What a wonderful Christmas!

Our choir did our Christmas Cantata on Christmas Eve. We did as good as I expected, although I did not have expectations that were too high. We had many obstacles this year in choir.
It was a lovely service with over 100 in attendance, and one young man received Christ as his Saviour. He just came up to the Preacher after the service and said "I need to receive the Gift!"
We had a nice meal later, just the four of us, and of course, THE PRESENTS! No matter how much you teach a seven-year-old that its not just about the presents, its still a BIG DEAL to the little ones.
On Christmas Day we went over to Mother's for dinner. We had a traditional American Christmas dinner with all the trimmings except for cranberry sauce. We don't like cranberry sauce. The kids sang for us and Eileen played her violin. Then more PRESENTS. We then watched all our Christmas videos.
All in all, it was a great day, and the Lord knows why.(Thank you God for the answer to prayer)

I am so glad I serve a powerful, great God! If my God was as mediocre as people make Him out to be, I'd just give up. But I don't have a wimpy God, praise His Name!

R

I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

A Christmas greeting to all my blogfriends. May you and your loved ones honor Christ in this lovely Holiday. May you keep the true Christmas spirit alive in spite of all the commercialism.
Enjoy the company of your Loved Ones, old and young. Carry on the Christmas traditions of your family, and make up a few new ones of your own!

Blessings to you from the Son.

In Christ's love

Rhonda

I almost forgot!

Here are some words to "Hark! the Herald Angels sing" that sometimes go unnoticed.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as Man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

If the doesn't bless you, you got somethin' wrong with your blesser!

Thank you Jesus.

Christmas Carols

As you can probably guess, I love love love Christmas carols. They involve two of my most favorite things, music and Christmas.

I love the secular "wintery" songs like "Let is snow", "Winter Wonderland" and "White Christmas". They are particularly nostalgic in this summery weather.

I love songs with a strong family theme like "I'll be home for Christmas".

But there is nothing on earth like singing about the Reason for the Season! Christmas carols are the most doctrinally-rich hymns there are. Try reading the lyrics to "We three kings". It talks about the deity of Christ, His sacrificial death, among other things. Read all the verses to "Oh come, all ye faithful" Here is a verse of that song. Singing these words gives me goosebumps!

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing

Oh come let us adore Him
Oh come let us adore Him,
Oh come let us adore Him,
Christ, the Lord!


He Is the Word! Do you know that in Spanish, the Bible calls Him "The Verb" Isn't that cool?

One of my favorite Christmas activities is a good carol-sing. If I lived the the US, I would definitely go caroling. What a joy!


Enjoy the season, celebrate the Reason!

R

Christmas on the mission field

So, you ask, what's Christmas like in Chile? Well, I say, quite different from Christmas in the US. For starters, its smack-dab in the middle of summer. Snow? You're kidding, right?
How 'bout some sunshine? Its daylight here until past 9 o'clock. So much for outdoor Christmas lights. That's why I paint my windows. They can be seen all hours.

Here Christmas is the the 24th, at night. They stay up until midnight, exchange gifts and have a cook-out. Turkey? A few do, but they prefer the cookout!
Santa Clause? Yep. The good ole US of A has done a great job of exporting Halloween and Santa Clause. I wish they would put as much effort into sending missionaries. Oh, right, you don't make money sending out missionaries!

So, what do we do? Well, we put on a Christmas Cantata a church. This year's is called "O Holy Night" We'll have a traditional American Christmas dinner, but it will get very hot in the kitchen! Turkey and dressing, hot rolls, the Works! We'll sing Christmas carols, and read the Christmas story in the Bible. Then we'll open presents and watch our taped Christmas specials. Maybe read some Christmas stories.
Ah, life is Good!

R

A full missionary day

Yesterday as I sat in Church, I was pondering a full missionary day. We were sitting in our new, yet unfinished building. There were our regular folks from Lanco, one from La Paz, five miles north. There was one from Quilche, 20 miles east, and 7 from our newly-forming mission in Máfil, 20 miles south. We had taken our choir to sing at the old-folk's home in Máfil earlier in the afternoon. As I played the piano for the congregational singing, I watched as Sandra signed for the Deaf. There were old folks and babies. All of us together singing to the Lord, getting ready to hear the Word preached. The fellow from Quilche got saved last night.

I know that we are not doing this for a "feeling", but it sure did feel good. There are just times when you can sense the Spirit of the Lord approving what is going on, and those are great times.
Thank you, God.
R

Contentment, or lack thereof

I have been looking at some of the houses on the Christmas tour of homes. I love Christmas, as you all well know. But seeing all those beautiful homes and decorations has left me feeling a wee bit envious and discontented. Wrong, I know. I have a nice (for here) house, much nicer than most in our town. Just yesterday, we spent the day with 5 families in our Church who were with 235 other families receiving their government-subsidized houses. These houses are tiny, one-bedroom affairs. The bedroom will scarcely fit a queen-sized bed. They only had to pay 400 dollars for the house. A few were truly grateful, most others were compaining about the size.

Compared to these cracker-boxes, I live in a mansion. But campared to the fine houses I saw on the tour, I live in a cabin. I realize that contentment must begin wherever you are. I may not ever live in a fine home this side of Heaven, and that's OK. I don't deserve a fine home, I deserve nothing. Anything I have is by the Grace of God. I am living right where God wants me to be and if that's not enough now, nothing will ever be enough.

Thank you God, for my home. Forgive my lack of gratitude.

R

Christmas tour of Homes

Welcome to my Christmassy home! Here's our traditional tree, which I love.

No Christmas decoration is complete without
a Nativity Scene.














I made this sequined house ornament this year. I have been trying to replace all the ornaments we lost in a fire.
















I love to paint Christmas messages in my window! We have a lot of pedestrian traffic three feet from my front window.















This is the other side of the window. If you knew me, you'd know what an accomplishment this is for me!






Merry Christmas, and may God bless You!

Rhonda

Daily habits

At our recent Ladies retreat, I had the "priviledge" of speaking last. I say that ironically, because after 5 other ladies, pretty much everything had been said, and well said at that.

I didn't know what the Lord would want me to speak on, so I began to think about what our needs are. I realized that in order to do all the God wants women to do, we must have certain daily habits that make our Christian life possible.

As I began to research, I started to realize that Satan has habits concerning us. Everyday.
Potifar's wife tempted Joseph "day by day". Delilah tempted Samson. The Bible says "she pressed him daily" until "his soul was vexed unto death"

Psalm 42:10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

Our enemy reporaches us DAILY.

Psalm 56:2Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.

Are you sensing a pattern here?

So, dear Sisters, it is truly necessary for us to have daily battle drills against our enemy, and believe you me, we have an enemy who hates us and fights dirty.

In case you didn't know, our Battle Drills consist of Bible reading, memorization and prayer.
The enemy doesn't take any holidays or sick days. He is out to destroy you.

Thankfully, we were given the ability to put on the whole armor of God. I suggest we take advatage of this priviledge.

Enjoy the Christmas season, delight in the blessings of the Lord, but don't let your guard down. Don't get too tired. Strengthen yourself in the Lord.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Another wonder post...

By Homeliving Helper.

Wouldn't you just love for your home to be as clean and inviting as an expensive hotel or inn? Of course, Lady Lydia left out one important factor. Most hotel housekeepers don't have to cook or train their kids as they clean;0)

Also, how on earth do you deal with a pack-rat husband? My friend Wendy is an expert housekeeper and knows how to fling. The Preacher just hates for me to throw out "good" stuff and we are bulging with "good" stuff.





Read this great article here

Kind Words

What were the kindest words anyone ever said to you?

I ask, because I am beginning to realize that acting kindly can be learned, and that behaviour can be refined. People "fix" things all the time. We make our houses as nice as we can. We fix our hair and face. We don't just decorate our houses, we continually improve. So it would seem that the same would be true of our attitudes and actions. I am not talking about flattery. I don't like flattery and neither does God.

I would like to concentrate on words, kind, uplifting, words. I would like to learn how to respond to something I disagree with amiably and with no hint of phariseeism and hypocrisy. Anybody good at that? I also know that just keeping my mouth shut is another good way to go; ) I would like to know how to offer words of consolation.

So, I guess the question is, "What would Jesus say?"

R

Flylady, again

I just love Flylady! I was just feeling a little inferior. Not in a good way, like esteeming everybody else as superior, but in a bad, envious way. Like, my house is a wreck, and how does she ( and you know who she is, the one with the perfect house, hair, make-up, wardrobe, kids etc.) always stay motivated to keep hers nice?
Enter my beloved Flylady saying "You are not behind, just jump in wherever you are!"
Do you know what uplifting words those are?

On that same note, how can I be more encouraging? What can I say to others to help them desire to be more for God?

