Acclimating

It is amazing how you can acclimate to different environments. I met Charles in Texas while we were attending seminary in Ft. Worth. It was the coldest winter they had experienced in years. Snow, ice, freezing rain. I bought my first ever winter coat (hey, I grew up in Phoenix). It was wool and cute and I wore it all the time. It was cold. Charles and I started dating and he introduced me to hot tea and the fixing thereof. Kettle boiled only, no microwaved water, ready the mug with a Constant Comment tea bag, pour in the water and steep for at least 3 minutes, stir, squeeze bag and save it for the next cup (we were poor seminary students). Add 2 scant spoons of sugar and a swig of milk. Enjoy with cold fingers wrapped around the mug and your boyfriend right beside you. Nice.

From there we moved to a tiny town in Oklahoma....another 2 years of cold snappish winter for that area. Snow, smell of wood smoke in the air. Then to New Jersey for 10 years, where it is cold all winter long. Lots of snowing and freezing rains and lots of hot tea, winter coats and even boots. The fall there was amazingly quaint and fun. Pumpkin picking hayrides at local farms, mums (NJ is prime mum country!), Ivan's Spiced Wafers, canning produce and absolutely electrified fall colored leaves. It was beautiful in fall and very charming with all the farm stands and atmosphere.

We finally moved back to Arizona, but not to Phoenix. We lived in a small mountain town with a miniature ski area and again, lots of snow, short summers, quick falls and damp springs with all the snow melting.

In other words....to put it shortly....and sum things up....we have always lived (as long as we've been a couple) in cold climates. Brrr, hot tea, sit by the fire, wood smoke in the air.

Then five years ago, we moved to Phoenix, where the high temperature is not under 80 degrees until November. We keep the air conditioner on until then too. It's....different. Last year I had a hard time decorating for Christmas or getting into a holiday mood because it was still warm in late November.

Today is September 20 and the highs have dipped into the 90's for a week now. The mornings are a crisp 78. I have already baked ginger snaps and pumpkin bars. I have been cooking things like potatoes and I am looking up bread recipes. Today it slipped back up to 102 but I still stopped by the grocery store to pick up some more pumpkin and baking supplies.

The manager of that store must be new in town! I asked a worker where the canned pumpkin was hiding. She explained to me in detail how it was not the season for it and they will be carrying it closer to fall. Hello....it's almost October.

I think I'm re-climatized now....back to thinking like a Phoenician I guess.

Point me...in the direction of Albuquerque...

Left Phoenix about 1:15pm.

Places along the road we've traveled so many times zip by as we sit in silence for a while. The red rock ridge of Sedona looked like it was freshly painted and the San Francisco Peaks rose up like Kilimanjaro behind it. Lovely day for driving.

The lowering sun in the west made the rock formations along the border at Window Rock and Gallup look really dramatic as we talk of current events. The world events that are shaking up the world are coinciding with shaking personal lives of so many people we know! What is the deal? We listened on Klove radio to people discussing an appropriate (or honest?) reaction to Osama Bin Laden's death. Yeah, it feels conflicting, weirdly relieving as well as sad beyond all reason.

Then later we listened to NPR reporting on lives affected by the tornadoes in Alabama. Nearly 400 people have been found dead and about that many are still missing and presumed dead. A woman was being interviewed by an NPR reporter. The reporter (deadpan voice, as is NPR's style) said the woman, "like many of the people here in the Bible Belt of the South" credited God as saving her life through the storm. As the woman looked through the ruble of what used to be her apartment for any kind of proof of residency so that she could apply for aid, the noticeable smell of death was in the air, as many people from her apartments have not been recovered yet and are there beneath the ruble still. (I cannot imagine this kind of horror) Then she found a piece of paper, a letter from her grandchild's teacher and there was her name and address on the envelope. "Thank you, Lord!" she said. She said it like the Lord was standing there with them. And He is, thankfully. The NPR reporter just closed with that woman's jubilant exclamation of thanks and "this is yada yada, reporting from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for NPR".

In just the same way, as we see some of our friends and church members going through really tough times, there is always some ray of hope a message or gift from God that comes up in their lives, like a gleaming white envelope among that woman's collapsed home, and they give thanks in the middle of their storm too. Sometimes you just have to grab hold of the Hope among the ruble, and the stench of wrecked lives, and give credit to the One who is the revealer of Hope.

We have arrived in Albuquerque now (someone is already rumbling and poofing beside me) and tomorrow we'll head to Oklahoma City to visit with family before driving down to Plainview to fetch our college girl, who we've missed dearly, and bring her back home with us. In a month Hannah will move home too and we will all live together under the same roof again for the first time in almost 6 years.....for the summer at least. And there will be great rejoicing under that roof by some proud parents, who I know...of. ;)

Catching up

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month! Sorry mom...;)

We got our big move done and I feel pretty settled into the home we will rent indefinitely. So far the girls all feel like it feels homier than our last house. I have to agree. It's more of a have a  garden, bake a loaf of bread, open the windows kind of home.

The main problem with living in an older (built in the early 50's I think) home is the maintenance. You never know when an emergency home repair will be needed. Saturday night I had the kitchen all cleaned and ready for company that was coming the next afternoon. I just had to get the carrots peeled and onions cut and ready to accompany the roast in the crockpot the next morning. I washed the peelings down the disposal and turned it on. Wow, that was a mistake.

Water and bits of carrots sprayed violently all over the cupboard under the sink. The pipe had come loose. So I mopped it up and put buckets under all leaks. Sunday morning our friend Larry said he would come over and fix it. Charles is gone on a mission trip, of course. I have used that disposal several times since living there and it waits until the husband is gone to explode.  Murphy's Law or something I guess.

It is all repaired and the pipes are tight and non leaking now. I already had 2 buckets under there for various drips that we thought we could wait on....sometimes we are not so wise.

I put in some flowers under the front window. Hopefully the neighborhood cats who have been using that area as a sand box will move on now if I keep it muddy enough. (any suggestions?)

Maggie and Emma even helped me put in 2 tomato plants and 5 different herbs in the backyard. I love a garden and didn't have space for it in the last house. For those of you in cold climates, yes, it's garden time here....it's been in the 80's and even supposed to be up into the 90's this week before cooling off a little again. I even had to dig out my flip flops from my stored box of shoes.

Less than a week after we moved, we saw Charles off on a trip to Mozambique, Africa. He and David Johnson, seminary director for Phoenix extension of Golden Gate Seminary, are teaching pastor training classes there for the indigenous pastors the missionary, John Dina, has raised up. They are a great bunch of God appointed men who are serving the various villages and churches in towns there around Quelimane, Mozambique.

