Through the Seasons…

Wow!  It has been awhile, hasn’t it?  I can’t even believe how quickly the time has gone!  Since my last entry, we have changed seasons three times – plants have budded, blossomed, and withered.  Spring brought fresh air and cool nights; summer was full of carefree days of swimming, sports, and travel; autumn has brought fabulous color and daily routine to life.

For us as a family, this autumn brought a new ’season’ of life.  All four of my children are now in school all day.  What a change that has brought to this home and to me, personally!  Gone are the days of having to attempt to get household chores and projects done while changing diapers, reading A-B-C books, taking morning walks, preparing lunches, getting home in time for afternoon naps, etc.  But then again, maybe not…

 

Do they know?

There is a hymn that we sing at church titled, “They Will Know We are Christians By our Love“.  For some reason, that song keeps playing over and over again in my mind.

If you click above, on the title of the song, you will see a video showing people on international missions trips – working on construction sites, feeding the poor, as well as hugging the orphans.  Of course, for those of you that know me, you know my heart draws close to those opportunities and life experiences.  However, my mind does not keep playing that song over and over again because of those types of moments.

It is the holiday season – family, busyness, vacation, shopping, reflection, gift exchanges, food, music, cards, photos, picturesque landscape, parties, sledding, preparations, late nights, early mornings, concerts, celebrations, hustle and bustle, remembrance.  Yes, it ALL comes together during this time of year.

This morning, my children were all excited about the first snowfall actually sticking to the ground.  What a joy to see flakes falling as the wind pushed them side to side.  How clean and fresh everything looks.

Then my mind turned again to that song – “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  There are so many people just 3 miles away in the inner city that did not feel joy at the sight of snow fixed to the ground.  There are many sick and elderly that did not jump up and down with excitement at the picturesque view out the window.

And then other thoughts came rushing in:

I hope the waitress will sense Jesus’ love flowing through me

…and the store clerk

…and my neighbors

…and the toll booth worker

…and the maintenance man that comes

…and my children’s schoolteachers

…and the shopper that cut me in line

…

 

“God, show me what I can DO, but even as I wait for that revelation, help me to BE a radiant light that shows Jesus’ love every moment of every day.”

Colossians 4:5 (NIV)  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

 

Oppression

I just read this paragraph that came from our denomination’s weekly world missions online newsletter:

[Our] Asia Area Director called from India on Tuesday, November 4, to report that a Free Methodist pastor was recently beaten to death in front of his family because he would not renounce his faith. Also, five other Free Methodists were badly beaten and had to be taken to the hospital. The doctor’s life was threatened if he treated their injuries, so they were refused treatment. These attacks took place in a state which neighbors Orissa State where Christians have been facing severe persecution. Please pray for the victims’ families. Also pray for 300 refugees from Orissa who have fled…

I try to stop and imagine but I just can’t.

This is not a story from centuries ago – it’s not the retelling of the Biblical story of Stephen or Paul.

This is happening today.

Please be in prayer… even right now.

 

“Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

John 15:20 (NIV)

 

Debating with God in the Church Pew

Yep… that’s what I was doing while attending church yesterday.

(Just to give you a little background: This past weekend, my daughter and I were out of town for a special reception. We were not flying home until Sunday afternoon, so we were able to go to church with a group of friends in the morning.)

Okay, back to the story…

It came to the part of the service where we, as a congregation, read the section of Scripture that the pastor was going to be preaching on later in the hour. I realized that one of my Spanish-speaking friends, whom we were sitting with, was not able to follow along because it was an English-speaking service. Since I had my parallel, bilingual Bible (one side of each page is in Spanish and the other side of each page is in English) with me, I decided to hand it to him to use and read from. My friend is not a Christian (YET!) so I wanted to be sure that he had the opportunity to, at the very least, read the word of the Lord.

And that’s when the debate began.

 

“2-4-6-8, VBS is really great!”

Last week, a fun time was had by all at our church’s VBS program. I had a great time being “music lady” and singing with the eighty-five children that attended.

Each morning, it was always such a joy to see the happy, eager, and excited faces of the children as they arrived with great anticipation and enthusiasm to sing songs, do crafts, eat snacks, play games, and listen to a Bible story.

It is with that amount of anticipation and enthusiasm that I hope to wake up with each morning as the Lord reveals what is in store for the new day ahead.

I pray that each child saw and felt the love and joy of Jesus in each one of us that served Him in this way last week. May He work in each of their precious, little hearts and continue to draw them to Himself.

Mark 10:14 (NIV) When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Your turn to share: Have you had the opportunity to serve in a ministry program this summer?

 

We did it together!

If you know my father-in-law, then you may have heard these words come out of his mouth at one time or another: “We can do together what we can’t do alone!”

Well, that definitely is true when it comes to what we did as a SK community last week –

Praise the Lord!!

Just last night, Max and I returned from a wonderful, week-long visit to Santiago, Chile, to attend our friends’ wedding (in which we both had the honor of participating – I sang a song and Max officiated in part of the liturgy) as well as had wonderful reunions at two of our FM churches.

Because of your many prayers, clothing donations, and financial gifts, we were able to give away more than 80 Bibles, hand out about 30 blankets, give children’s reading books, and share pants, sweaters, coats, scarves, and gloves with our Chilean friends. They were so thankful (as you can see from the photos in the slideshow below)!

Thank you so much for the incredible outpouring of support for this SK missions opportunity! Friends have continued to give. Once we tabulate all the expenses, we may even be able to send an additional blessing to the work of our churches in Santiago. What a joy it is to work together for His glory!

Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

MOPS Meetings

I should have taken the time before this to let you know what I have been working on this past week so you could pray with and for me.  Sorry about that.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will be speaking at two different MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) meetings – one in the morning and one in the evening.  I have been praying that the Lord would give me the words that He wants me to say and also asking Him to prepare each of our hearts – mine as well as each mother’s that attends the meetings.