R

Christmas multitasking

God is, in my opinion, THE Multi-tasker. In his sovreignty, He makes all things to work together for good. Every single being in existence and not yet in existence is part of His design. I also believe that He created women to be expert multi-taskers. Now, how on earth does that relate to Christmas? I am so glad you asked!

Let me explain.
We celebrate Christmas to remeber how God the Father sent His Son to earth to save us. God placed great importance on His birth by making details of His birth matters of prophecy. They were told where He would be born(Bethlehem), of whom(descendants of David, a virgin), where He would go later (Egypt) among other details. It is thrilling to me to study fulfilled prophecy!

However, as Christian moms, we can also use the Christmas season for many other godly purposes. We can teach our children about giving and selflessness. We can teach charitable giving by making a food basket for a needy family or two. We can cultivate femininity in our girls with Christmas baking and cooking and decorating. We can foster family togetherness by carrying on old family traditions and by instituting our own family traditions.
Does this take away from celbrating the birth of Christ? Not all!
We're multi-tasking!

Family Life Conference

We just ended a Family Life Conference at our Church yesterday. For four days we had special services teaching about what God says about families. He should know, after all, He created them. Our good friend, missionary Phillip Rogers did the teaching. The great thing is that we had 3 people saved, as well as many who made decisions. We had 110 on the last night, and for that we are thrilled.

There are so many broken and hurting families here. Situations that will never be what God intended families to be seem to be bountiful here. We pray that the lessons taught this weekend will help for the next generation. We had two ladies there who are expecting their first babies. I pray that they will start their motherhood on the right track.

I love good teaching about families. I love my family. I believe that God created us all to feel the need to belong to a family. That's why He gave us our families and our Churches.

If you haven't stopped by Homeliving Helper lately, please do so. There are some great articles there. We are going against the current, but I know that its right.

R

The Arias family Christmas tree!

Here's my tree, and I just love it! I have multicolored ornaments, nothing too fancy. I love sparkly ornaments!

Here below is a close-up of an ornament I made. WooHoo! If you can stick pins into sequins and styrofoam, than this is a craft for you!This little sparkly house is a joy to me!






I want my tree to be down-home, just like we are. No fancy-shmancy decorator trees here!





I wish I could have a natural tree, but they are unavailable here. I mean, we do have quite a few pine trees, just no Christmas pine trees.

Merry Christmas, folks!
R

A pastor friend of ours has this to say....

I usually don't do posts this long, but I though somebody might enjoy this.



The Christmas Tree
1 Peter 2:24 (KJV) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

History. While many of the things associated with the modern celebration of Christmas clearly have a pagan connection with their origin, the Christmas tree is different. In the seventh century a missionary to the Germans came across a group of pagans who worshiped the Oak tree as a god. He suggested they were foolish to worship something that died every year and lost its beauty. He went on to use the evergreen tree to teach them that the living, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and provides eternal life for His children. He said the triangular shape symbolizes the trinity. The evergreen tree quickly became a symbol of the gospel message to those living in Northern Germany. Ironically the Roman Catholic church denounced the use of the tree claiming those who failed to trust in the Roman church alone for salvation were heretics. The symbol of the division became so great, that after Martin Luther left the Catholic church he went on to use the evergreen tree as an illustration in the Gospel message in defiance of Rome. Expanding the illustration he placed candles on the tree to show how it was Jesus and not Rome that was the light of the world. By the twelfth century the common practice was to hang the tree upside down from the ceiling. It was considered a symbol of those who rejected the Catholic church for salvation. Rome countered declaring all those who placed a tree in their home or place of worship incapable of earning salvation.



The first claim to the use of a Christmas tree in America is much debated. A city in Connecticut claims a foreign soldier put up a Christmas Tree in 1777. A city in Pennsylvania said a German immigrant was the first to erect a Christmas tree in 1816. The German reportedly used it in teaching fellow believers about Christ, eternal salvation, and the Trinity. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought into the home until Christmas Eve and then taken down on January 6 the date first thought to be the birthday of Christ.



Some Christians feel the practice of having a Christmas tree is prohibited in the book of Jeremiah 10:1-5 (KJV) 1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. A careful reading will help us understand this has nothing to do with the use of a Christmas tree. The trees of Jeremiah had no connection with the birth of Christ, the story of salvation or Christmas. The trees were worshiped as gods having supernatural power. I have never known someone today to pray to a Christmas tree, believing it could hear and answer.



Regardless of the origin of the Christmas tree, there is no doubt that the world had secularized it. It no longer represents to the average person the spiritual teachings of Christians from an earlier time who used it for good or the false teachings of the prophets of the groves or those from Jeremiah’s day. For most the tree is simply a part of the Christmas tradition. A tradition that has forgotten the Christmas message delivered on the first Christmas eve to the shepherds, Luke 2:10-11 (KJV) 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.



Trees have always played an important part for good and bad in the Scriptures. Like every other spiritual symbol, Satan loves to counterfeit and corrupt.

Trees are mentioned 287 times in the Bible. It is first mentioned in Genesis. They played an important part in the Garden story.

Genesis 1:11-12 (KJV) And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 2:9 (KJV) And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV) 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3:6 (KJV) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.



Trees played other important roles in Bible. Used in construction of Temple. Moses placed a branch of a tree in the bitter waters to make them sweet. False prophets often used trees to carve idols and to hide in tree groves when performing their wicked deeds. Psalms 1:3 speaks of the blessed or saved man, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”



The most important reference to a tree is the one in our text.

1 Peter 2:24 (KJV) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Galatians 3:13 (KJV) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:



Whether we choose to have a Christmas tree in our home or not is a personal decision. Whether we see it as a symbol of God’s son, salvation and sovereignty or another invasion of the world into spiritual things and a commercialization of that which is spiritual is left for each to decide. What is important however, is that we understand the real Christmas tree and the gift associated with it was given to us when Jesus hung on the wooden cross and gave his life that we might have eternal life.





Jim Preston

Lighthouse Baptist Church

12140 Indian St.

Moreno Valley, Left Coast 92557

Arias Family nativity scenes

I love the Reason for the Season! A well-placed nativity scene reminds us all what its all about.
Two years ago, I got plaster figures and painted my own nativity scene, just like my mother had done 30 some years ago. It was a tremendous effort on my part, as I am not artistic. I was pleased with the results. Then, six months later, I lost all my Christmas decorations in a fire. We lost many things in the fire, but I mourn the loss of my Christmas things the most.
Last year we bought this set to replace the other.

Our second scene is a Chilean-style Jose, Maria and Niño Jesus. I need to get a better setting for this one. Its really cute.

Coming soon, pictures of our tree!
R

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

I really love Christmas time! I decorate my home and paint my windows. I cook and eat and we all sing! I love Christmas carols. Christian ones, and a few secular ones. I saw a Christmas meme over at Dawns, and I even love hearing about Christmas!

I have lived here in the southern hemisphere for over 20 years and I still think about Christmas being in the Winter. I miss the cold and dark. Its so hard to "get in the mood" when its 80 degrees and light until 9:00 pm!

Here's how I get in the mood. I decorate! I put up my tree and Nativity scene. Nothing elaborate, but we like it. I play Christmas music as much as I can stand. I prefer traditional choral music to soloists. I especially love groups that sing accapella. I hate anything too modern.
Favorite carol? Too hard to say. Currently they are "God rest ye, Merry Gentlemen", "We Three Kings" and "Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella".

We eat traditional Christmas food, turkey and cornbread dressing, pecan pie,mashed potatoes,
seven layer salad, yeast rolls.

We make Christmas cookies and fudge, pecan sandies, chocolate crinkles, and if we can, peanut butter-kiss cookies.

I do not allow my children to give me lists.
I rarely send out Christmas cards. (shame on me)

I get supremely homesick for the US around this time.

So, more Christmas musings to come!

Be careful for nothing

Philippians 4:6 tells us to be careful for nothing. That means that we should worry about NOTHING. Do you worry? I do, I am ashamed to admit. And of course, I worry about things that I cannot change or control. Why can't we trust God?

I think that it is because we do not trust God to take us into the Valley. We trust Him on the Plain, when we can see clearly where we are going. And we love to hike with Him through the Mountains, but the Valley is a different story. We do not want to go anywhere near those valleys, and yet it seems that the valley is exactly where He needs to take me. I need to trust God enough not to be dissapointed with my circumstances. Valleys are a place of growth.

Lord, teach me to love the Valley.......

I feel so loved!

When I go to my stat counter, I like to look at the visitor activity. I just love seeing the words "multiple visits spread over more than one day" I truly feel loved and connected. Thanks!