If you pray for them, pray that they will sleep at night. It's warm and muggy right now and it's hard to sleep, for strength and for God given understanding of Scripture foundations and pastoral care issues that the men are teaching. Thank you!

And if you want to read about our trip to Mozambique with David and his wife Diana last August it is here.

The van

I think I promised a story here. My apologies for being tardy about it.

This is a story about a van.


The first pastorate that Charles had was doing church planting in New Jersey. One of the churches in that area was Bridgeview Baptist Church, which sat in the middle of an old neighborhood in a tiny borough called Delair in the township of Pennsauken. This church had a parsonage right beside it and since their bi-vocational pastor owned his own home, they wanted the new church planters to live there for as long as they needed it. We did....for ten wonderful years. When our church planting time was over, the church next door to us was just losing their pastor because of a job transfer in his company, so they called  Charles to be pastor at Bridgeview.  I could go on and on about life in New Jersey, it was a place that was different in all ways from the places we had grown up and lived. Some day (not tomorrow) I'll do that little thing.

When I saw this picture below on my friend Sara's blog, I jumped up and down in my heart. (I was sitting or I may have jumped in my legs too) I showed it to all of my kids and to Charles. I posted it on Facebook wondering which of my friends would remember it.  The picture was not of our van. It was taken by Sara just a few days before she posted it....in Oregon. I guess someone could have bought the van in NJ and brought it back to life and driven it to Oregon, but that is doubtful.

The other thing that struck me like a lightning bolt was that it looked like the front of our dear home in New Jersey! We had a sidewalk like the one in the picture, we had huge maple trees in the yard, and we had no driveway, so our van was always parked in front, just like in this picture. Wow, it brought back memories.

Our first child, Hannah, was only 2 months old when we moved to that house. And I was pregnant with our last child, Maggie, when we left. We lived there 10 years and raised our first three daughters there through their preschool years and beyond.

We found the van at a used car lot one day. It was roomie. You could stand up, hunched over, and walk around in it, handy with preschoolers, car seats and camping trips. It had a huge wagon area behind the back seat where we could stow everything we needed for camping trips.  And it was cool.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's and had always wanted to own a VW van.  I used to day dream about taking one cross country and seeing places and doing things. I just never pictured it with 3 little kids and a dog, which in reality is a lot different than my vision, but it was still fun. We did this several times in that van. Once to Colorado to meet up with family for a camping trip and once to Tennessee to meet up with family for another vacation. That trip was murder to come home from. There was a heat wave on the east coast and our air conditioning did not work much of the time in that van. So I bought a spray bottle and would spray our little kids til they dripped, and the dog too, and we drove with the windows down, like we were basting little roasts in a convection oven. We also took that van to Vermont many times on camping trips. We had a campground there that we loved, at Quechee Gorge. That was where we made a lot of memories and built strong bonds with our children.

We also drove that van across Pennsylvania each summer to a children's camp by Erie, PA. Every year Charles would be invited to do the music and teach classes at this camp for northwest Pennsylvania and the whole family would come along.  We had our own little cabin to stay in and it was a great experience. I was the camp nurse once but I didn't do it again because I can't stand cleaning up wounds and blood.

It was a traveling sort of van. It evoked a spirit of adventure and exploration. We loved living in New Jersey partly because it was full of things to see. We took the van to Cape May, NJ many times, to Lancaster County, PA, to Baltimore, to Virginia, Chesapeake Bay, the shore (as they say in NJ), even New York City once to see another church planter friend in Queens.

Something that is kind of a secret we found out is that when you drive a VW van, you are automatically in a club. I started noticing right off the bat when we got the van, that people who drove other VW vans wave at you....and give you the peace sign with their fingers or nod their heads at you as you pass by. I told a teenaged friend about this and she thought I was exaggerating until she rode with me in it a few times. Sometimes when we traveled, another VW in the opposite traffic lanes would shout out the window and honk their horns at us. I loved it!  Super cool. What days those were.

The secret club is also the reason I killed our van one day. I was on the way home from picking up Bethany at kindergarten, when someone pointed at me while passing and yelling something out the window. Strange, they were not in a VW at all....maybe they usually drive one and had forgotten they were not in their club van for identification. Then someone behind me began honking.....NOT a VW van either. Wondering if they were impatient, I pulled over to let them pass. I am just slightly not intuitive sometimes.  Then a police car pulled up beside me and asked me if I knew there was smoke coming out of my van.

Yikes.

I drove into a parking lot and parked. There was gray smoke pouring out of the back of the van. Hours later Charles had to have it towed to a shop where it was discovered that I had been driving without oil and the head gasket (I still don't know what that is) had cracked (which is a very bad thing for any gasket).

Sad day.

I mourned for my van, but there was no fixing it. The one part cost as much as the van had cost in the first place. ($2500) So we had to say goodbye to our lovely van. We were booted from the club, which was also a hard blow. We bought a used Honda Civic, 2 door....no offense but there was no love for that car at ALL. A 2 door, low to the ground car, as pretty as it was, was really hard on a family of five with one child still in a car seat.

So seeing that picture, Sara, was like seeing a very old friend, like a box of memories in front of those cool fall maple trees....

....like a gift from God, a sweet connection to those wonderful days.

Thanks Sara for posting that picture!

Flying Home

I got a new hard drive, so I am back online. There are a few more posts rattling around in my head about our trip and I wrote a couple on the way home in my spiral blog.

August 6, 2010:

We are waiting to take off in a jet out of Mozambique. As we sit here in the air conditioned plane, there is a stunning sunset out the western window. The sun looks huge and deep red....sinking down through a line of clouds, we watch it drop through and emerge from the bottom.  It's like the punctuation mark on the end of an epic, unforgettable  trip.

We just said our goodbyes to Charlie and Angie Lechner and their family. They are a missionary family in Maputo and we spent the night and a very fun day with them, breakfast at a cute coffee place, shopping at the town crafters' market, and lunch by the bay. I highly recommend making a layover in Maputo to stay at the Lechner B&B! Very fine people serving there....and now they are our friends.

