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GREATER EUROPE MISSION
- SHIRLEY UNGER |
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LATEST
NEWS |
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Here is the
latest news from Shirley Unger. |
Subject: Greetings from Germany
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2018 23:04:46 +0200
From: Unger, Shirley <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
To: MEFC <office@mefree.ca>
Hello there.
I trust you are doing well.
The summer season is quickly passing, with students back in
school and coworkers back from summer home assignments. However,
the weather continues to be quite warm. We had a few cool days,
but it's been warmer for a few days now.
September and October are months full of fun
fall events. This past weekend a neighboring village had their
annual wine festival. Each year they have a lovely parade of the
different traditional outfits from neighboring villages. There
was fun cultural music and foods from the region.
Next weekend another village will dress in Medieval dress and
they'll have acts related to that time. Other villages will have
fall festivals, pottery displays, and more. It's a fun time to
be involved in the area I live in.
Our English outreach is starting up in a couple of weeks. It's
always a highlight to be involved in this ministry. We have a
few English speaking leaders who are away, but others have
offered to fill the gap. Please pray with us as we begin again.
It will be good to see the regulars who have come year after
year, but I'm trusting we'll have some new folks join us as
well.
Our Bible study group is also getting started. We're going to
read through a book on prayer written by Timothy Keller. I am
blessed with a lovely group of ladies I can share with.
I've handed off some responsibilities for registrations for
trainings, leadership meetings, etc. Of course, other
responsibilities have come to me as well. My director has asked
me to take on a role as an adviser in our ministry, which
replaces my responsibility as the leader over the administrative
team. Most of my other administrative roles stay unchanged -
processing applications for our short term teams and preparing
them to serve. And I continue to connect with those who are
interested in being on a short term team.
I've also been asked to assist with some of the logistics for a
new summer program called the ten2 project. It's exciting, as
it's similar to the program GEM had years ago, EuroCorps.
EuroCorps was what got me started on a short term team years ago
and ultimately led me to serve overseas long term. If you know
someone who might be interested, please share this opportunity
with them - it could be a life changing moment! The link is
http://www.gemadventure.com/opportunities/ten2-project . Please
be praying with us that many young people would choose to be a
part of this!
Each month our ministry takes an opportunity to have a day away
with the Lord. We've been taking the first Monday of the month.
It is a good time of focusing on prayer and time in the Word.
GEM also provides opportunities to take this a step further. So
tomorrow two coworkers and I travel to our camp in the French
Alps to be a part of a spiritual life retreat. I'd appreciate
your prayers that this will be a time I can put aside any
distractions and focus on my relationship with the Lord. And
pray that I'll take things away to apply in my daily ministry.
I'd also appreciate your prayers for my family. My parents are
set to move to an apartment in midOctober, and they've been
working hard to prepare for that. My siblings are all pitching
in to clear out things to downsize. It's hard to be over here in
the midst of this, but I look to the Lord to give them the
strength to complete this task.
Thanks for your faithful prayers and contributions to allow me
to serve. I am so blessed to have you partnering with me to
prepare short term teams to assist local ministries throughout
Europe.
Shirley Unger
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Subject: Christmas greetings from Germany
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2017 16:10:35 +0100
From: Unger, Shirley <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
To: Shirley Unger <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
Greetings to each of you as we prepare to celebrate another
year, remembering Christ's first coming to earth as a child.
I'm blessed to be spending time with a family, two couples and
another single for Christmas dinner. I've also enjoyed some
Christmas markets, times with coworkers, my Bible study group
and our English evening group. I'm opening my home on the 26th
for people to stop in - a tradition I've done over the years of
living in Europe. The shops will be closed from the 24th-26th,
so it allows some quality times free from any need to head out.
As a staff, we also take the week between Christmas and New
Year's off, which is nice.
As I travel to work each day, I pass by this field of sheep.
It's a good reminder to me of the shepherds who were the first
visitors after Christ's birth.
Attached are some
photos to share, as well as my December
letter.
Thanks for being a part of my ministry this year - I look
forward to what the Lord will continue to do in 2018.
Shirley Unger
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Subject: Greetings from Germany
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2017 23:07:47 +0200
From: Unger, Shirley <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
To: Shirley Unger <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
Hello there.
Sometimes I don't realize how much time has gone by since I
connected with you.
Conference in Slovenia in August went well. The first day was a
little hectic, when we discovered it was the beginning of the
peak summer vacation time for Italians. Travel from the Venice
airport that should have taken a couple of hours took twice as
long and more for some people. To add to that, temperatures were
in the high 30's to low 40's Celsius, and some buses had trouble
with air conditioning. But once conference got rolling, it was a
good time. There was a good balance of times to hear God's word,
meet with coworkers, hear reports of what God is doing around
Europe, and times to enjoy the area.
