Gratitude

"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.' Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." - 2 Corinthians 9:8-11

 

Wow. We have so many reasons to give thanks. So many people for whom to give thanks. So many blessings...

 

In the eight weeks since we've been stateside we've been in nine different states (some of them multiple times), stayed in nine different homes, driven four different cars and ridden in many others, and had a million reasons to say "thank you."

 

So that's just what we want to do. We want to say "thank you" to all of you who have welcomed us back with open arms. Thank you to those who have opened your homes as we've traveled around from place to place. Thank you for offering us rides to and from events. Thank you to those of you who offered your vehicles for our use while we're here. Thank you for the meals you've served us and the tabs you've picked up. Thank you for inviting us to your churches, small groups, and family gatherings. And thank you for listening, asking questions, and caring.

 

And that's just been the last eight weeks! We can't even begin to thank those of you who have stood with us throughout this journey thus far. Some of you have supported us from the very beginning. Thank you. Thank you if you joined in at any point along the way. Thank you to those who faithfully prayed for us throughout the ups and downs of our first term in Zambia. Thank you for your letters, emails, packages, phone calls, and facebook messages. Thank you. Thank you for being open to the Spirit's guidance to give generously, joyfully and abundantly.

 

As we look at the rest of our home assignment and our return to Zambia next spring, we have and will have many more reasons to give thanks. And as much as we thank each of you for responding to God's leading in your lives, your generosity has resulted in thanksgiving to God. We praise and thank God for each of you. We thank Him for your friendship and for blessing you to be a blessing to others. We thank Him for listening to your prayers to Him on our behalf. Specifically, we thank Him for answering our prayers (and many of your prayers as well) that we would be able to conceive. God is so good!

We thank God for His provision, His comfort and His protection. We thank Him most of all for His grace. Without the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, we would have no reason to serve, to give, to love - and no reason to give thanks. Thank you Lord that we do.

 

And thank you.

Blessed to be a blessing... and blessed again

Our purpose going to Lusa today was to bless the children…and bless Mama Yoba with about $500 to finish her house, along with 300 meters of wire and a whole lot of window putty (two of the remaining needs). (Click here for that story) But I think every person with us today would agree that we left with more than we came with.

As our three vehicles turned off the tarmac into sloshy mud puddles, bumping along to Mama Yoba's house, I was overwhelmed with excitement about the gifts for Mama Yoba.  But, we decided we would give the gifts to the children first, and then surprise Mama Yoba as we prepared to leave.

When we arrived, 92 children were seated at tables,patiently waiting and separated by age. Regina told me some of the kids arrived as early as 6 a.m. (We arrived at 10.). Several of our friends from the mine came along, including four children.  The kids handed the small packets of candies and toys and noise makers to the community children. The Lusa kids waited patiently until everyone had their gift and I told them to open the goodies. Almost immediately, the whole room broke out with the sound of noise makers.  After a few minutes,Mama Yoba quieted the kids, and then had them sing to our group what has come to be one of our favorite songs.

“Come and see, come and see, come and see what the Lord has done; come and see what the Lord has done…”

handing out the gifts

Moses, son of Jillian - love this family!

Mama Yoba giving necklaces to the kids with our group

Mama Yoba prayed in Thanksgiving, and then I was confused as she brought in a small box.  Inside were several child-size necklaces that she and Regina must have made since I was last there on Thursday.  She then went to each of the children in the group we brought, and with a young Zambian girl, handed out the necklaces and helped the kids put them on. I just wanted to cry.  That woman just amazes me and I think that small act made this one of my best Christmases ever.

As our group prepared to leave, I told Mama Yoba we had a surprise for her.  As we handed her the supplies and the money, I have to say, it was the first time I've seen her speechless (anyone who knows Mama Yoba knows she is never at a loss for words).  She thanked each person in our group and just had a look of shock on her face.  Then Luke and I pulled our TV out of the trunk.  One of our friends at the mine blessed us with a really nice television a few months ago.  Immediately we had decided to pay it forward,so we had told Mama Yoba that we were going to give her our TV – but only when her new house was finished (extra incentive to get it done!).  Today, we took it with us, and I told her that it was because she should have everything she needs to finish her house now. 

Window putty for Mama Yoba's  new house

Now I just have to prepare myself because she’s been saying from the beginning that when her house is finished, we have to go out there and stay up all night praying and blessing the house and celebrating…. 

comforts from home

We’ve had a lot of people ask us lately what they can send in care packages, either for us or for our work here.  We figured that making a list on our blog would be an easy way for you to get ideas.  It’s amazing what is available here – and we’re blessed beyond belief.  So the things for us certainly aren’t needs as the Lord has provided for all of our needs.  Some are just comforts from home, or close substitutes for said comforts (since you can’t ship a tub of Cool Whip….).  The second list is items that would be helpful in our ministry at Lusa.

For us:

Foodstuffs:

Dream Whip – closest shippable thing we’ve found to CoolWhip

Great Value (Wal Mart brand) Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese (you can even keep the noodles and just send the sauce packets – definitely a favorite for Luke)

Great Value or Crystal Light sugar free drink mix (the kind in the tubs that you mix w/ a pitcher of water)

Fat Free No Sugar added pudding mixes – vanilla, chocolate, lemon

Parmesan cheese (or other cheeses that wouldn’t need refrigeration in sending)

Splenda

Marshmallows.  We have them here but they just are all flavored – they taste great but don’t work so well for baking or making s’mores!

