Hey everyone. For those of you who read my blog as your only way of keeping up with me, I'm so very sorry. I've actually been home for almost two months now. Posting a final update has been on my list of things to do for quite some time, as you can imagine. But instead of making excuses, I'm just going to plunge right into a rather abbreviated update.
May was very busy, as it always is no matter where I am. On top of being the last month of school and my last month in Portugal, there were a few special events that happened. One of these was a visit from a choral group from my cousin's supporting church in Toledo. They were with us for 8 days and sang over 20 concerts! And somehow they still found time to go sightseeing and shopping, and to attend a bull fight (to which we were invited as well...yay!) We had a wonderful time with them and - from what they tell me :-) - vice versa.
The last time doing things was a little sad, of course. My last time seeing the kids at the English Club, my last Sunday at the church in Samora, my last day with Noah at the apartment, my last day at the school, etc. God had placed me in Portugal for those five months, and they were wonderful. Now He was preparing me to return home. So while I was sad to leave, and while there are still many things I miss about life there, I am glad to be back in the States. I actually even went through a slight culture shock for a week or so if you can believe it! For example, I kept on expecting to hear the water heater "tick, tick, tick, tick, *fwoom*" when I turned on the hot water...and it never did!
As for what's next in my life: I don't know. For now, I'm taking that to mean that God wants me here in Chicagoland until further notice. I don't feel that He is leading me into full time missions right now, but I'm open to the option. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Chocolate - the answer to all of life's ills
On Thursday and Friday last week I watched Noah + two 5 year old missionary girls ALL DAY. These girls are wonderful, funny, loving little girls and I was happy to watch them so their parents could go to the training seminar. They are also both strong-willed and opinionated so while they start out excited to be together, they are more than ready to part company by the end of a day.
Thursday went well - no impossible-to-resolve arguments, for the most part they played nicely together. Friday wasn't so good. For a number of reasons, two days in a row seemed to be one day too many for Emma and Maddie to get along smoothly. From the get-go, they were arguing...over everything. Even after a "rest" in front of a movie (they don't really take naps) and lunch. HOWEVER, Emma's mom packed chocolate cupcakes and a frosting recipe, and I was reminded that there's nothing like chocolate to soothe the temper and bring girls together in happy harmony...even at the innocent age of 5. :-) After frosting and eating the cupcakes, not another argument erupted for the rest of the day.
Thank God for chocolate!
Thursday went well - no impossible-to-resolve arguments, for the most part they played nicely together. Friday wasn't so good. For a number of reasons, two days in a row seemed to be one day too many for Emma and Maddie to get along smoothly. From the get-go, they were arguing...over everything. Even after a "rest" in front of a movie (they don't really take naps) and lunch. HOWEVER, Emma's mom packed chocolate cupcakes and a frosting recipe, and I was reminded that there's nothing like chocolate to soothe the temper and bring girls together in happy harmony...even at the innocent age of 5. :-) After frosting and eating the cupcakes, not another argument erupted for the rest of the day.
Thank God for chocolate!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
April "happenin's"
Wow. April really flew by! Hard to believe I went an entire month without posting anything here. Truthfully, I haven't felt "inspired" about anything lately, lol, but that doesn't mean things weren't happening. So here goes: a quick overview of last month.
On Easter Sunday our tiny church group in Samora joined forces with the church group in Cartaxo. Some members from Arruda came as well. So we had a record Sunday - almost 40 people! It was such a great feeling to have a large group. Tell you what, it's a lot more fun to play congregational songs for 40 than it is for 10. :-) Someday, Lord willing, the church here will get off the ground and that will be a normal Sunday. Easter was also special for me because I got to "visit" home that day. My mom and I connected on Skype and she walked me around to see some of the children whom I have taught through the years. They were thrilled to show me their Easter outfits and sing for me! In between classrooms we bumped into several of my church family as well. It was a really nice Easter gift.
At Lisbon Training Center I have finished organizing both the elementary library and the high school library. Now I'm working on the GDL library (pastor resources in Portugese). It has been organized and entered into the computer 2 or 3 times before, but each time something has happened and the information has been lost. So my main goal is to get everything re-entered, and I'm taking extra precautions to make sure it stays that way! It's slow going though since most of the books and all of the categories are in Portugese. Plus, I keep getting distracted by other fun things to help out with. For example, the students recently took the yearly achievement tests. The majority of the testing for 1 and 2 grade has to be dictated, so I lent a hand to Laurie and took one grade while she took the other. Talk about confusing if she had to do both at the same time!
