Leaving for the States

In twelve days Nolan and I will be heading out the door, loading a taxi to Catamayo to board a plane on our first leg of our trip home to the States. We will spend the day at the Quito airport until our late flight to Houston than Tampa. We will than spend a few days in Tampa with Nolan's parents and drive back to Ohio with them. We will be making a stop in Phenix Alabama to visit with friends there and speak in the morning service. 

From Ohio we will go to Illinois to visit with family and make a trip to Chicago to have our visas renewed. From Illinois to Tennessee to pick up paperwork for our visas from Mid America Seminary and than to Little Rock to visit family. The six weeks will go by quickly.

I am planning on eating some good Ruben sandwiches and loving on my grandchildren. Pray for us as we finish off the school year and hand off our building responsibilities. We are looking forward to sharing with friends and family about what God is doing here in Loja.
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The Runaway Missionary

Ever since I was a teenager I wondered what it would be like to run away.There have been times in my life that I tried but always chickened out and went back. My children have some good stories about that. I guess insecurity was a good thing for me . But hey you need to run off sometime in your life and if you are going to be 61 in a few days and you never have, you better go for it.

I was having an I REALLY NEED TO GETAWAY for a couple of days feeling a few weeks ago.Sometimes on the mission field you have those days. Well if you let it build up it turns into I REALLY THINK I WILL RUNAWAY. 

I told Nolan  I needed to leave. I think he was thinking I was going out to the store. When he saw I was a little crazy he tried to comfort me by saying" let's go out to lunch" nope I wanted no lunch. He asked a friend to ask me to go to lunch with her. Nope I didn't want lunch with her. I already had my backpack packed and I was going away.  Kissing my husband goodbye I walked out the door. As I shut the main building door I thought "what am I doing". I kept walking and the further I got the more empowered I felt. I made it across the big scary street and to where I thought the Ruta Taxis were. 

Some how I managed to miss the street that the Ruta Taxis were located. I thought, how am I going to do this when I can't even find the Ruta Taxi. Walking several blocks I found it and remembered I had not packed my passport and I didn't even know my phone number. What I am going to say when they ask me for my phone number and passport number? What am I going to do if there is a police check. I could be put in jail and no one will know because I don't know my phone number.  I did have my phone with me but I don't know how to use it. Now I was going to have to go back home for the passport and than I would change my mind about running away.I took a deep breath, walked into the the Ruta Taxi office, gave them my name and destination and I was on my way.

 I than remembered I had not even contacted the place I was heading too. What if they were full and than I would have to turn around and go back.  When I arrived I went on into the office and asked if they took walk-ins.

 I felt like such a big girl. I got my very own room key which I was able to lock into my room. They are keeping my keys at the front desk when I leave the room now. I found that I could climb into the window if I need to.

I met another lady who also decided to run away. She is a teacher in a town about five hours away from Loja. Together we headed out to find honeycomb. My Spanish skills are not good, hers were better. We hopped into a taxi with some guys name on a piece of paper and headed out to some little town to find honeycomb. We found the honeycomb location she purchased a bucket full to take back to Cuenca to make candles. 

Last night I was treated to a Madre Tierra Jamboree. Three guitars, an accordian and a plastic bucket. I Got to bed late and woke up late. I have eaten plates of wonderful fries and had the best batidos around. I had decided I was staying away for as long as my money lasted. I checked the front desk to see if  today was the day I had to go home.  

I will be home soon, just not today. 

It has been over three months since my last posting. I think life has become so normal that I think no one wants to hear my normal. At home in the states I didn't write about doing dishes, putting out the trash, going to work or writing about the dogs or birds we saw outside our window. I didn't write about what I saw in the market or what kind of treatment we got at the doctors. Well maybe I did write about that. I didn't write about the dumb things I said, or about going to church and the service that we sat through.

Here in Loja I didn't write about having to run to the bathroom to turn on the hot water in the sink in order to get hot water to come on in the kitchen. Nothing on not eating dinner until the trash man comes so we can run down and get our trash cans before someone claims it  as their own. It doesn't matter that the trash man will come anywhere from 6 to 9pm. I wrote nothing on the parrots that sometimes sit outside our window and the cows that can be seen eating on the hillsides or the neighbors roosters that try to out do all the other roosters in Loja.

 I didn't write about saying pescado instead of pecado. Everyone needs to have their fish forgiven. I still am not able to understand all the pastor is saying but than again there were times I didn't understand what the pastor was saying in the States. In the market chickens hanging up for purchase some with eggs still in them, pig heads staring at you and  all the innards  you would ever want to see just waiting for you to buy it and take it home to cook.

I forget that some of you would like to know what my normal is like so that you will know how to pray for us. I need to share so that you can see that there are other normals besides yours. They may seem exotic, strange and sometimes just plain crazy but they are our normals. I will try to do a better job at posting the normal things that are happening here in our ministry.

Missionary Mommy Wars and a Comforter

This school year is going to be a little different for me. God has sent two other teachers to work with the MKs at the school. Nolan will still be teaching the High School students. I will be taking on the ministry of helping to support the parents of our team's children and also working with the children who will be attending the national schools, but who need some tutoring to help them with reading.

Being a missionary mommy is a difficult journey and sometimes they need a comforter. My definition of comforter is : a warm cover that wraps around you when your really wanting to just stay in bed. I remember in my days as a young seminary wife with three little ones, wanting to stay under the covers and not ever come out. In fact I would have been happy to just have stayed under bed.

God sent three comforters to me and they wrapped themselves around me, sometimes dragging me out of bed, loved me, took care of my children, rescued me from my children and maybe even saved my children' s lives. These women shared their lives with me. 

Young missionary mothers need someone to come along beside them, someone who is real. They need someone that has bad days but still goes on, someone who is not perfect but they are letting Christ work in their lives. Pray that I can be a warm comforter to our missionary families.

 Roles change, sometimes changes are hard, but looking back you see that God has prepared you for that change. I will be tutoring, planning and doing Kids Clubs, parents night out, and being Marme to little ones. Please read the following link so that you will know how to pray for these mommy warriors on the field.

 Missionary Mommy Wars

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.