We're done!

All's over but the shouting (and decorating) Here's how it looked before. Here's a shot of my former dining area and front door.

Here's the new area along with the new paint and window

we switched the living and dining areas. I also got new "carpet" (not to be confused with American carpet) but very nice for us. We also replaced the ceiling. It looks great. The color on the walls is Red Tomato by Sherwin Williams.

On the other wall is Honey Blush, also by SW. I want to paint a Scripture as a border, but we haven't decided on a verse.

For Kristina, the bride

The day of your wedding is coming up soon, and I know that you and your family must be terribly excited and working feverishly to get it all done it time. Godly weddings are beautiful to witness, and I am sure that yours will be very special to behold. However, soon you will find that you married a human being with faults and "issues" that you might not have seen before. Also, you may become aware of faults and issues in yourself that you didn't realize you had. So, as a wedding gift, allow me to share 15 years worth of experience. I won't be writing of my (our) strengths, but of my weakness that I am (we are) overcoming.








1 Allow you husband to be human, to make mistakes.


I often tried to "protect" and "help" my husband by telling him about his mistakes. This is not my job, unless he specifically asks for it. This is the job of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you may suffer the consequences of his mistakes, but you must trust God to protect you. You will find yourself in a heap of trouble if you try to "help" the Holy Spirit do His work. Of course, you are probably reading this, thinking, "What on earth is she talking about? Josh is a great guy, and his faults are miniscule" If that is so, Praise the Lord!





2. Focus on your position as Help Meet. He is not there to help you in your ministry, you are there to help him to fulfill his vision. Serve God by serving Josh graciously.


3. Be pleasant. During a Christian courtship, a couple rarely spends a great deal of time together. So, you can be pleasant the whole time. When you start to live with someone, 24 hours a day, its hard to maintain a pleasant demeanor all the time. However, its extremely important to be pleasant and smiley.



4. Spend the time you have before the babies come making yourself into an expert homemaker. This means housekeeping, cooking and home economy. Also, prepare yourself spiritually and practically for motherhood. Read good books and websites, but learn to not waste your time. Also remember that being a good wife and mother is a life-long process, start soon and never quit learning and improving.


These are just a few things I am working on.




May your journey be a fabulous one! It is my prayer that people will look at you two and rejoice at seeing a marriage the way God intended. Blessings!

Dangerous Jobs!

I'll have to say that I think that the music industry might just be one of the most dangerous out there. So many "musicians" and "singers" have died young, the latest being of course, pop music's "king". Elvis died young, and so many others. If I was in the music industry, I'd watch out!
Of course music itself is not the problem. Look at all the older folks on the Gaither reunion videos. There's quite a bit of gray and toupee! Hmmm....must be the kind of music. Yeah, that must be it! Rick Warren and others would have us believe that all music is amoral, neither good or bad. But it seems that its only the "bad" music industry that is deadly. And the "badder" the music, the more dangerous. Fr'instance, there seem to be a lot of rappers in trouble all the time.

Christian parents wanted to please their teenagers and let them listen to whatever their flesh wants to. Now grown up, these people are mourning a profane, godless man. I shudder to think about where he is today.

Don't get angry when your pastor preaches against wordly music! He's raising a much-needed warning flag.

All or nothing

That's what the Christian life is all about to me. Of course, we must be balanced, but not when it comes to love for the Lord. Then its all-out, nothing held back devotion. When we are sold-out for the Lord, He gives us the wisdom we need to find the balance we need.

The sad thing is when I see people I love trying to love God half-heartedly. They want to please God at Church and then live with a worldly world-view at home. This leads to all sorts of conflicts. I have a dear friend at church who is going through a terrible time. When she is honestly looking to please the Lord, she comes to me for counsel and advice. When she's not interested in what God has to say, she is friendly and nice, but doesn't seek counsel from me or anyone else who's able to guide her. The horrible thing is that she is suffering. I can see it in her face and I know she feels defeated. Please pray for my friend, that she would give in to God and let her suffering count for something good!

Have you ever seen anything so cute?

I didn't think so

New Vanessa pix

Please bear with this proud mama and shutterbug sister!

Why I read the Bible the way I do

I have a One year Bible. It is divided into an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Psalm or a portion of a Psalm and one or two Proverbs, per day. I have used this Bible several years for my personal reading, and it has always been a blessing. I was raised in a Christian home, and I have been in Church all my life, but there are a few gaps in my Bible knowledge, mostly concerning chronology and order. Reading the Bible systematically, year after year has greatly improved my understanding of order. I have had several "lightbulb moments" over the years. Yesterday, I had another one.
Yesterday, I read the story of Elijah, Ahab, and Naboth. I had always wondered why Ahab was so upset about a simple piece of land. Well, come to find out, in the preceding chapter, Ahab defeats Ben-hadad, spares his life, and then gets a dressing down from God for not destroying Ben-hadad. So, going into the chapter about the vinyard, Ahab was already in a bad mood. And when Naboth refuses to sell him his vinyard, he completely over-reacts, with deadly consequences. Now I get it! Hurrah for my One Year Bible!

This and That

Its been another wacky week in the Arias household. The remodeling project is still underway, hopefully soon to be done. I am ready to get my living and dining room back. I am so pleased to have more space. We have lots of people over for this and that, so we need a place to put them!

We had a great weekend, inspite of rain and cold. We had a dinner to celebrate the church's 13th anniversary. We had about 90 in attendance. We were going to have meat and potato salad. One of my ladies put BEETS in with the potatoes. YUCK! It turned the salad pink. Obviously, we had tons of salad left over. We had a great time of food and fellowship. Sunday went well too. We had a few visitors. We have a new couple, Eduardo and Nancy. They were both saved two weeks ago. They are going to get married, and then get baptized. We are happy for them.

We had a good ladies meeting today, with 22 in attendance. We even had a visitor, a young woman named Andrea.

Between the housework, baby, homeschooling and churchwork, I am a bit overwhelmed. Add to that, I have been battling a nasty cough. Its not bad during the day, but nighttime is a different story.

