Thursday, May 26, 2016

Here and W H E R E with Hannah?

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


2.     Sign up for my newsletter about one every other week on updates of what the Lord is doing and new prayer requests. Email me to be a part of it: hannahstover27@gmail.com OR following me on my blog http://hereandtherewithhannah.blogspot.com to get recent updates as well as newsletters!

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

Friday, February 20, 2015

The Heart Behind It All

Hello! 


It has most definitely been a while, but I must say it is for a good reason. For the past six months I have been on this wild journey called, Bible College. I spent my first semester in Murrieta, California and well now I am in Costa Rica! I just started my second semester here in Costa Rica and have been so blessed by it already. These past months have been quite the journey. You probably have a question about what exactly Bible College is... Well it is a place where you go to grow, mature, be stretched, and soak in the Word of God.

I’ve been praying about this blog and the redirection it would take for a few months now. During my devotion in 1 Peter 5, the Lord made it clear that it was time to start this voyage. So here we are. While I am nervous and excited I just pray that this would be something that glorifies the name of Jesus. Do I feel equipped enough to do this? Not at all. But the crazy thing about God is that He calls the unqualified. This isn't about me, but it's about the beautiful journey that my Savior brought me through and is still bringing me through.  

"Jesus wrecked my life, shattered it to pieces, and put it back together more beautifully." -Katie Davis


If you asked me what I wanted to do a year ago or read through some of my journals, you would find out how afraid I was of what my future would hold. I didn't really have any passions at the time or have any clue what I would possibly do with my life. If you ask me now, I could give you a list of the things I love. If you read in Jeremiah 29:11, it tells us that we don't need to be afraid of what our future holds. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" (NLT) What a comfort it is to know that God has our future in His hands and that it is a future that He has prepared for us before we were even brought into this world (Jer. 1:5). It is one that He has set before us and prepares us to walk in it everyday. It might sound scary, but let me be the one to tell you how beautiful it is to walk through this life with Jesus by your side. 

What I am really trying to say is that one of the things the Lord has laid on my heart are youth girls. Whether you are in middle school, high school, or even college, I just want to let you know that I adore you, with my whole heart. I want to come alongside you and encourage you. I want to fight this battle with you and most importantly with our Savior fighting it for us.

Being a youth is hard, trust me; being twenty is hard. I just want to share with you how beautiful you truly are. This culture is hard on us, and we are hard on ourselves. I have been so blessed to have this time set aside for me to learn more about the Bible and to learn about myself. I want to be able to share this crazy, messy, beautiful, and wonderful journey I am walking in and holding nothing back. My prayer is for that girl reading this right now who is struggling with whatever this world is throwing at her. You are not alone. You are loved. By me and by our Heavenly Father who knows you by name. He is the God who knows the plan He has for you before you were even brought into this world. He is the God who knows how many strands of hairs are on your head (Luke 12:7). He is the same Father who knows the stars by name (Psalm 147:4). 

Let's start this together?

Hannah