A Cheerful Look

Original depiction of fictional anthropomorphic rabbit from the first chapter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the little quirks our family has is that we like to use anthropomorphism outside of the literary genre. We often ascribe human emotions or thoughts to objects, animals, even our food. We like practicing our vocabulary too (just kidding).

We like for our food to be happy before we eat it.

I have a spoon that I like way more than any human being should like any spoon. It's happy. We use it to make peanut butter cookies so they have smilies on them instead of fork marks. Cookies with smilies are way, way more fun to eat than cookies with prison bars. (As I said previously, we like happy food.) 

Last night during supper our happy spoon was gaily floating in a dish of green peas when my youngest made an observation. He studied the spoon for a bit and then said "How can he be happy sitting in a bowl of nasty peas? We should get a frowny spoon." 

Now, as far as I know, no one likes a frowny spoon anymore than they like a frowny person, so I will likely have an impossible time finding one. Who wants to serve veggies with a frowny spoon? No restaurant or business advertises "service with a frown!" 

I want to be like my spoon, and be able to offer a smile and a cheerful  look to those around me, even if I am in the midst of something nasty. I want my face to reflect the joy God has given me in my heart, and not my sometimes less-than-pleasant-green-pea circumstances.  

"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones." Proverbs 15:30

Bone Tired?

We have been in Kinshasa for two and a half years now and sometimes, especially lately, I am just TIRED. It's more than a physical kind of tired, and my whole family is experiencing it. It is emotional, mental, and spiritual. My grandmother used to say "bone tired," meaning she was completely, through and through, weary and worn out.

Some things are just too good not to share. This morning I found this post by OliveTree: "How to Keep Going When the Road Seems Long." She tells of her struggles with growing weary but also graciously shares what God has taught her through the struggles. Her post is full of practical advice on how to keep going when it seems like we work and work and work and see few results. OliveTree reminds us that our labor in the Lord is not in vain; if we persevere, we will be rewarded.

In God's perfect timing He inspired OliveTree to write her post and I found it when I needed it. So, if you are or have been "bone tired," too tired to lift your fork at supper, to think about anything, even to pray - check out her post. I think you'll be glad you did. I was.

Widows and Orphans

Nancy and Nancy, heh heh heh

My friends Jim and Nancy Smith returned from their mission station in Nkara and will soon be on their way back to the U.S. for a few months. I had sent a sack of yarn with Nancy to see if any of the ladies in the Literacy Center would be interested in making baby blankets for the orphanage (more about the literacy center HERE) (more about the blanket project HERE).

One lady, a widow named Ibo, crocheted these blankets. That's her front row left. She is a graduate of the literacy center and now teaches the other students to knit and crochet. She told Nancy Smith that when her husband died, she became very angry. Then she went to the literacy school and met Jesus and He changed her life. Ibo has no children to help care for her. Culturally and economically, life here is very difficult for widows and for people who have no children; I was very pleased to be able to give her an opportunity to earn a little extra money. Now I have soft, new blankets to take to the orphanage before the chilly dry season arrives. Mama Ibo lives a long way from the children at the orphanage in Kimbondo and neither of them has any knowledge of the other. We are admonished in James that pure religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress. By paying Mama Ibo for her labors and donating the blankets to the orphanage, one project is helping both! I think that is so cool beans!

Tuesday was my birthday. My family spoiled me and did all the dishes all that day and all the following day. Of course it had NOTHING to do with the face that my thumb is still messed up. It is improving. An adopting family came through last week and I was able to buy a splint for my thumb for them to bring. That has enabled me to give it both protection and support, so now I have a lot less pain.






We are all looking forward to furlough this summer. Already our family is praying for a place to live and transportation and doing our best to search for both from here. We have lots to do during our time in the states: doctor and dentist visits, settle Emily into college and teach her how to drive, visit family, friends and ministry partners, raise ministry support, additional training, shopping for supplies for the next term, home schooling Daniel, etc, etc, etc. Somewhere in there we are supposed to take some R&R. We would love for you to pray with us.

