I broke our laptop the other day. I'm not sure how, but I must have put something on top of it and cracked the screen. So today I am blogging from my phone. That either makes me crazy or amazing. If there are crazy words in here blame it on a combination of my current brain fog and auto complete on my phone.
Several people have been asking us what it's like coming back to America after being in Peru for 8 months. All we can say is it's different. I've started to understand why there are so many small business owners (gas stations, dry cleaners etc...) that are not from the US. Coming here I can see all the opportunities that I never would have recognized before. Also no matter what the economy is doing America is a blessed country. People with "no money" still own cars, live in houses made out of building materials instead of old shipping containers, and have running water. You can turn on most water faucets and have drinkable water. It may not be delicious but at least you know you won't get sick if you drink it. On top of that I see everyone upset about gas costing $3.47 here and I can't think if that's a bad price because in Peru gas is more like $5.
I can see why so many foreigners want to move to America. For them Americans have piles of money just waiting to be scooped up. One of our first days back Jose was in the foyer of our church and noticed several full trash bags, but they had tons of soda cans in them. He was joking that he wanted to go pull out all the cans and get them recycled because in Peru you would never see bags of recyclables mixed with other trash. I was horrified the first couple weeks there because every time I looked outside someone would be digging through our trash. We finally figured out that those people were looking for plastic bottles to recycle. Just wow. Have you ever been that desperate for cash? I know I haven't. EVER
There is a level of moral depravity that is immediately evident in Peru. Pornography is everywhere. Even billboards have nudity that would not be tolerated in America. As I mentioned in a previous post the law enforcement there is little help in most cases. Here they are protectors, there you never know if they are going to protect you or extort money from you. Honestly, I could go on and on but I'll leave it at this. I enjoy not having to see naked pictures everywhere I go and being able to trust the police (when I'm in the U.S.) :)
I also see a huge difference in the ministry world. For one thing the cost of labor is so low in Peru that you cannot find volunteers for ANYTHING. The people with money would rather hire someone else to do the work than do it themselves. The poor people work all the time to feed their family's so they just aren't available to volunteer. It's so weird to us. Jose has such a heart for volunteers and we both think it is an important part of serving God (J and I met volunteering at our church for what it's worth)
On the other hand. Peruvian christians are SO hungry. Everything we share with them is like gold. I've never seen such open hearts to the gospel and to instruction.
Now to be completely honest. I love Peru and I love America. They both have their own things that make me love them. So it's good to be home (so, so good) and it will be good to go back (but I'm not quite ready yet :p )
The story of two crazy people with one amazing God
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Fog heart
This morning as we stepped out of the house to begin the days adventure Logan said "wow, it sure it is foggy" as we were driving his mind was stuck on it and as we were getting close to our destination he said "hey, I just realized something. My heart used to be foggy like this and then Jesus swept all the fog away so that now I can see with my heart!"
He is only five years old but he put it in such a sweet way it stuck in my head and I started thinking about how we do allow things to cloud our vision. We start to see people through the mistakes they made. We see ourselves through our own intentions instead of our actions. We see God through the cloudiness of what we think he should do. A lot of us even Christians allow that fog to seep back in and keep us from seeing things that are right in front of us.
Sometimes I get frustrated with other people. I wish that I could make them love God. I wish I could make them stop doing drugs, drinking, cutting themselves or any number of other self destructive things. I wish I could change the world just by telling people how. It seems simple enough. Most people want the world to change but we all get hung up on our fog. We want to save all our friends but not so much our enemies. We like being wronged because it gives us something to be indignant about.
I was thinking about the verse below that is underlined. I couldn't remember where it was found but when I found the chapter I loved how it fit. One of the biggest keys to "removing the fog" is to live by this chapter
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13
and before you go thinking your good because you treat all your friends and family like ^that says to remember this
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
Matthew 5:33-34
He is only five years old but he put it in such a sweet way it stuck in my head and I started thinking about how we do allow things to cloud our vision. We start to see people through the mistakes they made. We see ourselves through our own intentions instead of our actions. We see God through the cloudiness of what we think he should do. A lot of us even Christians allow that fog to seep back in and keep us from seeing things that are right in front of us.
Sometimes I get frustrated with other people. I wish that I could make them love God. I wish I could make them stop doing drugs, drinking, cutting themselves or any number of other self destructive things. I wish I could change the world just by telling people how. It seems simple enough. Most people want the world to change but we all get hung up on our fog. We want to save all our friends but not so much our enemies. We like being wronged because it gives us something to be indignant about.
