Catching up and breaking down

I want to kick myself for waiting so long to update . . .because when I do get around to it there is too much to tell you about. I will do my best though.
It has been a VERY busy few weeks here. This coming week, May 1 and 2, is the one and only NATIONAL motocross race in Pucallpa. Christian is very busy organizing and learning how MxC has always done these events in the past. The people involved to an incredible job. There will be a mechanics tent and a medical tent sponsored by MxC offering free services and MxC is also providing the “flaggers” for all the races. It is all very exciting. This is a national race. There will be hundreds of people there and MxC will be sharing the Gospel. If past local races are any indication there will be a lot of people who respond to the truth of Christ. We are already planning the follow, which may involve teaching an Alpha course. We are excited to see what God is going to do this weekend. Please pray for the truth to be heard, love to been experienced and for safe, exciting riding.
Max and Gavin started Peruvian school today. Not sure why the timing is what it is but it really seemed like a good idea on Sunday. We prayed about it and I talk with my friend who runs a school and the boys got their uniforms yesterday and showed up for class this morning. They will be going two days a week and home schooling the other 3 days. They were very nervous about the whole thing but when we picked them up today they wanted to go every day. We are sending them to help improve their Spanish which was getting worse and worse speaking Spanish only on Sundays.
Emma was asked by her friend to sing with them during worship this past Sunday. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do it. We advised she go to the practice, try, and then make a decision. She came home saying they offered her a solo but she didn’t want to and so Mimi was sing a part of the song in English with her . . well she ended up singing a solo. It was amazing. I was moved to tears. The Holy Spirit was tangibly present through that service. At the end the pastor called anyone who felt God was calling them into missions to come forward so we could pray for them (we are having a month focused on missions). It was amazing to see the people up front. I never imagined God would work in my life the way he has. I am so excited to see what he has in store for the people who went up front Sunday.
I had a mini melt down a few weeks ago after teaching a class. I taught about Sarah. The paper I work sheet I wrote was good – but I just couldn’t speak. My performance as a teacher in Spanish was horrible. Christian stayed home with the kids that night and I came in bawling. It was humbling but a good experience. God was showing me that I had been doing too much. I was trying to get involved in everything and I just don’t have the time nor energy. I was spending no time with the kids and getting very little sleep trying to keep up with everything. I decided that I needed to be faithful to the ministry of my family. I have stepped out of many things I was doing and am trying to get my home organized. It was perfect timing because Christian’s responsibilities have been picking up over the last few weeks and I need to be here so he is free to do his job.
(Which, right now that he is back from his meeting, is to kill the HUGE cockroach and the bat in my laundry room)
Thank you all for your time, love and prayers.

Catching up and breaking down

I want to kick myself for waiting so long to update . . .because when I do get around to it there is too much to tell you about. I will do my best though.
It has been a VERY busy few weeks here. This coming week, May 1 and 2, is the one and only NATIONAL motocross race in Pucallpa. Christian is very busy organizing and learning how MxC has always done these events in the past. The people involved to an incredible job. There will be a mechanics tent and a medical tent sponsored by MxC offering free services and MxC is also providing the “flaggers” for all the races. It is all very exciting. This is a national race. There will be hundreds of people there and MxC will be sharing the Gospel. If past local races are any indication there will be a lot of people who respond to the truth of Christ. We are already planning the follow, which may involve teaching an Alpha course. We are excited to see what God is going to do this weekend. Please pray for the truth to be heard, love to been experienced and for safe, exciting riding.
Max and Gavin started Peruvian school today. Not sure why the timing is what it is but it really seemed like a good idea on Sunday. We prayed about it and I talk with my friend who runs a school and the boys got their uniforms yesterday and showed up for class this morning. They will be going two days a week and home schooling the other 3 days. They were very nervous about the whole thing but when we picked them up today they wanted to go every day. We are sending them to help improve their Spanish which was getting worse and worse speaking Spanish only on Sundays.
Emma was asked by her friend to sing with them during worship this past Sunday. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do it. We advised she go to the practice, try, and then make a decision. She came home saying they offered her a solo but she didn’t want to and so Mimi was sing a part of the song in English with her . . well she ended up singing a solo. It was amazing. I was moved to tears. The Holy Spirit was tangibly present through that service. At the end the pastor called anyone who felt God was calling them into missions to come forward so we could pray for them (we are having a month focused on missions). It was amazing to see the people up front. I never imagined God would work in my life the way he has. I am so excited to see what he has in store for the people who went up front Sunday.
I had a mini melt down a few weeks ago after teaching a class. I taught about Sarah. The paper I work sheet I wrote was good – but I just couldn’t speak. My performance as a teacher in Spanish was horrible. Christian stayed home with the kids that night and I came in bawling. It was humbling but a good experience. God was showing me that I had been doing too much. I was trying to get involved in everything and I just don’t have the time nor energy. I was spending no time with the kids and getting very little sleep trying to keep up with everything. I decided that I needed to be faithful to the ministry of my family. I have stepped out of many things I was doing and am trying to get my home organized. It was perfect timing because Christian’s responsibilities have been picking up over the last few weeks and I need to be here so he is free to do his job.
(Which, right now that he is back from his meeting, is to kill the HUGE cockroach and the bat in my laundry room)
Thank you all for your time, love and prayers.

