an unexpected visitor

I have a neighbor who I've only met briefly on a few occasions and she seemed very distant.  I wanted to get to know her, but hadn't seen an opportunity.  Tonight she came to my door at 10pm and asked me to pray for her.  She said, "I don't know you, but my kids talk about you and I know you give them spiritual guidance, so I was wondering if you would pray for me."  For the next hour we sat and talked and cried and prayed together. 

She apologized for "bothering" me - not knowing that moments like this are the reason I live here!

Baptisms at the lake

This afternoon three teenagers stepped out and followed Jesus in baptism in front of friends from the community and their church family.

The girls shared before they were baptized:

"Since I became a Christian the Spirit has been changing from the inside.  I'm a different person.  I know this miracle that God has done in me, he can do in my family also.  I have hope."

"I was baptized before because that was what my family believed, but now I want to be baptized because I have become a Christian."

"Now that I accepted Christ I'm a different person.  It's not because I go to church or because I'm with Miss Amy all the time; it's because God is changing me inside.  I don't want to do the things I did before.  Now I know that I will go to Heaven when I die, but it's not just that - He's with me now.  No matter what happens in life, it's ok because He's with me, helping me."

Listening

Not many people really care to listen these days.  I read an article on the subject the other day and could relate too well to both being brushed off and being the one not listening well.  It's something I'm trying to work on.

A couple of friends have approached me recently to ask how something was going and then sat and really listened.  They didn't come to offer advice or make suggestions.  They simply asked questions and listened and then said they would pray.  That showed me their care probably more than anything else they could have done.

a sign?

My sunglasses from India broke this morning.

I think it's time to go back.

Yesterday was the first Kids Club of the new school year.  Yes, it's early!  The school districts were changed this year and now 5 of our 7 buildings are assigned to a year round elementary school.  That means those kids missed the week-long morning Kids Clubs in July.  They were excited to be back!

We also had a full house at Youth Night.  I'm really enjoying the new format with a group lesson and then breaking into small groups for discussion time.  And I'm especially thankful for the team the Lord has brought together to lead that time!

*sigh*

My heart is heavy.  My mind is swarming with thoughts.  It is difficult to transfer that into coherent sentences. 

There are some situations that cannot be "fixed" and that is difficult to accept.  I don't know what to think or say or do, but I'm thankful to know the One who does.

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

life

I'm at one of those points in life where circumstances beyond my control have changed in a way I don't like.  I quickly became discouraged and worried.  Going to church yesterday was a great blessing.  You know those days when it seems like the sermon is just for you?  Yesterday it happened twice!  In Spanish church the message was about Joseph and then in English church it was on Habakkuk.  Both addressed living through distressing circumstances and trusting the character of God no matter how bad things may look.  It was really neat how God used 2 different men in 2 different languages to deliver a unified message exactly when I needed to hear it.

Habakkuk 3:18-19

 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
       I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Isaiah 55:8-9

 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

una familia grande!

We had a great Youth Night! I was so glad to be back! (I missed 2 Youth Nights while we were in Oregon.) With 17 youth and 5 adults we ran out of seats! Brad sat on a cooler to teach and I wandered around the outside of the circle. Brad taught a great lesson on Jesus being the good shepherd who loves us and gave his life for us and how we need to choose to follow him.

After Youth Night one of the youth needed a ride to the grocery store and then I went over to her house. They were having a crisis - her younger sister has a class picnic tomorrow and family members are supposed to come, but everyone is working so they want me to go. (I like it when I'm presented with issues that are solved so easily!) So I get to go be her aunt and represent the family! We hung out for a few minutes and 2 more youth showed up looking for us. Then we walked outside to go get food from another house and 2 more youth joined us on the way. We also talked 2 more youth from the house we went to into joining us so by the time we returned to the first house we had 6 extra teenagers. As we all sat around the table eating and talking the subject of the picnic came up and B (who is always ready to eat!) asked if he could go as her brother. Another asked if he could be her brother and his twin asked if he could be her friend (not sure how that works)! We made one big Mexican, Honduran, American, Mexican/American, African American/Puerto Rican family! 2 of the guys who were present don't speak any Spanish and others don't speak much English so there was lots of interpreting. We talked about school, work, family and Bible study tomorrow. I think another family is going to come. It was a good visit!

We also acted out the lesson as we walked through the neighborhood and one girl declared herself the shepherd and told us all to follow, but of course some of the boys had to run ahead and others off to the side but they didn't know where we were going so then they had to turn around and catch up. They were all being goofy, but it showed that they really were listening to the lesson and understood!

Back Home!

The week in Oregon was great!  I was amazed by how many people attended the conferences and it was exciting that many of them came with communities on their hearts that they want to reach.  Our team worked together really well to share different aspects of multihousing missions.  I was so happy to be back and we all enjoyed being spoiled by Bill and Joan's hospitality.  We had a beautiful sunny day to tour the coast on our day off!

We returned home late Tuesday night and were back in gear Wednesday morning.

Tonight a small group of youth came over to continue our study of God.  We were at the section on Jesus' resurrection, but I backtracked because we had a couple new guys.  It was a great discussion with good questions.   We talked a lot about Jesus' life and why He came to earth and why He willingly died.  We talked about the difference between believing someone is real and actually placing your trust in them.  "S" shared how for a long time she believed the Bible was true and like the idea of being saved from Hell, but wasn't ready to make Jesus the Lord of her life.  At the end of the conversation "D" said he was ready to make that decision and prayed telling God he wanted Him in his life!  It was so exciting to see God work in him and also in the other youth who shared how they believed and encouraged him! 

Please pray for these teens who want to follow Christ in a culture that is so opposed to God.  

words :-)

Some teenagers were hanging out at my apartment late this evening and they were hungry (shocking, right?).  So we went to evaluate the fridge.  I pulled out rice and a dish that I just explained as "plantains and beans" (the one I learned in Costa Rica and wrote about).  B was all for it, his brother was not impressed and this conversation followed:

Plantains?  No thanks.  I don't like bananas.

They're not bananas.

I don't eat that stuff.  

Platanos?!?!  Dude, why didn't you say it in spanish in the first place?  Yeah, I'll have some.  Wait, you cook hispanic food???

(he cleaned out his bowl)

I can sympathize though, it took me a couple weeks after I got back to remember the word in English.