R

Back from Santiago

We just got back from Santiago this morning. We live about 450 miles south of Santiago, and because our van is in the shop, had to travel by bus. The trip going was horrible, but the trip home was not too bad. I have mounds of laundry to do, but that's not the end of the world. We had to go to Santiago because the Preacher had been invited to preach an evangelistic campaign in a small mission church. 2 people were saved. We are thankful for that, but would have loved to have seen more souls saved.
Back on the homefront, all is well. The Church had a great weekend without us. Our kid's club, "The Forest of the Allmighty" had its last meet for the year. We share the Gospel all year, but rarely give an invitation, due to the high instances of false professions. Anyway, we knew that this was the time to give the Gospel again, and an invitation. 4 children were saved on Saturday, and three more were saved on Sunday! We are all pleased, since we know that these children have heard the Gospel time and again, and probably understand it well.

We had a great Thanksgiving, just us and my mom. But we had all the trimmings. Of course, its Spring here, so no Fall leaves and the like.

I am having a blast with my vonage phone! Thank God for technology!

Please pray for our van. It looks like its going to be another week in the shop, and only God knows how much more money.

Pray for your missionaries! Satan does not give up easily where he has been given free reign.
In Christ,
R

Trials and Joys

We had a great ladies retreat! But it was not without great personal trials and tribulations.
I praise the Lord for walking with me each step of the way, and bringing me down to level where He could work on me.

We had over 60 women. I am so thankful for the ladies in my Church who worked very hard. I'll tell you though, next time, we want to be Marys instead of Marthas. I'd much rather sit and listen than cook and clean. Well, as the Good Book says, there is a time for everything!

I praise the Lord because I saw how he worked in some of the women there. When you see tears streaming down a friend's face and see her jumping out of her seat to come to the altar, it makes it all seem worth it. We even had one lady get saved!

I am thankful for those who lifted me up in prayer. I really did have some hard times, and I'm still smarting from the blow.



On a another note, I am having trouble getting my Vonage phone to work properly and I am frustrated! It seems that my broadband connection isn't fast enough, and I am working on it. It means alot to me to be able to call so easily! I feel that I am sooooo close, and yet no quite there!

Grace and Peace!
R

Three days left!

Our big ladies retreat starts on Friday morning. We have already started running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Satan has already started vicious attacks and I'm all ready to burst into tears at any given moment.

I have decided not to even try to blog for the next few days.

Please pray for this meeting. We are expecting around 60 ladies.

Please pray for me specifically. The are problems which have no direct, easy solution. If there was a solution, I'd do it, but I'm stumped. So I must wait for direction. The bad part is the knot in my stomach.

We want the Lord to move this weekend. We are praying to that end. I appreciate any intercession you could make on my behalf.

In Christ's love,
Rhonda

I got a blessing!

I just got my new router and Vonage phone connection. This means that I can make and receive phone calls to a US area code and number, through my dsl line. YEAH!!! I get 500 minutes for about 18 dollars. YEAH!!!!! I get to call the US a whole bunch! YEAH!!!!!!!

This is a big deal for someone who leaves at the End of the Earth.

R

My Spirit Guide

How often do I pause to check and see if I am following the leading of the Holy Spirit, or just barging through with my words and deeds? Not often enough, would be my guess.

Now, I am not into touchy-feely mystisicm. But I am talking about a pause throughout the day, a little WWJD at every turn. Would Jesus talk that way, even if He was right? Jesus was occasionally harsh, most notably with the Pharisees in the Temple, which happened twice, FYI.

But, mostly, Jesus was gentle. Not effeminately gentle. Strong gentle. I believe He had the spirit of a gentle Giant.

Gentleness is something I need to cultivate in my life. It does not come naturally to me. Of course, gentleness was given me by the Holy Spirit as a birthday gift when I was born again.
But, just like some gifts, it is put away to be used later on. Shameful.

Gentleness. Hmmmm.

A dilema

As conservative, make that extremely conservative IBFers, we use the KJV. That is, I use the KJV, the Preacher uses the Reina-Valera 1960, because he is Spanish speaking.

I do not wish to open a debate, but here is the problem. Several good KJVers , wanting to say how good the Bible is, are going to the extreme now to say that the KJV is the Bible for the whole world and that all other Bibles in other languages must be filtered through the KJV, and even so remain but a shadow of the KJV.

Our Reina-Valera 1960 Bible was translated from the Textus Receptus a few years before the KJV. It has been revised through the centuries, as has the KJV. It has never been revised by the Critical Texts.

It grieves my husband to feel that once again, Americans are acting like what they have is better than everybody esle's. God can preserve His Word in any language.

The Preacher feels like Satan is going to use this issue to divide the Brethren, and the Brethren, all feeling like they must defend the truth, fall for it. God can and will preserve His Word. He has done so through the ages.

May we all be wise and open to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God in this issue.
R

Spring!

I am loving seeing all of your Autumn photos. Its funny to me because here, in the southern hemisphere, it is now Spring! We are all beginning to thaw out.

What is the greatest drawback to having switched seasons? Having Christmas in the dead of Summer. That is a major bummer. I have lived in Chile for 23 years, and its still a bummer.
I know it may sound strange, but you need to pray for you missionaries around the holidays. Those are times when you miss your traditions and your family.

The good thing is that where we live here in Chile has a lot of German immigrant descendants, and the Germans know how to decorate for Christmas! And now, with things being the way they are, we can buy a ton of Christmassy things. One oddity we found today, we found a cute music boxy thing with a Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus, very cute. BUT the music box plays "SantaClause is coming to town"!!!!!!!!!!! We used to play the Santa Clause thing growing up, but the Preacher is dead set against SC. That's OK with me, at least I get to have a tree. Later on, I'll post some interesting things about the Christmas Tree.


R

A sad story

I found out this week that Dr. Kent Hovind is in jail for not paying taxes. He has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

I knew from watching his seminar that he has a thinly-veiled disdain for the federal government and the IRS, and maybe deservedly so. I know many Christians who hate paying taxes, knowing full well that their tax dollars go for abortions and atheistic school systems, among many other unholy things. I know that he truly believes that they are exempt from taxes. The courts saw it differently.

Is it right to pay taxes, knowing that you are funding abortions?

I appreciate Dr. Hovind inmensly and am going to participate in translating his seminar for Spanish subtitles, so please do think I am judging Dr.Hovind. But if Jesus payed taxes to a crooked publican for the Roman empire, and instructed his disciples to do the same, well, that's good enough for me.

And if you are truly exempt, I would be checking that every year, just to be on the safe side.

I know that this is casting a dark cloud over the Creation Evangelism ministry and that is a crying shame.

I pray that this problem will soon be over, and the important work of evangelising will once again take precedence.
R

Paul

I just finished reading Chuck Swindoll's biography of Paul. Wow. Why is it that when I read the Bible, I read it, and miss so much. Then somebody comes along and shows me things I've read a dozen times or more, and never saw or realized. Boy do I feel dumb.

Paul was an exceptional character. Studying about him makes me feel unworthy to call myself a missionary. I suffer nothing for the Cause of Christ and cower before the lost instead of boldly proclaiming His Name. Swindoll also pointed out several things about waiting until God says "Go" I thought that was interesting because we usually tell people that if they are called, to just get up and go.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, except for some disturbing references to Mother Theresa. I know she did fine work for the poor, but she was still a Roman Catholic nun, therefore not to be confused with a biblical Christian hero. How can you quote Luther in one breath and Mother Theresa in the next?

R

So here's how it went.....

Our door-to-door evangelization, that is. 6 of us ladies got together at my house. We went over what we wanted to do and what we should say. We prayed that God would bless our efforts, and give us souls for our hire. We planned to go out once a week for 4 weeks to see if it made a difference. Please understand that this place is very different from the US. When you go cold-turkey here, it really is cold-turkey. They have no prior information from which to draw on, as is, they have no idea what you are talking about. The predominant religion here is catholicism mixed with Mapuche paganism.
We asked God to give us 20 peolpe who will come to church, and 10 to be saved in the next four weeks.
So, we went out, two-by-two. We passed our invitations and tracts. We passed out Gospels of John to anyone with whom we were able to share the Gospel.
Did anyone show up on Sunday? No, but we did have the highest attendance that we've had in 6 weeks, and one young man got saved on Sunday night. Also our kids club had a great attendance on Saturday. So we are happy, and content to go again. Only this time we will be conducting "surveys" in the town square. We are putting God to the test. We expect Him to bless our obedience, since we are striving to delight Him by obeying His commands.

I'll keep you posted,
Rhonda

How to give to missions

God requires giving from us. First our tithe, then our offerings. These are to be given through your Church. (the Storehouse) I find that when someone starts giving to a cause, they suddenly find themselves very much involved. When you give your money, you find that your heart soon follows!

Next step. Ask yourself this question: why am I not a missionary? (or full-time Christian worker) God already commissioned you for foreign service, per Matthew 28. He said "Go ye (that means you) therefore" Did you "go"? Why not?

