6.21.12

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears...."

I sat in the hall with all the other patients and their drips. We line the wall in the ER. IV analgesics I could not understand the names of tapped into my right arm at the elbow; the worst rebound migraine in the history of migraines. One man in a neck brace on a stretcher, a boy in a wheelchair peeking out of the next room, a woman in labor sitting next to me; she had been there for hours, still waiting... Waiting, waiting, waiting. That's what we do here.

It is well past midnight, this first day of winter. I sit, the drugs beginning to work their magic and ease the pain, and put me to sleep in a sitting position. My eyes fling open, slower than usual, as I hear the commotion - a man being brought in on a stretcher. He collapsed outside, the men who drove him to the hospital unable to hold him up. Blood is streaming from his chest: a gunshot wound.

I think that because I am in hospital he will be saved.

He dies several minutes later. I watch as the doctor comes out, his body language says everything. He points to his chest, He received a shot HERE. He shakes his head, takes off his glasses. We did everything we could...

It was like a horrible movie, the next scene predictable. The son buries his head in his hands and starts to sob, "My father, my father..."

The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous,

and his ears are open unto their cry.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Was he a bad man?, I think to myself. Are these the consequences of a life lived wrongly??

I wonder.

Sometimes I feel as desolate as things appear.

{...none of them that trust in him shall be desolate...}

Perhaps it is good that we are here, I try to console myself. Yes, very good that we are here, I tell myself again. I squint at the scene, breathe out, shake my head slow.

No, a voice says, Go home.

Why are you here? - the voice whispers. You could be next, you know... It's dangerous here. Don't you know that?

Fear, a constant companion, comes to visit again. Why can't fear just leave me alone?

 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.

Death. Need. Loss. It is too much to bear some days, many days, most days. Nine months and I feel like I already need a big, long, stress-free furlough.

 

Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears.

Today there is no gas in town. No gas at the gas stations. There's just no gas. Lines of cars are three blocks long. Tony says, I'll go after midnight tonight, maybe there won't be any lines then. He tells me of the strike that is supposed to last into next week, which probably means no trucks making deliveries. I say we should go to the store today and stock up just in case.

We are on our knees, praying for peace. The anxiety overwhelms, driving us down. Tony gets ready to go to the older boy's home, the opposition begins.

I need to pray, he says standing at the kitchen sink. I don't want to go. I can feel it.

Sometimes I get tired of these desparate prayers.

It's the first day of winter, June 21. My mom's 65th birthday. Sixty-five. Where has the time gone?

She buries her father. He died on Father's Day.

Death, like a Gypsy, comes to steal what I love.  Again.

Sometimes I feel grey. As grey as these winter skies. I cry. Cry until three in the morning and I just can't stop.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!

There is no want to those who fear Him.

I think of regret. Pain so deep, sorrow so great, I will never be the same again. I have an epiphany. And I'm mad it takes me forty years to come to it. I will never allow anyone to influence me again when I know what God is telling me to do. When I know what is right. But I don't do it. It's too late, it's too late. I can't go back.

Only ahead.

I think of this forgiveness that I have been given. This wonderful, unbelievable, undeserved forgiveness. I know I don't deserve it. I know it now more than ever. Do any of us deserve it? 

I think of him, lying in the ICU, the ventilator pushing air into his lungs, the phone up to his ear. Is he under the wrath of God or under His wings? He can hear me, but he can't speak. I grope to speak words of Truth, of Love. Something. Lord, give me something - the right words to say.

You need to get ready. Are you ready? I love you.

At my words he begins to flail his arms wildly. Fiesty, strong, German stock. Whether in agreement or in anger I do not know - I will never know, not in this life. We have to hang up. They call the nurse. He dies five days later.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart;

and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.

This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles....

The Lord redeems the soul of his servants.

I groan within myself, waiting for this redemption.

~Scripture quoted from Psalm 34

what is to become of those bricks

Marcela and Ceferino are rebuilding. This will be their new house.






I got to see on Saturday how it's coming along. The brick walls have now been raised as high as my hip.

Those bricks will come in handy as the night temperatures drop into 50s, soon into the 40s. [EDIT: Now 30s...]. Freezing. Right now they are sleeping in a temporary wood-slat house with only three walls and a tarp for a roof. Brrrrr.

"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD..." ~Proverbs 19:17



my little friends

I'm so behind on this blog. I feel like we have so, so many things to post and write about, but just no time. So, so many pictures to share, but no time to upload them.

