I Rang the Bell!

My friends Bible. His Truth is the same, no matter the language!

A week ago today I had my last of 33 radiation treatments! I packed up my hotel room, rang the bell, and came home. When I received the call from a doctor telling me I had cancer I was sitting in the living room of friends in Albania. God had sent me there, and God timed that call. That was Friday, July 27, 2018. On Friday, April 5, 2019 I finished n-i-n-e long, hard months of treatments in the morning, and confirmed my tickets back to Albania that afternoon.

I have nothing but good things to say about the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Sure, there were hiccups here and there with insurance and such, but that could and probably would have been the case anywhere. Each department treated me so personably and with genuine concern to help give me the most positive prognosis possible. In my time there I became friends with several other patients and the staff there. The housekeeping crew even gave Eamonn a little surprise birthday party. There is one friend though that I particularly became fond of. As I got to know her it was evident she loved our Lord. One day I was in her room and it made my heart swell to look over on her dresser to see her Bible open and marked up in the book of Isiah. She immigrated from Romania twenty or so years ago and it just blows my mind that here we are, friends at a cancer center, praising, praying to, and seeking the same Lord. It made me think about how He binds us up as family in His body. What an extra blessing to add her, her husband, and precious little girl to the list of ones God has placed in my life to worship with!

God knocked the walls of cancer down, brought me into a new season, healed me and restored me, and as He is God, stayed true to the words He spoke to me when it all started, that I would live through this.

In June I will get on a flight and go back to Albania in victory. God is sending me, just like he did last July, but this time with greater purpose. He is building that work more and more, piece by piece. By the time I come home in June I hope to be able to better identify just exactly what that looks like for the boys and I in Albania, but for now I can tell you the things that I am confident He has established.

The boys and I will be traveling to Albania to work several times a year. We have made financial commitments to the Lord with His provisions and know and trust that He will continue to provide for our lifestyle needs as we commit more to Him. It is my hope that opportunities come into play for us to travel around Albania visiting indigenously planted churches to share inductive study through art workshops and classes. While doing this we want to be the hands of Christ providing needs that He arranges for us to meet to local communities as well as share His Gospel by giving away custom printed booklets of the Book of John.

As I’ve shared before, the Lord spoke to me last summer through His word. He told me that if I was of service to Him He would make things good for me…and just look at what He has done! He has healed me of cancer and is establishing the work of my hands!

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17

How can you support us? Through prayer! As we update this site with what we are doing share your prayers and thoughts with us in the comments! Pray that we hear the Spirit throughout our days and obey His prompts. Pray that we seek the Lord at every turn and see clearly which way to go. Pray for opportunities to share His love and truth with those who do not know Him in a way that will draw them to their salvation in Him. Pray that I am able to find ways to teach, lead, and encourage inductive study in Albania.

To help financially support us we simply ask that you use our family businesses whenever our services can meet your needs. Since graduating college Joseph has been working to grow Hanco Exterminating back into the thriving business it was when Mike was here running it. The bookstore has remained open and we have worked to get our online site, ashlingbooksellers.com successful with many of our prices even beating or coming close to the great Amazon (shh!) and I will continue to do art workshops and speaking at churches. There will be times when we are raising money specifically for a project in Albania and we will we be sure to announce it when we are so that you will have the opportunity to participate.

Thank you sweet friends for praying me through and lifting me up over the last nine months. God heard our cries and not only healed my body but set plans in place to give us a future of hope and good - in His service!

Albania, a place in my heart.

Albania is an easy place to love.

Geographically it's beautiful. Mountains rest behind fields of wild, fruits of every kind grow profoundly in every direction, and the waters from sea to ponds and rivers hide within the landscape.

Historically it is rich. Form ancient amphitheaters to medieval castles and towers to the fall of a communistic rule in the 1990's it leaves no decade dull for the books. 

It's real treasure though is its people. They have a strong tradition of family and community not often found in today. They live close, they mourn together, and they celebrate together, often for days.