Next step. God has chosen to finance His work through your offerings. Look at Ezra 1:1-3
Freewill offerings. That is over and above your tithe, which you are to pay, as it does not belong to you.

I have two giving options for you, the first being "faith promise missionary giving" This is where you decide, through the Lord's leading, how much you will give monthly or weekly, and then give it, no matter what. The second is basically the same, except for you promise a percentage instead of a fixed amount. This is good, because the more God blesses you, the more you give. My ideal would be to start with a fixed amount, and never go below that, no matter what your income, but give more if God should bless you.

Certain denominations ask for a once-a-year offering. God says to give as you have been prospered. You should give everytime you get a paycheck. Its relatively easy to give once a year, its more difficult to give all the time.

When I go to many US churches, I see a lively "worship" service. Let me tell you, you worship best with your pocketbook. Singing is cheap.

More later,
R

Out of my comfort zone

I am a fairly competent person in a variety of situations. Afterm all, a woman must do what a woman must do.
But lately I have felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to do some door-to-door evangelism and that is something I do not do well at all. I love talking about God to people who are interested, but it is another story when on a "cold call" I hate those. I feel uncomfortable and uneasy. But I am also faced with the fact that it is likely that most people here will not just "show up" on my front doorstep, demanding to hear about Christ. Someone must take the first step, and it looks like it must be me. I have assembled a group of like-minded women. We are going to go over some tips from "The Way of the Master", and we are all going to step out of our comfort zone and spread the Gospel.

Many will probably take our tract and shut the door, but maybe, just maybe, some person will respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit. They may not make a desicion to trust Christ todya, but maybe someday, maybe soon.

Pray for us.
Pray for the Lost.

R

Misc.

I am so glad I don't lose money if I can't blog! I would love to post everyday, but my "day job" as missionary wife and homeschool mama is keeping me busy. We just finished a stewardship conference this weekend. If you don't know what a stewardship conference is about, I tell you, its basically about money. Of course, you're supposed to give of your time, talents, and all that to God too, but, truth be told, the thing we don't want to give is our money.
The pastor who came to preach is an old friend who has been in Chile for 30-plus years. He's known me since I was a little girl. He is still telling the same jokes he told 23 years ago, No Kidding!

Several of the teenage girls and I went to work on the church building today. I spread paste on the walls and sanded walls and mopped and cooked lunch for the group then I washed all the dishes. I just love washing dishes. Not. We got icky dirty and I have a blister!!!!!!!!! Please pray that God will send more money to finish this building before it finishes us!

Guess what? No Greater Joy publications will start selling "Created to be His Helpmeet" in Spanish. Woo Hoo!!! I can't wait to share it with my gals.

I've got a wee bit more to blog about, but later. I love you gals!!
R

Refrigerator Meme

Oh, how embarrasing! Please nobody do a junk-drawer meme!

On my fridge there are:
3 Disneyland magnets,
1 Disneyworld magnet
1 Bugs Bunny magnet
1 Sylvester magnet
1 Junior Asparagus magnet
1 San Francisco magnet
1 photo of Mom and Eileen
1 photo of me and Ronnie when I was skinny
A lovely note to me from Eileen.

Can you tell we are really into cartoons?

I tag Mrs. Wilt and Rachel Hammet.
The only changes you are allowed to make is to protect anonymity. And you must join in, even if you have nothing stuck on your fridge, lol we can marvel at your tidy, shiny fridge! Only kidding, only join in if you want to of course :o)

R

My take on music

Surely you have noticed that everyone has different tastes in music. Then there are a those of us who believe that there is "good" music and "bad" music. Then there is the stuff in the middle that we cannot agree on.
Here's my 2 cents, for what its worth.
As a little girl I grew up listening to Southern gospel. My father was a church music director, so there was a lot of music in our home. The choir sang Lanny Wolf songs and Bill Gaither. "Christian rock" did not exist. We even had Amy Grant's debut album that she recorded when she was 17.
As a teen, I listened to Sandi Patti and Steve Green, and we loved the Gaither Vocal Band. But I do remember my mom saying "That sure is wordly music" but eventually she got used to it and enjoyed it as much as we did.
Since I got married though, I feel that the Lord was leading me to consider what we were listening to. "Worldly" music kept getting worse and worse. I saw a seminar called "The language of music" by Frank Garlock. I was enthralled, because this was what I believed although I had not been able to express it before. I do believe that music, not just lyrics, speaks to us. The way we sing speaks as loudly as our words. Please allow me to explain. Chileans listen to American pop music. They do not understand the lyrics, but it moves them. With romantic, sensual music it is unnecessary to understand the lyrics. The sensuality of the music and the way the singer sings is enough. The sad thing is that if you take a praise-and-worship cd, play it on the radio, what you hear is sensual music. They don't "get" the lyrics. And if you put in Spanish lyrics, its still sensual. Here's a"fr'exampl" I have a cd with "Shout to the Lord" This is a lovely song, and we sing it in our Church, but the way that it is recorded is extremely sensual. I believe that there is no room for sensuality in worship. We cannot mistake a sensual feeling for being touched my the Spirit.
How can we know what is pleasing to God? I tell you, there are many tapes I used to listen to that I feel truly uncomfortable with now. They might have pleased me, but I don't know what He thought. No one person can tell you what is right or wrong, but we all should give God control in our music, ask His to show us what He would like to hear from us. Does He really enjoy hearing us imitate a famous christian singer? Does He like watching us bop to the beat?

Oh Lord, make me sensitive to your leading. May the songs I sing glorify You and the music I play be pleasing to your ear. Ephesians 5:10
R

My birthday

Here's a picture of where the Preacher took me for a one-couple couple's retreat for my birthday. Isn't it lovely?


Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes we talk so much about God, and not enough to Him?
I think I do. I want to know that I can not only talk about Him and His atributes, but to Him.
There is also a bit of personality issues here. I mean, those of a sanguine personality just ooze words of worship, and truly mean them. If I oozed like that, I'd feel kind of foolish and insincere. Not that I wouldn't mean the words, I'd just feel strange. I don't ooze very easily, sort of like the difference between David, an "oozer" and Paul, a non-oozer.
Anyway, I realize now that my "down" times could fade more easily if I praised the Lord more openly, that hearing words of His greatness coming out of my lips would be uplifting, even in light of my circumstances.

I praise you God, for You are mightily in control of all my circumstances. You desire to transform me for your glory. In your grace, you choose to mold me. I will gladly accept what I cannot understand. I will give up my desire to know your plans. I am willing, I am available. I lay myself on your altar. I offer the sacrifice of praise. I am so honored to be in your presence. I am so grateful for your forgiveness. Forgive my faithlessness and increase my faith. Use me, if it pleases you to do so. I praise your name.

Watch this

Why should I believe the Bible?
Beacause it is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report of supernatural events and those events took place in fulfilment of specific profecies. They claim their writtings are of divine origin and not human.



I told y'all that I have been listenin' to Beth Moore and Voddie Baucham. I am beginnin' to get a Southern accent and I luv it!

Anyhoo, I found this link to this powerful sermon by Voddie Baucham. Its worth watching! Just go to the link and pick the one that says Voddie Baucahm.

Enjoy!

My prayer time

My Dear Blogroll friends,
As I lay in bed last night, I prayed, like I always do. But last night, I also prayed for you. All of you, specifically by name. I've read your blogs, so I know a bit about your lives and struggles, except of course for Mrs.R who is rather private. I prayed for you too, just that I didn't know exactly what to pray for.

I know that the internet is used for many vile uses, but for me it has been a connection that as women, we need. I praised God for you, and I petitioned Him on your behalf. My prayers spanned the globe and that thrilled me.

In midst of this pagan, godless world, we can unite under the banner of the Cross, and lift up one another, encourage one another to fight the good fight and keep the faith.

God bless,
Rhonda

Knowing your enemy

The "DaVinci Code" book has been extremely popular and controversial here in Chile. Not so much where we live but in Santiago and the bigger cities. Since most Chileans are catholics or former catholics, it was a real shake-up, leaving them dazed. My missionary friend read the book so that she may be able to give them guidane and answers to the questions posed in the book. First I would like to say that I have never read such blasphemy IN MY LIFE! Here are a few of my thoughts, because it was very thought-provoking.

1. This book proclaims that the deity of Christ is an invention of the catholic church. Not so. The deity of Christ is proclaimed throughout Scritpture, Old and New Testaments. Praise His Name!

2. This book promotes paganism which I understand to be a lot of things, among them goddess worship and nature worship. It tries to say that paganism is not satanism. There is only one God, the God of heaven who, by the way, is not female. Satan is not a god, but would have people worship him. He is also content to have people worship anything that is not of God, so spirit worship and nature worship and humanism all fit within his evil desires. We live in Mapuche Indian land. They are pagans. Most of the religion promoted by the book is practiced here.

