Unexpected Blessings

Sunday morning found me in Frederick, MD doing a service at my great-aunt's church. My cousins attend there as well, and it became a family adventure when my mom, grandmother, and my niece Olivia joined me for the trip. Sarah was still hospitalized, so Olivia didn't have much choice in the matter, but she was the darling of the church that morning. As I said to the folks there, "She's cuter than I am."

The best part was that she can say my name now, very clearly. As soon as I got up to preach, she started hollering out, "Ariel! Ariel!" Mom had to take her into the church's nursery, which had a window looking into the sanctuary. She stood on something to reach that window's height, so I could see her little face the whole time, and she banged toys against the window still hollering out my name.

Aside from the kick of having my own little fanclub, I think its sweet because when I first arrived home, Livvy didn't know me at all. It has taken a long time for her to be comfortable with me, but I think with Sarah's hospital stay, and Livvy's being at our house for several days, she finally accepted me.

In other news . . . Sarah was discharged on Monday afternoon, and is back to work and normal life--just watching her diet carefully to avoid upsetting her pancreas. I have a friend visiting this week from Vancouver, WA. Sheila and I studyied French together in France. More on her visit later in the week.

Holiday Activities

I hope that you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday weekend! I had a lovely Thanksgiving, although it was a bit strange this year with fewer people than usual. My aunt and uncle now live closer to us, so they only came for the day, instead of staying for the long weekend. My sister-in-law's family had a party for her grandmother--90 years old yesterday! So my brother and his family had to leave partway through our dinner to go to their other celebration.

Yesterday was my 34th birthday. I did something I've never done, with the exception of my actual day of birth--I got up at 5:30 am! Mom and I went to stand in line at Target with the other die-hard (perhaps crazy) shoppers. But I got myself a great deal on a 19" television. Happy birthday to me! Then we had a whole list of other stores to hit afterward, with our Christmas shopping lists in hand. Last night, we had a family dinner of leftovers and finished it off with my favorite ice-cream dessert. My niece Sydney claims that she blew out all my candles (but my wish still counts!) and then I opened my loot. I got some great gifts this year and I'm thankful for my family's thoughtfulness.

Unfortunately all these events were slightly marred by my sister falling ill on Thanksgiving night. Her stomach was hurting her terribly and she was even short of breath. She tried to tough it out; finally, 24 hours later, she and Andy went to the hospital, where she was eventually admitted with pancreantitis. She's in BWMC (for your locals) in room 455 if you want to visit. She's being hydrated and observed, while they continue to run tests and monitor the inflamed pancreas. The hard part--no food or water AT ALL. So she's pretty hungry and she missed out on the Thanksgiving leftovers and the birthday dessert. I appreciate your prayers for her recovery!

Good fences make good neighbors?

Here is an approximate transcription of a conversation I had yesterday:

Lady: "You're a missionary in Israel? Wow. I've been there."
Me: "Did you enjoy your trip there?"
Lady: "Oh my yes. In fact, our tour guide took us to that big wall they're building around the West Bank. I could just imagine it finished and full of soldiers standin' up on top. That's what they need to keep those people [Palestinians] out."
Me: "Hmm. Well."
Lady: "That's just what we need on our borders. I hope that our country learns something from Israel, build us a big wall down there [Mexico]."
Me: (small chuckle) "I just heard though that they clocked someone, and it only took three minutes to climb over. I'm not convinced that's the best method to secure the border."
Lady: "It'll take a lot more than three minutes if there's a soldier on top with a big 'ol gun."
Me: "Um. . . . Yes, I suppose so."

Baby Love

Yesterday was a first for me: I got to be a part of a baby dedication after doing my missions presentation at a church. (It was also the first time I wore pants to speak at a church on a Sunday morning! But the world didn't end . . . .)

Back to the baby dedication--I was speaking at my brother's church in Arnold, MD and it was the perfect occasion to have the dedication for my newest niece, Ellie. She is almost four months old, and I was so pleased to be able to see her dedication (since I had to miss Sydney's and Olivia's). I even got to have a lunch celebration with my sister-in-law's family afterward.

