Feliz Navidad!

Sorry, folks, I have Spanish on the brain. :)

Ah, Christmas break. School feels like it was 100 years ago. I'm at home, enjoying my family, my sleep, my Bible, and my Spanish studying, in no particular order. It's so lovely to not have deadlines and responsibilities and pressure on every side.

Lord willing, I'm planning on going to Mexico over spring break with a team from school (more details to come), and so I'm hitting the Spanish study really hard. I've worked on it every day for a couple of hours since I've been home. In spite of the fact that I'm rather overwhelmed with the amount of work that goes into learning a language, I feel like I'm actually making some sort of progress. Maybe, by March, I'll actually be more conversational. :) We're not sure how many Spanish speakers we'll actually have on our team, so Naomi and I have decided that if for no other reason than that, we're going to really work on Spanish. I have other reasons, of course, too...part of my heart is still in Peru. I'm not sure what will happen if I leave another part of my heart in Mexico... It's likely that for the rest of my life, no matter where I go, I'll be leaving pieces of my heart there. :)

Anyway...I'm still at home for at least the next few weeks, with my family. We're enjoying life together, making cookies, playing Apples to Apples, singing Christmas carols at the tops of our lungs (no kidding), watching movies, yelling at each other, laughing with each other, discussing Christmas presents at length, et cetera.

One of my Spanish projects is reading through the gospel of Juan, hopefully at least a couple of times before I go back to Emmaus. I read 3 chapters today.

Porque tanto amo Dios al mundo, que dio a su Hijo unigenito para que todo el que cree en el no se pierda, sino que tenga vida eterna.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday season with loved ones, whether at home or away. I've been memorizing Ephesians since I've been home, and it's been wonderful to reflect on the amazing blessings we have in Christ. He "has blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ!" Over and over again the first chapters say "in Christ...in Christ...in Christ"! It's all about Him and His glory. We live for no other reason. And all the gifts He gives us to enjoy are meant to draw us closer to Him so we can glorify Him all the more. Rest in Him today!

Anything special I should know?

Liz (about to use Victor's Mac to burn a CD, and trying to open the lid): Is there anything in particular I should know about this thing?

Victor (turning the laptop around on Liz's lap): Well, you open it from the other side...

Do It Later

Emmaus Family Christmas

Last night was our Emmaus Christmas event. We had a concert with Ginny Owens and David Klinkenberg, and that was really cool. Then we all went to faculty homes for supper and Christmas presents. Then we went ice skating. It was fun. Here are some pictures.

Naomi, Esther, Em and I made supper at the house of a couple from church, and had Victor and another friend, Micah, over to eat together beforehand. Here we are cooking...



And eating...



Victor was Naomi's date for the evening...



Esther and Emily and I stuck together. :)



Here's Victor the wannabe figure skater...




And my new favorite picture of the school year...Victor with his prayer support team. :) AKA, sisters in Christ who support him with considerable amount of prayer. :)



In news, only one more week till school's out for the semester! I only have two finals and a take-home one this week. It's great. Tomorrow is the Christmas brunch at church, and my kids (all of them from church) are performing their songs, which Victor and I have been teaching them for the past month-ish. I'm excited about that. :) I hope it goes well. I'm kind of nervous, actually. I'm playing a violin duet with another student from Emmaus, too. I'm more nervous about the kids than about performing myself. I'm super excited to see how the kids do. :)

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I'll try to do better. :)

I've kicked my cough :)

I kinda feel like the doctors were a bit like Lucy. After an albuterol inhaler that drove me mentally insane, codine that I didn't take because Nathan told me not to, steroids that downed my immune system and let me catch a cold, and 2 different antibiotics, I'm finally almost all better. :) It's pretty cool, actually, how the Lord provided for me throughout all of this. I found $100 in my mailbox one day and went to the doctor with my insurance card to find out that the deductible (due that day) was $100. :) Then the second time, I sat in the pharmacy with 3 prescriptions on order and $42 in my bank account, praying that the Lord would provide. The medicines came to $40.92. Victor wondered if $1.08 was significant. I'm not sure. I just know that I laughed all the way home that day. :)

Keep you safe

Quiet your heart
It’s just a dream
Go back to sleep

I’ll be right here
I’ll stay awake as long as you need me
To slay all the dragons
And keep out the monsters
I’m watching over you

My love is a light
Driving away all of your fear
So don’t be afraid
Remember I made a promise to keep you safe