The other night we were visiting with fellow missionary friends and I was commenting on the fact that I have, it seems, no free time. I used to have free time. I know this because I used to read. I used to have time to read. I rarely read anymore, I just don't have time. It's been an adjustment for me, because I love to read. But all my free time now, once eaten up by a deliciously good book (or some other selfish pleasure), is eaten up by socializing. Or cleaning. I have never cleaned so much in my entire life. My kids are always filthy, and so is my house. I have never seen so much dirt in all my blessed life. I can't keep up. With the dirt. Or the people. We're too busy being with them to have time for much else. Argentines are very social people. And that is, in fact, how you reach people. You have to actually spend time with them.

(duh)

So here is a picture of my new little friends.

Marcela's kids. I love them.

Marcela came to church yesterday for the first time. I sat next to her and helped her find her way through the Bible as the pastor preached. She got teary-eyed and went forward for prayer at the end. Her two sweet daughters, Camila (9) and Sofia (2), came with her to church. They kept looking shyly at me all throughout the service. So, of course, I fed them cookies. Later Camila took off with the 6-12 year olds on a three-day camp retreat with the kids from church. Just like that. She is there now, learning about God and Jesus and the Bible.

Today we went up to the slums to visit Marcela and her family. As we were heading out at 6pm, I thought of how many times our plans had changed in just one day. The morning started with Tony doing our taxes. Then he was going to fix our van (it's broken - radiator and power steering leaks), and then head out an hour south to continue work on a new church plant bathroom. But that fell through - post-poned until tomorrow - so it was off to the slums. But, wait, Juan was going to come over for a Bible study at 5 - what to do? So we called Juan to reschedule. No problem, Juan would go with us to the slums instead. Okay. But when the time came to go, no one could get a hold of Juan. So on the way out, we took a major detour and stopped by Juan's house. He was there. We all piled in the church's pickup and headed out.

Not two months ago this would have driven me crazy. Annoyed me at the very least. I barely noticed today. This is life here. Make plans, but roll with it. You never know how a day will unfold. And after we came home and stripped our dirty clothes for much needed baths, leaving piles of desert sand on the bathroom floor, the kids seemed to think dinner at 9:30 at night was perfectly normal, as well. I don't hear much of a peep out of them anymore over it (well, except the high-maintenance one, we always hear a peep or two or a trillion from her). They had too much fun running through dry river gorges up in the desert mesa with their new little friends. Throwing rocks at tin cans, kicking a ball around, and avoiding scorpions. Oh yes, scorpions. (No pictures, Denise, I promised.). Marcela said they've found them in their bed and crawling up the kids' legs. But no worries, the sting is nothing, she assured me. Her kids have been stung - "no big deal"....

Tony's 2nd Post

Here is Tony's 2nd post (you can read his first post here). He asked me to post this verse back in July of...um... last year?

(oops)

And after he saw the one measly picture I put up the other day of an entire afternoon's work, he was like, "That's it?! That's the only picture you posted?? What happened to all the other pictures I took that day? You have to put them up, too!"

So, here you are, the scripture he wanted me to share last year {the one that keeps coming up over and over these days} intermingled with the rest of the pictures from the other day's water run to the slums.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in,

I needed clothes and you clothed me,

I was sick and you looked after me,

I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

That's all from Tony, til maybe next year.

Another day. Another water run to the slums.

Marcela, Ceferino, their children - and everyone else up on the edge of the slums we have been reaching out to - use water like this to drink, bathe, and wash. Cool water in rusty barrels. It's all there is. Imagine.



"For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink..."

[Read the whole context here. Sobering.]

Kisses from Katie

I found Katie's blog about a year ago. Couldn't stop reading. Amazing how God can use one person fully surrendered to Him, simply obedient to His word....

Marcela, cold water, and refrigerators

filling up water tanks to take to the slums

Days are full here. None are ever the same. I wonder if that is, in part, because it's summer. It is very difficult to have a schedule when people drop in unannounced every day, some with great physical and spiritual needs, some for lunch, some for dinner, some to just talk and visit. Much grace is also required as temperatures climb back up over 100.

Oh, and the dust. Don't forget the dust! I have never seen so much dust and dirt in a house in all my life. I feel like all I do is clean, clean, clean. And surely, I think, God did not bring me here to just clean all day long day after day, did He?


