Africa pictures!

Charles just wrote a couple of new entries on his blog, Veritas about his trip to Africa with pictures! Really precious pictures. Please go see it. =) That is him in the river, baptizing a string of people who walked from town to the river after a service.

Wiki wiki

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
Psalm 86:11

This is the theme for our Vacation Bible School which started today.

Our motto:

Know the Truth!
Speak the Truth!
Live the Truth!

Wouldn't it be fantastic if these words became reality in the lives of this rising generation? Please pray for our VBS as well as thousands of others that are being held all over the world.

Thanks!

Independence

Happy Fourth of July to my American friends! I think these thoughts on independence are pretty generic though, so they apply to us all, Yanks, Aussies, Canooks, etc. eh? Grab a burger, corn on the cob and homemade ice cream and ponder these:

The greatest gifts you can give your children
are the roots of responsibility
and the wings of independence.
~Denis Waitley~

It's easy to be independent when you've got money.
But to be independent when you haven't got a thing
-- that's the Lord's test.
~Mahalia Jackson~

There's always free cheese in the mouse traps,
but the mice there ain't happy.
~Anonymous~

"God who gave us life gave us liberty.
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure
when we have removed their only firm basis,
a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are of the Gift of God?"
~Thomas Jefferson, 1781~

"I do not believe in a fate
that will fall on us no matter what we do.
I do believe in a fate
that will fall on us if we do nothing. ...
Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength.
And let us renew our faith and our hope."
~Ronald Reagan~

“Independence? That's middle class blasphemy.
We are all dependent on one another,
every soul of us on earth.”
~George Bernard Shaw ~

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

All the weary travelers are home safe and sound. I was about to leave to pick up Charles from the airport when Beth called and asked for a ride home.

All panicky, "NO, I can't. Oh man, I have to leave to get Dad in a few minutes! You'll have to find a ride!"

"Uh, okay, just askin." (since they've been gone all week to youth camp and were only home a few hours each weekend for the entire summer!)

Ugh, the feeling torn thing.....*points at myself*

We had to wait over an hour for the mission team to come out of customs, etc. Finally we spotted 5 very scruffy and weary looking men shuffling down the gang plank (okay it's not a gang plank, but I think it sounds more interesting) We had just watched as the plane passengers from Mexico City walk through with sombreros, shorts and cotton shirts, one carrying a macrame hammock chair under her arm, and then there was a distinctly different group who started to walk in from the London flight. The contrast was humorous as well groomed, dressed up, more proper fish n chips crowd came out.

And then there were our scruffies. We got them home as soon as we could. We had to hike through the parking garage because I got confused and went to the west lot when we should have been in the east lot. Charles tried to eat some dinner, even though he has long-time-in-airplanes-stomach, he tried to check his email, but finally gave up and is breathing deeply, head on his pillow now. He was going to try to stay up until 9pm, but didn't make it.

So now I will sneak in to spend some time with my sunburned, chapped lipped, and junk fooded out teens and ask them about how surf camp in San Diego was. They are staring with zombie eyes at the television, trying to finish the first season of Gilmore Girls.

Lions and tigers and chairs, oh my!

The mission team is spending their last day in Africa today. After a day of rest and hunting with our missionary there, today they are in Johannesburg, South Africa. And they are going on an official safari! I am so excited for them. I do not think there will be another new post on Charles' blog until he gets home unless the hotel there has a computer and he thinks to use it.

I'm thinking he will too incredibly, stupendously, outrageously excited about the safari to use the computer.

As for me, Cheryl and I have been spray painting my dining room chairs. They were dark red, so the paint specialist at Walmart strongly suggested an undercoat of primer. We figured that one can of primer would do at least two chairs. Nope. It barely did one chair! So we got two chairs primed with three cans of primer. I did, however, decided pretty firmly on what color to use. More on that later and perhaps a photograph.

I'm off to Walmart.

Sunday update from Africa

Update from Africa, click here! They have had a very good weekend. After a day off tomorrow, they are heading back home Tuesday!!! I have an exceeding need to jump up and down clapping my hands every time I think about it.

Updates at home and in Africa

My teenagers are home from their kids' camp weeks. They dragged in about midnight last night.  They hugged me, dumped their bags in the living room and disappeared deep into their own rooms. Emma went to bed and Beth went to check all of her internet haunts. Soon all lights were out and all was silent until 8:30am this morning when I put in a Gilmore Girls dvd (I borrowed the first few seasons from my niece to get me through the evening hours for the next week). It's like sprinkling sugar beside an ant hill. It's like setting out honey beside a bear's den. It's like putting on Gilmore Girls 6 feet from my girls' bedrooms and turning up the volume. (heehee) Now Emma (Rory to us) is snuggled beside me in my bed and  we have tears in our eyes because Max just broke up with Loralai.  *sigh*

Let the laundry begin.

I talked to Hannah yesterday. She had a hard day at work  with a very difficult person. She was hankering around about coming down to Phoenix but she is tired, so she may stay home. BUT I did play the Gilmore Girls card and so, y'know, she may just show up too.  It's hard to say. (and no pressure Han....totally up to you)

Okay, now the homefront update is done, time for the.....

MISSION TEAM UPDATE:

The electricity wiring is worked out and we've been able to get emails and calls from the men.

