Consider Your Calling

And More Changes. . .

2012-02-16T12:37:00.002-08:00

We received an update today on where our organization stands and some of the immediate implications. There are a lot of details, but the bottom line is that everyone with our organization has to be out of the country in a matter of days. This involves two singles, two empty nest couples, and four families not including our own family.

Can you imagine what it feels like to have a week to pack up everything you own, say goodbye to dear friends, find words to explain to your young children why you're leaving what they consider home, and not know if you'll ever be able to go back again? If you can even grasp that feeling, then you know how to pray for our team. If not, the Holy Spirit intercedes even when we don't have the words.

We would also ask you to pray for the workers from other organizations who are still in country. There have been two unexpected deaths in our expat community. Political tensions are high. We are hearing reports of local believers falling away from the faith. Other workers have also lost their visas. All in all it seems overwhelming. Yet, we believe in the sovereign God who holds each of us in His hands and is not caught off guard by anything that has happened in our field of work over the past six months. He loves the people there more than we ever could and He will glorify Himself in that nation.

Still, we all struggle with human emotions. Please intercede for us all as we process all that is happening to us as individuals and as a community of workers.

Changes

2012-01-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a month since I've posted anything, because this has been a busy month. Our sons were home with us, which was a lot of fun. We celebrated Christmas in the US, which is a very rare event in our family. We traveled to Georgia and to Arkansas. We reconnected with old friends and mourned the loss of a close family friend. Looking back now, I can't believe that all of this was packed into just a few weeks.

However, life is settling back into a semi routine. . .but not for long. We are preparing for another huge change. We don't know the exact timing, but we expect that by this time next month we'll be on a plane for Istanbul, Turkey. The government where we were living previously denied our NGO's application for re-registration, so we will not be returning there in the immediate future.

We have been in Istanbul as visitors a number of times so we aren't quite going, like Abraham, to a land that we know not. However, we also realize that visiting a city and living in it are two different experiences. We will be learning a new (but, thankfully, similar) language. We will have to meet and form all new friendships. Randy in particular will have to learn new ways of doing his work.

Besides moving to a new city, we are also adapting to a new phase of life with two boys in college. With Hannah Grace coming along so late in our lives, it will be many years before we have a truly empty nest, but sending both guys off at once will certainly impact our family in ways we probably don't fully realize yet.

Please pray for us as we work through all of these changes in our life. Pray that we can quickly adjust and work effectively in our new situation.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T06:47:00.001-08:00

This morning I read two different blogs that dealt with the amazing truth of the incarnation. (You can read those here and here.) Immediately I thought of my friend Emerald, who rejected Christ several years ago. When she told me about her decision, it was on the basis of the incarnation. She would not accept that the all-powerful God who created the universe could limit Himself to experience thirst and hunger. How could a transcendent God need food? Who could imagine God falling asleep in a boat?

When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating this truth that my friend turned away from. We celebrate the Word made flesh and come to live among men. Every one of us understands the reason for Christmas, but I personally don't believe I spend quite enough time pondering all the implications of this miracle. Jesus allowed Himself to feel the limitations of a human body. Yet it is precisely this concept of incarnation that repels so many of our Muslim acquaintances. What we celebrate as the glorious, miraculous foundation of our faith they reject as an illogical absurdity at best, and blasphemy at worst.

As we prepare to go back overseas, please pray that the Holy Spirit would do the work of opening blinded eyes and softening hardened hearts. We can't convince a Muslim to believe that God Himself would take on flesh, experience fatigue, hunger, thirst, pain, and eventually death and resurrection because He loves them. We can only share that truth, love them, and pray that they will see Jesus with eyes of faith.

Keeping Christ in Christmas

2011-12-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Being back in the US this year for the Christmas season, I've begun to be a little confused about the so-called Christmas wars and the battle to keep Christ in Christmas. As I listen to people talk, as I read Christian blogs and news sources, even as I listen to Christian radio, one question keeps coming to mind: Are people trying to keep Christ in Christmas, or are they trying to keep our beautiful traditions and memories in Christmas?

Where we live there is no cultural celebration of Christmas. There are trees and lights, and Grandfather Frost, but those are all New Year traditions. Christmas is a holiday that is only celebrated by professing Christians. Our Muslim neighbors understand that unless they acknowledge Christ as the Word made flesh, they don't--they can't--celebrate Christmas rather than a Winter Holiday. How ironic that they grasp the real meaning of Christmas with such clarity!

If you're saddened by the fact that cashiers say "Happy Holidays", or that your child's school is observing a winter festival, or that the municipality has erected a holiday tree, take a moment and remind yourself that only Christians can genuinely celebrate Christ's first coming and look forward to His second coming. Then, instead of getting involved in a campaign to "keep Christ in Christmas", get involved in activities that will bring people to know Christ as Lord and Savior. Make it your goal to keep Christmas in Christ.

If You Knew Who Says to You

2011-11-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, someone will walk up to us after we've spoken at a conference and tell us that it takes a special person to do what we do, or that God really knows the right person to call overseas, or something along that line. I've always been uncomfortable when that happens. Normally, I remind them that we go overseas and share the Good News because God gives us the grace to do so.

Too often we think that God asks people to do something--teach a class, preach a sermon, give generously to support the work of the church, go overseas, serve the needy--and we lose sight of just exactly who is asking. To paraphrase A. W. Tozer, we may view God as coming to us hat in hand asking for assistance. We understand that God wants to us to do good works, but we forget that He asks us to give what He has already prepared beforehand.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman "Give me a drink." Her response shows that although she certainly thought it an odd request, she never doubted for a moment her ability to give Jesus what He asked. She missed the point of the request. The Creator and Lord of the universe did not need to sit at a deserted well and wait for this woman to provide what He was lacking. The point was for this woman to realize what she was lacking.

Even as believers, we can easily accept the idea that we're saved by grace through no merit of our own yet act like God needs us to give Him a drink of water. We never doubt for a moment our ability to serve God (until He graciously allows us to reap the consequences of working in our own strength). He doesn't ask us to serve because we have something to offer Him. He asks because He has something to offer us.

Next time you believe God is directing you toward some ministry, stop and remember who it is that is asking for your service.

Sacrifice

2011-11-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

This is from two years ago, but I still think about these things whenever the Qurban holiday comes up on the Muslim calendar.

Yesterday was Qurban--the Festival of Sacrifice--in the Muslim world. It is a day to remember the sacrifice that Abraham made on Mount Moriah. Islam teaches that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, that was placed on the altar that day.

The idea of a substitutionary sacrifice--whether the death of a ram in Isaac's place or the death of Jesus Christ in our place--has no acceptance in Muslim theology. It is all about works.

We were out yesterday to take Hannah Grace to the doctor, and passed herd after herd of sheep being prepared for slaughter. Those who can afford it are expected to purchase a sheep and have it butchered. They must then share a portion of the meat with those who are too poor to buy their own.

One prominent cleric was lamenting the fact that most people in this country have lost "the essence of Qurban". For them, it's a day of feasting. For butchers, it's a day of price gouging. Few people take time to remember the "real meaning" of this holiday. Sound familiar?

As believers, of course, we would love to help them understand the true essence of Sacrifice. In many parts of the Muslim world yesterday, the streets ran red with the blood of sacrificial sheep. Needlessly.

When the World Calls You a Hater

2011-11-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26 ESV

Many people consider this to be one of the more difficult verses in the Bible. Generally, commentaries define hate as "a lesser degree of love", meaning that we must love our families and ourselves less than we love Jesus if we want to be His disciples. That is a good understanding, but I believe it means more than just "loving less".

In his book, In Search of the Source, Neil Anderson tells about the years he and his wife spent translating the Bible into the language of an isolated, primitive tribe. When they came to this verse in Luke, his team of local assistants had as much difficulty with it as the rest of us. The words seemed plain enough, and the meaning seemed clear enough, but surely Jesus didn't mean what it sounded like He meant! As they struggled through this dilemma, God allowed a circumstance that answered their question.

This stone age tribe followed traditions and practices that had been handed down through the generations. We would consider many of these pagan and barbaric. One young believer was called on by his clan to fulfill his obligation to them as a male family member on one occasion. Participation would be a clear violation of Christian belief. Non-participation would anger his family. In the end, he chose obedience to Christ over pleasing his family.

This young man told the missionaries that he truly loved his family, but they were convinced he actually hated them. There was nothing he could say or do, no apology he could offer, short of going along with this ungodly practice, that would change their minds.

Sometimes we make choices because we honor and love God above all else. Sometimes those choices cause the people we love and care about to believe that we hate them.

The reason this topic has been on my mind is something I've seen on Facebook in recent weeks. The details aren't important--who or what or why. My motivation is to simply encourage anyone who is being called a hater because they had the courage to speak the truth in love. Don't let the world define for you what it means to be a hater.

Now, if you've been speaking the truth in some attitude other than love, well, that's a different matter altogether. I would encourage you to check out this link.

Love People. . .Hate Sin

2011-10-26T08:34:00.001-07:00

First of all, we don't want to insert a new and revised definition of hate into anything the Bible teaches about hate. When we come across the word hate in the Bible, we need to stick with the dictionary definition, not a definition that has been expanded to include all sorts of other things.

So what do we learn from the Bible, specifically the New Testament, about hate (read: extreme enmity, strong aversion, distaste)?

Paul tells us in Titus 3:3 that hating others is characteristic of the lost, not believers. It is an action and attitude that marks our old life before Christ, but not our life in Christ today.

In the book of 1 John, the apostle gives us a number of tests which will prove or disprove whether we are truly God's children. Several of these proofs deal specifically with hate. We learn that anyone who claims to walk in the light but hates his brother, in reality walks in the dark. Everyone who hates is a murderer and does not have eternal life. A person that says they love God but hates their brother is a liar.

These passages make it perfectly clear that haters (using the standard definition) are not children of God. There are, however, some things that the children of God do hate. Jude tells us in his letter to have mercy with fear on sinners, but that in doing so we will find the pollution of the flesh that characterizes their lives very distasteful. In the book of Revelation, Jesus commends the church in Ephesus because they hate--they have an aversion and a distaste for--the sinful deeds of the Nicolaitans. Paul himself, in the book of Romans, grieves over his tendency to commit sin--the very thing he hated. He felt extreme enmity toward his own sinful nature.

If we stop here, it's very simple to understand hate from a Biblical perspective. We can't hate people and claim to be filled with light and truth. We can't be filled with light and truth without finding sin distasteful. But Jesus' teachings introduce some other aspects of hate that many people find difficult to swallow. As I think over this redefinition of hate, I believe that those difficult passages help explain, at least in part, why Christians are sometimes labeled as haters.

Thou Shalt Not Hate?

2011-10-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Years ago, when our Internet access was limited and before the days of Facebook, we would spend a few years overseas and then head back to the US and begin the process of relearning the English language. New words would have popped up, and old words would have been assigned new meanings. These days we are able to keep up with new, trendy slang words at about the same pace as everybody else. One of those new, trendy slang words that I see a lot of lately is "hater".

The dictionary definition of hate is pretty clear: to feel extreme enmity toward; to have a strong aversion to; to find very distasteful. However, a Google search of the word hater gives a different impression. If you're jealous of me, you're a hater. If you disagree with me, you're a hater. If you criticize me, you're a hater. If you disapprove of anything I do, you're a hater. Even professing Christians are beginning to use the term hater in reference to other professing Christians.

We all know, Christian or not, that it's wrong to hate people. It's one of the earliest things we learned as little children. Now, it's certainly true that some of the current definitions of hatred include some things that are wrong. But by redefining hatred, people are also redefining some other things. If hatred is wrong, and disagreeing with me is hatred, then disagreeing with me is wrong.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about hating, being hated, and how to treat haters. Once we understand hatred as God sees it, then we can use the word hater correctly.

More later. . .

Community Project in the Village

2010-08-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

During the month of August, our team is overseeing a project to improve the only road leading to a village of refugees about two hours outside of the city. We became aware of the need through our teammate's barber, whose family is from this village.

Our team has had to navigate through sticky issue of making sure that the funds we provide don't end up in some official's pocket.

Randy and our coworker have made several day trips to check on the work and to visit with the community elders. Randy has learned to take his own water bottle, since the only things they're ever offered to drink are home-brewed vodka and water from questionable sources!