Just Coffee, Please

A few hours ago, I was out with my mom and we stopped at a coffee shop. It took me a full five minutes to decide what I wanted from the myriad of choices available. I've gotten kind of used to it now that I've been home for almost five months, but when I first got home, it was overwhelming. I found myself getting annoyed with the range of possibilities even. About two weeks into my furlough, I ordered Buffalo wings at a restaurant and I was asked how I wanted them: sweet/sour, tangy, BBQ, honey BBQ, and something else I forget. I just stared dumbly at the waitress and said, "Buffalo style." I thought that was self-explanatory the first time I said it. Then she asked, "With blue cheese or ranch dressing?"

"Don't Buffalo wings by definition come with blue cheese dressing and celery?" (I've actually eaten them in Buffalo, NY and that's how they came!)

"Well, people like different things," she replied.

I'll say. I've had the same problem ordering other things at restaurants because, apparently, in America, we're not satisfied with the ordinary dish or beverage. It has to change according to the seasons--"Try our new Gingerbread milkshake!" or "Now served with Pumpkin Spice cream cheese!" It changes according to economic marketing that guarantees more money on "new and improved" products every few months. It changes according to some undefineable coolness factor that determines somehow that Target is "more hip" than Walmart.

It staggers me sometimes to see not only the sheer waste of our American consumerism, but the amount of choice that we feel we deserve. There must be seventy kinds of cereal in the cereal aisle and thirty kinds of toothpaste. Buying toiletries should not require 18 decisions: do I want more body, more shine, no tangles, clean rinsing, volumizing, color enhancing, root protecting, split-end reducing, anti-dandruff, allergen free, or no tears shampoo?

All missionaries have their moments of meltdown in grocery stores and restaurants and department stores. Once one has seen the poverty of many parts of the world, one cannot help but feel convicted at the amount of consumerism in our country.

Don't get me wrong; I'm proud of my country and I'm blessed beyond measure to have my needs met so easily. I just can't help wondering: Should my every whim be met as well?

What a Difference a Dot Makes

About a month ago, my brother fussed at me for not using Microsoft Outlook to organize my emails, calendar, etc. His argument was that it would be a great benefit. I am a very organized person, so I agreed with the concept. However, I told him I couldn't get Outlook to work right on my computer. Even when he sat down and fooled with it, we couldn't get my current email addresses to route through the program, which rendered it virtually useless.

A few times since then, I've tried to get the appropriate updates and walk through the trouble-shooting advice. I contacted the tech guys at the Assemblies of God missions office and tried to follow their direction, but nothing would work.

Today, I needed some information off a tech-services CD that AGWM has given us. After I printed up the forms I needed, I thought, "Maybe I'll try to set up my Outlook again; there are directions right here on this CD to forward my email through it."

The very first step was to click a little dot indicating what type of server I would be using. Can you believe I had clicked the wrong dot? All that effort, all those hours! I clicked the right dot and whoosh--the email went right through!

I'm currently updating my calendar and setting up my folders. I'm so thankful for our AGWM tech guys, Bob LaFon and Mark Morton, who do such a great job of leading through each step of our computer issues!

Stupid Origami Camel!!!

Where do I get these crazy ideas?

I had a sudden flash recently, while I was hanging out at my display table in a church lobby, that I could make origami camels and have them on my display table. If I got really good at making them, I could give them away to adorable, missions-minded children that swarm my table (mostly because of the tootsie rolls in a little basket). In my imagination, I thought it would be the Japenese paper-folding equivalent of giving out balloon animals. Everyone loves those!

So I ordered a cheap booklet online that contained, among a whole menagerie, a camel pattern. I got it about four days later. I took it with me on my trip down to Lexington, VA for Sunday's service and worked on my first camel in the hotel room.

The camel is comprised of 44 separate steps (deceiving actually, because some steps require multiple folds and twists). I had to teach 7th/8th grade art one year, and I did a whole month on origami; I know my valley folds and mountain folds. However, I thought the 44 step camel looked difficult, although its listed as "moderate" in the book.

I had a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch paper, and I set off folding, only to get stuck on step 12. I folded and unfolded, but I could not get my paper to look like the model. I got frustrated and tried again, but to no avail. I decided straight off that one problem was the paper size. I would need a big piece of paper for all these complex folds.