The English Club at Miriam's house is going well. There are 6 boys who are faithful every week, and 3 who come when they can. They're full of energy and excitement, so even though we can't fully understand each other we have a fun time together. We've made cookies, painted a gift for Mother's Day, and made a Mother's Day card. Sounds like girl stuff, doesn't it? These boys have had a blast! And they're learning new words in the process. Ana Carolina doesn't come very regularly anymore; she's beyond this level. However, she came this week and the two of us spent an hour working on her conversational English. She wants to converse better, and I want to build a relationship with her. So it's a win-win!
Noah and I are getting along "swimmingly". :-) He's always happy to see me, and I him. When he first arrives we go into the kitchen so I can do the dishes and he plays with measuring cups/spoons and tupperware. Who needs toys when you have a kitchen? We play or read happily for a little while until he gets tired and then I turn on his favorite music and rock him to sleep. The great thing is...he no longer wakes up screaming! He wakes up slowly and talking, and if I get to him quickly enough he stays happy and we cuddle some more. It's been so fun to watch him grow and have a tiny part in training him. Poor guy had surgery this week to remove a cyst on his head, but he's doing well. Quite the little trooper!
April was a month of traveling for me. Spring break was the first week of the month, so we (Tammy, Laurie, Laurie's brother Johnny, Craig, Craig's friend Dan, and I) did a lot of sightseeing. We all had a good time hanging out together all over Portugal. Then last weekend I flew to Switzerland with Miriam (the lady who I help with English club) for a few days. We made her cousin's house in Tramelan our base of operations and took day trips from there. The train system makes travel really easy! It's a wonderful country - quaint houses, picturesque countryside, friendly people (even though I couldn't understand them), excellent food, and more. Best of all, the Swiss Alps!
So I think that's April in a nutshell. Also happened in April: 1. The ladies finished our Beth Moore book study and I'm thankful for the many blessings I received from it. 2. The GLCA high school banquet to honor the seniors. We (the singles) helped out in the kitchen and got to enjoy the festivities as well! 3. The GLCA Spring Program. The 1-2 and 3-5 classes each learned a large portion of Scripture and recited them, complete with hand motions. They also sang some songs and played one with recorders and boom-whackers. Very cute! The 11-12 class performed a short play called Mountaintop about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Good script, good performance; I was impressed and moved.
As always, thank for your prayers! I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do in my last month here.
On Easter Sunday our tiny church group in Samora joined forces with the church group in Cartaxo. Some members from Arruda came as well. So we had a record Sunday - almost 40 people! It was such a great feeling to have a large group. Tell you what, it's a lot more fun to play congregational songs for 40 than it is for 10. :-) Someday, Lord willing, the church here will get off the ground and that will be a normal Sunday. Easter was also special for me because I got to "visit" home that day. My mom and I connected on Skype and she walked me around to see some of the children whom I have taught through the years. They were thrilled to show me their Easter outfits and sing for me! In between classrooms we bumped into several of my church family as well. It was a really nice Easter gift.
At Lisbon Training Center I have finished organizing both the elementary library and the high school library. Now I'm working on the GDL library (pastor resources in Portugese). It has been organized and entered into the computer 2 or 3 times before, but each time something has happened and the information has been lost. So my main goal is to get everything re-entered, and I'm taking extra precautions to make sure it stays that way! It's slow going though since most of the books and all of the categories are in Portugese. Plus, I keep getting distracted by other fun things to help out with. For example, the students recently took the yearly achievement tests. The majority of the testing for 1 and 2 grade has to be dictated, so I lent a hand to Laurie and took one grade while she took the other. Talk about confusing if she had to do both at the same time!
The English Club at Miriam's house is going well. There are 6 boys who are faithful every week, and 3 who come when they can. They're full of energy and excitement, so even though we can't fully understand each other we have a fun time together. We've made cookies, painted a gift for Mother's Day, and made a Mother's Day card. Sounds like girl stuff, doesn't it? These boys have had a blast! And they're learning new words in the process. Ana Carolina doesn't come very regularly anymore; she's beyond this level. However, she came this week and the two of us spent an hour working on her conversational English. She wants to converse better, and I want to build a relationship with her. So it's a win-win!
Noah and I are getting along "swimmingly". :-) He's always happy to see me, and I him. When he first arrives we go into the kitchen so I can do the dishes and he plays with measuring cups/spoons and tupperware. Who needs toys when you have a kitchen? We play or read happily for a little while until he gets tired and then I turn on his favorite music and rock him to sleep. The great thing is...he no longer wakes up screaming! He wakes up slowly and talking, and if I get to him quickly enough he stays happy and we cuddle some more. It's been so fun to watch him grow and have a tiny part in training him. Poor guy had surgery this week to remove a cyst on his head, but he's doing well. Quite the little trooper!