Sunday Drive

You may have noticed I haven't posted in a while. I fell on our patio and got to go get xrays taken of my left hand. Those of you who know me well know that while I am fairly ambidextrous, I write with the left hand. Nothing was broken, but before I fell I already had a sore thumb from a softball injury and now that middle joint is just not doing well. 

While trying to rest my hand and let it heal as much as I can, I've discovered some cool things I can do without using my thumb: tie my shoes, brush my teeth, and even put in a pony tail. Things I can't do without hurting my thumb or at least without it getting in the way: wash dishes, open cans, sweep/mop, chop food, grate cheese. Apologies to my family.

Last week we went I got a chance to see a friend from the U.S. who came here on business, as well as meet some new friends who were here to adopt three  children. We planned for all of us and my friend Christine to go to a local church together, followed by visits to a couple of orphanages and lunch together. 

We didn't get to go to the church because it rained Sunday morning and the roads were too bad, even for Christine's big tough vehicle. None of us were really dressed for mudding or for pushing vehicles.









It was a long, slow drive. We tried several routes. Each time we had to turn around. I was pretty disappointed and hope to get to go another day.

 
We did make it to the orphanages. Both of these orphanages are managed by Christians, one by missionaries and one by a Congolese family. This was the first opportunity I had to visit other orphanages besides the one in Kimbondo that I am accustomed to. These were much smaller. One of them is specifically for boys who were street children. 

We were greeted with a welcome song, the second time I have had that pleasure since coming here. These kids were waiting to have their meal but they didn't object to having lollipops for their "appetizers."

the kitchen

Cooking is done outdoors. This is not unusual in Congolese homes. There isn't enough space indoors for a kitchen, nor enough light or ventilation. When we arrived they were preparing lunch of fufu - a starchy hard to describe food made from manioc, the main carbohydrate here. It's sort of like mashed potatoes that you can pick up and hold in your hand and tear pieces off to eat, but not really. 




All in all it was a day of many emotions: joy for seeing my friend again, heartbreak at seeing the poverty and need everywhere we went, excitement for meeting new friends and going new places, anguish and helplessness for the tears and sobs of a child who was heartbroken, and tiredness after a long day. After the day was done, one emotion still remains, hope. God has placed people here who deeply love Him and are dedicated to helping kids by giving them a place of refuge where their most basic physical needs are met but also where they can be loved, encounter Jesus, and find healing for their hearts.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

A Fun Change in Routine

My normal Saturday routine includes working on the blog in the mornings and playing softball in the afternoons. These last few weeks, we have not had enough players in town to continue softball, so in order to stay active we've had to break that routine a bit and take walks or go swimming. Yesterday I changed up the morning blog post and afternoon softball game routine to do something different and play a different game. I've written in previous posts about our missionary friends Jim and Nancy Smith. They raised their children here in the Congo. For the past few weeks, their son in law, Rob, has been here helping them in their ministry in Nkara. This was Rob's first trip to Congo. Friday evening he returned to Kinshasa so he could fly back to the states today. So yesterday morning Daniel, Pepe, and I took Rob to the artisans' marketplace. In the photo above Pepe, my driver, is on the far right. Between Rob and me is an artist/vendor holding one of his paintings. When ever we go there to shop, this gentleman gives us good prices on his paintings and walks about with us telling the other vendors to give us good prices so that we will keep coming back and bringing our friends. Generally it works, but shopping in the market is also a game. They always start with a ridiculously high price. We always counter with a lower price than we hope to get away with. We all end up meeting somewhere in the middle and everyone is happy. It's how you play the game. Even if it is 99 degrees outside, and you are hungry and tired, and you and the vendor both know exactly what you paid for the same item the last time you shopped, and you really just want to skip to the end, you can't. You can win the game, lose the game, or even quit the game, but you can't skip the game. 