I was thinking about the verse below that is underlined. I couldn't remember where it was found but when I found the chapter I loved how it fit. One of the biggest keys to "removing the fog" is to live by this chapter
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13
and before you go thinking your good because you treat all your friends and family like ^that says to remember this
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
Matthew 5:33-34
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
God is really good
Before Christmas I made a paper chain for the boys to count down the days until Christmas. Logan thought it was the single greatest idea he had ever heard. He loved it. Since then he has been looking for a reason to make another one. Last week he found one. We will be returning to Houston on February 23rd.
Our church is amazing and when we told them we wanted to take a break and spend a couple months at home they told us they would pray we could work it out and they started doing fundraisers of all kinds to help us make that happen. They blessed us with tickets and we are looking forward to going home for about 7 weeks. We will be visiting some covenant churches and look forward to meeting some new people and telling them what we are doing.
Thank you for those of you who prayed/gave/fund raised or all of the above.
Houston, we are coming home!
Our church is amazing and when we told them we wanted to take a break and spend a couple months at home they told us they would pray we could work it out and they started doing fundraisers of all kinds to help us make that happen. They blessed us with tickets and we are looking forward to going home for about 7 weeks. We will be visiting some covenant churches and look forward to meeting some new people and telling them what we are doing.
Thank you for those of you who prayed/gave/fund raised or all of the above.
Houston, we are coming home!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Remember the time we accidentally broke the law?
A few weeks ago we were driving home from the airport late at night. There was this freestanding red light in the median separating us from the opposing traffic about 25 feet from another red light at an actual intersection so Jose coasted past the first light and stopped at the second light. We both thought the first one was a part of the second one. Jose feels that we should follow traffic laws just like any other law. Even here in Peru where the rules of the road are generally treated like suggestions. Stop signs in residential areas might as well be political posters for the amount of people that even seem to notice them. So this was for sure a mistake. Now you rarely ever see police pulling people over BUT right as we stopped a police cruiser pulled up on my side and started questioning Jose about not stopping. He decided we needed to be pulled over.
At that time we were right in the middle of time of faith stretching. (money was tight) We both had heard stories of police trying to extort money from random people so we prayed quickly as we were waiting for the officer to come talk to us. At first he asked Jose to get out of the car and asked for his documentation. Jose gave him his American passport and drivers licence. Peruvians think that Americans are all wealthy. The police officer started yelling at Jose that the penalty for running a red light is s./850 which is about $300 the next time he said the amount it went up to s./870 ($310...Jose later spoke with a police officer who told him there is no traffic violation that costs that much and the actual fine for running a red light is about $60) the policia wanted us to drive to the bank and take out the money to pay them right then. They said they would not give Jose's drivers license back without the money. Jose told him "listen we are missionaries. we live by faith. we don't have that much money anywhere. if people don't give we don't have money. that is how it works for us." The police officer went back to his car to talk to the other officer. When he came back he told Jose "look the lights on our car aren't working can you help us?" Jose responded "what do you want me to do? Do you want me to pray for your car? Or follow you to the police station so I can tell your supervisor that you need your car fixed?" the officer responded "no I want some money" Jose said "oh, ok I have 10 soles on me. ($4) you can have that" the police officer seemed disappointed but said ok. Then Jose asked if he could pray for him. The officer agreed and Jose prayed things like "Lord I thank you that you make this man an honest man, a man of courage, integrity, and good character." at the end of the prayer the officer was acting like an old friend. He was saying things like "wow, are those your kids? and is that your lovely wife?" It was funny and kind of a relief. So many bad things could have happened that night. (and I was thinking of them while I was sitting in the car trying not to have a panic attack.) But they didn't because God is taking care of us.
The truth is we all have crazy/freaky/"God, what are we going to do?" moments. Some more than others. We may not always have the cool headed instincts that my amazing husband has. But the important thing is no matter what we go through God is not surprised by what we are going through. And as hard as it may be to see He has a plan through it all. One of my all time favorite verses is 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast your cares on the Lord for he cares for you" but I googled it because I'm horrible at remembering where verses are found and the first verse that came up was Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares (or burden) on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never suffer the righteous to be moved." I love that these verses say to cast your cares on the Lord. Cast means throw. I don't know about you but for me it's really hard to throw something and keep it close to me at the same time. (and I have a terrible throwing arm) So if I throw my cares or my burdens on the Lord, they are no longer mine unless I go and take them back from him. Now I'm not always the smartest person and sometimes I do try to take them back but this is me reminding myself all those burdens and cares belong to God. Anyone care to join me? Lets start a revolution of throwing our burdens to the Lord and letting him sustain us.
