Lyndsey's New Groove

Travel time...again!

2012-02-17T14:22:00.000-05:00

Heading out this evening for a brief trip to Asuncion, Paraguay. Looking forward to seeing some more of South America, but work trips always come with long hours and an element of stress so I'm also glad this isn't a long one. I'm excited about the story we are covering and getting to better know our staff in the country. It should be interesting!

I'm also trying to mentally prepare myself for this weather report:

100?! Hmm, sounds like Florida minus the sea breeze! Good thing I've had a few years of practice in that temperature range.

Anyway, we would appreciate your prayers during this trip. For smooth traveling, safety, and for the Lord's hand to be in this coverage. Pray that we will reflect Him as we tell the story of what He is doing!

Thank you for your faithful prayers. Also, please continue to lift up the rest of the team that will be staying here in Lima. There has been lots of work stress lately (I know, I know, when is there not!?) and we could all use your prayers and encouragement.

Have a blessed weekend!

Where have I been?!

2012-02-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I remembered that I have this thing called a blog... and realized that lately I haven't been too good and keeping it updated. Honestly, I knew it would happen. It always does. Any blog, journal, diary begins with the thought, "I'm going to write in it all the time! I will have such a nice record of what I did and what God is doing!" And that quickly turns into, "Well, I'll write in it once a week/month/quarter and that way I'll be able to summarize what's going on!" And then it comes time to write and you can't remember what you were doing that kept you so busy you didn't have time to write before, and the daunting task of trying to summarize all that has happened since the last time you wrote makes you procrastinate because you don't know where to start, ...aaaaand next thing you know it has been two years.

Come on, I know I'm not the only one who does this.

Part of my problem is that I always set really high standards for what I write. I want to craft these well-written insightful profound blog posts. Then things get busy and I don't have the luxury of sitting around thinking brilliant thoughts and coming up with witty wording so I default to not writing at all. Thus, I'm trying to be better about not putting that much pressure on my blog. It's supposed to be fun, after all!

So let's see...run down of the last month. As you are aware, we spent two weeks in Chile for meetings. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and meeting new friends and catching up with others. Right after we returned, a worker from Caracas, for whom we've been doing a project, flew down for a week to go over last details. That meant an intense week of me doing little but editing more of the some 1700 images I captured in Caracas and working on prayer slideshows, etc. Throw in hosting team dinner, teaching some photo lessons, and all the regular work and house work, and it was a pretty crazy week.

In the midst of that, I got a surprise message from a friend in the states asking to come visit. With her flying standby, we were able to work it out so that she could arrive the day we wrapped up the meetings for the Caracas project. I would have wished for more prep time so I could really play hostess, but Laura was great and understanding guest and we had a really good time catching up and exploring the city. Our pretty sunny weather has been mostly replaced by heavy fog and clouds again, but at least it's still warmer. I loved having an excuse to visit the parts of town I rarely do and hit up some shopping in the Inca Market of course! And exploring with Laura reminded me of how much I love Peru and its awesome culture. It was a lot of fun having a familiar face from home and getting to laugh about old stories and enjoy some new memories. Here are a few favorite photos from our explorations when Laura was here:

Touring the ruins of Pachacamac outside of Lima.

Cathedral in Parque Kennedy at night.

A performer dances during a cultural festival in downtown Lima.

Department of Justice lit at night.

Marshlands near Pachacamac in the middle of the desert.

Summer flowers in a Miraflores park.

Cultural performers in downtown Lima.

Tree silhouetted against Miraflores buildings in the fog.

A woman walks by an abandoned building in the Chinatown district of Lima.

"What Our Children Needed"

2012-02-11T13:08:00.001-05:00

‘What our children needed’

CARACAS, Venezuela – Mike Bennett sat calmly in the parents’ assembly, facing a battle he knew he might not win.

Bennett, an International Mission Board missionary in Caracas, had been hosting talks in local high schools on values. Each talk included a Gospel presentation, and the mother sitting across from him wasn’t happy about it.

“My family is very devoted to the Virgin [Mary],” she said. “I know that you people are evangelicals, and you’re coming to this school to try and convert my kid. I’m pretty suspicious about you.”

“I understand what you’re saying,” Bennett responded. “All I’m asking you to do is give me one shot, and you can come and listen. If you think that it’s inappropriate or we’ve done something to damage your child, I won’t ask to come back again.”

The mother agreed.

The following week, a visiting volunteer working with Bennett gave a talk on self-esteem for the students. The discussion focused on one’s identity in Christ, and the speaker clearly laid out the plan of salvation. Afterward, Bennett braced himself for the mother’s anger.

He was surprised when she hugged him instead.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “This is one of the best things I’ve ever heard, and that’s exactly what our children needed to hear. You’re welcome here any time you want to come.”

PHOTO: “Venezuelan students walk to class in Caracas.”

Check out more stories about Latin America here.

Praying for Politicians in Argentina

2012-01-30T19:39:00.000-05:00

Praying for politicians

by Maria Elena Baseler on January 30, 2012

Miguel Angel Parisi takes seriously the biblical mandate to pray for authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Parisi, an Argentine Baptist, works in logistics at the Argentine National Congress building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In that role, he has contact with Argentina’s 72 senators and their staffs as well as the country’s vice president. Parisi also has access to senate offices and the senate chamber, where the senate’s official business is conducted.

When the senate isn’t in session, Parisi sometimes enters the empty senate chamber and sits down to pray at each senator’s desk. He prays specifically for that senator’s needs and his or her future decisions.

“The most important thing a Christian can do is pray,” says Parisi. “By being here in this building, we [who are Christians] can actually put our hands on the walls and pray [for what goes on inside] this building.”

Besides praying for politicians, Parisi participates in a weekly Bible study for senate employees, held in a lounge that opens into the senate chamber. The study is led by Luciano Bongarra, president of “Parlamento y Fe” (“Parliament and Faith”), an evangelical ministry to politicians in Latin America. Manuel Sosa, a soon-to-retire missionary with the International Mission Board, has helped Bongarra teach the study and minister to senators and their staffs.

This ministry “is very important because it makes an impact on the senators and other politicians who come by here all the time,” says Parisi. “We are ‘inside the kitchen’ of the whole political process here.”

For more stories check out http://americanpeoples.imb.org/.

Burden of Proof

2012-01-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

Today's the day!

2012-01-25T00:24:00.003-05:00

The halfway point, that is. A year ago today I was arriving in Virginia in the cold, getting situated for training and still reeling from too many goodbyes (you can read the post from last year). Today I am on the back side of 365 days, 4 different homes, 14 plane flights, 5 new countries, 1 new language, about 15,000 photos, and many dozens of new friends. Whew!

Last night we returned home after two weeks of working retreats and meetings with colleagues and our extended team in Chile. When mentioning to someone that we were at the halfway point, someone asked if hadn't it flown by. I laughed. Yes it has...and then no it hasn't. It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by and only a year remains. But at the same time, when I think of ALL that happened, I think "could that all possibly have happened in just a year?!" My word! When you condense it all down it seems like a pretty productive year, but in many ways I feel like I am just now getting started with the work, and there is still so much I want to do before time expires.

While I am thrilled to be done with the weeks of meetings, I am also very thankful for the opportunity to attend and for the fresh wind I feel like I caught from the time of rest and refocusing. The last month or so I have felt somewhat frustrated with work, creatively stagnated, and lacking a clear direction. I guess in the daily drudges I had lost some focus and inspiration. But it was great to meet and discuss ideas, stories, and projects and be reminded of our aim:

"Our vision is a multitude of disciples among all peoples of the Americas
equipped to fulfill the Great Commission to the ends of the earth."

It's a big vision and I'm one tiny person, but I have a part to play, as do you. I am excited about the potential of this second year and also reminded that it is as important as ever to focus on making the most out of the time we have. Odds are I won't be living in Lima, Peru again in my lifetime and I don't want to leave it with any regrets about how I used my time and what I invested in while I was here. You may not live in a foreign country, you may assume that a year from now your life will look very much as it does right now. But the truth is we each have to make the most out of the time where we are. You can't get it back. So go ahead and do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

So with that said, halftime is over, let's get the second half started!

(I really wish I could do a first year recap of my favorite photos, but let's be realistic. I'm not that organized! Sorry. So instead, here are a few favorites from our recent time in Santiago and Olmué, Chile.)

TWENTY TWELVE!

2012-01-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a little more of what New Year's Eve in Lima looked like. I toasted with...what else...Dr. Pepper! Decided to craft some ridiculous headgear for skyping in the new year in a few different time zones. Also note that I am wearing a tank top with gold stripes because A) it's the only thing sparkly that I own in Lima, and B)...it was hot. Remember, it's summer here! Got up into the 80s today, and no A/C.

You can also enjoy this video taste of the ridiculous unregulated fireworks going on across the city at all hours of the night. Keep in mind that you have to magnify the sound by a factor of about 20. And compared to Christmas eve, this was pretty tame:

I also really liked the Decemeber 31st entry in "My Utmost for His Highest," so I thought I would share.

"Security from Yesterday: "God requires that which is past." At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow: "For the Lord will go before you." This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our reward. God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for Today. "For ye shall not go out with haste." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the irreparable past in His hands, and step out into the irresistible future with Him." - Oswald Chambers

Bring it on, 2012! The God of Israel will go before us.

525,600 Minutes

2012-01-01T18:34:00.000-05:00

It's something I've done pretty much every year since I was a kid, and maybe you do it to? At New Year's Eve I stop and reflect on the past year. I like to sit down and list out in my journal all the major events, or the things that stand out to me. I think it's exceptionally interesting to look at a year in its entirety, see where it began, and where it ended, and to think of all the life that happened in just 525,600 minutes. Of course the small events of my life seem dwarfed when we look at the scale of world events in 2011:

Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong Il are all dead. The space shuttle made its final flight. The middle east saw the upheaval of the "Arab Spring" uprisings. The horn of Africa suffered a devastating famine. Japan weathered the sudden tragedy of the major earthquake and tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and forest fires seemed to touch every corner of the globe. Europe faced fiscal crisis while the U.S. struggled through its own economic woes and related protests. The world population surpassed 7 billion. U.S. troops finally left Iraq. Planes crashed, wars were fought, terrorists attacked, people murdered.

