Stories of Our Lives

The Best White Elephant Gift Ever

2010-12-12T13:30:00.003-06:00

I'm not a very hard person to surprise because #1) I'm generally rather skeptical and/or #2) I don't like to spoil surprises so I don't believe what I hear or I purposely forget clues that I see. So if someone had walked up to me and said, on December 8, 2010, before 7:00, "Nate's going to propose to you tonight," I would not have believed them. Nate and I have been talking about our plans for a while, but I wasn't expecting a ring on my finger until after Christmas, for various reasons.

The church Christmas party started out very normally. We walked in, started saying hi and hanging out with the people we love. Mary Ellen showed us her package right away and said, "You guys should pick my gift. It's the best." To which we both replied sarcastically, "Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Whatever." (There's generally only one reason people tell you to pick their gift at a white elephant party, and that's because it's the lamest one possible.) Well, then we drew our numbers and Nate got #1. He whined about it dramatically, because if he got something extra dumb, he'd have to be stuck with it the whole time, and couldn't trade with anyone. He joked with someone about trading it, etc. So, everything was normal.

Then we were all there, and got started with the gift exchanging. Since Nate was #1, all eyes were on him, and he made sure that everyone knew he was picking his gift. (He had asked me just before, "Do you think I should pick Mary Ellen's?" She has kept bugging us to pick her's and I was convinced she was actually serious, so I said, "Yeah, I think you'd better.") Nate is 6'8" and when he makes an announcement with his hands in the air most people don't miss it. So he sat down with ME's gift and started unwrapping it. It was a box inside of a box, inside of a box. We were all laughing and it still seemed incredibly normal.

Then he pulled out a ring box. My initial thought was "What a horrible joke!" Nate got down on his knee in front of me and I thought, "And Nate's going along with it!"

"Stop, Nate," I begged him. But then he opened the box. I saw three things: It was a Kay box. It was a real ring. It was just the kind of ring I sort-of specified to him. My mind immediately concluded: This is real!

Everyone was REALLY laughing and cheering now. Then Nate started talking and it got quiet.
"Liz, you got me. I never expected to be in this place with you, but here we are. You've helped me go from being a kid to being a man. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

I could barely gasp out "YES!"

And the rest is history. :) Best White Elephant gift ever. Best proposal ever, to me. :)

Here are a few pictures.

The Shack, a review

2010-07-29T09:34:00.003-05:00

*Note * This is rather long for a blog entry, but it's something I worked on this summer and just thought I'd pass it on for anyone interested in reading.

The Shack, William P. Young
A review

“The real underlying flaw in your live, Mackenzie, is that you don’t think that I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything – the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives – is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me” (126).

Quotes such as this, where Young tackles the principles behind trusting God in the middle of trials and key aspects of the Christian’s relationship with God, have stimulated Christians who were drawn to read this controversial work, The Shack. Sometimes Young hits the nail on the head with comments like this one. However, what makes this book such a controversy, and are the good points enough to overcome the negative elements within it?

The book is a modern-day allegory of a man whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered while on a family camping trip. Mack struggles for years with anger and bitterness toward the murderer and God and guilt within himself. When he gets a letter from God inviting him to return to the shack where his daughter was found, for the weekend, he accepts the invitation and goes to the shack, where he encounters all three persons of the trinity: Papa, or God the Father, Jesus, and Sarayu, or the Holy Spirit. Through conversations with them and his experiences that weekend, his life is changed and he finds peace with God and himself.

Searching for answers to the problem of pain and evil, The Shack explores what relationship with God truly means for the individual, and includes many excellent principles. Trust is based on relationship, Papa tells Mack. “Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me,” she says to him (126). God is personal – not an angry, spiteful being who is unknowable or vengeful. This is the overall message of the book, and Young does a good job tackling the concept.

In addition, there is a good section in the book that addresses the legalistic approach to salvation. Sarayu tells Mack that rules and principles aren’t the way to know God, and that the law is only a mirror to show man his sin (198, 202). This is a Biblical truth. She addresses the fact that humans turn everything into rules and principles so that they can follow them and hold them up as a standard by which to judge others. People in a relationship have expectancies of each other, but once those are turned into expectations, the relationship deteriorates.

However, blended into the book, with its many conversations between Mack and each person of the Godhead, are many false doctrines and Scriptural errors. Young borrows from many age-old theories and beliefs that have been refuted over and over again by scripturally orthodox Christians.

For example, Papa blatantly contradicts scripture when she says that Jesus was not forsaken on the cross, but that she was there with him all along. Later, she refers to the scars from the cross on herself. This is a heresy known as “patripassionism,” which says that God the Father died with God the Son on the cross. The Bible gives no support for this. On the contrary, it is clear from God’s Word that Jesus was forsaken on the cross as he bore the punishment for man’s sin.
Christ’s death is not seen as atoning, because punishment for sin is overlooked as a necessity: “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment” (96). Christ’s death, rather, is never clearly defined in the book. Young seems to skirt around the issue. At the end of chapter 12, he even comes close to saying, through the character of Jesus, that a person can adhere to any religion and still know God. He does not say that all roads lead to God, but he leaves the reader hanging concerning that issue.

Additionally, Sophia, or an impersonation of wisdom, contradicts the belief that God condemns people to hell. “You believe he will condemn most to an eternity of torment, away from His presence and apart from His love. Is that not true?” (162). This hints at the belief that there is no hell, or punishment for sin. God is too kind and too loving to condemn men to hell.

Another overwhelming theme in the book is God’s sovereignty, which is excessively downplayed, and man’s freedom, which is almost considered sovereign over God’s will. Jesus says that, in essence, God is submitted to man’s will. The Father is submitted to Jesus and the Spirit as much as either of them are to the Father (145, 122). 1 Corinthians 11, as well as passages in the gospels, clearly contradict this when they say that Jesus was submitted to his Father’s will, but never that the Father was submitted to Jesus.

Evil is not portrayed in the book as being part of God’s plan. “Papa has never needed evil to accomplish his good purposes” Sophia says (165). Also, Papa says, “Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes” (185). However, God says in his word that he chooses to use evil to accomplish his purposes. In fact, in Isaiah 45:7, God says, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.” This statement of God’s also contradicts the definition of sin that is given in The Shack, which is “the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light...Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence” (136).

“’To force my will on you,’ Jesus replied, ‘is exactly what love does not do’” (145). God’s sovereignty is not held in bondage by his love. God is free to do as he chooses to do, and of course, because he is love, everything is for the good of his children and for his glory. However, our human definition of love is not substantial enough to judge when something God does is acted in love or not. This is a contradiction of Young’s basic premise in the book: that we cannot judge God. Who is man to say that for God to work everything out according to his will is not love? “I don’t want slaves to my will,” Jesus says in the book, making submission to God as sovereign Lord seem like something completely wrong because it takes away man’s freedom and control of his own life. God is sovereign and is not subject to man’s free choices.

Another theme is the egalitarianism that infiltrates the book, in numerous references to man’s stupidity and woman’s superior ability to have relationship with God, along with the lack of a need for role differences or authority structures. Jesus actually says, “The world, in many ways, would be a much calmer and gentler place if women ruled” (147-48). According to Young, God doesn’t want men and women to have separate roles, but “to be counterparts, face-to-face equals, each unique and different, distinctive in gender but complementary,” without any structure of roles, especially with any trace of hierarchy (148). Feminism traces its way throughout the conversations in the book.

One of the first things that attracts attention in the book is the fact that God the Father, or Papa, and the Holy Spirit, Sarayu, are both portrayed as women. This is, as explained in the book, because Mack had no good father role to remember, so God portrayed himself as a woman to help soften the lessons he was teaching Mack. Many people threw a fit, myself included, when they read or heard about this element in the book. However, while being clearly feministic in this, the bigger problem is not that God is portrayed as a woman, but that he is portrayed as a human at all. God clearly states in the Bible that no one is to make an image of him, and that no one has seen God at any time. Jesus is the manifestation of God to man and it is idolatry to try to portray God the Father or the Spirit as a human being. Men should refrain from imagining what God is like other than how the Bible clearly shows him to us.

The most dangerous lies are those that are mixed with an element of truth. In an age where people are experimenting with everything they believe and how they can best explain away things that are hard to understand, Young does a superb job of making God much more likeable by talking away his sovereignty over man’s freewill, his just judgment on sin, his sacrifice of his son to pay for the sins of man, and the authority structure he has established, among other things.

Knowing God is not just about the “warm fuzzies” of a nice relationship; our relationship with God has a more complex foundation than that. God did have to punish sin, and he did send his Son to die for man. God does condemn men to hell for their sin, and man is responsible for his response to God. God does set up institutions as well as relationships, although he is more interested in relationship with people than in rules and regulations we impose on ourselves. God is personal, indeed, and far more personal than most people today believe, but he is also greater and more complex than we will ever understand, and he should command our fear and reverence as well as our trust and enjoyment.

Christians should read this book with care, conceding the truth, but constantly comparing it all to the word of God and being ready to refute the error in it.

Sharing Truth

2010-07-20T21:19:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who was praying for my ESL classes today. I got to share the gospel with both morning and evening classes. It went really well. I didn't particularly use my classroom as a platform for the gospel all summer, even though I could have been free to say/do as much as I wanted. I felt like I should use the time to teach my students English to the best of my ability and not try to use the time they paid for learning English to try to teach them spiritual things. However I asked the Lord for the chance to talk with them at some point about the gospel, and He gave me this idea. I ordered these gospel tracts:
May I Ask You a Question?

During the last 20-25 minutes of class this morning and evening, we read through the tracts together and talked about the vocabulary and concepts used in them. We had good discussions both times about sin and sin's penalty and what trust means. Three of the ladies in the evening class are believers, and it was lovely to go through the gospel with them because I knew they understood and they helped define things and were agreeing with me as I shared. Two of the ladies in the evening class are Chinese, and had never even seen or heard of a Bible before. That kind of rocked me. Wow. It was overwhelming to them to take in all the information about the gospel. Pray for them! The students who were from Peru or Mexico or Thailand just accepted the information, somewhat interestedly, and I could see it making sense to them at some points.

The church also orders Jesus films and booklets called Ultimate Questions in the students' languages to give to them. Thursday is our last class. We'll work for an hour and then have a potluck party and hand out certificates and the gifts. Wow, one more day of teaching. It's so hard to believe. I have a lot to reflect on and sort through. I'm so thankful that God gave me this opportunity. Thanks again, so much, for praying!

Reactive Airway Disease, aka Asthma

2010-07-12T22:10:00.003-05:00

So, I've been unofficially diagnosed with asthma by about 4 different doctors in the past two years, and this fall I'm going to do something about it. It's not fun to cough for hours after rigorously exercising, or be sick for months because you're just not clearing up, or to experience pain and tightness in your chest and throat when you exercise outside for any length of time. You know it's a bad sign when you're halfway through an easy-ish walk with 15 lbs of books on your back and you gasp, "Ugh, I hate breathing!" I was laughing at myself after I said that, but it's true. I tend to despise breathing when I exercise. Then, I was looking up breathing exercises online for asthma and I saw this article that began by saying,

"In the normal breathing pattern the diaphragm moves downward when the person inhales and moves upward when the person exhales. An asthma patient breathes in an unnatural way by using only the upper portion of the chest. This is very unnatural for the system as the full chest is not used in this way."

Oops. I thought that was the normal way to breathe. I never use my stomach or diaphragm to breathe, only when I remember to do it. A lot of times when I exercise, I actually forget to breathe at all, and find I've been taking super shallow breaths with my mouth, not even using my nose.

So this is the most random blog entry in the world, possibly, but I was just thinking about it this evening. Mostly why I'm posting this is because I'm wondering if anyone knows anyone who treats asthma naturally and/or has any good breathing exercises to do to help develop in that area. I'm not a big fan of pumping my body full of steroids to "control" my asthma, especially since it's mostly exercise-induced and doesn't bother me regularly (unless I'm sick). I particularly could use a nutritionist in the Dubuque, Iowa, area. Ideas, anyone?

In other news...lol...I'm doing really well in Colorado. God is blessing me so richly with His grace and goodness. Only two more weeks of working and teaching! Wow. :) Thanks for praying! I'll write more soon.

Giving Back

2010-07-11T18:31:00.002-05:00

“Hey kids, come look at this.” My mom held out a check for $100. “God provided for our grocery shopping this week.” I grew up seeing God provide regularly for my family. We were a big family growing up on a small farm. Every farmer knows that he has no control over how his crops fare. He is dependent on the Lord, completely. And quite frankly, our farm income was never enough. But it honestly never concerned me, growing up, because I was taught, and saw daily, that God would provide.

I began to realize as I grew older that God used His people as the principle means of providing for each other, whether that was my grandparents giving us money one month or my parents giving my grandparents money the next, or a church unexpectedly giving us their old 12-passenger van when we had twins and outgrew our station wagon. Another thing I realized after becoming an adult was that God’s family takes care of each other socially, emotionally, and spiritually, too. We can’t make it on our own – we are created to need each other.

A beautiful verse about the New Testament era church is Acts 4:34: “There was not a needy person among them.” Of all the people in the world, those who are part of the body of Christ should be the ones who never have need of anything.

We have so many needs as human beings. Sometimes those are financial, such as in the case of the college graduate who doesn’t have a job yet and is struggling to meet his payments. Other times, those are social, like the young couple who haven’t had a night out in weeks because they don’t have anyone willing to watch their six-month-old baby, or the lonely single or widowed woman who doesn’t have a companion at home. Then there are emotional needs, like those of the teenagers who need older friends to love and listen to them, people who have already experienced that hard time in life. And people have real spiritual needs, like the man who is held in bondage with the sin of pornography and needs to be taught and held accountable as he deals with it.

Why are these needs being unmet? Why is anyone in the church struggling alone in any of these areas, or others? What is our excuse for not taking care of each other?

First, I would offer that we just don’t know each other well enough to know what needs we have. “Love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus said. Real love is sacrificial, like God’s love for us. It gives up one’s own time to spend with others in the body of Christ. It is willing to be both vulnerable with its own heart and bold to ask hard questions about how others are doing. For instance, it takes asking questions like “How are things going spiritually for you?” instead of a more simple “How are you doing?” This takes sacrifice, for some more than for others, but that doesn’t make it any less important for those who are less naturally social than others.

Then, the culture of the United States has trained our already self-centered hearts to focus even more on our own individual needs and the needs of our families exclusively. Paul wrote, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Our lives are busy, so we have got to be intentional about looking out for each other. A single person should never be alone at home on a Friday night, lonely and discouraged, while a couple with kids are tired and frazzled and wishing for time alone together on the same night. That is inexcusable. The couple should reach out to the single person by asking them to spend quality time with their precious kids (not to mention the quality of the relationship built with between the adults in the situation) and the single person should be giving their time and heart to the family by offering to love the kids and the parents for the evening. Serving has got to stop being a duty and needs to become the desire and joy of our hearts, to the point where the first thing we think of is “How can I serve?” not “What can I do to relax?” Furthermore, often we don’t even plan or think ahead, and being intentional means asking on Tuesday or Wednesday what we can do on the weekend instead of letting time slip by until it’s Sunday morning and we’ve wasted our Friday night and Saturday on ourselves without a purpose at all.

And finally, we are just stingy as a people. God commanded the children of Israel in the law to give, remembering how God had always taken care of them in the past. The problem is that we are faithless. If we truly believed God’s promises connected with giving, such as Luke 6:38: “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (envision a basket full of grain), we would give more and more all the time. If we give our last $20 to a woman in the church who has no money for groceries, we’re not going to be left without a way to pay our other bills. If we give up our weekend for the family who is moving and needs our time to help them, God will take care of the study time we have given up for our test on Monday morning. We may “suffer” a little poverty in money, time, and energy when we give to others (like getting a B on the test because we didn’t study as much as we might have, or not being able to get our usual Starbucks), but there is nothing wrong with that. God is able and eager to pay back in His way and time everything we give up for Him and His people.

I grew up being provided for by God’s family. As an adult, I’ve been privileged to be part of churches whom God has used to provide for me in many different facets. Am I giving back? Are you giving to God? Are our eyes open? Are we active and alert, every day looking out for the needs of the people around us? As the church of Jesus Christ, we have got to be this way. Otherwise, we are just like the world. We should never, without exception, be aware of the needs of others and ignore them or let them slide to the side because we forget about them in our business. When we act like this, John asks, “How does God’s love abide in [us]?”

“Freely you have received, freely give.” Let’s not deceive ourselves into believing that because we smiled and exchanged “how are you’s” with our brothers and sisters on Sunday and prayed for each others’ great uncle on Wednesday that we are really giving. Our God gave Himself completely to meet our greatest need of salvation and eternal life. What are we giving to meet the needs of others around us?

Blessings

2010-07-01T17:48:00.002-05:00

In my morning ESL classes I have four ladies who love to laugh. This morning we were all extremely tired for one reason or another, but we still had a good time because we laughed a lot. We were working on past continuous tense, which was in our book, and it was a lot for them to take in at their level, so we did it very slowly. In an hour we covered the basics of it. But the rest of the time we worked on extremely practical things. They were confusing prepositions a lot (it's a common error with Spanish speakers), so we worked on what they meant.
I walked TO the park.
We played AT the park.
There is a swingset IN the park.
My boy was ON the swing.
He got OFF OF the swing.
They loved that, because they take their kids to the park. They also learned the new vocabulary word "swingset." :)
We were talking about our families, then, and our ages, and whether or not I had a boyfriend, and we spent a lot of time laughing, which was lovely.

Then, today, I was blessed with a foot-tall stack of English textbooks from Valery and Arnaud, our Belgian foreign exchange students. They are leaving for Belgium Saturday, and don't want to bring their textbooks with them, so they generously gave them to me. There are about 15 of them, and some that were even on my list of books to get for future reference! Probably about $600 worth of textbooks here! Praise God!

Another blessing was that one of my students, who is from Thailand, who is in my classes, and I also tutor her, asked me if I would play ping pong with her. She goes to a church gym close by here where there are tables set up. So I spent an hour playing table tennis with her. Such fun. :) Her English is very low intermediate, so it's hard to converse (our tutoring times are a challenge), but we laughed a lot and she taught me some things about ping pong. Watch out, family, I might beat you all on Christmas Eve in our annual tournament. I'm going to get pretty good at this. :)

Sometimes the most important things in life aren't on a to-do list...

2010-06-30T23:17:00.004-05:00

...but sometimes they are.

I am just fascinated to serve a God who knows exactly what I need. It's been a bit of an ups-and-downsy week, one in which I have been learning to pray this prayer:
Give me greater capacities to suffer and to carry
This cross on my back as I walk to my personal Calvary.
(from a song by Flame)
I am learning what it means to be obedient and faithful to not complain even though I want to more than anything.

So today started out pretty rough: not a ton of sleep, landscaping day ahead of me, certain emotional struggles, etc. I had an hour before work and was miserable. One of the things that has been really hard lately is continually making to-do lists of things like:
Clean room
Write so-n-so
Call so-n-so
Review Greek
Read this
etc.
and I've thrown at least two of them away without accomplishing anything on them. There are not many things in everyday life that frustrate me more than not accomplishing goals, especially if there are no really good reasons for not getting them done, other than general business.