The stewardess is telling us instructions over the speaker and it sounds like she is whispering a love poem to us. Charles was interpreting what she was saying, "Dear passengers....You are the most beautiful passengers we have ever seen. We will love serving you this evening, you lovely people." It makes us laugh until tears come. (When we landed and the stewardess started in with her sultry voice, Charles leaned over and interpreted again, "Dear John....leave this plane at once for you dirty rotten passengers.") Portuguese is a beautiful sounding language. It sounds like Spanish, French and Italian all mixed together. I will miss saying our most used Portuguese phrase, "Obrigada" which means "Thank you", because it sounds so nice if you can roll your r's and I can, so it's lovely to say. ;) Bon Dia means "good day" so we would say that as a greeting as we entered a village.  One morning John Dina offered Diana a cup of coffee and she sleepily said, "Bon dia" instead of Obrigada, so now we use them both interchangeably to razz her a bit. Although it really is a good day when it begins with someone offering you a cup of coffee.

We are in the air now, beginning our 31 hour trip home. Before we sleep again, we have an hour flight to Johannesburg, a five hour layover there, an 11 hour flight to London, another 5 hour layover, then a 9.5 hour flight home to Phoenix, where we hope to find our families waiting to hug our necks and take us home to our beds!

We're glad to be headed home, but it is a hard goodbye. We have deeply meaningful memories and insights from God now in Mozambique. Our hearts are full even through the lingering grief.  Just as the Bible passage that Michael gave to David in the Johannesburg airport on our way here, I think that God is causing a great joy to rise up in David and Diana's spirits as they come out of this journey.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
   you have loosed my sackcloth
   and clothed me with gladness...Psalm 30:11 

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

~Matt Redmon

A powwow and a barbecue

Today, Thursday, August 5th, we stayed around the Dina's home, but we were still busy. After a quick breakfast, some local pastors started arriving for a pastor's powwow. They met in the living room while Wanne, Diana, Earnesto and I worked in the kitchen and Earnesto outside, making vegetable/not beef soup for the pastors.

We got everything chopped and into the pot to stew, then got in the truck to buy fresh bread. On the way we stopped by the apartment where Jessica R and Sally will be living while they are in Quelimane for 2 years working with students. The landlord lives on one side of the duplex and the empty apartment is on the other. Since her husband had the keys with him and wasn't home, the landlady let us look at her home. It has the same floor plan on both sides. They are a family from India and really friendly. (Cheryl they are in good hands! She is a mom of 4 daughters and they are going to keep a close eye on the girls....maybe too close, but it won't hurt them...lol)  It is a beautiful apartment and in the small backyard, they will have their own coconut and papaya trees! Pretty cool, Jessica!!!! The duplex is right across the street from the bakery where we bought bread and the local 'Walmart' which is called Pep....more like a Family Dollar Store, but it was fun calling it Walmart...I have to do word associations to remember sometimes.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig and we fed the hungry men. Then we visited, rested and used the computer while the pastors talked again....we were so glad we didn't have to be in there! Nothing but pastor talk, blah blah blah, all day! (we can say that since we are their wives) The report was that it was a good meeting though. A family who are good friends of the Dina's came by this afternoon also to talk to the Johnsons, as have several Mozambican families this week. Everyone is so comforting and speak with such love for their son. It is a huge thing to them that  we all came this far to visit.

We made a trip to do more errands with Wanne. I think trying to hold firm while going over the multitudes of potholes here really works the abs baby! Too bad we are eating so much to counteract it.  Wanne is a great cook and is always whipping something else out to feed us....such a good hostess. These errands were paying a bill at the car insurance place, then picking up some supplies at a place that reminded me of Walgreens....shampoo, cleaning supplies and a few food items. It smelled really good because of the detergents.  We have been given an abundance of bananas, so I was looking for something to make banana pudding and Diana found custard mix and a thin wafer cookie there so we got it. An adventure in translating measurements and we have a huge pudding to go with our barbecue for tonight. Everyone is outside cooking and talking so I will join them soon. I have to go and see what kinds of exotic things Wanne and John are cooking out there. Some of it will include coconut chicken, coconut shrimp, some kind of red meat that I think was reed buck, potato salad that Wanne made this afternoon and of course the puddin.

We are waiting for  a missionary family who is driving through Mozambique on their way to move to South Africa. The Dina's have known them for years, so it will be a nice reunion of them tonight.

Gaining understanding and perspective

Wednesday morning we began the day with Wanne's scrumptious coffee cake! It was my birthday and she made a special breakfast....she didn't even know coffee cake is one of my favorites. We headed out to a village just past the quelimane airport. The women's or youth's mission team went here to work when they were here.  The houses are more spread out and there is tall grass, mango trees and gardens everywhere, then a hut, then more vegetation, another hut and so on....like a country village.

The church is large and made of mud, but another church building is almost built next to it. It is even more large and made of cement blocks. They make the blocks 2 at a time in molds kept by the stack of finished blocks in the current church.  Cash is scarce this year, as the rice harvest was so bad, so the tithes of cash were next to none and the building and making of blocks has come to a halt until more money is available.

The youth worship team here was amazing. I took a short video, but it will only give you a taste of what it was like. Drums, yambi's (long flat shakers), dancing and really loud, beautiful singing....it was contagious and inspiring. There was a woman with short curly hair who lead the singing, the band and also kept shooing and shushing the little children who all sat in one place together on a mat. We called her Jackie Fry....music and children's leader. ;)  The youth here all knew Jeremiah, they worked with him in other areas and played competitively with him in soccer. One of the young men got up to read the Johnsons a 2 page letter about Jeremiah's legacy and their experiences with him. It was beautiful and full of love, but half way through he had to put it down and dash from the church. He was so overcome with emotion that he cried the rest of the time we were there. Sobrinho and John both tried to console him, but he was very broken up.

I think Diana and I came to a conclusion on why Jeremiah fit in so well here. Even at our church in Phoenix, Jeremiah was loved from preschoolers to senior adults. I told Diana that I remember when I would talk to Jeremiah, it was like he was fully engaged in the conversation, not just nodding and enduring a conversation with an adult. He always seemed genuinely interested in whoever he was talking to.....what a gift to give to people. We talked about how awkward it is to be here going to villages each day, not being able to communicate with the people and just smiling and nodding a lot, then you are exhausted from it. Jeremiah didn't do that. He engaged people, played with them, didn't let language or culture separate him from them. I think that was what the secret was, because we've heard the people from the villages, time after time,  give testimony on how he didn't stand alone, he was one of them. And I really think this was why they felt that. God equipped him just like they needed him to be. We are having amazing revelations  here.....things are coming together and understanding is taking place. Another amazing gift. I'm so glad we came.