In all, the world continued very much as it has since man first sinned. And those are the events by which the rest of the world will measure 2011. Of course we all have our own methods of weighing and measuring a year. What did I accomplish that I'm proud of? Did I achieve any goals? What were my favorite moments? What was fun? What was crazy and unexpected? What was difficult? Did I end up where I thought I would?

2011 was certainly not a dull year! Lots of change, lots of learning, lots of stretching, and some struggle along the way. I added Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela to my "Countries I've Visited" list. Learned a new language, made dozens of new friends who are scattered around the world, developed my abilities as a photographer, tried scuba diving, lazed on a Costa Rican beach, experienced a chilean rodeo, and made a new home in Lima. And we heard, saw, and shared lots of stories about how God is moving in Latin America. Lots of lots of blessings in 2011 for which to praise the Lord!

Certainly there were sad and difficult parts of the year too, and I think it's important to reflect on those and praise the Lord for them as well. We appreciate the good times more when we have tasted of the bad. But also, looking back at the challenges that 2011 brought reminds me of the faithfulness of my Heavenly Father. He was there just as real and present in the tearful farewells and lonely moments as He was in times of rejoicing and laughing with friends. His faithfulness has never been contingent upon my circumstances.

Of course, maybe boiling a year down to major events really isn't the best way to evaluate it. As I've been pondering, I'll admit I've had "Seasons of Love" stuck in my head from Rent. It asks a good question, "How do we measure a year?" And even more importantly, "How do we measure a life?"

Seasons of Love-

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes,

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Moments so dear

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, In cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

How do you measure a year in the life?

How about love? How about love?How about love?

Measure in love. Seasons of love.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned, Or in times that he cried

In bridges he burned, Or the way that she died

It's time now to sing out, Tho' the story never ends

Let's celebrate Remember a year in the life of friends

Remember the love.

So how do we measure it? 525,600 minutes? That's what we are handed every January 1st. (Of course this year will be fewer since the Mayan's have declared the world is ending, so you better really get busy!) It's a lot of minutes. But in the grand scheme of things, it's less than a breath, and we're not promised a single one of them. The song suggests that we measure it in love. It may be a secular song, but I have to say I don't think they are far off. What matters more than the goals we checked off, or the experiences collected, is how we lived the majority of minutes when nothing exceptional was happening at all. How did we love God, and how did we love others? How did we leverage the 525,600 minutes we were entrusted with to glorify God and share Him with the people around us?

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 reminds us that, "Not all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

How our years, and ultimately our lives, will be measured is by whether we accepted the gift of salvation that is available to all men through Jesus's sacrificial death, and then, what we do with the new life we have in Christ after that. If I died today, how would my life measure up? How would yours?

Of course the really great thing about New Year's is that our time of reflection on the year past is also the time we consider the year to come. We evaluate our lives, mull over changes to be made, and consider what we want to accomplish. As we go about the process of setting goals and making changes this year, let us be mindful of what really matters. Sure we can try to eat healthy, exercise, floss, drink more water, spend less time on facebook. Those are all good things, and could very well be honoring to God, but no matter what your resolutions are this year, remember to make your personal relationship with Christ your top priority. Unfortunately it's a lesson that I constantly struggle with. As Oswald Chambers writes, "There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through our life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life."

If you haven't put your trust in Jesus, I can think of no better way to begin a new year than with a new life in Christ. And if you have a personal relationship with Christ, I pray you'll use the new year to share the Good News with those around you and show His love in the way you live.

May you be blessed abundantly in 2012 and may God be glorified in the year to come!

Happy New Year!

Reaching Haitian Immigrants

2011-12-30T15:57:00.001-05:00

Reaching Haitian Immigrants

by Emily Pearson on December 30, 2011

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic — Inside a tin shack, the 13-year-old Haitian mother fell to her knees in the dirt and surrendered her life to Christ.

It was a beautiful sight to missionary Carlos Llambes and visiting volunteers from several Haitian Southern Baptist churches in the Miami area. The team had traveled to the Dominican city of Puerto Plata to help evangelize this neighborhood and start a church among Haitian immigrants there. The volunteers simply walked door to door, telling people about Jesus. It was in one of these homes that a volunteer shared the Gospel with the young mother.

“The girl was in tears and [had the volunteer] hold the baby while she knelt on the ground to pray to repent, “ said Llambes, an International Mission Board missionary in the Dominican Republic.

This new believer is one of about 2 million Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic. Many of them live in extremely poor, isolated areas.

Pray for this young mother as she grows in Christ. Pray also for the pastor of a local church-start who returns frequently to follow up with her and other area residents.

–

PHOTO: “A young haitian mother cradles her child.”

Photo Credit: Rebecca Springer

Feliz Navidad!

2011-12-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

A (belated) Merry Christmas from Peru!

Just been too busy to get this posted in a timely fashion. Although the holiday busyness is over, the work busyness is intensifying with deadlines coming up. So I won't write a lot, but I thought I'd share some photos (and one adorable video) of how we spent Christmas in Peru. We had a great time and a peaceful holiday with many sweet moments with friends.

Christmas eve we spent with colleagues and friends at the Austins' home. We celebrated with gumbo, a favorite foods version of Yankee Swap, a recycled garbage ornament competition, singing, praying, and of course laughing (especially when all the Austin men put on their elf costumes). Much fun was had by all!

Christmas morning we shared brunch with the Peercys and enjoyed a laid-back meal with delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and sausage. It's always fun to share Christmas with children and live vicariously through their enthusiasm. Check it out!

Evelyn's favorite friend at the Christmas party, a musical dancing turkey!

Our trash ornaments. Brittany's awesome can diorama won!

Love this family! Norah was dozing.

Candy getting her gumbo.

Evelyn helping "Noni" open a plate of goodies in the food exchange.

Candy stealing!

We collaborated and took home the best prize! American goodies!

Even if the apartment had a fireplace, it's summer here, so this worked just fine!

Turkey friend.

Hanging at the Austins'

Norah doesn't know what to think about Arnold the Elf.

Taking time to pray for family and friends far away.

Elf mischief!

A "snow ball" fight fight with the Austins.

This is me looking confused with all the random decorations across the street from our apartment.

Good morning!

All the animals are ready to get on the ark...

That's one crowded ark!

Merry first Christmas, Norah!

Evelyn treated us to an awesome dance session Christmas morning. That girl's got talent! Here's a clip:

Love her!

Hope you were able to enjoy fun and sweet moments with family or friends during this Christmas season, and took time to reflect on the wonderful gift of salvation that was made available to us through Jesus.

Feliz Navidad!/ Joyeux Noel! / Merry Christmas!

Idle Hands...

2011-12-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

I have a really awesome mom. She has always been an artsy, creative, resourceful person. I really think she could accomplish anything that she put her mind to (except build sturdy garage shelves- but that's another story :-). So I was privileged to grow up with her artistic flourishes and creativity. And let me tell you, that really came in handy when "we" had a school project to do! And although she's the master (there were times I would throw a fit and refuse to color because she did it so much better) I like to think she passed on a little of her skill and ingenuity. I recall staying up late at night in my room as a kid working on random projects that I had been inspired to try. I always enjoyed a new craft or idea. But, as life goes, I grew up and got busy. School and the myriad sports and church activities took over and free-time became a thing of the past.

But one of the byproducts of moving to another country has been a resurgence in the amount of down-time I have. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of actual work. I'm certainly not trying to just kill time. But, after the job, I don't have rugby practice or ultimate frisbee, no band rehearsal, leadership meetings, or Wednesday night church to rush off to. Plus living in a foreign culture can be exhausting, so I often find myself spending a low-key evening in the apartment with a movie on. This time factor also combines with the fact that we are non-profit workers living overseas temporarily and anything we take home has to be carried in a suitcase, hence we don't have much incentive to buy a whole lot of decor or knick-nacks. Oh, and you can't buy a lot of favorite foods ready-made like in the states. So thus the stage was set...

Enter Pinterest.

If you haven't heard of it yet, it's only a matter of time. It's the latest rage that has been sweeping the online world in recent months. Like a personal/shared bulletin board for you to "pin" things you see online. There's a little bit of everything but it's heavily to the domestic side of crafts, recipes, and home tips. I find lots of fun things on there like photo ideas, cleaning tips, and tons of homemade decorating and cooking projects. It reminds me that I used to be creative, and given the right setting, I still can be. It's also great for a tight budget/living in a place where buying some stuff isn't an option. (I learned how to make my own Febreze!)

The holidays have served to especially unleash my desire to create. I think I'm just so used to being busy and having tons to bake/make/wrap that my brain didn't know what to do without 38 holiday activities every week. So poor Brittany has had to deal with me being in the kitchen every other day with some new recipe to try. Martha Stewart I am not, but I have enjoyed the opportunity and encouragement to try new recipes and entertain myself with a few other homemade projects. Not everything is from Pinterest, some are just old favorites, but here's a rundown on my recent bout of domesticity. Hopefully I'll recover soon so I can go back to eating cereal for every meal and not have everything I own coated in glitter glue. But if idle hands are the devil's workshop, here's the proof that mine have been kept busy!

Toilet-paper roll snowflake tree-topper

Store didn't have any ribbon, so I had to make a colored printer paper bow and curls.

Cinnamon applesauce ornaments like the good ol' days!

I had glitter glue. I shouldn't be allowed to have glitter glue.

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

My first go at caramels!

Caramel hardening

finished caramel balls

Pre-oven pumpkin pie.

Ready to eat!

Sugar cookies. A classic.

Lots and lots of sugar cookies!

I got a little carried away with the frosting.

Finished cookies.

:-)

At home we did this with colored paper when I was a kid.
I decided to use book pages for a little more sophisticated look.

First go at homemade pretzels. I'm pretty sure this will be happening again. And again.

Cinnamon sugar!