One one of these trips Randy had the opportunity to talk with the barber, Joseph. The road leading out of our city goes past a prominent holy site of folk Islam, and Joseph asked if he could stop there. People often go to this place to pray and give an offering in the hopes of gaining some extra merit with their god, or of gaining some favor, such as a job or healing from illness. As Joseph talked about what he believes, Randy was able to share the gospel. It was apparently his first exposure to the gospel, and what little bit Randy told him was more than he could take in all at once. Please pray for him as Randy is looking for an opportunity to give him a Scripture portion that highlights the life of the prophets and of Jesus.

Please pray especially for efforts at Scripture distribution in general. The Scripture portion that Randy hopes to give to Joseph is a new printing that is designed for those who have had no exposure to the gospel. Please ask that this printing of several thousand books would quickly and effectively pass from storage in our homes to the homes--and hearts--of unbelievers.

Six Month Summary

2010-06-19T03:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few highlights from the last six months:

Sean turned 16 on February 16th!

He wrote his own mystery party, which turned out to be a success, although neither of the teams were able to solve the mystery.

It snowed--a lot.

It's a good thing her aim isn't great. . .
Snow days for us usually also mean no electricity and running water. We enjoyed one evening of pretending it was the 18th century, but one evening is generally all we need.

Kevin and Sean took the SAT and are gearing up for their senior year, graduation, and college.
They both scored very well and are praying about where to attend in the fall of 2011.

Kevin, Sean and Julie participated in a school play.
Photos still to come. . .

We had two great volunteer teams: Maysville and Bethel.
These groups conducted conversation clubs with our English students. There were some great discussions and the opportunity to share some Scripture.

Hosting students in our home. . .

Our goal has been to invite Randy's students over for conversation, games, and refreshments at least once during every course. A few of the students have come once, but a couple of them have attended every time we've had an open house.

A special thanks to the group from Bethel for the Funglish game that the students have enjoyed playing!

Christmas Eve Party

2010-01-22T00:50:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed singing some Christmas carols together. One of our local friends really got into the singing!

Reading the Christmas story in two languages

Sharing American party foods

The children's contribution to the party

Making the Most of the Opportunity

2009-12-18T00:16:00.000-08:00

Last week in our house church, we talked about how important it is to turn our local friends' interest in the celebration of Christmas into an opportunity to share the truths of Christmas: that Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, fully man yet fully God; that He died in our place and rose from the dead; that He ascended to the Father and that He will come to earth a second time.

This year we hope to have at least two national friends share in our Christmas Eve celebration. One is a friend of a friend, a young man who is a semi-devout follower of Islam. The other is a young woman that I met this summer. She is in her last year of college and doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She is in rebellion against her family and is very unhappy. Her goals are nearly impossible to reach because of choices she made early in college. She wants to know the secret of contentment, but only if she doesn't have to change anything in her life.

As you're making preparations to celebrate Christmas this year, don't forget to pray for these two young people as well as the millions of others who have never heard the Christmas story.

Sacrifice

2009-11-27T22:23:00.001-08:00

More About Marriage Part 2

2009-09-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I wrote about my friend and her brother. The brother hoped to marry a young woman but the mother objected and was forcing her to marry someone else. Last week, when my friend told me that her brother had "kidnapped" the young woman, I wasn't entirely surprised. Because he did it on the day of the forced engagement party, I was surprised that there wasn't any violence. Honor killings aren't unheard of around here, either.

My friend was very upset. Although this sort of kidnapping--bride snatching-- could almost be called an elopement, it's a shameful thing. Another friend once told me that the family of the girl often disowns her after a kidnapping. In essence, the couple lives together until a wedding can take place. Think how the Bennett family reacts in Austin's Pride and Prejudice to Lydia's elopement. That's probably a pretty close analogy to how families here react.

Attitudes toward marriage are certainly changing: divorce is becoming more common, arranged marriages are less common. Still, in a traditional family, refusing to heed a parent's wishes about marriage is no small issue.

This event raises some interesting questions for believers here. How does the church minister to this family? How does it help bring the young couple to a point of restoration. . .if the relationship with her family can ever be restored at all? How does the church make it clear to the surrounding community that it doesn't condone this behavior, especially in a culture where followers of Jesus are already under great suspicion?

More About Marriage

2009-09-18T03:52:00.000-07:00

Marriage is so important to any culture, and it's one of the things I enjoy learning about as we live here. So many things are completely different from our way of viewing marriage, that it would probably take me years to learn all there is to know.

This morning a friend asked me to pray for her brother. For some time now he has been interested in marrying a particular girl. My friend and her brother are believers; the girl in question is not, but said that she would accept Christ when she came to live with their family. (I won't get off onto the subject of unequally yoked marriages here.) The girl's mother apparently found this out and has not only revoked the engagement, but is forcing the girl to marry someone else. My friend's house is in an uproar, and the girl is threatening to commit suicide.

Some months ago, we organized a marriage seminar for our coworkers. Although it was good material for all of us personally, our real goal was to equip ourselves to address the incredible need for Christ-honoring marriages and families among local believers. So far, we have had very little opportunity to present this material to our local brothers and sisters. Please pray that things will come into place: translation of the material, opportunities to work with individual couples, and openings to train leaders of local assemblies to help their congregations.

Seventeen!

2009-08-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kevin's seventeenth birthday on July 7th. It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly!

For his party, we planned a Photo Scavenger Hunt--Central Asia Edition. I won't post many of those pictures here since some were taken in front of a butcher shop. Besides that, a lot of the photos were taken with Kevin's cell phone and they didn't come out very clear. Here is one of the favorites:
The cell phone was a birthday present, and we had some fun with that. I gift-wrapped it, and Randy snuck it into the boys' bedroom after they were asleep. A few minutes before wake-up time, we called Kevin on his new phone. It took him a few minutes to realize what was going on, but he seems to have enjoyed his gift anyway.

In case you're wondering, the Dr. Pepper is a rare treat for us! Occasionally one of the import stores will carry it, but it's a little expensive. They made great prizes for the winning team.

Summer English Camp

2009-08-01T02:12:00.001-07:00

In late June we traveled to the northern region of the country to help some friends of ours with a children's English camp. It was wonderful to get out of the big city for a few days, enjoy our friends' hospitality, and meet some new people.

The camp we helped with was one of several that our coworkers have organized over the summer. With each camp that they have held, the turnout continues to grow as more families hear about this opportunity for their children.

Each morning we divided into four classes and spent time learning vocabulary and simple phrases. Kevin, Sean and Julie were in charge of the mid-morning snack break. Each day's session ended with a large group review and relay races that required each child to answer a question in English before they could run back and tag the next runner.

It has also been a great chance for our coworkers to build more relationships with people in their community. Pray that they would be able to follow up on some of the friendships they have developed. Pray also that we would be able to develop similar camps for other cities in the interior next summer.

As with any group of children in any culture, country, or economic class, some of our students were "difficult" while others were absolute sweethearts. The little girl in this photo was one of my favorites.

This was a working vacation for us, so we did get to enjoy some rest and recreation while we were there. Being from Florida, I have to admit that the beaches here are not quite the sugar white sands that I grew up with, but this beach is much cleaner than anything in our city! And our friends told us that this was a bad day. . .We were just pleased that there was no oil slick on the water's surface.

We also had a "Pajama Jam Party" organized by our friends' young daughters, and it was a blast! All the little girls bobbed for apples, and as you can see Hannah Grace had a little help from her friends.

There was also a very competitive game of "Red Light, Green Light". We played many rounds to allow everyone the opportunity to be the traffic light. Pictures of Musical Chairs will not be posted, since Hannah Grace cries every time she sees the picture of herself left standing without a chair.

Monday morning we will be heading out again to visit a different coworker in the western part of the country. Please pray that our visit will be productive as we look for ideas about how to extend our work to the interior of the country.

Another Wedding

2009-07-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you who receive Randy's newsletter, you know that "Allen" has been one of our closest friends during our six years in Central Asia. We have shared holidays together, both ours and theirs. We have shared many meals together along with a lot of laughter. We have shared our faith, with no visible results. For a long time, we have looked forward to sharing Allen's wedding day. In the current economy, it is difficult to get married, so it has been a long wait. At last, the day finally came!

Allen and his wife are distant relatives, which is common. Theirs is an arranged marriage, worked out by the parents, which is also quite common. They are living with his mother and grandmother, again very common. His new wife has lived in Russia for some time, so she will be facing more than just the usual adjustment to life with a new husband and a new mother.

As always, there was quite a spread on the tables. I don't know if someone from the family warned our waiters, but they knew that we wouldn't be drinking any alcohol. They cleared away the shot glasses and most of the bottles for us so we could enjoy our cherry juice without any unnecessary dishes cluttering up our table.

Kevin and Randy took this close-up of the relish tray for a reason. Can you see the smiley face pickle?

Since this wedding was a special one for us, we stayed almost until the end. One of the most interesting parts of a local wedding is the very last course of the meal. The emcee announces, "Dear guests, the pilaf has come to our gathering!" The lights are dimmed down to just candles, and a young couple dressed in traditional clothing brings in a large dish of flaming pilaf. They set it down in front of the bride and groom, then perform a traditional dance.

Rice pilaf with chestnuts, raisins, dried fruits, and lamb, all dripping with melted butter, is the ultimate in hospitality. The more butter, the better. Ours was absolutely swimming in butter, and it was delicious!

No eastern wedding would be considered complete without live music and dancing. This wedding had mostly traditional dancing with a few "youth dances" thrown in. The poor guy singing for the youth dance obviously didn't know enough English to understand himself, or he would never have sung what he did! Here is a group of women dancing in the more traditional style.

A couple of weeks after the wedding, I got a late night phone call from Allen's mother. She was very excited and it took me a minute to understand everything she was saying, but it turns out that many families have a private party the day after the wedding. They hadn't been able to do that, so they were having a delayed "See the Bride Party". No men allowed. She was very clear that only Julie and I could go. It's a chance for close friends and family to--see the bride. I'm curious about this traditional and look forward to finding out more about it, but Julie and I did go to see the bride! I wasn't sure what we were getting into, but it turned out to be a luncheon party. Of course, we ate; we danced, because you can't be happy and not dance here. Then, to my horror, we had to make speeches for a video!! I wasn't totally unprepared, because this culture is into speaking blessings. I just wasn't expecting a video. I had spent some time earlier in the day reading over 1 Corinthians 13 in the local language so that I could share some of what Scripture says about real love. Please pray that the few words that I said would take root, that Allen and his bride would realize their need for the only true God who can give them love that never fails.

Julie and me at the See the Bride Party with Allen's aunt and cousin

Happy 4th Birthday!!

2009-07-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

My baby turned four a few weeks ago. (This has been a hectic summer, so I'll probably be behind on posting updates for a while!)

For months, Sean and Hannah Grace have had a running joke. Sean asks Hannah Grace to give him a chocolate cupcake. She tells him he can have one on her birthday. Sean pretends to cry and Hannah Grace laughs. Believe it or not, I found a recipe for a cupcake cake! It wasn't chocolate, since I'm not talented enough to frost chocolate cake with white frosting and not have crumbs showing all through. Hannah Grace and one of her little friends (all the others were gone on a camping trip) helped with putting the flower petals on the cupcakes. I noticed Hannah Grace licking her fingers frequently so I made sure she ate the cupcake that she decorated!

Checking out the birthday presents

My parents sent Hannah Grace a Boz video that she had been wanting for a long time. I love this picture of her enjoying it for the first time.

The New Freedom of Religion

2009-06-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

Last post I mentioned that we just received our first copies of the complete Bible in the local language. What I didn't mention is that the situation for believers and workers here is becoming progressively difficult.

In recent elections, the constitutional freedom of religion section was amended. For those of you who had to read 1984 in high school, it has been classic "double speak". The new freedom of religion places significant restrictions on both local and foreign believers. No meetings in homes, no handing out literature, no suggesting that one religion is better than another. The legal status of all religious organizations has been revoked and all groups will have to re-apply for legal status, at which time the government department that oversees religion will examine the doctrine and history of each group to determine if it is "harmful". Punishments range from stiff fines (several years' worth of salary) to prison or, in the case of foreigners, deportation.

This is a trend that has been observed all across Central Asia, not just where we live. Many workers across the region are having trouble obtaining or renewing visas. By the way, we are up to renew next month, so please pray that our paperwork goes through smoothly!