We took the Dinas out to dinner in the evening. Eating out in Quelimane is a little adventurous and a little  scary. We went to the Quelimane Hotel and all was good, it was a very nice meal. I had something called escallope, which I was glad to find out was not an exotic animal, but something like chicken fried steak, salad and potatoes and rice. The restaurant is on the 7th floor and it has an outdoor balcony, so we stood out there for a while, looking at the city and the river front/bay area. Then we came home exhausted again to a birthday cake made by one of Wanne's missionary friends named Debbie, who is from Australia. So we had African chocolate birthday cake baked by an Aussie. Fun! (and yummy)

Orlando's church

Orlando's church is not as far away as the other villages, but the dirt roads here are washed out from unseasonal rains with deep ruts and 'pot holes' that are more like small ponds filled with muddy water.  Driving anywhere  is slow going and I want to say bumpy, but there's got to be a more descriptive word....like jolting, body slamming or as if you were driving in a trampoline. Your body moves side to side and then back and forth. You discover body parts you never knew could jostle....or at least never felt before, like your liver and spleen. I know just where they are now and I also know it's best to not disturb them.  It's not just a drive, it's a workout.

So....today I am home while the others are out to another village. My back felt stiff when I went to bed and when it loosened up around 3 am, it did not go well. This morning I am sitting in the Dinas very pleasant living room with high ceiling, open windows and chiming clock. I have a heat producing gel pack between the couch and my back and 4 ibuprofen floating around in my bloodstream being nice to me.

Earnesto, the house helper, has been busily washing up breakfast dishes, sweeping floors and is now running errands. He speaks only Portuguese and I only English but it only took us 3 or 4 minutes to communicate and understand that he was going out to run an errand. He is so nice, always smiling and busy and he stays later than he is supposed to most of the time.  It looked like Wanne was fussing at him the other day and she explained that she was shooing him home. But I think he wants to be around the Johnsons too since he knew Jeremiah so well. They spent 3 long weeks here by themselves while the Dinas were gone last Spring and he loved Jeremiah. We learned this morning that Earnesto also helped with a new mission started recently here on the outskirts of Quelimane. He is not the pastor, but is a disciple and believer. The Dinas have a high respect for him.

I sure wish I knew some Portuguese to say some things to him. That is one of the most frustrating parts of being here for a short time, you cannot personally communicate with people and you want to. In every village, forging along down roads, in the shops in town, you can see so clearly that these people on the other side of the world are exactly the same as people in your own culture. Humanity is a common condition, with common habits, personalities and love of friends and family.

Yes, and now on with the story. We arrived in Orlando's village, called Machimano in the Madal region, to singing. Their songs have verses and choruses and they have their own musical score, although it is not written down as far as I know. Most of the songs are in Shwabo, which is not usually written. Where I was sitting was right in front of the drum section. Two young men were on big normal looking drums that fit between your knees and are beaten with open hands. The other man was on a drum that was small and stood up on a stick. He beat that with two thick drumsticks. And though the drum he played was small....about 10 inches across....it was the loudest one. His arms went high into the air and came down with precision on that thing, beating a really enthusiastic rhythm for the singing. And all the time he played his little son, maybe a year old, sat at his side, never even blinking at the loudness or the wild arm swinging. He was almost an exact miniature of the drummer. Cute! At one point in the second song though, the people all just looked at him and the other drummer took the drumsticks and showed him how the song went. He tried again and another young man came up from the audience and took the drum and moved into that position to continue. He didn't look ashamed or embarrassed, he just scooted down the bench and clapped along. Later on after a few more songs, he silently went back and shoved the other guy out and continued playing.

As before the church members stood up and talked to the Johnsons about their son who they had come to know and love. Their admiration and honor of him really touched them. Juli McFadden said in one of her comments, "I knew God would show them amazing things that they would not know if they had not gone. (to Mozambique)" And He has. It has been amazing to hear it from the mouths of those who knew him here and see their love for him and how his influence is going on. They are so proud of how Jeremiah was letting God work through him. 


Jose from Madumwe was there and added his testimony (Orlando is working with the church in Madumwe and discipling Jose).  And Joao, a young man from Quelimane came with us this day. He works for SIL ministries and is college trained in Greek and Biblical studies, so he is helping translate parts of the Bible into Shwabo language for people to use in building up the churches there. Most people in these villages speak Shwabo and Portuguese, but Shwabo is their first language. He charged the church with this verse:

 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

 A few times when people here gave testimony John got very choked up and could not translate. Other times, he spoke too quietly for me to hear the translation, so maybe I will get some of those stories from him at a later time. But this service seemed to be especially meaningful for David and Diana. God is turning their sorrow into joy.....which reminds me of a story....

When we were having problems in Maputo airport, getting another flight to Quelimane, David and Charles met a man who worked there named Michael. Michael helped them with the changing of flights and would say things like "God bless you" or "God is good" and he was very kind and helpful. Then we saw Michael again at the boarding gate. This time he had a little extra time, so David and Charles talked to him more. They asked if he was a Christian (but they never told him the reason for their trip or anything about Jeremiah) and he was, so they told him they were pastors. At this, Michael looked up at them and said, "Oh! I have something for you!" He got out a slip of paper and wrote on one side 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says,

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Then he turned the paper over and wrote Psalm 30:11, just writing the references for the verses, not the whole verse. David said he knew what 1 Corinthians 10:13 said, but what was Psalm 30:11? Michael looked at him and quoted,

 You turned my wailing into dancing; 

       you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

How absolutely, astoundingly COOL is our God to send us Michael, the prophet to encourage them like that?  I'm telling you, this whole trip is full of little nuggets, but that one was huge.


One of the songs the people at Orlando's church sang was a simple chorus that talks about how there in no one like Jesus. I have looked and searched and there is no one like Jesus. They did motions of walking, of searching, of turning around to see, but there is no one they have found who is like Jesus.


Exactly.

Sunday in Africa

This morning we traveled a long way...on dirt roads, paved one lane highways, and a very nice 2 lane highway that even had shoulder on each side to a place called Sopinho, a Monigan village where the Zambezi River meets the Indian Ocean. This is the village Jeremiah and Sobrinho were traveling back from when their accident happened. Jeremiah and Sobrinho came here in February and Jeremiah started playing soccer and gathering a crowd, as was his part of the job, and Sobrinho the evangelist would preach when the game was done. This community of believers has grown since Jeremiah's death until today Jeremiah's father, David and Charles came and baptized 17 new believers. All new Christians and all came to know Christ because of Jeremiah opening the door to the community with his soccer ball.