Last night, I got a 12 x 12 inch piece and restarted the whole project. I reveled in the success of finally figuring out step 12, even though my paper was starting to rip into little holes along the folded seams. I made it all the way to step 31 before I got totally flummoxed and threw the filthy, ripped up piece of paper across the room. Stupid origami camel!!!!

Recommendation

One of the nice things about being in different churches all the time is the music. I get to hear all types and I appreciate both the old favorites I haven't heard in a while, as well as new songs that I've never heard before. Sometimes a new song will strike me so much that I ask the music leader afterward what CD I can find it on.

Two weeks ago, I heard Jon Egan/Glenn Packiam's song, "My Savior Lives" at a church that totally rocked it, and I couldn't wait to hear it again. I did a simple search and ordered the CD titled New Life Worship: My Savior Lives from Amazon. From the day that it arrived, I've been carrying it around: from the car to my bedroom to the car again, because I love this CD! Not only do the fast songs have a great beat, but the slow songs are very powerful.

If you're looking for a new worship CD or even doing your Christmas shopping, this is the CD that's currently spinning its way through my disc players.

Rising from the Dead

Last week, I was a part of a missions convention in Farmville, VA, as I've mentioned. The main speaker was representing Global Teen Challenge, a ministry to the drug and alcohol addicted. He preached a sermon on Jesus raising the widow's son in Nain (read: Luke 7:12,13), comparing an addict to the dead son in the story. He claimed that addicts are essentially dead men walking--their physical bodies are so damaged, it's just a matter of time. Their relationships with family and friends are usually dead. Their spirits are deadened. They are alive in body, but dead in all other respects. I found his message intriguing.

Fast forward to last night: I didn't have a service scheduled and I was four hours away for the service yesterday morning. I decided to pop into a church that was directly on the way home, even though I had never met or talked to the pastor. I figured I would have a chance to meet him, and who knows where it would lead. However, when I showed up, it was a baptism day: the pastor was baptizing 8 or 9 young men from a local Teen Challenge center. Each of the guys stood up and gave a testimony, nearly all of them about their struggles with alcohol, drugs, violence, jail time, etc. Several of them commented, "I should be dead right now many times over." For them, the symbolism of being immersed into water, dead to their old lives of sin, and being resurrected into new life in Christ was almost literal.

It really blessed me to see these young men making such a strong commitment to Christ. We sang James Huey's song, "When I think about the Lord . . . how He saved me, how He raised me, how He filled me with the Holy Ghost, how He healed me to the uttermost. When I think about the Lord, How He picked me up, turned me around, placed my feet on solid ground--It makes me what to shout, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus. Lord, You're worthy of all the glory, all the honor, all the praise."

If you've never sung this song with folks who've been raised, healed, saved, filled and more by the Lord, you are really missing out. They were literally shouting Hallelujah as we sang it over and over again. I sang it for another three hours on the way home in the car.

Burdened for Prayer

Several times in the last few days, I've heard depressing news about good friends. I've felt such a burden to pray for these and I thought I would share this burden with those of you who are prayer warriors.

• a young man about 30 growing further apart from the Lord due to pornography
• a middle-aged man in depression, having suicidal thoughts, unable to find a job due to physical handicaps
• a middle-aged woman, very depressed, in a lonely and difficult job situation
• a missionary in Africa who has to return home to New Zealand because of breast cancer

Please continue to pray for my dad, who has developed a second infection in his body. In two weeks, the doctors will determine if the whole hip replacement must be done again. Please believe with me for his COMPLETE healing in the name of Jesus!

The Rest of the Story

My freshman year at Valley Forge I met a young man who was a year ahead of me. He was from southern Virginia and was not your "typical" Bible college student; he had long hair and a rough look. The guys on his dorm floor called him "Weasel" in that college-guy way of nicknaming someone to cement your friendship. For the purpose of protecting his anonymity, I'll call him "Bob."

Bob was the youngest of several brothers who were real trouble--they drank, did drugs, were in trouble with the law, and were pretty bad dudes. But Bob had come to Christ and had been very involved in his youth group, eventually going to Bible College. However, Bob's brothers constantly mocked him and needled him about being a holy roller, too good to hang out with them. When he came home from school breaks, they hassled him. "What kind of brother are you, if you won't go out with us?" they would ask when heading out on the town. One holiday break, he finally broke down and said he'd go out with them, but he wouldn't drink.