We appreciate your prayers for us, for the work here and for the local church. Ultimately, God is sovereign in all of these events and, although He may not choose to accomplish His will here in a manner that we like, it will be accomplished.

Milestone

2009-06-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked an important milestone in the work here. It has taken a long time, a lot of work, and much prayer. For the first time, the complete Bible--Genesis to Revelation--is available in our country. You probably can't imagine what that means both to foreign and local workers. There is a lot of excitement about this event and great expectations of what lies ahead.

Please pray with us that, just as He promised, God's word will not return void.

Wedding Pictures

2009-05-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

It has taken a month, but I finally scanned pictures from Andy and Emerald's wedding to share with you.

Weddings here are a feast! When guests arrive, the tables are already covered with salads, fresh greens, cheeses, bread, and drinks. (Just for the record, we always stick with juice and water although there is generally a liberal supply of vodka for the men!) After everyone has had time to enjoy the salads, waiters begin bringing out kebabs--chicken, lamb, beef, ground lamb patties, fish, liver, and potato.

At some point the bride and groom arrive with a great deal of fanfare. The groom will have gone to the bride's home earlier in the day along with his family and closest friends. A small band of three or four musicians accompanies him, so the entire neighborhood knows when the bride is about to come out of her house. The entire wedding party then heads out for pictures in a local park, and then on to the "wedding palace", as it is called.

Once they arrive, the party begins. There are many speeches made by friends and family as well as lots of music and dancing. At some point during the evening, each party of guests has a picture made at the head table with the bride and groom. Traditionally, the bride does not speak to guests, but exceptions have been made in the case of ignorant foreigners such as ourselves!

In case you're wondering why the bride isn't wearing white, it is because this wedding was the first of two. Unless there are severe financial problems, there is a "boy wedding", hosted by the groom's family and a "girl wedding", hosted by the bride's family. We attended the bride's wedding since it was held closer to where we live. At the groom's wedding the bride does wear white, with a red ribbon tied around her waist. At that point, they are officially married, the bride takes her husband's name and goes to live with him and his parents.

We've been to several weddings here, but saw yet one more tradition that we hadn't come across before--at least not at a wedding. People here are very superstitious, and there are tons of "lucky" charms ranging from horseshoes to evil eye talismans. There is also a dried flower that some people put in their cars and homes to ward off bad luck. I had been told (but had never seen it done) some people burn this weed and carry the smoke through their house after having visitors. The purpose is to purge out any jealousy that the guests may have harbored after seeing your beautiful home and lovely possessions. After all, the root behind the evil eye in this belief system is jealousy. At any rate, a waiter brought a tray of burning weeds to each table and waved it around the guests. Many people gave tips, I suppose to make the good luck more potent. It was quite bizarre for us foreigners, and especially for the newcomers who weren't familiar with the depth of superstition in this culture.

As always, please lift up Andy and Emerald. It has been such a long time with no sign of any hope or change. It can be a struggle for me to continue praying, yet I'm constantly reminded of Epaphras. Paul told the Philippians that he labored earnestly day and night praying for the young believers there.

Thank you for praying for us and remembering the work here.

What Is Our Calling?

2009-05-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Those of you who receive Randy's email update are aware that friends of ours are suffering today. Here is a timely word on our real purpose in life.

Weddings, Beggars, and More

2009-04-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

The past week has been very busy and very interesting. This time last week I was getting ready to attend a fellowship supper with Randy for CPers with various agencies, when the doorbell rang. Since I was busy, I asked Sean to find out who it was. He returned and said it was someone speaking Russian. I have a Russian vocabulary of approximately 5-10 words so I figured it was someone at the wrong gate. They were persistent in ringing the doorbell, so I left what I was doing and went to the gate. It turned out to be the national census. So, I spent the next thirty minutes answering questions about our nationality, how many languages we speak, education (including what our degrees are in), how long we plan to live here, where we work, what grades our children are in, where they were born, where else we've lived, and a few other random questions. It felt more like an inquisition than a census!

The fellowship we were attending was a special event. Several agencies worked together to bring in a special speaker, Joanne Shetler. She is the author of And the Word Came with Power. It tells the story of her work among a headhunter tribe in the northern Philippines. Julie has been especially excited ever since she found out that Miss Shetler would be coming, since the book was one of her readers during the last school year.

Sunday night was Andy and Emerald's first wedding. This one was what they call the girl's wedding and is put on by the bride's family. Emerald's parents were very gracious and attentive, and were excessively worried because we didn't stay very late. A couple of days later Zumrud found me on Facebook and said that her mother was afraid we left unhappy. I assured her it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with babysitters needing to go home.

Beggars are fairly common here. Some sit on the sidewalk and beg from passersby, while others go from house to house, knocking on doors. This week a woman came to the door asking for work. She had a little note explaining that she was mute. She made hand motions to show that she has two children and that she had been all over the neighborhood knocking on doors. I wasn't able to give her a job, but I did have some food for her to take home. She hugged me and kissed me, and I was able to talk to her for a minute or two about Jesus. Certainly not a full gospel presentation, but it was hard to tell how much she really understood of what I was saying to her. I asked her to write her name down so I can pray for her. She wrote "Zuleykha". Because names here always have some meaning, I looked it up in the dictionary. I couldn't find her name, but it is very closely related to the root word for "darkness" or "oppression". Without a doubt, that is an obvious prayer request. Please pray for her with me.

Persecution

2009-04-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since Hannah Grace was born, we hired a young woman to come a couple of times a week and help out around the house. It's a great arrangement--she is able to supplement her family's income and I get some help keeping up with all of the housework. This young lady is a strong believer, and although we belong to different denominations, we have had many good conversations over the past three and a half years about what it means to be a Muslim background believer.

For years her unbelieving father has made life difficult. He has ridiculed her faith, threatened, and at times prevented her from attending worship. Today my friend told me that her father said that until she turns from Christ, he won't allow her to eat any food that is bought with his money. He is threatening to turn her out of the house, although she feels like that is mostly an idle threat. But she is now completely dependent on us for grocery money.

After talking a while, she told me, "Please just pray that I can be strong, and that I can respond to my father in a Christlike way." Obviously, she is looking for ways to increase her income--another job, more hours--and although she wants prayer to have her physical needs met, those are not her greatest concern. She doesn't even want to necessarily have this persecution removed; in some ways she welcomes it as a way to see her faith refined to pure gold.

Please pray for this young woman, and so many other believers like her who suffer persecution in various forms. Pray for those of us who live among these believers, that we will know how to bear this burden with them.

Growing Boys and Muslim Fashions

2009-03-28T05:25:00.001-07:00

Every mother of teenage boys has experienced the stress of pants that "shrink". It seems like the hems of their jeans are perpetually about an inch too short. Yesterday Kevin had an experience that adds a whole new layer of stress. I had sent him to the store for some groceries, and while he was there the security guard stopped him and began asking him questions. When he realized that Kevin was American, he told him to be sure not to wear pants that length any more. The reason? He looked too much like a Wahabbi with his pants hem just above his ankles. Personally, I don't think a blond-headed teenager looks like a terrorist just because he outgrew his pants too quickly, but we'll pass the jeans along anyway to avoid any more encounters with security guards.

Good News!

2009-03-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you not on facebook, where I've been posting frequent updates, Sean has finished his medical testing here in Istanbul and we are getting ready to head home Sunday morning.

The final diagnosis is reactive hypoglycemia, which means that he does not have diabetes. He does have to eat frequently and continue to monitor his blood sugar for a while, especially before bed. The doctor feels sure that Sean will outgrow this in time.

Everybody back at our house seems to be managing well in our absence. We've been able to talk on skype everyday, which is a big help for us all. Hannah Grace is convinced we're in Turkey for the express purpose of looking at animals. There is a house with peacocks near where we're staying, and I told her about seeing them along with some fish we saw at a nearby mall. She doesn't quite understand why we left her home just to go see peacocks, but she's taking it in stride.

Thank you for all of your prayers for our family over the past two weeks.

Preparing to travel

2009-03-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sean and I will be heading out of country on Monday the 16th. He will be examined by an endocrinologist to see what may have caused his low blood sugar. We expect to be there at least ten days.

Please pray for safe travel, for a good diagnosis, and for grace for our entire family as we're apart during this time.

Pray for Sean

2009-03-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

Randy and Kevin took Sean to the emergency room last night about 1:00. He was not feeling well and began having very rapid heartbeat, profuse sweating, uncontrollable shaking and muscles jerking. Needless to say it was very frightening, but the doctor on call was able to quickly identify the problem. Sean, for reasons that aren't clear, had extremely low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). As I write he is still in the hospital for observation but should be released some time this morning.

The doctor told Randy that we shouldn't expect a clear diagnosis on why Sean went into shock. Please be praying that if there is some underlying cause that it would be quickly revealed and resolved. Praise God with us that we were able to get good medical treatment.

Spreading Propaganda

2009-02-27T22:42:00.000-08:00

That's what I've been accused of. Emerald and I were chatting on the internet about nothing in particular when, out of the blue, she brought up religion. Among other things, she suggested that religion is all I think about. My answer was that my faith in Jesus (not religion) affects every area of my life; I can't separate my life into categories of "religious" and "non-religious". That's when she said that I'm just busy spreading propaganda.

Coming from someone who once professed faith in Jesus, that hurt. Especially coming from someone who once professed faith. So I don't believe it was any coincidence that I've been reading through 1 Peter for the last few weeks. And it was no coincidence that the passage I read the morning after my conversation with Emerald was the following:

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:13-16

Now, being accused of propaganda doesn't really fit my definition of suffering. Intimidation, maybe. Troubling, without a doubt. After reading this passage, however, I actually felt blessed. Previously, in this same chapter, Peter says that we should not return insult for insult, but that we should give a blessing instead. That can be hard to do, but Peter also tells us the reason we can bless people who insult us: we have the assurance of inheriting a blessing from God.

Thank you for being so faithful to pray for us for Andy and Emerald over the past two years. It's hard for me to continue praying when things seem to be going so badly. Please pray that I can return blessings to Emerald in return for her insults.

2009-02-06T04:16:00.000-08:00

This past week was a very busy one for me. Our team ladies were honored with a visit from the wives of three of our regional leaders. We had a great time visiting, sharing meals, and enjoying a little time out and about the city.

Wednesday, a couple of the ladies and I shared a taxi for the ride home. The driver was friendly and had plenty of questions. When he found out that I actually live here, he began with the usual questions about whether we like it here and how long we plan to stay. I replied that we expect to be here two more years, and then we'll spend some time in the US before coming back. He said, "Oh, you shouldn't go back to the US. Things are pretty bad there, plus there's a new president and you never know what a new president might do. You need to try to stay here instead."

I suppose his comment means that he'll be voting "yes" in the upcoming referendum to abolish presidential term limits.

The need for better proofreaders. . .

I read the local language online paper for information, and the locally written English language online paper for entertainment. Here is an actual quote from a couple of weeks ago: "It is currently unclear whose residuals are absent in the grave." After reading the entire article multiple times, it seems that a memorial cemetery is being removed to make way for a new park. However, when the city began the process of exhuming the bodies, some were missing. The quote should read: "It is currently unclear whose remains are missing from the grave."

Temptation

I wasn't really tempted to close the washer. . .honest. . .

My Littlest Scholar

2009-01-16T04:01:00.000-08:00

We have a new student in our homeschool. Hannah Grace has been very faithful to sit in on nearly every class since we've started back after Christmas vacation. She has a Winnie the Pooh coloring book that she uses for "chemissy" and "quisses". Her favorite phrase now is, "It's my turn, ask me a queshun!" During the boys' history class, she used a Tigger book for her text and "answered" questions about the Middle Ages. It's been really cute, and everybody has been very patient with her participation.

Unfortunately, however, today she crossed the line. Julie was doing an art project, and she had all of her supplies set out on the kitchen table. When I called her for math class, she forgot to put things away. The disaster that I found only a few minutes later was incredible. Hannah Grace had poured out an entire large tube of glitter over a stencil and piece of paper. The glue stick was coated with a layer of glitter, as were several stamps. The ink pads for the stamps were relatively glitter-free, because they had been used to coat little fingers with ink. I noticed a bit of glitter on my lunch plate, and I'm sure we'll be seeing it for weeks--maybe even months.

The most pitiful thing is that our little artist was so proud of her creation and couldn't understand why art time was immediately canceled. She even told me that I'm not a good mommy anymore because I took away the glue! Then she cried because she wants to be "taller" so she can do her art project with glue.