Dany drinking terere

Yesterday, Tony and Dani went back to visit the families whose houses burned down. The third time this week.

Dani is one of the pastor's sons. He is 17 years old and he is pure genius. He handles all the car repairs for the church, is a master electrician, mechanic, welder, and builds his own computers. And he loves to do missions. He also recently repaired our TV all by himself - the one that Tony (ahem) blew out. Dani is very smart and always busy helping out.

Today my boy asked me why Dani is so white but doesn't understand English.

lol

I told him that it's because his parents are of European descent, but he's Argentinian, so he speaks Spanish.

On Wednesday when Tony and Dani went up to visit the families for the second time, bringing water and the food we forgot to unload (duh), one of the women, the one who has 5 children, opened up and told her story.

Oh boy.

When Tony asked the families why they thought this may have happened to them, all were silent. Then, Marcela spoke up. She said, yes, she had thought about that question many a time since her house burned down.

Marcela, in the middle, wearing a dress

Marcela uses cocaine. Her husband abuses alcohol, does coke, and also smokes pot. Fortunately, Marcela's husband holds down a job. He works from midnight until 10am loading and unloading fruit crates at a fruit distributor. As she opened up, Marcela also shared that they have dabbled in Umbanda. They have five children. She admits that she feels empty.

Tony and Dani stayed all afternoon visiting, baking under the sun, sharing time, conversation, and Christ. When the guys were getting ready to leave, Marcela asked that they stay. She wanted to talk some more. It did her so well, she said, that they came. She has thought many times of taking her own life. But she was feeling better now that they had talked. So they stayed and promised to come back in a few days. Tony told her that even if we continue to bring food, water, a refrigerator, or any and all sort of material things, without Christ in her life she would still feel empty.

When Tony came home after this visit and announced that we would be buying them a refrigerator, I confess that my reaction was more like, "Woahhh... Hold on there a minute, don't forget you don't have a job yet. We have to pay rent, you know. Refrigerators are expensive. Why don't we wait til Sunday, make an announcement at church, and have everyone give 100 pesos?"

No, he said. They need a refrigerator now.

True.

The construction guys next door have a used fridge they can sell to us for 800 pesos ($200). New ones cost $2000-3000 pesos.

Where are we going to get an extra $200??, I asked. If you hadn't noticed, we don't have much of an income.

Worry, worry, worry.

The next morning fellow missionary Lee came over. We had given them 3 big peices of furniture that literally did not fit into our smaller house here, even after three yard sales and tremendous downsizing. We needed to sell one of the pieces, hoping to help pay for our own rent while Tony still waits for a call from the TV station (they say he is #1 on the list to get a job, but everyone is on vacation now, so we need to wait.). We're living on faith already.

While I was wondering how on earth we were going to give Marcela a refrigerator, when we don't have a job or fixed monthly support to even pay for our own roof, the next morning Lee came and offered us 1000 pesos for the 3rd piece of furniture we were selling.

Not the first time I've felt ashamed of my lack of faith and amazed at the goodness of God at the same time.

Yesterday it was 38 degrees Celcius up there on the desert hill. That is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Today it will be hotter.

There is no water. There is no shade. There is a not a tree or a blade of green in sight. They do not have ice, or even a refrigerator. One of the women had a headache from the heat and the beating sun, which are brutal here. The low pressure system that constantly hangs over the city, inviting hot winds to blow in, can make your head bound. I know this personally since I've had to take Tylenol or Ibuprofen every single day for three straight weeks for constant headache. Even Tony complains it bothers him.

Today Tony and Dany will be going back to Marcela's neighborhood. They filled two big tanks with fresh, cool, sparkling water.

Our kids ask why they keep going back there. I tell them that the Bible says to Love the Lord God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Would you want to be thirsty and hungry and homeless and without Christ? Wouldn't you want someone to come help you if you were Marcela?

"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." ~Mark 9:41

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you."
~John 15:13,14

Dumb Missionary Moment

I love that Tony asked upon seeing what was forgotten, "Who unloaded the stuff?"

Uh... The men.

Mental Note When Delivering Supplies to Those in Need: CHECK THE TRUNK.

Oh, well. Good thing they were non-perishable food items.

We are heading back today to deliver what was forgotten. I guess God wants us to go back after all.

:)

Learning to do Good

"Learn to do good..." - Isaiah 1:17

Yesterday we heard about a family of 7 whose plywood house burned down. Mom, Dad, and five kids were left with nothing. Literally nothing.