Burned eggs

I have had a busy couple of days. Emma has been home from school with asthma since Monday. I took her out to a friend’s house in the next town for the day because they live out in the middle of nowhere and the air is much cleaner. It seemed to help (until she had to take the dusty mototaxi ride home that evening.) I sent an hour at the market in the morning buying veggies for dinner, yesterday was small group prayer meeting. All of the SAM members and other missionaries that come to our weekly prayer meeting split up into smaller groups and meet in homes. We hosted and I made couscous. However, one of the families is vegetarians, so it was couscous w/o meat, and you can’t buy couscous grain in Pucallpa . . . so it was more like a curry vegetable stew. I looked high and low for Vegetable soup base. They use bouillon cubes for everything here and I just used up the last of my vegetable ones last week. But, like many of the good things you can buy here, it must have been a fluke shipment. There were NONE to be found. I even had one vendedora tell me I needed to go to Lima to buy that. I just smiled and laughed. In the end it worked because my friend had some chicken flavored non-chicken seasoning.
After everyone left I cleaned up the kitchen and tried to finish preparing the lesson I am teaching to the women tonight (about Sarah). I was on a roll when I remembered that I needed to hard boil eggs for the women’s breakfast in the morning. I put the eggs on and went to lie on the couch and steal the internet from my hubby to do some research (we have no wireless – just one wire). Well, seeing as it was 11 something, I fell asleep (not uncommon for me to do at any given time during the day here if I am horizontal.) Can you guess where this is going? Yes, I burned the eggs. I had been asleep for over an hour and all the water was gone from the pot and the eggs were toasted. 20 eggs . . . .
Well, since I had had a nap I began anew on my lesson. I worked for hours and went off on a rabbit trail and made a spread sheet showing the life span of each person named in the genealogy of Genesis 11. Did you know Noah and Abraham were alive at the same time?? I never realized that. I did realize later, though, that I could have just gone on line and looked it up. Oh, well. I learn best when I do it myself.
I boiled the 11 remaining eggs and kept working. Ran out to shut the windows to the VW as the rain started around 2 a.m. It poured. I went to bed around 3:30a.m. Got up at 7am and decided to give up caffeine NEXT week. Got the kids off to school. Sent egg salad and lemonade to the women’s breakfast with Olga. I didn’t go because I am going to teach tonight and we have small group tomorrow night for MP . . . . Well, I did an hour of school with the boys and then we went to the post office to pick a package our friend sent. The customs hours are Monday and Thursday 10 – 12p.m. Four hours a week – that is it. We waited for two and half hours for our package . . . Mr. Custom’s man didn’t show up for work until 12p.m.
Get home, eat lunch, finish paper – well try to finish paper. Printer dies, Olga’s Mac won’t read the file, Libby poops all over the floor because I feed her a bunch of “toasted” eggs for breakfast. Did I mention I forgot a meeting I was supposed to attend yesterday and this morning . . . .? I am tired and I am cranky and am very thankful for left over soup. I have to teach 30 women in Spanish and I type parts of my paper for tonight in French. Dios, ayudame!

Easter

Easter was different this year. Last night we attended a play at our church written by one of our pastors wive’s. She did a great job telling the whole story of the Bible in a 20 minute musical comedy/tragedy.

Then today it was rather refreshing to attend church on Easter Sunday and every one be dressed in their normal clothes. We have never been much for the big fashion show that seems to over take so many churches on Easter Sunday. A girl we had met in the air port on our way home from vacation last month showed up this morning. That was neat to see her. We went out to eat with several friends and then went to visit our friend, Jimmy, the one with the broken collar bone. It was along day but but a very good day.
Easter is something that we can celebrate everyday. The new life I have in Christ is precious to me every day. His self-limiting, self-sacrificial action of being born and living as a human knowing the whole time he was to time a horrible death is so humbling and beautiful. Yet he is not dead – he lives. The creator of the universe did that for me, for you. What amazing love.

Good Friday

Today I helped kill our dinner. Since it is Good Friday almost nothing was open . . .I don’t mean your local Wawa or Food Bag, I mean the market. We went to the fish market and everything was old and stinky. We went to a lady on the side of the road selling chickens. The dead ones had been dead and in the sun for a while. A little girl next to her stand had a small cage with three turtles and one monkey in it. Very interesting. Olga and Yuliana then decided to find the house of the lady who sells chickens in the market because she keeps the chicken at her house. We went there and for s/.30 we left with our chicken and tied it up in the bed of the truck. We went all over looking for yucca and other things. The road from Lima is out again so no fresh veggies are getting here from the mountains and it is a holiday. Not much to be found but we made due.
We got home and around 7p.m. and took instructions Yuliana (who was the only one who knew exactly what she was doing). I held its wings, Olga its feet and Yuli the head and she began to cut . Olga freaked out when the chicken freaked out and let go. I finished by holding the wings and feet while Ylui finished cutting off its head. (When I find the camera I will post the pictures) Yuli put the chicken in boiling water and pulled the feathers off. She cut it open and took out the insides. I have a new respect for my friend. We worked hard for our Sopa de Gallina tonight but we had fun making dinner.
The kids all rode motorcycles today – even Max and Gavin. Emma is crazy on the bike – really good, but crazy. Gabe can ride with no hands and do wheelie (with hands). I think they are going to the track tomorrow. What an interesting day . . . . .