All in all, she's had a disappointing day. Hopefully the weekend will be a little better. . .

My Favorite Christmas 2009 picture

2009-01-09T01:58:00.000-08:00

This is Hannah Grace watching Winnie the Pooh for the first time. It's her new favorite, and I'm so glad that it wasn't one of the items stolen out of our luggage!

By the way, for you observant readers, I have no idea why the camera is set to the year 2025. I'm not even sure if this was taken with our camera--we had a little mixup since our camera and my mother's are identical.

Luggage Update

2009-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

Randy got a call from the airport today to let him know that one of our bags had arrived from France. He drove out there--thankfully the ice on the roads is mostly melted--and filled out the paperwork on the bag. Then he told the worker that we had another bag missing. The guy looked it up in the ledger (no computerized list) and saw that our second bag was at the other terminal. Somehow it ended up going to Turkey. The good news is that we now have both bags. The bad news is that somebody helped themselves to some of the contents of one suitcase. I do have to say, though, that this is the first time in thirteen years of traveling around that we've had a suitcase broken into, so I'm working to keep my complaining to a minimum! Thanks for your prayers for our family.

Quick Update

2009-01-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

The sun came out this morning and the temperatures rose to above freezing. Kevin and Sean spent the morning shoveling snow, while Randy poured warm water over the pipes. Thanks to the better weather and Randy's hard work, we now have running water again!

Online Again

2008-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

Our four week vacation turned into a seven week medical leave, but we are finally back in our house and Randy managed to get the internet up and running this morning.

We have a couple of immediate prayer needs. Right now, we have no running water in our house. That's no fun any time, but after a trans-Atlantic flight it's especially disheartening. Please pray that Randy and Kevin will be able to get our pipes thawed out today in spite of the wind and snow.

We also have some missing luggage. One contained almost all of Kevin's and Sean's clothes; Julie's shoes were in the other. All we have here for her are sandals, which aren't exactly appropriate for subfreezing temperatures. Please pray that the luggage will turn up quickly, and that the roads will be passable so that we can get the luggage from the airport to our house.

Thanks for remembering us!

2008-10-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

Our yard looks more like spring than fall these days. We've had a lot of rain over the past few weeks, and we're seeing grass for the first time. It's amazing how nice the yard looks with a little green on the ground!

I also didn't know that roses bloom twice, but we're enjoying a second rounds of blossoms. Hannah Grace is making one of her famous silly faces.

Of course, I think these two are the prettiest flowers in our garden!

A Tale of Two Brothers

2008-10-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

This week, I did something that I haven't done in years. I gave the boys a haircut. Normally, haircuts are their own responsibility. There are several little hole-in-the-wall barber shops within walking distance, so they go on their own and pay out of their own money. They were both overdue, so I suggested they take care of it on Monday. Kevin was anxious to go, and summoned Sean to go with him. Sean, however, doesn't like to do anything on the spur of the moment. He refused to go on such short notice. I asked if he would feel better prepared on the next day. That was fine with him, but Kevin didn't want to wait that long. I then suggested that Kevin go right then, and Sean could go on Tuesday. Sean didn't want to go by himself. At that point, I jokingly offered to cut their hair myself. This is (more or less) the conversation that followed:

Kevin: Yeah! Let's do that.

Sean: Ummm. . .I'll go to the barber shop with you now.

Kevin: But, Sean, think of the money we'll save!

Sean: Kevin, I didn't mean for you to go that far. I'll go with you to the barber shop.

Kevin: No, I really would rather Mommy cut our hair. She used to do it all the time.

Sean: Ummm. . .

Me: I'll cut Kevin's hair, and then you can look at it and decide if you want me to do yours too.

Sean: Okay.

After cutting Kevin's hair, Sean looked at it and decided it was acceptable, but there was still one more hurdle. He looked at Kevin and said, "Did it hurt?" Kevin reassured him that it was far less painful than the local barber, and the haircut problem was finally solved.

11 Years Old!

2008-10-18T02:54:00.000-07:00

Julie and several of her friends celebrated with a dress-up party. The dress Julie is wearing is special, because it was made by my grandmother and used to be mine. I can already tell that Julie is going to outgrow me, because unless my memory is really failing, I was a few years older than her when I wore the dress.

Medical Concerns

2008-10-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

As you may have realized from previous posts, medical care where we live isn't always the greatest in the world. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is corruption in the education system. (More about that in a future post.)

Two weeks ago, the young woman who helps out around the house called and said that she wouldn't be able to come in the next day. She had stepped on a rusty nail a few days earlier, and her foot was swollen, hot and red. I asked her if she had been to the doctor. As I continued to ask questions, I realized that she had never heard of tetanus. It had never occurred to her that she needed to see a doctor. Even after I begged her to see a doctor, she insisted on treating the wound at home. I'm very thankful that God, in His goodness, healed her foot. At the same time, I was very troubled at how something that for us is so simple could have had a far worse result.

Like many places, home remedies are very popular around here. My guess is that vodka is the most widely-used remedy. In addition to drinking it, many people use it like we would use rubbing alcohol. Bear fat is not uncommon as an ointment. During the summer, burying yourself up to the neck in sand at the beach for the healing effects of salt and minerals is especially popular.

The most unusual home remedy I've been told about left me speechless, however. I had to ask several times to make sure I was really and truly understanding correctly. Although it isn't common, it is possible to go to the pharmacy and buy a leech. Yes, a leech, as in bloodletting. Getting rid of the bad blood so the good blood can increase.

In spite of the availability of leeches, not all medical care here is reminiscent of the 18th century. Still, the difference between East and West stands out in the area of medicine.

Skittles

2008-09-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a little visitor of the rodent variety in the house. Now we have a kitten. Hannah Grace is sole proprietor, and is absolutely convinced that Skittles loves her unconditionally. We're trying to protect him from her tender loving care, and hopefully he'll survive to be a good mouser one of these days.

Back Online

2008-09-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

We briefly considered enrolling our boys in a popular online school, but figured that sooner or later we would be without internet for an extended time. Not because we're pessimists, but because we've lived here too long to expect things to work properly. Sure enough, we were without internet most of last week. For us, that means no contact with the rest of the world. Sometimes that can be a good thing. :)

Here are a few things that have been going on around here that you can pray about with us:

Stability
There is a lot going on in this part of the world. Many Soviet countries, our host country included, are working through what the recent war between Georgia and Russia will mean for them.

Besides international instability, rumors are flying like crazy among like-minded workers of various agencies here. Without spreading any of the rumors, here are some things we are seeing. Many workers are running into nightmare scenarious trying to renew their visas. Some have had to temporarily leave the country, in one case with only a few hours' notice. Others are being asked to pay outrageous bribes ("respect money" as people here call it). Nobody is sure what is going on or what to expect.

Local believers
Harrassment of believers continues. One pastor in a different area of the country remains in jail on false charges.

Randy will be meeting with a local believer sometime this week to discuss partnering in the work. Please pray that this will be productive and we will find ways to work together.

Andy and Emerald
After months of trying to get together, they dropped by rather unexpectedly. As it was 10 pm, they didn't stay long, but promised they would see us this Sunday. They have made similar promises a number of times already, but perhaps this will be the week they follow through.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Electronic Evangelism and Other Updates

2008-09-12T02:43:00.000-07:00

Several of my friends have suggested from time to time that I ought to sign up for Facebook. For a long time I resisted, for a variety of reasons, but last week I finally gave in and created an account. In spite of the drawbacks, I have found one really good reason to use Facebook: Emerald. We have been in touch more during the past week than we have been over the past year. It seems crazy to me, living in the same city, but I'm glad to maintain any small connection that I can.

Please pray for Emerald. Since she turned away from Christ, she has been trying to fill the void in her life with Islam.

Other updates:

My head is healing. The lab reports came back this week, and the spot the surgeon removed was a basal cell cancer.
Randy also had a biopsy on a skin spot, which turned out to be a basal cell cancer.
Hannah Grace is also having some skin problems. We have been treating it as eczema, but it isn't responding to the medication.
In addition to the health issues, Randy's workload has increased.

On the positive side, home school is going well, even if it is exhausting work. The boys and I have made it through the first chapter and a half of chemistry. I have to admit, nothing from my high school chemistry class is coming back to me--that was only a couple of decades ago--so I'm having to study along with them. We'll see how things look in a few months. Chemistry wasn't my easiest subject.

Head Coverings

2008-09-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was able to have the stitches taken out of my scalp. I think I'll be wearing a scarf for a while. My Pentecostal friend, whose church requires women to keep their heads covered, will think I've converted.

Head coverings here can mean any number of things. Obviously, women from devout Muslim families keep their heads covered. There are several different looks, depending on which branch the woman adheres to. The Sunni women usually have very beautiful, colorful scarves arranged very elaborately. On occasion we see women wearing head-to-toe coverings, usually foreigners from neighboring countries. Then there's the babushka look, usually sported by very large, elderly ladies: dark brown, black or dark blue kerchiefs. Some ethnic groups have their own distinct style of head coverings. My Pentecostal friend is often mistaken for ethnic Chechnyan because of the way she arranges her scarf. The downside to that is that she's invariably subjected to a police search whenever she rides the subway. There's a general suspicion that Chechnyan women might have explosives hidden under their head covering. And then, there's one of the more common head coverings. Three or four days without water means a bad hair day. The young women here are generally very beautiful, and quite vain. A nice scarf looks a lot better than dirty hair!

We're Back

2008-08-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a new afternoon flight, we're feeling well-rested after our trip back home yesterday. In the past, we've had to catch our flight during the middle of the night, so this was a nice change of pace.

Here's a summary of our time away:

Talent Show

We had a week of meetings with coworkers, with fun during the evenings. The last night both Sean and Julie participated in the talent show. I knew that Sean was talented on the guitar, but hadn't realized how much so until several people who know a lot about guitar explained that it takes a great deal of skill to do what he does. Julie sang, and when she finished the MC walked up and said, "What are you, a miniature 25-year-old?"

Scalped. . .

We took advantage of the available health care and scheduled several needed checkups. We still aren't sure if Hannah Grace has eczema or psoriasis, but we're farther along toward a diagnosis than we have been. Randy had a biopsy taken from a spot on his arm, which we should hear about in a week or so. I saw a doctor about a sore that I've had on my scalp for a long time now. The doctor's English was great, until he began explaining the procedure he would need to perform. He said, "You know, it's like. . .it's like. . .uh, what the Indians used to do to people!" Having lived overseas more than a decade, I just laughed. As it turns out, he was partially accurate. He removed a small patch of skin and put in eight stitches, which is a far sight better than the skin graft he warned could be necessary. Still, I have far more insight than I could ever want into just how awful the practice of scalping must have been.

Glasses!!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Travelling Again. . .

2008-08-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

As I looked at the clothes stacked in our suitcases, I thought of my mother-in-law. She always used to say that if I had a nickel for every time I had packed a suitcase. . . Anyhow, we're leaving early in the morning--although thankfully not as early as usual--for a week long conference with coworkers. We'll spend a few days afterward taking care of some minor medical issues while we have the chance.

Please pray for:

safe travel
good weather
health: these conferences are notorious for spreading nasty viruses that we all carry in from our various countries

Also, please pray for peace and stability in this part of the world. I'm sure many have seen the events in Georgia [the country] over the past week. As you can imagine, many of the post-Soviet countries are feeling uneasy and nervous.

Back to School

2008-08-12T02:46:00.000-07:00

Even though we'll have to break next week for a conference, we decided to plunge in and get a start on the new school year.

In this photo Hannah Grace is enjoying Kevin and Sean's first chemistry experiment--a simple test to show that air does, in fact, have mass. For some reason, she decided that it was a good moment to tickle Sean's knee.

All in all, it's going well in spite of the fact that I managed to forget to order Julie's spelling book. I'm trying to decide if I should just white out all of the answers in the teacher's edition. . .

Homemaking Is Ministry

2008-08-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

I've been reading some good articles, books and blog posts lately. One series that has been especially helpful can be found at the Girl Talk blog. It begins with the post, Homemaking Is Not a Hindrance, and continues on with a good many articles to encourage discouraged housewives. We are often told that the childrearing years are just a season and it will be over soon. Very true. . .I'm keenly aware of this as I watch two teens, a pre-adolescent and a toddler grow up all too quickly. However, the underlying thought behind this idea is often "Enjoy your children while they're small. Then when they're grown you can do the important things that you don't have time for now." These articles challenge women to change our thinking about homemaking, and I highly recommend them.

