A Day of Joy and Thanks

Saturday was a celebration day for the Mitendi Women's Center! At the end of the last two-year term, one group of girls chose to extend their training another six months because they wanted to improve their literacy skills. Their hard work and dedication paid off - they tested well above average when they finished! A graduation ceremony was held at the center for them and I was blessed to be able to attend. This was a more personal event for me than some I have attended, because I had met these students on previous occasions and it was excited to see how they have grown in skill and confidence and to celebrate with them.

God's Word was read, His name was praised, and His work was proclaimed. The CBCO ladies who oversee and volunteer at the Center, along with Jill, the school administrator, the pastor, and others who were involved in the ministry gave testimonies, recounted the history of the Center, and recounted the girls' accomplishments. There was a choir from the church in Mitendi and the Mitendi Center. After all the formalities, there were refreshments, photos, music and dancing. There was so much joy and happiness for these girls! Here are photos of some of the people who oversee and/or help with the Mitendi program:

And photos of the graduates:

The girls designed and sewed their own dresses for graduation, as well as their caps, tassels, and sashes. 

Another reason to celebrate: the wall is finally finished around the Mitendi Center! Effort to put up a wall began as a way to address multiple challenges: safety and security for the girls and young women, protecting the CBCO-owned land from outside attempts to take over portions of the land, and protecting the gardens from goats and other animals. The wall is now up. After the graduation revelries, we went out to the new gate for a photo. A few of us stayed and prayed together, thanking God for his protection and provision and for the testimony He has given the Mitendi Women's Center in the community. 

Please keep the new graduates in your prayers as they continue their journey, the current students that they will persevere and grow in their relationship with Jesus and in their skills, the land case that should have been over a long time ago yet is still ongoing, and for the ministry itself, Jill, and all the staff and volunteers.

A Small Reflection to Mark the Day

Arrived in Congo five years ago today. After our crazy experience in the airport, we rode in a van with Garth Pederson and Brian Writebol to our new home. It was dark and there were little fires everywhere lining both sides of the road because there was no power. The fires gave light, drove away mosquitos, and cast an eery glow on the myriad of half-finished or half-destroyed buildings, roadside kiosks, piles of garbage and people. Combined with our fatigue from 36 hours of travel it all seemed very apocalyptic and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into and how in the world one family could make even a drop of difference in a place like this. We can't but God can, and He does. Thankful we get to be part of it!

Beautiful Feet

On this day, twenty-two years ago, we welcomed our firstborn into the world. On this day, seven years ago, we officially became missionaries with MAF. Both have been amazing rides so far, a blessing and a priviledge, with lots of ups and downs, lots of laughs and lessons.

I am amazed when I see God's handiwork in the lives of ALL of my kids. I am humbled when God provides for them and cares for them and I realize how much time I waste being anxious for them instead of trusting Him.

I am also amazed and humbled by the believers in Congo who love God and have a passion for reaching their lost countrymen. I count it a privilege to be in a time and place where I get to meet and work with nationals whom God is using to make disciples. 

People like the women who keep the Mitendi Women's Center going, the teachers and staff who volunteer at the Mitendi Primary School, and pastors like the two in the photo above. In this photo they are preparing for a baptism service. The pastor on the left also spends time regularly teaching Bible discipleship at the Mitendi Center - and is likely the best or only father figure many of the girls have ever had.

National pastors face many unique challenges here in Congo. Please pray for them.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Rom 10:15

Thanks for Nothing!

We all have heard the expression “Thanks for nothing!” It isn’t really an offer of thanks at all. It is an angry declaration that the person speaking feels they have been treated wrongly, cheated, held out on.  This week the utility company came to my home and accused me of owing hundreds of dollars in unpaid bills dating back to four years before I moved into this house. It did not matter that I produced all the paperwork showing my innocence. They demanded money and I would not give it, so they cut my power line in two. I didn’t say anything to them, but for a while I sure wanted to say something like “Thanks for nothing. Have a nice day.” In my drippiest sarcastic tone. 

Sometimes, we look at our lives and there is so much stuff to deal with, so many problems we can’t solve. We feel like the squirrel in the movie “Over the Hedge” who runs to one end of the hedge and back and declares “It never ends!” Then he runs to the other end of the hedge and back and says, “It never ends that way too!” We feel helpless. Helplessness is not a feeling we like to experience, so then we become angry. 

We want God to fix it. Make it better. We are his children and when He doesn’t meet our expectations of what a Father should do, we act like, well, children. Children who are angry and ungrateful and say “thanks for nothing.” 

What if “nothing” IS a gift? What if we had to trust Him for everything? What if instead of taking our problems away He walked with us through them? What would we learn from that? How would it transform us? 

If He gives me “nothing,” can I in sincerity say “Thank you, Father, for nothing?” trusting that in His love and wisdom He has given me something worth more than it appears to be?

In church yesterday we sang a Keith Green song, “There is a Redeemer.” The first part goes like this:

There is a redeemer, 
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, 
Holy One,
Jesus my redeemer, 
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.
Thank you oh my Father, 
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 
'Til the work on Earth is done.

