Where do you live and what ministries are you in?

Hello everyone. I've been away for a while and really want to connect with the community here. I live in Taiwan, I am starting my 4th year of teaching English and Bible classes to elementary students. I love it here, the Taiwanese people are wonderful and I live and work with a small group of other American missionaries. However, I am by far the heaviest in the group and definitely feel alone as most of the people here have great workout habits and eating habits they have already learned. I struggle a lot, but this year I am also determined to make changes in my life. I look forward to getting to know everyone here.

I live in Wyoming, Michigan. I attend Grand Rapids International Fellowship with a multi-cultural and generational congregation. We teach English as a second language. I have been a tutor for over a year.

I graduated from St. Paul Bible College and worked with Campus Crusade in Swaziland for 2 years as an Agape teacher. 5 months in Kenya preparing for Campus ministry.

God changed my directions and I got married to Henk my Dutch husband and lived there for 8 years I met and worked with former CMA missionaries from Gabon Wim and Sarie Lutiein in The Netherlands developing a community Vacations Bible Week program that was transformed into a packet in Dutch by Sarie and then translated into English when the East Block opened and in need of children's materials.

Moved to the States in 1988 and adopted a 12 year old son in 1992. That opened up to become the post adoption worker for 8 years. Also taught a 2 year old Sunday School class in our former church. I use my special gift of poetry usually Bible or sermon based to share with whom ever likes it.

Edited by: DORRINES at: 9/26/2015 (18:34)

I've been away from Spark for a couple of years and trying to get back on track. I mostly did weight watchers, met my goal weight, and then proceeded to put back on 20 pounds. We live in Haiti outside of Port au Prince. I do trauma trainings in orphanages and schools, bring in medical teams to both Haiti and Guatemala, help to build schools, and a range of other things with the focus on promoting spiritual and mental health needs of the population.

My goal is to lose the 20 pounds and figure out how to adapt with such a high carb diet. Trying to find reasonably priced lean protein is difficult. Cost of living here is astronomical.

I don't think I have been on Spark People for about 3 years so I will reintroduce myself.

I am originally from Upstate NY but for the past almost 4 years I have lived on the m/v Africa Mercy with my husband and two daughters and been a part of Mercy Ships. We signed up for two years but somehow we are still here! We dock for about 10 months out of each year in a country in West Central Africa where we offer free surgeries and other ministries.

I am the music teacher in the Academy on board the ship to grades K-8. Our daughters Deborah, 12 in grade 6 and Anna, 9 in grade 4 love living on the ship and our community is very close. We are currently in the Republic of Congo. I think we were in Sierra Leone when I was last on Spark People and since then we have done field services in Togo and Guinea before sailing to Congo.

I continued to gain weight here on the ship until I had managed to gain a whopping 50 pounds :-( Last year we had to go back to the states for about 5 months and while there I realized I was out of excuses for being bigger than I had ever been before so I started eating less but not exercising. I lost 15 pounds between May13 and Feb14 when I realized I needed to get more serious about this so I started exercising and have been losing steadily since.

I really want to keep this up but it is very difficult here because we do not cook for ourselves or choose what we want to eat. All of our meals are prepared by the galley staff and they are meals made for over 600+ people. There is no way to count calories since we don't even know what ingredients are in our food so I just try to eat in moderation and I stopped evening snacking. Our internet is horrible though I am grateful we have it! I tried to post over a week ago but the page never loaded and I gave up. Tracking everything would take 2 hours plus every day so I think I will just track the basics once a week for now.

Hi there! My name is Laura and I'm from the Chicago area (USA). I'm 29 years old and been a missionary in Zambia for almost 8 years with an organization called Overland Missions. I started out leading short term ministry teams in rural villages, focusing on evangelism and relationship building. For the past 3 years, I've transitioned to discipleship training in the rural villages and training leaders in ministry. This year I've been able to focus on specifically teaching women, which I've loved doing.

Hi! my name is Katie. I live in Arkansas USA. In 1997 I attended youth with a mission and took a 5 week mission trip to Belarus and Munich Germany. I feel like my ministry is writing missionaries and encouraging them. having over seas experience I know how difficult it is and the hard work involved. I like to write to missionaries and send encouraging letters/ cards to them.

It's kind of a legacy that I want to keep alive. my step grandma has written missionaries for over 50 years now. I want to do the same thing as well. She is getting up there in years so I want to make sure to keep this going.