So a group of us from church loaded up some non-perishable food items (they don't have a fridge), clothing, mattresses, sheets and blankets, a tent so they have somewhere to sleep, and some water in big plastic jugs, and drove our little caravan out to the very edge of town.

Because, the Bible says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.


Edgardo lent us his truck, onto which we strapped our extra mattresses
(now when people come visit, we will just have to sleep on the floor and give them our own bed,
hardly a sacrifice considering the needs we see here daily)

we half emptied our own cabinets to pile food and clothes and other supplies into our van

 I made my kids pick out some clothes that no longer fit them, and some shoes that still do, to donate to the family of 5 children. Because no one needs five pairs of flip flops when your neighbor has none.

"He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Luke 3:11

heading out to the site

"If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15


on the way we stopped to pick up Dora, who lives 4 blocks from where the houses burned down
 - she goes to our church, and lead us to what was left of the homes




getting closer - the brick houses turned into plywood lean-to's



finally there



one of the three houses that burned down

Fires are common here, they either start with electrical shorts or from sparks that fly off of wood fires or gas stove used for cooking.


one of the burnt houses is already being rebuilt

 

the woman in the red shirt lives in the gray tent

 

her "home", a tent

The neighborhood sits on the very edge of the city. It's a squatters village and it's sprawling and huge. It seems to go on and on and on. People who have no place to live and no money to rent or buy land just "take" a small plot of land on the edge of town, sometimes in public squares or parks, and build ramshackle houses out of plywood, scraps, or brick if they can afford it. The government put up a fence on the edge of town to stop the squatters from taking any more land.

right next to the burnt houses was the fence (behind me), beyond was desert



unloading the mattresses and supplies

It was about 100 degrees and there was not a tree in sight. There was broken glass, dog poop, charred wood and ash, and trash mixed in with desert grit. The kids who live here were filthy and were walking around in underwear and bare feet. Bare feet! My mommy instinct wanted to just stick them in a bathtub, scrub them up, comb their hair, and put some shoes on them. But there is barely water in the neighborhood. The government hasn't extended the pipes to this edge of town yet.


Keren playing with the kids







Mario, one of the pastors, comforting the families with God's word



after unloading everything, we prayed with the families that lost everything
the woman in the middle in the dress will be sleeping in the tent we gave her until they can rebuild



afterwards, conferring about the possibility of coming back, and what kind of help is most needed

and, of course, the truck wouldn't start (it has had battery problems) so we had to push it to pop it into gear

Afterwards, when we were driving Dora back to her house, we drove by some little kids playing outside -two adorable little girls, maybe 4 and 6. I smiled out the window and yelled, "Hola Hermosas!" and they waved back. Dora said, "Oh, if you knew the things those girls have lived through..."

Oh, no. What? What things??

Their mother is mising one leg, so has trouble taking care of them. Last year, some men broke into their house and raped the mother and her daughters.

This is the neighborhood that Jorge and Monica do the Happy Hour outreach. We were told that 90% of the people who live here are alcoholics or theives. There are a few that work hard and don't commit crime, but they are not the majority.

Tony was following me and told me later that he thought I was probably scared driving one of the cars by myself through this neighborhood. I wasn't. At all. I attribute that to prayer, and God's grace, ONLY, because I am a bit of a scaredy cat. So thank you, friends, for praying. We definately feel your prayers.

Our night did not end there. Argentinians are lovers of the night. The youth/young adults invited us back to Edgardo's house for pizza. All I really wanted to do was get my three-year-old into a bathtub stat, and myself into a cold shower, but we said yes and went. Our three-year-old fell asleep on the drive back into town with dirty hands and filthy feet. Dinner wasn't until 10:30. But it was delicious - they made pizza from scratch and torre de panqueques (stacked crepe sandwiches). Yum! Sorry no pictures of that - our cell phones were already full of pictures.

:)

Karina

Weeks ago we started praying for this little girl named Karina. The youth at church visit and do ministry at a children's home downtown. Anyone at church could offer to "adopt" one of the children to pray for, to visit, and to get a little Christmas present for. We raised our hand and they assigned us Karina.

All we have is a picture that she drew hanging on the fridge. We didn't know how old she is, her story, or anything. All we knew was the size of her hand that she traced on the paper, and that she lives in a home for abused, neglected, and abandoned kids.