Daniel and Pepe at TASOK campus, Shawn's school

We also visited some of the old stomping grounds of Rob's wife, Shawn. He was able to see places she lived, studied and worshiped and take photos to show Shawn what has changed and what has not. I'm sure when he gets home with his photos and shares his experiences there will be some nostalgic moments for Shawn. I remember what it is like to be in a strange country trying to travel and shop when no one speaks my language, so I was glad to be able to help Rob. I had a lot of fun seeing Kinshasa through fresh eyes again and explaining things for him. I also remember the first time David took me to see the places he spent his childhood and how that felt, to have that added connection and to actually see the things he had described to me. Very cool beans.

Giving up bragging for lent?

Heart For God (Photo credit: SweetCapture)

Lent season began yesterday. Last year I shared what I had newly learned about this season and my reflections at that time in my post Learning About Lent. I understand what lent should be, and what it can be.  But I still struggle with some things. I wonder if it is still meaningful when a person gives up the same thing year after year for lent. I wonder if we are missing the intention of the early church leaders when we think of lent in terms of giving up a bad habit. Why wait until lent if we already know it is bad? Or when we give up something good, what are our motives. I wonder if it is a good thing to tell everyone what we are doing to observe lent or if it is a better thing to treat lent observance in a similar fashion to the way we ought to treat prayer and fasting, not secretly, but not as the Pharisees either. Does telling everyone what we are doing for lent bless them in any way or does it just puff us up and make them feel like they have to do something equal or better? or feel like they are less pious because they aren't choosing to observe lent? Is lent about looking holy? or about being holy? Our family was talking together about all this and my youngest jokingly said "I'm giving up bragging for lent." What stunned me was that in our semi-isolation here, he had already observed that some folks do seem to use their lent observance as an opportunity to boast and put the focus on them instead of on Christ. Out of the mouths of babes.

There are several articles posted in my Learning About Lent post that address the positive elements of lent and the links are still there if you are interested. I found a new article this year whose author has a different and thought provoking perspective, Pastor Stephen Sammons' Why I don't Celebrate Lent. He clarifies up front that he does not have a problem with the origin of lent or the intended purpose of lent, but with what it has become in our day, and then he gives his reasons. It's a stimulating read and made me think about my own motives and desires.

Another pastor suggested that for lent we give up to God what He really wants - our broken and contrite hearts. I've included a link to his article below.

The bottom line is that lent observance is a personal decision. It is not commanded of God. It is not addressed in the Bible. But repentance is. Renewal is. Humility and submission are. Holiness is. Lent season is one avenue God might use in a believer's life to work out those issues in their heart, but it certainly is not the only one.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Related articles

• A Sacrifice for Lent...a broken heart?

Picture This 2

My friend and co-laborer in Christ, Nancy Smith has returned to Congo for a time. In addition to attending to their ministries here, teaching in the women's literacy center and the Bible school, seeing to repairs of their radio tower, evangelism, etc, Nancy found time to spend an afternoon with me. It is always a blessing to get time with a friend whom you don't see often. I am extra blessed this time because she and I have a little project we are working on now. I have a bunch of baby soft yarn for knitting and crocheting baby blankets. I never could figure out how to knit or crochet on my own (instructions are always right handed, ugh) and couldn't find anyone with time to teach me. The women in Nkara at the women's literacy center are trained to do both so that they can make things to help support their families. Nancy is going to leave Tuesday for Nkara - in an MAF plane that my amazing husband does maintenance on! She will take my yarn with her and have the ladies in the school make baby blankets for me to donate to the orphanage when Nancy brings them back with her. I will pay them a fair price for their labor and they will have contributed to an important ministry here in Kinshasa. I am very excited to finally see this desire coming to fruition. They should have the blankets in time for the cooler dry season. Don't look too closely at that photo. We both had been in my hot car with no a/c for a while and were both pretty tired.

We had a stressful January, lots going on back home and here, and I thought a light-hearted post of some random photos would do us all good. Here are some of our most recent odd photos.

In the "Things we eat in Congo" category:

Plop - These are actually cookies and aren't too bad if you like store bought cookies.