As you can see from my name, I live in Honduras. My husband and I are both Colorado natives, but have been serving the Lord on the mission field for almost 20 years. First we spent a year in Spanish language school in Costa Rica, then almost 7 years as dorm parents at an MK boarding school in Venezuela. When that school closed, we headed to Taiwan for two years, but very quickly realized the Lord was calling us back to Latin America. We've been in Honduras for nine and a half years with Camino Global.

My ministry here is very variable. My main focus is preparing Honduran mission candidates for the mission field, by teaching them English and cultural adaptation skills. I am also the Language Consultant for the Honduran Mission Board. Besides that my husband and I present missions seminars to local churches, I teach Spanish Grammar and Reading Skills at a Bible Institute, do literacy seminars, I serve on the Business of the Mission Committee and a lot of other things in my "free time"

Well, I have been missing for long enough to gain back 12 pounds. SIGH! I need the support of my fellow missionary women.

My info
I live in Russia 10 months out of the year. I am a full-time missionary. I currently attend university 4 dyas a week to learn Russian. I am praying that I will be able to get a work visa net year. I co-founded a ministry in 2001 called Seeds for the Harvest. I currently teach 2 English classes every week to the local community. My dream is to be able to work with the local orphanages and provide free English training to the orphans. Their statistics after leaving the orphanages are abismal.

I have a set goal date because my youngest daughter is getting married and I would like to look my best for her!

So glad you are back!! I thought the picture looked like you!!

Hello Ladies! I used to be here as PapuaMama, but that profile is either gone or I just can't remember the way to log in. So I created a new page. I've been off Spark People for three years, during which my weight spiked up to 188. Now I'm back down to 171, but no where near my Spark low of 156! So I'm back to it.

We've got a trip coming up in January, just DH and I, yay!! It's to sunny So. Mexico, and I'd like to look a lot better by then.

We have been back from active missionary service in Indonesia for a little over four years, currently living in Seattle. I have loved following some of you "old timers" on FB, even as I've been an SP "backslider". I'm going to give SP a serious try again. It worked just great when I was living in Papua, so I have high hopes!

Love you all, and excited to meet more recent joiners, too!

welcome aboard!!!

Hello Christian Workers. I hope you accept retired Missionaries. My DH and I and four Sons were in Central African Republic for 13 yrs. Hubby was a preaching Printer, and I taught in Bible School for soon to be Pastor's wives. Some had to learn to read and then could pursue Bible, courses.

After we left Africa, we served in three different Churches until retirement. It will be interesting to see what is currently going on in Missions.

welcome IBUCORNTZ...looking forward to seeing your progress!!

Hey everybody! Excited I found this group! We work in Southeast Asia and I understand what you're going through, TRAVEL_YES. So much white rice, sugar, and fried food here...and lettuce is a SUPER rare treat. Working hard at getting back in shape after having our little guy a year ago. It's a challenge here, SO HOT and women don't really exercise out in public much anyway so that means me jumping around in our ACed bedroom during my little buddy's naptime. :) Looking forward to joining you all on this journey...we can do it together!

Welcome, welcome, welcome!!!! So glad to see you all on board!!!

Hi Ladies,
I am married to a wonderful guy and have 2 boys (7 and 8). We ministered in Hong Kong (1998-2000) and China (2000-2009) and are now living in the States again. My heart is still in missions but we are kind of stuck here for now after our funds dried up. We are still willing to go back out again, but are waiting on God's direction. Meanwhile, we are active in our church.

I have gained 23 lbs. since I've been back in the States because the food is different and I don't get as much exercise as I got in China. It's got me kind of depressed! I am concerned that if I don't do something about my weight now that I will get type II diabetes. (Both my parents got it in their 50s from being overweight.) I've also recently been plagued with plantar fasciitis in my right foot which makes it difficult to work out.

Looking for some support and accountability with women I would have something in common with!

Hi,
I am new on Sparks and was excited to find this group!!!
I am working in Central Asia (Internet is not the right place to share my countries name)
Loosing weight is a big challenge in this area, because good food is greasy, bread has to be white and tea has to have at least 3 cubes of sugar. Loosing weight is called " ruining yourself "

Looking forward to be a part of this group.

Hello everyone. My name is Marie (or Rie for short). I live in Winston-Salem, NC. My husband and I are very interested in missions, and have many missionary friends that we support. My husband's name is Jon, and he is still finishing up his undergrad work at Tyndale through correspondence courses.

I am a stay home mom w/2 little girls ages 3 and 1. At church my ministries are primarily to the children. I teach Sunday School, disciple children, do puppets, help with the financial department, and assist the youth pastor in coordinating the 3rd-5th grade age group. My husband works with the teens, so I unofficially get to hang out with them too :-P

My husband and I believe that God has called us to full time Christian service, but aren't' sure where that is yet. His heart is drawn to the country of Cambodia right now, and when he finishes school we will probably move in that direction unless God closes the door, or changes our desires.