About the time I was giving this a lot of thought, God provided a great object lesson to highlight all that I had been reading. Our house helper, a young ,single, believing woman, has commented several times on how different our family is. Last week she told about watching how Kevin handled a temper tantrum that Hannah Grace pitched while I was gone. She was amazed that Kevin, a 16-year-old boy, knew better how to discipline a child than she did herself. As we talked, I asked whether or not her church provided teaching on families and childrearing. Her response was, "We have teaching. We hear it night and day. I know the teaching by heart. Until now, I've never seen how put the teaching into practice."

Elizabeth Elliot once wrote that when Paul was talking about older women teaching younger women the Scriptural virtues of wives and mothers, he wasn't talking about studies and seminars. He was talking about teaching by example, teaching by walking alongside younger women. This is the kind of teaching that my house helper needs.

If you read the last post on marriage, you can imagine that Christ-centered families are incredibly rare. There are so few examples for young wives and mothers to follow. Although I know that I certainly don't have everything together as a wife and mother, I have been encouraged to remember that just living here and raising a family is meeting a huge need for the young women around me.

Culture and Bible Stories

2008-07-25T03:01:00.000-07:00

Quite a few weeks ago I was talking with a local believer. She was going through a difficult time in her marriage--and still is--and wanted some advice from Scripture. At one point she mentioned that she had never understood why Ruth was held up as someone special. My friend thought that Naomi was the more amazing character in the story. Later, I thought about what she had said and why she would think that way.

Marriage in this culture is between a woman and the husband's family. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have heard a mother-in-law talk about "my bride"--not "my son's bride"! In many ways, the relationship between mother-in-law and bride is the fundamental relationship in the family. Sadly, it is not uncommon for the young bride to be little more than servant to the mother-in-law. One elderly woman, an unbeliever, once told me that her son was an excellent son. When he married, he laid down the law and let his wife know that his mother was the boss and that if she didn't do what his mother said he would knock her head off.

It took me a long time to sort out the relationships in the very first family we met. They were our landlords and lived next door; we knew none of the language and they knew no English. There was a grandmother, a young mother and two sons. As I began to learn the language, I discovered that the mother was a widow, and that she was daughter-in-law to the grandmother. Living next door, we were well aware that there was a lot of arguing and yelling, so it really surprised me that this very young widow would continue to live with her mother-in-law when it was obvious that they weren't the best of friends.

In this culture, however, it was the most natural of situations. The young woman had married into that family. She left her family and was now bound to her in-laws, widow or not. She was obligated to stay.

My believer friend is currently separated from her husband. Where does she live? With her in-laws. Her husband is the one staying some place else. It's a painfully difficult situation for my friend, since she's living in a house full of people who are very angry with her.

And that is the background for how my friend views the story of Ruth. Of course Ruth stuck with Naomi. The shocking part of the story is that Naomi would allow Ruth to remarry. Not understanding the Jewish culture, people here are amazed at Naomi's selflessness and generosity.

The Bible means what it means, and I don't believe that meaning changes in different cultures. However, this conversation reminded me that I must understand the way people here think. Not only that, but I have to be on guard against understanding Scripture wrongly based on my own western background and culture.

Pray with us that we will be able to understand more and more fully the culture that we live in and how to present God's truth to people here.

Sixteen Years Old

2008-07-11T23:24:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe, but it's true. Kevin turned sixteen on July 7th. Where has the time gone? Obviously, his party was just a little bit different from his little sister's birthday party.

Kevin and his friends working on some very unusual pizzas.

Randy and I took him out to a nice Chinese restaurant for his birthday. He wasn't quite sure about the waiter placing a napkin on his lap, but otherwise we all enjoyed the meal. The next day we had a pizza party and sleepover with some of his friends. Our original plan was to take advantage of having our own yard and have a scavenger hunt. The weather didn't cooperate--it was amazing chilly and windy for July along with some light rain--so we improvised a game tournament indoors.

The latest computer game from Granny and PawPaw

Was he ever this little?

Three Years Old

2008-06-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Did you really give Kevin and Sean permission to do this to my chair??

Finally, everything came together at the same time: internet connection up and running, pictures transferred onto the computer, and enough free time to sit down and actually post pictures from Hannah Grace's birthday.

She turned three on June 20th, and has been looking forward to this day for months. Our celebration was very low-key, since we had just moved the day before. The fun thing is that, at three years old, the only two things that mattered to Hannah Grace were presents and a "fire cake". I was able to make a very unimpressive cake, and Randy brought home a riding toy that only a child could love. (Children's toys are neither impressive nor inexpensive here.) May she always be so easy to please!

Am I the only one that enjoys the squeaky toy?

Thank you, Granny and PawPaw!!

We've Moved

2008-06-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

After a lot of hard work, we are in our new house and enjoying a yard after five years of apartment dwelling. The children are all getting plenty of exercise and sunshine, and we have all put in quite a few hours picking cherries. There are also apricot trees, pomegranate, peach, fig, apple, and mulberry trees, plus a grape vine. Believe it or not, this is not a huge yard! The trees are all planted in close together, so it looks like a mini forest. It isn't exactly how an American would choose to landscape, but it's nice and shady.

Hannah Grace celebrated her third birthday in our new house, but we're still working on a good internet connection, so I can't post any pictures just yet.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

2008-06-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

Randy and Hannah Grace. . .my digital photo collection doesn't go far enough back to show the proud Daddy with his other three babies.

I'm thankful for both my husband, who is a wonderful father, and for my own father. I love both of you!

Funeral Traditions

2008-06-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening a family in the building across from us put up a funeral tent. Since we live in different buildings we've never had opportunity to meet, so of course we didn't go to the funeral. It has been interesting, however, to be able to watch up close as outsiders since the funeral has been going on right under our kitchen window.

Funerals here are totally different from anything we Westerners are familiar with. There is no funeral home or church; everything except for the burial is conducted right in the front yard.

Here are a few things we've learned about the customs surrounding death during our years here:

The tent will be up for three days, and then will go up again on the seventh day, the fortieth day, and on the first anniversary of death. The ground inside the tent is covered with carpets, and occasionally the sides are also hung with carpets. Tables and chairs are set up for meals in the tent.
Funerals are segregated. Only men go into the tent, while the women congregate in the house. Typically, women cover their heads with a scarf whether they are religious or not. There is also a men's visiting day and a women's visiting day, although both are present on the day of burial.
The bereaved are expected to wait on the guests, not the other way around. Hot tea is served around the clock, and there are several large meals provided for guests during the week. One of the traditional dishes is called halva, a dessert made with flour and sugar cooked in butter. I have been told that it gives those who are sick or in mourning extra strength.
Although the family is responsible for cooking and serving the meals, guests will often bring gifts of rice, sugar cubes and candy to help out with the cost.
Islam requires that the burial take place within 24 hours of death. The body is placed on a canopy-covered stretcher and carried to the cemetary. Only men are allowed to be present at the burial.
A mullah (the Muslim equivalent of a Christian pastor) reads from the Quran, speaks for a few minutes, and sings. I couldn't hear all of this particular sermonette, but the little I did catch seemed to be about the inevitability of death. Every so often the mourners wipe one hand down the front of their face as a sign of grief while the mullah speaks.

Thankfully, we have not yet had the experience of attending the funeral of a close friend. Even watching this funeral of someone I've never met from my kitchen window, I was struck with the absolute hopelessness of those people's grief. There are so many people we know that are still without hope for the next life, and death brings that truth to the surface.

Please pray for our friends and neighbors here to come to the knowledge of Christ so that they "will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Events This Month

2008-06-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

We expected June to be a busy month, but it has already held a few surprises for us and it's only the 10th.

On the first, we had a big get-together to say goodbye to one of our families. They are returning to the US for a few months and then will transfer to a nearby country. We expect to see them occasionally whenever we have to travel for medical care (hopefully that won't be too often) but Kevin will miss having another guy his age on our team.

That same week, we had two semi-unexpected visits. One is a family who is considering moving from another country in this region to our city. Randy walked in the door with them Wednesday evening and told me that they had a turkey that needed to go in the freezer. Odd, I thought, but of course they could put their turkey in my freezer. Later I realized that it was a gift for us--a genuine all-American butterball. We feasted on that after church this Sunday with our house church group!

Our other visitors arrived in the wee morning hours on Thursday, and stayed in our home until Saturday night. They work throughout our region doing member care, making sure that workers with our company are staying sane in some of the crazy places we live. It's always a joy to have them visit, as they embody the phrase "servant leadership". They even helped us carry some boxes to our new house.

That's the other major event this month. The family that left earlier this month vacated a great house, and they began working on us months ago to move in as soon as they left. At first, we didn't consider it very seriously. Now, we're in the middle of packing. We had hoped to move by the middle of this month, but that doesn't seem likely at this point.

Yesterdy, our favorite plumber spent five hours at our house. Saturday was the third time in about as many months that our hot water heater caught on fire. It turns out that whoever originally installed it used very thin wires to connect the thermostat to the power source. As Anar was explaining the root problem, a song from one of the children's Bible verse CDs kept running through my head:

He who is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. (Proverbs 18:9)

We also have plans to go on a day trip with Allen and his mother some time next week. None of the details are worked out yet, but that isn't anything unusual here. I'm sure everything will come together in good time.

Also coming up this month is Hannah Grace's birthday and our 18th wedding anniversary. With all of that going on, we've had to turn down two wedding invitations this month. Weddings here are rather different than US style weddings, and Randy wasn't too distressed about having to miss out on the fun.

As you think of us, please pray that we will be able to use our time wisely, and that our trip with Allen will be eternally fruitful. Please give thanks with us that we have found a good place to live and that we didn't have a serious fire in our current apartment.

Lost in the Translation

2008-06-04T01:08:00.001-07:00

Here's a quote from a local English-language newspaper:

"Mass disinfection, disinsection, and deratization measures are taken due to summer season."

What this means is that the public health ministry is cleaning, spraying pesticides and poisoning rats. I can't allow myself to laugh because I have language class in less than two hours and I'll likely say something just as unintelligible.

Unapproved?

2008-05-23T00:40:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since we've seen or heard from Andy and Emerald. They wanted to come for a visit and meet my parents while they were here. First they made plans to meet us all at our English center. Andy did get to drop in for a brief moment during a break from work, but Emerald didn't make it. They said they would plan on coming by our house two days later around lunch time. Then that didn't work out, but they said they could visit the next day. Again they didn't show up. Emerald called the day my parents were leaving to say they would come by that evening. Once more, they weren't able to follow through.

Throughout all of our disappointment in this situation, there is a scripture that has both drawn me and convicted me. Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved. 2 Corinthians 13:7 I've had to ask myself how I would feel if this young couple returned to Christ, but through someone else's ministry. What if it appeared that another person succeeded where we have failed? Of course I would be thrilled if they were doing right, regardless of the circumstances, but would it bother me a little that I might look bad--unapproved? This verse has become a regular part of my prayer time over the last few months. Partly, I'm praying for Andy and Emerald. Partly, I'm praying for myself.

A Great Visit

2008-05-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Several months ago Julie wrote a pitiful email to my parents asking if they could come see us here. Everything worked out and they were able to spend two weeks with us. We all had a good time and were sorry to see them go.

While they were here we invited Allen and his mother for dinner.

We also spent an evening at our English Center. The students always enjoy having visitors from the United States. They're interested in hearing about the different areas of the US, jobs, lifestyle, families, economy and politics.

If you're interested in a one or two week trip, we're always thrilled to have volunteers come in and help out at our center. There are no special skills required other than the ability to speak English, and a desire to share the love of Christ.

If you receive Randy's weekly emails, you know that he is dealing with some medical problems. He'll be traveling to a nearby country to see a specialist in a couple of weeks. Please pray that he will get a clear diagnosis and a good treatment plan. Don't forget to pray for the children and me also during the time that we're on our own here.

What Does It Mean to Bear Your Cross?

2008-04-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

There are some thought-provoking answers to this question at Randy Alcorn's blog, Eternal Perspectives. Here are some that I will be thinking about:

Lack of self-indulgence and self-pity; he does what he does gladly, following his Master by choice, not just as demanded by circumstance.