There ya have it! Hope you've had time to be a little creative during the busy holiday season, and if you have any favorite recipes feel free to pass them on to me. :-)

Hmm...I think it might be time for another batch of pretzels...

O Holy Night...

2011-12-24T14:50:00.002-05:00

I love Christmas music. I usually can't wait for Thanksgiving to pull out my collection and start enjoying my favorite carols and newer classics and it rarely fails to get me in the holiday mood. But this year even my favorite Christmas songs haven't been as exciting. It could be because I don't have the option of listening to the non-stop Christmas music on the radio while I run around town in my car on last minute holiday errands. Or maybe it could be because so many Christmas songs are pretty sad when you're away from your family and friends. Seriously, you've never realized how many depressed Christmas songs there are until you've had a lonely Christmas. My first Christmas away in Paris I remember listening to my Christmas music on my iPod while commuting across town and suddenly bursting into tears on the metro when "I'll be Home for Christmas" came on. I had to sanitize my playlist and get rid of "Blue Christmas," "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Where are you Christmas?," "White Christmas," "Merry Christmas Darling," "Please Come Home for Christmas," "Home for the Holidays," etc. etc.

This year has been easier than that first one. I have a bigger support group of friends and colleagues here to celebrate with, and I've reminded myself that even if I was in the states, a lot of friends starting off in their careers don't have the luxury of taking time off, or have the money, to go home to be with their families. So being in Peru doesn't make it all that much different. And I've had so much work to do that there hasn't been too much time for dwelling on being far away.

And I've been reminded that while a lot of our modern Christmas songs may be sad and get me a little homesick, my favorite carols are just the opposite. There are so many wonderful songs that remind us of the incredible miracle of Christ's birth and of the joy, hope, and redemption that He brought to the world.

I came across this history of one of my all-time favorites, O Holy Night, and I thought it was so interesting I had to share:

"In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was the commissionaire of wines in a small French town. Known more for his poetry than his church attendance, it probably shocked Placide when his parish priest asked the commissionaire to pen a poem for Christmas mass. Nevertheless, the poet was honored to share his talents with the church.

In a dusty coach traveling down a bumpy road to France's capital city, Placide Cappeau considered the priest's request. Using the gospel of Luke as his guide, Cappeau imagined witnessing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Thoughts of being present on the blessed night inspired him. By the time he arrived in Paris, "Cantique de Noel" had been completed.

Moved by his own work, Cappeau decided that his "Cantique de Noel" was not just a poem, but a song in need of a master musician's hand. Not musically inclined himself, the poet turned to one of his friends, Adolphe Charles Adams, for help.

The son of a well-known classical musician, Adolphe had studied in the Paris conservatoire. His talent and fame brought requests to write works for orchestras and ballets all over the world. Yet the lyrics that his friend Cappeau gave him must have challenged the composer in a fashion unlike anything he received from London, Berlin, or St. Petersburg.

As a man of Jewish ancestry, for Adolphe the words of "Cantique de Noel" represented a day he didn't celebrate and a man he did not view as the son of God. Nevertheless, Adams quickly went to work, attempting to marry an original score to Cappeau's beautiful words. Adams' finished work pleased both poet and priest. The song was performed just three weeks later at a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

Initially, "Cantique de Noel" was wholeheartedly accepted by the church in France and the song quickly found its way into various Catholic Christmas services. But when Placide Cappeau walked away from the church and became a part of the socialist movement, and church leaders discovered that Adolphe Adams was a Jew, the song--which had quickly grown to be one of the most beloved Christmas songs in France--was suddenly and uniformly denounced by the church. The heads of the French Catholic church of the time deemed "Cantique de Noel" as unfit for church services because of its lack of musical taste and "total absence of the spirit of religion." Yet even as the church tried to bury the Christmas song, the French people continued to sing it, and a decade later a reclusive American writer brought it to a whole new audience halfway around the world.

Not only did this American writer--John Sullivan Dwight--feel that this wonderful Christmas songs needed to be introduced to America, he saw something else in the song that moved him beyond the story of the birth of Christ. An ardent abolitionist, Dwight strongly identified with the lines of the third verse: "Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease." The text supported Dwight's own view of slavery in the South. Published in his magazine, Dwight's English translation of "O Holy Night" quickly found found favor in America, especially in the North during the Civil War.

Back in France, even though the song had been banned from the church for almost two decades, many commoners still sang "Cantique de Noel" at home. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve 1871, in the midst of fierce fighting between the armies of Germany and France, during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Both sides stared at the seemingly crazed man. Boldly standing with no weapon in his hand or at his side, he lifted his eyes to the heavens and sang, "Minuit, Chretiens, c'est l'heure solennelle ou L'Homme Dieu descendit jusqu'a nous," the beginning of "Cantique de Noel."

After completing all three verses, a German infantryman climbed out his hiding place and answered with, "Vom Himmel noch, da komm' ich her. Ich bring' euch gute neue Mar, Der guten Mar bring' ich so viel, Davon ich sing'n und sagen will," the beginning of Martin Luther's robust "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come."

The story goes that the fighting stopped for the next twenty-four hours while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas day. Perhaps this story had a part in the French church once again embracing "Cantique de Noel" in holiday services.

***

Adams had been dead for many years and Cappeau and Dwight were old men when on Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden--a 33-year-old university professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison--did something long thought impossible. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed," he began in a clear, strong voice, hoping he was reaching across the distances he supposed he would.

Shocked radio operators on ships and astonished wireless owners at newspapers sat slack-jawed as their normal, coded impulses, heard over tiny speakers, were interrupted by a professor reading from the gospel of Luke. To the few who caught this broadcast, it must have seemed like a miracle--hearing a voice somehow transmitted to those far away. Some might have believed they were hearing the voice of an angel.

Fessenden was probably unaware of the sensation he was causing on ships and in offices; he couldn't have known that men and women were rushing to their wireless units to catch this Christmas Eve miracle. After finishing his recitation of the birth of Christ, Fessenden picked up his violin and played "O Holy Night," the first song ever sent through the air via radio waves. When the carol ended, so did the broadcast--but not before music had found a new medium that would take it around the world."

O Holy Night

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hears the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall His break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise us,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

I hope you take time this weekend, as you sing the same songs that have echoed over generations of Christmases, to think about their words and the message of love and salvation of which they tell.

CHRIST IS THE LORD! O PRAISE HIS NAME FOREVER!

Lima does Christmas

2011-12-24T01:20:00.000-05:00

Christmas has been quickly forcing itself upon Lima. Or at least it seems that way to me. Perhaps, then, Christmas is only forcing itself upon this gringa in llama-land.

Lima has been slathering on layers of ostentatious Christmas decor with little rhyme or reason. Places that looked decorated weeks ago manage to cram in new decorations almost daily, giving the impression that a Christmas elf vomited on certain parts of town.

Certain cities, like New York and Paris, wear Christmas well. The season seems to make the fascinating cities even more intriguing and elegant. They sparkle and twinkle and seem full of wonder. Paris has a tendency toward bizarre modern European decorations and over-the-top decor, but even then, evening in Paris at Christmastime with lights everywhere, shoppers bustling, music playing, and the frigid air stinging your face...it's magical.

Lima on the other hand, Lima just seems awkward in its Christmas trappings. It's like somewhere deep down the city knows that the snowmen and reindeer and Santas in fur-trimmed costumes belong to another culture, another season, and a whole different hemisphere. The roasting-chestnuts-sleigh-bells-jingling-hot-cocoa culture was imported with the commercialization of Christmas from the states. So much is imported, in fact, that in the stores it's much easier to find decor proclaiming "Merry Christmas!" than it is to find a "Feliz Navidad!" message.

Some friends new to Peru like myself have also commented about how it's hard to feel Christmasy when it's warm outside. But I personally can't blame the weather for my lack of Christmas spirit. I can be especially thankful that I'm a Floridian at this time of year because I am not unaccustomed to Christmas trees and carols set against the backdrop of warm weather and beach days. Yet I must admit that it seems strange even to myself to see Christmas displays and Summer Sales fighting for space in stores. And even though it's summer here, the weather most days remains in the 70s, while wintry Daytona Beach has had temperatures in the 80s back home this week. It's a topsy turvy world!

What does suit Lima are the mounds of Peruvian Christmas decorations available at the artisans' market. Bright Peruvian colors, fabrics, patterns, and materials make some of the most creative and unique Christmas decor I've seen. I love it! I went a little crazy with my shopping at the Inca Market and bought a ton of ornaments. I figure they will make good gifts, and in the meantime they are adorning the tree that our supervisors loaned us. They are joined by some random things from other countries, key chains, homemade cinnamon applesauce ornaments, and even a mini cheese-grater. It's a little odd, but I think it's fun. And, after all, I know now that a Christmas tree without a llama just isn't complete.

Here are some pictures of Christmas decorations down our way:

Our living room

Our tree :-)

gourd ornament

Mini hat ornament!

Ornament from Kevin and Ellen. A cuy!

Peruvian snowman!

Star made from metro tickets from Buenos Aires.

Peruvian fabric

Of course I made a Gator ornament!

LLAMA!

Yes. Yes that IS a cheese grater. Yes we really do use it to grate cheese.

Seizing the Moment

2011-12-16T15:50:00.000-05:00

Check out this sweet story from Caracas.

I love the reminder that our faithfulness in small actions can have an eternal impact!

Seizing The Moment

by Emily Pearson on December 13, 2011

What began as a simple gesture became the moment that changed one man’s eternity.

José is the maintenance man at the apartment building where International Mission Board missionaries Mike and Jan Bennett live in Caracas, Venezuela. Mike had talked with him a few times about spiritual things, but José had never made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

But God was working in José’s life. One day José repaired the water tank at the home of IMB missionary Susanne Arnold. While he was there, Susanne gave him a Bible. Soon after, José’s father became ill, and José left for several weeks to care for him.

When José returned, Mike offered him a ride to a different missionary’s home to repair another water tank.

“He [José] told me about receiving the Bible,” said Mike. “He said that while he was sitting at his father’s side, he had a lot of time to read it. He said that the book of Romans says we are all sinners. As he read that, he realized he was a sinner and had not been following God’s path, and he needed to get his life in order.”