We also occasionally eat Smoked Russians. Wonder if the Russians eat Smoked Americans?

In the "Oxymoron" category: This made me laugh. It's a bug spray called SafeTox. Seems to me it is either safe, or it is toxic. I am not sure how it can be both.

In the "What is that and why did they put it here?" category:

Gripe Water. Shelved between the yeast and the pudding mixes in the baking section. If you don't have enough to gripe about, try some gripe water.

In the "TIA: This is Africa" category:

If you go shopping in Nairobi, Kenya, be sure to drop your toddlers and preschoolers off at the Kids Corner so they can play with all the nice breakables and power cords while you shop.

Lastly, in the "Things A Mom Just Doesn't Want to Know" category, along with why I found a straw in the litter box: What makes a child want to take a photo of himself doing this?

Once again

IMG_5805 (Photo credit: strudelt)

Once again my heart is broken. Another one dear to me has gone home ahead of me. She is the sixth in the 28 months we have been here. 
Once again I feel the loss in many different ways. The words of encouragement that will no longer arrive in the mail or in my email box. The smiles and hugs that won’t be there anymore. The lessons and experiences that will no longer be shared. The absence.

Once again I am helpless when I want nothing more than to help someone I love. I have no magic solutions. I haven’t got the words and wisdom needed. I haven’t got a clue. I can’t give them what they need. I haven’t even the ability to be with them in person and just walk through this beside them.

Mary Magdalene, in a dramatic 19th-century popular image of penitence painted by Ary Scheffer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once again I cling to You. Yours was the first broken heart, on that day when Eve lost her trust in you and made her fateful choice.  You understand loss and grief and brokenness.  You understand longing. You are wise and strong. 

Once again I ask You, take my mourning and as You change it slowly into gladness, change me too. Guide me in your Truth and teach me. Help me help them. Be the strength in my weakness and speak through me. When they are too weak, weary and broken to walk, gather my loved ones in your arms and carry them close to your heart, dear Shepherd.

Once again, Father, give me the grace and strength I need for this day. Give me eyes to see beyond myself.

Young Shepherd (Photo credit: edbrambley)

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his hearth; He gently leads those that have young." Is 40:11

Clothes don't make the man,

(65) paper doll (Photo credit: crackedmoon)

but what we wear each day might say a lot about who we serve. Recently I received an email with a subject line that read: "Do you dress like your quilt?" My first thought on that question was "gee, I hope not," as I mentally pictured myself dressed like a paper doll in quilt tops I have made. Hmmm, there was that one that had a three dimensional cat with a tail made from a boa. No way. I have loved every quilt I have made, but honestly has anyone ever looked at a quilt and thought "that would make an awesome dress!?" You get my point. 

We get up every day and get dressed, and we do it with our audience and our planned activities in mind so that our dress is appropriate for the occasion. We want to put forth the best image we can because we know our reputation is at stake. People notice what we wear, whether we like it or not, and they form opinions of us based on their impressions. 

People also notice what we as Christians are "wearing." Romans 13:14 says we are to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ."  Isaiah 61:10 says the Lord "has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." As a believer, my Savior's reputation is at stake and I want to present well an image of Him. People's opinions of Christ, and maybe their eternities can be at stake. I don't dress like my quilt, but I hope and pray that each day I dress like Christ.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." --Colossians 3:12-14

A plane, a wrench, a pen, and a spatula ---

What do these have in common? All of these and more can be tools for ministry! Check out my latest post on the MAF Blog .

Speaking of ministry tools, I have found a really cool tool that is ministering to me! Cool beans! Last year about this time I was already falling behind in my New Year's resolution to memorize more scripture. I never lost my conviction that I needed to be more consistent in my efforts to hide God's Word in my heart, but I needed a little accountability and a little bit of affirmation. Nothing material, just the pleasure of having a way to visualize my progress so that I felt encouraged instead of discouraged. Sort of like when our kids are little and we make a chart with their learning and behavior goals or their chores and we give them little star stickers to put on the chart each time they make progress. Silly? Yes. Effective? Yes.