They welcomed us with song as we got out of the truck and sang as we walked to the beach for the baptisms. I really want to add here that these African pastors, under John Dina's lead, really prepare the new Christians before baptism. They come each week and have classes and ask the people questions about their understanding  of the things they've learned. They fully realize the concept of salvation through Jesus' sacrifice and baptism being a public way of showing what's happened inside them. The new believers lined up 2 by 2 on the beach and walked in to Charles and David, where the pastors prayed for them and baptized them in the cold brown water of the Zambezi River, while all around them people washed things and brought in their fishing nets and boats. They came up from the water and were met with open arms and smiling faces to hug and kiss them, celebrating this public commitment.....very joyful!

It's not an easy commitment here. One man was a convert out of Islam. He even went to his Muslim leaders and turned in his hat and robe. They told him it would not go well for him, but so far there has not been a problem. He told the pastors that he used to live in constant worry that he was not doing enough  to be right with God--that he would not make it into heaven. But now, hearing the gospel and putting his faith in Christ, he is fully at peace with this new faith and his eternal destiny. The Holy Spirit and the confidence the Scriptures give has transcended culture and background. It is a real faith and affects all who give their lives to Him in similar ways.

When one of the pastors was talking about Jeremiah's death four women began sobbing and covered their faces with their capelanas. They deeply loved Jeremiah there, the foreigner who became one of them. (common phrase we heard over and over about him) One of the women had cooked many times for Jeremiah and that boy loved to eat, so she especially had a connection with him. She gave her life to Christ and is now trying to give up alcohol, which is an addiction for her. She was baptized today along with the others and is fully committed to this new church.

When Jeremiah didn't show up for his usual Tuesday visit, the women knew something was wrong. And when one of the African pastors came to tell them of his death, the women knew and were crying before he even told them. The church there grieved, but they told the African pastors that they were going to continue in the faith and go forward as a church. John was explaining the other day that a person who has died has a special honor and respect, more so than when they were alive. A light came on in my mind. I asked John if Jeremiah's death made the message he brought even more strong among these people and he just said, "Definitely!"

It also dawned on me this day that Jeremiah's playful spirit, which got him in trouble all his life, is what God used to gain acceptance, welcome and entrance in these villages. And because of his death, the message he brought here is stronger and more respected, more so than if he had just come, been loved and then gone home. Even though his life was a short 21 years and his work in Africa was a short 4 months, the reward and the fruit Jeremiah brings with him to the throne will speak for itself. "Well done, good and faithful servant."



It is all for Christ.

Jesus is worthy of our lives, our all.

He can use anyone who decides to obey.

Saturday morning

God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
   How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
   He's all I've got left.

Lamentations 3:22-24 (The Message)

We woke up this morning to the Mozambique alarm clock,  John singing loudly in Portuguese by our bedroom door. Charles was late getting up and the men were leaving in 10 minutes to go on another long day of traveling and teaching. He jumped out of bed, flipped on the light and dressed quickly and sleepily. Coffee and pancakes and he was out the door.

I got up too because I thought it was funny and once my interest is peaked, I am awake. Our agenda for the women today was to rest and shop. We did both, plus a lot of good visiting. We went with Wanne to her grocery store (pics later) and to do some errands, and we went to the cappelana store, where we bought some beautiful Moz fabrics. The missionaries here all know each other and are good friends, so we stopped by two missionary homes and had a short visit at each. One of them was a home Jeremiah went to a lot as they have sons, and we will go back there this week for dinner some evening.

The streets in town are MUDDY and lots of puddles that are more like ponds, so we are wondering how the men are doing with all their driving on the back roads today. We're hoping they don't have any extreme adventures in driving stories to share when they are back.

After lunch, Wanne went to get her hair done at a neighbor's home and we have been resting, blogging and listening to the neighborhood sounds, as well as to the Dina boys quietly playing guitar and enjoying being home on a school break. We love that they are here for our visit. We miss you too Hannah (Dina)....wish you were here.

I smell cooking, so I'd better go and help. To our families and friends: We know you're all praying and waiting to hear about the trip, so we are trying our best to keep up with this. We love you! 

 

Villages on the coast-part 2

Back in the truck after being where Jeremiah had the accident and hearing about it, the mood was quiet and thoughtful. John pointed out things along the way and soon we were out of town, turning onto a dirt road and into another world.

Tall grass grew on both sides of the rutted road. Tree branches would sometimes swipe the side of the car and come into the windows a little. Once Diana got a wet mango branch to the side of the head, sending little tiny blossoms into her hair and all over the seat and our clothes. We smelled of blossoms the rest of the day.

People walked along the road and had to step off into the tall grass when we passed by. Men roade bicycles (women are rarely on a bicycle, except when being given a ride by a man), women walked, a lot of them with big baskets on their heads. They carried sticks, garden tools, supplies and food in the baskets and  there were  babies swaddled onto their backs.  The areas alongside the road that were cleared were planted with family gardens, long rows of mounded dirt with deep furrows between them, women hoeing or harvesting. The women here do tend the gardens and walk a long way from village to garden, such hard work.....just a normal day to them. Lots of beans, lettuce, squash and root vegetables were growing. People we passed had two reactions....either they stared and scowled at us or they smiled and waved. Most of the children run away. We smiled and waved and called "bon dia" as we passed.

Our first stop was Orlando's church. They have a large mud hut building, situated in a pleasant, clean village....very orderly and well kept.  I cannot imagine that keeping a mud hut village neat is an easy job, but you can tell there is a sense of pride and ownership with the people here and they even had some bushes and plants growing around their huts sometimes. We just visited a few minutes before piling Orlando and several youth into the truck. (I just asked Wanne and she said there were about 9 people in the bed of the truck, while Orlando sat in the cab with us.) This was Jeremiah's normal routine. He and Sobrinio would ride the motorcycle here, then meet Orlando. Then the guys on the motor cycle would ride ahead, then wait for Orlando to catch up on foot. They told us a funny story about how one day they waited and waited for Orlando, but he never came, so they went back. But Orlando had come and gone to the village leaders home to get permission and they missed each other so Orlando and the village leader were waiting on Jeremiah and Sobrinio who never came. He and Sobrinio just laughed and laughed at that. I think he thought Jeremiah was impatient. ;)

We visited two more small villages that day. Both of them were preaching points that Jeremiah and Sobrinio had started by gaining favor and welcome with the soccer ball. We met Jose (pronounced Jo-shway) at Madumwe, where he became Jeremiah's first convert. Two other men came to know Christ there too and now there are several more who meet with them regularly to study the Bible with Orlando and worship under a large mango tree along the road into their village. We would come back there for lunch, so we just introduced ourselves and went on to Palani, a little more primitive village, but the people there sang and talked to us about Jeremiah and what he'd meant to them. It means so much to the David and Diana to hear it all and see the places their son came here to serve.