We finally received the last letter need to present our paperwork to Customs to have our stuff released. Neil mailed the paperwork this morning. Please pray that things will go quickly now.

Blessings and peace!

Remodeling update

Here's another picture of Vanessa in case you needed a Venessa fix! Here they are removing the wall.

Here are the two windows. I am so happy because now I have another window to paint at Christmas!

Another look at the new space.

You might be asking yourself, where is all of Rhonda's furniture? How nice of you to notice! Its all over the house! The couch is in Eileen's room, the dining room table is in Ronnie's and the recliner is in Vanessa's.

And Chile won again! We are now in 2nd place, after beating Bolivia 4-0. They are so excited here! I just wish that I liked soccer! Anyway, JulieMom, are you up for some visitors from Chile next year?

Chile won!

I am by no means a soccer fan, but, Chile beat Paraguay, in Asuncion! That is absolutely incredible. Paraguay had been undefeated. Everyone will be happy tomorrow. Am I sorry that I did not watch the game? Nope. But for my husbands sake, I am glad they won.

What I do when I cannot blog, Part 2

And if that weren't enough, its Kids Club day!!! Yay! We had to hurry our guests because, unlike most latin Amercan endeavors, we are punctual. We had to make a few adjustments, but all went well. We had 44 children and 10 workers. Here Sandra is telling the story of the life of Hudson Taylor

Here, the younger kids have their game time.

Here are the big kids playing Hot Potato. That's Eileen in green in the back and Ronnie here in the front in red.

Here's more of the story-verse-singing-Gospel time.I am so tired my eyes are crossing. I can't go to bed until Neil gets here. They all went to watch the big Chile vs. Paraguay soccer game. We are sooooo going to lose! Paraguay is in first place and they are playing in Asuncion. What a bummer!

What do you think of our lovely orange chairs? There's a 30 year old story behind them!

Have a wonderful Lord's day! Rest if you can. Thank God that you can still worship freely.

Do you know what my favorite piece of advice is? Go to church expecting God to speak to you! Expect a blessing and you'll get one!

Peace from Above

Things I do when I cannot blog! Part 1

Well, here's some photos of the construction going on at my house. Look at the left side of the photo. That whole area is going to be knocked out and pushed out about another meter.

Here's what it looks like from the outside.

So, then, another workman came from a church in another city to build us a inside door for the church. He is staying with us also. Here's what he is building.

Then, to top it all off, we're having a group from another church in another city come a do a soul winning seminar. We thought that it was a small group, but their pastor thought more was better and came with 22 people! In the interest of decorum, I will say no more!

Here we have set up tables in our dining room to feed them all. We got most of our women to come and cook and clean. I am so grateful for my ladies, they are all hard workers and rarely shirk their duty.

Encouragement

Don't you just love to be around encouraging people? I find that the blogs I like best to visit are the most encouraging ones. I must say, however, that I would probably have to admit that my blog isn't exactly an encouraging one.

So, how can I encourage you today? Let me start by encouraging you to spend some time in the Scripture. Today I read 2 Samuel. We are now at the end of King David's life. Even with all of his sins and shortcomings, he loved God and His word. I also read Acts 2. WOW! Its so wonderful to read how that God made Jesus Lord and Christ. Amen, glory hallelujah!

We live in uncertain times. If you are a believer, this is just another sign of the times, and I for one, am thrilled at the thought of sudden Rapture! All this hullabaloo about the economy and flu is all just another sign. May I encourage you to witness to and pray for your lost loved ones? Don't be weary in praying for them! God is faithful!!!!!

If you are in ministry, be encouraged! You are privileged! Be faithful, as this is the requirement for servants. If you are faithful, then you have succeeded! And know that you are not alone in your efforts. God loves having you in his service!

Blessings and peace to you all!

Heeeeere's Vanessa at 6 months!

I have never ever seen such a pink-and-white baby!

Be careful what you wish for!

Our living/dining area is oddly shaped. As you come into the front door, there is a small area, I assume intended for living room, then the room expands, again assuming for dining area, as it si closer to the kitchen. But that did not makes sense to cram all the living room furniture in the small area and let my dining room table float in the larger area. So we switched them. It freaks people out to come in and see the table first. Anyway, we always wanted to remodel so as to make the smaller area bigger.
We received a "supernatural financial blessing" so we decided to move ahead with the project. So now I have two workmen here every day, and one of them is staying with us........for four weeks! ARRRGHHH!
I also decided that the new living area was going to be different. Its going to be painted RED! Yep, I am going to live on the wild side! No more beiges and creams for me. All kidding aside, I just felt that for once in my life, I would take a risk. You know what? I looked on the Sherwin-Williams web site, found the right red, and guess what? The colors that the remaining walls are, are exactly the complementary colors that they would choose!

The new camera will be here tomorrow, so I'll take some "before" photos.

BTW, since the new camera will be here, I will be posting a gajillion photos. Please bear with me!

Sacrifice on the altar of "Convenience"

I have been reading "Coffee Tea Books and Me " posts about frugality, and they have been a blessing. We are not hurting finacially, but we are not rolling in the dough either. I think it would seem that we had more if we were more frugal. Economy used to be one of the traits of a successful homemaker.

Anyway, there isn't much more to say that hasn't already been said by others. However, as an American living abroad, I can see more clearly a few things about our society. One of the things is the American love a convenience. We worship convenience. We would rather spend money than time and/or effort.

One of the areas where is this more noticeable is the area of food. Most women do not cook anymore, or consider making Hamburger Helper "cooking". (note, I love hamburgur Helper...i have very unsophisticated tastes!) We buy many things pre-made. Even if they do not taste as good as the real thing, we prize the convenience. Even if we know that it is not nutritious, we prize the convenience.
The price that has been paid for our convenience has been great. For one thing, overweight, as most over-processed foods are high in fat and sugar. Overweight has lead to other horrible consequences like diabetes. We sacrifice our health on the altar of Convenience.