Mike explained the plan of salvation to José, who accepted Christ there in the car.

“All this because Susanne took the initiative to give him a Bible, and God did the rest through His Spirit,” Mike said.

–

PHOTO: IMB missionary, Susanne Arnold, looks for any opportunity to share the Gospel with the people of Caracas, whether that be giving a repairman a Bible, working with students, or teaching free English classes in the community. (Photo by Rebecca Springer.)

You can check out more interesting stories from Latin America at this site.

Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Memories

2011-12-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned before that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I especially love the cooking and eating portions of the day. Like most, our family has a pretty set menu of must-haves on our Thanksgiving table, and none are more dear to me than mom's sweet potato souffle. I have many fond memories of smashing canned yams, measuring out brown sugar, and chopping pecans with mom. So when I spent my first Thanksgiving away from home, I mourned the absence of our favorite recipes. I didn't miss out on Thanksgiving when I was in Paris, in fact, I had three! The expat community likes the opportunity to gather and enjoy tastes of home with their countrymen. So in the course of a week I enjoyed one meal with the other American students at my French school, one with my English-speaking (but mostly non-American) church as an outreach to the French community, and one actually on Thanksgiving with a few friends. The latter was the only one I had occasion to cook for and so I elected...sweet potato soufflé, of course!

What ensued was a somewhat chaotic and comical adventure where I attempted to cook a good ol' southern recipe from scratch in a poorly stocked antiquated French kitchen...in France. I realize that last part was redundant, but I want to emphasize the fact that I was in France. Being in any other country, no matter how "modern," can make even the simplest of tasks an exhausting challenge. So I had no microwave, no electric mixer, no grater, and of course no canned yams, McCormick seasonings, or other familiar ingredients. It also didn't help that every other American in the city was preparing their own dinners, so things like cinnamon, which you normally wouldn't have a problem finding, were sold out in many stores. On the amusing side, it was easy to spot the Yanks that week, they were the confused ones in the stores searching desperately for ingredients to substitute for their own favorite recipes, and trying to explain things like "cornbread" in French. I traipsed all over the city collecting the various implements and ingredients, and then skipped my foreign policy class (in protest, don't the frenchies know it's an American holiday!?) to spend the day working on my concoction.

I used israeli sweet potatoes, an orange imported from Florida (go figure), and the french equivalents of everything else. The most inconvenient part was making the requisite soft-peak meringue that gets folded into the sweet potato mixture..without a mixer. Hand-whisking egg whites = not fun.

(On a side note, this is the ingredient which lends the casserole its "souffle" name. Souffle comes from the french "soufflé" which means "blown," thus actual souffles involve a great deal of airy meringue which gives them their puffed up, "blown up"appearance. Our casserole doesn't puff up like a real soufflé but it has the whipped egg whites folded in to make it less dense.)

Hand-whisking the egg whites.
Also note the massive mess in my tiny kitchen...and the awesome snowflakes mom made and sent me!

Between the hand-whisking and my little gas oven I wasn't at all confident in the results. But lo and behold...it came out looking pretty much just like momma's at home! And it tasted just as good too. It was a nice taste of home while far away.

TA-DAAAA!

That was 2007. Fast-forward four years to lovely 2011. And once again I find myself in a foreign country for the holidays. Since we had so many work friends together for Thanksgiving, and the sweet potatoes had already been signed up for before I got my name on the list, I didn't have any reason to make my favorite dish. Fortunately, for our team Christmas party this week, Ellen suggested sweet potatoes as a side with our ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc. So, once again I set to tracking down the necessary implements and ingredients.

It was still a challenge, but easier this time around. Our kitchen here, since the house has been lived in by so many staff members, has a pretty well-stocked kitchen that even includes...an electric mixer! Yay! (It's the little thing, people. Always remember that!) And because my dear friend Cat brought goodies with her when she came to visit, I had just enough brown sugar for the recipe. Also thankfully, Peru is the land of potatoes, so it wasn't a challenge to track down some "camote" (sweet potato). However, these sweet potatoes were unlike any that I have ever encountered. I don't know if its starch just has a higher sugar content than other varieties, but these made absolutely everything sticky, and it was a nightmare to remove. It was like getting pine sap on your hands! Boiling them left the stock pot crazy sticky too. My simultaneous cooking/cleaning skills have improved in 4 years, apparently, because the kitchen wasn't too much of a disaster this time.

Kitchen in the middle of the process.

Hurray for electric mixers!

It may not be Thanksgiving, but I enjoyed having a reason to make my favorite holiday dish. I love the taste, sure. But I am probably even more attached to the memories that making it always brings.

When I publish my long-awaited cookbook,
"How to Pretend That You Have Any Idea What You Are Doing In the Kitchen,"
this will be the author photo.
(First tip in the book: wearing an apron always makes you look more credible in the kitchen. Note above photo.)

In our family we usually distribute the toppings so that one end is only nuts, one end it only marshmallows, and the middle has both, so each family member has their own sector. ;-) Here I tried to make sure all of the possible topping combinations was available. A virtual Punnett square of sweet potato deliciousness.

TA-DAAA! (Again.)

I don't know that anyone else enjoyed the sweet potato souffle as much as I did, but I thought it tasted pretty good. The only real struggle was that our gas heated oven lacks a thermometer, so although it was "set" to the right temperature, it did not reach the right temperature, so I cranked it up and cooked it twice as long. Even without putting in the full measure of sugar called for, it's still sweet enough to be dessert. I think this particular variety of potato is sweeter than some others, but I'm certainly not complaining that there are leftovers! I will be eating my sweet potato souffle and enjoying the flavor and memories of sweet times at home.

Mmmmm!

70 Years and Counting

2011-12-07T19:47:00.000-05:00

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941 was, of course, the "day that will live in infamy," and the day that defined a generation. And yet, 70 years later, it seems almost forgotten. Most of the news coverage this year has focused on the dwindling numbers of veterans who were there that day. The survivors association, which had 28,000 members when it was founded in 1958, will disband at the end of the year as the passing of time has virtually extinguished its membership (read more here). To me, even more depressing than the passing of the veterans is the thought that they take with them the memory of the tragic event that changed the course of history for America and for millions of people. In a few years time, the day will only live on in stories and history books. Of course, that is the natural order of things, but I hope that the lessons that we learned as a nation and the examples of courage and sacrifice given us by The Greatest Generation do not fade from our collective memory as quickly as the events of war.

I am thankful that I grew up with grandparents who could tell me their first hand accounts of December 7, 1941 and the subsequent war. However, my children won't get to hear the stories their great-grandparents lived. They will, however, get to see the photos.

Like these that captured a day of infamy for the world to see:

Sailors in a motor launch rush to rescue a survivor in the water alongside USS West Virginia after the attack, December 7, 1941.
REUTERS/U.S. Navy Photograph/Newscom

A burnt B-17C aircraft rests near Hangar Number Five, Hickam Field, following the attack by Japanese aircraft on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
REUTERS/Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives

A view of the USS ARIZONA burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, December 7, 1941.
REUTERS/Department of the Navy/Naval Photographic Center

In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

(Credit: AP)

The ones like these LIFE Magazine photos that became memories in and of themselves.

And the ones like these, my grandfather's photos that tell the story of his experience in the Pacific Theater of WWII:

Gen. MacArthur delivers a speech in the Philippines.

Grandpa is on the right.

That's part of what I love about photography, it lasts long after the moment and even the people have passed. A photograph carries in it the fading stories of days gone by, and hopefully it makes those who view it stop and reflect. That's why I think it's important to take pictures, not just me or people who label themselves "photographers,"but everyone. We won't all be present at a world-history-changing moment like Pearl Harbor, but we all have unique experiences and stories to tell and a life to share, and that probably won't happen if you don't do it. And who knows when an event from your life might become part of the story of a nation. Take time to remember today the sacrifice paid by so many on December 7, 1941, and then pick up a camera and go capture your own story.

(How will the world remember 2011? Check out the 45 most powerful photos of the year, and LIFE Magazine's best photos of 2011.)

One Shot

2011-11-29T10:18:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite photo from Caracas. I don't know that it's visually the best photo of the trip, but I love it because of the moment it captured.

We spent a morning walking around a poor barrio with a couple of women who are doing great work in the neighborhood where they live. Their two young sons ran along with us for much of the time. They were adorable and jabbered at me in rapid Spanish that I did my best to understand. At the end of our time we returned to one woman's home to record prayers for the video we were working on. The women prayed for their community and then we prayed for them and their ministries. As we packed up to leave, one of the boys tugged on his mother's arm. "He wants to pray too," she told us. We paused as he stood in the middle of the room, folded his hands and bowed his head. And then he prayed one of the most eloquent and sincere prayers I've ever heard a 7-year-old pray. I wish I could quote it for you, but it was in Spanish, so I could only paraphrase. But how precious to hear the heart of a little boy growing up in a difficult place as he interceded for his friends, neighbors and the church. That just does your heart good! I pray this young man continues to grow in his relationship with Christ to become a strong Christian leader.

You, too, can pray for the people of Venezuela and for the work being done there. Pray that Venezuelans will catch a vision for sending missionaries into the rest of the world and will also have a passion for reaching their own countrymen with the Good News of Christ!

His Heart, His Hands, His Voice

2011-11-29T01:49:00.000-05:00

Does it seem possible that December is just around the corner? The Christmas season is upon us! It's time for candy canes, heartwarming holiday movies, hot chocolate, lights, and some rockin' around the Christmas tree. It's also time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering! If you don't go to a Southern Baptist church, you may not know what that is, but it is the annual offering to support international missions. Every penny given to Lottie Moon is used to support Southern Baptist missionaries as they share the Gospel overseas. The offering represents 57% of the total budget for the mission board, and is critical to supporting the nearly 5,000 workers currently on the field. I just came across the following stats and the numbers even surprised me:

What is the average cost to support an individual missionary?

