Not the Christmas I had Planned!

Well, to be clear, I did not really plan anything. I had in my mind that we could/ should get together with the believers in our town, especially since we do not have team mates. Then at my conference in November, I was reminded that the believers in our area are our team mates, more than that, our family. I was reminded to see them that way. So in the few days following our return from the capital, Rich went to talk with one of our brothers about gathering everyone for a celebration, and together they went to the village to invite other brothers and sisters.

Rich had it in his mind for us to also give some sort of gift to our close friends and neighbors. However trying to home school and manage a household without our regular house helper made it too stressful to think ahead. (One of the side effects I have had since all the cancer treatment is a lower threshold for stress and in turn decision making.) So I asked Rich to do a lot of that thinking ahead on his own, and I promised to be all in once the day came.

Wednesday afternoon, my mind free of home school and planning for guests, Rich and I were able to talk about gifts for close friends and neighbors. Some people we knew were giving buckets of useful items and sharing the Christmas story. Some were giving plates of cookies. Some were giving bags of treats with scripture references on them. We decided to go with the bucket of useful items, which Rich went out immediately to buy, and a copy of Mark. After dinner, as a family we worked together to fill the buckets to deliver the next morning.

On Christmas Eve, we began delivering the buckets. We made sure they knew we were including Mark because it tells about Jesus, whose birth we were celebrating. We prayed with each family we visited. One visit was particularly interesting as it involved a guest at the house we went to visit. The guest wanted to emphasize that the two religions come from the same father, Abraham, and how at peace they are, especially this year when both the birthday of the Prophet and the birth of Jesus were celebrated the same day. If it had been just my friend and her husband, we might have been able to go deeper in the conversation to clear up some misconceptions, but that day was not the time and place with a guest whose heart was not yet ready. Giving those buckets was a great idea!

We had lunch and a laid back afternoon. We ate dinner and watched Polar Express before putting the kids to bed.

Christmas morning, we opened our stockings and a few small presents. We had breakfast. We put dinner in the crock pot. We got dressed in our finest outfits, especially the children in their new clothes. We went to visit Jennifer, since I knew she would not be able to get out to see the children. She was so happy to see them but sad she could not come with us to the gathering. As we were leaving Jennifer's, we remembered something we had meant to bring with us, so we headed home.

Crash! Boom!
Turning ever so carefully off of the street, a motorcycle came up on our left side while we were turning left. He clipped the front driver's side corner and flew into the air. I was just sure he was going to be laid out on the ground, likely even dead, but he got up and walked from the motorcycle. Despite no helmet, there was no blood from his head. He had some blood from scrapes on his arms, but nothing like we feared. Police  driving by asked a few questions. Everyone testified the same thing, that the young man was the one at fault. An ambulance came to take the young man to the hospital. Police came to take statements and measure out the distances involved. We had to go to the police station to pick up paperwork. This was not what I had planned.

We were all a little shaken after that. We left the kids at Jennifer's house while we went to the police station. When finished there, we took the rice and onions that we planned to take for the gathering over to the brother for him to serve. We however begged forgiveness because we all were in need of rest.

We came home and pieced some things together for lunch. We rested and watched more Christmas movies. It was restful, but it was not what I had planned.
That afternoon was when Jamie came over and told me she had read Mark and watched the movie about Jesus. That also was not what I had planned.

Because I had planned for us to be out all day on Christmas, we planned that the next day would be a totally inside day, so that the kids could enjoy their new presents. Other than a short visit from someone who came to visit me, it was just us inside all day. I essentially stayed in my pajamas all day! We did that again, more or less on Sunday.

Monday morning, Rich went to the police station to pick up his paperwork. He was later than we had planned on him going, but because he was late, he was able to see the young man. The young man from the accident had a bandaged arm but was mostly well. The fact that he was able to walk away was a miracle. The small amount of cuts and scrapes was even more so. Thank you Lord, for Rich being able to see that young man this morning.

Grateful for how the Father worked miracles and worked in hearts over the last two weeks, in ways we had not planned.

Jamie's Story Continues

In "No Need for Embarassment," readers were introduced to Jamie, Jennifer's sister-in-law. Jamie had expressed a willingness to study the Word and yet schedules never seemed to coincide. Then I was out of town for a few weeks. Since returning, we were busy catching up on things not done while I was out of town and preparing for the celebration of the birth of our Lord. The Father has a way of orchestrating events, even though not exactly as we would plan.

Since Jennifer's husband died, I have had more opportunity to spend time with Jamie. Jennifer is not from our target people group and language but from a very close language. Jamie is actually from our target people, the language we thought we had learned. Since Jamie has been over more, I have found out how much of my language is actually from the close language, not the one I thought I had learned. I knew I needed to improve my language, but I did not realize how much.

So Jamie has been coming, and I have purposed to pray with her every visit, with a few exceptions. Then we decided to bless some of our neighbors, friends, and workers with buckets of rice, onions, lemons, soap, and a copy of Mark. We gave one of the buckets to Jamie on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day, Jamie came to check on us, after we had been involved in an accident. She and I talked about the accident and a few other cultural things. Then she shared something precious with me. She had taken the bucket home and showed it to her family. She had read Mark some that afternoon. Then a movie of the life of Jesus was on television. It showed the part she had just read. She told her husband that she had just read it, and they sat down with their children to watch the rest of the movie. She saw where He died on the cross and then came back to life again. We talked a little about how He was not like other people because He was without sin.

Lift up Jamie and her family as they continue seeking the Truth.

Jennifer is a Widow.