I am currently in the process of learning to lead a more orderly life, which includes losing 155 pounds. So far I have lost 35. I want to learn by the side of older women who have raised godly children, and lived a life that was honoring to God, so that our home will also be a place that honors God.

Welcome back, Darlene!

Hello, We are full time missionaries in Honduras and we pastor two churches, have a full time doctor on staff who runs our medical clinic, we feed two mountain schools weekly and have about 50 students in school and host short term mission teams.

I have not been on here for a while so will be glad to meet new people.

Hey There,
Saw you are in Uk. I am from there but serving in U.S. at the moment. Currently we train new candidates and teach on cross cultural ministry in restricted access areas. Write to my inbox and let me know about your work in UK.
I haven't been very good with SP for a while but I'm back now.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Usha

Thanks! Was a busy few weeks my man traveling but back to normal now! :-)

Glad to have you join us, Sarah! Sounds like you keep busy. If you get the chance, we'd love for you to pop on over to our Check in Daily thread so we can get to know you!

Welcome to the group, Sarah! So glad you found us! Congrats on your weight loss and new found healhiness. Blessings to you as you continue in many aspects of ministry!

Michelle

Hey all I've been on Spark for years but just saw this team after looking on someone page. I am a co-leader of TurboFIRe/ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboJam groups. They have been the workouts that have helped me lose 30+ pounds and brought me into a life of fitness and coaching others.

We have been in china for 4+ years. We have a snowboard ministry, my man teaches for the Red Cross of China and we lead a team who's focus is mainly on HIV+ Orphans. I've been in ministry for 15+ years, have 2 boys (6.5 and almost 3), and on the side of all we do now I help women get healthy!

Nice to find this group and meet you all!

Welcome!

We have been in the UK about 6 years, and serving in the ministry about 13 years :) We love it here, and plan to stay forever, but I've said that before, hehe, I'm willing to pack my bags if need be :D

Welcome, Melinda! How long have you been in the UK?

Hi, my name is Melinda, I'm American but live in the UK. I help my husband who works as home-team staff. Mostly I do computer work :)

I've already received a warm welcome :) thanks! It's a blessing to find this team, I look forward to getting to know you.

Welcome, RETURNTOTHIN. We're glad you found us!

Welcome!!!

I love missions and maybe will be one someday. Through Facebook, I keep up with friends in the Philippines, in Uganda, in Okinawa, a nephew in Korea, have a niece going to Canaries, a niece who grew up in Brazil and is now part of a singing group (did short term missions to Uganda), a friend who runs Orphans Hope and ministers to orphans in Myanmar, friend to a native who has orphanage in Uganda, friend who is working for ANM (Advancing Native Missions), and a nephew who is a traveling child evangelist, and friends who are with Wycliff and were in Columbia for years .... and I might grow up someday and travel myself. At 71, still have many years left (that's my goal) and as a nurse would hope that I can "be one" someday. I am joining this group because I love missions and support missions ---- will enjoy "traveling" along side some of you.. God Bless each of you....

Edited by: RETURNTOTHIN at: 1/1/2012 (07:20)

Thanks, I'm glad to have found this team, too! Thanks, Carolyn for inviting me!

Welcome, Mary!

Welcome! So glad you found us!!

I live in Japan where I serve as a missionary teacher. (Carolyn invited me. I have been a full time missionary since 2006 and on Spark People since 2008, but I just found this team through Carolyn).

We're glad you found us, Jo!

So glad you are with us Jo!! Jump onto the daily thread to get to know the team!! I think you'll find they are a great, encouraging group of women!!

Welcome!!!!!!

Hi I'm Jo and I've just found this team though I have been sparking 16 months. We work with Wycliffe Bible translators and have just moved back to the UK after many years in East Africa - mostly in Nairobi, so we are in full on transition which is tough. We'll be in UK for the next few years to finish up education needs and working with Wycliffe UK. I'm so excited to have found this team and look forward to being a blessing.

Welcome DARLENED6!! Glad to have you on the team!

We live in Honduras. We pastor two churches, provide education for 30 highschool students, feed at two schools a hot meal once a week, and we have just hired a full time Dr and will be opening a medical clinic. We live at the base of mountain and serve several communities.

Great to have you on board with us Karen!

Karen! We're glad you found us!