While we were in Palani, we took a walk down to the river because Jeremiah had told them stories about how he'd had to leave his motorcycle and wade through the mud to get to another place, you may remember his stories too. On our walk we were joined by some drunken men, who were kind of poking fun at the 'preachers',  John, Charles and David.  He was a minor distraction to us, but the men of the village were embarrassed by him and asked him to leave.  John said their drug problem there stems mainly from homemade alcohol. They make it from the sugar cane that grows abundantly here.

Having been traveling a bumpy road all day, I finally decided that it was a good time to get an education in the squatty potty. Their bathrooms are just straw walls and the ground. They used a bucket of water to kind of rinse the ground several times a day.  This one was actually upgraded with two flat rocks to balance on and a pot of water to wash your hands in after balancing practice. Wanne was so nice to remind us to wear skirts this day (squatty potties in mind)....much easier than jeans in such a situation.

....and back to the story....

We went back to Madumwe, where Jose had his people preparing lunch for us and had logs to use as benches, chairs for us guests, and a mango tree for shade. We sang and the three men who had known Jeremiah gave testimony about his work there. Then began a discussion about church growth. We felt as if we'd walked in to a building committee meeting in an American church. It all began because Jose was apologized profusely for not having a roof over us (as it was raining lightly). Orlando and John gave him lectures about how your shoes can be muddy but if you just talk about it, they stay muddy. Something like that....it was comical to me as Wanne was interpreting it, but Jose had serious tears in his eyes and shame on his face about the whole situation. He was deeply ashamed and embarrassed. The other 2 men from that village who were also converts just hung there heads and nodded.  Orlando told them he would come and help them and bring other men if they would just gather materials and get some land to put it on. Jose admitted that there were women who were believers and wanted to come to learn with them, but it was dishonorable to just sit out in the air with no roof for such a thing.....this is their custom.

Jose quickly ran to his home and arranged with his wife, who is not a believer and did not seem very into the idea, to have us come to their home to eat the lunch his people had prepared. His home was interesting, as it was a mud hut, but it had nice wooden doors and windows built into the mud walls and he had a tin roof instead of straw.

Very interesting happenings to witness. I loved seeing all of it and we prayed for Jose's family to be brought into faith in Christ as we ate and visited there.

We were kind of afraid of what the lunch would be. We had passed several places in these villages where little tiny fish were lying out in the open air on mats, drying. I really started getting nervous that we would see something like that on our plates. But we didn't. They served us a very nice meal of rice and stewed chicken. The stewed chicken was not tough like the roasted kind we had the previous day. So relieved.

After that village, John drove his fully loaded truck....15 of us in all I think, to the beach. We drove out across a long plain with coconut trees waving in the wind and finally came up on a large berm that went down onto the sandy beach. We climbed down and went out to the water, it was so beautiful. I will post pictures later when I am home. The coconut trees grow right up to the beach and there were old wooden fishing boats along the shore, waiting for high tide and fishermen to ride out again into the ocean.

God's love and His work among these people is so apparent when you are here. I have heard each person who comes back to our church from here talk about how they would come back anytime they could to this place. And now I understand that feeling.

God is here in Mozambique and the harvest is ready.

Villages on the coast-part 1

Today John really gave us a workout. We all piled into the truck-6 adults in the double cab and Sobrinio and the Dina boys, Andrew and Matthew were in the covered bed of the truck on wooden benches. We were prepared for a long day of driving and visiting.

Our first stop was along the road that leads out of Quelimane to the villages. This was the road Jeremiah would drive out of town on as he made his way out to the villages where he worked. It was paved, but really only a bit wider than a single lane road. The edges of the road were eroded and dropped off just a few inches to the flat dirt on both sides. The dirt on either side of the road was about 10 feet wide, very normal looking. Small businesses lined the road, lots of people walked and rode bicycles along it. We pulled over by a lumber supply yard onto the dirt alongside of the road and got out. This was the place where Jeremiah's accident happened. We just stared at the road....nothing dangerous looking. It was not as you would picture the scene of a fatal accident.  John showed us where the motorcycle had fallen, where he found it when he had come back with the police later. Sobrinio remained silent and somber. Emotions were sad. There was a huge sense of "how could this happen".

It just did...it happened.

The hospital was not far away.  Jeremiah was alive (yet not talking or  responsive) when he'd lain in this spot, but had passed away by the time the driver got him to the hospital. Sobrinio does not remember much, just that when he opened his eyes and looked at his friend,  Jeremiah could not talk and laid there quietly, probably in shock.

We talked a lot about trusting God the rest of the day, even the villagers we met talked of trusting God with this. We can only guess on any reasons God would let this happen, but really no one can know or understand the mind of God....how He works and what His plans include or why.

We do trust God. I think all of us do here on this visit. It is good though, it's healing in fact, to reaffirm this trust with God and each other after a senseless event happens and it shakes us to the core.

I remembered Sobrinio's encouragement to us just  the day before at the memorial service was this:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 

Sobrinio part 2

I wanted to include some other stories of the day but the previous post was turning into a novel.

After the testimonies and singing, the church men brought the Johnsons a gift, an offering....much like people bring food to a grieving family's home. Except they brought in a live chicken....a rooster. The rooster looked as shocked as we were and we all teased David that it was a new alarm clock because he had overslept that morning. He had to accept it and hold it and it was flapping around.....such comic relief for a heavy visit. The boys named the chicken Rojo on their ride back home in the back of the truck with him. And by the way, Rojo is no more....may he rest in gravy. ;)

We broke for lunch at Sobrinio's church to find some men climbing a coconut tree and dropping them to the ground with a thud you could feel under your feet. They cut the tops off of some as appetizers for us. We drank the 'milk' (which was clear) from the coconut, then ate the flesh inside of them with spoons. I drank some of mine, then poured the rest into my almost empty water bottle. Then the church men brought out a huge platter of rice, pinto beans and chicken. We learned later how bad the rice crop had been this year. Sobrinio's family didn't even get a grain of rice from their crop and this is their staple food. They were so happy to offer us a huge platter of it though. We enjoyed the lunch very much and were blessed to have it.