3. The author mixes truth with lies. Isn't that satan's modus operandi? Truth about the catholic church and lies. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't know what to believe.

This all brings me to Halloween. Please let me speak the truth in great love. Halloween is all paganism. All its symbols are pagan. All its practices are pagan. This holiday differs with Christmas and Easter in many ways, not the least being the fact the Halloween is expressly for the celebration of paganism. We have been living in a pagan land for so long that we no longer recognize it to be bad. We are supposed to be strangers in this land, yet we are blending in with the locals. We have accepted their music and dress and holidays, their speech and views.
They mock us for our inconsistencies. We cower before them. My friends, we must fight the good fight! Come out from among them and be ye HOLY (holy means separate)

If you want to get your kids on a sugar high, then by all means do so. I love candy. Especially See's candy. But please, prayerfully consider your participation in a celebration of paganism. I am not saying this because I think myself a spiritual giant, but because I see the effects of paganism first-hand. We are living in a world that likes what the "DaVinci Code" is all about.

In Christ's love,
Rhonda

Found!

I finally found the important papers that were lost. You are just not going to believe this. After combing the living room, our bedroom, the office (AKA the dungeon), I was at my wit's end. I have a theory about lost items: If something is not where it belongs, then it is somewhere it does not belong. Duh. That means that you cannot always look in the obvious places. Sometimes you have to look in the freezer. Usually I look and look, then I take a break and let my subconcious try to remember where the thing is. Well, after hours of concern (not actual worry, but concern) I started my next theory about finding lost items. You must start cleaning. You will eventually find among things not yet de-cluttered the item you seek. Well, I started in Ronnie's room, which doubles as my office, a situation that must change, even if it means moving Ronnie out into the living room. I started cleaning off his catch-all dresser, and slowy my eyes moved up to the stuffed-animal hammock hanging in the corner. And there, nestled among Pooh and Goofy and Jessie, I see the papers! Hurrah! Just at that second, the Preacher calls home. I answered and told him the good news. He said, "Oh yeah, I might have put them there" AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

R


Now if I can just find my choir book..........

I'm bursting with ideas!

Thanks to all those who have shown your concern for me. We have been discouraged, but we have risen up, and will continue the course that God has set forth for us, knowing well it will be a bumpy ride. BTW, Happymamma, I'd like to hear the rest of your song. Do you have a melody to go with it? I wish I could write music!

The Ladies retreat will be centered around Colossians 2:6 "so walk ye in him"
We are going to "walk in him" with our husbands, our children, in the Church, in the community, with our habits and with our dress and demeanor. I have several pastor's and missionary's wives coming to take a session. I will elaborate more as it comes more closely into focus.

I feel a few posts "coming on" in light of what I have been reading and hearing. 1. Beth Moore and women teachers and preachers. 2. I just read "The DaVinci Code" and since Halloween is right around the corner, I'll do my take on those things and how they so closely fit together. 3. I have been thinking about appetites, not physical, but spiritual. Why do some people feel grieved in their spirits when they hear "praise and worship" music, and others love it? It has to do with appetites. More later.

I have been listening to Dr.Voddie Baucham and Michael Pearl. Great!!!

The Preacher misplaced some important documents, so when I find them, I'll have more time to write.

Grace and Peace through Jesus Christ,

R

Escapism

I have not been blogging lately. I have been reading, but not writing. Several situations have come up lately that have really discouraged me and I found myself "escaping" from reality. I have watched a ton of DVDs. I have spent an inordinate amount of time daydreaming about our big vacation next year. (Its 405 days away, but who's counting?)

I have not blogged because I try to be as real as possible when blogging, and believe me, I did not want to be real. There comes times in your life that are faced with uncomfortable, often painful situations over which you have absolutely no control. As our friend Dawn says, "Its in God's hands, but its still in my face" Praying seemed to make things worse because praying caused me to focus on the problem.

Just how do you put your faith into practice in these situations? Someday I may figure it out.

R

Ladies Retreat

We are going to host a ladies retreat next month. Our church building is still in the "un-finished" state, so it should prove interesting!

I have been thinking about what I want to share with the ladies. What is the most important thing we can share? There are many topics, many issues that need to be addressed, but which is the most important and relevant? I was talking to my missionary friend Michelle, on Monday at a fabulous cookout at their house. We were discussing the retreat and subjects we'd like to talk about it. We realized that God has sent us to work in a place where Satan has had free reign. It is hard to talk about purity when these ladies have never known purity. It is hard to discuss a heavenly marriage when all marriages around them are from the Pit. It is hard to talk about loving family relationship where there is little natural affection. They do not know of God's order in life. They do not realize that God expects husbands and wives to put each other first, before the children. They do not understand that the children are not in charge. They do not understand that Grandma and Mom do not have the same position of authority. And none of them realize that there should be a father in every household. I know that we work we do now, may not bear fruit for another generation...or two.

So for the next few weeks, I'll be sharing things with you all that I plan to share with them, to get your feedback.

Grace and Peace from God the Father,
R

Equipping your children

I have been reading Kay Arthur and Beth Moore lately. The prevailing theme of both books has been the redeeming grace of God. Since I have been under wonderful Bible teaching all my life, I am convinced of the truth of this. God can and does take broken lives and piece them together for His service.

But it is also important to know that the Grace of God is capable of keeping us from sabotaging our own lives. I mean, you don't have to make a mess of things in order to experience the grace of God. Grace can keep you from sin, if you'll allow it.

As parents, we are in a position to be the instruments of that grace. We can and must do our jobs as parents to help our kids make the right choices and withstand temptations. We can't and shoudn't shield them from all tenptation, we can regulate it. We don't have to send our kids to swim with the sharks. We can, figuratively speaking, train them about sharks. They can and must, learn how to be safe if they come into contact with a shark. We can watch as they face the sharks. Someday, when they are alone, they will remember our diligent training and they will be safe in any environment.

Do you get what I am saying? Prevention now is better that grace later. I once heard a man say that he was glad he got into terrible sin, because now he understood the grace of God. Baloney!!!!! I'll bet his wife didn't feel that way, or his kids. God does not tell us to flirt with sin so that we can experience His grace. He says to FLEE!!!!! Run! Escape! These are valuable skills we can give our Christian children.

We don't over-protect, we must train. You don't tell you kids never to cross the street. When they are old enough, you take them out, explain the "stop, look, listen", you show them the cross walk. You cross with them a few times. Then you watch from behind the curtain to see if they are obeying the procedures for safe crossings. Then you will know that, no matter where they are, and who they are with, they will cross safely. We can do this with tempting situations. We must! Their life depends on it!

Grace should make you gracious

I was getting ready to do a blog post yesterday when my doorbell rang. I peeked outside and saw a young lady who has been attending our church lately. I cringed, because I really didn't feel like talking to anyone. I let her in and she sat down and started talking. For almost 3 (three) hours. I sat there cringing on the inside, trying to make spiritual conversation on the outside. I am sure it was not too spiritual, given my attitude, but she seemed to appreciate the time spent with her.
I forced myself to realize that this is what God would have me to do. So I did it. What I should have done is to have changed my attitude. Grace should have made me more gracious. Understanding God's grace should make us more gracious towards others even though they cut into your blogging time!

Mrs. A.J. Wilder, on Anger

The Armor of a Smile
November 1921
Mrs A was angry. Her eyes snapped, her voice was shrill, and a red flag of rage was flying upon each cheek. She expected opposition and anger at the things she said, but her remarks were answered in a soft voice; her angry eyes were met by smiling ones; and her attack was smothered in the softness of courtesy, consideration, and compromise.
I feel sure Mrs. A had intended to create a disturbance, but she might as well have tried to break a feather pillow by beating It as to have any effect with her angry voice and manner on the perfect kindness and good manners which met her. She only made herself ridiculous, and in self-defense was obliged to change her attitude. Since then I have been wondering if it so, if shafts of malice aimed in anger forever fail harmless against the armor of a smile, kind words, and gentle manners. I believe they do. And 1 have gained a fuller understanding of the words, “A soft answer turneth awav wrath.’ Until this incident, I had found no more in the words than the idea that a soft answer might cool the wrath of an aggressor, but I saw wrath turned away as an arrow deflected from its mark and carne lo understand that a soft answer and a courteous manner are an actual protection. Nothing is ever gained by allowing anger to have sway. While under its influence, we lose the ability to think clearly and lose the forceful power that is in calmness. Anger is a destructive force; its purpose is to hurt and destroy, and being a blind passion, it does its evil work, not onlv upon whatever arouses it, but also upon the person who harbors it. Even physically it injures him, impeding the action of the heart and circulation. affecting the respiration, and creating an actual poison In the blood. Persons with weak hearts have been known to drop dead from It, and always there is a feeling of illness after indulging in a fit of temper. Anger is a destroying force. What all the world needs is its opposite—an uplifting power. Proverbs 15:1.

