To the Ends of the Earth, weeks 1 and 2

As I said before, Amos and I are taking a missions class at a local church this semester.  It's being taught by Cecil, a former seminary professor.  Cecil and his wife Kathy were overseas in the Netherlands for a long time, but they are retired now and back in the States, though Cecil continues to teach at Master's and elsewhere.

In order to keep up this blog, to provide good information, and to remind myself what I've learned each week, I'm going to attempt to write a short summary of what we learn in our missions class, To the Ends of the Earth.  We'll see how it goes!


Week 1: Mission, Missions, Missio Dei
These terms are not synonymous, and different people define them in different ways.  It is important to define these terms accurately so that those who are involved in missionary service have a clear understanding of the priority of various aspects of ministry.  We don't want to overlook the Gospel even if we are doing good things like feeding the homeless or starting a non-profit.

Cecil's definitions:
Missio Dei: all that God does to build the kingdom of God
Mission/missions: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, social work, teaching, building churches, etc.

We must remember that the Gospel is the primary thing.  It is good for social work to lead to open doors for the Gospel and to work hand-in-hand with the Gospel, but the Gospel must be first and foremost in our minds and actions.


Week 2: The Mission of Israel
What was the purpose of Israel?

1. Israel is not told to go tell people about God but rather was to draw people to God by their distinct lifestyle and righteous behavior (light to the Gentiles; Zechariah 8:22-23).

2. Israel was blessed by God not just to be blessed (end) but also to be a blessing (means) to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3).  The ultimate Blessing was realized in the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, Who is a blessing to the nations in that He provides the means for wicked people to be reconciled to a holy God.

3. We can attract people to God by being a blessing to others!  We can't be Jesus, but we can bless others in many different ways that may in turn lead people to being open to the Ultimate Blessing, Jesus Christ.  Some ways to bless others include attending neighbor kids' sports events; talking to neighbors; not joining in gossip; helping new immigrants (Heather and Austin are good examples of this); encouraging parents who have young children; praying for others; giving flowers; inviting to special events; practicing hospitality; etc.

Recently

What I've read recently:
The Real Thief by William Steig
This article by Garrett Kell at Gospel Coalition

What I've listened to recently:
More About Paddington by Michael Bond
One Day More, Les Mis soundtrack
I'm Coming After You, Owl City

What I've eaten recently:
Homemade tapioca pudding
Animal-style fries

Whom I've talked to recently:
Danielle
A lady at CTEN, our friends' missions agency

Where I've been recently:
School
Ikea
Brand Bookshop

Where I've walked recently:
Back and forth across campus
Back and forth across the church parking lot

What I've bought recently:
Groceries
Pens and white-out

What I wish I'd bought recently:
New sandals/flip flops (not the season I guess)

Whom I've sent letters to recently:
Magenta
Cindy in Nebraska

Whom I've prayed for recently:
Family
Friends
Amos and I

What I've dreaded recently:
Talking to the very nice and friendly but very unpredictable math teacher; I never know what crazy thing she is going to do next!

Regular fall semester

Things are ramping up around here!  We left SoCal around 5:15 on Thursday, headed for Paul and Katharyn's little home near San Jose.  After inspecting their goats and eating farm fresh eggs, we got dressed up and headed out to my Uncle Dale's memorial service in the Bay Area; he and his twinkly blue eyes will be missed very much.  We then spent the weekend hanging out with lots of family at my grandparents' house.

We returned to SoCal on Sunday night, I took a nap on Monday after work, and yesterday we went to our first missions class being held a local church.  Today Amos and I went shopping and got dinner at Panera, and tomorrow we start our small group meetings!  Friday I'll go grocery shopping and Amos will stuff church bulletins, Saturday we'll do laundry, work on websites and send e-mails, and hopefully get CPR certified.  Somewhere in there we'll pick out insurance benefits, go to church, water our plants, do dishes, and hopefully sweep the house, clean the bathroom, and take books to the used bookstore.

Wow.  Welcome to week one of our regular fall semester schedule.  I'm off to make turkey sandwiches for our lunches tomorrow.

A random picture from the college campus in Bangalore last summer

In Class

Student: Try not to smell. I'm sorry mumblemumblemumble.
Me: What?
Student: Try not to smell.  Someone puked, and a little bit got on my backpack.  I'm really sorry.  Try not to smell.

Science teacher: You guys get to go home at 1:00.  I have to stay for two more hours.  It's not fun.  I have to go to meetings.
Student: That doesn't sound that bad.
Science teacher: The meetings are boring.  How would you feel if you had to sit somewhere for two hours and you didn't want to?
Other student: I do it all the time.  It's called SCHOOL.