You’ll have your own battles to fight
When you are older

You’ll find yourself frozen inside
But always remember
If you feel alone
Facing the giants
And you don’t know
What to do

My love is a light
Driving away all of your fear
So don’t be afraid
Remember I made a promise to keep you safe

- JJ Heller



"I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." Ps. 34:4

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Phil. 4:13

Sometimes, I think, I'd like to go back to being a little girl again. To wear feet pajamas and have Daddy rubbing Vicks on my chest and Mommy brushing out my tangly hair and then to have them holding my hands while they tucked me in bed and prayed with me. It'd be nice to go to sleep thinking about riding my tricycle the next day and playing "blocks and people" and watching Sesame Street.

But as it is, I'm all grown up now, and so many things are running through my mind and tempting me to stress out every day. But the Lord gives grace and He is holding me in His arms. He's made a promise to keep me safe. He wants me to trust Him on that. So, okay, Lord. I'll seek to trust you more...and wait for you to deliver me from all my fears.

All the way

Today was a good day. After 10 1/2 hours of sleep last night, I got up around 9:00. I spent the morning with Heidi and Liam, a lady and her little boy from church. We went shopping...Aldi, HyVee, Walmart, Sam's, etc...and then we got Wendy's for lunch and I didn't get back to school until after 12 noon. I did homework all afternoon and this evening had a good chat with my mom. The Lord is taking good care of me, like He enjoys doing. I'm resting in Him.

Here are more song lyrics from JJ Heller. Her CD, Painted Red, is officially my new favorite.

Your Hands
I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn’t there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That you would take my pain away
You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands

When you walked upon the earth
You healed the broken, lost and hurt
I know you hate to see me cry
One day you will set all things right
Yeah, one day you will set all things right

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands

Your hands that shaped the world
Are holding me
They hold me still.

"Be still and know that I am God."

This week our trio, Three-for-One, sang the song, "All the Way my Savior Leads Me." That's my mom's favorite hymn, and it was so good to be reminded by the truth in that song. "Jesus leads me all the way!" Jim Elliot said "I am as sure of His direction as I am of His salvation." Wow, I want to be that trusting of my faithful, leading Savior! He will indeed make my crooked ways straight. :)

Invisible Love

If my arms could reach around you
I would never move
If my eyes could see you
I’d have no faith to prove
The wonder of invisible love

This is how it has to be
With you and me
The wonder of invisible love

When I fall I feel your arms
Before I reach the ground
Lord, I know your whisper
Though I’ve never heard the sound
The wonder of invisible love

This is how it has to be
With you and me
The wonder of invisible love

Someday there will be no time to mind
I will be your long awaited bride
We will dance away the night.

- JJ Heller



The Lord knows what we need. I spent a long, hard day today, feeling weary, sick, lonely, fearful...and He sent person after person to comfort and strengthen me. Then, right before supper, I curled up and cried and listened to this song over and over and begged Him for a hug. "I need you to hold me, Lord." Then, after supper, a friend asked me what was wrong and I told her how my day had gone, and she brought me to her dorm room and then held me in her arms for a long time and spoke words of truth to me of what God thinks of me and how He is using me and what He is doing in my life and what He is going to keep doing. She had no idea, but Jesus was reaching down to me through her arms and holding me and whispering to me through her voice. Maybe His love isn't so invisible after all. "For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee..." Hebrews 13:5.

Rest

Sooo...there is an unreal amount of work to do within the next three weeks, but I really haven't been thinking much about it. I'm not sure if that's a bad or a good thing. :shrug: Well, at least I'm not worried about THAT aspect of life. :)

"Be still and know that I am God."

The Lord has been laying this principle on my mind over and over again in the past few weeks. Stillness. WHAT?

With this project on my mind and that relationship between those two friends and my friendship with this person and those people at church that I long to be helping out more but just don't have the time, and those kids I want to hang out with because I want to just love on them, and that floor hockey game I promised those freshmen I would watch, and that place to go observe ESL teaching at, and that person I promised to call and that person I need to write and that note I meant to leave in a fellow classmate's box, and being sick, and meeting to pray with others, and organizing Student Missionary Fellowship things, and encouraging that teacher, and printing off that assignment, and getting my jump drive back from that person, and tutoring this person in English comp, and having brunch with this freshman because I want to get to know her, and...and...and... that's not half the list, either.

Stillness?! Are you inSANE, God??