Well, back to this morning, it occurred to me that the day before had included breakfast, but not really lunch or dinner, other than chocolate cake for Arnaud's birthday party (he's a Belgian foreign exchange student living here). So I took time to cook a hearty breakfast of eggs with cheese and toast and milk to drink and thankfully no one else was up yet so I had a quiet meal, which was great.

Then, I just started working on my to-do list, mostly just by cleaning my horribly messy room, but also balancing my checkbook, and other things. It was ridiculous how much better I felt. When I drove to work, even though I hadn't read my Bible before leaving (not something I recommend regularly, but it worked this day), I felt so refreshed and ready for the day. Then I got to string trim instead of rake and haul leaves and branches, so the variation was great. I was introduced by one of my co-workers to a couple new guys as "the best worker we have, when Barney's not here." One of these times I'm going to figure out how to NOT be taken by surprise when a co-worker or employer says that, and point it back to Christ, but so far I'm always just a little stunned and don't know what to say.

The rest of my day, after work, consisted of scratching more things off my list, including a good time of reading and prayer with the Lord (although that wasn't on my list this time :).

God really takes good care of us. I'm very thankful for Him and just knowing that He knows my needs more than I could ever express to Him.

Experiences of the week

2010-06-17T16:09:00.004-05:00

Seeing my cousin get married. It was like watching a dream come true. LOVED it! :)

Spending 17 hours in the car with Leah C. She totally smashed me in every car game we played...Would you Rather, I Have Never, Count the Yellow Cars, etc. But we had a wonderful time.

Learning about how the World Cup works through the eyes of a South Korean woman. That was fun. I know nothing about soccer, so I liked learning about it. Pray for this lady, if you would. She is so, SO sweet and has been super encouraging to me. I would love to talk with her about spiritual things.

Watching a Little League baseball game and "dancing" (more like bouncing) at an outdoor concert in the park with Ceddy. Watching the kiddo is a highlight of my week. He's getting used to me, too! He didn't even cry this time. :D

Discovering a Christian coffee shop called "Solid Grounds" that is close-by here. It's a really nice sized one with even an outdoor balcony with flower boxes and umbrellas and everything. Great atmosphere. Now if I just had money to spend on coffee... :)

Being reminded that a "happy life" is not something I am entitled to. I don't deserve anything good...and everything good and happy I have and experience is from God's grace. When you forget that, you start being afraid of God's plan for you, because you forget that He is good even when He sends the hard things. It is good to be humbled and reminded of that.
Daniel 9.

Being told "You work harder than most Mexicans I know" by a Mexican American. :) Landscaping is good but it's hard, HARD work. Thankfully my hours have been reduced and I'm just doing mornings.

Feeling stir-crazy in the city for the first time this summer. I tried to go to Starbucks to study last night around 10 o'clock, but everything was closed...I ended up just driving around for like 20 minutes, and it felt oh, so good to get out of the house. Admittedly, I cried for a while, for Kansas and for the stars and for breathing room, but I survived. :)

Feeling excited and accomplished because my evening class is understanding the progressive tense ("I am working" vs. "I work."). We used Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. It was amazingly helpful. :D God is good. I'm learning that I'm just as dependent on Him in my English teaching as I am in my Bible teaching. It's a good thing to learn. And there's nothing quite like seeing the light that says "I understand!" in your students' eyes. :)

Faith to be strong

2010-06-11T07:18:00.005-05:00

Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where you lead
Give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn

Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it's hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong
Give us peace when we're torn
Give us faith, faith to be strong
- A. Peterson

It's been a long week...but God's grace has surrounded me at every turn. I am working 25 more hours now than I was before...15 landscaping and 10 tutoring someone from Saudi Arabia for pay. So my life has kind of drastically changed, schedule-wise. That's been pretty tough. It's what the Lord brought me here for, though, so I am trusting Him to get me through it and learning to let go of my personal goals for my time in the next six weeks.

Yesterday I taught ESL for 7 hours, off and on throughout the day. Then it took me hanging out with a group of young people from the church for an hour and talking to a good friend and eating a bowl of brownies with raspberry ice cream and whipped cream and reading half the book of Daniel to be quiet and rested enough to go to sleep. So, see, even though it's tiring and tough, God knows what I need and He supplies. I never knew you could get so tired of speaking your own language, though.

Oh, and speaking of supplying what I need. Check out this little man who is basically making my summer right now. Ms. Linda, THIS is Cedric. I got to watch him on Wednesday night after 8 hours of working landscaping in the hot sun. It was pure therapy. We smiled a lot at each other and exchanged lots of slobbery kisses and he's a very good listener and I was teaching him how to give a high five. Oh, and Ingrid Michaelson was by far his favorite artist of all the different ones I tried on him, although he liked Best Years of our Lives by the BaHa Men (Shrek soundtrack). HeHe.

This weekend I'm headed home with my friend Leah from Emmaus (from Ft. Collins, north of here), for my cousin Chad's wedding! I'm exhausted through and through so I don't have a lot of energy to be excited, but I'm looking forward to it all. And praying that we'll be safe driving. God is so good to have provided a good friend to come down with me for the 17-hour round trip in one weekend. :) I love how He provides. He is good.

Oh, and PS, Why do I always have to be in the 3% of people who get the side effects in antibiotics? 3% seems like a nice, small, unlikely-that-you'll-get-it number...but it's not encouraging. :P

People are people all over the world.

2010-06-08T13:06:00.003-05:00

It's true. Cultures are beautiful. God fashions people with incredible diversity. One has pure black hair and almond-colored skin and by nature is reserved and gentle, another has rich black skin who wears colorful skirts and headscarves and speaks her mind boldly, another freckle-covered skin and dusty brown hair who laughs all the time and loves being around people.

Some people struggle with racism. I think that I have the opposite problem: idolizing people of different ethnicities and criticizing my own culture. But a week and a half into ESL teaching has taught me something. All people have problems. Everyone, of every culture, has a sin nature, and it takes patience to live with all people, no matter where they are from, even if their group-minded, collectivistic culture seems more appealing than my own rugged individualistic culture.

Also, the worldview behind a culture really, truly does affect how people see each other and how they interact. When you see things through a whole different lens, you have to really cooperate to be able to work together, especially if you are learning a third language and culture. I'm not sure that before this summer I would have understood the implications of having a student from Asia and students from Latin America in the same classroom, being taught by an American woman. It's funny, really...sometimes I feel like I'm on display: Here is the example of what an American is like - follow her. I realize that the Asian doesn't want anyone but me telling them what to do. And the Latin American is used to people complying and giving in to each other to keep each other happy. And I see pride written on the Asian's face and irritation on the Hispanic's, and feel discouragement and frustration welling up in my own heart, and then I realize, we're ALL just people who need God's grace.

God, who in His grace is the one who restores, confirms, strengthens, and establishes (1 Pet. 5:10). I love to teach, to help people. But really, only when it's easy. And it's not easy...I think that I forgot that it could be pretty hard. Realistically, helping people IS hard. That's life. You learn to stick with things through thick and thin and give it your all and trust God to be the one who is actually strengthening and enabling you.

I would appreciate prayer for the relationships in my classes, and for wisdom for myself as I try to teach a multi-leveled class in the mornings (ranging from an almost advanced student to one who almost never understands the instructions I give them in class, and all levels in between). So far, I've had three morning classes and have been discouraged all three times after class. But the Lord always gives me grace and cheers me up afterward. I know that it is His class, not mine, so I'm just doing my best...all that He asks of me.

English class and Walking Meditation

2010-06-06T22:02:00.002-05:00

Whoosh! So many new people and experiences...all in two weeks. My ESL classes began this week, of course, so I suppose I should start with them.
I am teaching from 9-11 am and 6-8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I'm tutoring a lady from 8-9 on Tuesday and another from 2-3 on Thursday. Talk about i-n-t-e-n-s-e! That's five hours a day of speaking the slowest, clearest, most basic English that I can, or at least attempting to do so. I am reminded frequently to do better in all those areas when I see blank stares coming at me from around the table. :) So, I'm pretty exhausted after every session, class or tutoring, but it is good, and I'm learning a lot. I have students from countries in almost every continent!
South Korea
China
South Sudan
Russia
Peru
Brazil
Mexico
I love them all and am excited, and overwhelmed, about all I need to learn about their cultures and worldviews and how to best reach each one of them where they are at. Whoosh. :) It's good.

Tomorrow at 7:15 am I'll be starting my landscaping job part of the summer, too. So that will be an experience in itself. And this weekend I'm coming back to KS for my dear cousin Chad's wedding to his lovely Sara.

So, funny story that I promised in my Facebook status. Thursday morning, I was decently prepared for class, with a nice lesson plan written out. My morning students went at a slower rate than my evening students, just fyi. But then, only one of my evening students showed up for class, so I thought I'd just do some one-on-one work with her farther along in the book. Then, one of my least advanced students arrived, and then a new student arrived, so I had three different students than I was expecting and was kind of needing to work from three places in the book. It was insanity, and by the end I felt like a rotten teacher and cried about it over my lunch. The Lord renewed my heart, though, and I was getting ready to do my lesson plan for the evening, when I got two phone calls that took up a couple hours, which was fine, and they were both great conversations, but it just gave me a later start than I expected. Then I remembered I needed to run to Office Depot to pick up ink for the printer here bc I wanted to print some handouts. "That'll only take me 30 minutes or so," I thought, which would still give me an hour to prepare for my lesson. It was 4:20 at that point. Well, I ended up getting royally LOST and drove around for an hour. My reasoning was so confused...why did I do this, why didn't I plan better, why me? Finally I threw my hands in the air (I was stopped at a stoplight, so it was okay) :) and said, "God, I give up! You take over. You be in control. You give me what I need for my lesson tonight." Within two turns, there was the Office Depot, and I knew where I was again. I made it back in time for class and even got my handouts printed (a miracle in itself - since when does a printer do what you want it to do when you're in a rush??). I didn't prepare at all, except for reading through my teacher's book while they were practicing conversations, but the class went amazingly well. My students understood the grammar concepts very well and we were all relaxed and had a great class. I'm telling you, God is pretty crazy awesome. You'd think that I'd learn to give up sooner, and save myself some pain.

Oh, and Walking Meditation. I just read this article on Yahoo about natural ways to feel happier, and one of them was "Walking Meditation." And I quote: "Stride slowly for 20 minutes sans iPod. Stare at the ground 6 feet ahead and focus on the soles of your shoes lifting and dropping."

Yes, well, I walk and meditate at the same time, aka, pray. I just laughed at the article because I felt intelligent. I could have told them that meditating and walking is extremely refreshing. I've found some good routes around the neighborhood, one that includes a little fishing pond. It is so lovely to be out and about and around people. I can't even bring my music with me because there are so many people to say hello to. :) The Lord and I have lots of good conversations on those walks. Yep.

The end. I'm going to go get some sort of refreshing drink, such as strawberry lemonade, or orange juice, or something, and go to bed. :)

Oh, the beauty

2010-06-06T09:54:00.004-05:00

I was reading Psalm 17 this morning and was struck by the contrast between the quality of life of the believer and the unsaved.

From "...men of this world whose portion is in this life"
to
"As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness." (from Psalm 17)

I know God. I have the assurance of beholding His face! I am in a relationship with Him that results in a daily changing to be more and more LIKE Him! What beautiful truths! My portion is not in this world - it is in my Savior - in eternity. That is why all true joys here on earth point back to Him and cause our hearts to overflow in thankfulness, and why all sorrow or disappointment draws our hearts to Him for comfort and release.

"I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things." Is. 45:7

He designs everything for His purposes. He wants to make men realize that HE is the fulfillment of all, and only HE is worthy of worship.

Class begins tomorrow!

2010-05-31T23:14:00.003-05:00

Lots of work was accomplished today:
- Two hours of Bible study in Daniel this morning
- Hike to the top of Devils Head Trail, about a 1,000 foot climb, 1.4 mile trail that rewarded the hiker with a gorgeous view in every direction, about 4 hours walking and climbing with new friends
- Two hours preparing my first ever real lesson plan for my own real classes that will begin tomorrow!

Pikes Peak...29 air miles away from where I was standing on top of Devils Head

And somewhere behind me is my Kansas...out there, somewhere...

Solitude

2010-05-30T09:52:00.003-05:00

"Alone, yet not alone am I,
Though in this solitude so drear;
I feel my Saviour always nigh,
He comes the very hour to cheer;
I am with Him, and He with me,
E'en here alone I cannot be."

About 5 years ago I took the Myers-Briggs personality test, and discovered that I am as extroverted as a person can possibly be, which means I have to deal with almost everything externally, talking it out, getting the opinion, or at least the listening ear, of dozens of people. It also means I need to go to people to recharge my batteries, to be sustained, if you will. People, people, people. They have always been my life. So much so, that other than enough quiet time to make me happy every now and then, I dreaded being alone (although, granted, people and stories even filled my mind when I was alone, so I wasn't even alone then, in reality).

Yet, people are not all. God is all. And in Him is the joy that comes through people as well. There have been many times in my life I have asked God to strip me of my idolatry. My idols aren't silver or gold, but living, breathing people who I allow to consume my heart and mind rather than my God. Last summer was one of those times where I begged Him to smash the idols and teach me to truly love people, and not just use them as my worship, my fulfillment, my affirmation.

That prayer opened the door to a long hard year at school in which God stripped away the people I love the most, and allowed me to respond in anger and frustration, and fall flat on my face in trying to cope. He let me wallow in selfishness for just long enough, then took even more away. When I cried to Him, He showed me that what was lacking was a true desire to love sacrificially. Love, for me, doesn't just mean giving everything to everyone - that has been my problem my whole life. Love is sacrifice, like God's love for us. He gave Himself to save me. Himself. Love, for me, means sacrificing, too, and for me that means withholding and waiting and not always giving all I want. It also means being more selfless, and I never realized how sweet and others-centered you can seem on the outside while being very self-centered within.

That realization began a building process where the stripping away process ended, for that time. There is so much joy in knowing the Lord and loving Him. That is one of the most amazing things I've been discovering lately. When you start to learn what sacrifice means in your life, and start practicing it, you find that you really aren't "sacrificing" anything, because if you are willing to let go, God comes in and fills you with more joy than you ever possessed while you clutched at your idols. And, truthfully, God restores what He takes away, often. He is working in me and my relationships and teaching me how to better love those I thought I loved well before. It's a pretty humbling process, once you start realizing how selfish you've been and how much people have been putting up with you.

I've been alone now for almost a week in Colorado, other than a few intermittent connections with people. He's given me a friend, Ruth, and some lovely people to work with in ESL teaching, and He is preparing my class of students for me, and there are a few others I'm looking forward to being with this summer, like Ryan and Amelia and Ceddy, but for once in my life I'm not somewhere because the people are holding me here. I'm here with the Lord and we are facing the summer together. It is beautiful to know Him and be known by Him. When I was out on the mountains last week, I was happier than I've been for a long, long time, and no person was there to make me happy...only my God. We've had the best time together this week. And I look forward to a lot more solitude with Him this summer...learning to love Him and delight in Him even more. He is so wonderful. I'm so thankful for all He is and all He teaches me.

La semana primero

2010-05-28T22:00:00.003-05:00

Technically it hasn't been a whole first week in Colorado, but I arrived in Monday and here it is Friday night, so it feels like the first week has finished, even though I have yet to actually experience a Sunday morning at Littleton Bible Chapel.

This evening I had one of the best meals I've ever eaten, possibly. I took ground beef and made burgers with breadcrumbs, milk, Worchestershire sauce, and various seasonings and grilled them along with green and orange peppers. I boiled quinoa, which is a little grain kind of like a cross between millet and rice and is scrumptious. I mixed olive oil with rosemary and other spices and mixed it in with the quinoa. Then I had ice water in a crystal goblet and ate supper out on the deck under a Denver sunset, reading a book. It was so delightful. And yes, I did just use that word. :)

Tuesday I met with Betty, who is in charge of the ESL classes. We went over the curriculum and talked about the classes. I'll be in charge of the intermediate level of English classes at the church! Wow. I didn't expect that much responsibility, but it makes me super excited. Another lady will help me some, at least in the mornings. On Thursday morning we began registration for the classes. That included testing each person who came in so we could evaluate their level. That was good. About 10 ladies and one man came in. It is a challenge, discerning where people should fit into the program. For instance, one lady is very fluent speaking, but since she speaks Arabic as her primary language, her reading and writing are very weak (different alphabet). So do you put her at a level of speaking that is lower than she is? I am hoping that she can be in my class because I'd like to give her special help, perhaps by assigning special reading and writing assignments. That's my favorite part about English anyway. :) Then there are people who come in and want to learn English but are really too advanced for the classes we offer. They know that they are not as comfortable in English as they'd like to be, so they want to keep studying, but it would be useless for them to take classes that are below their level. However, I talked with Betty and she loved my idea. To these people I've been offering to tutor them on the side, outside of our classes. The Lord has given me two women already who want this, and both want to pay me. So I'll be meeting with a lovely older Brazilian woman who has an incredibly thick accent and wants to become a citizen, and a younger South Korean woman who is a dentist in Korea but doesn't work here yet because her English isn't good enough. With the second lady I'll just be meeting to talk for an hour every week so she can practice her English. What an opportunity for good relationships with these ladies. I'm excited.

Today the only place I went was to the grocery store, and the only thing I planned were my meals. And those I planned right before I ate. :) I was able to read, write, pray, watch Little House on the Prairie, walk, talk to friends long distance, play piano, etc. It has been lovely and relaxing. When I finish here I plan to spend a bit of time in Bible study and maybe Greek, and maybe talk to a couple more people on the phone. And tomorrow I'll be helping with more registration for the classes.

People kept telling me that I'm going to have a wonderful summer. So far it HAS been amazing. I laugh thinking of Ms. Brooke in Anne of Avonlea: And what is to be the pill in all of this jam, Ms. Shirley? I have no promise that the days ahead will or won't be as lovely as the past few have been, but I am so thankful for God's grace and provision this week. He's pretty amazing. My heart's longing is to just love these people who He is giving me to teach and do my best with that, and to keep up with my personal goals in reading and praying and studying. If I can look back on this summer and know I have done my best with those responsibilities, I will be thankful. God's grace is sufficient for all I desire and all He gives me to do.

Press on with joy!

PS funny fact...there are more local TV stations here in Spanish than in English. It's funny to me because there aren't a lot more evidences of a large Latino population, other than seeing many Hispanics around at the parks and stores. I guess I mean, it's not like north Broadway in Wichita, which actually reminds me of the Latin countries I've been to. Oh, I love people, and cultural differences. :) I can't wait to learn from all my English students. It's going to be quite a stretching, growing experience.

PS 2 I went hiking on Wednesday and was so ridiculously happy...kind of giddy, you might even say. :) Here are a couple of pictures. On my way back down through the mountains toward town I stopped at an art gallery tucked away in the mountains and a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where I bought an expresso-flavored ice cream cone. It was happiness in a jar. I can't believe I'm really in Colorado and can DO things like this. :)

And so it begins...