Economically the country can appear moderately financially stable to be poor on the next corner and poverty stricken in its truest sense just a few kilometers away from the city. I've now seen one of the places where Operation Christmas Child boxes are delivered and it makes me even more committed to packing them.

There is a village where our friends rent a house. A house without electricity or water, one with no floor in a side room. In this house they provide a childrens program once a week where the local children can find biblical stories, snacks, and games. As the children walk along the road heading for the program their step picks up several paces and their faces fill with expressions of excitement as they see the van of volunteers make its way up the hill towards the shell of the program house. 

Three sisters and their little brother walk forty minutes by themselves to get to the program. Once there they whole heartily listen and participate in learning bible stories. The word of God is being planted in them and they are such fertile soil.

After leaving the program one day we went to an ancient amphitheater. In it we climbed and walked our way into a lions den. A real lions den where they would hold the lions to keep them secure and ravenousness until releasing them on people for mere entertainment. In this same amphitheater Christians were martyred, killed for proclaiming the Lord.

These two memories made in Albania remind me of aspects of life here at home. Sisters, strong in family, seek the Lord, walking far towards him. They remind me of our family at church and our small community, strong in love for one another and helping each other look towards the Lord.

The lions den reminds me of what it felt like four years ago this week. I was thrown into it with Mikes death - but I wasn't in there alone. God was with me, getting us out without injury to our spiritual well being. 

On the Friday that we landed in Albania, I once again found myself in the lions den. I received a call from a doctor with results for tests that I had done earlier in the week. I have breast cancer and it's in a least one lymph node. 

It's not necessary to say that this news rocked me to my core. I spent those first days in Albania crying out to Jesus. I needed to see his face and not just hear his words. I needed him to show me close up how to walk through a fear that I have never before experienced. 

I came face to face with him and that fear a day later when I looked into the eyes of the oldest sister of those little girls. What is breast cancer when these girls will probably never leave a five mile radius of the house they were born in? They will go from their fathers house to their husbands house and not any further. Breast cancer is nothing when you think of those little souls that so desperately need to hear of Jesus.

Many of you know that I have felt called to use art ministry in the field for the last few years. I realize that I haven't stepped into it out of fear. Fear of the unknown, the what ifs. Now it's time to step out of that fear and overcome. It's time to get busy doing the work he has custom made for me to do. The Lord showed me His use for me there with those children. My pencil got there attention and could then turn the attention to God.

Last Sunday, after sitting in a church service in Albania I realized I learned of my diagnosis while there so that I would make these connections. Albania is now just as much a part of my story as breast cancer is. 

We are in the lions den again. All eyes are again on us and so I resolve to teach my boys and those watching how to live, not how to die, by keeping my eyes on the Lord. 

I'm asking you to walk with me in this, towards the word of God, so that His Glory and Kingdom shine from our hearts. Thank you friends, for once again, keeping me company in the lions den.

““Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;”

— Isaiah 43

On Your Mark, Get Set...

We've been working on our mark! Applications have been filled out. Health forms are completed. Passport numbers were given and permission for background checks submitted. Plane tickets and fundraising is next.

We've started getting set! Last Sunday we met with our team. Over a lunch of chilli and cornbread we talked about what we will be working on in Albania, learned more of the history and culture of the country, and discussed needs that our friends who live there have shared with us and how we might best pray and meet those needs.

And God said go! Our team had added the cost and been made aware of what the total amount we each needed to cover our flights, housing, and meals. $2000 a piece. That's where our support needs would start. Then, our team leaders told us he had sent some letters about our trip out to some business colleagues of his and they had responded....and they responded big. Out of thirteen of us going, one entire family is already funded and the rest of us are starting our fundraising already half way funded! When God is in something, He lets you know, and with that big blessing we know that we've heard him loud and clear.