Memverse is a web site for folks who want to memorize Bible verses but it has a lot of other features as well. You can read a daily devotional from Spurgeon, keep track of verses you've already learned and periodically review them so that you retain them, practice your new verses, see what the most popular verses are that others are learning, read the Memverse blog, and see your progress! I am not receiving anything for recommending Memverse and they have not asked me to. They do not even know I am writing about them. I'm just so excited about this tool that is a perfect fit for me that I wanted to tell others about it. If like me, you made yet another resolution to memorize more scripture, Memverse is free and does not require any downloads, so give it a try!

Three and a half weeks

For three and a half wonderful weeks, Josh was here with us. Yesterday was his last day with us and each of us spent the day trying unsuccessfully to think about anything else besides the fact that he was leaving. We didn't do anything spectacular during those weeks. We just enjoyed being five again, catching up, talking, laughing, Christmas, etc. As you can see by the photos, Josh adds a certain charm and personality to any group he is part of. 

Part of preparing to leave Kinshasa is pre-checking your bags. Pre-checking bags here is not the same process at pre-checking bags for a U.S. airline. It is not done over the internet. There is no curbside kiosk for tagging and dropping luggage. Oh, no. In Kinshasa one would to, ever leave their luggage with stranger in front of the airport. Pre-checking luggage means you take your suitcases downtown to the office of whatever airline you are going to fly with (not all airlines offer this service either.) You present your tickets and passport and they weigh your bags and check them and print your boarding passes for you. You can also pay your exit tax in advance and get a receipt so you don't have to do it at the airport. We go through this process because it is waaaay easier than checking bags at the actual airport. We have had "security" find things in our bags they liked a lot and try to take them, right in front of us. Sometimes they ask for them. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they ask for money in exchange for letting you keep your own possessions. Pre-checking your bags with the airline means your luggage bypasses the airport staff and is handled only by the airline.

Yesterday we learned that another reason you might want to pre-check your bags is if you have a weight issue. The customer in front of us in line to weigh luggage was trying to get a bin of dried eels through. We know they were eels because the bin was open. It was also overweight. The ensuing discussion/debate was causing a delay and the line was backing up. The official pointed to Josh's luggage and told David to pick it up. When he picked it up easily, she declared it all 50 lbs and sent it through. So if you have  slightly overweight bags and strong arms, you might want to try getting in line behind the eel guy.

Josh's flight was in the evening. David took him to the airport and the kids and I stayed home and boohooed together. Then we all got busy trying to distract ourselves from our sadness. By the time David got home I had done a load of laundry, worked ahead in my Bible study book, baked brownies, baked cookie bars, made two batches of oatmeal muffins, and washed dishes, and lost all my holiday season weight (just kidding, it's still there). I would call it comfort food but we aren't stress eaters so none of it even got touched until breakfast today. A friend pointed out to me that saying goodbye hurts so intensely because we have been so blessed to have a close-knit family. I am very grateful for that! 

From a Distance

Abram Journeying into the Land of Canaan (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Bible study topic for the high school girls this week was Hebrews 12:1-2 and in preparation I decided to go back and read chapter 11 for context. I wanted to help the girls see what all these heroes of the faith had in common that made them heroes. They didn't all have the same race to run, each had their own mission from God. They didn't face all the same obstacles and hardships. They were different ages, genders, and nationalities. Some of them made big mistakes. Some of them were afraid or doubtful. But they all obeyed. In faith. I'm kinda glad that how much faith they had isn't a detail that is recorded in Scripture, only that they had it. Maybe some of them started with only a mustard seed's worth. 

My attention was drawn especially to Abraham. Perhaps it's because being a missionary makes me feel like I relate to Abraham just a teensy weensy bit:

     "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God." (vs.8-10)

Our family said yes to God when He said "Go," without knowing where we were going. We have made our home here as strangers in a foreign country and in some ways will always be regarded as strangers regardless of how long we stay or how well we adapt. Abraham lived in tents. Even in the promised land he was a transient. His son and grandson also had to live in a strange land, just as our children had to come here and be foreigners alongside of us. 