The team is preaching at two different churches this weekend and having a baptismal celebration at the river. It should be a busy weekend for them, so they will appreciate your prayers for the openness of the people and effectiveness of the teaching. Charles has several updates on his blog, Veritas. Monday will be a day off for them. It will be fun to hear what they do. On their last day off they got to go hunting in Africa. Then Tuesday afternoon they will board a small plane and fly out of Mozambique, beginning their 3 day journey back home. Keep praying. This is almost wrapped up, although continued prayer for these pastors in Mozambique who were at the conferences, the permanent missionaries, our friends, the Dinas work there, and the people whose lives were touched will still be greatly needed.

Thank you!

A little trouble on the field

I have been getting short emails from Charles each day and his notes about the trip are on his blog. These are excerpts from emails Jackie gets from Kris. He gives more details about things behind the scenes.

A message from the Africa team this morning: (from Kris K)

Just to let you know last night some thieves in the neighborhood stole all of the Dina's neighbors electric wire running to their homes. this has caused electrical problems at the dina house I am most likely not going to be able to edit any video while I here. The conference has been going great the local people have been asking us to stay here and continue to teach them. They are like sponges, they cant seen to get enough. John is thrilled at all of the seeds that are being sown here, and has been wanting this to happen here for a long time.

I am afraid this may mean no more emails, although this one from Kris got through.

This is also from Kris a few days ago, on a more encouraging note:

I really wish I would could have learned the language but John said that it would not of helped he had to relearn it when he got here because the dialect is so different then what he learned, it is funny every time one of us speaks it get translated twice in two different languages. Well today is a prep day for the four day conference. My three jobs are to fix the shower head that we have been using, work with Mark and Ken repairing the Jesus film equipment ( if we can get to work we will show it this week) John said it works great helping the local people understand Christ, then If I have time I will prep everything for making the videos that I will be leaving here with John.

On a different note there are two local pastors that we have been working here with a lot they are both very energetic, dynamic people. They work extremely well together yet do not speak a word of English. Their names are Dino he is the funny one and Orlando he would make a great youth pastor in the states. I have been working on teaching Dino a little English I figured that would be easier than me learning the local language. He is a very quick learner and can already say good morning, how are you?, I am fine, My name is Dino. I have some video of him wearing my cowboy hat I'll show you when I get home.

The husbands and the wives

I got home from the mountains Friday after visiting my sister and brother in law there, and it has kind of hit me that my husband is out of the country for 2 more weeks. *twiddles thumbs*

I really....REALLY miss him. The longest we've been separated before was for 10 days when he went to Ukraine last year. The wives of the mission team guys were invited to eat lunch and visit together yesterday after church. We went to Brenda's house and had a great time visiting and praying for each other. It seems two of the wives have received phone calls, so the other three of us were feeling a little bit gipped and to be honest, jealous. ;)

This morning I got a call from Charles. lol I think word got around. I know they care and are missing us, but we women folk wanted a little tangible evidence! However it came about, it was great to just be able to talk to him and feel connected for a few minutes.

They are all holding up very well. No one is sick or having any physical ailments except for Kris, who is having some sinus, maybe allergies. The men went hunting Sunday night.

Adventures The missionary family there, the Dinas, always hunt for their meat. The only other meat available there is fish and on special occasions, chicken, which they raise themselves. The people there also raise their own rice, which is their staple meal, along with some vegetables. So the mission team went with John Dina to hunt. Charles used to hunt with his dad, but had never shot much of anything bigger than a squirrel, until we lived in northern Arizona. He got an elk tag one year and shot a young elk cow. But on Sunday night he shot a local antelope-type animal there called a Duiker and a rabbit. The men ate part of the duiker and then gave the rest to some townspeople, who were glad to have it.

Charles told me that he is not sure they are getting through to the people, and he thinks God is working on the team in more ways than they are probably influencing the people there. But it may just be a cultural misinterpretation. John Dina's mother was at our lunch yesterday and told us when she went there to visit, the people just stare at you, as a white person, they give no feedback like Americans do. They listen, staring blankly at you and take you in. So it can be hard to know what their impressions are.

The team is doing a retreat for pastors at a conference center about an hour from the Dina's home. They will have a full schedule for several days with teaching and traveling. Today they had a day of rest, which they really needed and appreciated.

Prayer needs:
~Strength, endurance and energy for the men
~Cross cultural understanding and deep learning
~Real spiritual growth as well as practical learning for these pastors who have little access to Bible teaching for themselves and are basically new Christians themselves.

Thanks so much!

Back now...

I'm home now. You just can't believe how content I am to be home.

My trip to the mountains was good and relaxing and I visited with my 2 sisters, my mom and my little nephew who is 2. But it was SO HOT. We were basically in a camping situation and it was in the high 90's every day with little flying beetles who landed on you because they are klutzy and just fly into things, then stay, walking slowly up and down your arm, or in your hair or on your shirt...ugh. I was so thankful my sister's trailer had a/c. We'd go in there every afternoon and watch movies. LOL And we really didn't help much on the cabin because of the heat. I honestly did think we would help and we did try one evening by shoveling up granite gravel into the wheelbarrow to transfer it, but we didn't get it done. The nights were very cool though and the mornings until noon. AND it made me so grateful that their new cabin being built will have air conditioning for such weeks as this.

Maisy is so glad to be home too. I had to keep her on the leash all week except when we were in the cabin or trailer! She's very curious and wants to investigate things and since there were rattlesnakes and lots of weird bugs around....leash. She chewed through the first leash and then almost through the second. She and little Gabriel were fast friends and played together constantly. He is only two, but was always gentle and sweet to the little dog.

News from Charles, who is on a mission trip in Mozambique Africa is on his blog. Check it often for updates: Veritas

My 2 teens are home....well one of them is on her way still (she had to stay and help clean the camp). So I'm getting off here to go visit with them.