And so He answers... "Yes, child. Be still. Remember I am God. Remember that in eternity, all of this will be a dream and all that really will have mattered is how you glorified me. Remember that Jesus is THE priority in your life, not just one of them. You can rest because I've got everything under control."

So, if you're praying, please pray that I will rest in Him. He is my refuge and strength. Please pray that I will get everything done and not kill myself. I'm fighting a bad cough and even after a doctor visit and a dose of antibiotics I'm still sick and that kind of concerns me. Please pray that I will not stress out because I don't have enough hours in the day (and I truly mean that literally) to serve all of the people who need to be served in my life. :) I have to trust that the Lord will show me what are the most important things He wants me to do. So, yeah.

Here are some pictures from a picnic on Sunday. My friend Nathan is staying in Dubuque for a month while doing a rotation here for his medical training. We went on a picnic with two of my best friends from school, Naomi and Victor. Talk about the prettiest place in the city to have a picnic!! We had such a lovely time. I completely forgot about everything on my mind except these three precious friends and that was truly restful. Even if I only got 20 minutes of homework done that afternoon. :)

Notice the character coming out in this picture. Nathan is being some sort of "Caesar" I believe, eating his dainties. Victor is being his random self. Naomi is getting ready to throw a piece of popcorn at Nathan for his ridiculousness.





Yes, that is Dubuque in the background. I like it much better from up there above the city. :)

The Grape Juice Covenant

Today at lunch I made an Old Testament covenant. :D See, in the OT, there was a thing called a blood covenant, which happened in Genesis 15 with Abram and God. The two parties were supposed to bring some animals and then they would make a little valley in between them, and they would split the animals/birds in half lengthwise down the middle and lay one half on each side of the valley. Then the blood would trickle down into the valley. Each party would walk through the valley in the blood, barefoot, as a symbol of the covenant, in essence saying, "If I break the covenant, this (what was done to the animals) is what should be done to me." That's what God did to Abram when He made Abram the covenantal promise with him in Genesis 15.

So, before you start worrying that I was splitting animals and getting blood all over the Emmaus cafeteria, hear me out. :) It was actually with grapes. And it was a truce between Geoff and I. He is always ribbing me about Kansas. I can't imagine why. And in return I always rib him about attending an "agriculture" school in the middle of Minneapolis for his high school years. Soooo...today we made a truce and Geoff split a grape in half and we put it on the sides of my tray and squeezed the grape juice out and dipped our fingers in it and sprinkled it on each other. So now he won't make fun of Kansas and I won't make fun of his *ahem* Ag school. :)

I'm in love...

...with Latin American kids.



Oh my. Tonight when I went downtown to tutor, Jorge wasn't there, so I didn't have anyone to tutor, but I played with 4 little Hispanic kids so their moms could focus on their tutoring sessions better. Oh my. Jessica was 6, Haley was 5, then I'd guess that Charlie was 3-ish, and Emilie was probably 2. We first laid out Haley's Disney princess blanket in the toy corner and then settled down to read stories. Even though we were technically playing, I worked in lots of English lessons. Every now and then as I was reading, I'd stop and ask "What does that word mean?" For instance... "The Beast's face was fierce looking, but he had a kind and gentle heart...What does fierce mean?" Two little girl hands would shoot up and I'd call on one. "Um, like, strong?" "Well, that's close. More like kind of mean looking - like this:" I scrunch up my face and curl my fingers. The kids giggle and we proceed.



Then we got a box of opposite picture flash cards and made up a game with them. We discussed opposites, and identified them, then we played a sort of "go fish" type of game. It was so fun! The girls giggled and giggled. Then we (all of us at the center) had our break time and ate snacks. Jessica spent most of the time telling me that she wanted another cookie. She eventually got her mom to let her have one. Oh, I discovered the Spanish word for cookie - galleta. I absolutely LOVE being able to say some Spanish words to them, for instance, when we were playing a game of "memory" with picture cards later, I'd ask "Que es esta en Espanol?" And they'd answer me in Spanish as if it were the most natural thing. :D When we played memory Charlie thought it was most amusing to drive his fire engine over our game, which made it virtually impossible to play. We kept asking him to stop, in English AND Spanish, but it didn't work, because he just kept giggling and saying "Iss funny!" "No, no, no, por favor! Malo nino!" (Naughty boy) :) Memory was another great English teaching tool, because we discussed each picture as it came up and said it in English and sometimes in Spanish. Oh my. What funness. Yup, I'm in love. :D

In honor of Grandaddy

New England in the Fall

Master painter brush in hand
Scattered color o’re the land.
Under sky of azure blue
Left a picture just for you.