But Abraham was not focused on his circumstances. He was focused on the promise! He knew that the earthly promised land he pitched his tent in was nothing compared to the heavenly promised land he was looking forward to! And he wasn't the only one.

     "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (vs. 13-16)

They saw them and welcomed them from a distance. You have to be looking forward, not back, to see what's on the horizon. They admitted they were aliens. The Message Bible says it like this: "They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world." 

Transients. Just passin' through. 

 Have you ever seen someone you love way off in the distance and waved a greeting? Or even just across an airport terminal? You don't just wave. You smile. You beam! If you are related to me you shout and maybe jump up and down a few times. And you take off toward them! You can't wait to get to them! The closer you get, the more excited you become.

I may not always know where I am going, but I know I want to keep looking forward in anticipation of all He has in store for me. I want to welcome it from a distance.

Not a laughing matter

Congo (Photo credit: babasteve)

Americans joke about magic, make light of witches and witchcraft in October, and even decorate their homes with images of witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, and gore. In places like Congo, those images and the things they represent are not a laughing matter. Many people in the Democratic Republic of Congo believe and participate in magic, ndoki (witchcraft) and fetisheurs, or witchdoctors. One of the shocking things I have learned since coming here is that even people who claim to be Christians still hold on to these old beliefs and take them quite seriously. Magic and animism have been handed down from their ancestors and are deeply ingrained in their culture.

I have no doubt that some things do have a spiritual cause. When a witchdoctor casts a spell or makes a prediction, and it works, obviously he is either an extremely lucky guesser or there is a demonic force at work. Pastors here have first hand experience with demonic powers that we do not understand, but unfortunately many have not experienced the power available in God to rule over those demonic powers.  On the other hand, many things here that occur are incorrectly blamed on magic, curses, etc. such as a bug bite that gets infected after it is scratched with dirty fingernails, or a baby that has a weak cry and a sunken soft spot because he is dehydrated.

The prevalence of these beliefs, even among Christians, and the negative social, spiritual, and physical impacts, really hit me when a friend of mine had a direct encounter with it. A boy, whom we will call "Bikuma" to protect his privacy, had an infection develop in a sore on his leg, growing in size and severity until it was serious and fearsome to look at. Bikuma had been told that it was "mbasu," black magic, that someone had thrown or shot at him with some charm or powder they had purchased from a witchdoctor as revenge for something he had supposedly done to them. He went to the witchdoctor and pay paid him to figure out who Bikuma had wronged, then paid for a "cure."  Bikuma and his family believed his wound was demonic in origin and that conventional medicine, i.e. antibiotics, would not work. He was also malnourished, which did not improve his ability to fight the infection. His face, hands and feet swelled from the lack of protein in his diet, causing further breakdown in his skin. My friends found out about Bikuma and sent food and antiseptic for him and offered to help. His family was too impoverished to give him the care he needed and agreed to let him be hospitalized.

 The first FOUR hospitals that Bikuma was taken to rejected him, possibly simply because he had "mbasu."

 After six weeks in the hospital with antibiotics and proper nutrition he is much better. The doctors said he needs a skin graft but because of the malnutrition his skin is not in good condition for the procedure so he still has a large open wound that will have to be dealt with later. That is now being treated on an out patient level. Perhaps in the future a skin graft will still be an option.  In the meantime, it is a continued battle to keep him healthy and the large wound free from infection.



Another good thing that came out of this was that people took notice that someone unrelated to Bikuma was paying for his care and asked why strangers would do that, so it provided opportunities to witness and share about the love of Christ.

The word "mbasu" comes from the Bayaka tribe, but it has many other names. It is not limited by education level, ethnic group or tribe, geographic location, or socio-economic status. People who are labeled with having mbasu are stigmatized and subjected to atrocious "treatments" from witchdoctors, many of which do more harm than good. Pray for Bikuma's continued healing. Pray that his recovery will open people's eyes to the truth and that they will praise the Great Physician and stop placing their faith in witch doctors. Pray for pastors and leaders here to have access to discipleship and training that are soundly based on the Word of God.

