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