Will somebody say Amen? Amen?

I have been having a great time listening to Beth Moore online at oneplace.com. I tell you, if God ever lifts His ban on women preachers (and He won't) I want to be one! I used to want to be a singer like Sandi Patti when I grew up and now I want to be a teacher like Beth Moore;) But I'll need to work on my Texan accent. Hey, how come it is that a lot of women preachers have real thick southern accents?

All kidding aside, I have been enormously blessed over the past two days by Beth, and Chuck Swindoll and Voddie Baucham and Michael Pearl.
Here are some of the things I have gleaned:

1. God can and does cleanse us from all our filthiness. And we are all filthy, even us "good" ones.

2. When God saved you, He forgave all your sins, past, present and future. I knew this, of course, but its always good to remember it. It is also necessary to understand the even though ALL your sins have been (past tense) forgiven, you have no license to sin. We have been Born Again, we are dead to sin.

3.Children are a blessing, a gift from God. We should not view them as simply a drain on our resources.

4. We should never ridicule anyone whom God has blessed with many children.

5.It is the father's responsability to Win his kids for Christ and desciple them.



Grace and peace from God our Father!

Rhonda

I found my Laura Ingalls book!

This book is a compilation by of articles written for a newspaper by LIW. Edited by Stephen W. Hines.

I love reading these posts. I guess this must have been Laura's "blog"



Are You Your Children’s Confidant?
September 1921
A letter from my mother, who is seventy-six years old, lies on my desk beside a letter from my daughter far away in Europe. Reading the message from my mother, I am a child again and a longing unutterable fills my heart for counsel, for the safe haven of her protection and the relief from responsibility which trusting in her judgment always gave me.
But when I turn to the letter written by my daughter, who will always be little girl to me no matter how old she grows, then I understand and appreciate my mother’s position and her feelings toward me. Many of us have the blessed privilege of being at the same time mother and child, able to let the one interpret the other to us until our understanding of both is rich and full. What is there in the attitude of your children toward yourself that you wish were different? Search your heart and learn if your ways toward your own mother could be improved. In the light of experience and the test of the years, can you see how your mother might have been more to you, could have guided you better? Then are making the most of your privileges with the children who are looking to you for love and guidance? For there is, after ah, no great difference --- the generations; the problems of today and tomorrow must be met in much the same way as those of yesterday. During the years since my mother was a girl to the time when my daughter woman. there have been many slight, external changes in the fashions and ways of living, some change in the thought of the world, and much more freedom expressing those thoughts. But the love of rnother and child is the same, with the responsibility of controlling and guiding on the one side and the obligation of obedience and respect on the other. The most universal sentiment in the world is that of mother-love. From the highest to the lowest in the scale of humanity, and all through the animal kingdom, strongest force in creation, the conserver of life, the safeguard of evolution. It holds within its sheltering care the fulfillment of the purpose of creation itself. In all ages, in all countries it is the same—a boundless, all-enveloping love: if necessary, a sacrifice of self for the offspring.
Think of the number of children in the world, each the joy of some mother’s heart, each a link connecting one generation with another, each a hope for the future…
It stuns the mind to contemplate their number and their possibilities, for these are the coming rulers of the world: the makers of destiny, not only for their own generation but for the generations to come. And they are being trained by the women of today. Surely “The hand that rocks the cradle is that hand that rules the world”

Easy Bread Recipe

Here's my favorite bread recipe. Favorite, because its easier than pie.

90 minute Bread
4 pkgs dry yeast
4 c water
1 Tbls oil
4 tsp salt
8 tbls sugar
7-8 c flour (I use half white, half whole wheat)

Dissolve yeast in warm water, Add oil, salt, sugar and slowly add flour. Let set for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle with flour and knead for two minutes. Shape into 3 loaves and let set in greased pans for 30 minutes. bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
The recipe says it makes 4 loaves, but makes 3 for me.

Pure foolishness

Even though I have spent most of my life outside the good ole US of A, I am definitely an American. Right now I am experiencing a bit of homesickness. The stupid part of this is that I'm not homesick for friends and family, because thanks to modern technology, I can communicate with whomever I please. I am homesick for the malls and restaurants and fun things. Foolishness, I know. I wish we could go to the old Pizza Mill and Sub Factory we used to go to when I was a child. I'd like to spend some time in Solvang, CA or Eureka Springs, AR, browsing through the shops. I would like to be eating an Awesome Blossom at Chili's. Isn't that ridiculous in the light of Eternity? One of the ways we lose our effectiveness as servants of God is our discontented attitudes. I am abundantly blessed all the time. Why can't I see this?
R

What type of frugal are you?

There are many kinds of frugal. There is the stereotypical frugal, you know, the person who enjoys saving money like other people enjoy football. I remember reading a quote from Hillbilly Housewife saying that she liked to pinch pennies until they screamed out for mercy! These people enjoy the challenge of finding the bargain.

I am not one of those people. I like being frugal if and only if it gets me something I want. For instance, we want to take a special vacation next year. We have been planning this vacation for over a year now. I don't mind scrimping now if it means having fun later.

Now, people here are frugal out of sheer necessity. I don't know how they live on so little. Most of them live on about 200 dollars a month.

So, since the Preacher wants a new van, and I don't want to forfeit next year's vacation, I will become a Penny Pincher, Mrs.Scrooge. I'll started re-using my ziploc bags. I'll start hanging out over at Hillbilly Housewife. I will accept all frugal advice:) Let the bargain hunting begin!
R

School shootings

It must be terrible to go to American public highschool. First, if you're not popular, you get teased or ignored. That would have hurt me terribly. I am so sensitive to teasing! There is filthy language everywhere. You will be ridiculed if you are a Christian. And on top of all this, you must beware the shootings!
Oh, you say, that would never happen at my child's school! Hmmm.


I wish all parents could spend a day at a public school. You may ask where I get my knowledge of public school. I have several teachers in my family, both elementary and high school.
If you are a homeschooling mama, please don't give up! Work harder, better yourself as a teacher, pray for you kids. Make it so great that your kids love homeschooling. Get excited about learning. You can do it!

R

Saving Money

Here's my 2 Cents.
I found an online bank that has been easy to use and give 5% interest, and no minimum! Its called Emigrant Direct. We've been with then for a year now, and so far so good! We link up with our checking account and depost every month. When we need the money, we just transfer it back to our checking account. Over the last year we have earned 44 dollars in interest.

R

Bread baking and Frugality

We are trying to afford a new-to-us van. The one we have is old, (1987) and has been breaking down a lot. We have adequate support, butr not enough to buy a new vehicle outright, and we don't want to go into debt.
So we are starting to save up, the old-fashioned way, one dollar at a time. Hence, DH asked me to start baking bread again. Bread is quite a staple around here. Fine, I like to bake.
Is it that much cheaper to make your own bread? I don't rightly know, but I do know that the less you go to the store, the less money you spend, period. Duh.

Anyway, I was thinking about that Reb Bradley article that I didn't like. He talked about a homeschooling momma on her deathbed saying that she wished she had bought her bread and spent the time with her kids instead. Well, I had an interesting time making bread with my kids! Hmm. With the kids? What an interesting concept! I am not saying that you have to bake bread. And I am not saying that buying bread is a bad thing. Not at all. We have bought tons of bread. But why does it have to be an all or nothing thing?

Being a Christian wife and mom and even a homeschool mom is supposed to be a pleasant, joyful thing. If its not, its because we are messing it up somehow.


On the Frugal Front, I am establishing the tried and true "envelope" method. The Preacher gave me x amount of money for veggies and bread and the occasional Coke for each week in October. Now we'll see just how much we've been spending here and there on the little things.
It seems ridiculous to think that we'll get enough for a new van doing this, but I know it works. Nickle and dime savings helps more than we think it does.

R

A housekeeping "Aha!" moment

One of my many challenges as a housekeeper has always been washing the dishes. Once, when we were first married, I left a sink full of dirty dishes when we left for a week of camp. Yikes! Mold!
After 13 years of marriage, and 3 years of Flylady, I have been doing much better, but not really conquering the problem.

When we were in Santiago, we spent a good deal of time with our friends that have 8 children, the youngest 4 being 4 and under. My friend is a neat-nick, so I tried to be helpful. Since I couldn't nurse her baby, I helped with the dishes and the cooking. In that house you have to wash dishes all the time. As soon as you see 2 or 3 dishes, you wash them and put them away. Its just that simple.
I know, I know, that is what everyone has been saying all along, I just never actually saw it in action. Now I have, and I see the wisdom and practicality of it.