Unfortunately, as they harassed him more and more, he finally did start drinking. In fact, one drink led to another and before he knew it, he was completely passed out drunk. When he came to, he found himself surrounded by four murdered men. His brothers were nowhere to be found. Bob was scared to death--he had no idea what had happened, although he suspected his brothers had been the murderers. He went on the run, scared to be arrested himself, scared to name his brothers as suspects. When he was eventually arrested, it was for four counts of murder. Later, it was dropped (I believe) to accomplice/accessory to murder.

When our semester resumed at Valley Forge, the administration gave us all this information. Since it had already made headline news in Virginia, many students already knew all about it. We all prayed for Bob, but gradually the gossip died down, and I never knew what happened to Bob, other than that he was in jail.

Last Sunday I was in Bob's home church. I had already planned on asking the pastor for "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey always says. I've always prayed for Bob when he comes to mind, so I was thrilled to hear that Bob is still serving the Lord. He is no longer in jail and lives with a family member who also is heavily involved in the church they attend. I will probably keep praying for Bob, because he was a nice guy when I knew him years ago, and I can't help feeling that he paid dearly for a night of weakness.

Cow Bingo

I was at a church in southern Virginia this weekend (more on that tomorrow), where I heard the most interesting missions fundraiser idea EVER! I can't keep it to myself, so here goes:

Preparation: Sell tickets numbered 1-200. Each ticket contains one number and costs $10. Have someone donate money toward a "grand prize" which at this church was an $800 laptop. Then, take a large field and spraypaint a grid of 2x2 squares on the grass. Then, randomly spraypaint the numbers 1-200 in the blocks, including also some "free spaces" (like in regular bingo). Corral that grid somehow with fencing.

Day of: release a cow (or horse, goat, etc) into the corral. Gather everyone around with their tickets to see where the cow poops. If she goes on your number, you win the grand prize! If the cow patty lands on "Free space" draw a number from a hat (containing the numbers 1-200). Everyone around the corral fence is free to encourage the cow to come toward their number and make herself comfortable. (You could also draw numbers out of the hat for smaller "door prizes" of $100 each or something equally valuable).

Success: If done well, this nets $2,000 for missions with virtually NO WORK. Plus, everyone has a good laugh. This church sold tickets community wide (not just to other church folks) and then held a Brunswick stew dinner on the church grounds as a second fundraiser, making the activities last all day.

I would love to hear if anyone ever use this idea! I hope it makes your missions team a fortune!

Vacation

Many people have asked me since I got back how my vacation went. I think I can sum it up with the standard line: it went by too fast!

About a year ago, my mom was telling me again how much she enjoyed the cruise she and Dad went on last summer. I said that I'd like to go on a cruise and that snowballed into plans for the ladies in my family, including my grandmother, going on a six-day cruise to Bermuda. That gave me months to save up vacation time, as well as money. We also had time to figure out who all was going to go with us, and it turned out to be a family affair: me, Mom, my sister Sarah, my grandmother, her sister, and a cousin that I had never really gotten to know before this trip.

We went out of Baltimore for a six day cruise to Bermuda, giving us a day and a half on the island to shop, sightsee, and snorkel before heading back to the crisp, cold air of Charm City. I enjoyed the cruise, but I'm paying catch-up now with all the work I've got piled up. I'll be posting every day this week with a bunch of great stuff from this weekend's ministry in southern Virginia.

Motion Sickness

Here is a little known fact: I have a problem with dizziness. I guess you could call it vertigo; I'm not really sure of the medical definition.

It kind of stinks because I travel so much, but if I've been on a plane, boat, or train, I get that dizzy, swaying motion in my head for days afterward. It's especially severe if I've been on planes, boats, and trains in a quick succession.

This past week I was on a boat, and even though I got back yesterday morning, my body still thinks the world is swaying back and forth. I'm in southern Virginia for a service, so I had to drive four hours today and that didn't seem to help. Now that it's late at night, just staring at the this computer screen is making my head spin.

The best remedy is sleep and I'm thankful to get an extra hour tonight! Yay, Daylight Saving Time!