• $46,700 a year

• $3,890 a month

• $900 a week

• $128 a day

• $5.30 an hour

• $.09 a minute

(Reported April 2011. Includes housing, salary,

children's education, medical expenses, retirement, and more.)

Yikes! Missionaries seem kind of expensive, but I guess when you consider what it costs to support an average person in America for salary, housing, insurance, fees, etc., that's not so much. And when you consider what the cost is of not sending anyone, that people might spend eternity separated from God...well that's a cost we can't afford to pay. So check of this video and prayerfully consider what you can do to be involved with international missions:

If you're a Southern Baptist, do what you can to be a part of the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and if you're not, take time this month to find out how you can support other missionaries and organizations that are working to take the love of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

And while giving to the LMCO is always good, consider how else you can be His heart, His hands, and His voice to a lost and hurting world during the coming new year. What are you willing to do?

Pray?

Give?

Go?

(To read more stories of how your Lottie Moon Christmas Offering helps reach people with the Gospel, check out this site.)

Are we blessed?

2011-11-26T14:28:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that Thanksgiving is my favorite of all holidays, and there are many reasons. It's one of the least commercial, it really puts the emphasis on family, the food is amazing, and it's about thanking God for the abundant blessings in our lives. Oh...and it gives me an excuse to dress up like a pilgrim every year. True story. But I think I love it most because in our family it was one of the only days of the year that we took a break from our busyness, sat down at the table, turned off the TV, and really focused on each other. Sitting there, eating, talking, and laughing with my parents was the highlight of every Thanksgiving. While I've always had countless material blessings for which to be thankful, I rarely thought about those when it came down to assessing that for which I was most grateful. No, usually I was most thankful for the two people sitting beside me, for their love, for our family, and for being together.

I think most of us would agree that the things we hold dearest aren't really objects. We cherish family and friendship, freedom and faith, and innumerable other intangible things. And that is how it should be. We should never cease to give thanks for such blessings. However, we cannot lose sight that we, as Americans/Canadians/Europeans/etc. also live with extreme material wealth. In today's recession and weak economy it is common to hear people complaining about the hit their investments took, or even talking about their struggle to pay basic bills or find a job. It's true, relative to the prosperity most of us have enjoyed for so many years, things are tough. All of us have been affected by the difficult economic situation. But few of us, as "westerners" (especially those of us who are young) have a real grasp of what "tough" looks like. Poverty in the rest of the world looks a lot different from most of the poverty in America. (I say "most" because homelessness and severe poverty does affect people in the U.S. too.)
For example, for 2011 in the U.S. the poverty line for a single person was an annual income of $10,890. For a family of four it was $22,350. A few figures about what living in "poverty" can qualify as in America:

80% of poor households have air conditioning
99% have a refrigerator
Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31% have two or more cars or trucks
Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television
Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR
Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers
More than half of poor families with children have a video game system.
43% have Internet access
One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television

What does it look like in the rest of the world?

Approximately 20% of people live on less than $1 a day.
About half of the world, more than 3 billion people, live on less than $2.50 a day.
At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
2 billion people, a quarter of humanity, live without electricity.
An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year.
20% of children between 5 and 14 years of age are involved in child labor.
One-sixth of the global population lacks access to safe drinking water.
Women in poor areas of Asia and Africa walk an average of 4 miles a day to collect water.

You'll excuse me if I have a hard time sympathizing with the Occupy Wallstreet folks. It's always easy to accuse the extremely wealthy, the CEOs, the politicians of being out of touch with "the rest" of us, and I'm not saying they aren't. But I am saying that chances are we are just as out of touch with "the rest" of the world, and I think that's an even more serious problem. I really appreciated this response video to the Occupy movement:

"Reality can be ugly, bloody, and horrible." Most of us have lives with luxuries unimaginable to the rest of world. We may not be in the top 1% of wage earners worldwide, but we certainly aren't in the bottom 80% either. I like this guy's plan of making people live in the woods for three days to give them a taste of what corporations do for them, but I'd take it farther. I'd like all the disillusioned young adults of the West to go spend a week or two in a developing nation. It doesn't even have to be a war-torn or famine-stricken one. Just pick any ol' place where people toil long hours to feed their families, and then take pride in sweeping their dirt floors. Watch precious children covered in filth playing with ingenious toys they've constructed out of garbage. Experience them trying to feed you their best, out of hospitality, even though they have so little. And then see that despite the abysmal circumstances they live in, many of them are still happy and joyful. Yes, go visit "the rest" and then come back to your home, your food, and your bills and complain. I dare you. And then I dare you to look at all you have and not give thanks to the Lord who has blessed you so abundantly, and who allows you to live in a nation with the luxury of "protesting" whatever it is you are upset about.

But I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised at the lack of perspective in so many. As we learned in Remember the Titans, "Attitude reflects leadership, Captain." And the leadership of our nation does not acknowledge God's hand in the blessings of our nation, nor the importance of thanking the Lord even one day a year. Below is the text from President Obama's Thanksgiving Day address. Take a minute to read it and note the conspicuous absence of God in his remarks.

Obama's Thanksgiving Speech 2011

"From my family to yours, I'd like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Like millions of Americans, Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and I will spend the day eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we are.
As Americans, each of us has our own list of things and people to be thankful for. But there are some blessings we all share. We're especially grateful for the men and women who defend our country overseas. To all the service members eating Thanksgiving dinner far from your families, the American people are thinking of you today. And when you come home, we intend to make sure we serve you as well as you are serving America.
We're also grateful for the Americans who are taking time out of their holiday to serve at soup kitchens and shelters, making sure their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay. This sense of mutual responsibility, the idea that I'm my brother's keeper, that I'm my sister's keeper, has always been part of what makes our country special, and it's one of the reasons the Thanksgiving tradition has endured.
The very first Thanksgiving was a celebration of community during a time of great hardship; we've followed that example ever since. Even when the fate of our Union was far from certain, during a Civil War, two World Wars, a Great Depression, Americans drew strength from each other. They had faith that tomorrow would be better than today. We're grateful that they did. As we gather around the table we pause to remember the pilgrims, pioneers, and patriots who helped make this country what it is. They faced impossible odds, and yet somehow, they persevered.
Today it's our turn. I know that for many of you, this Thanksgiving is more difficult than most. Yet no matter how tough things are right now, we still give thanks for that most American of blessings: the chance to determine our own destiny. The problems we face didn't develop overnight, and we won't solve them overnight. But we will solve them. All it takes is for each of us to do our part.
With all the partisanship and gridlock here in Washington, it's easy to wonder if such unity is really possible. But think about what's happening at this very moment: Americans from all walks of life are coming together as one people, grateful for the blessings of family, community, and country. If we keep that spirit alive, if we support each other, and look out for each other, and remember that we're all in this together, then I know that we too will overcome the challenges of our time.
So today I am thankful to serve as your president and Commander and Chief. I'm thankful that my daughters get to grow up in this great country of ours, and I'm thankful for the chance to do my part, as together we make tomorrow better than today. Thanks, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving." - Barack Obama

Yes there are still nice sentiments there, like being grateful for the servicemen in the military and people who are serving others on Thanksgiving. But if we are thankful for community, for country and family, to whom are we thankful? To "luck" as Obama indicates? No, that is not what Thanksgiving is about. It is about giving thanks to the Lord for His provision. That's not some Christian rewriting of American history or trying to force a set of beliefs on an otherwise neutral holiday. In 1863, when Thanksgiving was first celebrated on the same day across the nation, Abraham Lincoln delivered the following proclamation:

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
by the President of the United States of America

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

-Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln seemed to have a firm understanding that what we have are "the gracious gifts of the Most High God," and understood that the Lord deserves our praise and thanks. (I also like that he specifically includes Americans "at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands" as part of the Thanksgiving observance!) So let us be ever aware of the extent of our blessing and remember the Source from which they come. May we live with an attitude of gratefulness, even if it is simply for the gift of life, as we are not promised tomorrow.

"Rejoice always,

pray continuously,

give thanks in ALL circumstances;

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

(I'm not sure how accurate or up to date it is, but it's kind of interesting to calculate how rich you are here.)

I'm Still Yours

2011-11-26T00:59:00.000-05:00

I enjoy the band Kutless but I've never owned their album, so I somehow managed to miss this song until recently, but I sure am loving it! It is always a good reminder to stop and examine whether we are serving and praising the Lord only because of His blessings, or because of who He is. Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, we are especially mindful of thanking God and praising Him for the many blessings in our lives. However, He is worthy of our praise whether we ever receive one single blessing from Him or not. I often wonder if I would be able to praise the Lord if everything else was completely stripped away from my life. Job 1:21 has long been a favorite verse of mine,

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away;

may the name of the Lord be blessed."

It is an easy thing to say when things are good or even just kind of bad, but it is another thing to live out that conviction when you are faced with a complete desert.

Hope you enjoy this song (you can turn off the site music at the bottom of the page so that you can hear the video) and are encouraged to praise the Lord in every circumstance.

I'm Still Yours- Kutless

If You washed away my vanity

If You took away my words

If all my world was swept away

Would You be enough for me?

Would my beating heart still sing?

If I lost it all

Would my hands stay lifted

To the God who gives and takes away

If You take it all

This life You've given

Still my heart will sing to You

When my life is not what I expected

The plans I made have failed

When there's nothing left to steal me away

Will You be enough for me?

Will my broken heart still sing?

If I lost it all

Would my hands stay lifted

To the God who gives

And takes away

If You take it all

This life You've given

Still my heart

Will sing to You

Even if You take it all away

You’ll never let me go

Take it all away

But I still know

That I'm Yours

I'm still Yours

Oh, I'm Yours

I'm still Yours

From Peru to You: Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T00:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!
I hope that for you today has been a day full of food, fun, family, and friends. We had a lovely Thanksgiving here in Peru. I started the day watching snippets of the Macy's Parade on the earthcam shot of New York, and via skype with Carolyn and her family.

Carolyn also sent me a hand turkey that arrived right on time. ;-)

It still doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving without spending hours in the kitchen making our favorite family dishes, but little tastes of home make a big difference. I had prepared my contribution to the potluck dinner yesterday (in case they didn't turn out- you never can be sure in Peru!) so I didn't have to stress today.