Since we have arrived in Neuquen, never having been here before in our lives, we weren't sure what the street kid situation was. God has put it on our hearts to work with kids, amongst many other things we want to do, but getting connected while in essence being stranded at home without a car, has been challenging. So we have been waiting to see how God would work this out.

We'd like to work with street kids, but it doesn't look like there are street kids in Neuquen. We could be wrong - not like we've seen much here so far - but we haven't seen any. In Buenos Aires there are many. Other parts of Argentina as well. Here, not so much. We think it may be in part due to the fact that there is oil in this area. Oil means money. Money means less street kids... maybe? Money in the province also means children's homes instead of streets for homes.

So last week Tony was able to go with the youth to visit the kids and Karina for Christmas (sorry, no pics, he wasn't allowed to take any). The kids and I weren't allowed to go, only one person could visit at a time. Sigh. I feel like I am doing absolutely no ministry here. It's getting kind of frustrating! But there is a time for everything...right? At least that's what my Bible says. I have had my own work here at home so far, I guess - taking care of the kids, supporting Tony in all the ministry stuff he gets to do, and wasting my life away washing dishes by hand and hanging clothes on a clothes line and cleaning cleanig cleaning (I like none of these activities and I find them dreadfully boring. I would love house help. Then I could go out and do something else. But I'm not bitter. Nope. Not a hair.). Maybe we'll be healthy and mobile and be able to come up for a breath of air soon one of these days so Mommy can get out there, too... for now I'll just sit at home and feel frustrated.

So back to Karina.

He said she was about 13 and autisitic.

I got a text message from Tony mid-afternoon which said, "This reminds me of Ecuador. Very hard."

A few years ago we went on a short term mission trip to an orphanage in Ecuador. 100 kids, all abused, neglected, and abandoned. They all come to the home out of tragedy. All their stories are sad, all of them. Sexually abused, beaten, abandoned to the streets to eat trash, neglected, babies literally thrown in the trash. The children's home here is no different.

Tony said that the kids just threw themselves at him and their visitors, wrapping their needy little arms around his neck for hugs and hanging on them, refusing to let go. You have to peel them off. Starved for love. Starved for affection. Starved for attention. What did Jesus say about children...? Tony had to hold back the tears many times during the afternoon. A lot of the kids either seemed to be autistic, or appeared to have mental problems. Tony seemed to think that more than a few are that way because of the abuse they've lived through, not because they were born that way. He was pretty sure of it.

About mid-way through their visit (which lasted 5 or 6 hours), they handed out Christmas presents. We got Karina some nail polish, a bracelet and some candy. Not much, but the kids were so happy and so appreciative. Tony noticed a boy, about 12 or 13, who didn't get anything. He was new to the home, so wasn't on the list for presents. When he saw he didn't get a present, he went off to a corner and burst into tears. Tony saw it and ran out to the nearest store to buy him a present. He came back and gave him a hat, a necklace, some chocolate, and some candy. He said he brightened right up.

Then they played soccer in whatever ratty shoes they had and did some activities. I'm not sure if they shared the gospel so much in words as they did in action.

For years I've wanted to do away with Christmas presents at our house. Just a personal conviction. I hate the materialism of Christmas. I hate that my kids (well, not all of them, but at least one that I can think of) think that Christmas is about "Me, Me, Me" and "What am I getting for Christmas??" and, "What are you buying me for Christmas??" - instead of - "What can we GIVE for Christmas? What can we give to JESUS, who gave everything for us??"

I wholeheartedly agree with THIS POST. All I can say is, Yes, yes, and YES! That about sums up how I feel regarding Christmas, and Christmas presents.

So, the next day after visiting the kids at the home, and because we finally have a car (wll, semi-sort of... it actually doesn't have plates yet...even though it's been released from customs... so it's a little sketchy driving it until the registration goes through: Welcome to Argentina... :)), we went to the store to buy something for the kids for Christmas.

We started and ended our Christmas shopping in about an hour, a week before Christmas. It was fabulous. And an hour more than I like to do for Christmas shopping. I confess, I can't stand Christmas shopping. 

Mom-mom and Grandpa sent some Christmas money for the kids with instructions to buy something for each, from them. They each picked two things out, one from each grandparent, and that was it. Tony looked at me in the middle of the isle and said, "So, one thing each from each, and nothing from us, right?"

YES!

Finally.

We get it! We're getting it! We're really, really getting it. An answer to prayer. I've wanted it this way for years. I'm so happy.