At that time we were right in the middle of time of faith stretching. (money was tight) We both had heard stories of police trying to extort money from random people so we prayed quickly as we were waiting for the officer to come talk to us. At first he asked Jose to get out of the car and asked for his documentation. Jose gave him his American passport and drivers licence. Peruvians think that Americans are all wealthy. The police officer started yelling at Jose that the penalty for running a red light is s./850 which is about $300 the next time he said the amount it went up to s./870 ($310...Jose later spoke with a police officer who told him there is no traffic violation that costs that much and the actual fine for running a red light is about $60) the policia wanted us to drive to the bank and take out the money to pay them right then. They said they would not give Jose's drivers license back without the money. Jose told him "listen we are missionaries. we live by faith. we don't have that much money anywhere. if people don't give we don't have money. that is how it works for us." The police officer went back to his car to talk to the other officer. When he came back he told Jose "look the lights on our car aren't working can you help us?" Jose responded "what do you want me to do? Do you want me to pray for your car? Or follow you to the police station so I can tell your supervisor that you need your car fixed?" the officer responded "no I want some money" Jose said "oh, ok I have 10 soles on me. ($4) you can have that" the police officer seemed disappointed but said ok. Then Jose asked if he could pray for him. The officer agreed and Jose prayed things like "Lord I thank you that you make this man an honest man, a man of courage, integrity, and good character." at the end of the prayer the officer was acting like an old friend. He was saying things like "wow, are those your kids? and is that your lovely wife?" It was funny and kind of a relief. So many bad things could have happened that night. (and I was thinking of them while I was sitting in the car trying not to have a panic attack.) But they didn't because God is taking care of us.
The truth is we all have crazy/freaky/"God, what are we going to do?" moments. Some more than others. We may not always have the cool headed instincts that my amazing husband has. But the important thing is no matter what we go through God is not surprised by what we are going through. And as hard as it may be to see He has a plan through it all. One of my all time favorite verses is 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast your cares on the Lord for he cares for you" but I googled it because I'm horrible at remembering where verses are found and the first verse that came up was Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares (or burden) on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never suffer the righteous to be moved." I love that these verses say to cast your cares on the Lord. Cast means throw. I don't know about you but for me it's really hard to throw something and keep it close to me at the same time. (and I have a terrible throwing arm) So if I throw my cares or my burdens on the Lord, they are no longer mine unless I go and take them back from him. Now I'm not always the smartest person and sometimes I do try to take them back but this is me reminding myself all those burdens and cares belong to God. Anyone care to join me? Lets start a revolution of throwing our burdens to the Lord and letting him sustain us.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Over commercialized?
I don't know that any men read this blog but this has been on my heart and I wanted to say something for the women I love. If you are a man and you read this understand that doing what I'm suggesting will only encourage your wife. (and probably get you some) so seriously, what do you have to lose?
A few women I know were talking about Valentines day. One of them mentioned that her husband hates valentines day and the best gift she could give him would be to cancel the day (I am totally paraphrasing here) Some of the other women agreed and still others starting talking about how horrible that attitude is. To the best of my knowledge every woman involved wanted to celebrate the holiday. This whole conversation got me thinking. I've heard a lot of men complain about the "pressure" and "commercialization of V-day" but I don't think those guys really think about what their complaints say to the woman in their lives.
The average married woman with children gets officially celebrated about 4 times a year. V-day, mothers day, birthday and anniversary. Yes, there are other holidays that are celebrations and some of those include gifts but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about days where people tell this woman how happy they are that she is around. (in more than one way) Again, I'm talking about the average woman so I am generalizing; but most women spend their whole life taking care of other people, making other people feel important, giving up things she wants/needs for the greater good of her family.
When a man says he hates valentines day no matter how rational a woman tries to be there is a message that comes across to us that goes a little like this. "I don't find you important enough to plan ahead a little. Set aside some money for a gift and a date, make a reservation at a restaurant and take you out." I have heard women say their husbands are just so stressed or money is just so tight or restaurants are just so busy and he hates all that. And as women we all know that if you have no money. none. then you can write a really heart felt letter. If you are bad with words then a woman who loves you will love reading something from you because we know it took a huge effort. If you don't like going to restaurants that are busy, order in and set up something nice at the house.
Here are a few ideas for those of you that are out of practice
~ Take her to dinner and dancing or turn your living room/bedroom into a bistro. Make your bed the table and clean up so that you can dance after dinner and you never even have to leave your room
~ Do research! Find out if there is a restaurant she has always wanted to try or a type of cuisine she loves and you never eat. Find a great place and MAKE RESERVATIONS!