Cream-cheese-filled pumpkin muffins with strudel topping and glaze.

We headed over to the office for the afternoon and enjoyed huge quantities of delicious food and fellowship with 50+ of our closest friends in Peru.

As you can see, we had all the fixin's, including...(drumroll please).....CANNED CRANBERRY SAUCE!

I consider that a vital part of a successful Thanksgiving meal since it acts as the sorbet, a "palate cleanser" if you will, for the rest of the heavy flavors. We also had pumpkin and pecan pies and desserts galore!

As you might guess, many products that are staples of an American Thanksgiving meal are not found in other countries. Down here we don't have canned pumpkin or canned sweet potatoes, Crisco, or chocolate chips. Your choice of canned vegetables is extremely limited and expensive, as is a turkey. Stuffing mix and cream-of-whateveryouwant soups, and pre-made pie crusts don't exist, to my knowledge. And, of course, no cranberry sauce. Granted, many of those things you can work around or make from scratch, but some things have no substitute. Still, we are blessed here in Lima with the variety of things that are available and the ease of preparation relative to the places many of our friends serve. We are also blessed that we have enough personnel who travel back to the states frequently that they were able to bring in some of those things we miss. (Cat brought me an awesome can of pumpkin for my birthday that was vital to the success of the pumpkin muffins! This week was also her birthday so she needs a birthday shout-out for her general awesomeness, and also staying alive for a quarter of a century. Believe me, it's an accomplishment.)

After dinner, like many a family gathering, we watched football on the big screen, chatted, chased kids, and played games. Although nothing is ever as sweet as spending the time with your family, it was a blessing to sit back and look around the crowded office and see so many friends. Five months ago when we arrived in Peru we knew only a few people, and those not very well. Today I gave thanks for dozens of people who have become our very dear "field family," and praised God that I was blessed to have such a special group with whom to celebrate.

I also gave thanks for modern technology that allowed me to talk to my parents, friends, and extended family across the U.S. today! Today was not my first Thanksgiving separated from loved ones, and odds are, it won't be the last. But I also know I'm not alone in that; there's a much greater number of people far from home tonight than would like to be. Today I am extra thankful for the men and women who spent the day away from home as they defend our country in the military, or strive to take the Gospel to a dark world. I hope wherever you spent the holiday you were able to stop and reflect on the blessings in your life, and thank God from whom all blessings flow. Most of us tend to forget that "every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17), and that we have been blessed beyond measure. Thank goodness God never forgets us!
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100:4-5

Laundry Haitian Style

2011-11-24T01:24:00.000-05:00

Last week the washing machine flooded the laundry room and kitchen…

again.

Yep.

Again.

So again I found myself standing in the kitchen using old towels to sop up the excess water and ring it out in the sink. I wasn't really upset, just a little annoyed and slightly bemused at the ridiculousness of life at the moment.

I stood there struggling to ring out the heavy soaked towels. It was taking a long time and I was getting impatient. And then I had a thought:

Haiti.

I couldn't help but smile.

Struggling to ring out the towel snapped me back to a blistering hot day in Haiti, bent over a plastic bin, "helping" Ruth with her laundry.

Ruth is another story of her own. I met her in a tent community a couple of months after the earthquake. A young Haitian woman, 22 back then, who knew the Truth but had been so hardened by life in the "nation of NGOs" that it hadn't penetrated her heart. She was one of the few in that community who spoke very good French, and so we could talk without needing a translator. She was selfish and shockingly bitter and cared only about what I could do for her financially. Ruth had shelter, clothes, and food. It was a meager life, to be sure, but basic needs were met. What she wanted was money. Money to go "follow her dreams" as she put it. "Everyone here is either a child and still young, or an adult and already set in their life. I should be the one who gets to leave. I shouldn't be stuck here. I have to look out for me." I told her I had no money to give her, that we were only here to share the love of Jesus and hopefully meet some basic needs for the community as a whole. She glared at me through squinted eyes, pursed her lips and snapped,

"Alors, tu ne m'aimes pas!"

The one benefit of using translatosr was that beyond translating, they also served as mediators and diplomats. I understood enough Creole to know when they were "rephrasing" something that had been said. It's not that they lied, but they would convey the general sentiment of the statement instead of the exact words. For example: "He is upset." Instead of repeating the string of slurs and hurtful comments. And then they would rebuke their own people for their attitudes and language without ever telling the Americans what had really been said.

The problem was I didn't need a translator. I understood Ruth fine. I just wished someone could have softened the blow when she said:

"So, you don't love me!"

Her words wounded me profoundly. I DID love her. But how do you show real love to someone whose idea of "love" has been so warped? That afternoon I felt defeated. And I cried. Cried for the devastation of Haiti, for the loss of life, for the bitterness and entitlement that had gripped so many people, but mostly for Ruth: a sad girl who claimed to know Jesus but was missing out on His love.

I was burdened that evening and next morning. How could I do it? I didn't have the strength, or the wisdom to know how to reach Ruth. And then God reminded me:

"MY strength, Lyndsey. MY wisdom, Lyndsey.

MY love, Lyndsey."

For someone who really likes to be competent and able to handle anything, it's always humbling when God reminds me that that's not true. There was nothing I could do to change Ruth's heart. It wasn't my responsibility. I was just supposed to love on her and share Jesus. And it was a freeing realization.
So we went back to the tent community, determined to find a way to show that we were serious about loving them without feeding the serious issue of dependency. It wasn't long before Ruth disappeared for a while. She came back carrying a bucket of clothes. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Can I help you with your laundry?"
Ruth: "The laundry?"
Me: "Yes."
Ruth: "You want to help with the laundry?"
Me: "Yes, if you don't mind."
Ruth (very confused look on her face): "...Why?"

It was a fair question. I told her I loved her and I wanted to help. She agreed. And so she began the process of doing laundry Haitian style and giving me instructions. We got water from the well, she got her soap, and crouched down around two bins, one for washing one for rinsing. She handed me a shirt, took one herself, and we set to work washing. I dabbed some soap and started scrubbing...for about 10 seconds. Suddenly she stopped, raised one eyebrow and asked me what in the world I was doing.
"I'm washing this shirt," I said.
"No, no, no," she said, shaking her head. "That's not right... Like THIS!" She unfolded the shirt she was washing and regripped it so I could see just how she was holding it. I mimicked her motions and started scrubbing again. She watched for a brief moment before shaking her head and grabbing the shirt from my hands.
"No, no. Not like that, Lyndsey. You're not doing it right." She took my hands and guided them to hold the shirt like she did and told me to try again. Again, my scrubbing was deemed unsatisfactory. But as she corrected me with an exasperated headshake, I could see her starting to smile.

We were sitting in a public area by the well, and by this point a small group of women had gathered around to watch the American wash clothes like a Haitian. And apparently, it was quite the show. Every time I set to work, doing what looked to me to be identical to what Ruth did, they would all start giggling. Ruth would stop and show me for the umpteenth time the "right" way to wash the shirt, I would try again, fail, and the group would burst into laughter. I listened to the group of women talking about me amongst themselves.

"What's going on?"
"The American is washing clothes!"
"Really? Why?"
"I don't know. But she doesn't know what she's doing!"
"What?! She doesn't know how to wash clothes?!"
"NO! She's doing it all wrong. HAHAHA!"
"How can she not know how to wash clothes!?"
"In America they don't wash clothes. They have MACHINES that do it."

The group was steadily growing and my friend Tiffany had joined in for laundry lesson. Bored bystanders were excited to see the white girls fail at a simple task, and all of my actions elicited raucous laughter. The thing was, I was really trying! I did everything just as Ruth demonstrated but I never could perfectly replicate the powerful consistent motions she used to quickly scrub her clothes. One man leaned down and said, "You've never washed clothes by hand before, have you." Somewhat indignant that he thought Americans never got their hands dirty I assured him I had washed clothes by hand many a time. "Well did you actually get them clean?!" I confirmed that I had. "No you didn't! Not if you washed them like that!" he said, chuckling as he wandered off.

Eventually we were done scrubbing, time to rinse and ring. Simple enough, right? Wrong. There is also a specific "correct" Haitian way to ring water out...and I can't do it. I picked a shirt up to begin ringing it out. I was laboring over it, twisting and squeezing, while Ruth picked up another piece of clothing and had it completely drained of water in two swift moves. She looked at me with pity, both of us laughing with the crowd, took the shirt out of my hands and...put it back in the water.
"No, no. Here. Watch me. Try again."
I did. I failed.
Back into the water she dunked the shirt.
"No. Like this. It's easy."
It was not. Her practiced hands could get all the water out of a shirt in a matter of seconds. I rang the same shirt out over and over again as she rewetted it for me to practice. Finally, she took pity on me and told me I had done a good job. We could go hang the clothes in the sun now.
And that's how I came to do laundry in Haiti. In all honesty, it wasn't what I had expected. I had wanted to be useful and actually help with a chore. Instead I discovered that I couldn't even do that simple task right. I had probably caused Ruth twice as much work with her laundry as she would have had alone. But we had a good time. All of us. I wish I could tell you that I saw a big change in her, that she stopped being bitter and selfish and became a joyful woman, but that wasn't the case. We only worked in that community for the span of one week, and Ruth continued to ask for material goods and special favors just for her. But after allowing myself to look very foolish in front of a whole lot of people just to wash some clothes, Ruth never again told me I didn't love her.

So that's what I was thinking of while I struggled to ring out those towels in the sink last week. I had no clue that a year and a half after that day I'd be living in Peru and requiring those skills. And apparently my Haitian laundry technique still needs a lot of practice.

I still pray for Ruth whenever I think of her. I pray that she will grow to be a strong woman of God like her namesake in the Bible and let go of the bitterness she carries. And I try to remember that I don't have to do everything well. Sometimes it's the things we have no talent in at all that God uses the most for His glory. And it's okay to allow yourself to look stupid. :-)

Washing clothes with our audience.

Ruth and me in her tent.