After math class...
Teacher: Lexi, will you switch seats so John can see?
Lexi: Maybe.  Where does David sit?
-I show her David's seat, right next to her future seat-
Lexi: I don't know.  David always stares at me in class and keeps saying, "'sup?!"

Pinkie

I'm an instructional assistant for a little girl.  I call her Pinkie (in my head).  I sit in her classes, take notes, and smile at her when she turns around to make sure that I'm there.  She's a very nice girl, and she works hard and pays attention in class.

Pinkie is hard-of-hearing. She has a cochlear implant which enables her to hear most things, plus her teachers wear an FM microphone which transmits to a receiver that she wears around her neck.  I take notes on what the teachers are saying so that she will have a record later, in case she missed anything.  Today I took Pinkie into the library through teachers' lounge, so she could bypass the metal detectors (she's never been through one).

When I took the job, I was afraid that I would be bored.  Not yet!  So far I've learned about the tools of geography, glanced through a science book, reviewed PEMDAS and absolute value, heard about proper kitchen safety, helped kids log on to multiple internet accounts, and observed the three-clap in P.E.  It's my first time going to junior high (besides being a teacher), and it's okay so far.

On to the rest of the year!

Here I sit with...

bags of frames at my feet, frames holding pictures of our church's global partners and maps of their areas of ministry

a small, white, empty plate (save a few strawberry Pop-Tart crumbs)

my hair in a ponytail

my eyes on the screen

a crick in my shoulder

the drip of the faucet in my ears

Les Mis' "One Day More" playing through my speakers

the thought that I need to do the dishes

delight from getting Roald Dahl's Esio Trot from a used bookstore using our store credit

questions: Should I take our unwanted books back to Glendale tomorrow?  Where will I get new frames for church?  Will my hair and face cooperate for church staff pictures on Wednesday?

gratitude for a new assistant job at this school

Les Mis again (how about "Stars" this time)

the thought that I really do need to do the dishes...

Found on page 124

This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him.  When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you.  So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?  If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind.  But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate.  You are free to act by your own lights.  You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person.  He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.

:: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

$1.00

As the previous post states, I've been busy organizing, rearranging, and sometimes tossing our papers, possessions, and paraphernalia.  I looked around and saw paper bags, plastic bins, stacks of books, piled blankets, and weary pillows, and while it doesn't usually bother me, for some reason it rankled for a few days.  So I decided to do something about it.

In our bedroom, we have a  tall, plain, white Ikea cabinet that we use for a dresser.  It has four big shelves, which work great!  I never really liked regular dressers anyway; I usually tried to stuff too many t-shirts or socks or whatever into the drawers.  Not the greatest for easy access, plus I could never see everything all at once.  Anyway, the cabinet is great.  The white filing box, clear plastic bin, green sleeping bag, and roll of Christmas tree lights were not great.  So, I jumped on a local facebook page that permits members to buy and sell items at discount prices.  I put up a picture of an Ikea basket that I found on-line and asked if anyone had any to sell; I was willing to pay $4.00 each.

Ikea basket, normally $12.99

A week later, and I have five baskets, for a total cost of $14.00, five for the price of one!  I bought two from one lady for $4.00 each, and three from another for $2.00 each (there was some wear on these).  Now I have three of these on top of our cabinet.  One holds gift bags and boxes, one holds frames and pictures, and one is empty (for now).  The fourth basket is also empty, and it fits perfectly in this little shelf-thing that is also nearly empty.  The fifth is in the kitchen holding plastic bags.  Not too bad!

Another nice thing about this is that I sold a dish set for $15.00 and bought these baskets for $14.00, so I still made $1.00 by getting rid of something I didn't like and acquiring something I did!  Haha!  Now to see what else to sell... ;)

Organizing, tossing, meeting

I don't know what started it, but I've been on an organizing kick recently.  I don't think we have a lot of stuff, but when I start opening closets and looking in bags and boxes, I wonder, "what is all of this?!"  In the last few days I've thrown away old school notes, random pieces of fabric, unwanted gift bags, old shoe boxes saved for shipping, etc.  And it's still not done!  Next we have to go through Amos' school notes and old bills; hopefully we'll get rid of a lot of those. ;)

In our living room, I have one and half tubs full of things to be sold.  I'm not really confident that we can sell all of it (video monitors, Madame Alexander dolls, Zeusy's old tank, etc.), but I might as well try!  Two boxes of books and sci-fi magazines are waiting to be taken to the used bookstore.  Two boxes and a bag have been dropped off at Goodwill, and I'm sure we'll fill at least one more before we are done.

Besides the organizing, Amos and I have been going to a lot of meetings, with more to come!