Now, for another "Aha!" housekeeping and and motherhood moment. I had been waiting for my kids to grow up to be able to delegate the dishwashing. Well, after a long visit to "Large Family Logistics" I realized that instead of delegating, I need to be washing the dishes with them. It makes the work go faster and provides needed "bonding time", so far, good for my girl and good for my boy. IMHO, all boys need to at least be able to wash dishes and cook. God willing, he will have a fine wife someday, but that gal just might get sick one day, and she'll be glad to know that her MIL taught her boy the tricks of the cooking and cleaning trade.
R

My other Church

Many IFB missionaries are not sent out by a mission board, but by the home Church. We were sent out by the Lighthouse Baptist Church, in LaVerne, CA.

We are grateful to them for their care and support. If all missionaries were cared for the way we are, there would be more missionaries still on the field.

If you live in this area, and are looking for a good church, you won't find a better one anywhere!

A very good book

One of the best things about the internet is that you can find rare, out-of-print books that are wonderful. May I recommend to you "Out of my life" by V Raymond Edman? This man was a teacher, missionary, pastor and later a big-wig at Wheaton. He wrote several study books that are very good, but this particular book in one of different stories, hence the title. There are stories of faith, stories of the miraculous Providence of God, stories of family and friends. Evertime I read it I am inspired in my Christian walk. It is not only encouraging, but occasionally funny too. I also learned a few good quotes to live by:
"Never doubt in the darkness what God told you in the light" and
"Its always too soon to quit"

Its a great book!

Externals

There are those of us Christians who feel the need for supposed "externals" in our daily lives. By this, I mean standards or convictions. These occasionally make people either nervous or annoyed. The worst part is that often people have these convictions for the wrong reason or use them in the wrong way.
Group number one: These are people who do certain things in order to achieve salvation. The most notable group being the Amish.
Group number two: These are saved by grace people who feel like they must do things in order to please God. So they find all they can in the Bible to do. Often this leads to feeling of superiority over those who don't do the same things.
Group number three: (the group I feel the need to belong to) These are people who recognize "externals" as safeguards. For example, God hates adultery, right? Dressing modestly does not guarantee that you will never commit adultery, but it makes it easier not to. My friend Sandra who is a nice looking, 22 year old, did a week of student teaching for a man teacher. She said he was a perfect gentleman and never insinuated anything. That is not common here. You see, I think that Sandra's dress and demeanor send a "don't bother trying" message.

The "externals" do not mean that you are more holy, they just make good behaviour easier. Another example: If I do not watch tv or movies that have profanity, I am more likely not to ever use profanity. If I am constantly hearing profanity, it is more likely that some will eventually come out of my mouth, pr my kids mouths. Having a disciplined Bible reading schedule does not mean that you will automatically become a good Christian. But it does mean that you're more likely to get more from the Bible if you read it every day.

Is this making any sense?

There are those that say that convictions are for weak Christians. If that is the case, well fine. I am weak, I need all the help I can. We are surrounded by ungodliness. Our heroes fall all around us. I have convictions about my behaviour because I need them. God gave them to me to keep my happily on the Straight and Narrow.
And I am grateful.

Saturday night

It is now 9:40 pm. Saturday night. The dishes are done and the kitchen is clean. Sunday dinner is ready and in the fridge, waiting to be heated. The kid's baths are done, and my Sunday School lesson is ready. The Preacher is holding a Men's meeting in my livingroom or I'd be in there straightening up and getting ready for bed. Boy, do I feel good! I think I'll pat myself on the back and run off to bed.
Goodnight,
R

What its all about

Our life is about God. Worshipping with the Body of Christ every Sunday should not be just something that we do, it should be the highlight of our week. Here is a fabulous post by Mrs. R.

I am pretty sure that you all are regulars over at Be Not Conformed, but I thought recognition was in order.

Have a happy Sunday!
R

Christian Fiction

I grew up reading alot. After "Little House", we read "Little Women", still a favorite for me. Also "The Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden". As a teen, I read all the Jeanette Oke books my Aunts sent me. I loved them. I read about Marty, Elizabeth, and my favorite, Josh.

Since the Lord sent us here to the End of the Earth, I haven't had much opportunity to get new books. I did read most of the "Left Behind" series. Well, two weeks ago, several friends in Santiago lent me some new novels. And boy was I surprised! The first day of our trip we were visiting with some missionaries, and the lady told me that her husband didn't like for her to read fiction. I thought at the time that he was being silly. Now I know that he was probably right. The books I'v read have been interesting, but disturbing at the same time.

Why, you ask? Well, first of all, I know that most drama is born out of conflict. No conflict and you have no story. But the stories being told now are all the same: "Christian" girl get involved in great moral sin, repents, deals with the consequences of her actions, marries wonderful Christian guy after all and all live happily ever after. What is disturbing is that it seems that American Christians have given up the idea that young people, with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, can triumph over the flesh. It also seems that everbody knows that everybody is going to mess up, and its no big deal. Yes, God can, will, and has forgiven every imaginable sin, but it is foolish to play around with sin. Grace and mercy should be saved for those ignorant of the things of God. Romans 6 says , What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! We should not abuse the grace and mercy of our Redeemer.


The other thing was the descriptions of the romantic scenes. Gone are the first kisses at the end of the book. I won't go into detail, but I was scared at seeing how far "Christian" fiction has come. I am beginning to think that my missionary friend was right.

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different era. But I know that our Holy Lord is always the same. What greived Him last century grieves Him today.

Oh Lord, help me so that I may never grieve You!

Believing God

My friend Wendy lent me this book while I was in Santiago. It was the first Beth Moore book for me and I liked it very much. I had the priviledge of being raised in a Christian home where we saw what living by faith was. One of the things that I liked about Neil was that even though we came from very different backgrounds, he had the same ideas about living by faith. Our "heroes" to this day are George Mueller and Hudson Taylor.

Reading this book was a great reminder that God is God. Sometimes we get bogged down with the cares of the life, that we forget that He is the reason why we are here. He longs to have us come to Him and believe that He will do for us what we need.

Here in Chile they have socialized medical care. This means that if you cannot pay, you must wait. And Wait. There is a lady in my Church who has some kind of malady, (I can't figure it out exactly, she says her legs hurt so bad she can't come to Sunday morning services) Anyway, we've been praying that she will get an appointment to see the specialist. What am I saying?????? Why don't we just ask got to heal her? He can, can't he? Of course He can!

It was a good book and I recommend it. I will probably buy it for myself.

R

Visitor Map

As you can see, I have a stat counter. I recently discovered the visitor map it provides. What "scope for the imagination"! I have been having a great old time looking at that map and wondering about my fellow bloggers. I cannot figure out who most of them are, but I have discovered a few. I see when Susan comes to visit, and Dawn, Kristi, Julie and Arlene. Ok, so finding Arlene on the map is not really that hard.

The sad part is that most of you live far away from where we spend time in the US when we go. I do seem to have 2 readers from SoCal, but have not identified them, which is prabably exactly what they want! And I may try to swing a trip to Ensenada someday. Most of the rest of you live East and South. The farthest we have ever gone East and South is Alabama! As far as the North East, well, I'll probably see you in Heaven! My friends from Maine have to come to Chile for us to see each other!

I seem to have some readers in England. Hello, Sarah, if you're still there! We miss you!

Some probably stumble onto my blog by accident. Still, I get curious as to how or why they come.

Like I said, "scope for the imagination!"

Calling all missionaries to Latin America

Need a missionary funny toady? Thanks to our friend Michelle in Ensenada, we got this link.
I think I'll be spending some time over at Bethanie's

R

html help

Could somebody please help me learn to make link with an image? Very slowly, I am blonde you know!
Thanks!
R

A quote

I skimmed a book last week and read this great quote. The problem is that I can't remember the quote exactly nor can I remember who said it. Anyway here it is:

"Do you embrace today that which shocked you yesterday?"

To which I answer with another question:
"Why?"