2010-05-25T18:50:00.008-05:00

Well, after eight very long hours of driving in extremely high winds on Monday, I made it to Littleton, CO. Praise God! I'm staying with a lovely family. We went out for dinner last night (it was their son's birthday), and they took me on the grand tour of Littleton. I got a wonderful 9 hours of sleep last night and spent the day settling in. I thought I'd post some pictures for those (aka Mom and Grandma, especially) who want to see them. :)

Colorado!

Possibly the funniest road sign I've ever seen. It was convincing enough to make me follow the signs all the way to the Point of Interest. :)

The Point of Interest was this...a tower from which you can allegedly see 6 states. I'm not sure I believe the sign...but if it hadn't been so windy, I would have gone up the tower anyway. It was that bizarre. :)

This is my bedroom. Lovely to have my own room all summer. :)

And these are the mountains you can see from an upstairs window in the house where I'm staying.

I found out this afternoon that I will be the teacher in charge of the intermediate classes morning and evening at the church. The family I'm staying with has left for a 17-day vacation starting this afternoon, so I'm kind of housesitting their big home for them while they're gone. It works out perfectly. I feel a little alone now, though...and pretty nervous...and rather excited. And I don't know where to start on anything. But it's 6:03 pm right now, so maybe I'll start with supper. :)

Quotes of the evening

2010-05-21T07:09:00.003-05:00

Suppertime...
(discussing nicknames)
Peter (13): You can just call me Boswell

Later...
Mom: Deborah's in the bathroom so you can't brush your teeth right now
John (13): It's okay...when I can't use my toothbrush I just use my t-shirt and rub my teeth. It works.
Me: That's gross. Stop!
Peter: When I can't find my toothbrush I just use a right-angle grinder :D

Mom: We'll have to call you "Fang"
Me: "Fang Boswell" - has a nice ring to it.

And later still...
(Mom and Deborah (9) discussing a phone message Deborah gave to a neighbor lady. She wasn't really supposed to give the message - she was just repeating what she heard mom say about the situation)
Mom: What?! You said that? I hope she wasn't upset!
Deborah: Oh no, she seemed quite calm.
:) :) :)

Oh, and news of the day...my uncle Danny and his wife Heather had a baby girl today! It was supposed to be a boy, so this is a surprise. :) But baby and mommy are safe and sound so that is happy. :)

Like sister...like sister

2010-05-17T12:00:00.004-05:00

Deborah and I had fun with the camera yesterday. She's been a joy to be with this week. I love how she's grown up. When I went to school I was just a bossy older sister and she was an annoying younger one, but now God's changed my heart toward kids and I actually realize that they are beautiful little people who need just as much love and attention as older people do, plus, Deborah has been growing up as a beautiful girl and we connect much better now than we used to. I love it a lot. She's my look-alike and my personality-alike sister. If she were 24 we could pass for twins, I'm pretty sure. But it's a good thing we're 15 years apart, because I'm not sure the world of 2010 could handle two of us at the same time.

Real Love

2010-05-15T11:01:00.003-05:00

"Let love be genuine." Romans 12:9

This phrase has been on my mind for the past couple of months. What does it really mean to love with genuine love? Paul wrote that he could be the best speaker, the most faith-filled mountain-mover, and the most giving servant, but still not have love. That threw me when I realized what he was saying. Sometimes it's easy to look like the best Christian person around. Mostly because it's not really a sacrifice to give up or do certain things so that you have a good image.

That's because love is sacrifice. Genuine love means giving up legitimate rights in order to put others before yourself. Sometimes it's easy to give up those rights because you really like the person you're trying to love and want them to be happy. Just because it is easier to love those people doesn't mean that your love isn't genuine - it really can be. Sometimes, though, it's hard to like people because of their weaknesses, or the way their personality clashes with yours, or because they have hurt you. That's when showing genuine love is hard.

"Let us each please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, 'The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.'" Rom. 15:2-3

Learning to love with genuine love is part of the process of becoming like Jesus. I can't barter my way out of this one. Saying "I love you," isn't enough. I need to lay myself aside and really sacrifice for others. That includes holding my tongue, giving people space, digging in and helping out with the most menial jobs, praising people and listening to people, choosing not to do certain things because they frustrate the people I'm around, etc. And even when it's hard, God's grace is enough.

When God opens a door...

2010-05-07T22:37:00.001-05:00

Well, I've promised to blog for the summer, so I'm starting now. I'm going to work on writing again this summer. Being in school has a way of making me forget that I have certain things I like to do besides study, teach, or talk with people. One of those things is writing. There are a few others, which I'll probably talk about at some point on this blog, but for now, suffice it to say that in this blog I don't just want to say "Today I did this and this and this..." but rather actually write stories and devotional notes. I'm not planning on having a lot of time to spend online, but I want to utilize well what I do have.

The Lord has opened wide the door for me to spend the summer in Littleton, CO. I will be living with a Christian family there and going to Littleton Bible Chapel. The church has ESL (English as a Second Language) classes as part of an outreach to the people in their community, and, since I am certified to teach ESL, from Emmaus, I'll be helping out there with the classes, getting some experience working with the believers there. God also provided a part-time landscaping job for me while I'm there, and a 2001 Honda CR-V to drive all summer. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity. Admittedly, I've been dragging my heels to leave Dubuque, because that's where I feel most settled now, with my church the Great Adventure Church, and all the people there, but since I'm not staying there for the summer, I'm glad that God has given me such a great way to spend my summer, in Colorado.

This Kansas farm girl will be living in the suburbs of Denver for the summer. It's a rather interesting concept. I'm pretty sure there won't be wheat fields or combines driving on the roads in Littleton. But recently I was in Chicago for our end-of-the-year school trip, and I was thinking about how I've always wanted to live in a city like Chicago, and it occurred to me that I can be happy wherever God sends me, because life is happy and beautiful when you know the Lord, and when you choose to accept His will for you. I'll miss certain things about a Kansas summer, but I'll get to experience amazing things about a Colorado summer. Most importantly, I'll get to experience knowing the Lord more and more, because that's what life is all about. I love growing and changing and can't wait to look back in August and see how He has stretched me this summer.

God is good! Keep pressing on to know Him more!

Your face, Lord, will I seek

2009-11-23T00:45:00.002-06:00

Yes, Susannah sister dear, I do realize that it has been 4 months since I last blogged. :)

I've been wrapped up for the past few weeks in Hebrew word studies concerning words found in the books of Job and Psalms. My favorite is pānîm , from which the English word "face" is almost exclusively translated. The metaphor for face is overabundant in the Old Testament.

Read:
The word pānîm is translated face or presence most often in the OT. Other words are translated “face” but this one has a wider range of emotions. “Pānîm is the most common word in the OT for ‘presence’ in a broader sense than just ‘face.’”

It is used in connection with entering or leaving the presence of a superior (Yahweh included). “The face expressed a full range of emotions to the Hebrews” – a fallen face meant anger, to fall on one’s face indicated obescience, a lifted face is the opposite of a fallen face, meaning acceptance or approval or the granting of a request.

“’To see the face of a king’ indicated having an audience or entering his presence directly, and not being permitted to see his face indicated the absence of such an audience.” “When the king, or God, with whom one has an audience recognizes the person, he turns his face toward the person. This is a way of expressing the king’s attention and usually his positive response. Turning away the face, or turning the back and not the face, is a lack of attention and response; it is normally a sign of rejection. Hiding the face normally has a similar meaning...Also, one response of mankind to the presence of God is to hide the face, usually out of fear."

(This research from the Anchor Bible Dictionary)

Think of what a person's face means. If you were only to ever see a person's back, you would be able to pick up on their behavior, some, perhaps of their mood (by their body language), who their friends are, where they go, etc. But to see a person's face is to read their heart. You can tell my emotions, whether joy, apathy, or despair, on my face. In my eyes you see my passion, my contentment, my earnestness, my sarcasm. You really get to know a person's heart by seeing their face. This is how this metaphor is used often of the Lord in the Bible.

Job cries out to the Lord, "Why do you hide your face?" (13:24). His heart is breaking because he feels a breach in relationship with the Lord that he doesn't understand but desperately wants to grasp. I'm writing a 10-12 page paper on this subject.

But I've been thinking on the flip side of this as I've been studying some psalms for my homiletics class. I'll be speaking for 10 minutes on Psalm 27 this Tuesday and for 30 minutes on December 10 on Psalm 11, Lord willing. In Psalm 27, David says,

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, "Seek my face."My heart says to you,
"Your face, LORD, do I seek."

Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me in.

David wanted to know God. He wanted not only to have a vague idea that God was "up there somewhere," but he more desperately wanted to know God's presence with him. He wanted to seek God's face - to know God's heart - to feel God's favor in his life.

William VanGemeren writes in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “Little consensus exists on the meaning of the verb ‘seek’...It is probably that he was looking for a divine word or action that would satisfy the longing in his heart. The desire for God’s presence arose out of a need. The psalmist is not an escapist, for he wants to hang on to God until he is fully assured of his glorious presence.”

David was forsaken by men. He was pursued by enemies. He probably often felt alone and afraid. But he chose to seek to know God in His fullness and as he pursued God's heart, his confidence in the Lord grew. Psalm 27 is a joyfully confident expression of David's faith. He says,

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

When things are hard, I want to seek the Lord, not people, to help me and secure me. As I seek His heart, I know He will satisfy me with His presence. I can confidently say with David,

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

Ask in My name

2009-07-27T22:19:00.003-05:00

At least 16 times in the Gospels, Jesus tells His disciples to ask for things. To ask the Father for things. To ask for things in Christ's name. And every time, He connects it with the promise that it will be accomplished. There is generally the stipulation, or understanding, that IF it is for His glory, He'll do it. God isn't a magic prayer button, so I want to add that disclaimer.

But just think about the fact that Jesus tells His people to ASK for things.
"Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

Here's my question. What do our "whatevers" look like? When I pray for the people I love, do I just ask God to bless them or heal their sickness or et cetera? Or am I asking bigger things for them? Or perhaps, not even "bigger" things, but more specific things.

Over the past couple of years I've been learning to ask specific things. And I'm discovering that God LOVES to give me the things I ask for. Sometimes, sure, He says no, and often I even forget that I asked for those things He says no to. For instance, I may be praying for someone's salvation. That is good. But do I pray for things like:
- that another Christian will run across their path today
- that I'll have an opportunity to show them love in a practical way
- that they will come to the concert I invited them to
- that the Lord will provide money for me to take them out for coffee
- that the Spirit will convict them of their sin and not let up
- that something on the news that I hear and know will make an impression on them will make a spiritual, eternal impression on them

Do I? These are just hypothetical. What situations are you burdened to pray for in your own life? Are you boldly approaching the throne of grace and asking for the specific things that you really want?

Listen to these verses:
"No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly."
"Yes, the Lord will give what is good."
"When You open Your hand, they are filled with good things."

And there are a plethora more.

I love it when my friends ask me for things, whether that is an actual favor that I can do for them, or something I can pray for, or whatever. I love it, and it's a rare occasion that I'll say no. If I am that way, what makes me think that the Lord is any less that way? In fact, because He is God, and so infinitely good, He loves to give so much more than I do.

So what am I asking for, today? What's the harm in asking for all kinds of things? The "worst" that can happen is that He will say no and then, oh well, at least we asked. Our prayers often are so small. Do we think creatively and ask for things in faith, trusting that He will give us what is good?

That's trust

2009-07-18T23:47:00.005-05:00

"O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in You."

Today when I was sharing with the little girls who came to the one-day afternoon girls camp that my littlest sister and I hosted, the Lord led me to give the girls different illustrations of what trust was. We talked about meeting someone somewhere - "Meet me in the kitchen at three o'clock and I'll have something special for you." Then, about hanging off of a cliff and reaching out to grab the hand of your rescuer. Then, about trusting a chair and sitting in it. Then, tonight, when I was looking through pictures of time spent with my church in Dubuque, I saw this picture, and it hit me:

That's trust.

Little Fifi, jumping off of the wood platform 30 feet off of the ground, attached to the wire by her little waist belt and a rope. Trust comes in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes it's like jumping off into the air with nothing but a safety belt to hold you. It's crazy. People around don't understand it. (I don't try to understand why people literally do that, like Fiona did.) :) But it's knowing that sure, everything will be fine because the one you trust won't let anything happen to you that will hurt you.

But it goes farther than that, at least one step. This next picture is one of my favorites of all time:

This was taken just a moment before the first picture. Fifi's expression is TRUST personified. Quiet, happy, ready to take the leap, not a fearful thought crossing her mind, just waiting and then going, full out. She didn't make a big deal out of it at all. She just did it. And then she was happy. And she did it again and again.

This morning I was starting to worry about money and relationships again, and the song crossed my mind:
"Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er..."
So true! I serve a very well-proven God! He is so trustworthy.

I fear pain. So much. The thought of being emotionally torn up again makes me recoil like I've seen a snake. But that isn't trust. Sometimes the path of trust does lead to pain. But as I sat out under the stars tonight, I decided that it was worth it, and I would keep on praying big prayers and trusting my big God to answer. I would keep on following His lead because even if it is uncertain, it's way better than failing when I follow my own wisdom.

It's all over the psalms.
"Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust."
I want to trust my God. So here I go again. I'm taking the leap.

Skiles Drama at its Greatest

2009-06-29T22:08:00.003-05:00

So this evening I was innocently checking Facebook in my room in the basement. Rebekah was in the bathroom down here dying her t-shirt, Susannah was upstairs on the computer, and Abigail was out in the garden. The rest of the family was out harvesting. Well, I heard this crash and then these frantic tweets and the fluttering of wings.

*Let me take you back for a moment to last summer, when Rebekah and I came home from school to an empty house. I was going down to the basement room when I heard this shrieking sound coming from this little black mass of something on the floor. Rebekah and I, amidst lots of random screams and nervous steps down the basement stairs, discovered that it was a nest full of Chimney Swifts that had fallen down out of our chimney onto the floor. Our basement isn't quite finished yet, see. That was quite the experience.*

So this time, I knew it was the birds again. But...they were big this time, and they were flying.

*Let me take you back again to when I was little. My uncle had a parakeet named Buddy (that was supposed to be a boy but kept laying eggs...so apparently not) and sometimes it would fly around the house. I remember screaming and hiding under my aunt's bed because I was so scared. I like little birds chirping outside and I like shooting pheasants and dove and quail and eating them, but I do NOT like birds flying around in small places where they might hit me in the head.*

Okay, back to the story. So I took a few tentative steps toward the commotion and at the same moment I saw a bird flying into the porch door upstairs and one flying right toward me! I screamed pretty much at the top of my lungs and bolted for my bedroom slamming the door behind me. I could hear the bird flying into things outside. I yelled at the top of my lungs for help over and over again and finally my sisters came around. Rebekah, totally oblivious, came out of the bathroom to the washing machine, when suddenly the bird flew right toward her. SHE shrieked and dropped to the floor in a heap, then pulled the laundry basket over her head. By now the poor bird was behind the washing machine, apparently quite stuck. Abigail and Susannah climbed on top of the washing machines to try to dig it out. You should have heard our dialogue:

Me: Why don't you get a net? Do we have a net?
Abby: I have my fish net, but it's like "this" big.
Me: Oh well. Maybe if we got a hoe. Do you think? (I'm still peeking out from behind my door)
Abby gives up and climbs down, then Rebekah puts the laundry basket down and braves the task.
Rebekah: Here, birdy, birdy. Come on. Ah! (wings fluttering)
Me: Is it out?
Rebekah: No, it just moved. Stop moving!
Susannah: You WANT it to move, Rebekah, you're trying to get it out.

So Abigail leaves, I'm not sure why, because she was the bravest one there. I decide to go look for some sort of tool and bring in a rake. Suddenly the bird flies out of where it is hiding and slams right into the light, and dive bombs into a pile of cardboard boxes. Of course, we're all screaming while it's in flight, ducking and running. And then we were quoting Pete's Dragon:
"And then, he smiled at me."
"Well, did you smile back?"
"I didn't have TIME to smile back! I was too busy RUNNING!"

We all three tentatively start picking away at the boxes, calling for the bird and even whistling for it. I suggested we find some birdseed and lure it out, but you know, that wasn't really considered as a valid option.

Then, we found it, sitting askew on a board. We didn't know what to do, although we considered scooping it into a box, but we were afraid it would fly again. So we called Abigail and she came back downstairs and scooped it up in her hands and took it outside. She set it on the slide and it flew away. End of story. At least it was a happy one. We were afraid it broke itself when it hit the light.

Abigail: It's just a poor little bird scared to death.
Me: IT'S scared to death? What about me? It flew into my head!

So how many Skiles girls does it take to get a bird out of the basement? Abigail, apparently.

So, that was camp

2009-06-21T17:23:00.002-05:00

For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth.

The Lord truly did great and wondrous things at camp. And most of them revolved around revealing His truth to the girls I was with. It was really beautiful.

The week I counseled high school girls, one of the speakers shared about "toxic faith," or lies that we believe as truth. It fascinated me that this very thing is what the Lord has been trying to teach me this past year, and it was so good to see the Lord open my girls' eyes and show them the very things He has been proving to me - that they are beautiful, cherished, and loved. We had lots of good talks complete with tears and thank-you prayers. The Lord also gave me the opportunity to teach the girls afternoon Bible study for the week! I got to share on Thursday and Friday, and just shared about Hannah and Leah, two of my current favorite Bible women, and all that the Lord did for them and in them. It was really cool. I am always so thankful for any chance to teach, since it's kind of in my blood, but this time I was just really humbled by the fact that the Lord opened the door for me. It was so kind of Him. A girl in my cabin trusted Christ, too, after years of pretending to be a believer. And I got to spend time with one of my favorite boys in the world, who trusted Christ when he was 13, a few years ago, and is doing really well spiritually. He has the hardest life of almost anyone I know, but he is pressing on to know the Lord and it's so cool to see.

The second week was quite a stretching one. I was speaking at KBC for the girls grade school week. I had never been the only speaker at the week of camp, for morning and evening messages, and I must confess, that was pretty hard. Coming straight from school to working at the cemetery and then straight to camp two weeks after school, I definitely didn't feel as prepared as I would have like to have been, but that's okay, because the Lord had important things to teach me about dependence on Him and not on my own ability. Frankly, after I teach (anything, English, writing, Bible) I can generally feel like, "Yep, that went pretty well." But this week I didn't feel that way very much at all. One of my close friends who was counseling said that sometimes she did find it hard to follow the messages, even. That was pretty humbling. But the Lord used them - and even to teach the girls what I felt the Lord wanted as my objective. One girls said she learned more about Jesus' sacrifice for us, another about God's great love, another about the fact that she herself was special and loved, and one told me, after an especially difficult message, "Ms. Liz, that message was for me." So, the Lord was reminding me that it is His work and He only calls me to obey.

I was reminded one evening that it's actually kind of silly that when we have a hard week we talk about dependence on the Lord, when in reality we have to live every day depending on Him. It's true. But He does use those hard days to remind us, oh so vividly, that we have to trust Him for everything.