Hello,
My name is Karen. I am a lover of God, a missionary, and a pastor. I live in the city of Ivanovo, Russia. I have been a short term missionary here since 2000, but the Lord moved me into full-time mission work as of December 2010. I LOVE working here.
My husband and I started a non-profit Seeds for the Harvest in 2002 when we knew that the Lord desired that we would eventually move to Russia. My husband is currently living in the U.S. so that we can pay off all of our financial debts. He will be joining me here in Russia after my leave next summer.
I currently go to school to learn Russian, teach several English classes, and work with a center for kids who have "graduated" from the orphanage system. My schedule is very full, but I love every minute of it.
To those of you who will ask, yes, it is very hard to be away from my husband for so long, but thanks to skype and facebook we connect several times a week with a long conversation each weekend. There was a lot of prayer about this move, but we felt it God's wisdom that we proceed into full-time ministry AND pay off all of our debts.
So, that is my (our) story. I need to lose about 80 pounds. I would appreciate your prayers and support, as I will pray for and support you.

In Christ!
Karen

It's sure been fun reading through everyone's stories. God Bless each of you.

Hello (again)! My name is Kim and I live in central Iowa.

The main ministry I am involved in apart from local church ministry is an orphanage in Sierra Leone. It's pretty cool to scroll through and see someone else who is serving in Salone but with Mercy Ships! What a great organization! There are some kids affiliated with the ministry who will be incredibly blessed by the services of Mercy Ships "soon." And I saw the Anastasis years ago on my first trip to SL. (Get some of the roasted groundnuts sold on the streets-- they're incredibly tasty and I may or may not have lived on them while spending several months there.)

Anyway... I work at one church and continue to serve in my home church--which works since the two churches work together a lot and thus I've definitely gained a new respect for local church ministry. I've been so drawn to missions overseas--but my concept of mission is changing. I've been struggling with finding a place of ministry here while I was waiting for whatever God would have. Of course He can use all of these other moments and days for His purposes, too, whether I'm working in the nursery, in AWANAS, putting together the newsletter (okay, I struggle with the purpose of that.... love on your administrative professionals, friends!), or just being a willing listener for someone having a bad day! On the long term, I think nursing school may be down the road to eventually go back to Sierra Leone or somewhere where God leads, but in a different capacity. It's going to be an uphill battle, but I'm so excited, so encouraged...and that only comes from GOD! Praise Him.

I don't get on here as much as I'd like but I'm so thankful there are a group of missionaries who I can also relate to as sisters, if that makes any sense. You don't know how rare of a find you are. Thank you!

You sound quite normal, Roxie...doing whatever needs to be done when it needs to be done. I am a church planting assistant in George, South Africa - working mainly with children, women and music.

Hi Ladies! I'm an adult MK (my family served in New Mexico and Arizona as church planters and support staff for UIM, International - United Indian Mission) and now serve as church planters under the same mission agency with my hubby of 29 years among the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation in northern Wisconsin. We've been here for 13 years and we're seeing some really exciting changes lately, specifically in some of the men taking their relationship with Christ seriously.

As all of you probably can identify, the ministries I have been involved with change as the need arises and as God closes doors and opens doors. I have worked with children since I was in high school... I've worked on and off with AWANA, children's church, and Sunday school over the years. I've created curriculum that is easier to use for our specific cultural needs, and with my hubby and 2 other adult MKs. I've created a 35 day curriculum (3 levels) that has been used for MKs - Toddlers through Jr. High - at a cross-cultural training for missionaries in North America. I'm getting older (or so I'm told!), and I am finding that I don't have the passion to work with the children as much, but I don't mind making lesson plans for others. However - at this point, I'm still teaching the younger children in AWANA.

I love studying God's Word and teaching it to other women! These opportunities come and go, depending on the women and the season and the women's work schedules.

My hubby and I lead the youth group - and I love teaching one-on-one with teens if they want to learn, but I'm REALLY feeling old with the new giggly, clicky Jr. Higher girls coming in...

My husband is also involved with UIM's administration - as a field director and a missionary development director (personnel director), so our ministry also involves traveling and encouraging missionaries and appointees as well as leading the seminar for candidates... my specific responsibility is as a sounding board for my hubby, and sharing with the candidates about communicating with the support team and preparing materials for pre-field ministry.

I also enjoy doing some brochure graphic design for our mission.

So - I guess - I'm a normal missionary - I do a bit of everything, eh?

Yes, it was the Anastasis. I live about 5 hours from Cape Town now, in George. Don't imagine you would ever dock in Mossel Bay.... I have a friend (from Cape Town) who was talking about helping out in Liberia (I think), but I'm not sure she ever got to. She is an anaethetist.

