Outlawed Grief, a Curse Disguised

Change is what happens on the mission field. Grief comes in many ways to us. Saying goodbye, a loved one dies at home and we can't be there. A child. hurts and we can't be there to help them heal. A grandchild dances in a recital and we can only watch on video. A parent becomes ill and we can't be there to hold their hand. Pray for your missionaries daily.

  Pray for us as we grieve for the loss of time. Time with our parents, children and grandchildren, friends and church family. This return has been a difficult one for me. I know God has wonderful plans for us but it still hurts. Again pray for your missionary families.I want to share a blog post from another missionary blogger. Read the following post so you can have an understanding of what your missionaries experience, and how to pray for them.

Outlawed Grief, a Curse Disguised

Not Realizing what I am Missing

You  don’t realize what your are missing until you don’t have it for a while. Sitting out on the back patio of my in-laws home I watched the wind blow the multicolored trees before a rain came thru, a mother bird was taking care of her eggs in a tree next to my chair. I glanced over at our house that is rented and noticed some things that I wanted to change. I wanted to go over and cut down some weeds and weed out the flower beds.

As I sit and read to my grandchildren I know that the next time I see them they will have changed, and they will be changes that I will not be a part of. I won’t be able to read to them or listen to their laughs or see their smiles except on Skype.

Walking barefoot in grass, watching the skies as a summer storm comes through and watching rabbits nibbling in the grass just feet from where your sitting are sensations that I don’t take for granted anymore.

As I eat a Reuben sandwich I relish it. It may be a year or two before I get to eat another one. Walking into the grocery store and seeing that a whole turkey is seventy-nine cents a pound and so many kinds of spices and cereals that my head spins.

There have been moments while here in the states that I say to myself that it would be nice to just stay here and be comfortable.

I know that when I return to Loja that I will be able to see and do things that most people only dream of doing. I will be able to look out my window and see noisy parrots greeting me in the morning. I can go around the corner and buy a dozen roses for four dollars. I can see the smiles and hear the laughter of missionary children that we teach each day and walk down to the tienda just doors from us and buy a empanada colombiana. I will be able to lose ten pounds without going on a diet plan.

 We will be able to enjoy a seventy-five dollar turkey with our missionary family at Thanksgiving and if I miss seeing wildlife I just have to go to the Loja zoo to see a squirrel in a cage.

We will live 7,000 feet up the mountains in the Andes, walk wherever we need to go and not have to have a car payment or car insurance to worry about.

Ok, I have talked myself into going back. Pray for us as we get ready to return to Loja. Pray for us as we prepare for the next school year. Pray for us as we deal with our emotions. 

A Year of School in four minutes.

God has blessed this school year. We are looking forward to what he is going to do this next school year. Thank you to all those who have prayed for us and those who have supported us financially. You are a part of the work that is being done here in Loja. We would not be able to be here if you were not holding the ropes for us. Nolan (Terry) and I are in the process of becoming part of SIM as associates. There is a lot of paperwork and medical work that needs to be done for this process. We will continue to be part of Gateway Global Outreach, but to better serve our team here in Loja we need to become part of the SIM family.

 We are in need of more prayer supporters  Also pray about supporting us financially. At this time the rent of our house has been our main support along with our home church. We will have more ministry needs this next coming year and we are also helping to support two national missionaries here. We would love to share with you what God is doing during the six weeks we will be in the States. There is a side link to Gateway Global Outreach that you can go to and give financially. 

Nothing better than a good book with Peaches

Sometimes missionaries have to go home and when they do they have to leave some beloved things behind. This last week I saw an ad in the Cuenca classifieds about a home-school family leaving for the states. They had books that needed a good home. I contacted them and found that they were a family that I had spoken to on facebook but had never met  in person. Rebecca, Janeen  and I headed out to Cuenca the next morning. After a four hours drive that was made shorter by good fellowship, we met up with the family. If you are a lover of books or an educator, you know how hard it is to leave your books behind. The next best thing is to find them a good, loving home. I don´t think the books could have found a better home than our MK school. What a blessing they are going to be.

Sometimes when you have to leave a country and go home your children leave behind memories, friends and pets. The memories you can keep but the friends and pets have to stay. Peaches the hamster was not going to be able to make the trip back to the states and needed some loving students to care for her and of course at the end of the school year you always need a class pet. We packed the books and other miscellaneous stuff into the car. It was packed to the roof. Peaches had to sit next to me and I fell for her. We stopped at McDonalds for some fries, a once a year thing sometimes. The fries were really bad but Peaches loved them.

