A Privilege

Hello friends! I recently received a request from two sweet ladies, bluemountainmama and Beverly, to do a post about the Philippines trip we are about to embark on. The question was whether this was a mission trip and yes indeed it is. I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet! It's only been the most exciting and incredible thing I've been looking forward to for 3 years now!! We are three weeks away from leaving and will be gone for 3 months. My husband is in the school of ministry at our church and is required to complete a long term trip before graduation. We are going with another couple for the full term, and our pastor, his wife, and one other couple will join us for the first 3 weeks to help us get adjusted and do ministry with us. Our purpose is not only to reach the lost with the gospel and give disciples there the means to teach themselves, but mostly to learn from them! They have so much to teach us and we get the opportunity to grow in tremendous ways as a ministry couple. We see this as the highest privilege and an honor greater than my dreams have ever imagined. If you could have known me or perhaps read what I might have posted about some 4 years back in the B.C. days, you'd be just as astonished as I am that someone like me gets to do something this incredible. My husband and I are just a wee little part in this, as our church as a whole has made this all happen. The photos above show the mission center our little fellowship built on the top of a mountain! We get to live there! It's called Shofar, and in one of them you can see the little blue truck they built for us from scratch that will get us around. We are on Cebu island and way out in the out there. In the most beautiful and only-God-could-pull-this-off way, we have built a radio station on top of the mission center (4th photo is the radio room to be). We get to flip the switch in 3 weeks! We're talking a 200 ft. tower with a 1000 watt range!! We have a 100 watt station at our church here at home and a talented and dedicated radio staff of servants that have been busting their chops to get this thing ready to fly when we go. We all can't believe what God lets us do! Other stuff we get to be a part of while there: teaching regular discipleship classes, touring with a local band for a few weekends (this started out as a gig in a bandshell park and is now happening at their civic center!), handing out radios locked into our new station, teaching the Bible to children in mountain village schools (little to no english spoken), taking on a project to help locals in some way (last year the crew built sturdy walls around the little house of a family of 10 or so), and whatever else comes our way. It will be a challenge to all my comforts and normalities and much hard work, but no complaining here! I'm looking forward to that, stretching and growing and seeing what God has for us there. We by no means deserve any of this, but He is such a good Father and loves to give good gifts to His kids! The two joyfuls in the photo with the goat are our pastor and his wife. Aren't they so adorable with that little guy? Well, I suppose that's all as this is a once again record-breaking marathon post. Thanks for asking about the trip ladies! It's a real honor to share what God is doing in my life. So long for now..

wise fellows

I was on break at work last night and found this old jewel while reading:

"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;

the rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags;

the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks;

the spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings' palaces."

Proverbs 30:24-28

I got all dreamy and so far away when I read this!!! I had it all circled and starred and underlined but sometimes I just forget ya know? Guess that's why it's a book to read for a whole lifetime.. I used to be quite obsessed with fantasy reading before I was a Christian. I couldn't get enough of celtic fairy lore, fairytales in general, and so on. I loved the imagery and the magic; fauns, faeiries, gnomes, elves, little people... Now I know that all the magic I can handle is graced on the pages of the Bible. There's enough real wonder visible with the human eye that I don't need to dream of a beyond here on earth. I never knew this kind of stuff was in the Bible! My only impression in childhood was dry liturgical repetition I heard in church and I wanted nothing to do with it. How marvelous to discover the actual Word for myself and what treasures it held for me! So, the pictures above: leafcutter ants are simply brilliant creatures. My husband is an endless vat of random and amazing facts. He said leafcutters put the leaves in their nest to grow fungus on that they eat. Little farmers! He saw them in Belize long ago and thought the leaves were all walking around in the jungle. Then he told me about the garden spider. Apparently these little guys have a number of different webs they make for different purposes, and one they can cast into the air and ride like a hang-glider for thousands of miles! Can you even deal with that? I used pictures of webs instead of the spider itself in case Carrie sees this... Anyhow, I could go on and on about exciting facts about these lil' fellows o' wisdom, but alas, i'm trying to battle the urge to marathon post. I found some pretty deep spiritual analogies that go with each of these examples, but i'll leave that to your own discovery.

a tribute

Hey friends! Just wanted to recommend one of my favorites to you all. Odon Soterias is so wonderful and such magic that my words could never do justice. They were introduced to me a few years ago by my dear sister that you all know as the lizard princess. She got to meet them at the Rainbow Gathering and they put on a show for the Jesus Kitchen crew! Incredible people indeed who love their God and sing to the world about Him. Lots of their verses are straight up Bible tale-tellin' and the fella, Hippydan, plays the dudlesack, which is some kind of special bagpipes his wife got him for a wedding gift. Anyways, I stole the pictures from their site so I could give them props here. Unfortunately, I lack the techy skills to do an official link, but they can be found at MySpace music under Odon Soterias. I'll also quit telling their story as they do a much better job of it themselves. You should check them out! They are a discovery to behold, that's for certain. We played their album for the start of our wedding ceremony, it was a great honor. Enjoy!

ps. the female part of Odon posts some of the most hilarious stuff on their blog-link that i have ever read, she's a gem.