We just spent 5 months in South Africa!!!! The ship was in dry dock in Durban and the families were about 2 hours north of there in a small place called Appelsbosch about halfway between Ballito and Pietermaritzburg. It was very isolating there and hard for us to go anywhere. When we sailed out of Durban we were supposed to be getting several weeks of PR in Capetown but we were so behind schedule that we ended up with only 24 hours in Capetown!!!! It was so disappointing to be there for such a short time but we made the most of it and did as much as we could in the time we had. We had to cancel all of the PR stuff and basically just fueled up and left.

I'm assuming it was the Anastasis that you visited since it was the Africa Mercy's first voyage to South Africa The hardest part for me in South Africa was being separated from my husband. He is technical crew and had to live on the ship during the whole drydock experience while the girls and I were 2 hours away. We saw him on weekends but it was tough for me. We had just arrived on the ship in Togo and two weeks later sailed to SA so it was a whirlwind.

Wish I had rejoined Sparkpeople sooner, maybe we could have connected while I was in SA.

Oh well, thanks for the welcome.

Nanita, welcome aboard!!! A mercy ship was docked in Cape Town a few years ago, and we got to tour it with the children from our mission school. What a wonderful ministry!

Kimberly, my brother and family have been in Papua New Guinea for the past 20 years with Wycliffe!!! Maybe you know them? Jonathan and Kathy Wilson and their children Justin, Sarah and Jonita? They are coming home on furlough this summer and it looks like I'm going to miss them since we aren't going back home until next year

Welcome Nanita! I'm a music teacher too. I spent a couple of years teaching music to MKs in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Now I'm in Minnesota USA newly married and expecting my first baby.
I feel for you in the challenge of only being able to eat what others have prepared for you. And I expect that getting enough exercise is challenging on a boat too. But you can do it!
Nice to meet you,
Kimberly

Welcome Nanita!! So glad you found us!!

Blessings to you and your family!

Hi! I'm Nanita and I am currently in Sierra Leone, West Africa with Mercy Ships living on the M/V Africa Mercy with my husband and two daughters and 400+ crewmates. My husband and I are support crew for the hospital on the ship but we also have other opportunities to minister. My job (besides being a Mom) is teaching music to the children of the crew.

I gained 30 pounds when we first came onto the mission field last year and now I'ld like to lose that and more! I don't have much of a choice to what food is available and all of our food is prepared for us so this is becoming quite a challenge for me.

Welcome, Tammy! I, too, am a music lover. I play the piano for our church, lead the choir, and teach piano lessons. I even taught music at our mission school for a few years.

Hi! My name is Tammy and I am a missionary in Andahuaylas, Peru. I was on this team in 2006, but I lost interest because my scale was broken and I didn't know it! At first I thought that I wasn't losing, and then I thought that I could eat whatever and not gain :)

We are up in the mountains and work in leadership training, We have started a seminary, and some rural Bible Institutes. We speak at church anniversaries and conferences. I also do choir in our church and teach music in another church. I have one son still at home out of five and we are homeschooling. Two of the adult ones want to go into missions and are in various stages of the process.

I am slooowly redoing my sparkpage, which had vintage 2006 fotos.

Welcome, Dorothea! It always thrills me to hear of young people interested in missions!

Welcome!! So glad you are here!

What a Great Spark Team! Praise God for what He does World Wide!

I live in Virginia and do short term trips abroad plus local ministry. I seem to specialize in helping mentally ill people--not in any official capacity. God just brings them to me! We're also finishing up 5 years in Youth Ministry.

I met my husband in Japan in 1987--we were both teaching English & Bible studies for a couple years. We also lived in Bangladesh for a couple years, when our kids were 4 & 6.

We've been to Guatemala (4x) & Kenya (2x) short term.

Our nest is about to be empty :( ... so I am eager to be abroad medium-term again. Both kids want to work in missions, so maybe we will just follow them!

Blessings!
Dorothea

Edited by: PHIL_4-13 at: 4/7/2011 (15:09)

Thanks for the nice welcome and goodies! I am thanking God for a loss this first week. woo hoo!

Edited by: JAZZINAZ at: 3/28/2011 (15:14)

Welcome back!!

Stacy!!!!

My name is Stacy. I have been here as waterbuffalos and slow-cooker but it is still me! I am so thankful y'all are here and I am so glad to be back...it seems that I need the discipline of writing things down. I hope to be re-acquainted with old friends and make some new ones.

We were missionaries in VietNam. We came back in 2007 to take care of terminally ill mom who we lost in 2008 and dad in 2009. The last few years have been about challenging teen agers who are now launched and we are enjoying empty nest time!

God bless you all