Yellow tinged leaves, red and gold
what a beauty to behold.
Rocks and streams and waterfall
Around each mountain to us call.


And as we go from tree to tree
around each bend the more we see,
That Master Painter brush in hand
Has swept his brush across the land.

And left behind a brilliant hue
Of flaming colors just for you.
From beauty of the mountain peak
to stately tree along the street.

Yellow, green and red and gold
what a beauty to behold.
All from the creators hand
to cheer the folks across the land.


Lakes and boats bid us explore
All the beauties of the shore.
As we sail from dock to dock
we see houses on the rock.

Then back again to motor home
On the road again to roam.
Cruising down the blacktop trail
going over hill and dale.

Yellow, red and green and gold
Oh! what beauty to behold.
Basket place and antique store
Farmers market and much more.


Village, hamlet, church and school
places to eat that make you drool.
Rocks and trees and old stone fences.
Lovers sitting on old log benches.

Trees ablaze with color fair
Leaves a flutter in the air.
Now the purpose of this story
Is to give to God the Glory!

Alvin Skiles

One step closer...

Wow! I'm excited. :) I had no idea that real English teaching would look so much like the things we talk about and practice in class! For my Methods in TESOL class, I need to have 4 sessions of tutoring experience and 4 sessions of ESL classroom observation. Our TESOL teacher is new this year and has been working to make connections with teachers here in Dubuque, and it's been hard to break into the circle, but the Lord has opened up (finally...halfway into the semester - in His perfect time) doors for us now.

There is a center in downtown Dubuque run by Catholic sisters, which is a tutoring institution. People come there for help and you spend a couple of hours in a session with them, tutoring them. There are tons of books, materials, etc. to help and each student keeps a notebook of where they are and what they've been doing so you as a tutor can jump right to the spot where they're working and help them with what they need. I went there for an interview Tuesday afternoon and they asked if I could come back that night to start tutoring! So I had my first session with Jorge, who comes in with his wife Cecila and their little girl, Jessica. We worked through "who" and "where" questions and talked about some vocabulary words and how the plural of "child" is "children" not "childrens" and then we spent a good bit of time just talking about his family and mine and practicing the concepts we had just covered. It was so cool. And so much easier than I expected! What a blessing from the Lord.

Then today, I was able to go downtown to Prescott Elementary School and observe an ESL teacher for an hour. She had 3 Hispanic 2nd graders in the classroom first, then she switched them out for 3 4th graders. It was so cool to watch her in action and see how ESL teaching (in that setting at least) was not really that difficult. But so cool. Those kids respected her and really seemed to enjoy their session with her. Ricardo, Mondardo, Wendy, Sally, Luis, and Alex...precious kids. Most from Mexico, but one from Brazil. It's really cool to think about the possibility of reaching whole families through ESL teaching.

Sister Corine at the tutoring center talked about how we do not proselytize the students - that is, we don't tell them about Jesus - that's not what we're here for. I can respect that, but I'm looking forward to the time when I CAN reach people through this. However, perhaps the Lord may even open some doors outside of the classrooms here. Who knows? :)

I'm learning Spanish little by little while going to the Spanish Bible study that Mr. Hernandez, one of my teachers, leads on Sunday evenings. I sit for about 2 1/2 hours immersed in the language, listening to the Hispanics talk, pray, discuss Scriptures, sing (although I join them singing bc they have a songbook and I can read it). Then, when we eat (amazing Peruvian, Mexican, and Brasilian food) they talk with me and help me try to learn the language. It's a slow, painful process because that day is the only time I have to practice it, but it helps a bit, anyway. :) It was cool to understand exactly what the kids today were saying when they said some things to each other in Spanish.

Wow, I can't wait to be an English teacher...and I'm so thankful for the Lord's leading in this direction. Thanks, all of you who are praying. I appreciate that so much!

Spammers couldn't be more creative

So, guys...who writes emails with subject lines that say:
Are you snoring yourself to death?
Pedipaws! Trim your pet's nails
Christian Singles - we can make you happy!
Michelle Andrews: I can find you a new job
Kingsdaughter, are you paying too much for credit card loans? We can save you money!
And those are just a sampling...but I get the same ones every time I check my junk folder on Yahoo. It's ridiculous. :) But entertaining nonetheless. :D I love the snoring one. And just so's you know...I'm NOT snoring myself to death. I'm sleeplessing myself to death. And yes, Mozilla, that IS TOO a word.