Thank you for praying. God did prove Himself strong and victorious through the two weeks of camp, and I'm thankful. It's back to work now. I'm not sure I'm ready to face the rest of the summer on a lawn mower, but it's again that daily dependence on my Lord. He will carry me through. :)

My Daddy

2009-05-24T00:29:00.001-05:00

Daddy, I’m scared.
It’s ok, honey. It was just a bad dream.
No, Daddy, it was real. There were big bad guys. They were gonna get me.
Well, Daddy’s here now. It will be ok.
Can you stay here with me, Daddy?
Sure, sweetie. Daddy’s here. Let’s just tuck these covers up...there.
Daddy, I don’t want those men to get me.
Don’t worry. Daddy will keep you safe.
Do big men ever try to get you, Daddy?
Sometimes, but they’re not like the ones in your dream.
What are they like?
They’re kind of sneaky. They’re called problems. They come in all shapes and sizes. They tell me stories that aren’t true about my life and about God.
Do they scare you, Daddy?
Sometimes.
Who chases them away for you?
My Daddy.
Who’s your daddy, silly Daddy?
He’s big and strong. And He’s your Daddy, too.
Who, Daddy?
Well, He lives up in heaven, but He’s right here with us, too...
It’s God! Will I have problems like you when I’m big, Daddy?
I’m afraid so, sweetie.
Why?
That’s just what life is like, hon.
Will you keep me safe?
If this daddy can’t, your other Daddy will.
Why?
Because He loves you. And He’s even bigger and stronger than me. He takes care of His little girls.
Always, Daddy?
Always.
I’m glad I have two Daddys.
Me too, hon. Goodnight.
‘Night, Daddy.

Lovely Summer

2009-05-18T20:06:00.002-05:00

Here I am again, blogging. I know, it has been ages. Truthfully, it has been a long time since I've felt like writing. I just haven't been up to it, so I haven't written. But summer is here now, and I'm planning on resting a lot, even though I'm working full time. Trust me, mowing a cemetery 8 hours a day is resting compared to sitting in a classroom for 21 months in a row (two years at Emmaus with a summer of classes in between). Yes, I am working for the city of Pratt, keeping up the cemetery there, mowing, trimming, etc. The Lord so graciously provided this job for me and I feel very thankful. It pays minimum wage, but 40 hour weeks even at minimum wage adds up. There are a few things I'm hoping to be able to buy after I pay off this year's school bill (although that bill is very small indeed, since the Lord has provided so amazingly for me), like a laptop battery (Delton - his name - has needed a battery for at least 7 months or so), a nice-ish camera (my old one bit the dust), new glasses. Then hopefully I can make some advance payments for next year, but we'll see where the Lord directs me to use the money.
Where was I? Oh, yes, mowing. So I'm doing lots of it, and enjoying it so far. The hours are long, but I'm so thankful for the job and I enjoy the time alone with the Lord, so it is good. I'm quite sunburnt and my hair is turning red again, which makes me happy. I feel quite pale and sickly being inside all year at school. :)
I'm also planning to go to camp for the first two weeks of June. First, I'm counseling at Sooner Bible Camp, Lord wiling, then speaking at Kansas Bible Camp, for the grade school girls week. Speaking of which, I need to go work on my lessons, so I'm heading off. But hopefully I'll be updating more this summer and just blogging in general. :) TaTa for now!

final prep for Mexico

2009-03-02T11:37:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking lately about how truth is truth no matter how I feel or what I believe or how I act. God is faithful and good, no matter how He answers our prayers. He is right and just, no matter what He does. I am thankful that He has opened so many doors for our team going to Mexico, but even if He chose to shut them all now, before we even go, He would still be good and faithful and nothing can change that. He IS who He IS regardless of what happens in my life!

Well, we're down to our last week before Mexico! Thanks so much for your prayers and support. The Lord has been providing overtime for our team and we feel overwhelmed at the answers to prayer. In a world that is shaking financially and economically, God has proven to us that He is well able to provide. At this point our team has an extra $1100 above what we planned on needing. We're curious to see if something will happen that we're not expecting that we'll need more money for. But if nothing else, the extra will be given to the believers in Leon and Guanajuato (Gwon-a-whotoe), especially the people whose homes we'll be staying in and the elders of the churches. So thank you for praying and sharing! :)

Some people may be concerned about our safety with Mexico being in the news and all. Just to reassure you - we are flying straight to Leon (with a change of planes in MX City), which is in the middle of the country and away from the violence at the border. It should be quite safe. Of course, the Lord is our protector in any case. :)

Things are coming together well. The Lord provided a van and a driver to get us all to Chicago early this Friday morning. We are performing one of our skits/mimes in student chapel Tuesday morning so the rest of the school can have an idea of what we're doing. Both of those are answers to prayer.

Things to pray for:
- Health of our team - it's a dangerous time of year and several of us haven't been feeling the greatest, flus and coughs, etc
- Continued growth as a team - that we would continue to be unified and build each other up in love
- Boldness as we are in Mexico
- Many opportunities to share the gospel
- Salvation of many people
- Our hearts to be changed
- God's glory to be evident to everyone around
- The churches there to be encouraged to step out and evangelize, too

Updates, Lord willing, and possibly even pictures will be available on our blog: www.missiontriptomexico.blogspot.com. Please, check it out and read about our team and our plans. :) (my profile is on there, on a page of older posts - link at the bottom of the page). Do look it up. :)

Thanks again so much for praying! I'm looking forward to writing you in a couple of weeks when we're back and sharing how much the Lord has done.

Mexico Blog!

2009-02-12T23:31:00.001-06:00

Ivan created this blog for our team! Check it out! http://missiontriptomexico.blogspot.com/

more about Mexico

2009-02-12T10:10:00.002-06:00

Hello, all!
I hope this finds you all doing well and rejoicing in the Lord today. He has won the victory in life and death and just by believing Him, we are on the winning side! No matter what is going on in our lives or in the world, we ARE the victors in this battle if we believe in Jesus. The spiritual world is a real one - and we are made to be like Jesus and glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which sometimes means that we face even more trials and struggles because those things make us realize more and more that we cannot fight on our own and NEED HIM even more!

"Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:4-5

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for me, and especially for this Mexico trip. This is going to be a long update, but some of you have requested it, and if the rest of you don't want to read it, don't feel obligated. :) Just know that plans are going well and the Lord is being glorified in real ways already. He's pretty amazing.

Guess what? We bought our tickets on Sunday! So, barring some natural disaster or the Lord's return, we're planning to leave Friday, March 6 from Chicago! The Lord provided them for about $100 less than we planned for originally back in December. We - Naomi, Victor, Tom and I - got together on Sunday with the couple who were letting us use their credit card and spent a good deal of time in prayer, then started looking for flights. Tom and I have been keeping tabs on them for a while now, so we had somewhere to start. It was a little stressful, because you can't really order 12 tickets on the same flight on the same purchase online, at least not in an ordinary way. So...we ended up getting on the phone with AeroMexico, and then I gave the rep all the information over the phone, which was rather intense, making sure we got all the info right. :) It worked, though, and we got the tickets for an average os $470 each! Praise the Lord! It was really cool to see Him work everything out.

We have finally got a pretty solid schedule for our itinerary worked out, which is a big relief to the guys leading and really exciting to our whole team. Of course, this is subject to change if the Lord switches our plans up - we're quite flexible. :) One of the guys on our team, Ivan Mungia, is actually from one of the towns we'll be working in, and he has helped plan the schedule with his church and such, so that has been really helpful.

So, how about a trip summary? We are going to Leon/Guanajuato, Mexico, north of Mexico City (safety should not be a big problem, considering it is not on the border or in Mexico City). We are flying straight to Leon. Our first four days will be in Leon, working with the church and going around the city door-to-door with gospel tracts and information about Bible studies and also doing street preaching. Then on Wednesday we'll be moving the team to a nearby town, Guanajuato, where Ivan is from, and we'll be doing the same thing with the church there. On Wed. night we'll be having meetings with the three churches from the area. Almost everyone on our team is going to have an opportunity to teach a session with the believers. Lord willing, I'll be teaching a women's class. All the sessions will center on different aspects of evangelism and sharing the gospel. We're pretty excited about that. It's also rather humbling and a little daunting. :) We'll have a day to hang out at a water park and some time to sight-see, but mostly we'll be doing evangelism. We'll be staying in the homes of believers from the area, which will be quite a new experience. :) So, that's basically what we're doing.

Our team. Wow, it's been cool to see how God has brought our team together. There are several that I don't know very well but I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better so we can build each other up in love and work together well. I love praying together already and I'm excited about growing in that area.
Victor E - sophomore whose parents are missionaries in Japan; he's studying elementary education here at school with the plan to return to Japan as a teacher and missionary one day, a natural teacher - people naturally follow him wherever he goes
Tom M - junior from Buffalo, NY, a quiet, serious guy who is studying Bible and computers here; he has a passion for sharing the gospel with others
Naomi S - sophomore from KS, one of my best friends here at school, who loves Jesus and telling people about Him and plans on being an overseas missionary eventually
Samuel O - sophomore from Vera Cruz, Mexico, an international student studying Bible here; his family are not believers and he has a passion to preach the gospel, especially back home in Mexico
Ivan and Laura M - a couple from Guanajuato, Mexico, who live here at the school as Ivan finishes his Bible/computer degree, planning to return home when Ivan's finished; a fun, exciteable couple who are just a huge encouragement to all of us
Laura K - sophomore from TX, a sweet girl who loves the Lord and is wanting to grow more bold to share her faith with others
Jessica P - freshman from IA, who is super excited about going, as she went to Mexico once before and would like to possibly work there in the future; she is one of the people I don't know well but am excited about getting to know better
Rebekkah S - sophomore from CO, in the Intercultural Studies major here at school; she has wanted to be a missionary for as long as she can remember, specifically to Columbia, South America; she is very passionate about her beliefs
Ben M - sophomore from WI, who is quite the unexpected sort of guy - he seems quiet but he's really a ham and is quite fun-loving; he loves people and wants to be stretched and learn more about communicating through sharing the gospel and teaching
Daniel R - sophomore from IA, a quiet, gentle guy who loves life and loves Jesus and also wants to be bolder about sharing Christ and whose coming is a great answer to prayer, because he was unsure for a while due to other commitments
Michelle V - freshman, who I don't know well at all, but she's a gentle, lovely girl who also was unsure for a while whether or not she should come, but we're so thankful she is coming; I'm looking forward to getting to know her better
Celina S - a graduate from Emmaus who came to Peru with us and is meeting us in Mexico! She is a gentle girl who loves Jesus and people so much and will be such a blessing to have with us
Willy T - a middle-aged guy who is a graduate from Emmaus who still lives here in Dubuque; he's what Tom calls an "absent-minded evangelist" (and Tom knows him the best of all of us :), but he's a lot of fun and knows his Bible almost more than anyone else I know

Okay...that was long, but, there it is. :) That's our team! Thanks again, so much for praying and backing me up as I follow the Lord's leading to Mexico next month.

Mexico News!

2009-02-07T21:43:00.003-06:00

Countdown...4 more weeks until our team leaves for Leon Mexico! Oh wow! :D This is the part where it starts getting really exciting. Everyone has made their decisions about whether or not they're going, so our team is settled (unless the Lord changes things). We are about to buy our tickets. We are starting to get a feel for the team dimension - figuring out how we each work and how to build each other up. The skits we'll be using for the street evangelism are going really well, just about all together.

So, just wanted to ask for a couple of prayer requests. This week I'm planning to email the itinerary and more details about the trip, but it would be wonderful if you all would pray for these things in the meantime.

- We need to buy the tickets ASAP, and we need to know what direction the Lord would have us go. Please pray that He will provide just the right tickets, all on the same flight, preferably.

- Please pray that the Lord will provide the rest of the $3500 needed for our team to go down to Mexico.

- Please pray that our team will, as a group of people with diverse personalities and different circles of friends, learn how to relate to each other and serve each other and just get to know each other.

- Pray for wisdom as we, especially Victor and Tom, keep making decisions about the trip.

Thanks!

...such and such...

2009-01-14T21:18:00.003-06:00

Hello, all! Sorry for the long lapse in blog writing. It's probably irritating to try to follow my blog when I'm such a sporadic writer. I've been thinking of updating for a while now, but the beginning of a new semester with all the changes in schedule and the emotions connected to life in general and relationships in particular kind of make it hard to write regularly. So...yeah. I know many of you, my readers, are praying for me, and I appreciate that so much.

I have an exciting new semester of classes. Here's my schedule:
Monday/Wed/Friday
8:25 am - Christian Evidences (with Mr. Iverson) - new teacher, interesting topic, although it's not new stuff, I'm hoping to become more equipped to remember and be able to relay this information to unbelievers
9:20 am - Ecclesiology (with Mr. Glock) - study of the church with Grandpa Glock...every class is just an encouragement listening to his teaching, his encouragement, his love for the Lord and the Word
1:25 pm - Methods in TESOL II (with Mr. Harrison) - my last TESOL class!
Tuesday/Thursday
12:40 pm - Christology/Pneumatology (with Dr. MacLeod) - doctrine of Christ and of the Holy Spirit
2:00 pm - Personal Evangelism (with Mr. Hernandez) - really great class...talking about Jesus and the Gospel...of COURSE it's great! :)

I have lots of good reading, so that's a nice change, as last semester I didn't have much reading - more projects and papers. A friend of mine brought me new highlighters from Japan over Christmas, and they're getting lots of good use. Seven lovely, bright colors...ever see a red highlighter? :) I also got a new Bible for Christmas, a beautiful, just-right-sized ESV, so I'm having a lovely time discovering God's Word again in a new setting and new phrases. :) It is quickly becoming "claimed" as my own Bible. :)

Sooo....we have started planning our trip to Mexico hard core, now! One opportunity that may be available is teaching!! Some of us on the team may have the opportunity to teach classes to the believers in Mexico covering things that we are learning here at Emmaus. Oh my word!!! That's like my life dream! I never ever thought there was the possibility of being able to teach on a mission trip. I would love to teach, so I'm praying that we'll be able to do that. Please pray about that! :)

We'll need to be buying our tickets within probably a month or less. There are quite a few who are planning to go, and only a couple have the money as of right now, so please pray that the Lord will provide and that people will be willing to share financially with the team. There are also several who have yet to decide 100% whether or not they're going to come with us, so please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom and direction. Also, please pray for our work on the Spanish language. Right now, I'm pretty tired, and it's hard to work on a language, feeling unmotivated, along with the rest of school and church family responsibilities.

So, those are some requests you can be lifting up before the Lord.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Feliz Navidad!

2008-12-18T21:10:00.002-06:00

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?

2008-12-11T22:45:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-11T00:16:00.000-06:00

Emmaus Family Christmas

2008-12-06T23:13:00.007-06:00

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 :)

2008-11-19T23:18:00.005-06:00

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

2008-11-14T00:36:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-08T20:30:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-07T22:31:00.002-06:00

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

2008-11-05T00:22:00.005-06:00

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

2008-10-26T13:47:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-10-21T23:47:00.004-05:00

...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

2008-10-20T13:27:00.003-05:00

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...

2008-10-16T16:56:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-14T23:21:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-12T01:16:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-08T22:09:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-02T17:06:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-08-24T01:09:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-19T21:35:00.003-05:00

"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...

2008-08-12T16:24:00.003-05:00

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....

2008-07-26T01:09:00.003-05:00

...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

2008-07-23T11:48:00.002-05:00

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

whooossshh

2008-07-22T16:21:00.002-05:00

It's been a long week, ya'll. And it's only Tuesday. And I have scads to do. Why am I blogging? I suppose because I'd really appreciate prayer. :)

(read this with a mental British accent)
Margaret Dashwood: Have you really been to the East Indies, Colonel? What's it like?

Sir John Middleton: Like? HOT!

Colonel Brandon(mysteriously): The air is full of spices.

OR

New freshmen at school next month: Do you really live in Kansas, Liz? What's it like?

Liz: Like? HOT!

This week I'm spending my time pouring over my Bible, notebook, and laptop, or my microbiology notes, by turn. I'm preparing for my lessons when I speak at KBC, Lord willing, next week at the girls grade school week. Refilling my cup with ice water and adjusting the fan to blow at me just right are priorities. Every now and then I take a random, crazy break to do something like mow a lawn in 100+ degree weather.

I have lots to do this week (and that's an understatement!), and that's what I'd appreciate prayer for!
Please pray:
~ That the Lord will help me get my things finished for camp next week
~ That the my final micro test will go well tomorrow afternoon
~ That the Lord will use the letter I'll be giving to my micro teacher tomorrow to turn his heart to the Lord

Thanks!

PS No amount of business stops me from enjoying fellowship...I drop things to talk on the phone...anytime. :)

A summer day

2008-07-15T08:35:00.002-05:00

Ah, don't you all wish you were me? Today I have no appointments, no schedules, no rushing about to do the next thing on my list. Oh, that's not to say I don't have a list....here it is:

Bible study for my lessons at the girls' camp in a week and a half
Picking apples for my mom with my sister and two little brothers
Studying for a microbiology test

The sun is shining, the breeze is light, the Lord is good and life is beautiful. I woke up this morning to my brother's hearty laugh joining with my mom's. Whenever Dave is around everyone laughs. It's inevitable. Even if I don't hear him laughing when I wake up I know if he's here or not just by how everyone is jolly and noisy upstairs.

Ah, breakfast now...biscuits and gravy. Then some lovely quiet time with the Lord and my day will get rolling.

Enjoy what the Lord gives YOU to do today! Choose joy!

He will hold me fast

2008-07-14T18:51:00.002-05:00

When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He can hold me fast.

He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me fast.

I could never keep my hold,
He will hold me fast;
For my love is often cold,
He must hold me fast.

I am precious in His sight,
He will hold me fast;
Those He saves are His delight.
He will hold me fast.

He’ll not let my soul be lost,
Christ will hold me fast;
Bought by Him at such a cost,
He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me fast.

- Ada R. Habershon

My Maker

2008-07-10T21:25:00.002-05:00

Truth is such a beautiful thing. I never realized how much so until this summer, as I've had to sit under the lies of science and false doctrine. Yesterday was one of the hardest classes yet. As my teacher took a tangent, I started getting excited - that pulsing feeling that I usually get when I get to share the gospel with someone. That heart-pounding tingle that says "Let me talk! Let me tell you about Jesus!" I thought we were headed in a good direction. Then he stated one of the most ridiculous falsehoods I've ever heard and my heart kept racing, only now it was in anger. I know many of you who read this have sat beneath the teaching of secular professors, and I don't know if they affected you or not, so don't think I'm silly or that I'm overreacting. The truth is - all those women were sitting there, most of them probably caring less about anything Biblical, and when he said those things, they were spoon-fed lies. I wanted to stand up in class and refute everything he said point by point.

Truth is truth. That's why it's so beautiful. I am so thankful I have absolute truth I can bank my whole life upon. So grateful for the Word of God to rest my soul in.

This is tonight's sunset. The third night in a row we have had an absolutely gorgeous display in the west. The Lord has been showing me so much of His beauty this summer. In nature, but also in His Word. It seems that He really, truly wants to prove to me that He is my Maker. I never doubted it for a moment, but it is so amazing to see Him point out His truth to me in His word as reaffirmation of WHO HE IS.

For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens: God himself that formed the earth and made it: he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord: and there is none else. (Is. 45:18)

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his and he made it: and his hands formed the dry ground. (Ps. 95:3-5)

AMEN? Praise the Lord with me - let's exalt His name together!

As the seasons change...