Another consequence is not as noticeable, and maybe most people don't even care. But it is that fact that since we don't make things without mixes and such, we don't know how. We are trapped. Even cookbooks today start their recipes with "open a can of........." I love church cookbooks, but they are largely useless to me. Most of the recipes for cakes start with a boxed cake mix. Most of the savory recipes call for cans of cream of mushroom soup and velveeta cheese. Now, don't get me wrong, I love velveeta cheese! But, we sacrifice our skills on the altar of Convenience.
I have become empowered as I learn to cook great food from scratch. I spend time, money and effort, but it has been worth it! As I get more skillful, I will spend less money!

Does this make any sense to anyone? Hope so!

Cheesy lightbulb moment!

I have noticed that Americans cook with a lot of cheese. I love cheese, but its so expensive.
Anyway, I was watching Tammys tutorial about making pizza, and she put a ton of cheese on that pizza. I would have used half. I know Tammy is frugal as well, so I figured she must be paying a lot less than I do. Then I actually did the math. We pay over 4.5 dollars a pound for cheese. Can you believe that? Cheese is, pound for pound, more expensive than most meats here.

Anyway, I guess its just as well. Cheese is one of my weakness.

Do, you mind my asking, how much do you pay for cheese?

Crying it out, part 2

Last night was a lot better. We woke Dear Baby at 12 for her last feeding. Then, as 3 am, like clockwork, she woke up. But last night, she only cried for 10 minutes. Praise the Lord! Then she woke again around 6 am, which is just fine.

I am curious to see how it goes tonight. I don't want to get overly optimistic. We'll see!

Are we headed into another weekend already?

I remember a time when my blog posts were about something, not just about how busy I am!

I know that having a baby is a good thing, but one must come to terms with the fact that things must change. Time must be structured differently. However, "structure" and "baby" don't go together very well at this house.



Update on the Baby.

Last night was the first night of the "crying it out" phase. No, we did not leave her alone, but we did not pick her up and I did not feed her. I don't think she got the memo about the changes, because she expressed her extreme dislike for the new regimen.....for 1.5 hours. Not too bad. According to Dr. Jessie and Tracy Hogg, this should take up to 3 or 4 days, if we are consistent.




Update on my Mother's day gifts. In lieu of the Wii, I asked if I could order a DVD. I wanted "The shop around the Corner" with Jimmy Stewart. This was graciously OK'd. So yesterday I got online to order the DVD. 14.99 dollars. OK....Shipping 16.oo dollars, total...about 30 dollars. For one lightweight DVD? I don't think so!!!!



Neil was in Valdivia yesterday and bought me the most beautiful cup and saucer. So fine! And do you know what? I broke it today! I feel so bad. It was a clean break and I can fix it with some crazy glue. Wasn't planning on using for actually drinking, thank goodness

I have been mulling over some ideas about motherhood. Maybe I'll have time soon to blog about them.......

Oh, the missionary life!

Its been a while since I sat down at the computer to write. We had a wild week, last week. Neil was gone on the 1st and 2nd of May, and the 4th and 5th. It changes everything. We had our super Puppet event on Saturday after several rehearsals. I only went to the last one. There were over 110 in attendance and 11 children were saved. We had about 25 first time visitors.

I had spent all of Saturday morning cooking. You see, we have no decent restaurant here. So, do you want to have a nice meal for your mama on Mother's day? Then you have to cook it yourself! But when? On Saturday morning, of course! I made our favorite, meat loaf. Nobody likes meatloaf but Mom and me. Too bad, its our day! I also made 7 layer salad, which must be refrigerated overnight. Hallellujah! We love, love, love 7 layer salad. For after the puppet event, I also made Mimi's Cafe's corn soup and corn bread. Mmmm! We actually had that for lunch and supper. It was just that good!

Its a good thing, too, because Saturday was wild. And after the event, we had to clean the Church! Yea! It wasn't too bad since there were several of us. Sunday dawned cold and rainy. We usually have a low attendance among the children on these days, but it wasn't too bad. My family wanted to buy me a Wii, with Wiifit for Mother's Day. Do you know how much a wii costs here? 500.00 dollars. !!!!!!! I graciously declined. Do you know what I could do with 500 dollars? Then Monday Eileen and I worked ALL DAY, making up for what we hadn't been able to do all weekend. And Today, we had ladies Bible Study. I am tired. The house is so-so.

But its all good.

Well, its almost all good. Neil went to get money out of our local ATM. And the machine didn't give him the money! We called our bank, the ATM's bank, opened a claim. This isn't going to be easy or fun. I hope we don't lose the money. Please pray for us.

I've still got tons to do, and Eileen's got a bad cold. But I don't think I'll do one more useful thing tonight. Enough is enough. I think I'll go watch some Star Trek!

Too busy again

This week has been unbelievebly busy, and the end is nowhere in sight. Neil was gone for 2 days, so that makes things a little more difficult.

We switched the Mafil ladies Bible study to Wednesday, so that we could have more time for the study in Lanco. As I said in another post, we've restructured the group into four different tables with leader at each table. We are now having a 3 o'clock meeting for the four leaders at my house. That way we can encourage and instruct them, so that they can lead and occasionly teach their groups. They are really excited at getting some leadership training. But the truth is, its servanthood training.
The meeting went good. We had 19 ladies, so we were thrilled. In Mafil we had 3 besides Mom and me. I taught about Cain and Able. They had heard about Cain and Able, but knew nothing about them. I used a flash card lesson. Only one of the ladies can read and write. Please pray for one lady named Claudia. She has so many problems with no visible solution, and she has become so discouraged.

We are having a big puppet event this Saturday. Please pray. I have to bake some cakes and work at the sign-up table. OK by me! Mom has to do puppets. Eileen wanted to do the puppets, but she's at the sign-up table instead.- Oh well, next time, BabyDoll!

Tomorrow we have to go into the city for Vanessa's six-month check up. That means we get to start her on real food. I am hoping that it will help her sleep more during the night. A mother can hope, can't she? Sleep deprivation is getting to me!

We are waiting for two more documents to arrive from the US to move forward with the container paperwork. Please pray.