Once conference was over, I worked on renewing my passport - got
my first 10 year one! That happened pretty quickly. Then it was
time to get my visa renewed. After almost 3 hours of waiting to
see someone, they put the visa in right away for 2 years - I
thought I needed to come back for a special visa card.
English outreach started up again a couple of weeks ago. Even
Margit, who has been taking chemo treatments for cancer, has
made it to class a couple of times. We had one new student join
the group, and one lady came back after being away a couple of
years. All the others have returned, which is nice to see.
Our Bible study group got going again a few weeks ago. While we
worked out what we would study, we took each week to spend in
quality time praying for each other. We just started a study
called 'Uninvited'. It should be good, as we work through
dealing with the topic of rejection. Our group has been together
for a couple of years now, so we have built a special bond and
connection as sister in Christ.
I've also been working in a group called 'Healthy Habits', where
we commit to eating healthy, staying connected and accountable
to each other, building in exercise in our schedules, getting
sufficient water intake each day, cutting down sugar intake.
It's challenging at times, but I'm trusting that the disciplines
will continue to be a boost. The last couple of days have been
great for getting some exercise walking through the vineyards
and through town - temperatures have been in the mid to high
20's Celsius!
The last couple of months at the office have kept me busy with
various things. Last week I was working to finish up some
financial aspects from our conference in August. I've been
processing applications for teams throughout Europe, talking
with individuals and church groups about where they might serve
on a short term team, and helping with registrations for
trainings and upcoming leadership meetings.
The needs for teams are great. We have sites that would love
help with construction needs, camp ministry, and service needs.
As well, the refugee camp in Greece continues to ask for help.
Today I saw photos showing the many children that have come into
the camp - there were only a few when I was there in spring!
Pray for teams to serve throughout Europe, and maybe God is
asking you to bring a team or join one as an individual! Don't
hesitate to ask about how you might serve.
We just had two ladies appointed to join our team - Jessica and
Cheri. Both ladies are coming to help with administration - what
a boost for me! Jessica is already at 70% since she was with
another mission organization and her present supporters will
continue. Cheri is a widow with 2 school age children. Be
praying for these ladies as they raise support to come and help
us with processing and preparing teams to serve.
Thanks for your continued prayers for my ministry here. I am
blessed to have you praying for me and the short term team
ministry of GEM, as well as financial gifts from many of you.
Shirley
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Subject: update from Shirley
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2017 00:03:12 +0200
From: Unger, Shirley <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
To: Shirley Unger <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
Hi there.
It's evening here in Germany. The air has cooled down a bit from
the mid-thirties of earlier today.
Today started with a few startling things. I was almost in
Kandern, and a beautiful deer dashed in front of my car. So glad
he was in a hurry and my brakes slowed me down quickly. Once in
the office I discovered the desk surrounded with balloons. As a
coworker brushed against one, it burst - another thing that made
me jump! After a while others came in with cake to help me
celebrate the start of another year of life.
The last few weeks have come with some unexpected challenges. My
refrigerator gave out on me one night - the next day happened to
be a holiday, which I ended up using to clean out food items
that had thawed out. That meant an expense I hadn't planned on,
and some time spent trying to figure out how to purchase a new
appliance. I'm still making payments on the car I got last year
as well.
Also, a few weeks ago my sister Gladys let me know she'd found a
new lump and learned it was cancerous. She will be having a
lumpectomy on July 11th, so I'd appreciate your prayers for her.
I had considered heading back to Canada for a couple of weeks
during this time. It is a busy time and would be a more
expensive trip. The situation with the refrigerator, challenge
to find good options for flights and some things at the office
led to my decision to stay here. It was a hard choice to make.
Yet I know that God is in control in all of this. And I'm
thankful one of my other sisters has chosen to take some time
off work to be of assistance.
I'd appreciate prayers for the ministry at the office as well.
As the supervisor for the administrative department, there are
some challenging things my director and I need to work through
in a certain situation.
Our GEM conference is a month away now. I continue to assist
with that. I've got some help this year, but am still
responsible for a lot of the logistics with the location we will
be at in Slovania. Our service and worship team are coming from
Canada, as well as our speaker. We're going to have a record
number of attendees this year - about 400 adults and 100 kids
and 50 teens.
Next week we're having a social time with some of our English
outreach group. We had a good spring session again, and it will
be exciting to start again in Fall. Many are returnees who are
so thankful for these evenings to practice English and spend
time with us.
Thanks for praying for me when I went to Greece in spring. It
was an eye-opening experience. When I was there the refugee camp
was largely filled with men. It has changed again in the past
months with the warm weather - many new refugee families have
come in and have no place to go but this camp. We just had two
groups there helping, and three more groups will arrive to help
this weekend, along with another team next week and another the
following week. It means a lot of logistics, especially for my
coworkers Kim and Jenny who are supervising. But some exciting
things are happening. Kim just asked me to have the teams bring
in some English Bibles, as there are requests for them. A Greek
lady who is about my age was an atheist - she now attends the
evangelical church and has asked to get an English Bible. Pray
for these people, both Greeks and the many nationalities of
refugees who are becoming babes in Christ.