2008-07-05T22:58:00.006-05:00

Life is like a wheat crop, I think. It starts out poking through the well-worked earth, tender and green, looking out timidly at the big world, wondering what its destiny could be. It doesn't waver, though. It slowly, steadily grows, nourished by the sun and rain, until it is buried by the winter snow. Through the barren winter, the only real beauty in the brown Kansas world is the green wheat, like a child who brings sunshine into the world through their simple faith and innocent spirit.

When spring comes, the wheat suddenly grows into a thick, lush carpet of green that waves in the wind. It faces one of the hardest times of its short life...the dangers of hailstorms, the violent March winds, lashing, pounding rain at any unexpected time, or the threat of May tornadoes to tear its fields up or scatter sheets of metal or wrecked irrigation systems or the floor boards of a house over it. A beautiful crop could be wrecked in a moment, or, through steady growing in spite of the wild weather, could stay lush and thick and fruitful for the harvest. Just like it is a teenager's life, fragile and full of unexpected twists and turns, and many storms to weather.

Finally, the wheat has ripened. It's life is full. Now is when the sun shines down, hot and bright, shimmering on the golden rippling fields. It seems done growing, yet it never is. Those heads full of kernels slowly continue to harden. Each night they soften, then harden in the sun again in the morning. It seems to be resting at last, and yet, waiting for something. An adult's life seems full, golden, mature. Yet it is never truly done. What a beautiful thing is the life of a person who, although they have faced storms and wild weather, is going on quietly and steadily, trusting and waiting.

And then the wheat is cut. Gently severed from its stalks, it is worked through the machine and processed to the point where its grain is ready to travel to the buyer. Somehow, I can never imagine wheat complaining, even if it is being removed from its lifelong home. As I ride the combine, the wheat seems to be shouting, "Hurrah! I'm being cut at last! I'm ready to go - to die." I don't think you have to be an elderly adult to come to this point in life, I think it's more that you just have to come to a surrendering point at any age, but there is no more beautiful thing than the life that is ready to be harvested - ready to die for its master. What I guess I mean is, "To live is Christ, to die is gain."

I want my life to be like the wheat that ripples in the wind. A field of wheat at any stage of its life makes this Kansas girl's heart smile and her throat hurt, but watching that wheat, gently being swept into the combine, accomplishing its final and ultimate purpose, is a beautiful thing. Through all the storms and seasons in life, I want to keep growing and changing and trusting. And I long to be content in the Lord's will - so in love with Him that I can truly say, "For ME to live is Christ, to die is gain."

(First photo by Tim Skiles)

Summertime doin's

2008-06-24T16:06:00.003-05:00

Today I mowed Grandma's lawn and discovered that mowing is the perfect time to memorize viruses and their family classification names. Quite. I also memorized Psalm 95 and praised the Lord loudly with it as I putt-putted around the yard. When I got home, although I knew I needed to do homework and such, I wasn't through with the outdoors, so I decided to shave Eduardo. *ahem* I decided to wash our Buick. See, from a month of traveling every day on a muddy road, the white Buick looked like a rustic woodcutter with a week-long growth on his chin. In other words, he had mud up to the windows. Armed with a scrub brush, a rag, an ice cream bucket, and the hose I proceeded to give him a shave. Now he's nice and white again. Rebekah came up and asked me for the hose at one point and I informed her that Eduardo was shaving up nicely. That name just popped out of my mouth...honest, I didn't purposefully name the Buick that. What a strange name for a car. Well, I still have homework to do...I haven't gotten any closer to having that done. One more day of speech class! Wow, that went so quickly in some ways. However, it does seem like I've been in summer school for a year now, too, though. :) I'm so thankful to be able to get 8 hours of classwork out of the way! Praise the Lord for that! Well, I'm in a writing mood, so I'd better go get that speech done. Enjoy your summer days and don't stick around in the air conditioning too long...I don't think we were made to be refrigerated beings. :) Get out and soak up some sunshine!

Even the little things

2008-06-19T18:03:00.002-05:00

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation...

Oh dear. This verse hit me out of the blue sometime over the past year at school. For some reason, even though I knew the Bible said "Do everything without complaining..." I never attached all that much import to it. Until, that is, I realized that it said "that you may be blameless and pure." You mean, Lord, that complaining keeps me from being pure? Oh. That's why I'm not supposed to do it.

I can't complain...ever...and stay blameless?
Not even when my teacher keeps going back to the origin of bacteria...4.6 billion years ago?
Not even when he makes a crude joke about the reproduction of viruses?
Not even when my head aches in lab and I have to sit four feet away from a creepy looking human body model?
Not even when I can't think of a subject for my persuasive speech for the life of me?
Not even when my family irritates me? Or doesn't appreciate me? Or doesn't understand me?
Not even when I'd rather be at camp?
Not ever?

No...I guess not.

Instead:
I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Oh, ok, I've got it! I get to praise you instead of complaining. I can praise you...
When you give me ten minutes before class to sit outside at school and read my Bible because we got there early.
When two of my big speeches are over and went really well.
When you give me ideas for my persuasive speech.
When I get to spend the day with a good friend at KBC.
When my little sister comes down to my room randomly to say hello.
When the puffy white clouds rest against the light blue sky and the golden wheat waves against that backdrop.
When there are ice cream cones after supper.
When a friend emails me out of the blue.

Yeah...and not only then...but also when things happen that aren't so pleasant. I can praise you in my microbiology class, too. :)

I always wondered what a lazy summer looked like....

2008-06-04T22:49:00.002-05:00

...and I'm still wondering. :)

Apparently, it's not the normal thing to nap on the grass beneath trees at the park nowadays. At least, not in Pratt, anyway. That would account for the reason that nice policeman interrupted mine on Monday. I had just gotten comfortable, with few or no ants crawling up my arm and the poking sticks in my side were starting to fade out of my consciousness when I heard a faint "Are you okay?" I smiled dreamily and mumbled "Mhm," to myself. Then, louder, "Are you okay, miss?" Jerked awake I hastily sat up. "Um, yeah, um, I was just taking a nap. Sister's in the car. I'm fine." I blinked hastily and wondered foggily if there were leaves in my hair or why he was looking at me so strangely. "Well, alright then. I was just driving by and wanted to make sure." He left. So did I. I must admit I wonder if he felt even the slightest pang of guilt for waking a poor sleeping girl out of her lovely nap in the sunshine. At least he asked me before he tried to give me CPR or something.

Anyway...I'm sorry it's been so long since I blogged. I wonder if I still have any blog readers. :) My summer has officially begun and I am officially wiped out already. The first couple of weeks after arriving home were lovely - restful, with some work tucked in there. Lots of time for Bible reading, praying, napping, et cetera. Marvelous.

Then something whammed me from behind and I got sick with the flu and have had ridiculous symptoms one after another since then. It's been two weeks since I felt physically like myself and the same amount of time since I've eaten a normal meal and enjoyed it completely. It seemed like I had strep throat so I called the doctor and he called in a prescription of antibotics for me without seeing me. Those took care of my symptoms but knocked me out with a whole series of other problems - side effects to the medicine. Now I'm not feeling sick, but I'm completely drained of anything they call energy and I still have no appetite. So, yeah...that's way more than you wanted to know about my last couple of weeks. :)

While all this has been going on, though, my sis Rebekah and I started our summer classes at Pratt Community College. We're taking speech and microbiology. I'm enjoying speech. We've already given 3, have another tomorrow and had our first test today - busy, busy! Microbiology is not the most exciting class, but I will say that I've learned more about evolution in the pas two classes by hearing it than I ever learned by reading about it in any textbook. Today I pulled out my Bible (being a good Bible college student I find that I can't go to class even here without bringing my Bible :) and read Psalm 95 to refresh myself: "The Lord our God is a great God." He isn't just a part of history - He created history. I'm glad to know that. I'm glad my Savior designed me, and that my cells didn't just design themselves. :)

So, that about catches you up on my life this summer. Thanks for reading. Rejoice in the Lord today! He is our only true strength and joy.

Spring Banquet

2008-04-28T11:36:00.003-05:00

It was fun. :)

Oceans away...

2008-04-22T09:38:00.001-05:00

The Lord has given me two really close friends here at school, Victor and Naomi, and we have a really cool three-way friendship (and no, for everyone who wants to ask the question - there is nothing between Victor and I). Anyway, school has a spring banquet to honor the seniors, and one day, Nomes and I got identical brown glass bottles in our mailboxes with this note inside each one:

Ahoy thar!
Let me tell ye of me story. Aye, was a pirate on high seas oft the coast of Japan and twas cot in a storm that carried me til the tempest tossed me on the fair land of Deebuqueh. The mighty God changed me from a seaman to a freshman. Fancy that. Arr. You see I met these two maidens fare an twas captivated by thar luv for Jesus. Arr. They helped me realize better who this here Jesus was by thar supreme example an shewed me how this Jesus' luv blows ye off yer feet far moor than any gale. His grace is like a mighty ocean but far deeper than any sailed by men. Arr...well...er...the point of this here letter is to let ye know that I am lost in the ocean of this grace and that I would be honored ... Arr ... if ye would accompany me to thee dinner on the seven an twentieth of April. Arr ye willing to accept me invitation?
Serving under His orders,
Victor

:)

Funness. So we sent him on a treasure hunt.

We left this in his box:
We fair maidens have finally arrived to inform you that we would be honored to accept your invitation. HOWEVER – on our long journey to answer you, we got rather lost and have forgotten where we buried our treasure. As we have heard that you are an adventuresome lad, we were wondering if you would be so kind as to retrieve it for us. This shouldn’t be too difficult, because we left ourselves a trail of sticky notes. Each sticky note will inform you where we came from last. In essence, you will follow our trail backwards and retrieve our treasure.

Then we gave him his clues:

#1 (soccer field)The last thing we can remember doing was running to watch an intramural game, but when we arrived, we realized we had forgotten that fútbal was played in the fall, not the spring.

#2 (playground) We were sitting on a bench together outside, enjoying the fresh air and watching the squirrels chase each other around where the children usually play.

#3 (Courtside Cafe) We enjoyed our chocolate malts, which we had just acquired, and talked about what we were going to wear to the fancy dinner on the 27th of April.

#4 (library) Thinking about pirates reminded us of our favorite children’s book. Reading it again brought back many fond memories.

#5 (coffee shop) As we were rather tired from burying our treasure, we decided to take a break and do a puzzle. The relaxing atmosphere lifted our spirits immensely.

#6 (sand volleyball court) We were so conscientious about not ruining the lovely lawn that we buried our treasure in loose soil. We took many breaks in between to practice our serves for our co-ed games.

We buried a picture for him (the one below with a verse on it, in a frame) and this last note was on it:

“Let’s put our treasure here,” I (Fair Maiden Naomi) said.
“Yes, buried in the sand is perfect,” I (Fair Maiden Elizabeth) agreed. “Then when he gets here he can bring it to us in the Tatham stairwell.”
“What a clever plan!” And we were off.

So we're going with our friend the pirate from Japan to the banquet. :)

Another Trip to Chicago

2008-04-17T15:43:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, Mr. Sanchez, my Bible Geography teacher, took our class on a trip to Chicago. We went to the Oriental Institute and he was our tour guide through the museum. It was really fascinating. (I could listen to Mr. Sanchez all day!) It's really something, though, to see real pottery and seals and idols from Abraham's and David's and Esther's days...it really made history seem more real. My favorite was seeing the giant figureheads from Persia right at the time of Esther, and seeing the jewelry and perfume bottles and pottery and thinking, "Esther could have used these very things!" Wow. So cool.

After the museum, we ate sack lunches, then some of us went to other museums and some of us roamed around Chicago. It was cold and rainy, but we still had fun. I spent the afternoon with a small group of friends in stores like Hersheys, Ghiredellis (anywhere we could get free chocolate... :), Water Front Mall, the American Girl store, etc. In the mall, we went into a small jewelry store, started talking to this black lady named Chiffon. I thought, "Maybe we can share the gospel with her..." and it turned out she was a believer! She and her husband have a church and Bible studies in their home! That was really cool and encouraging. Eventually, our group found a cozy coffee shop and spent an hour and a half doing homework. I went outside and stood alone along the bridge, praying and drinking in the city...I love it there. So many beautiful people. I love the skyscrapers - they testify so greatly to man's brilliance and intelligence, and I get so excited about the Lord's glory as the Creator!

Here are pictures from the day.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=23036&l=ce90a&id=503933962
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=23038&l=6162b&id=503933962

I still have no clue as to how the scripting works for links on this blog...can't get it to work...so you'll have to copy and paste the links I guess...sorry!

Life was simple then

2008-03-30T23:07:00.002-05:00

There was a time when big uncles who teased you about your red hair were the biggest problem in your life.

There was a time when you sang "I am six, going on seven..." rather than "I am sixteen, going on seventeen..." and the thing you looked forward to most in life was actually being the real age of the song.

There was a time when the thing that made you the most nervous as a four-year-old was wondering if Mom would notice when she walked into the room that you had rewound Cinderella and were watching it for a second time that day.

There was a time when your favorite thing to do was also something you got to do a lot - watch your daddy work in the garage.

There was a time when you realized as you looked at a picture of Jesus on the cross in Sunday school that He was dying there for you, and you just wanted to be His little girl.

Now is the time your two big papers and two big projects and two big tests all due within the next three weeks are the biggest problem in your life.

Now is the time when you watch the sweet young families at church and the thing you look forward to most is being married and raising a family with a man you love and serving the Lord together with your whole hearts.

Now is the time when the thing that makes you the most nervous is whether or not you'll actually have the strength to get through the next five weeks of school and then how you'll feel when you leave behind all the people you've come to love.

Now is the time when your favorite thing to do is also something you get to do quite frequently - love and serve others and tell them about Jesus.

Now is the time when you share Jesus with people and realize that He is still the same God He was seventeen years ago when you first trusted Him and that you are still a sinner and He is still the savior and that He is mighty to save and gracious to love and forgive and so worthy of your whole life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is kind of hard right now...that's what I've been feeling since we got back from Peru. But the Lord has given me and some of my friends the opportunity to do some prison ministry. We've been going to the county jail and leading several Bible studies each Sunday night and it has been amazing. These women that my sisters and I get to minister to have suffered so much and have seen such hard things in life, and they don't even have Jesus to get them through it! Who am I to complain? Yeah, life was a lot easier and simpler when I was a little girl, and even still before I came to Emmaus, but I STILL SERVE THE SAME GOD!!!!!! And He is with me. Praise Him!

I've been thinking a lot about joy lately. Habakkuk 3:18 says "I will rejoice in the Lord." I WILL rejoice. It's a choice I need to make. When I say, "Lord, this is a tough circumstance, but I am going to trust you on it and accept your will for me," I relinquish it to Him and ask Him for help and then, after I choose to obey, He gives me peace and yes, even a quiet joy.

But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Psalm 141:8

"If you ask anything in My name..."

2008-03-14T12:44:00.003-05:00

Back from Peru! I have so many stories to tell...I could go on for days. :) Likely, I will, too. However, I'd like to post up the list our team made of all the ways God answered prayers for us. After this I'll tell stories. :) Thanks so much for praying...God certainly answered!

Answered Prayers and Special Blessings in Peru
February 28 – March 8, 2008
(* - answers to specific prayers)
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

Preparation –
• God provided 11 plane tickets on one plane together for a wonderful price! *
• Gospels of John and evangecubes came in time *
- Jason’s second order came the day before we left! *
- We never ran out of gospels or tracts even though we didn’t have as many to give away as we would’ve liked
• God provided finances for every one of us in a huge variety of ways, and none of us lacked anything *
- Hannah didn’t expect to come and the Lord provided for her at the last moment after we bought our tickets *
- After Liz bought the evangecubes for the team, the Lord gave her back the exact amount she paid for them
- In some cases, complete strangers gave money to people on the team
- Our churches shared generously with us *
- One of Celina’s friends paid for her whole trip
• God gave us round trip plane tickets from Lima to Trujillo with Antonio for an amazing group rate and an affordable price *
• Celina decided to join our team as another Spanish speaker *
• The Lord brought Naomi with us as another girl on the team *
• We were able to use Skype to talk and pray with Diego before our trip even began
• The unity grew among the team members on the team as we prepared *
• The Lord gave us all the excitement we needed to motivate us as we packed to leave
• The Lord healed Hannah right before the trip when she fainted the day before we left and was sick with a fever and cough
• The Lord kept Naomi and Liz healthy even though they were sick the week before the team left and they traveled home to Kansas the weekend before the trip and were worn out from that
• No one else on the team got sick before we left for Peru

Traveling to Peru –
• We had a safe van ride to the airport *
- Provision of a van and trailer to actually get there! *
• Problems in the Chicago airport worked out right away – even though we were dropped off at the wrong terminal, we were able to find our flights and make it to our gate in good time *
- We were transporting lots of luggage and rented a cart, only to find we couldn’t take it on the air tram; however, the Lord provided an abandoned cart at the other end of our air tram ride for us to use
• Victor was able to talk about the Lord with a lady in the customs’ line in Mexico City
• Jason and Hannah had some opportunities to share the gospel on the plane trips
• The Lord softened the hearts of the airport officials so Victor could get another boarding pass printed after he lost his *
• We met up with Diego in Lima without any problems
• All our luggage arrived safely *
• Two guys in the Lima airport wanted to hear the gospel after they were given a tract and Diego was able to talk with them for a long time
• Celina didn’t get sick after she drank the tap water in the Lima airport and Jason didn’t drink it or get sick, either *
• Hannah’s guitar string broke in the Lima airport but the Lord provided another string through the Tuttle family
• The Lord provided strength and good attitudes throughout our 36 hours of traveling from Dubuque to Trujillo *