We will be getting a new camera to replace the broken one, but in one month. I can't wait! If you all could see our Vanessa, it would brighten your day!

Blessings to you all, pray for your missionaries!

Repentance and salvation

My mom was preparing her ladies Bible study, and pulled out a book she's had for years. I've never seen her read it, but its always been there. Its called "Genesis to Deuteronomy" (catchy title, don't you think?) by C.H.Mackintosh, first published in the 1880's.
I found this quite-long quote to be fascinating.

Our divine Master called upon sinners to repent and believe the Gospel. Some would have us to believe that it is a mistake to call upon persons dead in trespasses and sins to do anything. "How", it is argued, "can those who are dead repent? They are incapable of any spiritual movement. They must first get the power ere they can either repent or believe."
What is our reply to this? A very simple one indeed-our Lord knows better than all theologians in the world what ought to be preached. He know all about man's condition-- his guilt, his misery, his spirtual death, his utter helplessness, his total inability to think a single right thought, to utter a single right word, to do a single right act; and yet, He calls upon men to repent. This is quite enough for us. It is no part of our business to seek to reconcile seeming differences. It may seem to us difficult to reconcile man's utter powerlessness with his responsability; but"God is his own Interpreter, and He will make it plain". It is our happy privilege, and our bounden duty, to believe what He says, and do what he tells us. This is true wisdom, and it yields solid peace. Our Lord preached repentance, and he commanded his apostles to preach it; and they did so constantly.

Ladies Bible Study update

WOW! Things are going so good, I can't believe it. We had 29 today. Never had 29 before. We had to move out into the gym, and set up another table. Mom taught on Eve and the serpent. It was real good. She made the point that Satan offered Eve what he himself had wanted, to be like God.
I pray that God will work in the lives of all the ladies who were there today, that the Word that was taught might take root in their lives. We had 4 unsaved ladies there, we pray that they might understand their need for salvation.
Please pray for Georgina, Pati Veloso, Pati Huenchulaf and Sandra. These are my group leaders. We've already had a few problems, but that is to be expected when you are in the Lord's service. Pray for Eileen as she cares for the little ones.
The Lord always blesses us, but not always as visibly. We are thankful, but aware that there is still much to be done. And much more to be.

Please pray

I know that I have brought this up before, but its still unresolved. We brought a container full of stuff last year from the US. We got permission to store it at our own house until Customs had cleared it. Its been a year, and Customs still has not cleared it, due to problems on our end, and problems on their end. Due to a clerical error, they called us this afternoon telling us that they were going to arrive tomorrow with a truck to seize our stuff and auction it all off. We spent several tense hours calling different people and trying to get the right paper work to the right people. All is well, now. for the moment.

Please pray with us that we would be able to end this!

Great Weekend!

For most people, a great weekend is about getting away from work and having a relaxing time with friends and family. For most Christians, its about relaxing with friends and family and worship with the body of Christ. For us, its Game Time! Here is where the rubber meets the road. Here is 48 hours of work. For starters, we had kids Bible club. We had 51 kids and 14 leaders and helpers. This was amazing as it was not really anything special, just the results of prayer and work. The meeting was great and we all had a good time. Club was followed by church cleaning. There were 2 other ladies that came and did the bulk of the church cleaning. This was fabulous, as we now have a fairly large church. Auditorium, gym, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, and 5 classrooms.

After cleaning, they had rehearsals for the big puppet event in two weeks. Mom and Neil stayed for that, and I went home to fix supper.

At 6 on Sunday morning, we got a call from a pastor in a nearby town. He ahd taken the bus from Santiago, and the bus attendant didn't wake him up in his town, but dropped in in our town. He tried to get a bus home, but there was nothing at that time,. So, he called Neil to come a get him. I got up and made pancakes. We had a nice visit before he got a ride home. It was still so early that I had time to shower and do my hair before Sunday School!
Our preschool teacher quit last week, so I had to take the class. No big deal. But I was glad that, during the break, a lady came and offered to take the class. She had taught years ago, and wanted to start again. I said Great!

We had 102 in Sunday School yesterday which is our goal. We want to average 100 in Sunday school before the year is out.

After Church, I rushed home to put the crockpot dinner on the table. We had great roast beef. Then off to a 50 minute nap. At 3 we head of to the mission Church in Mafil. There were 20 from Mafil, besides the 10 that we take from Lanco. We had a nice service, and one young man got saved.


Then, we rush back to Lanco for the evening service. Now, for most US churches, Sunday evening is for the church family. Its a little more relaxed than Sunday Morning. Not so for us. Its our prime evangelistic service. We had several visitors. We had a total of 118 people yesterday. Don't get me wrong though, its not about the numbers. Its about the souls those numbers represent. And its about seeing fruit from years of labor. So all in all, it was a great weekend!

To Spanish-speaking missionaries

Have any of you see the "El Principio del Tesoro" DVD by Randy Alcorn? We have the book, and I think that it is great. Our Pastor reccomended "Money, possessions and Eternity",which I have not read. Anyway, while looking up this book, I found the DVD in Spanish. WooHoo! But, is it any good? 25 dollars plus shipping good?

If you've seen it, let me know!

BTW, did you know that you can order Dutch Blitz for 6 bucks at CBD? We paid 12 the the US at a store.

Ladies meeting confession

We've been doing Ladies Bible study for years. For the past 2 years or so, we have kind of "peaked" at an average of 17. Good but not really growing. I also was getting weary of the ladies arriving late. We start our meeting with prayer requests and prayer, but it got to the point that we would strech it our to wait for stragglers, often half the group. Being an American, that was unacceptable. But not just as an American, but as a Christian who does not like using prayertime as a time-killer while latecomers arrive. So Mom and I had an inspiration. We divided the group into three, at three different tables. We chose leaders for each table. These ladies would be responsable for visiting their group, advising us to any particular need of one of their ladies and most important, have prayer requests and prayer in their group. The somewhat unexpected outcome what a friendly rivalry between groups. We had 19 the first week and 21 the next week. Visitation was done by the group leaders. Yay! We have delegated successfully! And I told the leaders that they were to start prayer time at 4 and end at 4:15 on the dot. We had fewer latecomers on week two! Yay! There is more than one way to skin a cat!