"In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

We can give thanks to Him IN everything, because He has given us his Son, and that IS EVERYTHING. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Blue in My Brown

I walked out into our yard yesterday morning and found this beautiful blue hydrangea flower. My hydrangea bush has been sickly, as you can see by the surrounding foliage. I thought it might not survive. It was almost all brown and most of the leaves had fallen off. Finding this flower was a bright spot in my morning and just a really nice surprise. The sort of thing that makes me feel like God put it there just to make me smile. I have a friend who once said these little surprise blessings were like God was winking at her - a special moment between them and a reminder that He not only loved her, but also took pleasure in blessing her.

It reminded me of something I had read earlier in the week. A fellow MAF'er had shared this article by Jason Carter. He suggests several ways to refresh and encourage missionaries. Even if that subject doesn't interest you, I encourage you to read the post because it really applies to the entire church body. His article is specifically about things people can do while a family is on their furlough, and having recently returned from our first furlough, he is pretty much spot-on. However, there are lots of ways people can bless their missionaries without waiting months or years until furloughs come around. The very first item on the list mentions letters and cards for birthdays and holidays. That is HUGE, especially in this age of emails, and social media. Real letters and cards are so much more personal.

I was reading through all the suggestions and thinking about myself and my family, mentally saying "ooh, that one!" and "oh, yes! That would be so awesome!"  about various items, when my thoughts of myself were (thankfully) interrupted. I need that sometimes.

The article states that one of the least helpful things you can do is ask a missionary to let you know if they need anything, because they won't/can't. But that isn't true only for missionaries. We all throw that statement out to people we care about and often we really mean it, really want to help, and really want to know the best way to do that. But we all also know from being on the flip side that none of us are going to go to someone and say, "Remember when you said to let you know what you can do to help? Well...." 

If the Holy Spirit can spur our hearts to want to bless and help someone, surely He is also willing to guide us in how we can use our skills, our vocation, and our resources to do it without us putting that burden on the other person.

The author also exhorts us to be like Philemon, who refreshed the hearts of others. It must be an important function, and Philemon must have been really good at it, because Paul made a point of telling Philemon how much joy and encouragement Philemon's love for others brought to him. 

When someone does something to bring refreshment to my heart or even the heart of someone I love, that is an amazing thing to experience. It never gets old. Reading this article and talking to God about it made me stop and ask some hard questions.

"Am I being like Philemon? Am I refreshing the hearts of my missionaries? my co-laborers here in Congo? my friends and family?"

"Do I let God inspire me and use me to bring a "wink," a bright spot to someone else's day, like that bright blue flower on my sickly hydrangea? because I would love to be like that."

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." Philemon 7

A Gift For Mama Jackie

When we look above the concrete walls that surround our home, we can often enjoy beautiful sunrises like the one above. 

One of the most beautiful people I know is Mama Jackie, whom I met through her work with the Mitendi Center. When we came back to Congo in June, it was some time before I got to reconnect with Mama Jackie because she had been ill. When I finally got to see her a couple weeks ago, I enjoyed being able to present her with a gift from a friend in the states who follows my blog and wanted to bless Mama Jackie. I am not sure if you can see it, but the designs on the fabric are hand-cranked sewing machines very similar to the ones the girls learn on at the Mitendi Center. 

One of the things I like about Mama Jackie is that she sees beauty and potential in each girl in the Mitendi Center and truly loves them. She invests herself in them. I am really grateful to know her and to get to be a tiny part of the ministry.

It's easy to only look at the walls, instead of the flowers within or the sunrises without. It's easy to only look at the messes we get ourselves in instead of the beauty and potential we each have as a creation of God. My new post on the MAF Blog, Beautiful Potential, talks about how none of us is finished yet. What we see now in a person is not the end result but a snapshot of one phase in their journey.

Dough Knot: Try this at home!

I have always had mixed feelings about the Proverbs 31 woman, mainly because if each of her aspects were listed in a report card I would have a long list of "Fails", a few "Passes", and maybe one, possibly two "Excels". Maybe. On a very good day.

Yesterday was a very good day. I made these:

They are called Garlic Knots, and I found the recipe here at The Recipe Critic. It did not matter that there were dishes in the sink and laundry to put away. The house was filled with a wonderful hot bread and garlic smell that worked like a siren's song to distract everyone from all that other stuff. And they tasted wonderful. My son arose and called me blessed, my husband also and he praised me. 

Score one "Excel" for the day!

This morning I was up at an indecently early hour and decided to try another new recipe I found: One Hour Easy Cinnamon Rolls. 

Tah dah!

Except that because I am me, it took two hours. I just barely got them out of the oven before the morning power outage started. And it only made a dozen. So I will have to either double it next time or find another recipe. And instead of getting up early I will have to just not go to bed the night before. (Pillsbury Grands!, I miss you!) I think now I remember why I don't make cinnamon rolls very often. 

They were quite yummy, so if you are not me, and you don't have to feed a growing man-child, and you like to get up before the rest of the world goes to bed, it is a good recipe. I think next time my family asks me why I don't make cinnamon rolls more often I will just whip up a batch of garlic knots for supper and make them forget all about everything else.