I'm seeking to work out when it will work out for me to take a
few months back in North America. Right after conference I need
to take care of renewing both my passport and my visa to be in
Germany. If things work out, it could be this fall yet that I'd
come back for a couple of months to connect with you all. I'll
keep you updated. My totalization agreement that needs renewing
every five years comes up in February, so it should be sometime
before then.
I may not connect as often as I'd like, being on a computer each
day to connect with our mission teams and missionaries, but
please know how much I am thankful for you all in your prayers
and contributions to allow me to continue to be of service with
short term team ministry throughout Europe. Thanks for
partnering alongside me in this work.
Well, it's now way past the time I should be getting rest for
the night. Thanks again.
In Christ,
Shirley Unger in Germany
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Subject: Greetings from
Germany
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 22:23:03 +0200
From: Unger, Shirley <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
To: Shirley Unger <shirley.unger@gemission.org>
Hello there.
It has been a while since I last connected with you all. I do
appreciate your faithfulness in prayer for the work we do in
Europe.
It's hard to believe we're at the end of the third month of
2017. Where has the time gone?
In January most of us on staff traveled to the French Alps for
some time together as a team. We got to try out making pottery,
take walks in the woods, have times to rest and times to
fellowship as a team, including the families.
Later that month most of the team went to Landau, Germany to
help with a renovation project. It was also a time to develop as
supervisors, as the staff took turns leading each day. Many from
the church that was worked on came out to help. I had planned to
participate, but ended up staying back at the office to keep up
with correspondence for teams.
A couple of weeks ago my coworker Matt and I were back in
Portugal for our final training in Leadership Development. We
each presented our philosophy of leadership. I used a jigsaw
puzzle to help illustrate some principles. It's nice to be done,
and the principles will continue to be applied in what we do
each day. In some ways it was sad to realize the two groups
probably won't connect in the same way unless we plan a reunion
at some point.
English evenings started up again a few weeks ago. Many have
returned from previous times, and we have a few new folks. The
older gentleman who came last year passed away in December. The
class members who knew him met together to have a time to look
back at our time with him. Unfortunately, I was sick that week
and missed the evening.
Spring has shown itself in many ways. The daffodils are
everywhere along the roadways. Trees are beginning to bloom, and
the birds are singing sweetly. I hear the sheep calling out each
evening, as there is a flock just behind our apartment complex.
While Matt and I were in Portugal, we had teams out in many
places. A small team of 3 was in Belgium helping to do some
electrical work for a refuge center. A college team helped out
in Ireland with service to the homeless and assistance to the
Dublin Christian Mission. And a couple of colleges sent teams to
help with the work on Lesvos in Greece, working with refugees.
At one point there were only 2 people at the office keeping up
with things.
Tomorrow I will travel to Greece. I'll have a night in
Thessaloniki before I arrive on Lesvos to assist with a team
coming from Alberta. I'll be there for 2 weeks. I'd really
appreciate your prayers for this time away. I'll be driving some
of the team around to the center and back, and we'll be serving
8 hour shifts at various times of the day over those 2 weeks.
Pray that we will keep healthy and get the needed rest for the
work we'll be doing. On one hand, I'm thankful for this
opportunity to go, as I'll be better prepared to talk with
others who contact us about coming to serve, and I'll discover
what my coworkers have about the great needs among the refugees
and the Greek people there. On the other hand, the long days and
change of pace is a little daunting.
I'd also appreciate prayers for the administrative side of
things while I'm away. My coworker Crystal is in the Netherlands
helping with a conference during this time, so other staff are
striving to keep up with the emails and phone calls while we're
away. Pray for Crystal and I to be at peace that we're able to
serve in other ways, and pray for our coworkers to feel
comfortable doing administrative things they're not used to
handling. And pray that those waiting for some responses will
have some patience and grace in possibly waiting on some things
for a couple of weeks.
It's hard to mention, but please pray at this time related to
the declining Canadian dollar. That's making quite an impact on
finances when the funds are moved from Canada to Europe. I
remind myself often that God knows about this and has supplied
my needs each year that I serve here, and He won't stop now. So
many of you bless me in what you are contributing, and I thank
you.
I'll update you as I'm able to on my time in Greece. Another
team heads for the Athens part of Greece next week to do some
teaching English, and another team will do other ministry among
the refugees around Athens. We trust that each of these teams
will be covered in prayer as they seek to share Christ among the
refugees and the Greek people.
Thanks again.
Shirley Unger
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