April was a month of traveling for me. Spring break was the first week of the month, so we (Tammy, Laurie, Laurie's brother Johnny, Craig, Craig's friend Dan, and I) did a lot of sightseeing. We all had a good time hanging out together all over Portugal. Then last weekend I flew to Switzerland with Miriam (the lady who I help with English club) for a few days. We made her cousin's house in Tramelan our base of operations and took day trips from there. The train system makes travel really easy! It's a wonderful country - quaint houses, picturesque countryside, friendly people (even though I couldn't understand them), excellent food, and more. Best of all, the Swiss Alps!
So I think that's April in a nutshell. Also happened in April: 1. The ladies finished our Beth Moore book study and I'm thankful for the many blessings I received from it. 2. The GLCA high school banquet to honor the seniors. We (the singles) helped out in the kitchen and got to enjoy the festivities as well! 3. The GLCA Spring Program. The 1-2 and 3-5 classes each learned a large portion of Scripture and recited them, complete with hand motions. They also sang some songs and played one with recorders and boom-whackers. Very cute! The 11-12 class performed a short play called Mountaintop about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Good script, good performance; I was impressed and moved.
As always, thank for your prayers! I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do in my last month here.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Lonely?
In her Bible Study "Stepping Up", Beth Moore said (and I'm paraphrasing), "With the modern convenience of texting, IMing, and even email, we easily and often 'keep in touch' with people through short notes, but we're still left feeling hungry for something real."
How true! If we were to take a poll, the large majority would say that they often feel lonely. Yet they would also answer that they have a lot of friends. It sounds almost oxymoronic. So why is this? Well we all know the Bible verse, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." But what does "friendly" mean? Being friendly, like Beth Moore said, means more than a quick text or a wall post on facebook. It means phone calls and written notes and coffee dates if one wants to build relationships and make real, deep, true friendships instead of casual acquaintanceships.
However, in my experience, that isn't enough. The problem is, it takes two. One can call and write and try to plan coffee dates, but if the effort isn't reciprocated then it becomes frustrating to both parties. So would you like to know what I think? I think people have given up. No one makes the effort because they're tired of the rejection, so no one else feels wanted and therefore they don't make an effort either.
So what would happen if, all of a sudden, everyone just decided to put themselves out there and make themselves a little vulnerable, and to sacrifice a little bit of time out of their day for the benefit of someone else? Maybe the loneliness would stop! Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? I recently read "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exubery and in it he paints a pictures of how something trivial becomes special because of the effort and care one puts into it; whether a drink of water, a sunset, or a relationship.
I know: this has nothing to do with my ministry here in Portugal. But first the Bible study and then the children's book in less than a week really got me thinking. For about a week these thoughts have been bouncing around inside my head, and I had to get them out. :-) So here's my blog; a convenient way to share my musings!
How true! If we were to take a poll, the large majority would say that they often feel lonely. Yet they would also answer that they have a lot of friends. It sounds almost oxymoronic. So why is this? Well we all know the Bible verse, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." But what does "friendly" mean? Being friendly, like Beth Moore said, means more than a quick text or a wall post on facebook. It means phone calls and written notes and coffee dates if one wants to build relationships and make real, deep, true friendships instead of casual acquaintanceships.
However, in my experience, that isn't enough. The problem is, it takes two. One can call and write and try to plan coffee dates, but if the effort isn't reciprocated then it becomes frustrating to both parties. So would you like to know what I think? I think people have given up. No one makes the effort because they're tired of the rejection, so no one else feels wanted and therefore they don't make an effort either.
So what would happen if, all of a sudden, everyone just decided to put themselves out there and make themselves a little vulnerable, and to sacrifice a little bit of time out of their day for the benefit of someone else? Maybe the loneliness would stop! Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? I recently read "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exubery and in it he paints a pictures of how something trivial becomes special because of the effort and care one puts into it; whether a drink of water, a sunset, or a relationship.
I know: this has nothing to do with my ministry here in Portugal. But first the Bible study and then the children's book in less than a week really got me thinking. For about a week these thoughts have been bouncing around inside my head, and I had to get them out. :-) So here's my blog; a convenient way to share my musings!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
duck or pato?
Last week, Noah started repeating words. Lasagna = "ana", Wow = "ooow", Dog = "doug", etc. But on Tuesday he surprised me. While we played with his rubber duck I told him "That's a duck. Can you say duck?". As expected, Noah just looked at me and kept playing. When I said "or pato" (slowly but surely I'm learning Portugese words! lol), he said "duck!" I told him that's right it's a duck, at which point he ignored me again. But when I said "pato"...out he came with "duck" again. What a little stinker!
