We had our 3rd team meeting for the Macedonia Mission trip yesterday afternoon. We got a whole lot accomplished and were assigned our actual posts for when we're there. I will be working on Set Design/Decorating/Gifts with the local folks and two others from our team here at home. It turns out that the local Macedonian folks wanted just a small group of us so we have a very small team which will be great! The leader and his wife are in their 20's, there's another single woman about my age and we have 3 guys who are in their 20s. The age differences make it sort of an odd group but so far we are meshing really well. God knows what He's doing!
It turns out that our layover will be in Milan instead of Zurich now which is just fine with me. For a minute or so we thought it was going to be Paris but that flight was sold out before our travel agent could lock it in. I think Milan will be a great city to see and I can't wait to try some "real" Italian food! DaVinci's "Last Supper" is in Milan and the church where it's painted is also something to see. I've seen a replica of the painting at Forest Lawn which is a huge cemetary in California but it will be great to see the actual painting. Our travel agent will try to book us a time to see the painting.
Brrrr, the lows in Macedonia will be in the lower 20's and the highs will not be much above 40 farenheight! I brought this up to my other team members and a couple of them said they were going to need to go shopping! The weather sounds like it is pretty close to Midwest weather. We do get a few days of that here in Atlanta and we usually get a little snow and ice each year but most folks here are just not prepared for that type of weather.
Stay tuned...
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Much to talk about...
...well, actually not that much. We'll see what happens after I get started here.
I have now lost about 40 pounds since my insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X diagnosis! I'm still way too fat but I'm a whole lot less way too fat than before. It sure feels good to have less than 50 pounds to try to shed. Before this diagnosis I tried every diet known to man and had very little success. I was even gaining weight when I was on a very strict diet and working out at the gym! How frustrating is that?!
Let me tell you, the internet can often times give too much info but in this case it was very helpful. About 5 years ago I was trying to diagnose myself and had read about Syndrome X and thought this sounded like what my problem had to be so I went to my Gynecologist for my regular annual check up and boldly told him that I wanted to begin taking Metformin/Glucophage and he shot me down! He said "you don't need that, you can lose weight without that" and referred me to a nutritionist whom I did not bother to see mostly out of defiance and knowing that I had already done everything I could to try to lose weight. Meanwhile the pounds just kept packing on, only five or so a year but they do tend to add up over the years and I became quite unhappy about the whole situation and used to cry with frustration over it but I did not give up! Periodically I'd search for more info and I found some great info, one thing being that I should find and go see an endocrynologist which is exactly what I did! I found Dr. Black on the docfind feature at my insurance company's website and I looked him up on Kudzu.com and he had some good comments so off I went... After much talk and nearly draining me of half my blood he told me what I thought I had and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment in two weeks. Sure enough, it was indeed what I'd suspected all along and I was immediately put on Metformin/Glucophage! Dr. Black referred me to a nutritionist and I went; turns out it was the same one that the GYN referred me to. I told her that I'd mentioned this to my doc 5 years earlier and she said "he knows better now".
So I'm well on my way to being thin again! I've given away many of my giant clothes since they hang on me and I'm doing my best to hold off on buying anything new until I get closer to my goal which is only 35 pounds away now! I weigh less than I have in about 8 years!
On the travel front: The team leader for my Macedonia trip in December just informed us all that they were having difficulty getting us back home on the 8th of January and did we mind spending a day in Zurich at the end of our trip! Nope, I don't mind at all! I'd love to see another city in Europe even if it's only for a day in the dead of winter! Ha! I now have 99.5% of my funds in and the promise of more from several other places so it does indeed seem as though the Lord really wants me to do this! It's getting more and more exciting every day!
I have now lost about 40 pounds since my insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X diagnosis! I'm still way too fat but I'm a whole lot less way too fat than before. It sure feels good to have less than 50 pounds to try to shed. Before this diagnosis I tried every diet known to man and had very little success. I was even gaining weight when I was on a very strict diet and working out at the gym! How frustrating is that?!
Let me tell you, the internet can often times give too much info but in this case it was very helpful. About 5 years ago I was trying to diagnose myself and had read about Syndrome X and thought this sounded like what my problem had to be so I went to my Gynecologist for my regular annual check up and boldly told him that I wanted to begin taking Metformin/Glucophage and he shot me down! He said "you don't need that, you can lose weight without that" and referred me to a nutritionist whom I did not bother to see mostly out of defiance and knowing that I had already done everything I could to try to lose weight. Meanwhile the pounds just kept packing on, only five or so a year but they do tend to add up over the years and I became quite unhappy about the whole situation and used to cry with frustration over it but I did not give up! Periodically I'd search for more info and I found some great info, one thing being that I should find and go see an endocrynologist which is exactly what I did! I found Dr. Black on the docfind feature at my insurance company's website and I looked him up on Kudzu.com and he had some good comments so off I went... After much talk and nearly draining me of half my blood he told me what I thought I had and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment in two weeks. Sure enough, it was indeed what I'd suspected all along and I was immediately put on Metformin/Glucophage! Dr. Black referred me to a nutritionist and I went; turns out it was the same one that the GYN referred me to. I told her that I'd mentioned this to my doc 5 years earlier and she said "he knows better now".