Ministry opportunities
• Micah forgot what time to pick us up at the airport, and as a result, Caleb and Hannah were able to share the gospel with a large group of taxi drivers for a long time
Bible study in Moche
• The Lord used us to encourage the believers and vice versa *
- Jason’s and Marshall’s testimonies went really well
- The Lord gave Caleb passion and excitement to share encouragement from the psalms with all of us
Time with youth group from Trujillo
• The Lord provided lots of mutual encouragement between us and the believers, young and old *
• We had lots of language practice that day and many of us learned more basic communication
• Celina, Jason, and Micah got to share the gospel with some unsaved visitors to the sports complex
• Marshall was able to encourage some of the young guys to seek the Lord’s will when pursuing a career for their lives
Evangelism in Moche
• We found an outlet for the speakers, CD player, and microphone on a well-lit street corner near the square after we didn’t think one would be available *
• Lots of people came to hear the gospel *
• The skits went better than they ever went in practice
• Our evangecubes and the gospel presentation we memorized in Spanish worked really well *
• The Lord had really prepared the hearts of the people in Moche and many were very eager to hear (some who had never heard the gospel before in their lives!) *
- José was saved
- Edmundo expressed serious desire to come to the Bible study
- Melodi was very interested in the gospel
• The prayer/thanksgiving time afterwards was amazing
- The Lord filled us with incredible joy and excitement – the Peruvians and the team alike
- The guys stepped up and prayed with such gratitude and excitement – taking the leadership so well that not a single girl prayed (after we girls had been praying that the guys would lead so we could follow them) *
Trip to Otuzco
• Cars made it up the Andes mountains safely even though one was having trouble with overheating *
• We had a good time of fellowship with the team and binding our hearts together in unity
• Technical problems with the speakers and CD player were fixed quickly *
• The CD stopped skipping during our skit *
• Willie got to share his testimony while the speakers were being fixed and the Lord gave him the words, as he wasn’t prepared beforehand to share *
• Victor’s testimony went well *
• The people of Otuzco’s hearts were much softer than we expected to find them *
• Micah was able to preach a long message and the people stayed interested in it *
• Many people stayed around to talk after the message *
• There are some believers in the city in spite of all the idolatry
• Naomi got to talk with all the little kids
• Little boy who talked to Willie got saved
• We had a safe trip back down the mountains through the terrible fog *
Evangelism/Work project in Chiclin
• The Lord gave safety while the team worked on the church project *
• Caleb and Celina had a hard time finding anyone willing to talk about the Lord until they prayed for the Lord to bring them people *
- The Lord brought them to a couple who were eager to talk and very close to salvation
- Three teenagers came up to them and asked questions, then got saved
- Another lady came up and asked if they could give her a Bible, so Celina and a lady from the church in Chiclin were able to visit her home and bring her a Bible
• The Lord provided strength for Hannah, Celina, and Diego, who translated all day long while the others worked *
• Hannah had words to speak and answer the hard questions of the group of ladies she talked to, and the Lord provided a woman out of nowhere to defend her against an angry heckler
• A man named Santos talked with Hannah and realized for the first time in his life that he couldn’t be saved by works, and put his trust in Christ
• Micah and Naomi were able to share the gospel with a group of town drunks, one of whom declared his intention to go home and turn his life over to the Lord
• Christina and Liz had an encouraging time with Amy and the kids back in Trujillo that day *
- Liz had been praying for some quality time with Amy *
Women’s jail ministry
• The girls were able to share vocally in the gospel presentation with the women in prison
• God gave the girls words to speak *
- Hannah preaching, Liz and Christina sharing their testimonies, Naomi and Celina explaining the skits
- The Lord made us weak, allowed us to stumble (in some ways) through our sharing, causing us to realize how much we needed to depend on Him and reminding us that He was the one speaking through us *
• The Lord gave Naomi understanding to help Willie communicate with a Spanish-speaking lady, even though she didn’t feel like she knew enough to help translate
• The guys (Jason, Diego, Victor) were greatly encouraged by some believing women who promised to pray for the team
Evangelism in Winchansow
• Many kids came and heard the gospel clearly
• Naomi’s and Amos’ testimonies went well and people listened attentively *
• The Lord gave Caleb strength and energy even though when the team arrived he was exhausted, and he was able to preach strongly and effectively and share the gospel in a creative way even without the evangecube (which he couldn’t use because the lighting was so dim) *
• Hannah and Tom got to share the gospel with a big group of kids
• The Lord enabled Liz to share the gospel in Spanish with many kids, showing her that He was able to overcome the language barrier
- John Carlo (a Peruvian believer) helped her with the language even though his English was not excellent
- Estafany stayed the whole time she was sharing and was very interested in the gospel
Time at the orphanage
• Fun playing with the kids
• The Lord used us to show love to the needy kids *
• The Tuttles didn’t take their used tires off the top of their Jeep before we went to the orphanage and it turns out that the maintenance man there had been looking for tires to use in the playground and couldn’t find any, so the family was able to share the tires with them
• The white car wouldn’t start when we were leaving, but with the help of the believers from the orphanage, it got going, and there was no problem *

General miscellaneous
• So many people were praying for us *
• The Lord gave us very gracious cooks who provided delicious, healthy food for us each day
• God provided a lovely, clean, large place to stay
- Comfortable bunks
- Nice bathrooms
• The Lord took good care of our health, even though we didn’t all stay completely healthy
- He didn’t allow us to get too sick
- He helped us endure stomach queasiness, other sickness, and general weariness *
- He showed Himself strong through our physical weakness *
• Tom accidentally left his backpack in a cab the first evening in Trujillo, but he didn’t have his passport in it, so that was safe, and the cab driver actually returned it without stealing anything
• We had a fun time celebrating Jason’s birthday on Thursday
• The Lord provided so well financially for us that we were able to buy tires for the Tuttle’s Jeep with the extra finances and surprise Micah
• Our team was continually able to bond together in love and to be knit together with the Peruvian believers, working together with them *
• The Lord healed Christina’s back Wednesday night when it was hurting her so badly – she slept through the night and felt much better in the morning *
• God provided medication for Christina’s, Hannah’s, and Amos’s sunburn from the pharmacy and helped them heal from it *
• The Lord helped Amos endure the excruciating pain of his sunburn on Thursday night and provided a doctor who visited the church to check on him, rather than him needing to go into a hospital *
• We were able to spend Monday evening talking with Bert and Colleen Elliott, veteran missionaries, who were a huge encouragement and blessing to us
• Carlos, a Peruvian who spent almost the whole week with us around the region, trusted Christ as his Savior after hearing the gospel so often through the ministry and seeing the testimony of the team loving each other and serving together
• Encouraging prayer meeting with the believers on Thursday night
Beach
• The sunset on the beach, on Tuesday evening, lasted until the team got there and were able to watch it and play in the water before the sun went down *
• We found Tom’s glasses, which were lost, after dark on the beach *
• The Lord provided matches to start the campfire on the beach even though we forgot them
• God gave the team an amazing time of fellowship on the beach around the campfire, singing, talking, laughing
Team Devotions
• Different guys were able to share what the Lord had laid on their hearts each morning and lead us in that way *
• Really awesome time sharing with and encouraging each other on Thursday morning about how much we appreciated each other
• We were able to spend lots of time praying for each other and for the trip together

Traveling home from Peru
• Our plane left without us, but the Lord gave us peace and provided answers for our problem *
- There is a possibility we can sell our tickets to another team coming down for Easter
- God provided a bus ride for us
- We spent quality time around Trujillo with Antonio (a Peruvian believer) and the Tuttles for the rest of the morning
- Hannah, Naomi, and Liz got to dance to Peruvian music with Antonio, Victor, and Willie
• Our bus trip to Lima was really nice
- We had comfortable seats in the top level of a double-decker bus
- We saw a beautiful sunset
- We had a safe trip *
• None of our luggage was misplaced or stolen in spite of all the confusion from taxis/cars to bus to taxi to airport to airplane *
• We got to meet the Wakefields, missionaries to Lima who know Naomi, who insisted on coming to the bus station at 10:00 at night to meet us
• Caleb made it back to our group with our food from McDonalds in the airport just in the nick of time to join us in line to get our boarding passes *
• At the Lima airport, we made it safely through customs and security in time to make our flight in spite of a concern about the time *
• We had safe flights to Atlanta and Chicago *
• The Lord caused us to meet up with Kelly and Shannon on the plane out of Atlanta. Their mom had just been diagnosed with cancer and they could tell by our conversation as a team that we were believers and they asked us to pray for them and for their mom
• The Lord encouraged us by allowing us to meet two other teams in the Lima airport who had been mission trips the same week we were
• Diego also had a safe trip back to Columbia *

Specific prayers about/by the team
• Everyone on the team served wholeheartedly for the whole trip – no one acted in a self-centered way *
• The team’s attitudes stayed good and the Lord kept us from complaining and arguing even when we were so tired *
• God gave us boldness and divine encounters with people who were seeking Christ *
• The Lord provided unity among the girls especially *
• The Lord gave us a good team spirit and helped us work together as a team
- Everyone made each other feel accepted, cared for, and loved
- We laughed so much together and the Lord gave our team a good-natured sense of humor
- We all got along well, even with Amos and Diego, who most of us didn’t know before we met them in Peru!
• The Lord blessed Jason in his ability to communicate in Spanish and on the first night in Moche, his “mouth went dry” from speaking Spanish. He was also able to share the gospel along with some of the Peruvian believers with a girl in Otuzco who was very ready to listen and very close to accepting Christ. His injured knee also turned out to be a blessing in some small ways
• The Lord taught Willie that the Lord cares about all the little things as well as the big things and blessed him with an encouraging time with the team
• The Lord continually taught Hannah to depend on Him for everything – strength, words to speak, etc. * For instance, on Sunday, the Lord put her in several positions where she had to speak in public, which she dislikes, then He enabled her to speak His words. Also on Sunday, the Lord allowed her to run out of words to say when she was trying to witness to some people, and she had to get Caleb to share while she translated. The Lord showed her that when He didn’t want her to speak, He was capable of shutting her mouth, too
• Victor prayed for boldness and the Lord provided it over and over again, especially with his inability to speak Spanish. The Lord proved Himself strong in that area, too. He also prayed for more faith, and the Lord answered that prayer very clearly and showed him that He was in complete control of everything *
• The Lord showed Liz how He is fully capable of working in the lives of the people around her with or without her help; also He showed her how He is the one at work in people’s lives and He just wants to use her as His vessel.
• God allowed Naomi to throw herself whole-heartedly into the work, while at the same time giving her a peace about leaving the work in Peru to Him after she left. He taught her a lot about letting Him use her in her weakness. He humbled her and yet showed her that He still wanted her to be a part of His work.
• Caleb was able to lead the team by the Lord’s grace, and was able to encourage the others to step up and do what the Lord had given them to do. God gave him the endurance to get up early each morning and spend time in the Word, and also the strength to make it through the long days with little sleep.
• Tom was able to share the gospel often through translators and the Lord gave him the words to speak when he shared. The Lord also gave him a good attitude in spite of weariness and even sickness.
• The Lord gave Celina boldness! He gave her the courage to go up to people on her own and start sharing the gospel. He answered her prayer for boldness many times during the trip, particularly when she got to share the gospel with their taxi driver in Lima and give him a gospel of John and a tract. *
• God showed Christina how He could provide abundantly for her, so that even when she was unsure if she could go on the trip, because she had neither the money nor her passport, He came through and provided both *
• Diego was encouraged by the opportunity to help the believers in the work in Peru and how he didn’t clash with the people he didn’t know, but rather made many new friends. * He learned that God uses simple people to work in others and God exalts those simple people – and that people we exalt as heroes of the faith are just common people who have obeyed the Lord. The Lord gave him joy working in the harvest field.

Off to Peru

2008-02-27T11:36:00.004-06:00

Well, only a few more hours. Would you mind stopping right now and interceding for Hannah Landrum, one of our three Spanish speakers on the team? She has come down with the same fever/cough/cold that about half of us have had over the past week, and right now she is too sick to travel. The Lord can heal her if He chooses to - or He has another plan. Please pray for her.

NOTE: The Lord HAS healed Hannah and she is doing much better and is coming with us! Praise Him!

Here is our itinerary:

Friday
Morning
Arrive in Trujillo
Get settled and debriefed
Afternoon/EveningResting
Short tour of Trujillo
Bible study with Peruvians with Micah

Saturday
Spend whole day at water park with youth group (Peruvian teens)

Sunday
Morning
Discipleship class at church
Church services
Afternoon
Time with believers
Evening
Evangelism

Monday
Andes trip to Otuzco (mountains) – evangelism/sight-seeing
Visit to Pre-Incan archaeological site

Tuesday
Morning/Afternoon
Work project and evangelism in Chiclin
Evening
Beach
Visit with Bert, Collen, and Elizabeth Elliott (related to Jim Elliott)

Wednesday
Morning
Open air ministry in women’s jail
Afternoon
Orphanage work project
Evening
Evangelism in Winchanzow

Thursday
Morning
ChanChan archaeological site
Afternoon
Ministry at Orphanage
Evening
Open air evangelism

Friday
Morning
Leave for Lima
Afternoon/Evening
Time in and around Lima
Night
Leave for Chicago

PRAYER REQUESTS
~ Safety, both on our flights/traveling and while in Peru
~ Deatils to finish getting worked out
~ Health for our team, or at least, the Lord's strength in our physical weakness
~ Boldness, even from the get-go
~ Opportunities to reach people from the moment we get in the van to head to Chicago at 2:00 a.m. tonight
~ Unity on our team, selflessness and esteeming others better than ourselves
~ The Tuttle family
~ The Peruvian believers
~ Willingness for each person on our team to adapt to the Latin American culture
~ THAT GOD WOULD GET THE GLORY FOR EVERYTHING, GOOD or "BAD" THAT HAPPENS!!!

This is the Lord's trip, and we want Him to be exalted in every aspect of it!

Here's our team:
Caleb Eby
Victor Eby
Tom Major
Diego Kim
Marshall Sandlin
Willy Taggart
Jason Cripe
Celina Schulz
Naomi Schrag
Christina Smith
Elizabeth Skiles
Hannah Landrum

Thanks so much for all the prayers you are lifting up on our behalf! Gloria a Dios! To God be the Glory!

Night before Spring Break

2008-02-26T23:58:00.003-06:00

Normally, I don't advise dropping your cell phone in a pan of beige paint, even if it does clean up pretty well and still works afterwards.

Yes, we're leaving for our Peru trip in exactly 26 hours, Lord willing, and I was painting this evening. After class, at 9, I walked into the coffee shop and Randy (our crazy maintenance guy) was in there, showing off his bandaged finger and telling me that it was my fault that he cut his finger because I haven't been helping him paint over in the Smith Hall business offices. Poor guy, he's gone two nights without sleep, being on snow crew and most likely, he hasn't been home at all in that time, either. He's trying to get some remodeling done, too, on top of 80+ hour work weeks, mostly on snow removal crews at school and around the city. No one can accuse me of not being spontaneous. I was "moved with compassion" and joined him painting for an hour. That made him happy. :)

Yep, 26 hours. Tonight I finished my big TESOL country paper and gave it to a friend to look at for me, so it will be handed in tomorrow at class, Lord willing. Praise the Lord! What a relief. It is about the dynamics of teaching English in Latin America, specifically, Chile. It's 6 pages long and has 2 pages of works cited. :shock: What a relif to have it done. I've spent probably 20 hours on it over the past three weeks. I have no idea if that's overly long for a paper or not, but it's a lot to learn about Chile. I wrote to 4 missionaries in Chile and all of them wrote me back! What a blessing!

Tomorrow I'll post an itinerary and some specific prayer requests, and then you probably won't be hearing from me until March 8. Ah! 26 hours...

Good grief...and tomorrow's Friday

2008-02-21T19:16:00.003-06:00

This is my room now...looking a little bit more normal and realistic.

And is it no wonder I can't find anything when I need it? I think I should clean my floor before I sart my homework for the evening...

God can do anything, anything, anything!

2008-02-19T14:21:00.003-06:00

Wow, so, I just have to share with you guys a neat story. Yesterday I went to another college library here in town with my friends Esther and Victor. We're in a TESOL class together and are working on research papers for different countries and wanted to find some more resources. It's a very nice library cosmetically - very open and spacious, with a fireplace and some cozy chairs...but their cataloguing system is rather pathetic and we didn't find much of what we needed, but we did have fun. :D

Anyway, we had to get ID cards for the library to check books out, so I took my college swipe card out of its plastic holder to show them. Well, when I put it back in its holder I thought that I'd better make sure it was secure, because it does have a tendency to fall out sometimes. Well, I wasn't as careful as I should have been, because when we got back to the school and were almost in the door, I realized it was missing. I retraced my steps and looked for it in the school parking lot but it wasn't around. Arg. I knew it would be $20 to replace - not nice. :(

This morning as I was getting dressed, I talked with the Lord about it. I said, "Lord, I know it's my fault I lost the card, and I wasn't very responsible, and I could go down to the front desk and tell them that I lost it and pay the money to get it back, but I also know that YOU could get it back to me somehow, some way. Would you do that, Lord? Please?"

Today as I was walking out of the dining hall, a girl named Linda came up to me and said, "Liz!" She held out my card to me! One of the maintenance guys found it outside on the parking lot! Yay!! What a gracious God I serve! He didn't have to do that...but He wanted to. How kind He is. :)

Open doors

2008-02-16T20:19:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to update you all on the plans for Peru...and share some amazing stories about how the Lord is working things out.

But first, here is a picture. (front) Hannah, Victor, Naomi, Celina (back) Christina, Jason, Marshall, Caleb, Tom, Willy, me
Oh, and Victor is holding the computer with Diego on webcam. Diego is from Columbia, and he's meeting us in Peru, so meanwhile, we talk to him over the computer during our meetings. :)

I just thought I would share some more of what the Lord has been doing in my life as of late. At Christmas time, a friend reminded me that "we walk by faith, not by sight," and I am learning so much about that. If we choose to step out in faith and obedience and seek the Lord's will regardless of what common sense tells us, He WILL guide and direct us and He will make our paths straight (Is. 45:2). So often when we think of a possibility, we say, "no, I don't have the money," or, "no, that wouldn't be very practical" or "it's too presumptuous of me to ask the Lord for that." How can we reconcile this attitude with a walk of faith? James says, "Ye have not because ye ask not." Mark 9:23 says, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." All things are POSSIBLE - the things we want may not happen like we plan them, but anything is possible if we believe and seek the Lord first of all. Belief is stepping out, sometimes nudging open the door that the Lord has cracked open for us and taking that one step that shows we are seeking Him. "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."

The reason all of this is so present on my mind is because of our Peru trip. I'd like to tell you a little about our team. Caleb and Victor are brothers from Japan whose dad is a teacher at a missionary school. Hannah's parents are missionaries to Mexico, Celina's parents are missionaries to Bolivia. Naomi's parents work at a Bible camp in Kansas, full-time workers for the Lord. One student's parents just underwent bankruptcy. Willy works at McDonald's, Jason works at KFC. And me, well, you know me. Some of us work, some of us don't, but we all have school bills and expenses and none of us can exactly write a check to buy plane tickets to Peru. We started praying about this trip and asking the Lord's will concerning it. We all told Him, "Lord, you know we don't have any money - we're asking you to show us if this is your will, and asking you to provide if you want us to go." We didn't stop there and sit back, either. We started preparing and planning and continued praying. That was two months ago...now, our tickets have been purchased and paid for, with the exception of some details, we all have the finances to travel 3,577 miles from home to spend 9 days in Trujillo, Peru, serving the Lord with our brothers and sisters down there. For 12 people who had nothing, really, to pay the way, God has provided almost $10,000 dollars for a trip to South America.

God has broken down walls and made our crooked paths straight in so many ways. For instance, Hannah is our main Spanish speaker, and when we bought our tickets, we didn't get one for her, because she didn't have any money, or any visible prospects of getting any, and didn't feel at peace about it. The next day, a friend and fellow student told her, "Hannah, I feel like the Lord wants you to go on this trip and I want to pay for your entire trip." Also, the church some of us go to gave our team $1000 and the Lord provided another $500 for our team from another church. Tom's church from home has paid for him. One of Naomi's friends sent $200 for Victor and Caleb after hearing about them from her in passing. Folks, finances and other seeming obstacles are NOTHING - the Lord has been showing me that over and over again. If He wants something to happen, He makes a way! Don't doubt Him. And don't presume that because you want something, it will happen. Seek Him first - try those doors and obey Him and pray and pray and pray and He will show you the way.