Jennifer's tale has been up and down. She struggled in her marriage, and we discussed that he could not really love her without being in The Way.  She was drawn to real faith as she saw Rich caring for me, being the husband the Word commands him to be. Her in-laws that had been harsh with her improved as we prayed for them to be kind. She committed to The Way and grew in her faith. One day things went very wrong with her husband, who is from yet another people group. It was her in-laws that stepped in to redeem the situation and defend Jennifer. Things seemed to improve with her husband as well.

Three weeks after the family intervention, Jennifer probably got malaria, so sick she had to be hospitalized. When she got released from the hospital, her husband was in the hospital with complications of diabetes and blood pressure. The day before he was released from the hospital, our family returned from the capital. I went to visit them on the day he was released, which was also the anniversary of my surgery. I prayed with them and gave personal testimony of my not needing to fear death last year.

Her husband was released, though he was in a lot of pain. Three and a half days later, he died at home. Jennifer became a widow.

I did not find out until late the next day, and I went to visit her almost immediately. Rich and I intended on going to the funeral the next morning, but we were unable to do so when Rich's back went out. I went that afternoon instead, once Rich was well enough to be left alone and kids were playing. Jennifer begged me to bring the kids. The next morning I took the kids to visit her. They hugged her and prayed for her, and she sang songs with them that she has sung around the house. I went back that afternoon to take her something she had requested. I went back this morning with Rich and the kids.

Jennifer's in-laws commented on how good we are to keep coming. I said it is because she has been so good to us. We are family and take care of one another. I come to visit her and she has arranged for some one to come help me. (As a side note, though we are very close to Jennifer, she is not from our target audience, but the closest possible. Her replacement actually is from our target people.)

Maybe those who once were hostile to The Way will not be so hardened to it now. Maybe we can break the stereotype they have of white people and, more importantly, of those of The Way. Maybe this opens the door for those of another people group to come to faith. Maybe. All for His glory.
With all the maybes, Jennifer is still a widow.

Pardon Me! Meet Sophie

Some teenage girls were watching Mariama sweep the front this morning and acted as if they were going to tease her. I asked them to move along to school so that she could finish sweeping. They looked like the girls who came in our house one day without being invited, but I did not want to assume that.

With trying to do school and Rich studying and going out, I kept the front gate locked, so we would not be disturbed. It also worked out since our house helper is still out, and her sister who came in for her does not know who to interrupt us for and who not.  I still feel weird locking the the gate, but I am following our neighbors' example. Rich came back from his visiting, but he forgot to lock the gate.

I came around the corner to find a strange teenage girl in our home. I asked her why she had come in, and I stepped out into the courtyard with her. She said she knocked and knocked but no one answered. I told her she should have waited for an answer. I asked her why she came, when she was obviously on her way home from school for lunch. She said she wanted to be our friend and asked my forgiveness for coming in the house uninvited. I confessed to her that I have a hard time believing her. She is too old to be friends with my children and too young to want to be my friend. I told her that most her age just come here to see the white person and tire us out. I hoped she was telling the truth, but I was having a hard time trusting her. She said she passed by yesterday and wanted to talk with us, unfortunately she thought we spoke French. She does not speak English nor our current local language.

So we communicated in the major trade language.  I asked her name and where she lives. I asked her what grade she is in, which is roughly equivalent to our tenth grade. I asked her how school was going, and she said it was painful. She recently moved here from a town two hours west of us.  She started to leave, but I asked her if I could pray with her before she left. I prayed that God who knows our hearts would reveal what is true and help her in her school work.

I don't know that I will ever see Sophie again. I do not know her heart's intent, but I know there are no accidents. She did not accidentally walk in our home. Pray that God will bless Sophie in her school work and to draw her unto Himself.

Vive le Difference!

Opposites attract!  When you put batteries in a flashlight, the opposite ends of the batteries must touch in order for them to work. Looking at Rich and me this week has been like looking at two batteries.  Thinking back to when we started getting to know one another, I told our mutual friends it would never work because we were too different.

In contemplating our language learning styles this week, I remembered how Rich would embody the personality of our first people group overseas, while I would get the sentences structured more cleanly. He is more street sense where I am book sense. I love grammar, but he can play the part. Together we can really get the point across.

I want to have the right answers, where as he loves to play devil's advocate. In fact, it is that devil's advocate that helped me know he was the man for me. He was the first man I ever dated that actually tried to engage my mind, which made for interesting road trips, and wanted me to really be able to articulate what I believe.

We have lots of differences. He was country, and I was city. He is watching wrestling, and I am visiting museums.  He was "Rocky Horror Picture Show", and I was "Gone with the Wind."  He is working in the theater, and I am attending the theatre. He reads fiction, where I prefer reading self-improvement books. I can be very task oriented, but he is very people focused. He is laid back and relaxed, and I have been known to want to get the most out of every possible moment. These differences give spice and variety to our lives. It would be so boring if we were the same.

They also make us better as individuals and a couple. I need him to get me to relax, and he sometimes needs me to help him get going. On vacations, he makes sure we have down time and enjoy the moment, while I enjoy planning fun and educational things to do. I need him, and he needs me.

I find it interesting that God intended it to be that way. God created man in His image and said it was very good. It was not good for man to be alone, so God made a helpmate for him.  The helpmate was also made in the image of God but was created different from the man, physically and otherwise. It was their physical differences that would enable procreation and the continuation of the species. Ephesians commands the wife to respect her husband and the husband to love the wife. It commands those things because that is what the other needs. Men want to be loved, but they need to be respected. Women want to be respected too, but they need to feel loved. God created them male and female.

Enjoy the differences!
Vive la difference!