We are in awe of what God has already done and can't wait to watch and see how he wraps this up! To finish raising our funds I am looking for ten churches willing to host an art workshop. My workshops range from drawing to watercolors to acrylic painting and are all based around the word of God. Please message me if you know of a church body that would like to offer a workshop between now and June.

Thank you sweet friends! 

Prayers and Praises

Thankfulness for the abundant provision He has already provided for the trip and for the final funds.

Clarity in what the Lord has to say to each of us going about what task he has for each of us to step into.

Ease, provision, and blessings to fall upon the Waggoners as they prepare for us to arrive. 

It’s a go!

The whirlwind of preparing for Albania officially starts! We meet this coming Sunday to fill out our paperwork and start the process of having our passports and backgrounds checked​, filling out health forms, and submitting applications. This week we are beginning our study of the country, it’s history and current culture.

​We are so excited! Danny is looking forward to getting to connect with Albanian boys his age, many that live in homes where their father is absent for various reasons. I can only imagine how the Lord might use my Danny to encourage these boys.

During church this morning I began asking the Lord how he would like art to be used on this trip. I believe he might have given me a glimpse of a project to put together!

 Prayer Requests: 

• For the Lord to begin growing Danny’s testimony in him and for him to see how it might be used as encouragement to others. 
• For the Lord to further show me the details of an art project to have ready for this trip. 
• For our initial need of $150 by this Sunday (2/25/18) to be met so that we can submit our paperwork for background checks, clerical fees, etc.

Albania, Here We Come

Danny and I are so excited to announce that we will be going to Albania in late July 2018! We are just beginning to collect information about our trip, but we know already that we will be helping to construct a soccer field and implement a summer bible program. This trip has a personal purpose beyond a regular trip as the family hosting us are close friends of our pastor and his wife, one of my closest friends. We are looking forward to getting to come along beside them and support them in their work!

We will share more details with you in another week or so, in the meantime here is a little bit about the country of Albania and it's people.

Albania, on Southeastern Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, is a small country with Adriatic and Ionian coastlines and an interior crossed by the Albanian Alps. The country has many castles and archaeological sites. Capital Tirana centers on sprawling Skanderbeg Square, site of the National History Museum, with exhibits spanning antiquity to post-communism, and frescoed Et’hem Bey Mosque.

Albanians refer to themselves as shqiptarë—often taken to mean “sons of eagles,” though it may well refer to “those associated with the shqip(i.e., Albanian) language”—and to their country as Shqipëria. They generally consider themselves to be descendants of the ancient Illyrians, who lived in central Europe and migrated southward to the territory of Albania at the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BCE. They have lived in relative isolation and obscurity through most of their difficult history, in part because of the rugged terrain of their mountainous land but also because of a complex of historical, cultural, and social factors.

Because of its location on the Adriatic Sea, Albania has long served as a bridgehead for various nations and empires seeking conquest abroad. In the 2nd century BCE the Illyrians were conquered by the Romans, and from the end of the 4th century CE they were ruled by the Byzantine Empire. After suffering centuries of invasion by Visigoths, Huns, Bulgars, and Slavs, the Albanians were finally conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. Ottoman rule cut off Albania from Western civilization for more than four centuries, but in the late 19th century the country began to remove itself from Ottoman influence and to rediscover old affinities and common interests with the West.

Albania was declared independent in 1912, but the following year the demarcation of its boundaries by the great powers of Europe (Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia) assigned about half its territory and people to neighbouring states. Ruled as a monarchy between the World Wars, Albania emerged from the violence of World War II as a communist state that fiercely protected its sovereignty and in which almost all aspects of life were controlled by the ruling party. But with the collapse of other communist regimes beginning in 1989, new social forces and democratic political parties emerged in Albania. That shift reflected the country’s continuing orientation toward the West, and it accorded with the Albanian people’s long-standing appreciation of Western technology and cultural achievements—even while retaining their own ethnic identity, cultural heritage, and individuality.

-From Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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