.

4. Our visas.  Because of our status as religious workers, we are able to apply for our visas once we land.  Please be praying that everything goes smoothly, all of our documentation will be in order, and that we have our visas in hand soon.

5. Language learning.  We will begin language studies as soon as we get there.  This will be new for all of us.  Please pray that we are able to pick up the Slovene language quickly, so that we may best reach the Slovenian people.

6. Building relationships with the Slovene Pentecostal movement.  We are so excited to meet and partner with the Slovene Pentecostal churches and church leaders.  We are eager to hear their hearts and desires for reaching their people, and coming alongside them and supporting them in any way that we can.

7.  For our son, Aidan.  Pray that he would make friends, adjust to his new home, pick up Slovene quickly, and not only survive, but thrive in and love his new home!

It's been a long road, but we have seen God's hand every step of the way.  We are thankful for the lessons we've learned, the people we've met, those who faithfully pray for us, those who sacrifice and have partnered with us monthly, those who have generously opened their homes to us and everyone who has encouraged us along the way.

We genuinely couldn't have done any of this without you!

We promise to keep you updated, as we are about to leave, once we're there, and as our ministry in Slovenia blossoms.  We love and appreciate each one of you!

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Keeping Up With The Blairs

Where do we even begin!?  We hit the ground running this month, and are excited to share some of the highlights with you!

1. PenFlorida District Council

We are so thankful for our PenFlorida leadership!  Thank you to everyone involved in planning, logistics, set-up, tear-down, the speakers, PenFlorida Women's ministries for the luncheon, PenFlorida Missions Department for the moving and inspiring missions service and all the missionaries who encouraged one another.  It was truly a time of refreshing!  (Also, this is what missionary kid life looks like sometimes.)

We even found the Slovenian flag (which Aidan can recognize a mile away)!  It makes our hearts so happy to see little reminders of our future home!

2. Clearing Out Our Storage Unit

 When we moved in with our friend 2 years ago, in preparation for this adventure, we put many of our things in a storage unit.  This month, we went through it all, and sorted the "stuff" into four categories: take to Slovenia, keep in Florida for later (our next term in Slovenia, we will have funds to send a crate, this first time we're only taking suitcases), garage sale, and throw.  We managed to do it all in one day!  (Thank you Mellissa for watching Aidan that day!)

Thank you so much to Pastor Jeff Wade and his church, Ocala First Assembly, and Tim and Janet Sudreth, pastors of Suncoast Cathedral for helping us with the purchase of this trailer!  We downsized quite a bit, and were able to fit everything into it!  We are also very thankful to Dave Houck, pastor of Salt Life Church, for allowing us to park it on his camp grounds for the next 3 years!

4 hours, and lots of sweat later, that's what an empty storage unit looks like!!

3. Itineration Trip Up to Virginia

Much of Abigail's family is from the Virginia area, so we were very thankful to be able to book a few meetings and services up there!  On the way to the airport, we were so happy to get to have lunch with one of our former students, and monthly partners, Emma Dove!  We are so proud of you!  We love you!

 Our first day there, we had the unplanned and AWESOME surprise of seeing the Buckleys, missionaries to Hungary!  Abigail used to babysit their kids when they were little, and Dave and Karmi are her "missionary aunt and uncle".  They are just starting a summer of itinerating also, so please keep them in your prayers, too!  We are so thankful for their love and support!

We were very excited to connect with the Flores family!  Johnny and Robin graduated from the school where Abigail's grandmother taught, and went to her church.  They have three wonderful boys, so Aidan had a BLAST at their house!  They are also one of our monthly partners, and we are so thankful for them!

 These are Abigail's Aunt Temple, and Uncle John (Magic).  They have supported us since Day 1 (and not just on our missions journey).  We wouldn't have even been able to move to Florida without their help, which means none of this would've even happened!  Thank you so much for all you do for us!  We loved getting to spend time with you!

We were so excited to visit Faith Fellowship, where Pastor Don and his wife Kim have been faithful supporters of Abigail's parents for years.  Their youngest daughter, Jocelyn, is even named after Abigail's mother!

4. 80% Reached

This month, we reached 80% of our monthly budget!  We are so thankful, and anticipating wonderful things!  We are on target to be leaving towards the end of September, thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

We were also thrilled to connect with Tom and Lynda Kish, Dan's family friends from his home church in Ohio, who have partnered with us, and now live in Bonita Springs.  We had so much to talk about, as Tom is Hungarian, and Lynda grew up as a missionary kid!  We had a terrific time!

5. Slovenian Statehood Day

Slovenian Statehood Day is on June 25th.  It's the day that they announced their separation from Yugoslavia.  Please make a mental note to lift the people of Slovenia up in prayer that day!  We know that there is hope for Slovenia, and that Jesus is his name!

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!  We appreciate each and every one of you!

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