So, please, please continue in prayer for our team. Some requests:
~ Unity on the team, that it would continue and even be strengthened
~ Leadership of the quieter guys - that they would step up and that we girls would stand behind them and encourage them without taking over (as three of us five girls have very strong leader personalities)
~ Boldness, excitement and passion to share the gospel with others
~ Physical strength, as we'll be traveling for about 28 hours, spending about 15 hours in various airports between O'Hare, Chicago and Trujillo, Peru
~ Continued provision and the working out of various details
~ Caleb, who is leading our group, has a lot on his mind right now besides the trip - please pray that he would be able to focus and be able to lead our group in a Christ-like way
~ Micah and Amy Tuttle, the couple we are visiting
~ ABOVE ALL - that God would be glorified in our lives and in this whole trip - that He would be praised and honored and that many people would be touched with Christ's love as a result of this trip - that it would be HIS trip, not ours

Thanks so much, everyone, for praying, and for reading my rambling. God is so much bigger than we think. "Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation on the Lord, which He will work for you today...the Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Ex. 14:13-14.

Funny quote of the day

2008-02-15T13:24:00.003-06:00

Liz: (sitting at table in library working on research about Chile) How can I read this silly newspaper if it's in Spanish?!
Gordon: (sitting at computer 3 feet away) Did you know that Google has a translation thingy?
Liz: No, really?!
Gordon: Yeah! (proceeds to show Liz how it works)
Liz gets excited and starts reading El Mercurio in English. Then she clicks on a link to a teen magazine.
Liz: (under her breath) What? This isn't in English...
Gordie: Huh?
Liz: Oh, I was talking to myself.
Gordie: Oh, sorry for interupting. :cheesy grin:

:D HeHe.

My Valentine

2008-02-13T23:48:00.002-06:00

Guess what? I've finally got a Valentine date! :D Isn't he cute?

Have a happy Valentine's day, everyone! :D

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-06T13:16:00.000-06:00

I'm experiencing something today that I've never experienced once in my life....

A SNOW DAY!
At chapel this morning, Dean Glock announced that we wouldn't have any more classes or anything today! Hooray! The whole school is slap-happy. :) It's been snowing since yesterday afternoon and it's coming down very hard still...I hardly know what to do with myself. :D HeHe...not really...I have lots to do... I just finished reading the rest of John and I'll probably get started on some studying for my first OT unit exam and do a little Bible geography homework and also some homework for Ministry of Women.

See how deep the snow is?

(just kidding...that's Amy on her knees... :) )

Lotsa snow...piled high

Helen and I having laughs :)

Oh, I also thought you might like to see some new pictures of my dorm room and of Jim. :)

Smile! Have a wonderful day with Jesus! He is good!

We're going....

2008-02-02T23:27:00.000-06:00

...to Peru! Praise the Lord! The tickets are purchased and plans are coming together more and more. I'll give more updates as we keep planning. Please, PLEASE pray with us for this trip. As our team leader, Caleb, pointed out today, if the Lord isn't in this, there's no point in going down. May it all be for God's glory ALONE!

Laughter...

2008-01-26T23:06:00.000-06:00

...is good.

I am so thankful that the Lord gives us joy and laughter. There's nothing quite like the feeling of joy that wells up in your soul and spills out in contagious laughter. I love being able to laugh at myself, like when I use the wrong words together in a sentence, like telling Caleb that the day is "dreary" when I meant "picturesque" - to laugh at the craziest things that people say or do, like snickering with Craig and Jen when Mr. Sanchez starts reenacting stories in Bible geography - to laugh at things that don't make sense - to laugh at mistakes I and others make - to laugh when something unexpected happens, like me telling Jim that he would probably be scared when I dropped him back into his fishbowl, then screaming myself when he wouldn't come out of the mug he was in, making all the girls on my floor laugh at me - to laugh when God answers prayer in amazing, unexepected ways, like when He gives my friends and I three chances in one week to spend time with the same couple we are trying to reach for Christ (will He ever stop?!).

I love watching people laugh. Something in me goes "Yes!" and pumps a fist when people around me laugh - the kind of laughter that reaches their eyes. You know they are happy and that at that minute they are rejoicing. Oh, how we need to laugh more!

Last night Naomi and I were praying together and she said something and we both laughed - right in the middle of our talk with the Lord. I long to have a confidence in the Lord that brings His joy into my heart no matter what my circumstances. I want to be able to laugh even when I feel like crying, because I know that God is on the throne and that everything will be okay. I want to be able to laugh even when I'm disappointed. I want to smile with my friends who are experiencing things I want to experience and am not. I want to keep snickering at people who laugh at themselves even if they're not very funny, if for no other reason than that it makes them laugh harder. I want to have a merry heart that does good like medicine. I can't wait to see Jesus smile when I see Him face to face. I can't wait to have that radiant, eternal joy that nothing can mar or take away.

Yet, I CAN have it here... "These things I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." (John 15) If I abide in Jesus, and draw everything I need from Him, MY JOY WILL BE FULL!!!

Let's draw our sustenance from our Savior and let His joy fill our hearts...let's laugh with the joy of the Lord, for truly, therein lies our strength. It's a confidence that He is in control and that He is making me like Jesus and I can let go of everything that hinders that joy and let Him flood my soul with laughter.

Snowed in

2008-01-26T00:52:00.000-06:00

Wow, so, it has been a long time since I posted anything substantial on this blog...I know that...I'm trying to decide if I should apologize for business or not. I think I'm just trying to figure out how to keep in touch with people that mean so much to me - people who I've never had to keep in touch with before because they were always just THERE. Plus, this semester is taking a lot of adjusting - just getting used to new schedules and figuring out when to do what homework and what priority to put on certain things. This probably sounds very rambly. I should stick to something more concrete...like class schedules!

M/W/F - I have
OT Survey II
1 Corinthians (which is a class I'm sort of auditing - long story)
Intro to TESOL
T/TH - I have
NT Survey
Bible Geography
Intro to Phil/Christian Worldview
T night I have
Ministry of Women

My classes are excellent, again, although this semester they are more strictly "academic" than last semester (including a lot of history and geography). It's all good, but I'm trying to adjust to the differences, which include a substantial amount more of reading. I have an hour between OT and Chapel on M/W/F, so a friend, Naomi, and I are committing to spend that hour together in the gym. She works out and I read. I should probably work out, too, but at that time of day getting my homework done is doubtless more important. I'm thankful for the arrangement, as it keeps us both accountable and keeps me from wasting that very useful hour.

Lord willing, over spring break, about a dozen of us students are planning to go to Peru to visit Micah and Amy Tuttle, who are missionaries there. There is a lot of prayer and preparation going on concerning that trip, as you can well imagine. At times it scares me and I think "WHAT am I doing?" but other times I get super excited about what the Lord is going to do with this trip. I'm learning a ton already about working with other believers and about trusting the Lord. We are waiting on His guidance and direction. We desire to be willing to accept a "no" answer if He shuts the doors for us, but we are eagerly planning and pressing ahead with plans. He will provide and He will guide us if that is His direction. Please pray with us!

In November, I started meeting with a different assembly of believers at a church called The Great Adventure Church. In some ways their methods for meeting and gathering tend to be a little "unconventional," but I decided to meet with these believers because of the overwhelming love and welcome I felt there. As I've continued there, I have felt more and more at home. I went to a women's brunch on Saturday, we went out to eat as a church on Wednesday night, and this evening one of the families from church had a birthday party for their three-year-old, Allie, and I joined them, along with a number of people from church, for the party. It reminds me so much of growing up in Florida when our family met at home with the Rigsbys and when we would have birthday parties and holidays with Grandma and Grandpa and Danny, Debbie, and A. Jen and even Nelson - and how we all just had so much fun being family in Christ. That's the same way I feel here at GAC. I appreciate that so much. I'm learning SO MUCH about what the body of Christ is supposed to look like. I am blessed so much to see a large body of believers functioning like a true family, giving to and supporting each other, taking care of each others' needs and reaching out in consistent ways to the community around them. What a blessing! I am so thankful for this local church.

Oh, I thought you might all like to know that I am now the (sort of) owner of a fish. That is, I am fish-sitting for two friends who are out of the country at the moment. My two across-the-hall mates, Lisa and Rachel, are doing their Intercultural Studies internships in Yemen and Taiwan, respectively, and I am taking care of their goldfish, Jim, for them while they are gone. I have to change his water every couple of days, and feed him twice a day and such and such. He is a cutie, I must say, but I'm hoping against hope that I won't end up killing him. I'm calling him Jimnasium for short.

It has been in the teens, both above and below zero, here in Iowa for the past two weeks. BRR!!! It keeps snowing, and I don't think the snow is going anywhere any time soon.

Soooooooo....there's a bit of the scoop of what's going on in my life. I could write a lot more, but it would probably fill a book and you are probably already bored. I am sorry I haven't done a better job keeping in touch. Thanks for all your love and prayers.

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also..."

Funny picture of the day

2008-01-07T00:19:00.000-06:00

Back at school - and it's wonderful to be here with everyone arriving. Hugs, hellos, and smiles abounding... Classes start tomorrow - hurray!

Anyway, the funniest thing happened today. I walked into the upper commons and saw Victor and Aaron standing talking, and, so, naturally, joined them - isn't it the normal thing when you see two of your friends talking to stop and talk to them, too? So...all of a sudden I noticed that they both had green sweaters on. "Say! You're matching!" They were like, "Oh, yeah, haha" then Victor suddenly said, "So are you!" and I looked down to see my own green sweater. Then Aaron said, "We're all wearing blue jeans, too!" HAHA! That called for a picture. :D Why do people think it's embarrassing to wear matching clothes accidentally? I think it's hilarious. :D

A Sledding Adventure

2008-01-04T09:46:00.000-06:00

Sooo, back to school in time for an adventure! :)

Having arrived at school early because I am keeping the books for the basketball team this weekend, I have been rather at loss what to do with myself during some of my days, so last night some of us that were here (couple guys, couple girls) went out to get something to eat (they're not serving meals here until tonight). When we got back, Tom and I were going upstairs when we met Danny.

Danny: Hey, do you guys want to come sledding with us?
Me: Oh, yeah!
Tom: Well, I guess.
Danny: I'm taking the Korean guys sledding. They've never been sledding here.
So, we piled into Esther A's car, which she let Danny borrow while he was here over break and she went back to Switzerland. It's a big car, made for 6 people, but I don't think the manufacturers meant for six people AND three big purple tobaggans to fit into it, which is exactly what happened, because the sleds wouldn't fit in the trunk.

Our school is situated right next to a golf course that is perfect for sledding on. The best hills are about a half mile from the school, though, and that's why we had decided to drive around to the other side of the course instead of trekking across it.
Danny: Oh, this works, if we put them like this!
Me: (gigggling) Um, yeah, I can scrunch down like this.
Tom: (grunting)
Me: Are you okay, Justin?
Justin: Yes, I'm fine.
Danny gets in the driver side, starts going: Ug, this sled is digging into my neck
Tom, Justin and I lift it up higher towards the ceiling
Me: Is that better?
Danny: Yeah!
Coming to a stop sign...
Danny: Is it clear? I can't see anything
Tom: (from the window side of the front seat) I can't see anything - the sled is in front of me
Me: (craning my neck to see around the parked SUV in front of us) Uh, yeah, I don't see anyone coming
Danny swerves around the corner
Justin: Too fast!
Danny: He doesn't like my driving.
We all laugh.
Finally, we arrive and have a blast sledding. The hills were so slick because the snow is more like ice at this point and we had a bunch of crazy rides. It was fun...several near-collisions and all. We sledded and looked at the stars. Delightful. Then the trip back.

We were more practiced this time getting into the car, so that was no problem. We drove a mile or so, then came to the stop sign of Clarke and Asbury (the school is on Asbury). There were two snowplows and a couple cars in front of us.
Danny: Uhoh, I think there's a cop car up there.
Me: It'll be okay, he won't see us
A little bit later
Danny: I think something's going on up there
Tom: (from beneath the sled) I can't see! What is it?
Danny: I think it's an accident
Me: There's a bunch of police cars!
Danny: Uhoh. I don't want them to see us. This isn't even my car.
We all sit thinking for a minute. Danny says "Uhoh" a few more times.
Danny: Tom, would you, uh, mind getting out and walking past those cops so they don't see us like this? We'll pick you up down the block.
Tom: Sure.
He gets out.
We watch this one policeman trying to direct traffic by himself, getting madder and madder at cars that wouldn't listen to his directions. Tom stopped on the sidewalk past the cars.
Danny: Daniel, would you mind going and telling Tom to keep walking? I won't be able to stop on the road and pick him up.
Daniel: Sure.
He jumps out and runs ahead to Tom.
Finally, we get to move, and drive past a very irritated policeman and a line of waiting traffic. Tom and Daniel walked the next two blocks to school while we kept driving. :)
Danny: (pulling into the school parking lot) Well, that was an adventure!

Christmas break....life is...good

2007-12-30T19:16:00.001-06:00

Sooo...Christmas break has come...and has almost gone. I'll be going back to school on Wednesday. Ah, it's been good to be home! I've slept so much it's ridiculous! There was one night I went to bed at 7:30...and probably at least 5 nights I went to bed by 9:00. I never would have dreamed that in my life I would actually choose to go to bed that early...but I guess I'm officially a college student now. :grins:

When you move away from your family you forget that the reason you do the things you do has a lot to do with the fact that your family does them. I'm always saying or doing things at school that make people laugh, and here, I find that my family says or does the same things. So I guess I AM normal, after all.

I have a funny story to tell. My 6-year-old sister is learning to read, and she has decided she is going to read Deuteronomy. (No one told her that that's the book that most people get stuck on when they're trying to read through the Bible in a year.) So the other day she was working on a few verses. This is what she read:
36For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat...

It was at this point where she burst out laughing hysterically...uncontrollably...giggling contagiously. She would repeat that phrase, then burst out giggling again.

So...this proves two things. #1. KJV must not be too hard to understand if a 6-y/o can read it, and #2. Maybe it is a little outdated if it makes a 6 y/o start laughing uncontrollably.

Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas break! Happy New Year!

There's no place like home :)

2007-12-18T13:47:00.000-06:00

Ah, I'm home again! I now know how Dorothy felt. :) I'm into the full swing of cooking, dish-washing, movie-watching, snowman-making, and enjoying relaxing, reading, praying, and SLEEPING. I had almost forgotten that there was such a thing as sleep, but 8-9 hours a night is reminding me how nice it is. :) I never thought I'd actually voluntarily go to bed at nine o'clock.

It's interesting to be home after four months away. Home will always be home, but Emmaus is really my life now...so it is different to be back. I didn't think I would miss school. The Lord is showing me how I tend to depend on the people in my life no matter where I go, and how I need to abide in Him alone. He is the only one truly worthy of all my devotion!

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:4-5

Two more lovely weeks of being with my family! There are a lot of little things I never appreciated about them until now. :) It's good to be with them again.

Study day?

2007-12-11T18:48:00.000-06:00

This is what we do at Emmaus on snow - I mean study - days. :D

We had all day to study today before finals start tomorrow. I got lots done, but had fun, too. And the day's not over yet. :D Emmaus is the place. :)

Rita, Esther and I

Singin' carols :) Silly Esther without a coat...

Here we come a'caroling!

2007-12-07T19:47:00.001-06:00

Tonight I went caroling door-to-door for the first time in my life, and it was marvelous! :D See, a number of us from school go out every Friday afternoon evangelizing, and some of us have taken to going back consistently to the same neighborhoods. For instance, Victor and Naomi(some of my friends) go to one neighborhood near school, and have established some contact with several couples there. Caleb (a brother from school) and I go to another street not far from here, too. Well, we started by asking if there was anything we could pray about for people, and we raked leaves for some people, and we have spent a good deal of time talking to people, and we gave out some Thanksgiving cards. We're establishing good friendships and praying for opportunities to share the gospel and maybe do some Bible studies with people. It's really so exciting! The Lord has opened many doors and answered some very specific prayers.

So today, all of us who go evangelizing decided to go caroling at these two neighborhoods. There were 6 in each group, and both groups had wonderful responses in the neighborhoods! Ours consisted of Caleb, Tom, Anna, Ben, Amanda, and I. We had the best time! Often people aren't home or don't answer their doors when Caleb and I go around, but at almost every single house someone came to the door! A couple of years ago the Lord gave me a Christmas poem, and it has the Gospel in it, and we tied copies of it to candy canes and handed them out to everyone. It was so cool. :) People remembered Caleb and I, too! We were able to ask a couple of them about their prayer requests, and chat to some, too. Praise the Lord!!! Please pray for the Wood St. neighborhood! :) Victor's group was able to share the gospel really thouroughly with one of the couples that Victor and Naomi have gotten to know over the weeks. Praise the Lord! Pray for Melvan and Jean. :)

One more week of school - finals week! I'm done with all of my projects!!!! Hooray!!!!! Can't wait to be home! :)

Exciting happenings of the week

2007-11-27T18:21:00.000-06:00

I turned 22 on Monday!

We had REAL chicken for supper tonight - real as in, NOT PROCESSED!! It even had bones. I had three pieces. :D

I'm getting an early start on homework this evening, I have two friends who are going to keep me accountable and make sure I don't go out socializing. :D Then at about 9 I'm going to go down to the Coffee Bean and buy a coffee with some of the money my little siblings sent me for my birthday. :)

My friend and I set up an accountability system today to remind ourselves about something about the Lord Jesus every day...to help each other keep our thoughts pure. :)

I got a really nice note from one of my friends in my box today!

All my Christmas decorations are up!

The Lord is teaching me what it means to press on...and it's good. :)

ONLY 18 more days until I go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures with Emmaus Friends

2007-11-24T14:59:00.000-06:00

Getting to know the girls in August who have become my best friends here...Emily and Esther

Roller skating with Heidi and Hannah and Alehandra at Sadie Hawkins

Christina and I together at Sadies

Laughs with Esther A at Sadies

Eating apples with Esther at Oktoberfest

Dressed up for Sadies with Emily

Making Japanese food with Caleb on Thanksgiving break

Breakfast and homework with Victor on Thanksgiving break

At a birthday party with Rachel

At Perkins with Esther, Amanda, and Amy, along with others for a going away party for a friend

Tasting Amy's muffin at Perkins

Saying goodbye to Amanda

Enjoying the first snowfall with Caleb and Victor

Walking in the snow with Joy over Thanksgiving break

In everything

2007-11-22T13:59:00.000-06:00

In every little thing
Give thanks.
For unexpected blessings,
For reminders
Of God’s love,
For answers
To hurried, whispered prayers –
Give thanks.

In every greater thing
Give thanks.
For help in big decisions made,
For open doors
Made clear,
For help
In times of bitter trials –
Give thanks.

In every harder thing,
Give thanks.
For loneliness or grief,
For the chance
To suffer for His sake,
For pain, or loss,
Or bitter nights of tears –
Give thanks.

In every good thing from above,
Give thanks.
For promises He gives,
For fellowship
So rich and sweet,
For joy,
And laughter, love, and songs –
Give thanks.

Because His way is perfect,
Because He cares for you,
Because He reaches, teaches, shares,
Give thanks to God,
For He is good.

- Elizabeth Skiles
“Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.” (Psalm 136:1)

Kansas is far away

2007-11-19T00:49:00.000-06:00

It just occured to me that this is the first time I can truly sing along with Bing Crosby...

I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams...

...and really be homesick while singing it.

But I'd rather be there for Thanksgiving.

