Well, it has been a while and I have some really
exciting news to announce to my family and friends whom I love so dearly! I
just want to thank everyone who has followed me throughout this two-year
journey praying for me or encouraging me! It has been the most stretching two
years of my life in such a beautiful way. The Lord has transformed my life and
my heart in so many different ways.
I’m mostly writing this to share my heart behind where
“Here and There with Hannah” will be heading in this next season of life. For those
of you who don’t know, I have spent the last two years in Bible College being
able to travel the world, dig into God’s Word, live and learn from mistakes,
and meet people along the way who have impacted my life. These two years went
by incredibly fast but I am thankful to look back and know that I am not the
same girl who walked into Murrieta in the fall of 2014. I graduated Bible
College with an associate degree in Biblical Theology last Wednesday. The
famous question, “What are you going to do next?” is probably already stirring
in your mind, and I have an answer for that question of yours!
During my time throughout Bible College and in traveling
to different countries and experiencing different cultures my heart for
missions grew. In every semester the Lord had showed me new things about what
missions is and what missions will look like for me in my personal life. While
in Costa Rica, the Lord gave me a verse in 1 Peter 5 that has followed me all
throughout Bible College, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the
same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But
may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
I remember sitting on the bus and so badly wanting to talk to the people
around me. The only problem was that I didn’t speak Spanish, but my heart
yearned to share Jesus Christ with these people. The Lord spoke really clearly
to me that He has given me that same message to share at home and I don’t. The
Lord had showed me that missions is living with a missions mindset wherever you
are-starting in your own home. During my next semester, I was able to visit
Turkey, Greece, Malta, and Italy. It was in Turkey where I had felt a heavy
burden on my heart for Muslim women and the refugee crisis. I continued to pray
about the opportunity to meet a Muslim woman that I could get to know and share
the Gospel with, He presented me with that opportunity in Malta. With that
being said here is where I will be heading next:
K O S O V O is next. For some of you the first thing
that comes to your mind is the civil war Kosovo was involved in the late 90’s.
The first time I heard about Kosovo was in January after attending a week-long
missions conference. I had coffee with a close friend of mine the day the
conference ended just sharing my burdened heart for Muslims and what the Lord
had taught me during the conference that week and in my last semester in Malta.
The phrase that sums up that week and my heart for missions was said by Phil
Metzger, “Have the courage to fight for the ones no one else is fighting
for.” I left the conference feeling filled and with open hands praying for
whatever God would have next for me after I would graduate in May. Later that
same day, I was on my way home to Las Vegas when my friend texted me about the
opportunity to serve in Muslim Ministry in a country called Kosovo. A small
idea has turned into a reality by the power of prayer.
Kosovo
is a small country in Eastern Europe with a population of two million people
and 95% of them being Muslim. They gained their independence in 2008 from
Serbia and have spent the time recovering from war and building their country
up. Is the next question that is stirring up in your mind, “Why? And what are
you going to be doing there?” I have an answer for that as well!
During my internship in Kosovo I will be serving the missionary, Jen Mellor, there and the church, Bashkësia Protestante e Malishevës. I will be accompanying her to make home visits in the villages to the 14 families that Mercy Projects is currently assisting. I will also be helping with the ministry at Oasis Center (Qendra Oaza) which is the local church center. Oasis Center has kids meetings for the local children as well as village kids meeting for some of the Mercy Projects families in their homes. It also hosts regular church meetings for the small group of believers as well as hosts English courses and other community outreaches through sports etc. The role would include team teaching in the English courses as well. Our leader at Oasis Center is Pastor Urim, a national Pastor, who was among one of the first believers in the area. I
am so excited for this opportunity and to be challenged to live out all that I
have learned in the last two years of my Bible College experience. I am blessed
to be able to go out on the mission field shorty after graduating.
I would like to encourage you and ask you to be praying for me as I
embark on this new journey. The body of Christ plays a huge role in praying for
missionaries out on the field and without the people behind them praying they
wouldn’t be where they are without all of you. Continue to pray fervently for
the ones on the front lines and encourage them while they are out. Missions is
a two-fold ministry, ones being on the front lines and ones called to be behind
them in prayer and support. Both are equally important to the Kingdom of God
and wouldn’t be one without the other.
Here
are ways that you can be involved:
1.
Most
importantly, prayer is how you can be involved! Here are things you can be
praying for:
- The Lord to be preparing my heart for the work that He will have me doing
- For my finances as I prepare to leave, that the Lord will provide what I need to leave by June 1st
- For opportunities to share the Gospel with boldness
- To be sensitive to the culture and have a servant’s heart
- To have an open and teachable heart for the ministry the Lord has for me
3.
You can email
me to receive one of my prayer cards that will be sent to your house.
4.
If the Lord
leads you can support by going to Calvary Chapel Spring Valley – http://ccspringvalley.org/missions/?tab=missionaries
and clicking on my picture to give online or mailing a check payable to CCSV
and in the memo: “Hannah Stover.”
I am so humbled that the Lord would use me to be apart
of His work and I encourage you to open your hands and heart to be used by the
Lord. Thank you for being apart of this journey and not only am I asking for
you to be praying for me, but I would love to hear from you! Send me your
prayer requests so that I can be praying for you as well.
Hannah Stover