Christmas is about giving, not getting. Harder to do than it sounds. It's HARD to fight against the flesh and our wants and our greed and our supposed "needs". Even against the natural desire we have to give our kids the best. Sometimes the best is less, not more. Or in our case, nothing, yet everything.

Little by little we are stepping closer heavenward. With our feeble feet, tripping along the way, little by little we are getting there... I think we are getting there.

[By the way, if you give your kids tons of Christmas presents, I don't think that's bad or wrong or evil. We've certainly done it. This is just something I'VE always wanted for Christmas. And I guess we'll see if my husband feels this way next year. Like a good Father, he likes to give gifts, too.]

what we're trying to say

Watch this video and consider it to be what we have been trying to say; they've said it here better than we could ever have. I hope you are changed forever.




Sometimes I feel guilty about what we're doing - like what we are doing is "wimpy missions". Like we should be going to Africa or the 10/40 window or something, where the real heroes are. And because we are not, we're not really doing anything that special or spectacular. I really, honestly feel that way.

I don't think what we are doing is that big of a deal - I really don't. I'm actually kind of embarassed. But, at least we are doing something, I tell myself. I'm thankful for that opportunity.

I hope God speaks to you as you watch this, as He has spoken to me. May we not waste the lives He has given us, redeemed. May we be busy building up treasure in Heaven.

about my cranky pants

Okay, my cranky pants are a little looser today.

Somebody asked me once if my husband knows what I write here on the blog. Yes, he does. Tony is all up in my business all the time. He uses my email, my Facebook, and has the nerve to sleep in my bed. Can you believe it? So annoying. Sometimes he reads here, I tell him what I posted, or he tells me to post something. I appreciate his input very much. He has strengths, clarity, insight, and wisdom in areas I will just never have. I just do the writing because his English is, well... let's not go there. In the end, we complement each other really well in every way.

Mostly this blog reflects our lives, what we are doing, and what we are already talking about. If I am treading in heavy waters, I have learned to ask Tony's advice. God gave him to me because I will always be socially inept, always (like last night I said something that was totally dumb about communism to someone from Cuba God, why am I such an idiot??). It's really quite embarrassing. That's why most of the time I try not to talk too much, and almost always let Tony handle the touchy convos. I know I will eventually open my mouth too wide if left to my own devices.

But, sometimes there is a time to speak (that's in the Bible - Ecclesiates 3:7). And sometimes - as a friend of mine said - there is a rightful place for cranky pants. Some people are worried about us (maybe because we are moving abroad without any concrete monthly support?), but honestly, we are worried about some people.

We need to be in anguish about the right things.

So, yesterday when Tony and I were talking about missions and poverty and young people being taught to play with food, his suggestion was that I always reference Scripture when trying to make a point. The thing is, I wasn't trying to make a point. I was just thinking out loud. But, okay. Point well taken. In the end, my feeling is that a lot of people already know what the Bible says. I argue that we can all go read it for ourselves.

This is just a blog, and sometimes I get cranky. Mostly what I write here is simply what is going on in our lives, and (God help us all) sometimes it is just Chris thinking out loud. But, to humor respect and honor Tony (I do try my best), here's a verse, just one verse from the Bible, that talks about the hungry. Isaiah 58:7,10

"Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him...?

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkeness be as the noon day."

Oh, and another verse someone from church used to encourage us the other day, 1 John 3:17-18.

"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

Agreed.

The Great Commission is not a suggestion

...but a commandment. Don't just watch this and be "moved". Do something. Surely there is something you can do. Go, send, give, pray... pick one, and do it.

"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." - James 2:17

Who Cares?

A message from William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army:

missions to NW Argentina

This was posted on FB by our friends as Campus Crusade for Christ in Argentina this week, so we wanted to show you some of what we'll be doing after the Big Move. Every year CCC, staff, and students visit this area of Argentina. We are tremendously bummed that we won't be there for this again this year - but next year we'll be living in Argentina so, Lord-permitting, we will be able to participate in this! Tony always talks about going to the north of Argentina: he wants to go to the north, the north, the north, the north... it really pulls him. So check this out. Even though this video is in Spanish, you can see the need and all there is to do! :)

more on compassion... real and in action

I'm soooo busy right now organizing a fundraiser meal for 300 people for this weekend - so not much time to post...

So read this - I love these guys. And am so bummed they don't work in Argentina! Maybe we can convince them to... or start our own kids ministry... :D

[read about the founder of Compassion International here]