No More Anonymity

photo credit: Sandy Francis

I don't know why but in the last week my comment box has had a plethora of spam comments, most of them  benign but some are offensive. Since I moderate all comments, this saved my blog from having them posted all over the place but my email box has been flooded with them. So...I am not allowing anonymous comments anymore, since that is the avenue the spammers use. Can you still post comments? Yes. But now you must identify yourself using either your own URL, AIM or OpenID. If you have an ID with Google (think gmail), Yahoo, Blogger, Flickr, MySpace, AOL, or WordPress then you already have an OpenID and you can find out what it is by clicking HERE. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I really would not look good if I pulled all my hair out and this was the alternative. Many of you already know me and prefer to send me comments via facebook or email, and that's fine too.

The Christmas season is the time of year when I get the most interaction with our national staff, even though David sees many of them several times a week. In addition to the Christmas worship service we do together for people who work at the airport (see photo above of David and some of the other guys singing!), we also have an annual Christmas meal together with Congolese food. I really like the fact that we work with our nationals to do the Christmas outreach event because besides sharing the gospel with others, it reminds all of our MAF staff that we are in ministry together.

Remember this? Last September we paid the local vet to spay our kitten, Lily. She nearly died afterward of complications. I suspected pneumonia.

We are about 95% sure that our SPAYED kittie is pregnant. We just went through this less than a year ago with her mama, Piper, and all the symptoms are the same. I was there for Lily's surgery and SAW the vet remove SOMETHING, but obviously it wasn't what he thought it was...

...anybody want a kitten?

We are having a wonderful time visiting with Josh! We had a nice, relaxing family Christmas with devotions and gifts and homemade treats and a ham dinner. I am working on a new post but might not have it up by tomorrow. I'm still getting used to our new computer (Christmas gift, yaay!) and our internet has been unpredictable. Pray for our water situation. We are out again, so tomorrow morning David will have to drive the truck to haul water for the third time this week. When we moved here the water was great and we never ran low. We have no idea why suddenly it's off most of the time.

Something Better

African daisy photo credit: Jon Sullivan, www.public-domain-image.com

Someone sent a link to me for an article about sacrifice. When I read it, I cried. It just is not your typical write up or sermon about sacrifices where we are either told that we aren't willing enough to make sacrifices, that we don't make enough sacrifices, or that we should minimalize sacrifices we have made because we are somehow holier if we do not admit that serving God can sometimes be hard. Jesus came here prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, his very life, for people who weren't even grateful, and He told us that following Him meant taking up a cross. I don't know about you but that sounds hard.

The writer, Rachel Pieh Jones, is not whining or bitter about sacrifices, but she is honest. She points out that a sacrifice is giving up something precious for something better down the road, and that if we deny the reality of the sacrifice, we cheapen the reward. If have ever loved a missionary or been one, her article, "Why I Will Not Say I Never Made A Sacrifice" is well worth the time.

Some days are hard here. I have only been overseas two years and I have lost three relatives and had to miss their funerals, I've missed the birth of my nephew, missed holidays and birthdays with loved ones, sent a son off to college 6,000 miles away, and missed my daughter's first day of school because I was across the ocean having surgery. The separation from my family and friends IS a sacrifice. The lack of water (none here for the last few days and right now we are out) and electricity and law and order ARE sacrifices. That's not whining. That's reality. Do I ever want to tell God the price is too high? Honestly, there have been a few moments when I did. But what if God had said that when He had to decide whether or not He would sacrifice his Son for me? What if Jesus had said it?