Ladies Bible Study

Well, my insanely busy life just got busier. Yes, I need to cut back. But, where? Which one of my kids should I give up? I cannot give up the ladies ministry, as they need it so badly. And to add to all the fun, we started a
2 o'clock study in Mafil, followed by a 4 o'clock study in Lanco.
The Mafil study is unique in that the ladies have 2nd grade reading level, well, those who read have a 2nd grade reading level. The others just listen.
Today, we learned the names of the first 5 books of the Bible. They got stuck on "Deuteronomio". That's OK. A lot of people do! I gave a flash-card lesson about Adam and Eve and the fall.

In Lanco, we had a great meeting. We had 21, which is great. I taught about hearts, my heart, my husband's heart and my kids' hearts. I am trying to get them to understand that they must reach out emotionally and spiritually to their kids. Only time will tell if any of them got it. I have to trust that the Holy Spirit will lead them to the truth. A lady visited on Sunday, and got saved. She came today, and she was so excited!

But now, its all over and I am tired! So is Eileen, since she cared for the children during the class. She really needs a good helper. She is a real trooper.

I have really wanted to spend some blogging time, but some days, I hardly have time to read your blogs. I get such a blessing from reading!
God bless and keep you.

Hope you are basking in the Son!

My "Multitud of Counsellors"

Okay, so maybe not a multitud, but I do seek counsel. Not always with a real, live, talking human, but through books. I would like to share them with you.
But first, I cannot write about my counselors without first writing about my mom. She is my greatest counselor. I learn by her words and example.
She also is a big lover of great books, mostly biographies, some study books and some fiction.


My "Counsellors" on Child training and discipline are: Michael and Debi Pearl and Voddie Baucham. Books: To Train up a Child and Family Driven Faith. I read and reread these books and I give them as gifts.
I also like to listen to Voddie online, and I read NGJ's newsletter.
**
My "counsellor" in Wifehood (is that a real word?) and motherhood: Debi Pearl, "Created to be his Helpmeet"
I know that this book is controversial to some, but I find it very helpful for me and for those that I counsel.
Another "Counsellor" in this area is Stormie Omartian and her Power of a praying wife. If you have not read this book, I heartily suggest that you do!
***
My"Counsellor" in Housekeeping is Flylady!
Added to this are the writings and sayings of Booker T Washington, who knew the value of hard work and dilligence.

****
My "Counsellors" in finance are Mary Hunt and Dave Ramsey
..
..
I find that it helps to read different authors in order to get a greater vision. And it goes without saying that of course, you absolutely must compare everything to Scripture. I read the One Year Bible for my daily reading. If you don't read all the Scripture, you'll depend on books and teachers and never really learn to rely on the Lord.

I thank God for allowing me to learn and grow.

Lyrics that convict

From Steve Green's "We Believe"

-------

"A chasing of the wind"

Every heart is filled with longing

To be free from all life's pain

Yet the search through earthly pleasures

Always ends in vain

Only God who made the heavens

Can satisfy our souls

Apart from Him and all His meaning

All things fail as they begin

And hearts deceived

Can only know

A chasing of the wind

---

----

-----

All achievements, all possessions

All with time return to dust

Only God can be our reason

For deep and quiet trust

He will guard us from the dangers

That gladly make men fools

Apart from Him and all His meaning

All things fail as they begin

And hearts deceived

Can only know

A chasing of the wind

A chasing of the wind

Why do we live without Jesus?

Why do we waste another day?

He is the life that sustains us

The only hope for us today

So tell me, why do we live

Why do we live without Him?

Sitting at the feet of Jesus

I gave a short devotion at our ladies meeting. As it was the first meeting of the year, we had a dinner and just a short teaching. I talked about Phoebe in Romans 16 and Mary, the sister of Martha.
Paul praised Phoebe highly for the work that she did. Jesus also praised Mary for just sitting there, listening to him.
Who was better?
To me, its all a matter of timing. There is a time to be busy about the Lord's work. To roll up your sleeves and do what has to be done. There are children to care for and a house and a church to be cleaned. There are meals to be made and a hundred other chores to be done....for the glory of the Lord.
Then there is a time to sit at Jesus' feet and listen, drink in all that He has to say. Commune with the Master. This takes quiet and stillness.

Lately I have not had a great deal of quiet time. Sometimes I feel that I am running on spiritual autopilot. But the truth is that for now, I must be busy. Its busy time and there is no time to dawdle. This is not a time for introspection, its a get-up-and-get-it-done time.

Oh Lord, give me the wisdom to know when to be a Phoebe and when to be a Mary

What is our Prime Directive?

What is our primary purpose. I am sorry, I didn't read Rick Warren's book, so I'll have to figure it out on my own! Some say soulwinning is our prime directive and I can see why, given Matthew 28. However, I think that there is more to it.
I believe that our goal, our Prime Directive is to be conformed to the image of Christ, per Romans 8:29. When we make that our goal, everything else fit into place, all our service is done in the right spirit. All our relationships run more smoothly.
So often we make a particular "thing" the basis for measuring our spirituality. But, since we are human, we can't really measure spirituality by deeds alone, since good deeds can be done by christians and non-christians alike. Even atheists can do good.

Year ago, we were give a Steve Green tape. On it was an awful song called "Let the walls come down" I didn't listen to that tape for years because of it. However, I began listening to the other songs, and what a treasure! Thanks to CDs I can easily skip that ecumenical mess and get to some really wonderful songs. One of them is called "I am the Vine". It has a line that has stuck with me for ages. It says "Service is never the root of devotion, It must grow as the fruit of a life that remains on the Vine"
This is in no way knocking service. In fact, it is encouraging service. However, it makes it clear about our motivation.
So, I guess I could say that our Prime Directive will depend on our Prime Motivation.