Wednesday: Staff meeting, 30 Days of Prayer meeting
Thursday: Girls' dinner at our small group leader's house, phone meeting for Amos
Friday: Lunch meeting with old college friend Alicia, phone meeting for Amos (canceled)
Saturday: Website meeting for Amos
Sunday: Church, The Gospel in the Muslim World meeting
Monday: Interview for Jennica, tech team meeting for Amos
Tuesday: -nothing...yet-
Wednesday: Staff meeting, interview for Jennica

It's a little crazy over here, as you can tell by the disjointed sound of this post!

Fonts and food

Not too much going on over here. I've spent the last 2.75 hours converting fonts on my missions documents for church.  Very exciting!  Our "creative media" director, Mark, came up with a style sheet for our church to follow, so I've been faithfully replacing fonts and reformatting documents.  At first I wasn't too sure about this style guide ("is it really necessary?"), but I can see that it is a good idea!  My documents look a lot better, and all I did was change the font!  Now I just have to print all these sheets out, hang them on walls, e-mail them to the missions director and the ministry assistant, clip them in clipboards, cut some of them down to size, etc...oh yeah, and finish converting my other documents. Oh dear!

In other news, I think Amos and I are going to have pancakes for dinner tonight.  Here are some of the potential toppings (not all together, of course):
+Whipped cream
+Blueberry curd
+Syrup
+Nectarines
+Pumpkin butter
+Pecans

Happy Monday!

Nebraska in July

Well, this was my sixth trip to Nebraska and the longest yet!  Amos and I went for a week and had a great time hanging out with family and eating tapioca. :)

Some of the things we did...
+ Went to Cabela's
+ Tried Jimmy John's sandwiches
+ Went to Wednesday night prayer meeting and Sunday morning church
+ Hung out with Doug and Glee and slept in their basement (the pastor and his wife)
+ Visited with Cindy, an old friend of the family and a really nice lady
+ Watched at least five firework displays, large and small (they are crazy out there!)
+ Ate a lot of tapioca; I need to find some pearls at the store and make some!
+ Walked around Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (I saw a monkey with yellow fur!)
+ Had a siblings photo shoot
+ Went to a barbecue at Jesse and Carly's new house
+ Visited a barn sale (i.e., antique heaven; we didn't get anything)
+ Checked out Seward, NE, the Fourth of July capital of the state
+ Took pictures of everyone for a frame on Barb and Lester's wall
+ Went to the Crete Public Library and introduced Barb to The Mysterious Benedict Society
+ Looked around Lester's Shop, the gun shop that Amos' dad started
+ Listened to toooo many knock-knock jokes
+ Received a beautiful, hand-quilted, turquoise and brown quilt; a few of Amos' sisters pieced it (Julia and Sara, I think) and Amos' mom hand-quilted it, complete with little pictures!
+ Did some laundry
+ Made some homemade French onion dip
+ Met our nephew Oliver for the first time
+ Ate some venison
+ Did a lot of other things that I can't remember right now!

All in all, it was a very, very nice week.  I don't usually spend a lot of time with people, so it was overwhelming for a few days, but now I miss everyone. :P  Oh dear.

Here are some pictures!

Seward Courthouse

Cornerstone Bible Church

Lawn ornament at the barn sale

In the corn! 

An Amos in his original habitat...

A yellow-furred, blurry monkey!

Visiting with Cindy in her new house!

Our quilt, complete with photbombing Hobbes (birthday present for Amos
last year)

Around the web 5

I will get around to a post about our trip to Nebraska and our second anniversary, but for now, enjoy some links! :)

Why I Stopped Looking for the Perfect Church by Cole Jeffrey
I'm not sure that I ever actually talked to Cole, but we were a Master's for the same four years.  Some great thoughts on looking (or not looking) for the perfect church.

Teaching Children the Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
I LOVE this article.  It really hit home with me.

The Day My Husband and I Got Inked and
Every Day Radical: To the Last Virgins Standing by Emily Wierenga
A very emotional writing style, but I really liked what she had to say.

Homemade Whole-Grain Pancakes by King Arthur Flour
I'm going to make this recipe with the whey that I've drained from my plain yogurt...I sound crazy. :P

Some children's books that I read at the Crete Public Library in Nebraska:
Boot and Shoe, Miss Moore Thought Otherwise, The Houdini Box, Sheep in a Jeep, and Here Come the Girl Scouts! (Boot and Shoe was a fun story with really cute illustrations, though it did have two parts about the little dogs "relieving themselves" on a small tree...just a warning)

EDIT
And another one: DOMA and the Rock by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

The best pictures from the book. Click to enlarge.