Recipe for fun

One book.



One plateful of cookies.



One jug of milk.

A professor's home.

8 friends.

Laughter.

Discussion following story concerning personalities.

Discovery of personalities.

Encouragement.

More laughter.

Brotherly love.

Enjoy!

PS I did not take the pictures. :D

Some photos from this semester

Some of my favorites from the semester so far. :)

Camping trip that our church took together. Naomi and I shared a little tent...and the flash was really bright on the camera. :D


Me, Naomi, Victor, Geoff...our hotdogs were yummy. Naomi and I grilled them on the grill and then we dropped two on the ground. Victor ate both of them (he was actually like "It's ok! I'll eat it! The dirt makes it taste better!) and then when he had his plate on the ground, a little kid stepped on one of the hot dogs! HaHa! Crazy...


Early morning hike down to the Mississippi. Naomi and I were reenacting what being tied to the railroad tracks would have been like.


Kids from church...Naomi was blowing bubbles and that made them very happy... :D


With some dear friends...Emily, Rebekkah, Amy, and Naomi at Panera. Amy is our good friend Caleb Eby's (Emmaus alumni from last year who is now working in Japan) girlfriend and while she was visiting her parents in Dubuque (she goes to Moody), we all went out for lunch and had a good time...


By the way, my Chauncey fish died. That made me really sad. :( I miss the little guy.

Ok, Rachel, you're right

Wow, I think this is the worst I've been at communication in my whole life. Well, maybe. Maybe not. But it HAS been almost 1 1/2 months since I blogged and that's ridiculous. It's kind of like when I stopped by Mrs. Van Dine's office the other day (our registrar and in-school grandma). She said that it had been too long since I talked to her, but I told her that I had been waiting till just the right time because I knew it was going to be a long talk when I actually DID get around to talking to her. So, this will probably be a long entry. Or maybe I should just write a bunch of entries consecutively to catch you up. :P

In any case, well, yes, I am back at school. I was busy last year. I was busy this summer. But over these past couple of months I have felt unrealistically busy. I don't even know where to start. Hmm...

Well, the first couple of weeks, I was an emotional basketcase because my classes were rearranged at least three times, which was frustrating, one of the boys from home I care about was hurt in a bad car wreck, one of my best friends from school here was struggling with some real issues emotionally, I was trying to slide back into routine and it wasn't happening, I was trying to catch up with everyone and we were all trying to fit back into each others' lives again...and it was just crazy.

After about a month of classes, things finally fell into routine, and I'm feeling very settled and thankful now. What a blessing! The tough thing is that practically every moment of every day of my week is scheduled for me...and if you know me well, you know that structure is a challenge for me. Sure, some is fine, but this is borderline control-freakishness. (I mean that my schedule is being the control freak.) So at times I just want to burst out and go away somewhere like a sandy beach in Peru where no one can tell me where to be at what time or for what reason. :) I'm managing alright, though...the Lord is giving me grace for each day.

So, as far as classes go, I love all of mine this year. Some of you know that I was planning to work toward getting my BS in 3 years instead of 4. Well, after a week of thinking that was going to happen this semester, I nearly cracked mentally and I realized I couldn't press myself like that. Not having a summer break from classes and jumping right back into 19.5 hours of schoolwork was too much. So I dropped two classes and am at 15.5 credit hours for the semester. That has been a blessing, truly. The workload is just perfect. Enough that I still get this feeling of "Ah! I can't do it!" and have to run back to the Lord, but not so much that I'm already feeling like there's no way I'll get everything done.

I am taking Methods in TESOL I, Intro to Missions, and Hermeneutics (science of Bible study) on Mon/Wed/Fri and I'm taking Life of David and Cultural Anthropology on T/Th. I'm learning a lot about Bible study in both Life of David and Hermeneutics - a lot of practical things that should serve me well for the rest of my life. Then, in Intro to Missions and Cultural Anthropology I'm learning so much about cultures, mission work, and a lot of spiritual things I've never considered, or never knew much about. For instance, how does God reveal His glory through cultures, how do I experience God's leading and direction, how do you deal with cultural things in Scripture like slavery and holy kisses, etc. Really cool stuff. Methods in TESOL is a very practical class, and we're talking about how to teach English grammar. I need to find a tutoring position and do some hours of observation and teaching in ESL classes around Dubuque, so if you would pray with me about those details, I'd appreciate it.