Soulwinning and the Disney Store

When we were newly married, I worked for nine months at the Disney Store. I was having the time of my life. I got to work at a new store, and I was the first person that they hired. We had two days of training and it was a blast. We learned the Disney guest service cycle. Five steps to ensuring that we were exceeding guest expectation. Every month, we would receive two secret shoppers who would grade us on the guest service cycle. If we passed, we would get a 101 grade, and a Dalmation pin to prove it. Now, at that time, there were at least 2, maybe 3 cast members to wait on the guest. That meant that we had to use teamwork. One person alone could not follow through with all five steps. If the three cast members successfully achieved all five steps, the whole cast, all 44 of us, got pins.

During the first three months, we didn't make the grade. But one day, as I arrived, Stacey, one of our managers, approached me and told me that we had made the grade! And, that my name was on the report! Yay! We started thinking back, trying to determine who it had been. I remembered that lady. Why did I remember? Because she had actually allowed me to go through the process. Most people just responded to my inquiries with a polite "just looking" I knew not to push. We didn't want to alienate someone who could become a regular guest.

What does that have to do with soulwinning? Well, we don't have a guest service cycle, but we do have a Roman's Road. But often, as we get started, we receive a polite, "No thank you, just looking" response. In my opinion, this is the time to politely back off. Apparently, the Holy Spirit is not at work in this person at this time. I will leave a door open for next time, and I'll make sure that there is a "next time"

The good thing about this is that with us, we also must work in teams. One person greets and makes friends, another witnesses and invites, and yet another draws in the net when the person is ready. I just have to be ready and able to do my part for the team. If I've done my part, I must trust the next person to do theirs. There can be no manifestations of ego. We work together for the lost.


And when 1 soul is saved, its a victory for the whole Church.

Some thoughts on Soul Winning

Here in Lanco we love to win souls. We do some door-to-door, but find that generally unfruitful, except for making first contact. We have big events at the Church, but also find that relatively unfruitful in the long term. Why are those two tried-and-true methods not entirely useful here? Simple. It takes time for a seed to grow. Faith cometh by hearing. When we go door to door, the people we meet usually have no real idea about the truth of God. Well, you say, tell them! Yes, of course, and we do. But it takes time for truth to sink in. And even if they agree intellectually, spiritually it is close to impossible on a first try. So we take our time and let the Holy Spirit work. We don't get a lot of instant soul-winning gratification, but it has proven very effective in the long run.

We have been criticized recently by one of Neil's preacher boys for not being more agressive going door-to-door. He thinks thats the only biblically obedient way. But thats not true. We bring people, grown ups and children, to church, where we share the Gospel. We encourage everyone to share the truth with their friends and family. We find that the best, long-term results are from our people bringing their friends and loved ones who get saved (after a few visits) and stay.

I hate being criticized. This one is kind of hard to just shake off because our friend is insinuating that we aren't obedient to God and that we don't care for souls. Its insulting. If I didn't care for souls, I wouldn't be here!

Of course this young man is just that, young. And just a little bit full of himself. I will try to calm down, and not be hurt. I wish I could just shrug it off. And it is a reminder not to be judgemental. Just because I disagree with someone on the finer points of soul-winning, that doesn't mean that they are disinterested in souls or are disobedient. That is up for God to decide.

Winding down

For the moment.
Our guest is gone. We had a great visit and he is planning on returning to Chile with his family as soon as they can get the money together. That is exciting. The thought of haveing new missionaries is wonderful. I hope it works out.

We are expecting Julio, his wife and son this next Sat. Who is Julio? Well, he is a convert from El Bolson, Argentina, where we go on vacation. What do missionaries do on vacation? They witness, of course! We met Julio several years ago at the bowling alley. Neil left him a tract. The next year, we didn't see him at the bowling alley, but we did run into him at the supermarket. Then, the next year, Neil took several guys on a missions trip to El Bolson, found Julio, and were able to lead him to the Lord. We met up with Julio last month, visited with his family. Now they are coming here for a visit. I am no looking forward to more company, but this is important. Julio will be instrumental in starting a church in El Bolson.

Vanessa turned 5 months old, and I couldn't even take a picture. Our camera is broken. Boohoo! She changes so much, almost daily and we're missing it! She is charming and mostly sweet, but then her sin nature kicks in and we get to see her evil twin! Childrearing is not for the fainthearted, my friends!

My other children are neck deep in schoolwork, and none too happy about it.

Ladies' Bible study starts tomorrow. We are going to have a dinner for the opening. I am looking forward to ladies meeting, because I see the need for some instruction. I am seeing some miserable women who desperately need some hope for their family life. Without instruction, they will continue to do what they have always done, which hasn't worked out too good so far. As Dave Ramsey says "If you keep doing what you've been doing, then you are going to keep getting what you've been getting"
I want them to know that there is a better way, God's way. God's way is simple, of course. Hard, but simple. Please pray for my ladies.

So, that's what's going on here!


By the way, Hi JulieMom!!!!!

Poor deluded dog!

This really gave us a good laugh!

Can I really be this busy?

Yes! Ever since we got home from vacation, we have been insanely busy. Of course, the normal post-vacation laundry and housework. Then the arrival of a guest from America...who is still here. He's not a problem at all, but another person is another person. I do not mind, since he brought us corn tortillas and dr Pepper. Then, my husband's aunt died. We had to drive 5 hours to the funeral and then 5 hours back. On the same day. Then, my Dh tells me that the men have been planning and evening in town. They treated us to chinese food. It was great, and a once-in-a-lifetime event for some. The only problem is that it was in the city, an hour away. I really did not want to drive anywhere. Then, the next day we had to drive into the city again for Vanessas check-up. We were all day in town, and we had missions conference at night, Oh yeah, and the guest speaker as another houseguest.

And, Vanessa still wakes up 3 times a night to eat. Yes, we know that is not good, but the process to end that requires a time of crying it out, something that you do not want to do when you have houseguests.

I am tired and my house is crying out for some TLC. Our vacation is just a fading memory. What can I say? No rest for the wicked, and the righteous dont need it, so they say.