~ Recreate your first date.
~ Buy her flowers. Ask her way ahead of time (like today) what kind of flowers she likes. Not every girl likes roses. (WARNING: if you aren't going to buy flowers don't ask this question right now. It will only set her up for disappointment)
~ If she likes old movies see if there is a revival theater in your area like landmark theatre in river oaks (Houston) they may or may not be showing something old and romantic. If not rent one of those black and white classics she loves and watch it with her. Worst case scenario your bored and she's happy...who knows she might watch sports with you sometime because of this
~ Most theaters show some kind of rom com or girl friendly movie. Let her pick
Girls if you have any other ideas leave them in the comments section! Help the men out
And another thing ladies. If Valentines day is not the perfect fairy tale you envisioned BUT you know your man tried say thank you. Also do your part. Don't make valentines day be all his job. If you want to make something amazing at home let him know you got that part and the rest is up to him. Make valentines day a mutual thing.
I will leave with this. There is a song that is a little old and might seem dated but the overall message is a good reminder for you boys. Read this and think of your wife
A few women I know were talking about Valentines day. One of them mentioned that her husband hates valentines day and the best gift she could give him would be to cancel the day (I am totally paraphrasing here) Some of the other women agreed and still others starting talking about how horrible that attitude is. To the best of my knowledge every woman involved wanted to celebrate the holiday. This whole conversation got me thinking. I've heard a lot of men complain about the "pressure" and "commercialization of V-day" but I don't think those guys really think about what their complaints say to the woman in their lives.
The average married woman with children gets officially celebrated about 4 times a year. V-day, mothers day, birthday and anniversary. Yes, there are other holidays that are celebrations and some of those include gifts but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about days where people tell this woman how happy they are that she is around. (in more than one way) Again, I'm talking about the average woman so I am generalizing; but most women spend their whole life taking care of other people, making other people feel important, giving up things she wants/needs for the greater good of her family.
When a man says he hates valentines day no matter how rational a woman tries to be there is a message that comes across to us that goes a little like this. "I don't find you important enough to plan ahead a little. Set aside some money for a gift and a date, make a reservation at a restaurant and take you out." I have heard women say their husbands are just so stressed or money is just so tight or restaurants are just so busy and he hates all that. And as women we all know that if you have no money. none. then you can write a really heart felt letter. If you are bad with words then a woman who loves you will love reading something from you because we know it took a huge effort. If you don't like going to restaurants that are busy, order in and set up something nice at the house.
Here are a few ideas for those of you that are out of practice
~ Take her to dinner and dancing or turn your living room/bedroom into a bistro. Make your bed the table and clean up so that you can dance after dinner and you never even have to leave your room
~ Do research! Find out if there is a restaurant she has always wanted to try or a type of cuisine she loves and you never eat. Find a great place and MAKE RESERVATIONS!
~ Recreate your first date.
~ Buy her flowers. Ask her way ahead of time (like today) what kind of flowers she likes. Not every girl likes roses. (WARNING: if you aren't going to buy flowers don't ask this question right now. It will only set her up for disappointment)
~ If she likes old movies see if there is a revival theater in your area like landmark theatre in river oaks (Houston) they may or may not be showing something old and romantic. If not rent one of those black and white classics she loves and watch it with her. Worst case scenario your bored and she's happy...who knows she might watch sports with you sometime because of this
~ Most theaters show some kind of rom com or girl friendly movie. Let her pick
Girls if you have any other ideas leave them in the comments section! Help the men out
And another thing ladies. If Valentines day is not the perfect fairy tale you envisioned BUT you know your man tried say thank you. Also do your part. Don't make valentines day be all his job. If you want to make something amazing at home let him know you got that part and the rest is up to him. Make valentines day a mutual thing.
I will leave with this. There is a song that is a little old and might seem dated but the overall message is a good reminder for you boys. Read this and think of your wife
She may be weary
Women do get weary
Wearing the same old dress
And when she's weary
Try a little tenderness
She may be waiting
Just anticipating
Things she may never possess
And while she's without them
Try a little tenderness
It's not just sentimental
She has her grief
And her cares
But a word
Soft and gentle
Makes it easier to bear
So much easier to bear
You won't regret it
Women don't forget it
Love is her whole
her whole happiness
And it's all so easy
Just to try a little tenderness
You've gotta try
You've gotta hold 'er
You've got ta squeeze her
You have to try
You've got ta try
And always please her
You won't regret it
You won't regret it
Oh
Try a little tender-ness
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