It's good to be back with the people here at school and church in Dubuque. The Lord has given me a lot of service opportunities and I'm thankful for that. When I say service, I mean practical service...cleaning here at school, helping moms with their kids, helping people in practical ways. I'm learning a lot.

So, yes, now I can continue to blog in a more timely fashion, perhaps. That is, if I still have any readers...I know it's been so long! :D God bless, all!

PS Phyllis, I don't have your email, otherwise I would have written before. Can you give it to me? Or, mine is lizabeth.hannah@gmail.com.

I'm baacckk...

My body is weary. My dorm room is a complete and utter disaster. I have no idea what my final class schedule will look like this semester. I already have a million crazy thoughts about people and relationships and serving and growing flooding my brain.

But I have my fish. :)

Meet Chauncey.



All will straighten out. I'm looking forward to where the Lord leads me this semester. It will be a good journey.

PS I will post pictures of my room eventually, but NOT now. :D

PSS "Yakov, what does 'PS' mean?" "Why, it means, 'Please, Sweetheart.'" (Inspector General)

Three more nights

"Goodnight! Love you!"
"Goodnight! See you in the morning, Lord willing."

Those words are the equivalent of "Goodnight, John-boy" in our house.
And I only have three more nights of hearing them before I'll be back on Asbury Road, in Dubuque, Iowa, sleeping in my dorm room. Whoosh! What a summer! Where has it gone? I'm looking forward to being back in school, but I am already missing everyone here. It was sad to say goodbye to my little cousins on Sunday...





And little Deborah keeps coming into my room to hang around and tell me that she doesn't want me to leave. Boxes are starting to pile up in my room, and it is looking emptier. I have so much stuff. Why on earth? And every time I move, I give some more of it away. Soon I won't have anything. That is, after I move about 150 more times. :) For instance, I gave away two shirts today - one was one of my Hawaiian shirts. I have three and I only wear one of them. I offered one to Abby, and she took the one I always wear. That's a good thing, because then I'll actually wear the other two. :P It really is all just stuff. Most of it I could live without if I had to. But since I don't have to live without it and it makes life more pleasant, for the time being anyway, I keep it (except for what I give away). :)

I'll be heading up to Iowa on Friday morning, Lord willing. My next post will probably be from the land of never-ending cornfields. :D

Farewell, Kansas...I'll miss thee. :)

Not at all like August...

I'm sitting on the couch listening to my sister play the piano and a light cool, fall-smelling breeze wafts through the door. Sunday night it rained and yesterday it was cool all day even though we were canning applesauce - as a matter of fact, last night when I lay out in the Woodland Garden talking on the phone, I was actually cold! So yeah...this is a little unlike August...

Well, I'm home from camp, and it was a lovely two weeks, that's for sure.



First, the Lord gave me a wonderful week where I was able to teach 13 little girls about how faithful and trustworthy the Lord is. To be sure, it was more like the Lord teaching me, the other staff workers, and the 13 girls to boot, just using my mouth. :) Wow, I love teaching. And I love those girls. And I love Jesus. So...combine those three, and give me a week revolving around them all and it's just about perfect. :) Some evenings after I finished, I was on such a high I could hardly settle down. Two girls got saved! Praise the Lord! All of the girls were a huge encouragement to us on staff. It is such a blessing to see young women with a heart for the Lord. It was also a huge encouragement to see the Lord using the teenagers who were counseling. Two of the counselors, the director and I were in our twenties, but three of the counselors were only 15, and it was exciting to see their excited hearts for the Lord and see how He used them. We had a princess theme and it was so much fun to pretend we were a bunch of Cinderellas for the week.



Or, at least Prince Charmings...though I'm not sure where that one came from... :D

Then came family camp. Anyone remember Charlotte's Web when Wilbur is getting into the crate and the sheep says "That crate should say, 'Zukermann's Famous Pig...and two stowaways'"? Well, our white van should have had a sign that said "Tammy Skiles' family...and four stowaways." :) Brad, Karin, Grandma, and my friend Caiti came with us. Aunt Jen's family were there, too, so in all, our "group" totaled 19 people. It was a riot. :) Actually, we really had a lovely time. I just love my siblings and cousins and it was a huge blessing to be able to spend a week with them. We did lots together, tubing, swimming, paddleboating, singing...even managed a trip to the caves. So fun!