Would you please pray with me?

Thank you, friend.

 

SK Missions Opportunity

About four weeks from now, Max and I are headed back to Santiago, Chile, for a quick visit.  We are looking forward to attending the wedding of our dear friends, Kay Stotts and Leo Godoy, as well as having multiple opportunities to visit some of our Santiago churches.

In preparation for our trip and visit, I have been working on a few things:

• I have asked a few friends to work on gathering some winter clothes that we can pass on to our pastors’ families in Santiago.  They will be so excited to receive some nice, warm clothing during these winter months!
• I have been searching for Bibles that we can order and take down with us.  Books, in general, are expensive in Latin America.  We are so blessed here in the United States to have opportunity to purchase reasonably-priced books as well as have the library system that we have.  That is not the case in Chile.  It is VERY unusual to see a family have enough books in their home to need even a small bookshelf.  For some reason (maybe it was the teacher in me), that really saddened me.  Even more so, I wanted to see children and young adults be able to have the opportunity to read God’s word daily.  Because so few have a Bible of their own, this is not possible.  I am excited about the possibility of ordering these specific Bibles that I have found through the International Bible Society:  Mi Ciudad, Mi Dios: My City, My God (a spanish NIV New Testament with urban teen testimonies for older teenagers) and the Biblia Devocional Juvenil: Youth Devotional Bible (a spanish NIV Bible with devotionals for young teens)
• I have prayed about the idea that the Lord gave me to take money down with us to purchase heavy blankets (once we arrive) to pass out to our Chilean brothers and sisters in our churches

Calling all interested SK friends!!

 

A Little Update

Thank you so much for all your comments and prayers for us as we presented at the retreat last weekend.  We had a good time meeting new friends as well as catching up a bit with long-time friends.  I am still praying that each one of us continues to wrestle with this concept of simplicity; I think it is a daily decision to live that lifestyle, don’t you?

It is already the beginning of another month – can you believe it??  That means it is accountability time for me with regard to Scripture memorization. I want to confess that I was not able to memorize both passages that I had listed on the Memorizing Scripture page.

 

Missionary Debriefing

I was laughing at myself a few hours after I had posted my last entry on Sunday.  The last sentence of that entry says, ” … but then again, it has been kind of nice these last few weeks not to live out of suitcases.”  Why was I laughing at myself?  It is because I had forgotten that the very next day, Max and I would be packing up and flying to Indianapolis for a couple of days.  Oh, well… so much for not living out of suitcases:-)

 

Reverse Culture Shock

According to Wikipedia, culture shock is:

a term used to describe the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within an entirely different cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country.  It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not.  This is often combined with strong disgust (moral or aesthetical) about certain aspects of the new or different culture.                     

Because of the strong effect of culture shock, overseas work teams and/or mission groups do not typically visit another country for more than 2-3 weeks.  After you have been away from your home culture for more than that amount of time, you begin to significantly sense the differences of the new culture and, oftentimes, will go into shock because of those cultural contrasts.

There is also what is referred to as reverse culture shock.  This occurs when you return back to your home country after living in a foreign country for an extended period of time.  Click here to visit a website that gives good information about this topic.  Reading that web page may also help you to understand a little more of what we are mentally and emotionally feeling in these days of re-entry and cultural transition.

 

A Knock on the Window

Last week, Max and I traveled through the city of Rochester, NY, accompanied by his sister and brother-in-law.  The four of us were in deep conversation as we stopped for a red light.  All of a sudden, there was a knock on the driver’s side window.  We looked and saw a woman waiting for Max to roll down his window so that she could ask him for money.

Can I just tell you how excited Max and I were as he rolled down the window to start our short conversation with her?  We quickly took out all the loose change that was sitting in our car ash tray and delightfully gave her the entire handful.  I think the woman thought we were crazy because we were so excited to talk with her and hand over what little we had.  In fact, Max even said to her, “Wow, it’s so good to see someone at our window again!”

 

Big, Beautiful, and Easy

I thought I would share some of my initial observations from our first week back in the States:

There are a lot of BIG things. - houses, vehicles, food portions, drinking glasses, laundry appliances, supermarkets, personal spending habits

There are many BEAUTIFUL things. - brick buildings, Christmas decorations, houses, kitchens, church buildings, bathrooms, furniture, paved side roads, open fields, gently-falling snow

 

First Reactions

Jacob:  ”We’re in the United States now?  Which one of those houses out there is Grandma and Grandpa’s?”  (As soon as our plane landed in Atlanta, GA from Santiago, Chile)

Isaac: “Dad!!!  Why does it keep flushing on me?” (referring to the automatic toilet)

Felicia: “I think I’m confused.  In Chile, you have to do everything but here it does it all for you.”  (Commenting about the automatic toilet flushing, sink faucets, soap and paper towel dispensers in the airport bathrooms) 

Max (to another lady behind us): “¿Quiere entrar?” (“Do you want to come in?”)  (As we were piling into the Atlanta airport elevator)

All the kids started laughing at daddy and wondering why he was talking to the lady in Spanish.

 

Two Special Ladies

When we moved here to Chile, one of the things I did not expect (living in a Spanish-speaking country) was to be blessed with such a close friendship as I have been privileged to have with my dear friend, Kay.  Words can not even begin to express my feelings for her.  The Lord gave me such a gift in giving us this unique bonding experience together.  Through times of laughter, conversation, tea-sipping, Scrabble-playing, tears, and prayer, we have been able to share life together in such an intimate way as we have lived so far away from our home country and culture.  (She is also a missionary from the United States.)  Thank you, Lord, for granting me the honor of having Kay in my life.