Catching the Vision

2011-11-22T18:33:00.000-05:00

Check out the following article about some of what God is doing in Peru. It's impossible to talk to the Peruvians who are seeking to go, and the missionaries that are facilitating the process, and not get excited! They are all incredibly passionate about taking the Gospel to all peoples. It's awesome!

Please be praying for the recent graduates of the mission training school as they seek God's direction, and for the Larners and many others who are working to mobilize Peruvians to the ends of the earth.

PERU: Catching the missionary vision

by Emily Pearson on November 21, 2011

LIMA, Peru – More and more, Peruvian believers are catching the missionary vision.

And as more Peruvian Christians answer God’s call to missions, Tommy and Beth Larner are helping prepare them for what they’ll face on the field.

The Larners, International Mission Board missionaries in Peru, work with a Peruvian organization called Perú a Las Naciones (Peru to the Nations), which prepares national believers to serve on the international mission field. Recently, the first graduates completed the organization’s seminary-style training program.

“We’re very much a part of it, but it’s clearly Peruvian,” said Tommy. “It’s not an IMB mission project. And that’s exciting, that it’s coming up out of the Peruvian believers, and we just have the joy of being a part of it.”

While completing the training program doesn’t automatically put Peruvian missionaries on the overseas field, it does bring them one big step closer. Some of the program’s graduates are still praying for God’s direction, but others already feel called to a specific country.

The Larners believe that getting the organization’s first trained missionaries on the field will inspire others to follow.

“Pray that Peruvian believers will see themselves in Christ as ones that God can effectively use to reach the nations,” said Tommy. “And [pray] also for them to see themselves as equal partners to reach out to the nations, that this is a global family working together.”

Photo: Rebecca Springer

For more stories and information from the Americas check out:
http://americanpeoples.imb.org/

God's Chisel

2011-11-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

I know I still have some catching up to do about travels and adventures of the last month. But we're pretty busy with work at the moment so it may take a while to cover all that. In the meantime, I figured I'd just share some little things that I like and that encourage me.

This video we watched at the retreat and I think it's great!

It's by the Skit Guys who have tons of great stuff to check out.

Enjoy the video!

(You can turn off the music using the controller at the bottom of the page.)

*Please be in prayer for our team. Several of us are dealing with health issues, trying to get and stay well. We also have a lot of daunting deadlines coming up. Pray for focus, vision, and creativity as we tackle these projects and seek to glorify God. Also, please lift up all those serving on the field this week as we celebrate Thanksgiving far from family and friends. For some this may be the first time they have spent the holidays away from their loved ones. Thank you for praying!

Whatever

2011-11-19T22:55:00.000-05:00

That's a lot of birthdays!

2011-11-13T13:00:00.005-05:00

This year my birthday was extra special, not just because I spent it in Peru, but because October 31, 2011 was also the supposed birthday of the world's 7 billionth person. For some perspective, when I was born in 1985, the world population was approximately 4.850 billion. Now just 26 years later, 2.150 billion more people occupy the planet. That's a whole lot of birthdays; that's a whole lot of people!

But what struck me more was thinking that, beyond it being just an incredible number of people, this also means that there are that many more people who need the love of Jesus.

In the last couple of months I've been to four of what we consider mega-cities. Mega-cities are just that: MEGA. They go on and on and contain millions of people, often millions of people in very small spaces. Not growing up in a big city, I'm still impressed by huge crowds. I walked through those cities, seeing their magnitude and meeting their people, and thinking...

It's impossible!

The cities are just too big.

There are just too many people.

There are just too few workers.

When you stand looking at the size of the need and the depth of the lostness, and then stand and look back at the resources and workers you have to offer, it's overwhelming. In the economy of man, it would never be enough. 7 billion people?! There's no way that we can reach that many people with the Gospel. People aren't giving enough! People aren't going enough!

Thankfully, we aren't constrained to man's economy. We serve a God who brings glory to Himself by doing much with very little. He is in the business of doing the impossible and doing it in improbable ways. He didn't wake up on the 31st and say, "7 billion people!? How'd that happen?" No, he knows every one of those 7 billion people by name. He formed them in their mothers, He knows the number of the hairs on their heads, and He desires that "not any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). There is no earthly way for us to keep up with the population growth that is rapidly outpacing us, but that doesn't give us an excuse to despair and throw in the towel. We must remain faithful to the task to which we have been called, and remember Who's hands everything rests. (Hint: Not ours!) "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow" (1 Corinthians 3:7).

But do take this milestone as encouragement to look around for ways to influence the people in your life, and to share the love of Christ!

Below is from a photojournalism blog. I loved the photos from around the world (there's even one from Lima!) and hope you enjoy them too:

United Nations marks 7 billionth baby: (See the entire post here.)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- One South African mother, just 19, named her newborn "Enough"

and shrugged off a nurse who questioned whether she was old enough to know how

many children she wanted.

In Nigeria, newborn twins have to share a bassinet in a crowded public hospital that

doesn't have enough electricity. "Where there is life, there is hope," their mother said.

But as the world's population surpasses 7 billion, fears were stirred anew about how the

planet will cope with the needs of so many humans.

The United Nations marked the milestone Monday, even though it is impossible to pinpoint

the arrival of the globe's 7 billionth occupant because millions of people are born and die

each day.

In this Saturday Oct. 22, 2011, photo, newly born babies are seen at the district women's hospital, in Allahabad, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. In a report, U.N. Population Fund said the world population is expected to reach 7 billion on Oct. 31, 2011. The agency said "it cannot pinpoint the exact moment when or the exact place where that child will be born" but demographers expect the birthplace to be in Uttar Pradesh, in the world's second-most populous country with 1.2 billion people. AP / Rajesh Kumar Sing

An Indian elderly woman sits in front of her house as children arrive from school on a street in Lucknow, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

An Indian woman carries her child as she walks back home in Allahabad, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

An Indian nurse observes newly born babies at a hospital in Gauhati, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Anupam Nath

Father of Nargis, a symbolic 7 billionth baby, looks at his daughter at the Community Health Center in Mall, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Lucknow, India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

Mother Vinita, 23, carries her symbolic 7 billionth girl child, Nargis, at the Community Health Center in Mall, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Lucknow, India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

Arti, 28, mother of six children (sitting from left to right) prepares food for them, in Allahabad, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011.
AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

School children return from school in an overcrowd vehicle , in Allahabad, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011.
AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh

A Pakistani girl holds her newly born younger brother as she stands beside her mother buying used clothes at a weekly bazaar in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011.
AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Children are seen at a kindergarten in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq,
Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011.
AP / Nabil al-Jurani

Afghan woman, Aziza Shir, 21, holds her three-week-old daughter Mjdah as other women and their children having breakfast together in a poor neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Muhammed Muheisen

Afghan woman, Fatimah Mohammed, 21, comforts her crying eight-month-old daughter Sakinah while sitting by her home in a poor neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Muhammed Muheisen

Tourists crowd a hot spring pool in southwestern China's Chongqing city on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011.
AP / CHINATOPIX

Newborn girl Yazuri Tarmeno cries as her mother Maria Vega cuddles her at the Maternity hospital in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Karel Navarro

Three-day-old Emirati boy, Salem is held by his father, Abdullah al Kotbi at the Al Wasl hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday Oct. 30, 2011.
AP / Kamran Jebreili

Nurses hold newborn babies in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Mohammed Zaatari

Women sit with their newborn babies in a ward of the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria,
Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.
AP / Sunday Alamba

In this photo provided by the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Buthaina looks at her new born child at the El Fasher Women's Hospital in North Darfur, Sudan, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Sudan's population has reached 33 million people, with approximately 6 million living in Darfur's three states.
AP / Albert Gonzalez Farran

You can check out National Geographic's special on the population mark here.

Also, interesting article from an IMB writer about this.

42

2011-11-13T08:00:00.025-05:00

Nope, not up to 42 countries quite yet.

Happy 42nd anniversary to my mom and dad!

They're kind of awesome, and I'm very proud to be their daughter. I'm also proud to have parents who have honored their commitment to each other for forty-two years. That's pretty impressive in this day and age. I know it hasn't always been easy, but I'm thankful for them and the family they made.

Love you, Mom and Dad! Happy Anniversary!!!

The Ghost of Birthdays Past

2011-11-12T21:00:00.030-05:00

Posting about my most recent birthday sent me down memory lane, thinking about many delightful birthdays past. This post is largely to indulge my memories, so if you don't care about old birthdays (or at least mocking old pictures of me) I won't be upset if you just want to go eat some cookies, or take a nap, or write your own blog about annoying people who post old pictures.

Unfortunately, since I'm in Peru, I only have access to the few photos on my computer and the other few stored on facebook. So you'll miss out on the photos of the more epic parties of my childhood: the castle maze, the Halloween Olympics, the Pirate Party, the Safari Party. Yep, my mom pulled off some pretty fantastic celebrations! But despite the many missing, here's a few from the last 26 years:

1985

So this wasn't my actual birthday, but close enough!

1986? 1987?

There was a plastic ghost hung in our front yard. I liked to say "Boo!" to it.

1992

Fractured my wrist rollerskating. I was a wounded black cat that year.
(This is our scarecrow friend that always hangs by the front door.)

1997

12th birthday was spent in Japan

Had a party in Ormond after the fact.

1998

13th birthday party in the park. I'm wearing overalls and pigtails. Feel free to judge.

Getting balloons at school was the epitome of cool in middle school.

2001

16th birthday party!

2003

18th birthday dinner at Applebee's, the traditional post-football game hang-out in highschool. They didn't give me any free birthday dessert. Some friendly neighborhood grill!

2006

Black widow spider for FCA Halloween party. (This was the day I got my braces on.)

21st birthday party in our townhouse in Gainesville.

Carving pumpkins!

2007

Birthday party in my flat in Paris, night before my birthday.

My friends brought a cake, but we didn't have birthday candles. We used a tea light. Hahah.
The next morning, Andrea and I headed to Italy, so I spent my actual birthday half in Paris and half in Milan.

2009

Alien night costume for Bible study.

Popcorn cake! A birthday tradition

Florida-Georgia at the Seitzes'. No better present than a Gator victory!