It means carrying your cross is not just one big sacrifice that you make, then you’re done with, like giving one of your kidneys, or selling your house and giving to the poor or that time you ran out in traffic and pulled the kid back from the bus.This is something you do every day. So it’s a thousand or ten thousand daily sacrifices, a lifetime of little loving acts, which cumulatively become huge.

It can be a temptation, living overseas, to feel like we've already made our sacrifice just by getting on the plane and leaving our families behind. That will only lead to the self-indulgence and self-pity that Mr. Alcorn mentions.

Land of the Free

2008-03-29T01:52:00.000-07:00

Living here, we occasionally see and hear things that make us thankful for the freedom we enjoy in the United States. A couple of weeks ago I heard about an incident that served to remind me once again that we are not living in a free country. Our children's language tutor came in one day and told me that she had been detained by the police the day before. The reason? She was taking pictures. They set her in the back of the police car and drove to a different location where a plainclothes officer got in and began questioning her. She confessed to me that she lied about her job since she was afraid to admit to the police that she works for foreigners, even if it is just as a children's tutor. They finally let her go after destroying the pictures on her camera, along with a stern warning to only take pictures at approved tourist sites.

Pray for those around us, and for the many people around the world who don't know political and religious freedom. Don't just pray that worldly governments would become democratic. Pray that these people would experience a spiritual freedom in Christ that transcends their physical situation.

And More Fire. . .

2008-03-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Persian New Year! We celebrated the first day of spring by joining some friends for a trip to Fire Mountain. It isn't quite as impressive as the name sounds, but at least we were out of the city for a little while and the children all got to run around in the open air. The only drawback was the wind. We weren't prepared for the drop in temperature leaving the city, and the wind speed was considerably higher out away from all of the high-rise apartments.

"Fire Mountain" is one of several places here where natural gas deposits leak through the surface of the ground. Once they are lit--usually by accident--they become a perpetual flame. I believe this particular spot has been burning since the 1950's.

Maybe we'll go back sometime with hot dogs and marshmallows.

Week of Fire

2008-03-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was the third week before the Persian New Year, the night when people set bonfires and jump over them--after they've died down a little. There will be more fires on the 20th and 21st, when spring officially begins. This photo is of the courtyard for our apartment building.

There is a lot of superstition and fortune telling that goes on during this time of year. One of the most popular methods is to hide near their neighbor's door and eavesdrop. The first thing that they hear foretells their luck for the year.

Ironically enough, we had a minor fire in our apartment this week. Randy and I both woke up during the middle of the night because of a loud noise. A few minutes later we smelled smoke and discovered that our hot water heater was burning. We were very thankful that God protected us, and that we were able to get the problem fixed easily.

Staying Busy

2008-03-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

I wasn't able to post anything last week because there just wasn't time to stop and write. Here are a few highlights from the last few weeks along with prayer requests:

Students
Last Wednesday I took the children to our English center and showed the young women how to make authentic American style pizza. They learned some important techniques, including cooking the meat before putting it on the pizza and using seasonings in the sauce rather than spreading ketchup on the pizza dough. We had a fun afternoon and the pizzas turned out great.

Visitors
The previous Wednesday I had to skip my usual afternoon at the English center because of a visit from our company's member care department. There have been some changes in the structure, and this was a "get to know you" visit from our new representative.

Volunteers
We also had a week of business training seminars assisted by a group of four volunteers from the US. Randy has been involved in those meetings most of the week, and we both attended a banquet for the participants last night. We enjoyed sitting across from a young engaged couple who are both believers. My biggest disappointment was that the couple that I most wanted to spend some time with were unable to attend. They are not believers, but are very open and interested. Please pray that we can get together with this family in the near future.

Holidays
It's the holiday season here. Today is 8 March, Women's Day. It's a little like Mother's Day, but honoring all females young and old.

The big holiday, though, is the Persian New Year. The season officially began on the last Tuesday of February, with children ringing doorbells and leaving their hats at the doors. People put candy, nuts, fruit, pastries and/or coins in the hats. Everybody is busy cooking baklava, boiling eggs and making decorative trays of wheat sprouts. I'll write more later about some of the superstitions surrounding the holiday.

Andy & Emerald update
My main goal right now is to keep in contact with Andy and Emerald. I sent her a text message congratulating her on Women's Day and she called back immediately. We had a nice, friendly conversation--no strain or tension. Our biggest hurdle is Andy's job. He works seven days a week until 7 PM, and he doesn't allow Emerald to go anywhere except school without him. Now that the weather is improving and the days are getting longer, I hope to invite them over for a late dinner after he gets off work one evening. Please continue to pray for open doors, and that they will turn back to Christ.

Thoughts on Hospitality

2008-02-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

Romans 12:13 tells us that we are to meet the needs of the saints and practice hospitality. During our time overseas, I've had ample opportunity to learn what this really means, and what it doesn't mean. One of the biggest obstacles I've faced is my own perfectionism. I want my house to be perfect and the meal to be spectacular. I've found that this usually translates into pride and a desire for approval.

There are a couple of incidents that God has used to break me of this. One happened shortly after we moved to Central Asia. I had agreed to host an all-male team of US students with their professor, along with a couple of national students, overnight. The day before they arrived, our building's gas was cut off, leaving us without hot water or any means of cooking. We lived mostly on bread and cheese for four days and took cold showers. (Thankfully, it was July!) Needless to say, Martha Stewart would not have been impressed. Still, word got back around to me from yet another national student that our willingness to fill our house with wall-to-wall sleeping bags had made a good impression.

I still have a long way to go in learning how to practice Biblical hospitality, so I enjoyed this article on the subject. It starts off with a good reminder on the spiritual aspect of hospitality: serving Jesus by serving others. Then it gives some great practical tips on how to be prepared for hospitality.

These Momentary, Light Afflictions

2008-02-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

I read this quote today on the Of First Importance blog:

“When we shall come home and enter to the possession of our Brother’s fair kingdom, and when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory, and when we shall look back to pains and sufferings; then shall we see life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to glory; and that our little inch of time - suffering is not worthy of our first night’s welcome home to heaven.”
- Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2007) 19.

It made me think of one of my favorite Scripture passages, 1 Corinthians 4. The reason I like it so much is because it helps take my attention off of the present, and places it on things that are eternally significant.

Life isn't especially easy right now, and I know plenty of people who live in far more difficult circumstances than we do. When I get frustrated with washing my dishes in a trickle of cold water, I can just drop by and visit the lady across the street. She has to wash her dishes outside at the public water spigot. That can be a hassle any day, but when the high temperature for the day is 39 degrees Farenheit, it has to be pure misery.

If I let myself begin to dwell on the difficulties of living here--not just the physical difficulties, but the discouragement of not seeing any results--then it's only a matter of moments before I begin to lose heart and grow weary. If I didn't have the hope that present difficulties are "less than one step or stride from a prison to glory", I wouldn't be able to stay here.

7 Things About Me

2008-02-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Jennifer from Norcross tagged me to tell seven things about myself, so here goes:

1. I've lived overseas for over 12 years.
2. I've lived in five different houses in the last four years. . .not counting our time in the US.
3. Randy and I have been married for almost 18 years now and would never have dreamed in 1990 how far, literally and spiritually, God would take us.
4. I enjoy cooking from scratch--which is a good thing considering where we live!
5. I love to read.
6. I love my family, and I love being a stay-at-home mom to four children. For those of you who wondered, but are too polite to ask :o), Hannah Grace was a surprise only in the sense that we didn't think we would be physically able to have another baby.
7. If there is anything good about me, it is only by the grace of God and His mercy toward me.

My Little Helper

2008-02-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

Hannah Grace is at that stage where she loves nothing better than to help me around the house. Here is her version of hanging up laundry, and no, I didn't post the photo upside down:

Timely Encouragement

2008-01-31T02:05:00.001-08:00

First of all, let me say thank you to everyone who has been praying for us over the last few days. Your emails and comments of encouragement have been a huge blessing.

Second, I ran across an article today that truly helps to put things back into perspective. Ever since Saturday, when I found out about Andy and Emerald, I knew that Randy and I aren't the first workers to experience this kind of discouragement. But this short article about a little-known woman named Mary Moffat was just the reminder that I needed, that previous generations of workers have endured tremendous difficulty and years of discouragment. If you're interested you can read the article at titus2talk.

The Week in Review

2008-01-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

This has been one of those weeks that makes you want to quit. Last Sunday Randy and I both started feeling sick, and while I got over it quickly, Randy has been sick all week with flu-like symptoms. By Tuesday, Sean had also come down with it.

Also on Tuesday, we were without electricity and running water from 6 am until 6 pm. That wasn't any fun, to say the least. On Friday, we had running water on our usual schedule but our electricity was off and on throughout the day.

Then, Saturday I got a call from Emerald. That was really exciting because we haven't been able to meet with them for many weeks now. Hannah Grace and I went to her house and stayed for several hours. Emerald told me that she and Andy have decided that they can no longer follow Christ. It's too hard for them to go against their families and their culture. It's too hard to believe that God could become man.

If there was ever a time that we are desparately in need of your prayers, it's now. The temptations to give up and leave are too great. This comes at a time when we are already exhausted physically and emotionally. This past year has seemed to be one setback after another, and this one is by far the most devastating.

There have been a number of Scriptures that God has placed on my heart over the past few months and weeks. Looking back, I can see that He was preparing me for this. I'm confident that He has some very valuable things to teach us, even though I don't exactly like the circumstances that He is using.

Ashura

2008-01-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

Our next door neighbor brought by a gift of lentil, bean and corn stew today. Her explanation was that today is the anniversary of their imam's death. I had totally forgotten about it, partly because the Islamic calendar is lunar, which means that the dates of religious holidays are different every year.

Today is important for Shia Muslims as they commemorate Ashura, the death of Imam Hussein over 1000 years ago. Many devout men will go to the mosque and beat themselves with chains until they shed blood, to demonstrate their grief.

The significance of this date is that it marks the split of Islam between Shia and Sunni, an event that still has great impact on world events. Much of the violence that you read about in Iraq today has its roots in the death of Imam Hussein and the division of the Islamic world.

May God open their hearts to the One who died so that they can be reconciled to Him.

One interesting side note: an acquaintance of mine who is not a practicing Muslim told me that the stew actually originated with Noah. There is an old tradition predating Islam that when Noah and his family left the ark and came down Ararat, they only had a handful of dried food remaining--lentils, peas, beans, and corn.

Food for Thought

2008-01-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Several years have gone by since I last read any of my books by A. W. Tozer. They have always been very challenging books for me and provide a lot to think over. So it caught my interest when I saw an article on a blog that mentions Tozer's rules for self-discovery. These are some simple ideas for self-examination that cut to the heart of whether our minds are set on the things above or on things below.

The one that was most convicting to me personally was "What do I think about most?" My thoughts tend to be consumed with practical things, like meals and laundry and homeschool, and all of the difficulties I have to overcome living here to accomplish the most basic tasks. Those are all things that I do have to think about, but too often I let those things crowd God out of my thinking. My prayer is that I will grow during this year to keep my mind set on Christ even when I'm busy keeping our family fed and clothed. I might even pull some of those books off the shelf and re-read them.

Hannah Grace and the Snowman

2008-01-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

Hannah Grace took on the neighborhood snowman in a snowball fight. She made two direct hits. The snowman never had a chance and Hannah Grace was the clear winner.

Snow Pictures

2008-01-06T23:38:00.000-08:00

This isn't our creation. Apparently the neighborhood kids were busy yesterday afternoon.

It's Bubbling!!

2008-01-06T01:08:00.000-08:00

Actually, it's snowing. When Sean took Hannah Grace to the window and told her that it was snowing she immediately responded, "NO! It's bubbling." It's been "bubbling" off and on for several days now, but today it is coming down thick and white.

I'll try to get some pictures up when I have a better connection.

English as a Second Language

2008-01-05T01:10:00.000-08:00

Living overseas, we often see and hear examples of poorly translated English. Recently, while Randy was preparing to leave for a conference, we looked at the website for the hotel where he will be staying. It was full of hilarious mistakes. Here are a few:

This hotel "is ready for entertain guests about unconditional guest hapinnes and intellect quality service."

"You make take your coffee in the cage of Green Garden of unique beauty or in the Cafe, which has the mystical motives of the. . .culture, and take pleasure of your holiday in various resting corners in our hotel’s garden."