I miss my blogging time and all my bloggy friends. You are important to me.

Vacation!

Here's a few things we did. Ice Skating! This rink overlooks the Nahuel Huapi lake. Beautiful. We had fun until the "professionals" arrived and made us feel stupid.

Here's a shot at the bowling alley. Vanessa was not happy!

Drool machine!

No words needed. simply lovely

This is the Bariloche civic center. A whole city block built in stone.

A letter for Michele

Dear Michele,
I tried twice to write before, but both times I was unable to finish. I didn't want you to think that I had completely ignored your last posts.
First, I know and understand your desire for a break, or even an end for your blog. Even good things have to end, and that doesn't mean that they weren't good anymore.
That being said, I would still hate to see you go! You are a kindred spirit and you know just how hard those are to find!

I have put off writing because I hate goodbyes and endings. I have had so many! As a missionary, I have become somewhat hardened, simply as a coping mechanism. But I also know that as Christians, there is never really "goodbye", just "see you later". Sometimes, that is literaly the truth! I'll tell you a story. we met this nice couple several years ago in California at Hopewell Baptist Church in Napa. Have you ever heard of their pastor, Mike Ray? Anyway, we had a nice visit with Steve and Sandra. And I never really thought we would ever see them again. On our next furlough, we didn't go to Hopewell. Later, we were in a small town, south of Jacksonville Florida, at the Spanish ministry of a large baptist church there. The pastor asked Neil to ride on the church bus that morning. So he went. And he saw a man working that bus route that looked familiar. Yes......Steve Reyes. Thousands of miles away from where we had met them. We couldn-t believe it. Steve will be arriving this Saturday to spend two weeks with us here in Chile. This kind of thing can only happen in the family of God.

So even if you decide to quit, I comfort myself at the loss of my friend with this knowledge. God gives us friends, and we get to keep them for eternity. No matter where we are on this globe.


Your friend,
Rhonda

A frugal "lightbulb" moment

People here are so poor that they often buy things in small amounts as they can. This is, in my opinion, the most expensive way to buy things. However, it just occurred to me that, when I have a stash of something, I tend to be somewhat careless as to its use. If you only have a small amount of something, you'll use it sparingly. For example, if I have quart of dishwashing soap, I can use a large squirt. If I have a small bottle, you can bet I'll be as stingy as possible, in order to make that small amount last.

I say all this just to make it clear to me that, even though I will buy in larger amounts, I need to be more careful.

This became even clearer to me since DH bought a more-expensive liquid detergent. I thought he was nuts to do so. But I began carefully measuring instead of "eye-balling" the amount of detergent. The bottle now lasts us almost 3 month. I am thrilled.

Not exactly thrilling blogging, but it is what I've been thinking about lately, thank you Dave!

The end of Summer

Our short Summer is almost over. The schools started this week. Neil is at a preacher's retreat near Santiago for the week, so its been an odd week. A friend lent us the first season of Star Trek, the original series, so the kids and I have had a blast from the past.
The end of Summer always signals something special for us......Vacation time! We always leave for our vacation after schools start. Just another blessing of homeschoolers, vacation when you want to! We leave on Monday a.m. I am looking forward to it. We've had a busy year. It will be good for Neil to have some down-time with the kids.

When I come back from vacation, I intend to start blogging more consistently. It hasn't been easy, but Vanessa is getting bigger and bigger, and I hope to have more time.

Vanessa, Black and White

Eileen has been having fun with the camera again!

Vanessa and me!

Dave Ramsey.....with a vengeance

I have been occasionaly, casually mentioning Dave Ramsey and his ideas to my Dh for about a year now. Neil is usually very good with money, and we've only carried a balance on our credit card for a few months in our 15 year marriage.
But I know that we could do better. Of course, men usually don't like their women telling them what they need to do with their money, and they sure don't want to hear their wives sing the praises of another man. So I got dirty looks from Dh anytime I mentioned Dave. Until.......

Until Neil's best friend, Pastor Julian, becomes a Dave Ramsey devotee. Chileans have a hard time with the name, so they call him "el peladito" in other words, "Baldy". Another pastor friend gave him the financial peace book, in Spanish, of course. Neil, who must have Scottish blood running through his veins, has taken to it all....with a vengeance! I just wanted us to get out of debt, not turn into frugal experts! We're already completely out of debt, as our debt was really small to begin with. In fact, I didn't even think it was worth it to call Dave and yell "We're debt free!"

Neil's already put full plastic bottles into the toilet tank, so as not to use as much water. I have been reading Crystal Paine for years, and Hillbilly Housewife is where I first learned about blogging. I guess now its time to really get into it. Too bad that there is no CVS or Aldi here! Also, no coupons!
I guess its true, be careful what you ask for!

A prayer request

My mom's property, which includes her house and the camp, is supplied of water by a hand -dug well. Since it is so rainy, she has more than enough water all year, except for December and January, and that includes camp. This year all of camp was great, except for a great water shortage. We ended up having to carry buckets of water from the pool just to flush the toilets. It was not pretty. Everyone had a good attitude about it, but it was not easy. So, Neil asked all the campers to pray about mom getting a new well. That could run anywhere from 4 to 10 thousand dollars. Thats a lot of cash.
I really think its necessary, but its not my money, nor my call. I am praying that the Lord will provide my mom the money for the well in a miraculous way, so that she will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wants her to have the new well. We did some research yesterday, and she spoke to a company today who is willing to come out and give her a free estimate. Also, they might be willing just to extend the existing well, which would save her thousands. Her well is 14 meters deep and she needs to get to at least 18 meters. That costs 200 a meter.

Please pray with me that God might show and provide in a supernatural way.

Thanks

Happy Missionary-versary to me!

26 years ago today, we arrived in Santiago Chile to start our lives as missionaries. I was 1o years old.
I thank God for my life. Not always peaceful, not without troubles. Never boring, never without purpose. Always in His hand.