So I'm well on my way to being thin again! I've given away many of my giant clothes since they hang on me and I'm doing my best to hold off on buying anything new until I get closer to my goal which is only 35 pounds away now! I weigh less than I have in about 8 years!
On the travel front: The team leader for my Macedonia trip in December just informed us all that they were having difficulty getting us back home on the 8th of January and did we mind spending a day in Zurich at the end of our trip! Nope, I don't mind at all! I'd love to see another city in Europe even if it's only for a day in the dead of winter! Ha! I now have 99.5% of my funds in and the promise of more from several other places so it does indeed seem as though the Lord really wants me to do this! It's getting more and more exciting every day!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Macedonia Support Letter
It seems so much more real now! I stayed up until around two this morning putting my support letters together but since they're now in the mail this trip seems so much more real now! Here's a copy of the text form the letter:
I am going to Macedonia! You have no idea how excited I am about this trip! A small team of eight to twelve people from North Point Community Church will go over to the capital city of Skopje (pronounced sko-pee-ya) to help our Partner Church, Soulcraft produce a big Christmas event for 600 people. Since the Macedonians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, I will get to Celebrate Christmas twice this year and I’ll get to celebrate the New Year in another country!
At the beginning of 2007 one whole Sunday at my church, North Point Community Church was dedicated to Missions. I have supported many of my friends on their trips both with prayer and financially over the years but we were challenged on this particular Mission’s Sunday to become “Goers and not just Payers”. It just seemed like now was the time for me to consider actually going on one of the trips so I went to North Point’s Missions website (http://www.globalxm.org/) and checked out the trips and this one in particular looked the most interesting to me.
Macedonia’s religious structure is about 70% Orthodox and 30% Muslim. Since the Orthodox Church is not evangelical in nature, Soulcraft is a very unique and creative environment for this country and they are in need of “invest and invite” opportunities to help get their friends in the front door. These people are hungry for this type of contemporary church setting and Soulcraft has been quite successful using a model similar to North Point’s model for their Sunday afternoon services. The event will be advertised on the radio, on TV and with posters all over the city. Many people who never really thought much about attending any church have found Soulcraft to be an irresistible environment.
We had our first team meeting a couple of weeks ago and will have 4 more meetings and a weekend retreat to get our planning done but we can’t do this without you! I need you to partner with me and be on my support team to pray for us that God would use us to do exactly what the He intends and also to support me financially if you feel led to do so. This trip will cost each participant $2,300.00 and I am confident that The Lord will provide the funds for me to go. I have included a map for you to see exactly where it is I am going and for you to put on your fridge to remind you to pray for me and the team. I’ve also attached a coupon for you to return to me so I will know how you are supporting me through this adventure.
I am really looking forward to having some wonderful stories to tell you all about this trip in 2008!
In His Grip,
Tracy Anne
I am going to Macedonia! You have no idea how excited I am about this trip! A small team of eight to twelve people from North Point Community Church will go over to the capital city of Skopje (pronounced sko-pee-ya) to help our Partner Church, Soulcraft produce a big Christmas event for 600 people. Since the Macedonians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, I will get to Celebrate Christmas twice this year and I’ll get to celebrate the New Year in another country!
At the beginning of 2007 one whole Sunday at my church, North Point Community Church was dedicated to Missions. I have supported many of my friends on their trips both with prayer and financially over the years but we were challenged on this particular Mission’s Sunday to become “Goers and not just Payers”. It just seemed like now was the time for me to consider actually going on one of the trips so I went to North Point’s Missions website (http://www.globalxm.org/) and checked out the trips and this one in particular looked the most interesting to me.
Macedonia’s religious structure is about 70% Orthodox and 30% Muslim. Since the Orthodox Church is not evangelical in nature, Soulcraft is a very unique and creative environment for this country and they are in need of “invest and invite” opportunities to help get their friends in the front door. These people are hungry for this type of contemporary church setting and Soulcraft has been quite successful using a model similar to North Point’s model for their Sunday afternoon services. The event will be advertised on the radio, on TV and with posters all over the city. Many people who never really thought much about attending any church have found Soulcraft to be an irresistible environment.
We had our first team meeting a couple of weeks ago and will have 4 more meetings and a weekend retreat to get our planning done but we can’t do this without you! I need you to partner with me and be on my support team to pray for us that God would use us to do exactly what the He intends and also to support me financially if you feel led to do so. This trip will cost each participant $2,300.00 and I am confident that The Lord will provide the funds for me to go. I have included a map for you to see exactly where it is I am going and for you to put on your fridge to remind you to pray for me and the team. I’ve also attached a coupon for you to return to me so I will know how you are supporting me through this adventure.
I am really looking forward to having some wonderful stories to tell you all about this trip in 2008!
In His Grip,
Tracy Anne
Going to Macedonia Part Two
Tracy Anne in Skopje, Macedonia December 30th, 2007 through January 8th, 2008. She will help produce and implement a large Christmas event in partnership with North Point Community Church’s Macedonian partner church, Soulcraft.
Thank you for being part of my team!
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