"There is also a hair-dresser saloon both for ladies as well as for gentlemen in our SPA centre" Randy has promised not to visit the hair-dresser saloon!

They also mention "animation activities" (I have no idea what those might be) as well as "life music organisations" (live bands, maybe?).

Of course, being a language learner myself, I try not to laugh too hard at others' errors since I know that I've probably sounded just as ridiculous at times. Still, laughter is good medicine and one we enjoy taking once in a while.

Christmas, New Year's and Astrology

2007-12-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

Every year, we have the same conversation with our newest friends and acquaintances. "Why do Americans celebrate New Year's Day on December 25th?" They see our Christmas tree and decorations, which look very similar to their New Year's tree, and get a little confused. Of course, we're happy to explain that we aren't celebrating the New Year, but the birth of Jesus Christ.

The celebration of New Year's Day on January 1st was introduced here by the Soviets. Although I've never seen anything that would officially confirm this, my guess is that the Communists encouraged a huge celebration of the New Year to replace the Russian Orthodox celebration of Christmas. Santa Claus, decorations, trees, lights, and a feast are all part of the New Year tradition here.

Since this is the crossroads where east meets west, there are also some deeply-rooted eastern traditions that are important at this time of year. Over the last week, Julie and Hannah Grace have been given several stuffed mice. Why? Chinese astrology is a major part of the celebration here, and this is the year of the rat.

This morning I saw an interesting headline in the newspaper that underlined the incredible foothold that astrology has in this part of the world:

"Children born during the Year of the Rat to mothers who were born during the Year of the Cat will have problems."

May God open their eyes to His word in Isaiah 40:26,
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

Kevin, the future history professor

Sean still loves puzzles.

Hannah Grace showing her new baby to Granny and PawPaw

A Little Humor

2007-12-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

I thought you might enjoy the following. Kevin wrote it for a class assignment.

Some of the times I've been embarassed are ones I'd rather not write about. In the one recorded here, however, I was acting against my will and better judgement. We were in Istanbul, Turkey. Our conference classes went on a field trip, and we were entertaining ourselves while waiting for a bus. Our fun-loving teachers decided on an interesting form of group amusement. At that painfully public spot, they had us all hold hands and make two circles, one inside the other. We walked clockwise, counter-clockwise, hands high, etc., hoping that only a relatively small percentage of Istanbul's population noticed the apparently insane Americans.

Things were as bad as they could get short of a PKK attack when the teachers unveiled an even more humiliating activity they had in mind for us. We dissolved the human wheels of humiliation and were instructed to repeat after the teachers.

"I said a-boom-chick-a-boom!"

At the very least we uttered something with more or less the same vowel sequences. The teacher repeated the above quotation, and so did we. Then,

"I said a-boom-a-chick-a-rock-a-chick-a-rock-a-chick-a-boom!"

It wasn't heartfelt, but we managed our repeat part.

"Uh-huh!"
(repeat)
"Oh yeah!"
(repeat)
"One more time!"
(repeat; horrified)
"Anonymous teacher #2 style!"

The styles included several of the teachers' personal variations of the a-boom-chick-a-boom, some other styles I've been mercifully allowed to forget, underwater style, and one where we were supposed to strum over our lips with one finger as we said the words.

Later on, in the bus, we were told to take off our nametags. When we asked why, one of the teachers told us it was so we wouldn't draw attention in the museum. At least of a couple of us thought it was, as someone put it, "a little late" to act inconspicuous, but we handed over the tags.

Thanksgiving Pictures. . .A Little Late

2007-12-04T02:54:00.001-08:00

We've had a rough couple of weeks since Thanksgiving due to a stomach virus going around. Then, it's been busy as I've tried to catch up. At any rate, here are a couple of pictures from our student Thanksgiving dinner.

My friend Holly and I pooled our resources (I don't have much in the way of Thanksgiving decoration) and we worked together to fix a traditional meal. All of the students were very hesitant to eat the canned cranberry sauce until they made the happy discovery that the red chunk on their plates was not beets!

We had a total of eight students show up. Several of these are very secular, a couple are believers and one shows some signs of interest. Whenever Randy has talked with Andy about spiritual things, this young man always seems to appear.

Please continue to pray for opportunities and openings.

Pray for Julie

2007-11-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

I mentioned previously that Julie had been sick with a stomach virus of some kind. She improved a lot over the week, but never got completely better. Sunday night she was feeling very badly again, so Randy took her to the doctor Monday morning. It will be several days before we have any test results, but the doctor is expecting to find parasites. Julie is taking an antibiotic and is having to eat a bland diet--no fun when everybody else is enjoying turkey and pumpkin pie.

Who Will You Vote For?

2007-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Randy Alcorn has posted an excellent article that I hope you will read and pass along. It's entitled "Sacrificing Children on a Republican Altar?" . If you are thinking about voting for the most "electable" person, please read this article prayerfully.

Pray for the Persecuted Church

2007-11-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

Although I hope that we each pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters daily, please don't forget that today, Sunday, November 11th, is a time for remembering them in a special way. As you gather freely in your churches with no fear of the police, please take time out to pray for those who never know when their meeting will be broken up and the pastor taken to jail.

Pray for Pastor Z, who is sitting in jail as you read this post.
Pray for Emerald, who is still under pressure from her family.
Pray for village families whose babies are denied birth certificates because the parents are believers.
Pray for the countless people who are being harassed, tortured, fined, jailed, or even killed for their faith in Christ, both here where we live and all over the globe.

Busy Week

2007-11-10T01:17:00.001-08:00

There has been a lot going on this week, some good and some not-so-good. Here are the highlights.

Sunday: We had a new visitor at our Bible study for nationals. Nora is a twenty-year-old college student who also happens to be a former neighbor of ours from several years back. She hasn't come to faith, but she is reading and asking questions.

Our study for nationals is from 2-3, and our home church for Americans starts at 4. The national meeting is always in our home and the American meeting rotates among our three families. That means that every third week, as soon as I calmly close the door behind our last national visitor, I have to rush like crazy to get the teacups all washed and finish up the meal we share after home church. This week, however, not only did we have a bigger mess than usual (birthday cake for Nora), our water storage tank was stopped up. So, our fellow church members were greeted by a huge stack of dirty dishes. (It wasn't really *that* huge of a stack, but a tiny kitchen makes a few dishes look like a mountain.)

By the time we had our meal, plus cake and ice cream celebrating yet another birthday, the pile of dishes was truly amazing. I did have plenty of help washing up once the city water turned on, and it was yet another opportunity for God to wean me off of my fantasy of being the "perfect" hostess.

Monday: This was an exhausting day, but a lot of fun. We put on a Thanksgiving dinner for our students. I was in charge of the cornbread dressing to begin with, but one of our coworkers hasn't been feeling well, so I offered to make the pumpkin pie also. Since that project came up late Monday morning and our dinner began at 5 at another coworker's home, I was thankful that I had already cooked and frozen several cups of fresh pumpkin.

The students (mostly) were good sports about trying our traditional foods. They did comment that having salty and sweet foods on the same plate was excessively odd for them. They also had never realized that North America was first settled by people in search of religious freedom.

Tuesday: To add to our tiredness from all of Monday's activity, Hannah Grace lost her last pacifier. I won't elaborate on our day, but it wasn't pleasant.

Wednesday: As always, we hung out at our English center from 2-8:30. I was able to have some good conversations with girls that I haven't had the opportunity to talk with before. Please pray that I can continue to get to know these girls better and have chances to share with them.

Thursday: This was our only reasonably quiet day all week. Randy had to pick up a visitor at the airport during the middle of the night, so we accidentally overslept. I did manage to start school almost on time.

Friday: Julie came down with a terrible stomach virus during school. It was an especially trying day because of our continuing water problem, plus there was a nearly city-wide electrical blackout for over 10 hours. Kevin and Randy were able to get away for a few hours to help teach the students about college football. They watched parts of the Georgia-Alabama game and all of the Americans brought along party foods. What a sacrifice!

How you can pray for us during the coming week:

Pray that Julie will recuperate and that the other three will not catch this--most especially the baby.
We need some time to rest and catch up on everything that has fallen behind last week.
A week from Monday we will host another student Thanksgiving dinner, this time at our house. Please pray for those preparations. Mostly, pray that it will be an opportunity to share the true basis of giving thanks.
Please pray that the city will begin to turn on the heating systems soon. (Yet one more reminder that this is a former communist nation.)

Of First Importance

2007-11-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

I've added a new favorite to my web sites. There is so much out there on the internet, even among Christian web sites and blogs that is interesting and useful--yet it can become distracting and even addictive for some people. This particular blog is not showy; there aren't long conversations going on in the comments section. It doesn't deal with controversial topics. It just points us back to that which the Apostle Paul said is "of first importance": the Gospel. If you're interested, it can be found at http://firstimportance.org/.

Andy & Emerald

2007-10-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Those of you who receive Randy's weekly emails know that Andy & Emerald have been facing some difficulties lately. Emerald's parents had accused her and Andy of going off by themselves on Sundays and being promiscuous. After praying about the situation, Andy went to talk with Emerald's parents. He was able to share the Gospel with them and, although they did not respond favorably, they did withdraw their accusations.

Emerald is still not being allowed to leave home much. This is really not an unusual thing in this culture. A girl's purity is one of her most valuable assets going into marriage and parents guard it closely. Even though we highly approve that mindset, it means that I will have little or no opportunity to disciple Emerald until after her wedding more than a year from now. Please pray for this situation.

Andy had also been fighting some discouragement. He has been faithful to share his newfound faith, but without any response. Sunday Emerald sent a text message saying that Andy couldn't make it to our meeting that day, but that he will be there next Sunday with a new student. Praise the Lord with us for this opening!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

2007-10-18T06:04:00.001-07:00

Wednesday we celebrated Julie's 10th birthday. Actually, we began the celebration last weekend. Kevin and Sean were off for a sleepover so Julie invited her friend Emily for a pre-birthday sleepover.

Then, because Wednesday is our usual day to teach at the new English center, we had a little birthday party with the students. We had birthday cake with hot tea. I made some trail mix, which was new to the students, but they enjoyed it a lot.

One of the students brought his guitar and entertained us with some Russian songs. We also had some balloon fights and lots of questions about what birthday parties in the US are usually like.

Leila

2007-10-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Wednesday is the day that we've set aside as a family to go hang out at our new business and talk with students all afternoon. It can be a difficult afternoon if the baby hasn't napped, like yesterday, but the students generally enjoy having the children there. Kevin has made friends with two guys who sit and talk with him for hours. Randy and I also each teach a seminar while we're there.

Yesterday, after my seminar ended, two of the girls came downstairs to the conversation room and sat down with me. After a while one of them mentioned something her son had done when he was two weeks old. Naturally, I asked her how old he is now. She answered that he had died in his sleep about two weeks ago when he was two months old. Leila talked for a long time about her son and showed me all of the pictures she had taken of him with her cell phone.

That was a hard conversation. She feels like she must have done something wrong, that God is punishing her, that she didn't do a good job taking care of her baby. The other girl with us quickly said, "No, it isn't your fault. God willed it to happen." We had the chance to talk for a little while about how God created a perfect world without death, but that man's sin had brought with it all sorts of terrible things, including death.

Please pray for Leila. She's trying to stay busy, even taking classes less than a month after this tragedy, trying to find some way to cope with this awful loss. Please pray for those of us who come into contact with her. We need wisdom to know how to minister to her and to show her the only true source of hope.

"I Cook!"

2007-09-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hannah Grace wants to do everything that Julie does. We have to watch out when she cooks, though. It can be quite a mess!

Ramazan

2007-09-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is an important month for devout Muslims. Many are fasting in hopes of making themselves more acceptable to their god. Here, where people are much more secular, the fast of Ramazan has about as much significance as Easter does for the unchurched in the US. I asked one of my neighbors if she were observing the fast, and she seemed a little embarassed. "Well, I'm a little bit sick and so fasting isn't good for me. Plus, I can't fast because of my job. People come into the store and want to buy vodka and if I were fasting, it would be wrong for me to handle alcohol."

Yesterday our landlady came by to pick up the rent. She has never seemed to be a religious person, and it never occurred to me that she might be fasting. When I offered her some tea she turned it down and said that she was observing Ramazan. Before she left, I asked her what the appropriate response is when you find out that someone is fasting. In this culture, there is a correct response to everything, and I realized that I didn't know what I'm supposed to say. She told me that when someone mentions that they're fasting I should say, "May God accept your fast."