My three objectives were:
1. Time to rest
2. Time with my family
3. Time with the Lord

All three were accomplished very well. :) So refreshing. I had a nap every single day! That should be mandatory for every human being. Every morning I was able to read my Bible and pray down by the lake for an hour or more. Talk about refreshing! So lovely! What a good week.



Now I only have 10 days until I'll be back at school. Wowsers! Where did the summer go? Although while I say that, I look back and think, man, it's been a long one. :) Time is a funny thing.

Thanks all, for praying!

There has to be a reason....

...that I'm blogging at 1:00 a.m. Hmm, strange person I am. I guess it's because I've been rather busy all week and Sunday I'll be going to camp, and I have a to-do list the size of my family's Christmas lists put together to do tomorrow, so I'm neglecting sleep to blog again. This is becoming habitual (this blogging), I'm afraid. I'm afraid because I'll probably disappoint you all and just as you're getting used to seeing new updates, you won't be getting them because I'll be immersed in 19 hours of schoolwork again in exactly four weeks, Lord willing. I will try, though. I will try.

Soooo...speaking of camp, Lord willing, from July 27-August 1, I'll be speaking at girls' grade school week of camp at Kansas Bible Camp. I am SO excited about it! Preparing the messages this month has been such a huge blessing. I am learning so much. We will be talking about faith in the lives of Anna, Rebekah, Hannah, the Widow of Zarephath, the Widow of 2 Kings 4, with the oil jug, and Naaman's wife's maid (boy, it'd sure be easier if the Lord had just named these dear women!). I had an amazingly timely and challenging reminder from a friend the other night, though. We were talking about preparing messages, and he was telling me about his "unorthodox" way of going about it. His steps to message prepration (in his words) are to:
1. Pray
2. Pray
3. Pray
4. Pray
5. Pray
6. Pray
7. Prepare the message
8. Pray
9. Practice the message
10. Pray
I don't doubt it for a minute, either. I've never known a man of prayer like Caleb. If he prayed that there would be no rain in Japan (where he's working as a missionary) for 3 years, the Lord would probably answer that (like Elijah, you know). :) In any case, it was kind of a gentle prodding from the Lord - "Maybe you should be praying more steadily and consistent about these messages, Elizabeth." So I've been doing that. I really covet your prayers this coming week! I know the Lord can do mighty things through His word. I only want to be the vessel. I want to be like Ezekiel, whose mouth was opened and shut by the Lord's hand. :) Please pray 1 Cor. 2:1-5 for me and for Sherry, the other speaker. :) THANK YOU!

In between all the microbiology tests (which went well - thank you!) and the message studying, I've been doing lots of random summery and not-so-summery things. Like...

...visiting my precious new baby cousin, Chloe Grace Rudzitis



...taking fun Americanized pictures of baseballs, flags, and puppy dogs



...splashing in rain puddles with an umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other



...talking to one of my favorite boys on the phone


(do you have ANY idea how encouraging it is, after years of keeping in touch with kids, encouraging them, challenging them to live for the Lord, to have them call or contact you when you haven't contacted them in a while, just because they want to find out how you are doing so they can pray for you? I've had two of my boys do that in the past two weeks and it is such a sweet blessing. 3 John 4)

...and dreaming, mostly about Peru, and the people I love all over the world, but about everything in general, too



Dreaming is nice in a Kansas summer. I love that my Jesus knows my dreams and is teaching me to dream things that He loves, too.

So, summer is good. The Lord is good. And you all are good for reading and caring and praying. :) Gracias!

summer song

Summer warm and lazy
Lemon sun and hazy
Remember?
Popsicle red on my chin
Bikes and plastic army men
And no sign of September
Something in my seven years was telling me
To thank the Author of such a biography

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay


My adolescent 70's
Reads just like the pevensies
Adventures
'Cause every perfect now and then
I cought a glimpise of Aslan's mane
And I longed for His treasure
Something in His mystery was drawing me
To love the Author of my own biography

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay

All grown up and living fine
Biographies all intertwined
With billions
And soonHe turnsthe final page
We'll look the Author in the face
Then the book really begins
'Cause something tells me all these years of memories
Are only the first sentence of eternity

CHORUS
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day...
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay

- Chris Rice