I close my eyes and see a long table spread with china dishes and steaming bowls of stuffing, potatoes, and yams, baskets overflowing with rolls, a platter of tender white turkey, and clear glasses filled with cinnamony cider and real ice cubes from ice cube trays. I drink in the imaginary fragrance of mums in a vase, woodsmoke coming from the register beneath the table, and the comforting smell of...HOME. I see candles flickering (ah, candles!) and hear loud, boisterous laughter, the clinking of silverware, loud oohs and ahs over the savory dishes, and words of thanks overflowing from grateful hearts of those I love best in the world.

Then I open my eyes and see the white wall of my dorm room, think about a big empty building with 15 students living in it for a week, eating their meals together in the coffee shop downstairs and buried in their books and staring at laptop screens...and am tempted to go to bed crying.

But then I remind myself of the Lord's precious love, and how He provided for me to stay here, and how much joy I will have as I work on the projects He's entrusted me with, and the fellowship I will have with those 15 brothers and sisters, and the fun it will be to visit someone else's home for my favorite holiday...and realize that it will be okay.

But Kansas is still far away...and only in my dreams.

College can make you do crazy things...

2007-11-07T23:13:00.000-06:00

So...I never thought a party could be so much fun. We had a Sadie Hawkins party last Sunday here at school. The theme was "Blast from the Past - 1950s" and it WAS a blast.

These pictures, here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11388&l=5733b&id=503933962 may not mean a lot to you because you don't know the people in them...but you can kind of get an idea...

We had dinner first, in a dining hall that had been completely transformed to look like a 50s diner. The RAs and Student Gov folks were on rollerskates, and served us dinner. It was so much fun! Seriously, we felt like we dropped out of Happy Days. The 50s music helped create the atmosphere amazingly.

Then we had lip sync competitions by floors, each floor lip synching and choreographing a different 50s song, plus lots of competitions and prizes, all in the decked out auditorium. That was wild! We laughed so much and had such a good time.

Then we went roller skating at a rink and skated for 2 hours to more 50s music! Wow! It was sooo fun! I've been paying for it all week (I have some muscles hurting that I didn't realize were even capable of hurting!).

Today a 5-yr-old boy winked at me and a 7-yr-old boy waved at me. If that doesn't make a girl's day, what will?

Life is crazy, but it's going...faster than I'd like.

God is so good! Praise Him today for something He's done for you!

Only Yours

2007-10-30T18:56:00.000-05:00

One view
A heavenly sight
My eyes on You.
One light
Shining in my soul
My heart full.

You are mine, Jesus!
Draw me close to You.
Fill me drop by drop
Until I overflow with love.

One life
Being used up
Just for me?
One heart
Following You alone –
On my own.

I am Yours, Jesus!
Hold my hand in Yours.
Flood me with Your peace,
Until I finally rest in You.

One passion
To be close to You
And only You.
One journey,
Step by step each day
Just with You.

We are one, my Jesus!
Give me Your song of joy
So I can laugh and rest and sing,
And know I’m only Yours.

- Elizabeth Skiles
When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." John 21:22

It's life...it's school...what more can I say?

2007-10-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, so, it's been quite a while since I blogged. I have a perfectly legitimate excuse for that: MIDTERMS. :) But now those blessed things are over for me and I can back to normal life (laughs under her breath "normal?")

So, how about come categories?

Fun things I've done lately:
- Had a visit from my brother and sisters - yay!
- Went to a birthday dinner at Dean Glock's house a month before my birthday
- Played basketball for an hour when my sibs were here with two good friends
- Led a study group of about 15 people for Survey of Doctrine...which got crazy (crazy fun :))

- Ate a random coconut-filled chocolate that I found in my mailbox from a mystery giver
- Got a friend to read one of my favorite books and had a good time discussing it with him
- Went ice skating...started learning to be adventurous :)
- Cleaned five classrooms with a seven-year-old boy as my sidekick
- Let a brother carry my heavy laundry basket up to the third floor from the basement for me
- Went out to eat with a random collection of fellow students at Olive Garden (if you don't have money, you can always make friends with girls whose spiritual gift is giving :) JUST KIDDING!)

Random things that happened in Chicago:
- Went up 94 stories crammed in a little elevator with 8 friends in about one minute to the top of the Hancock building

- Took pictures of friends taking pictures...lots of them
- Experienced a singing chef in a Hershey's chocolate store
- Walked into Ghiredelli's chocolate store to get free chocolate, then turned around and walked back out again

- Waited for two hours to eat real Chicago pizza
- Ate real Chicago pizza
- Got misdirected and asked for directions in a snazzy Starbucks
- Took goofy pictures at this giant mirror ball...acting like kids
- Chased a trolley - literally running across the park toward the road yelling for the trolley to stop, only to find that it was the wrong trolley line
- Asked for directions of a guy who wouldn't tell us unless we gave him money...which rather stunned the country folk in our group
- Walked/ran 19 blocks back to the bus stop in a time crunch, getting there in about 30 minutes, collapsing with relief on the bus
- Watched Princess Bride on the way back and laughed till our sides hurt

How college life has changed me:
- I can now shower without complaining in bare feet in a public shower
- I no longer gripe when people take my laundry out of the dryer - I even do it to people
- I wear mis-matched clothes on Wednesdays sometimes
- I wear slippers around in public after class hours
- I'm no longer just proficient at house cleaning...I can now handle classroom cleaning
- I play in piles of leaves and talk to squirrels

What I'm learning:
- To not go by first impressions
- To quit judging people for every little thing they do
- That it's okay to forget people's names and ask them again
- That sometimes the people you're closest to can get along well and enjoy spending time with people you really don't get along with well, and that it's okay
- To keep my mouth shut
- To pray spontaneously with brothers and sisters, even on the way home from Wednesday night meeting
- That you can learn a lot about people from editing their papers
- That all people go a lot deeper than they first appear to
- That the Lord is with me as much when I'm taking a test as when I'm in a prayer meeting

tidbits

2007-10-06T18:29:00.000-05:00

Someone once told me that Old Navy flipflops lasted forever. I guess they were lying. This evening at supper, my left green flipflop decided to break. That's depressing...it means I'll have to buy a new pair of flipflops to shower in. Buy a pair of flipflops in October? :rolls eyes:

I love it when we have pasta for a meal at school. It's the only time I get seconds on food in the cafeteria. We had baked ziti and garlic bread tonight. Yum.

Here at school there is a group called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Mr. Leverentz, one of the teachers, holds it, and he teaches the guys who want to be a part of it how to be gentlemen. They learn proper etiquette rules. So now when a girl sits down with any of these guys, they stand up, or pull out her chair for her. They also run to open doors or offer to carry her stuff. It's quite fun. :D

This Sunday is worldwide "Pray for Jerusalem" day. We(those of us with SMF) are planning to spend some time Sunday afternoon praying for Jerusalem and for the nation of Israel. Pray with us, and pray that many students will come join us. There are four of us in SMF who are the core prayer group - Caleb, Tom, Emily and I. We at least meet every Thursday afternoon to pray, and sometimes(usually) there are others, a few at least.

The Lord has really given the four of us a passion to pray for revival in this school - to see the Lord change our hearts in a big way - to see the whole school praying and worshipping and even crying together, burdened to serve the Lord. It's so cool to pray together. Emily and I meet every day to pray. God has really been stirring our hearts for the student body. It's so encouraging. I want my heart to be soft, kind - not judgmental, encouraging - not critical. I want to be a blessing to even the people I have a hard time being around.

So pray with us!

You know you’re a college student living on campus when...

2007-10-01T23:46:00.000-05:00

...you wear everything at least twice, often three times, before relegating it to your dirty laundry basket
...you wait until your clothes drawers start to look empty before you do your laundry
...you can’t do anything fun without the persistent thought in the back of your head saying “you should really be doing homework”
...you spend an evening at a real house and it makes your whole month
...you sit staring at a ceiling fan in said house smiling nostalgically, or insist on sitting on the floor because the carpet feels so wonderful
...you make friends by going to Wal-mart with random people who are all desperate to get off campus
...you memorize facts for your upcoming test while walking on a treadmill
...you send notes on Facebook to your neighbor down the hall telling them to bring you a Reese’s
...you work out in the gym just to get away from your computer
...you check your post office box four times a day just in case you missed something the last time
...you take naps at random times of day, like 9:30 in the morning
...you borrow pocketknives from random guys to go check the corrosion on your battery on your car that sits dead and forlorn in the parking lot
...you go watch a flag football game, intending to only stay a minute, start talking to the person you live across the hall from and keep talking until after the game is over, through the supper line, and until supper is over, completely forgetting about homework
...you look at a syllabus and realize you have 10 chapters to read in a certain book, due the following day, just when you thought you’d finished all the assignments for that class
...you cheer for an NFL football team you don’t care a lick for just because there’s no one to watch your own team and cheer with you and you have to cheer for someone
...you watch movies late at night on Sunday nights just to keep from feeling homesick
...you sing happy birthday on the phone to a different sibling three times in the same week
...you put pictures of your home state up on the wall outside your door and point them out to innocent victims who walk past your door
...you count the days till a holiday that’s two months away so you can go home (even to the point of making sure, that far in advance, that you’ll have a ride in that direction)
...you stay up late at night listing all of the things that were unheard of in your former life that are now quite the norm for you

Liz is being adventurous

2007-10-01T19:32:00.001-05:00

So...today I made a funny decision, funny for me, that is. Emmaus is offering a trip to Chicago for a Saturday, October 13, and today I decided to go. :gulp: We'll go on charter buses to Chicago (about 3~ hours from here), then get on a trolley and take a tour of the city, with the opportunity to stop at different places and stay for a while looking around, shopping(or window shopping, as the case may be :P), sight-seeing, etc. They'll provide three meals, the bus and trolley fares, for quite an inexpensive price. So Esther and I decided to get a group together to go together. That sounded weird. What I mean is, Dean Glock told us that we have to go as a school group, but we can make up small groups of people to go with and then decide what to do together once we reach Chicago. The trolleys will transport us whereever we want to go.

This is going to be fun.

:back to homework:

A trip to Walmart...

2007-09-30T16:04:00.000-05:00

Friday evening was some of the best fun I've had since I've been here in Iowa. Dr. Van Dine teaches OT Survey, and he and his wife invite us over in bunches on Friday nights. This week my friend Esther and I went, along with about 9 other girls and two guys. We walked to their house (just down the road) and savored the evening there. Amanda came, too, and the two guys were John and Brendan. The five of us sat at a card table together, and kept making random comments like, "Ah, a ceiling fan" or "Look! You can look outside while you're eating!" or "Ooo, cushy carpet" or "This food is amazing, real food" or "pass the bread" (you know how long it's been since I asked anyone to pass anything at the table?). It was delightful.

After supper we all sat in the living room and Dr. Van Dine asked us random questions like, "What do you like most about Emmaus?" or "What's something special about where you live?" or "What's your favorite movie?" One fun thing we discovered was that 9 of us were homeschooled! We all had similar tastes in movies...particularly musicals. John, Brendan, Esther and I decided that we'd have to start movie nights, starting with Newsies this weekend. :)

Esther made the discovery that John had a car here, and we hinted (oh, so unobviously) that a trip to Wal-mart would be nice, and the guy took the hint (as any guy with 5 sisters would :P) So Amanda, Brendan, Esther and I crammed into John's car with him and took Wal-mart by storm. We played the alphabet game on the way there, discussed some cool spiritual things we've been discovering, and talked red lights into turning green before we hit them.

Amanda went her own way at Walmart, but Esther and I stayed together, and the guys followed us around, pushing the cart. I got a grand total of candy corn, pretzel sticks and a pint of milk. Esther stocked up, and the guys bought chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter. The guys and I kept reminding each other of our "poor college student" status to keep ourselves from buying anything we didn't really need, and managed to restrict ourselve to those few small purchases. I spent $3.97. Wow. I'm doing good. :P

We laughed a lot. I felt like I was back with my brothers and sisters and cousins.

We couldn't find Amanda, then, so we wandered around for a while, searching, then came across Mr. and Mrs. Lange from school. Mr. Lange told us to page her, so we went to the front and paged her AND him, and then left John at the counter to go off searching again. We finally found her outside on a bench. :)

When we got back to school, Esther and I were sitting in her room when John called up and asked us if we wanted to watch a movie, so we watched Night at the Museum in the student center and ate "pretzel cookies" made with globs of cookie dough and peanut butter in between pretzels. Yum. Esther insisted that everyone who came by had to have one.

It was a fun evening. I'm thankful for fun. Life would take a lot longer if we couldn't do things like this from time to time.

Pictures from Service Day

2007-09-29T12:42:00.000-05:00

Dirty hands proving that we DID indeed work hard. :)

Group picture!

Back of the pickup...isn't the valley lovely?

Moving logs...

"Burn the logs" on three!

This is the fire I started... :D

of weekends and such

2007-09-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

This blog entry is in honor of the internet connection which has just decided to start working again on my computer. I haven't been able to check my email on my computer since Thursday, and I've been quite deprived. :P

I enjoyed a visit from my mom and both my grandmas this weekend! We spent a lot of good time talking, walking around campus, etc. That was fun. My homesickness is subsiding, which is really wonderful. I feel like I'm finally adjusting to college life, and fitting into the student body, both which help make me feel less like an alien in Dubuque, IA. So, yeah.

Wanna know how to ensure a quick shower? Forget to wear appropriate footwear for the shower stalls. I nearly didn't make it last night without my flipflops. I think the Lord is teaching me to be tough when it comes to other people's germs - probably I'll look back from an African hut someday and laugh at my fastidiousness. Mostly, I'm just lazy - I could've just run back to my room and switched flipflops. :P Anyway, that was very random...

My first OT Survey exam is next week. I'm not really sure what to expect. There's a lot to memorize on the study sheets Dr. Van Dine gave us. It's next Wednesday. I'd really value prayers as I study for it, and help some of the younger girls who are hoping I can help them study. :)

One of these days you'll get to read a spiritual post - about some of the things I'm learning about discipleship. But right now I'd better get back to homework.

Ah... clean room, free evening

2007-09-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

:delicious sigh of relief:

I just finished cleaning and organizing my room. I think this is the first time it's been absolutely, completely organized since I initially moved in. I finally have my folders/binders/papers straightened out, my miscellaneous papers all filed away, and my foodstuff organized in an appropriate manner in my rubbermaid containers beneath my bed. All my fall decorations are out, my rugs have been shaken out, my floor swept, my sink washed, my trash emptied.

It's 4:00 p.m. and the only thing besides supper that I have on my schedule this evening is a phone call to one or two of my best friends. Do you have any idea what that means? Tons of homework can be accomplished without any stress or pressure. I have completed my first book review (first of three for the class) for Biblical Discipleship, and I got my first essay quiz paper back from CLBS...with a big 100% and the words "Excellent job!" written on it. Whoop! Whoop! :happy bounce: I am very happy right now. :)

Did you ever think of obeying God in connection with enjoying Him? How is that possible? Isn't obedience a duty? My teacher Mr. Sanchez talked with us this morning about how when we obey we are making it possible for ourselves to enjoy God more, because disobedience hinders our enjoyment of Him. So while our motives for obedience are generally #1 - because God says we're supposed to and #2 - because it's just the right thing to do, we should also have a third motive - for the joy that it will bring us.

Hebrews says of Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross..." That joy was the glory that He would recieve from the Father when He returned to heaven. If Jesus obeyed for the joy, we should, too! I think that's so cool.

Have a wonderful week!

today's schedule:

2007-09-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

12:15 a.m. Go to bed and sleep.

6:30 a.m. Wake up with the Lord and eat oatmeal in my room while gathering my sanity

8:55 a.m. Survey of Doctrine with Mr. Glock

10:20 a.m. Chapel, or floor devos today, probably in Lisa and Rachel's room, which is across the hall from mine and definitely has "Intercultural Studies Majors" written all over it :)

10:55 a.m. CLBS (Christian Life and Bible Study) with Mr. Sanchez. Sit next to Esther, my CLBS partner. Turn in paper on Pilgrim's Progress for extra credit

12:10 p.m. Eat lunch in a hurry, which means grabbing a seat by myself to breathe for ten seconds at least. Emily of Christina might join me.

12:40 p.m. Luke with Doc Fish. Who knows who I'll sit with in that class, as Victor is always stealing seats from people so they don't sit in the same place all the time :P These young freshmen guys crack me up. :P

2:00 p.m. SWAP - two hours of custodial work, sweeping three floor stairways, cleaning the auditorium and three classrooms with Janet, one of the janitors

4:00 p.m. Student Missionary Fellowship prayer meeting in Classroom B -the one with the awesome world map that covers the entire back wall. I love that map.

5:10 p.m. Go get supper. Eat what I feel like eating. Some cottage cheese maybe.

6:30 p.m. Biblical Discipleship with Dean Glock. The best class at Emmaus, I'm convinced. Be ready for a quiz.

8:30 p.m. Drag self back upstairs and check email, flop onto bed, pull stuff out of backpack and try to remember at least something from today's classes.

10:00 p.m. Floor volleyball game. If I'm still alive at that point.

? p.m. Go to bed. Again. Twice in one day...how lucky can you get? :grin:

Of baby princesses and valiant rescuers

2007-09-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I gleefully packed up and left Emmaus to visit the Allen family in Oskaloosa. Heather and Naomi were visiting for the week and I got to spend the whole weekend there with them and Mr. and Mrs. Allen and Nathan. (for those reading this who don't know who I'm talking about - Heather is my uncle Danny's wife from Wichita, Naomi is their little girl, and the Allens are Heather's parents, Nathan is Heather's brother)Anyway, it was a great weekend relaxing, studying, talking, and just being involved in family life again. Can you believe I actually got a ton of studying done? That may have had something to do with the fact that Nathan was studying for a pharmacology test, so we sort of spent most of Saturday studying out on the deck - he on pharmaseudical drugs and me on Biblical discipleship and linguistics, while Heather studied her Bible and Nomi played.

Saturday evening we went on a picnic. Isn't Nomi adorable? I loved spending time with her. She's getting so much more cuddly and people-loving. We spent some time Saturday morning walking around outside, discussing flowers, tomatoes, leaves, and pine cones and their Maker. Being with the little girlie makes me want kids of my own. :)

Well, that's my baby princess. As for the rescuers, I left Oskaloosa at 3:00 Sunday afternoon, fully intending to be back by 6:00 in the evening. Well, exactly half-way between Oskaloosa and Dubuque, my battery decided to konk out on me. There I was, an hour and a half from anyone I knew, on the side of an extremely busy highway, an emotional wreck, with a dead car. After a long series of phone calls and discussion, Mr. Allen and Nathan came to my rescue, bringing me a battery. It was a long evening. But they were so kind to come help me. I made it to Emmaus right at curfew, midnight.

What a life. :) It was really hard yesterday, but the Lord gave me a song from the hymnal I always bring around in my glove compartment.

My God, my Father, while I stray
Far from my home, on life's rough way,
Oh teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done!"

What tho' in lonely grief I sigh
For friends beloved, no longer nigh,
Submissive still, I would reply,
"Thy will be done!"

Renew my will from day to day:
Blend it with Thine; and take away
All now that makes it hard to say,
"Thy will be done!"
- Charlotte Elliott

He is faithful.