This is what the camp looks like

Welcome to Rose of Sharon baptist camp! The first thing you see as you walk down from Mom's house is the chapel. It has a roof and floor, but as you can see, the sides are from an old revival tent. We open or close them according to the weather. On the far side of the chapel is the soccer field, cut into the side of the hill.

Looking down from in front of the chapel, you can see the kitchen and the dining terrace. Look over to the left and down and you'll see the pool

Looking up the other direction from the dining terrace, you see the two cabins. Beyond the cabins are the camp terraces, all the way to the top of the hill.

7 years ago, this land was just an over-grown forest, seemingly good for nothing. Now it is a special place used for the glory of God

tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow we start Youth Camp! My kids are so excited. They think that Camp is the greatest week of the year. They are just as excited as when we go to Disneyland! Eileen has been packed for 4 days already, getting all her outfits ready.

As for me, well, I am exhausted already. We worked all day today. Its a good time, but a stressful time for me, especially since I have Vanessa. I'd appreciate any prayers.

We have had our share of troubles, and the water situation is still critical. So, for any problems we have, I am expecting God to give us blessing.

So sorry for all you suffering freezing temperatures. Its hot here!

Eileens Crafts

I can do a lot of things, but I don't craft. Not at all. But that doesn't mean can't encourage my DD to do crafts. So, she is going to a class, learning how to do things. Here is a decoupage tea bag caddy. Its really cute. I told her so, and that I would put it on my blog. So here it is!

Vanessa Pictures!

Since there are so many big people in this house that love Vanessa and taking pictures, we have an abundance. Eileen just loves the digital camera. Anybody remember the good ole days when you had to buy film and get photos developed? I am sooooo glad that's over! I do have a little printer that prints up regular photo size pictures. I love it. I can easily print up what I want.

Anyway, Here's my little Vanessa as captured on memory card by her big sister Eileen.

Camp!

Yep, its that time of year again. Its warm and sunny. Poor Tori is dealing with darkness at 4 pm, and here it is, 8:30 pm, and the sun still has not gone down.

Camp starts next Tuesday. We still have a lot of work to do. I am waiting for Neil to finish writing the devotionals so that I can type them up and print up the booklets.....for both youth and family camps....before this weekend. Hurry, honey, please!

The theme for this year's youth camp is "I commit to serve the Lord in 2009" Not a really catchy theme, but we are excited about the possibilities. I have made 8 posters showing ways to serve the Lord this year. During the week, they can commit to one or several. They will sign the posters publicly to announce their committment. I'll take plenty of pics and post them when I can.

For family camp, the following week, our guest speaker asked to speak about money, and Dave Ramsey's total money makeover. His view on money and debt has changed radically and he wants to share. So many Americans are in debt, but they have jobs. Here everyone is in debt and jobs are so scarce. I am really hoping that Bro. Epifani can get through top them about this important issue.
We are going to play a game all week. We are going to give them funnymoney, and a chance to earn more. They will have to "pay" for their food each meal. If they do not have enough money, they will have to work or go into debt. We are hoping to have fun, and also to illustrate what they will be learning about savings, debt, tithing, work, and trusting God.

We do have one very special prayer request. The camp, on my mom's property, is supplied of water by a no-to-good well. The well goes practically dry every summer, and this year it is nearly critical. Please pray that God would miraculously supply us with water!

My blogging may suffer over the next few weeks, but I do keep reading. God bless each of you, my friends, and you know who you are!

A follow-up Dr. visit

When we left the hospital 10 days ago, the dr. told us that she would need a blood test in one week. Then, if the results were good, the next blood test would be in another 2 weeks, then another month. I was discouraged, because I didn't want Vanessa to have to go through another torturous blood test.
Tuesday, we took her to the German hospital. Even in the nicest hospital in town, a blood test is still a blood test. It took forever. Vanessa screamed and pulled. It took me and two nurses to hold her still enough to draw blood. They had to take enough for 6 different tests. We were both sweating when the ordeal was over.
The next day, we went to the Dr.'s office. She lo0ked over the tests, one page after the other. She said, "This little girl is well. No need for more testing!" Amen, glory halellujah! Prayers answered!

The "why"

So often we are not made to know just why suffering is allowed in our lives or in the lives of those around us. But every once in a while, God makes known his purpose.

When the doctor made us understand that Vanessa must be hospitalized, we realized right away that is must be at the Regional Hospital. The charges for the German Hospital would have run several thousand dollars that we didn't have. And since we would not be compromising medical quality, just comfort, we knew what we had to do. I didn't know how miserable it would be, or I would have chosen to go into debt! I know that thousands get medical care there, and that maybe I'm just too spoiled, but the facts are that I was miserably uncomfortable. Vanessa would have been uncomfortable anywhere, as needles were going to be a fact no matter where we were. But I would have been better able to care for her in another setting.

Anyway, I am not a pouter. I tried to make the best of things and to be positive around the other children's mothers. Nessa's crib was at the end near the door and the recliners. Next to me was a little girl, Connie, who had a severe infection due to sinusitis that had not been properly diagnosed. The dr. let her mother know that she was in danger of losing her life because the infection might get to her brain. Connie's mom and dad took turns caring for her. Neil was able, over the 5 days to witness to Cristian. Jessica, Connie's mom, told me that she had been saved and baptized as a young person, but hadn't been to church in years. She was so glad that her husband was listening to Neil. They have commited to go visit the Temuco church. Also, next to Connie was Javiera, with a severe urinary tract infection. Neil was able to make friends with and witness to Eduardo and his wife. We passed out tracts and Pastor Jaime passed out Gospels of John to all the parents and nurses. Jessica told me that she knew that her child and mine had been allowed to get sick in order to bring us together so that her husband would listen to the Gospel. We plan to keep contact with these two couples.

When Vanessa was born, we didn't have a baby dedication ceremony, as many here think of them as the evangelical form of infant baptism. But in our home we talked and prayed and dedicated our Vanessa to God. Sometimes God needs to use us or someone we love to reach others. Sometimes that means suffering. If God needed to allow Nessa to suffer so that he could reach those in need, then I need to not grumble. I give her freely to be of use in the Master's hand.