She is now very happy at her new home at the Loja Study Center. The children read to her, play with her and sometimes let her sleep. Thank you Savage Family for blessing us with your books and for Peaches.

A little sweat is good for the soul

Last month Nolan, and I traveled to Macará to visit with a couple of fellow missionaries, Willy and Teresa. Macará is about 5 or 60 hours away from Loja. That all depends on the bus, taxi or donkey that you use for transportation. We chose a bus that should have taken five hours. We didn't know that if the bus driver is hungry then he can decide to  pull over and have an hour break. We arrived seven hours later but the drive was worth it.

We were able to see a part of Ecuador that we hadn't seen before and I found that I could go without a bathroom for that amount of time. I will say that the winding roads and pot holes didn't help the last two hours. Yes, the bus did have a bathroom but I didn't want to walk all the way from the front of the bus to the back and find the door locked and than have to ask the driver for the key. Yes, I could have gotten off the bus during the unscheduled break for the driver to eat, but I was scared I would go into the bathroom and find the bus had left. It was a silly idea because Nolan would not have let the bus leave without me. I just have to learn to get over the "I can make it till we get there" train of thought, especially if three hours is my limit and I am already two hours over the limit. Enough of bathroom talk.

We were able to visit with Willy and Teresa and see the ministry they have near the border of Ecuador and Peru.It was a wonderful time of fellowship and hearing about the work they are doing. Nolan preached to the small congregation there in Spanish. We traveled a little ways into Peru and visited a small village and to a house church that Willy works with.The winding trip to a house church was interesting. Every twist and turn had pigs, goats, cows, dogs, horses or donkeys  waiting for us in the middle of the road The huge pot holes kept us from going too fast so we were able to spot most of the creatures before we collided with them. The roads reminded me of a slinky and with all the animals I felt like I was in some kind of video game. About a hour and half later we arrived at the small town of Zapatillo. 

We met in a small room with a large window. The sun was beating down on us and as I was sitting there listening to several people telling about what God was doing in their lives I was sweating and noticed that if I rubbed my arm little rolls of dirt would come off.  I couldn't help it I kept rubbing and rubbing. It 's like when you have a sunburn and you can't stop peeling the skin off. I was amazed how much dirt was on me. Here I am sitting in a small town in Ecuador listening to people share about Jesus and I am rubbing dirt off of my arm that I thought was clean.

If the sun hadn't been so hot I would not have been sweating and would not have noticed how dirty I really was. Sometimes I need the Son to shine on me and make me sweat, to see my hidden sin, ask for forgiveness and get clean again.

Old Mac Donald had a Farm

Did you know that animals in other countries don't say what American animals say. I was surprised to learn that animals in different countries speak their own language,

Cornbeef and Cabbage and other things I miss

Sometimes while reading my Facebook friends’ posts telling me about the flowers blooming, the first signs of spring and foods I can’t get here like corn beef and cabbage. I get a little State sick. I can’t say homesick, because I am home.

After brushing my teeth with sunscreen this morning--I don’t endorse it--I headed out to the Sunday market. There was a band playing, and I thought this beats elevator music. I walked the streets looking at fruits and vegetables that we wouldn't be able to purchase in the states. I listened to live music in the square that I would not be able to hear in the States. I bought my strawberries from the same vender I buy from each Sunday, who recognizes me and says hello. I am hoping one day to be able to say more than hello and how are you to her. I am able to walk a half a block to purchase fresh fruit and veggies. The total cost for two pounds of strawberries, a pound of carrots and onions and four plums was 4.oo.

We attended a house church way up a hill and listened to praise music over and over. Normally I don’t like praise music over and over, but I have found it is a really good way to learn a new language. What better way than to sing praises to God. I am standing there among brothers and sisters I had not met before, tears running down my face, raising my hands in praise, singing the songs over and over, not my normal Baptist worship pattern. I watched as one of our young students sang with her whole heart and lead others in worship. I watched as our older teens led in a drama depicting the Old Testament.

Yes I do miss the first signs of spring, corn beef and other foods I can’t get here and the old hymns, but I would not give up what we are doing for all the corn beef and cabbage  in the world.