On the way home Sobrinio wanted us to stop by his home for a visit. His family had been at the meeting. His beautiful and outgoing wife sat with their nursing baby while she led out in songs and gave testimony about Jeremiah. Their 3 other children sat on a large grass mat on the floor of the church with some other children and sang with their whole selves the songs, clapping, swaying and singing. He lives quite a ways from his church in another coconut grove in a mud house. It was very small but wonderful. Usually they visit outside the homes, but Marada (?) invited us in and we sat on large grass mats in her front room while we visited, asked questions and took pictures of the family. (we'll be posting pictures after we get home)

As we sat there inside Sobrinio's home, I felt such peace and comfort there. It is a blessed home. Just being committed enough to actually marry a woman is a huge decision in Mozambique. He is such an example to have such a home and family. It is not the norm. In fact this morning as the men introduced themselves, some would say their name, followed by "and I am married". It's something John is really trying to emphasize in the churches here.

To make a living Sobrinio rides his bicycle 20+ miles each way to buy charcoal to sell. He makes a profit of $2 per bag of charcoal and he can only manage 2 bags per trip on his bicycle. We hear stories of people living like this, but here we were being treated so well, sitting inside his home with his family on straw mats. And they were so proud to have us there. Peace and joy are theirs....it is so apparent.

Lord help me to know contentment.

We have a long day of traveling tomorrow to see the beach villages where Jeremiah loved to go and where several have become Christians. We get to attend a baptism on the weekend of some of the people Jeremiah helped lead to Christ.

The journey has been amazing....I can't think of a better word.

Sobrinio part 1

After our warm bran muffins and fruit this morning, we headed out to visit a local pastor at his church and home. Sobrinio was Jeremiah's language and cultural mentor. They were very close-like brothers. Sobrinio was on the back of Jeremiah motorcycle when they had the accident and Sobrinio was so traumatized that he could not speak for days afterwards. And although his physical wounds are healed, his heart is heavy with grief for his lost partner. I think this visit with David and Diana will really help him to have some closure and relief from such a heavy burden. He is a dear man and loves the Lord and to serve, keep him in your prayers.

We met in their church building....a mud structure with a straw roof and beautifully set in a coconut grove. As we entered they were singing. John would try to help us understand the meanings of the songs....some in Portuguese, but most in Shwabo language (I know I spelled that wrong, but I can't find it on google and everyone is in bed). They sang worship songs and grieving, funeral songs. And in between the songs people from that church would stand up and tell the Johnsons their stories and thoughts about Jeremiah. It was so hard not to just lay down our heads and sob as we listened. They loved that boy so much and they knew he loved them. Here are a few of the things I remember them saying as John translated:

*He became one of us. He did not separate himself from u s, but was like one of us.

*He was a son to me. Another said he was like a brother.

*He spoke to all, not just to a few, he was a friend to all.

*He ran....he ran ....he ran. (this was in reference to how Jeremiah could  play soccer)

*One man told about going to a village where the people ran away from Jeremiah and Sobrinio. While Sobrinio went to talk with the village leader about why they were there, Jeremiah got out the soccer ball and began people started coming back toward him. When Sobrinio came back Jeremiah was talking and playing with the people and they had such a welcome into their village. One man was saved that afternoon while then men talked with the people. Jeremiah's playfulness had opened a door to that community.

*Sobrinio told of how Jeremiah would try anything, even things Sobrinio felt bad about him doing, like wading through deep mud  or riding on a tiny canoe with no complaining, just a big heart and adventurous spirit.

*A lot of the people expressed their thanks to the Johnsons for letting Jeremiah come to them.

*A lot of them said they did not understand why God let this happen, but they know it was for a reason. They are learning to trust God with the future, but they were so sad from grief at the same time. And they were so sad for the Johnsons losing their son.

*A few of them spoke so confidently of their assurances of Jeremiah being with the Lord and that they looked forward to seeing him again one day with the Lord.

So overwhelming. I would look over at Diana and David sometimes during all of this and wonder if it was too much, but the only look on their faces was hunger to hear more stories about what their son had done during his time in Africa. What a gift for them to hear the stories directly from the people he had worked with half way around the world.

It was a wrenching good day. I think you know what I mean.

Quelimane, Mozambique

Smooth sailing on Wednesday morning as we made our way to Quelimane from Maputo. The plane we flew on was a little (lot) larger than the tiny prop plane the previous day. Mostly filled with Africans, there were a few missionary types as well as business people on board. So far the Africans we have seen are as western looking as we are, that was surprising. There were noticeably less things like ipods and laptops on this flight and I felt kind of uncomfortable getting mine out, but I did. Simon and Garfunkel were my private soundtrack to this leg of the trip and as I listened to Bridge Over Troubled Water and Homeward Bound, I said a silent prayer for these people to know the Savior.

As we landed, we realized we were not in Quelimane but Charles recognized it as Tete. Like a bus we stopped to let people off and on except we all had to disembark while the transfer took place. While we were waiting we met a missionary from Cape Town, who was coming to Quelimane for a week to help with a project here. She said she had actually been praying for the Johnsons because their church knew of his accident. So we introduced her to the Johnsons, she was full of compassion and I think it was a meaningful connection to meet a random person who had been praying for them.

After three days of travel, the Dina family looked like angels standing at the gate to meet us. We kind of air hugged through the fence, and they took us and all the luggage in two cars back to their home. Orlando and Sobrinio two of the pastors John Dina is close to were at the house to meet us. They were quiet and somber, talking a little bit through John's interpretation. These two worked closely, daily with Jeremiah and  it was obvious they were still deeply affected by the past 3 months.

I have to add here that being in the Dina's home is just like being home. It is comfortable, there are places to gather and talk all you want and there are places to retreat and be quiet. Most of all though, the atmosphere the family has created is very loving and peaceful, very much a retreat. Wanne made us stroganoff, but it wasn't beef, it was reed buck stroganoff. All of their meat is game meat that John hunts. It was so good! They visited with us until late in the evening as our eyes got more and more heavy.

We're in Africa--we are using a wireless laptop and eating reed buck stroganoff in Africa!

--and we are so thankful to be here.

Into Africa

Tomorrow evening my Charles and I and David and Diana Johnson will get on a really huge plane and fly nine hours to London. Then 6 hours later, having run through as much of London as we possibly can in 6 hours, we will get on a large plane and fly 11 hours to Johannesburg. We will only have time to look out the airport windows at Jo-burg while dashing to our next flight.....a small puddle jumper ride 2 hours to Maputo, Mozambique, Africa. We have a few hours there so we will be greeted and shown around by a kind missionary named Charlie (everyone who flies through Maputo on mission trips gets to meet Charlie I think) until it is time for our final (oh gee, that is a really bad word to use) flight to get us to Quelimane, Mozambique on a little prop plane. I think it also takes a couple of hours.