That posed a problem for me. First of all, there is only one word for God in this language: Allah. To even talk about God, we have to take the time to define our terms. When I say Allah, I'm talking about the God of the Bible, not the god of the Quran. Secondly, I know that the God of the Bible is not going to accept their fast as a means of salvation. The polite response is not the correct response.

If this had been a situation where the landlady had plenty of time to sit and visit, perhaps it would have been possible to have had that conversation. As it was, she was on her break from work and was in a hurry.

There are many times when I don't feel at all uncomfortable using the polite blessings that are so important to the people here. When you meet someone with a child, it's exceedingly important to say, "May God keep your child." Even when I don't have the opportunity to explain what I believe about who God really is, it doesn't bother me to ask God to protect a child. I don't have any problem responding "If God allows it," when somebody says "See you later." That's actually a more Biblical response than what many of us would typically say. And there is even a sense in which I can pray that God will accept their fast in the sense that He accepted the good works of Cornelius before he came to know the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

Please pray that we will have wisdom to know precisely how to respond to our acquaintances and friends who are fasting--and those who aren't fasting and feeling guilty.

Various Updates

2007-09-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

School is back in session! We just finished up our second week and so far everything is running smoothly. My days are jam-packed from early morning until late evening, but it's definitely worth it. Just today, I had the boys write an in-class essay on who they admire most and why. I did stipulate that although I know they admire Jesus, the assignment was to write about a fellow mortal. Kevin wrote a nice essay on Paul the Apostle. Sean's surprised me the most: he wrote about Kevin. Maybe they'll give me permission to post it sometime.

Julie is becoming quite a cook. We have "cooking class" most afternoons where we are preparing breakfast for the next morning. This week I was so exhausted that I had to lay down. I left Julie with a recipe for orange-cranberry muffins, and she did everything on her own except put them in the oven.

Local believers: We have three gathering this Sunday for worship, Andy and Emerald along with an unbaptized believer, N. Also, we will be going to Andy's home in a town about an hour from here for worship the next Sunday. Andy and Randy have been working together to prepare Andy to share the Word with his unbelieving mother and sister.

Legal issues: Things don't look very good as of this post. We did get the business registered, but at this point in time it can only support a small number of employees. Our humanitarian work has only the slimmest chances of remaining open. Randy is working on contingency plans, but it's almost certain that at least part of our team will lose their visas. Please continue to lift that up, and please let us hear from you. We need your prayers.

Neighbors: Our building has been almost a ghost town for the last month. Neighbors have begun returning over the past week since school starts here on the 15th. I met a new neighbor yesterday. Her name means Joy and she has a two month old baby girl. She told me that she has enjoyed watching our children play at our apartment building's playground.

Speaking of the playground, Hannah Grace had a close call yesterday. Safety and health standards haven't made it here, and the playground isn't especially safe. Broken glass, trash, razors, and mice are all part of the landscape. In addition to those things, the playground equipment is all metal and wood. I looked over while talking with a neighbor just in time to see Hannah Grace walk behind a moving swing. When I got to her, her head was just inches from being hit full force by the metal seat. She was physically unhurt, but a little traumatized by my yelling and grabbing her out of the way. It was one of those moments when your knees go weak and your heart nearly stops. I'm thankful for God's graciousness in sparing us a tragedy.

On a happier note, her vocabulary is quickly expanding. Some of her favorite words and phrases:

"burger, fay-fay (French fries), ketchup"
"I on't wike dat"
"Where's Daggy?"
"I want hold you Mommy" (Translation: "pick me up")
"I awake!"

She's also at that fun age where her dolls and stuffed animals are real. She imitates everything she sees her older siblings do. (It's really funny when she tries to do chin ups on the playground like Kevin and Sean.)

Randy is back to work after being slowed down with a cold last week. Along with trying to salvage our humanitarian office, he is doing his regular duties and teaching two classes at our new business.

That's about all for now. . .

Randy's Blog

2007-09-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

Check it out http://cadawg.wordpress.com/. There's a wide variety of posts from sports to spiritual.

The Egyptian Bazaar

2007-08-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

This week our major outing was a shopping trip to one of the less ancient parts of Istanbul. The Egyptian Bazaar, also known as the Spice Market, has only been around since the mid 1600s. There is another, larger, bazaar that we chose to skip because the sellers there have a reputation for being especially aggressive.

In addition to spices, there are also nuts, prayer beads, evil eye talismans, hand-painted ceramics, silks, metal work, pipes (those brought back some childhood memories) and plates with scenes from Ali Baba (more childhood memories). We enjoyed some samples of authentic Turkish Delight--my favorite was the pistachio.

We wrapped up our morning with lunch at Burger King. Julie could have skipped almost anything on this trip, but BK was on her "must do" list. The young ladies sitting in the booth behind us were fascinated with Hannah Grace and did everything they could to get her to take a picture with them.

Hannah Grace also provided on board entertainment for the ferry ride back to the Asian side of Istanbul. She sang and danced, and when she realized the other passengers were enjoying it, she was even more enthusiastic.

All of our pictures for this day are courtesy of Kevin. He did a great job of getting some good shots.

Sightseeing on Wednesday

2007-08-23T03:24:00.001-07:00

This was one of the most impressive parts of Istanbul for Hannah Grace. She cried when we left the paisley cow to visit the Hagia Sofia, built by the Emporer Justinian 1500 years ago. The only enjoyment she found in the basilica were the lights and the cracks in the marble floors.

The other highlight of Hannah Grace's day was feeding the pigeons in front of Kaiser Wilhelm fountain.

We all enjoyed our ferry ride across the Bosphorous. The older three were on the lookout for jellyfish and it wasn't long before the littlest was excitedly pointing and saying "jewwy fich!" also.

Vacation

2007-08-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

We're flying out early Monday morning for almost two weeks of vacation in conjunction with a meeting that Randy has to attend in Istanbul, Turkey. Everybody is excited--Istanbul is probably the most modern city in this region, with lots of American fast food, shopping malls and beautiful parks, not to mention the historical sights dating back to the Byzantine Empire.

Please pray that we'll have a safe trip, plenty of rest and some stress-free time as a family.

Please Join with Us

2007-08-09T18:25:00.022-07:00

Quite a few posts ago I mentioned that our new for-profit business was in a tangle. That continues to be the case as registration has now been denied twice. We are looking at some other legal, but less than desirable, options for opening this business.

Now, we are facing the possible closure of our humanitarian work here due to a tangle on the US side. We have been told that we have until December to find another means of maintaining our presence here. So far, everything that our team has tried has turned into a dead end.

Unless one of these situations changes soon, it could mean that our team of 29 (including children), three other teams with our board of 11, and a few families representing other boards who depend on our humanitarian work for their visas, will lose the ability to remain here.

It is never a surprise--or shouldn't be--when people are responding to the Good News, that we face difficulties and opposition. We are at a point where we have seen more responsiveness and possibilities for new churches than we have seen in our four years in country, and we are praying that we will be able to continue on.

We, as a team, are asking for people to join us for a time of special prayer over the next few days. Here are some things you can pray:

*Quick registration for our new business
*An opening to continue some sort of humanitarian work
*Minimal loss of property (cars, computers, etc. that belong to our current humanitarian NGO
*Wisdom for all of those involved in decision making
*Spiritual insight for our teams: Ask that God would show us anything in our hearts that needs to be changed. We take seriously the fact that He often uses crises to get our attention and point out areas where we need to repent and grow.

We will be having a team-wide prayer meeting on August 15th, and we would greatly appreciate your prayer support. Would you consider setting aside a few minutes to lift up these requests on that day? Also, it would be a great encouragement to our team to know that people are praying for our situation and the work here. If you could post a short comment to let us know that you're joining us in prayer, I'll pass that along to the team.

We'll keep you posted as things develop, but remember that in this part of the world things can move incredibly slowly. :o)

Be Thankful for Your Mattress--Making the Bed Takes on New Meaning

2007-08-01T01:57:00.000-07:00

We've reached the hottest month of the year, and all of the women are taking advantage of the weather to wash rugs and beds. Every day one or two ladies carry their freshly washed Persian carpets out to dry on the playground equipment, or they stake a claim to part of the yard to clean their bedding. I doubt anybody in the US has had to do anything quite like this in recent years.

The first step in washing the bed is to empty the "mattress" of its stuffing, sheep wool, and wash it. A large spot in the yard must be swept clean, and the wet wool is carried out on a large piece of plastic or a sheet. The ladies spread it out and then proceed to whip it with a thin rod.

Next, it is left to dry for a few hours. Some ladies leave, but others seem to be concerned that something could happen and sit out there all afternoon, watching the wool carefully.

Finally, comes time to make the bed. All of that wool has to be stuffed back into the mattress.

The last step is to take what looks like a huge sack of wool is sewn into a beautiful, neat mattress.

Needless to say, this is an incredibly difficult and time consuming process. I'm very thankful for our western-style mattresses!

One morning last week I was commenting to one of my neighbors that we don't have the this tradition in the US. She looked at me kind of oddly and said in an incredulous tone, "Oh, do you just throw away your mattresses every year?"

"Please Don't Make Us Wait!"

2007-07-24T18:05:00.001-07:00

The big event this month was Andy and Emerald's baptism. Everyone showed up at our apartment around 9 am and we headed to the beach. We were concerned about the weather, because it was windy and looked like rain. Concern turned into alarm when we arrived at the beach and saw some ugly-looking waves.

Randy and one of our co-workers walked to the edge of the water to assess the situation and decided that it was just to dangerous to attempt a baptism. We told Andy and Emerald that we would try again the next day.

Their response? "We're not afraid; please baptise us today!" Randy, who doesn't know how to swim, told them that he was afraid. However, he couldn't bring himself to refuse--Emerald was begging him to baptize her.

We prayed first for the wind and waves to calm down, then for safety. Randy baptized Andy first. Randy ended up every bit as soaked as Andy because of the huge waves. Then, Randy guided Andy in baptizing Emerald. Everyone made it out of the water safely, although Emerald did have some trouble getting back above water after being immersed.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

2007-07-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks now, but we did celebrate Kevin's 15th birthday this month. He had a few friends over (many of his friends are in the US this summer) and they enjoyed a soccer match in our new apartment building's yard.

We also did make-your-own pizza, since my hand was in a splint and I was greatly limited in my ability to prepare.

To be honest, it's a little scary to think that I now have a son who, in certain states, would be given the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a car. Fifteen seems a lot less mature now than it did twenty-five years ago. :-)

Consider Your Calling

And More Changes. . .

Changes

Merry Christmas!

Keeping Christ in Christmas

If You Knew Who Says to You

Sacrifice

When the World Calls You a Hater

Love People. . .Hate Sin

Thou Shalt Not Hate?

Community Project in the Village

Six Month Summary

Christmas Eve Party

Making the Most of the Opportunity

Sacrifice

More About Marriage Part 2

More About Marriage

Seventeen!

Summer English Camp

Another Wedding

Happy 4th Birthday!!

The New Freedom of Religion

Milestone

Wedding Pictures

What Is Our Calling?

Weddings, Beggars, and More

Persecution

Growing Boys and Muslim Fashions

Good News!

Preparing to travel

Pray for Sean

Spreading Propaganda

More School Stories

My Littlest Scholar

My Favorite Christmas 2009 picture

Luggage Update

Quick Update

Online Again

A Tale of Two Brothers

11 Years Old!

Medical Concerns

Skittles

Back Online

Electronic Evangelism and Other Updates

Head Coverings

We're Back

Travelling Again. . .

Back to School

Homemaking Is Ministry

Culture and Bible Stories

Sixteen Years Old

Three Years Old

We've Moved

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Funeral Traditions

Events This Month

Lost in the Translation

Unapproved?

A Great Visit

What Does It Mean to Bear Your Cross?

Land of the Free

And More Fire. . .

Week of Fire

Staying Busy

Thoughts on Hospitality

These Momentary, Light Afflictions

7 Things About Me

My Little Helper

Timely Encouragement

The Week in Review

Ashura

Food for Thought

Hannah Grace and the Snowman

Snow Pictures

It's Bubbling!!

English as a Second Language

Christmas, New Year's and Astrology

Merry Christmas!

A Little Humor

Thanksgiving Pictures. . .A Little Late