I know, I know...probably coincidence. Translating words at 11 months? Lol, not likely. :-) But it gave me a fun story to tell!
I know, I know...probably coincidence. Translating words at 11 months? Lol, not likely. :-) But it gave me a fun story to tell!
Monday, March 30, 2009
The center of God's will
All my life I've heard preachers say that "the best place to be is smack in the middle of God's will". My reaction to hearing this was always the same: "What a vague statement to make!" For one thing, how exactly does one know God's will? We're always told to find it and do it, but rarely are we given suggestions on how to find it. Also, what if God's will is somewhere that we, with our human nature, really would rather not be either physically or spiritually? It's one thing to say it's the best place to be, it's another thing to feel that way when you're there.
Now I know all of the answers. I grew up hearing it and I could list every reason both scriptural and non, but hearing isn't understanding. Experiencing - that's different. I can now honestly say that I finally understand what people mean when they say that the center of God's will is the best place to be. Because now I know how it feels.
The trepidation I felt leading up to my time in Portugal can't even be explained. However, with the emotional support of those who loved me I kept walking through the open door, no matter how anxious I felt or how much I secretly hoped that God would close the door. And now I'm so very glad that He didn't. I am happier, more content, and more confident here in Portugal than I have been in a long time. Are there slight discomforts? Sure. Do I miss home? Definitely. But not enough to remove the certainty I have that God has led me to this place and is blessing my time here.
So when the door started opening for me to stay a little while longer, it was with considerably less hesitation that I walked toward it. It didn't take long before God swung the door wide open and things fell into place so that there was no doubt in my mind that it was His plan for me to stay until the end of May.
"What's next? What will you do after May?" is what most people have asked. At this point I don't feel like God is pointing me towards becoming a career missionary; admittedly, the idea scares me some, but hopefully if He does direct that way I'll be more open to that option after having had this wonderful experience. Until such a time that He makes His will clear though, I'll return to life and work in Illinois having grown in more ways than one.
Now I know all of the answers. I grew up hearing it and I could list every reason both scriptural and non, but hearing isn't understanding. Experiencing - that's different. I can now honestly say that I finally understand what people mean when they say that the center of God's will is the best place to be. Because now I know how it feels.
The trepidation I felt leading up to my time in Portugal can't even be explained. However, with the emotional support of those who loved me I kept walking through the open door, no matter how anxious I felt or how much I secretly hoped that God would close the door. And now I'm so very glad that He didn't. I am happier, more content, and more confident here in Portugal than I have been in a long time. Are there slight discomforts? Sure. Do I miss home? Definitely. But not enough to remove the certainty I have that God has led me to this place and is blessing my time here.
So when the door started opening for me to stay a little while longer, it was with considerably less hesitation that I walked toward it. It didn't take long before God swung the door wide open and things fell into place so that there was no doubt in my mind that it was His plan for me to stay until the end of May.
"What's next? What will you do after May?" is what most people have asked. At this point I don't feel like God is pointing me towards becoming a career missionary; admittedly, the idea scares me some, but hopefully if He does direct that way I'll be more open to that option after having had this wonderful experience. Until such a time that He makes His will clear though, I'll return to life and work in Illinois having grown in more ways than one.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Dia do Pai
Thursday, March 19 was Dia do Pai here (Father's Day). So on Sunday the children did a special presentation for their parents. They've been working on their verse and song since the beginning of February - Genesis 1:1, and a song about God creating the fish, the birds, you and me, etc (it's in Portugese...I don't know any more than that, lol). And of course, like all children, they got shy when it came time to actually perform. Poor Daniel was half asleep, but eventually Maria started saying a word or two and Marcio started "growling" the words. :-)
Then they all had a gift for their dads: a photo of them in a popsicle stick frame. Marcio was so excited that he wanted to keep his, lol. But we finally convinced him to give it to his dad, which he did in a flash and was on to the next thing! They're all very active children....
Please pray for the church in Samora. Currently, there are three families that attend. But in April, Pedro is moving his family to Angola, so we'll lose the four of them. It's hard to get a new church going anyway; losing one of your regular families doesn't make it any easier. We'll definitely miss them!
Here's the whole church as we are right now. :-)
Then they all had a gift for their dads: a photo of them in a popsicle stick frame. Marcio was so excited that he wanted to keep his, lol. But we finally convinced him to give it to his dad, which he did in a flash and was on to the next thing! They're all very active children....
Please pray for the church in Samora. Currently, there are three families that attend. But in April, Pedro is moving his family to Angola, so we'll lose the four of them. It's hard to get a new church going anyway; losing one of your regular families doesn't make it any easier. We'll definitely miss them!
Here's the whole church as we are right now. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