Thirty six hours of traveling in all. We are going to love seeing John, Wanne and their boys, but I think by then all we will want to see is the inside of our eyeballs while lying down in a bed.

Our mission is to bring the Johnsons over and accompany them as they see the places their son lived and ministered before he died. The only thing on our itinerary while we are there is for some good visiting with the Dinas (the missionaries there) and to see the places Jeremiah worked, lived and people he knew while he was there.

We're praying (please join us)....for some further closure for these two families, the Johnsons and the Dinas, healing and comfort for their minds and hearts.

And for that prop plane.....

Okay, disclaimer everyone: Charles read the post and said I was wrong (thankfully so). He said all of our planes are jets. No prop planes or puddle jumpers. This information would have saved me several nights of tossing and turning  the past week thinking of the trip. aaarg!

If he is wrong, I'm going to smack him.

Payson, AZ 2010

Finally, the pictures are all uploaded and ready. Here is our last week:

San Francisco photos

The slide show of or San Francisco trip is now here. These slide shows crash my mom's browser, so I will just post a link for them from now on.

Can you see me now Mom?

San Francisco at a glance

The trip was great! San Francisco is a very unique and cool place to visit. People do not use personal cars there much, so we turned in our rental and hoofed it. =) We got a city pass for the public transport and used it to ride busses, trolleys, and underground trains. It also came with free passes to several museums, two aquariums, a ferry ride, and other things. Very worth it...think it was $59 each. Riding the public transportation was in itself a really interesting way to view the city. It was about half and half tourists and locals on all transportation we took. So if we had a question on which bus to take or thing to see, we asked the locals on the bus. Everyone was so kind, even the drivers, on giving us directions and advice. I loved seeing such a kind hearted city.

I think that in a place like Phoenix, where almost everyone uses their own car and then gets out and dashes into air conditioned buildings to go to their own space, people get very disconnected with other humanity. People are grouchy and bothered in Phoenix. I think we are losing that community spirit and just view other people in our daily world as givers to us and not real people we should connect with and be kind to. We were there for 5 days so we really got to see the real spirit of the city and not just a touristy glimpse.

San Francisco is divided into neighborhoods, kind of like New York City, but much smaller. The row houses are usually divided up in to apartments, so on one street there are hundreds of people living. And each neighborhood has a park or a square, a nice grassy block with trees, benches and surrounded by little shops and restaurants. We spent a little time each day at the square in our host's neighborhood. Locals would bring their dogs to the park and let them off their leash and the dogs were galloping the whole park and romping with each other. They come there each day, you could tell. It was so fun to watch the community spirit and neighbors sitting on the benches or standing in groups talking while their dogs romped. And from outward appearance, it is a very common sight to see people who are on their way home or from lunch or on a break maybe, just throw themselves onto the grass in their dress clothes even and lie in the sun, no blanket or folding chair, but just on the grass. Downtown where the modern art museum was had a lot of people out in the grass, just soaking in the sun or napping. And in every neighborhood park we saw, if it was sunny, people were doing the same. Fun.

It was also freezing cold. brrr! We had to buy an extra jacket (heavy windbreaker with fleece lining) because we couldn't stand it anymore. So we sat in the sun on park benches or short walls, we are not quite ready to go for lying in the grass where the dogs romp freely (if you know what I mean). Don't they have ants in San Fran??

We ate really good food too.....very gourmet appreciating city. We ate at Chinatown where the pot stickers and the green tea ice cream were sublime, a hip Italian place just off of 'our' square and had an interesting polenta appetizer, very much comfort food, a very hip Eur-asian place (our host gave us a gift certificate for there) and ate the fanciest meal we had while in San Francisco. I had a pork chop that was glazed with pomegranate and currant sauce and Charles had a chicken with portobello mushrooms and truffle sauce, and we had fish and chips on Fisherman's Wharf. (that is for Jackie, and no, I did not take pictures of our meals, that would be too much)

We went to church on Sunday morning, it took us about 20 minutes to go across town after walking several blocks, catching a bus, then taking the underground train. Huge, beautiful church, extraordinary worship leader. He was like a professional, but very humble and led from behind the grand piano, very good at leading you through a worship experience and focussing you on God. They had just lost their pastor in June. He passed away and the church was still in a state of grief, you could tell. One of the associate pastors preached one of those very inspiring and modern sermons, using props and audio visuals to get his teachings to relate. The congregation was a total mix of the community. It is good to see that, it means their church is reaching their area and relevant to their community. Our denomination's California seminary is just across the bridge, so there were some seminary students there too and a professor or two.

So all in all it was an exhausting, but really lovely trip. It was totally different than anything we would have planned to do, but we're glad we fell into it because it really gave us an appreciation of another place.....a big city with a sense of community, joy and kindness about it. The friend we stayed with is very sure that the city is on the verge of a huge revival of the believers there and coming to God of the community. So we are joining her in praying in that direction.

I am now going to carry a little sign, so that when people ask, "So how was your trip?" I can just hold it up "Read the blog." It's so hard to explain such a huge trip in a minute or so. ;)

We are so glad to be home though, it was very tiring. But I am making a commitment to be a kinder Arizonan, even while driving in my own car with all the masses who really don't know me, but will react better to kindness than to impatience and aggravation.

Tiny homes

I want one of these. I would park it in my backyard so I could have a nice little retreat and Charles could have somewhere to sleep when he mentions me in sermons too much. *j/k* I would plant flowers in the window boxes and paint it light blue with white trim. And in the summer I could haul it up to my sister's lot where her cabin is and Charles and I could have our own private get away.

We always have said when we retire (do pastors ever really retire?), we could buy a travel trailer and live in it while we travel and go on mission trips and such. We have our kids scared that we will park it at each of their four homes for 3 months of the year. (probably because we tell them we will do it) To which Hannah always says, "I'm living in an apartment then." haha, very funny Hannah. When you need a grammy to babysit, I will be at Emma's taking care of all of her sets of twins. (family joke about a very funny game of Life in which Emma needed several minivans to tote her crew around)

If we had one of these, they might want to travel with us though.....we could all caravan! We would have a ready made neighborhood wherever we went!

What do you think? Aren't these the cutest things ever?