Help the Teacher

Three of my favorite desserts are chochalate puting, chochlate ckake, and cheesckak. (-Anthony, grade 3)

If anyone knows how to effectively teach spelling of the English language, please let me know.

Heroines

Today I want to honor two beautiful people... Hilda and Anika. Just yesterday, these very brave girls said good bye to their Daddy/Husband as he headed back into the swamps of La Moskitia in western Honduras. They might not see him or talk to him for a month as he treks through the marshy wilderness, distributing Bibles and doing door-to-door visitation among the poor Indians. The glamour of missionary adventures fades very fast when a little girl begs for her beloved Daddy and a wife longs for that familiar shoulder to lean on. Sometimes Hilda wails, "But I'm not brave!" -unaware of the sweet grace of God that we see pouring from her life. Her cheerful spirit is like a burst of sunshine and she never fails to inspire me, challenge me, and make me laugh! Join me in thanking God for brave missionary wives like Hilda... your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Building Walls

Recently I spent some time studying the book of Nehemiah, asking God what lessons I could learn from this hero of old about fortifying my life. I read and re-read, simply astonished at this man’s strong and simple faith. More than that, I was appalled at the determination of his enemies, and the lengths they went to in an effort to destroy the work of God. Although Sanballat and Tobiah did make some threats to physically hinder Nehemiah’s work, their attack of choice seemed to be directed to the destruction of the morale of the builders. When mocking, scoffing, and jeering failed to discourage and intimidate, they resorted to vicious verbal abuse and ridiculous rumors. Did Nehemiah ever reason that maybe building walls just wasn’t God’s will for him? Was he ever tempted to retreat or give up? Did the accusations ever strike doubts or fear into his heart? Or how about negotiating with his adversaries and making a peace treaty of sorts? Certainly not. He steadfastly refused to listen to their taunts and made no apologies for adhering faithfully to his task. In spite of all the efforts made to distract and discourage the work, it prospered amazingly because first of all, God was in it from the beginning, and also because every man worked with a tool in one hand and a weapon of defense in the other. Eventually the wall progressed to the point where the workers were able to be in the offensive instead of merely defending.

This story touched a chord in my soul. My enemy is far more skilled and cruel in his tactics than were Sanballat and Tobiah, and he knows much better than I do, just how vital is the maintenance of my wall. Nehemiah’s courageous example has inspired and encouraged me more than I can tell- his unwavering confidence that God will look after and bless His work, and his refusal to listen, even for one moment, to the empty threats of a defeated foe. Let us build, for our God will fight for us!

Here our loyal carpenters work on building our new wall- the one in front of our house. The old pillars were crumbling, so they removed the woven wire and simply added a few more rows of blocks. It not only serves to keep stray animals out and stray children in, but provides a bit of privacy from curious pedestrians. From the inside, the wall is only about four feet high so we can still comfortably see out over it.

Mandie in Black

No, there's no formal occasion (not many of them around here) but I wanted to show off this exquisite dress... Thanks to Ava for rescuing fabric scraps out of the church sewing box and turning out this masterpiece! I desperately wished for a small hat to complement the outfit, not to mention sort of hide that very bald head! Yep, she's just as bald as her brother Derek was, and just as charming.

Derek had to hold her hand so she wouldn't walk away... she is fiercely independent and I am guessing her first sentence will be, "I can do it myself!" Life is a huge adventure with this pair.

Travel Plans

As everyone knows, my little brother Motz is getting married in about a month from now. Whether or not we could/would attend the blessed event has been a long-standing discussion at our house. After all, we've been here at our post for less than a year, and I had made a few rash comments about "no more international travelling till the children are teenagers" and that sort of thing. So we debated. Weighed the pros and cons. Prayed. Waited. Asked advice. Checked prices. Prayed some more. And then we began to get letters from home with comments like, "We can't wait to see you all [emphasize: all] in April!"

Plaintive sigh.

Now that tickets have been purchased, I decided to go ahead and publish our plans on the World Wide Web to clarify all assumptions once and for all. Yes, we are going to the wedding, Lord willing. In this case, the "we" being Tim and myself and the two children who are the farthest from being teenagers. For various reasons -the most obvious being the fact that we're leaving some of our family here- this will not be a trip to spend lots of "quality time" with family and friends. In fact, plans are to spend a total of four days in our hometown. So if you're of the very
observant type, there's a small possibility that you will catch sight of us somewhere, sometime between April 5-8. In spite of the very limited time, we look forward to seeing some of you and if we fail to tell you then, please know that your friendship, prayers, and support are greatly treasured.

And remember, you can always come spend time with us here! We're certainly not tired of visitors yet, especially not the kind that come from home!