R

Us

Happymama was asking about us, so I figured I'd properly introduce us. We don't have too many privacy issues, since we are missionaries.
I grew up here in Chile as an MK (missionary kid) The year I was supposed to head off to Bible College, Neil, a young man in our Church, broke up with his girlfriend of three years. Everyone assumed that Neil and Marty were getting married. They were old enough, had parental consent, both were Christians. We were all happy for them. What we didn't know was that, while Marty was glad that Neil was a good Christian, she was not enthused about Neil getting into the ministry. She knew national pastors to be poor, and she did not want to be poor. Neil was also at that time being pressured by his family to quit the Bible school and continue with his professional studies. He was told to quit the Bible Institute, or they would no longer pay for his secular education. So, he quit the secular education.
Things continued poorly with Marty. It soon became evident that they could no longer stay together, much less get married. So they broke up. Even though Neil knew that it was the right thing to do, and his affection for her had cooled considerably, it was nevertheless, a bit traumatic. That's where I come in. I was the "shoulder to cry on", and we became better friends.
After a while my father decided that he needed someone to run errands and do chores for him.
He originally wanted this guy named Oscar, but Oscar did not want the job. So Dad thought of Neil. So he started working at our house Monday-Friday, 10am to 5:30pm. And the rest is history. I never really thought I'd marry a Chilean, but then, I never really thought I'd ever get married. I firgured I'd go to Bible School, and right at the end, hook up with whoever was left over. (my flirting skills are extremely poor)
The Lord miraculously allowed for us to raise support from American Churches. We were sent out of the Lighthouse Baptist Church of LaVerne, CA.
We have a mixed-heritage household, although I would say that my kids are American above all else. Neil speaks very little English, but understands a great deal. So, this is primarily an English-speaking home. We feel extremey blessed.
R

Adventures in Santiago

We went on what was supposed to be a six-day trip to Santiago to visit my husband's family. He is the youngest of 7, so there were quite a few to see. We left bright and early, September 4th. After driving for 8 hours, we arrived in Rancagua to visit our missionary friends, Wendy and Philip. They have two kids, just exactly my kids ages, so we all had a really nice time. Wendy lent me a new book which I'll blog about later.
The next day we drove into Santiago and stopped to see my FIL who is nuts, by the way. We didn't stay too long. We then started making the rounds. BILs and SILs and cousins all around. We even took the kids to the zoo and ate lunch at TGI Fridays. (I wonder why they never had a Friday's when we lived in Santiago?) We got so see our friend, Lori, who lent me several books. Thank you Lori! We stayed nights at our friend's house. They are our dear, dear friends. They also have 8 children. Add my 2 and you have a noisy, noisy house. No matter, we had a nice time.
On our last day (or so we thought) we drove to my other SIL's, over by the coast. We spent a nice day. We were headed back and Neil's nephew told him about a short-cut home. We thanked him for the tip and got on our way, as we still had one more SIL to see. Well, the "short-cut" was through a small mountain range and the van overheated. Greatly. By the time we got down the other side, we knew we were going to have problems. We were still 40 miles north of Santiago. As we were limping into Santiago, Neil noticed that the engine was dying. He decided to pull off the "freeway" at the next exit. But it wasn't an exit. It was an off-ramp for another "freeway". Then the engine died. On a one-lane, curved, up-hill, completely dark off-ramp frequented by big big trucks with heavy cargo, going as fast as they can to get up the hill.
Neil got out and put the relflective triangles out and stood outside with a flashlight trying to slow traffic down, while calling for help. As the trucks zoomed past us, Neil got really nervous and made us get out of the van, thinking that some truck just might not be able to swerve to miss us.
After about 15 minutes, a big truck carrying a huge load of bricks stopped traffic and pulled us to a safer place. Then the rope broke, leaving us once again, stranded on a one lane road, causing evening traffic to back up. As we tried to push the van, a nice guy in a pick-up offered to pull us to the nearest gas station. We gratefully accepted. We got to the gas station that was no more than that. No minimart, no bathrooms. We were there for about 30 minutes until BIL (a saint) came to help. We slowly made our way back to our friends house. After we dropped off the van at the mechanic's at around 11pm, we still had to go to SIL's house for dinner! We left her house at 2 am. ( I am not a "night person")
Obviously we couldn't leave then next day as planned. We were now in Santiago when we really needed to be at home. And now we did not have our van. We were at the mercy of our friends, family and public transportation. Oh yeah, and the mercy of the mechanic. Everytime Neil spoke with him, the price went up. Up to 400 dollars. Boo-hoo. So much for getting my piano fixed.
So, one week later we were able to go home. The Preacher had to do some damage control at Church. The house and pets were fine, thank you Sandra.
The worst part of week two was the lack of internet conectivity. I guess I'm not badly addicted to blogging. I didn't get the shakes, or anything like that. I did miss it though, missed you all.
Glad to be back.

I'm Back!

I am finally back, and I've got a lot to share. I won't be able to tonight, because we are swamped. But I'll try to post tomorrow. I have truly missed you all and our fellowship.
Thanks to Mrs. B and to Michelle for asking about me, thanks for your concern. We are OK, just had a few misadventures!
More tomorrow

Happy Sunday! Enjoy your worship!

Rhonda

Why I like my Church

On the eve of another Lord's Day, I want to thank God for my Church. I love my Church. Of course it doesn't hurt that my husband is the pastor ;) I love our people. Even the stinky ones with the bad attitudes. I love it when I see people grow and change.

I love the way we sing. We love to sing. We sing 5 or 6 hymns or choruses, all the verses. We read a portion of Scripture. We've read through John and Romans, we are in Genesis right now. We read through, we don't skip over the hard parts. The poor gal who tries to sign for the deaf had a hard time of it during the portion about Dinah. Who was supposed to teach her the sign for "circumsicion"?

I love to see backsliders return to the fold, repentant. I love to see the brethren welcome them back.

I love to see a heart-felt communion service, where people reconcile with their brethren. Watching the tears flow, you understand the reason God instituted this supper with its rules and guidelines.

I love to see first-time visitors who are surprised that we are not charismatic. Most catholics think that all non-catholics are are charismatic. The visitors are surprised by the calm order of our services.

I love my Church, do you love yours? Why?

R

Another Funny

I laughed so hard I cried.

Things I've Learned from my Children

There is no such thing as child-proofing your house.

If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

A 4 year old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 lb. boy

wearing underwear and a superman cape.

It is however strong enough to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 by 30 ft. room.

Baseballs make marks on ceilings

You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.

When using the ceiling fan as a bat you have to throw the baseball up a few times before getting a hit.

A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

The glass in windows (even double-pane) does not stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

When you hear a toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh", it's already too late.

Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

A six year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36 year old man says they can only do that in the movies.

A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

The fire department in San Diego has at least a 5 minute response time.

If you use a waterbed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes it does not leak- it explodes.

A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq foot house inches deep.

Legos will pass through the digestive track of a four year old - Duplos will not.

Play Dough and Microwave should never be used in the same sentence.

Super glue is forever.

No matter how much Jello you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

Pool filters do not like Jello.

VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

You probably don't want to know what that smell is.

Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy.

It will however make cats dizzy

Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

Quiet does not necessarily mean don't worry.

A good sense of humor will get you through most problems in life

(unfortunately, mostly in retrospect).

I am grateful

Why so we wait for Thankgiving to give thanks? I would like to go on record for saying this. I am thankful for my salvation. I am thankful for my family and my Church. I am thankful for all the churches that support us monthly so that we can do the Lord's work here. I am thankful for my house and my minivan, my washer and dryer. (try going without them for a while, you'll become extremely grateful for their existence!) I feel that God has blessed us with so much. Why then do I always want more? Why doesn't gratitude mellow out into contentment? I like my house, but I would also like a bigger, better one. I like my minivan, but would really like a newer one. (its a 1987 model) (Sigh.....)

I have wonderful family all over the place and they love me. My husband loves me and so do my kids. We have great, loyal friends. Yet, with all this, I still seek approval and want to be liked. Why? Why do I crave comments on my blog? Why do I care if people read it? Everytime a get a lot of comments on a particular post I feel like Sally Fields at the Oscars "You like me! You really like me!" I feel so shallow.

Why am I not just giddy knowing that God loves me and Jesus died for ME? Why don't I just bask in the daily presence of the Holy Spirit? Why do I care so much what people think of me? Because I do.

When somebody figures this out, blog about it, OK?

R

I found my Funny!

HT to Stephanie Garcia, Thanks!

Christian Lightbulb Jokes

How many charismatics does it take to change a light bulb?
One, since his/her hands are in the air anyway.

How many Calvinists does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. God has predestined when the lights will be on.

How many liberals does it take to change a light bulb?
10, as they need to hold a debate into whether or not the lightbulb exists. Even if they can agree upon the existence of the lightbulb they may not go ahead and change it for fear of alienating those who use fluorescent tubes.

How many Anglo-Catholics does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. They always use candles instead.

How many evangelicals does it take to change a light bulb?
Evangelicals do not change light bulbs. They simply read out the instructions and hope the light bulb will decide to change itself.

How many Atheists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One. But they are still in darkness.

How many Brethren does it take to change a light bulb?
Change?????

How many Pentecostals does it take to change a light bulb?
10, one to change it and 9 others to pray against the spirit of darkness.

How many TV evangelists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One. But for the message of hope to continue to go forth, send in your donation today.

How many campfire worship leaders does it take to change a lightbulb?
One. But soon all those around can warm up to its glowing.

How many Calvanists does it take to change a light bulb?
None. If God wants it changed He will do it Himself.

How many charismatics does it take to change a lightbulb?
Three. One to cast it out and two to catch it when it falls.