Some days though, I get a glimpse of that "something better" and I am in awe that He would use me here. It happened today during our annual Christmas outreach at the airport where my husband works with the rest of our MAF guys. We were all sitting in the hangar. A crowd was gathered to hear how and why Jesus came to earth, a choir was singing traditional praises to God in Lingala, and in the background, I could see one of our pilots taking off in an MAF plane. Other days it's a hug from an orphan, or a warm greeting from a vendor, or a laugh shared with someone. It could be a conversation about God with my guard or a report of lives given to Christ or a life saved. Some days it's just an amazing sunrise while I'm having coffee with God, as if He put on the whole show just for me.

We are incredibly grateful to be here. I won't deny there are sacrifices. But there is also "something better."

I'm not on the "A-list."

My portion of this post will be short today because other things are getting priority this week. Our son, Josh is back for a visit after a year's absence and we are relishing every minute. We've really enjoyed doing things together as a family again, talking and catching up, and just basking in his glow (kidding, but we ARE very happy just to have him around).

We love our new home and all its little quirks, but we have not been enjoying the regular flooding we've been experiencing every time it rains. Since this is rainy season, we are talking about several floods a week in our basement. One area is just for storage. Another area was a laundry room until David rerouted the plumbing and wiring for me and moved the machines up so I wouldn't have to go down steps in the dark or in the rain. But one room is for our guards to keep their stuff in and to have a place that is theirs. Here's a picture of the water line from the flooding. It's over two feet high.







Part of the problem was trash (coke bottles, motor oil, broken dishes, old soccer ball, etc) that had washed down into our drainage system. A huge part of the problem, though was our neighbor's yard. This drainage ditch runs through several yards, the entire length of our backyard, and drops off into a ravine that feeds the nearby river. When it works properly, those concrete slabs are over the culvert, rain water drains into pipes like the one in this photo and travels out of the yard. But in our yard, instead of water going into the pipes, sand is washing out of them and water is flooding the yard and the basement.

Matthew came over and the guys started prying up the concrete and found that our culvert was filled 12 inches deep with sand that had washed down from the neighbor's yard! So the neighbor is getting a new retaining wall and repairing his side of the problem. An unexpected blessing with that is that one of our guards is skilled in concrete work and masonry and will get the job, so his family will have a little extra money this month.




I wanted to write something inspirational for Christmas but haven't been able to get my brain to switch to creative mode. My friend Shawn Lantz wrote a piece about the birth of the King for her blog that I think is well worth reading. She makes several good points, one of which is that the shepherds who received the birth announcement would not have made society's "A-list" and those who would have at the time were unaware of the birth of Christ. I will never make the "A-list" by society's standards either, but because Jesus humbled Himself and came as a baby for me, I am now a daughter of the King! Check out Shawn's article, "A Foolish Birth Announcement."

Hurting for Newtown

Remembering (Photo credit: Puzzler4879 (Thank You for 500K Views))

I just don't even have words adequate or appropriate for what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday. This did not happen in a country at war, such as Congo, at least not on the surface. I have no doubt there is a spiritual war. Our country needs Jesus, just as DRC does.

When I saw the news last night, I cried. For those moms and dads, those kids, that community, the father of the shooter who lost a son under such awful circumstances, and my nation. I went to David and told him what happened and the news was so horrible and stunning that he asked me if I was sure it really happened and wasn't some sort of sick social media rumor. I'm still crying. I don't know how anyone can not be heartbroken and grieving over this.

Today I am still alternating between shocked and crying. I can't even imagine how much worse it must be for those immediately affected, those who lost loved ones or suffered injuries.

And yet, I am thankful that my heart is broken. The alternative is far worse. I would rather mourn with those who mourn, as painful as it is, than be desensitized or unable to feel compassion, love, or mercy.

I am thankful and encouraged to see so many responding so quickly to offer whatever they can to comfort and help. It gives me hope.

I am thankful for teachers who acted quickly to protect children.

I am thankful that as a Christian I can go boldy in prayer to my Father in behalf of others, knowing that He loves them and that this did not catch Him by surprise.

Praying for comfort and healing, and for hearts to turn to God who loves them and wants them to know it. Father, please pour your mercy and grace on the families in Newtown and help them in their time of need.

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16