Extra Spearmint gum

Taco Bell Sauce Packets (just save your extras when you hit the drive thru!)

Coffee

Kashi GoLean Cereal (the original – not any of the special flavors or anything)

Seasonal goodies – candy corn, peeps, jelly beans, etc

Spices: Jamaican Jerk, allspice, cinnamon, chili powder

Dried fruit - Prunes, cranberries, etc. (Raisins are easy to get here and we don't like banana chips though!)

Otherstuffs:

Lexmark printer cartridges – black 14 and color 15

Razor blades – Venus for Tiff; Schick Quattro Pro for Luke

Anti-perspirant –Lady Speed Stick; Old Spice High Endurance (not red zone)

Flea collars and/or tubes of flea treatment (frontline or advantage or generic) for dog and cat

Recorded sermons

Books – novels, anything

Cookbooks or cooking magazines

Workout videos/DVDs/Wii games – High energy cardio type stuff

CDs or DVDs – we’ve been here over a year and a half now- what’s new?

For Lusa:

Balls (deflated) and a pump

Nice wooden, glass, metal, or even plastic beads for jewelry making

Craft wire and other jewelry-making supplies

From our experience, first class mail items take about six weeks toarrive and cost varies by weight. Flat rate shipping is one rate based on the size of the box, so if you're sending heavier items, it’s more cost effective AND it arrives in about two weeks.  We also enjoy receiving letters and pictures!   All packages and mail can be sent to us at PO Box 110079, Solwezi, Zambia.  Thank you in advance.  Again, these are just ideas for those who have asked – please don’t feel like you have to send anything.  Blessings and Love!

Free Advice

Forget what you learned growing up: always talk to strangers.

I should probably explain. After church today, Luke had the afternoon off and it was a beautiful 65 degrees out (a perk of living in Texas in January). After lunch we grabbed a blanket and books and drove down to White Rock Lake to relax, people watch and whatever else. I convinced Luke to walk a bit before settling in with our books, and we are so glad we did. Often when I have ridden my bike around the lake on Sunday afternoons I have noticed the guy with a tarp, a few chairs and a simple sign: free advice. I usually would muse to myself about it and carry on in my ride. But as we strolled near his "advice booth" today, the Lord placed an urge in my heart that told me to stop and talk to him. Luke is used to my random conversations with strangers and humored me as I walked over to the tarp.

The conversation started out simply enough - I noted that he was like Lucy in Peanuts and I thought it was a great idea - and he said he'd been there every Sunday afternoon for 13 years. After we talked about this and that for a bit, he asked what the story of the two of us (Luke and I) was. In short, I said we are married and are preparing to move to Africa for missions. He made an observation that I am a "Christian tomboy," explaining that he doesn't mean that in the skirts vs. jeans sense, but more that I am strong woman. Apparently his mom was a strong woman who forged her birth certificate at 15 to join the Navy and upon retirement gave away all she had and moved to Jerusalem to share the gospel with Orthodox Jews and Muslims. Something in the talk led me to ask if he had a church he went to here, and he said no, but with good reason...

Our new friend is autistic. He doesn't understand language in the sense that most people do, and though he is extremely intelligent and intuitive, words really mean very little to him. Processing information takes a completely different focus for him. He explained that his mother had asked pastors and priests to pray over him several times - not quite understanding how her son could grasp the Truth without loving the Word itself. Each time, the given pastor (there were two occasions with different ministers) would stop and say the Lord audibly told him that he should stop because the man was "right with God." He said he understands salvation in an experiential way. He feels the presence of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit in a much different but very real way. He went on to explain a little more and then asked if I understood what he was saying. Leaning on the Lord's leading, I responded that scripture is the Word of God and is inspired by God - therefore God himself is in the words. This is why many people can read the words and get no meaning from them because the Spirit has not opened their hearts to the truth of the scriptures. God is not limited to His Word, but IS the Word.

(it sounded much more eloquent at the time, but that's the gist of it)

Well apparently I was the first person to ever understand him - and that I "said what he was saying but much more clearly." He said it was clear that I had a gift of discernment and that he has known many people in his life who have thought they were called to missions, and were not really cut out for it. He's seen many people who set out on that adventure only to realize it is not where God had them to be - but us - he could see that we were supposed to be going and that we would be great. He also asked about funding - whether we had to raise all our funding or if there was some sort of other source, and we said we have to raise it all but won't know exactly what that looks like for the long run until this summer or fall when we get our placement assignment. When he asked how we would do it, we said letters, visits to churches, etc, and that we're getting our start with letters for this upcoming trip. He asked if he could make a small contribution, pulled out his wallet, and gave us a large cash gift - and hugged both of us, telling us that we blessed him today and made it worth getting out of bed this morning.

if you wonder why I haven't used his name the whole time, it's because we went through this whole 40-or-so minute conversation without knowing his name. It was only as we were saying our good byes that I asked his name. Roderick. And we're not strangers anymore.

God is so good!