Birthday dinner at La Fiesta! Sombrero.

I think this was after the waiters scared Dianne to death when they slammed the tray on the ground.

2010

Carving pumpkins at Val's

Birthday lunch after Sunday School at the Whites'.

Birthday dinner at Chipotle after Fall Family Festival.

Flo!

Day o' Lyndsey

2011-11-12T13:44:00.002-05:00

Some people call it All Hallows' Eve.

To some it is Reformation Day.

In Peru it has become "Dia de la cancion criolla" (Peruvian music celebration).

To most it's simply Halloween.

But in recent years there has been a push to recognize

the most important holiday that falls on October 31:

Day o' Lyndsey!

Yes, it's a very important day and I hope you were able to celebrate with friends and food and maybe some sort of ridiculous attire. If you didn't eat your weight in candy corn then you probably weren't doing it right.

Anyway, since Day o' Lyndsey happened to fall right after a week of travel, a women's retreat, and right before another week of travel, I was kind of limited as to my planning for the event. Being away from your best friends and family for your birthday can be kind of depressing, so I wanted to make sure I could celebrate with my coworker "family" here in Lima and spend the time enjoying their friendship instead of missing home. I also thought it would be a good excuse to try a bunch of things I had seen on Pinterest and had been wanting to do. So after the retreat I spent the next solid day shopping and cooking and cleaning up the apartment since this was also the first time we were hosting anything in our place.

I had a lovely birthday with lots of sweet wishes from people back home. (And thanks to the Peruvian mail system I am getting to extend my birthday celebration waiting on cards even now. Hehe.) I also had a lot of fun with everyone who came by. I really enjoyed coming up with the recipes and decorations and was so blessed to have such great friends to celebrate another year with.

Here are pics of the party and links to recipes that I based mine on:

Classy, right?

Guacamole pumpkin

Owl cupcakes.

Mini caramel apple bites.

I got tired of trying to separate Peruvian oreos, which do not separate easily, for owl eyes. So I decided to crumble them up and make dirt and worm cakes too.

Cheesecake filled strawberries, dipped in chocolate.

Spicy cheesy spinach dip with a bell pepper octopus. He was cuter when he had his tentacles arranged and no dip on his face, but I didn't get a pic before people started eating. Dip was pretty tasty!

Spread.

Ellen made me a birthday cake! And put 2 and 6 candles on it. :-)

Fun times with friends.

Excited about cake!

With Evelyn, who loves a good party.

My friends aren't weird at all. Suuure.

Norah helped me celebrate too!

Since I didn't have time to carve a real jack-o-latern, I just stuck a candle in the sick one. Haha.

Happy Day o' Lyndsey!
And many thanks to all who helped me celebrate and made my birthday so very special.
Here's to another year of blessings.

Encouragement

2011-11-11T16:10:00.000-05:00

One of the most special parts of the retreat was receiving mail from people back in the states who had received our names and had been praying for us leading up to the event. It was nice to have cards and uplifting words from people you've never even met. But what was even more special was that the retreat folks had contacted our home churches and asked them to gather some mail from people at home. I was blessed to receive a big stack of cards from the staff (my former coworkers) at FBC Daytona. It was a delightful surprise to see familiar handwriting and read their well-wishes and encouragement. It was also convenient that the retreat happened the weekend before my birthday, so my cards carried birthday greetings as well. It was a wonderful treat since you know how much I love mail!

Many of the women who spoke during the retreat had served on the mission field before or worked in various ministries. They all had very interesting life stories that I wish I could pass onto you all. A former missionary to Ecuador shared about the loss of her grown son to cancer recently. While it has obviously been a painful season in her life, it was wonderful to hear her continue to testify to God's faithfulness. She shared a video her son had made during his cancer battle. His is a remarkable testimony that challenges us all to remember that no matter what happens, God is still God, and God is still good. (Check out the videos below, but you'll probably want to get a tissue first.)

Part 1:

Part 2: By Zac's wife

You can learn more about Zac's story here.

Bad haircuts, earthquakes, and Pure Joy

2011-11-10T23:36:00.000-05:00

Our route back to Peru from Argentina involved going through Brazil. Consequently it was a looong day of travel and flying across the entire continent to get home. We arrived back in Lima in the middle of the late night crush at the airport. (About 10pm-midnight is the busiest time at the airport where most of the US flights and many others arrive.) That meant that the line for immigration was ridiculously long and it took us even longer to make it from plane to apartment than usual. Normally I would have been able to sleep in, and have a nice long day to recuperate, do laundry, etc. However, months ago I had signed up for a women's retreat at the urging of several other ladies who had attended retreats by this group in the past. This was long before the B.A. trip was planned and we had no way of knowing we'd be getting back from an exhausting trip the night before the retreat. So instead, I set an alarm, dumped clothes in the washer, cleaned up, ran errands and repacked in time to head to the retreat in the afternoon. Thankfully it was just across town so a short taxi drive was all that was required.

The retreat was hosted by Pure Joy International, and it was a really enjoyable and uplifting time. Although I was exhausted coming into it, I was very glad I made the effort to be there. They are an organization that ministers to missionaries by hosting retreats for women on the field. Missionaries can attend at no cost to themselves and enjoy several days of spiritual refreshment and fellowship with others. (Check out their website for more information about their ministry and how you can support it or be involved if you are so inclined.)

The team of women who came to run our retreat were wonderful. Many were from Arkansas and I had a great time talking with them about my family, the Razorbacks, and times spent in The Natural State. The speakers all had awesome testimonies of God's faithfulness in their lives that they shared, and it was neat to meet all the attendees from other organizations and groups that live and work in Peru. The team also spoiled us. We had welcome bags, gifts, American candy always on the table, and goodies at every turn. It happened to fall at the 6 month mark of leaving the states, so I was able to celebrate by enjoying some Reese's, Dove chocolate, Rolos, tootsie rolls, Cheese-its, etc. Such luxury!

One afternoon during free time I went with a few ladies to go to a salon. One had curly hair and knew a place that had always cut hers very well. It was a spur of the moment decision based on not having a hair cut in 6 months and having been too paranoid to go try any random place. I figured, it was better to go ahead and try it now and that way, at least if I didn't like it, there was plenty of time for it to grow out and do something else. I was having flashbacks to 2005 when I braved a French hair salon, saying "Pas trop court, s'il vous plait!" (Not too short, please!) because I had been warned about the French tendency for short cuts. That time it turned out okay, if different, but when I went back in 2007-2008 I just let my hair grow. So once again I found myself explaining in a foreign language that I didn't want it too short, just a couple long layers. I discovered quickly that my definition of a long layer and a Peruvian's definition of a long layer are completely different things. Oh well! You can't put it back. So I sat watching her chop away at my hair, leaving a thin bottom layer oddly long, and the top layer truncated so short that it will no longer go back in a clip. Oh well, as we say in France, c'est la vie! The cut led to lots of discussion among the American women who had been living in Peru for decades. Apparently, despite all that time and fluency in the language and culture, they still get bizarre haircuts almost every time they go to the salon. There's just a different concept about how to cut hair and what looks good. Not to mention that the Peruvians aren't as used to dealing with gringa hair. But all told, it wasn't a disaster cut. I haven't tried to straighten it yet, but curly it doesn't look hideous. And I did discover in Venezuela last week that it's fairly convenient as a wash-and-go cut.

(But I still miss you, Francie! Have you considered a mission trip to Peru?)

The next afternoon during free time we had excitement of a different sort. I was sitting with my laptop on the 2nd floor of the hotel attempting to work, when I started getting dizzy. I figured I was just overtired or under-caffinated until I realized that I wasn't lightheaded, the building was swaying. A few seconds later the earthquake was over. Some ladies went downstairs... I moved my chair out from under a large air conditioning unit and went back to work. Or at least tried to. The news networks in the states apparently had word of the quake before even some of the people in Peru (of the women in the retreat, only about half even felt it, depending on where they were at the time). That led to a lot of assuring people we were fine and in a very convoluted way ended up with me in a broom closet (to get away from construction noise) on the phone with a CNN producer who wanted my "on the ground" perspective about the temblor. They decided not to use my interview. Apparently "nothing happened" wasn't sensational enough for the headlines. She kept asking about injuries, death, and destruction in Lima; I told her I spilt my coffee. She didn't find that as traumatizing as I did.

To be fair it was a fairly strong quake, a 6.9 located down near Ica, the site of a very damaging earthquake in 2007. There were some damage and injuries there this time too, I believe. But after living in the RING OF FIRE ("Turn on the Ring of Fire!" Sorry, every time I say it I think of Bloat from Finding Nemo) for 6 months, the slight shakes like we experienced are becoming a normal occurance.

This area in red along the Pacific is the Ring of Fire we are talking about.

This is not the Ring of Fire we are talking about. (But it is a good movie.)

This one wasn't nearly as strong as the one we felt in Costa Rica. Hopefully, though, we won't have to deal with any stronger ones while we are here.

The rest of the retreat was lovely. Good food, fellowship, and teaching, although I feel like I still haven't had time to process it all because they crammed so much in. I'll share a couple videos and highlights in later posts (if I can remember).

Since it was a "retreat" I didn't bring Mark, my constant camera companion for work. I decided I would resist the temptation to make myself the unofficial photographer for the event, and just sit back and enjoy. Instead I brought the pocket camera, so enjoy the few images below.

Many thanks to the Pure Joy Int'l. folks who did so much work to bless us with this special time!

Room at the nice hotel where the retreat was held.

Personalized water bottles with drink mixes.

They put treats on the table every session. Much chocolate was consumed! Those Reese's and candy corn are like gold!

What was she most excited about? Crisco sticks! Hahah. Life in a foreign country makes you appreciate little things!

What was in my favorites baggie. Yay!

Ladies opening their "favorites" bags. Lots of excitement.

They gave us goodies at our seats all the time. My favorite? Seasoning packets!!!

Game day! Lovely ladies. SEC sticks together.

Check out more pictures of the retreat from Pure Joy's slide show here.
More from the retreat next post!

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