(Hubby says that was one of the worst movies he ever saw! Correction: he doesn't admit to having seen it at all.)
Two songs for y'all ... one is an English translation of a Spanish song, one is a Spanish translation of an English song. We'll be sharing these in Missions Hour this Sunday. Yay! Who wants to guess the name of the song that has been translated into Spanish? I'll be giving out e-props as a prize! (And you can't guess if you are from Chile!)
1. Siempre que me muevo es en Ti
Siempre que me muevo es en Ti
Junto a Ti Cristo
Siempre que respiro es en Ti
Siempre cada paso es en Ti
Tu eres mi camino
Siempre que respiro es en Ti
Oh Tu gracia y Tu bondad
Miro alrededor Tu estas alli
Tu amor me capturo
Oh gran Dios de amor
No entiendo aun
2. The YoYo Song
I don’t want to be a yo-yo
A yo-yo
A yo-yo
I don’t want to be a yo-yo
A yo-yo
A yo-yo
‘Cause it’s sometimes up
It’s sometimes down
It’s on its side
Or spinning around
I want to be like an arrow
Walking down God’s narrow path
I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus
And I will never look back
Yesterday I was watching Friends and I have a few choice phrases to share. If you don't watch Friends, what is the matter with you? It's sooo funny.
I LOVE JACQUES COUSTEAU! I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO PUT BEEF IN THE TRIFLE!
It tastes like feet!
Ross married Rachel in Vegas and got divorced! AGAIN!
What's not to like? Cream? Good. Custard? Good. Meat? Gooooood.
Hurricane Gloria didn't break the porch swing, Monica did!
Ok yes, those are all from the same show. But it was a good one.
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Stuck in the middle with you
If you're wondering where I have been for the last few days, it's a well-known place called Illness. All last week I had a cold, but nothing too severe. Then on Monday night, I developed the cold's nasty relative, the flu (I don't really care if they aren't really related. I only got a degree in Microbiology, it doesn't mean I remember anything). Meanwhile, the cold hasn't exactly gone away. I've been doing everything possible to improve but it's been an ugly couple of days. Since Tuesday I have only eaten half a bowl of noodles, one bowl of congee, and a few cookies. Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes. I'll be back to my sarcastic self in no time.
I miss Chile and not only because the weather there was steaming hot... I miss the friends we met and the happy kids we saw. One kid I met didn't want to open his box... he opened it to show me, we both looked inside, he pulled out one item, put it back, and quickly shut the box again. Maybe he wanted to savour the moment... not overwhelming himself with all of the toys at once, but just looking at one thing at a time. Or maybe he thought I'd take it all away if I looked too much :) I gave him a lollipop (should we debate whether it makes sense to give kids so much candy?) and he gave me the biggest smile. I met another kid who received a hat that said "Canada" in his box and he promptly took off his own hat and put the new one on. I met one family who asked me what the note in their daughter's box meant. Given that my Spanish is pretty limited, it was a bit of a challenge ... but I think I managed to eke out that it was a box from an 8 year old girl in Canada who said Merry Christmas to her new friend... and they were thrilled.
I think as adults we can often become jaded and cynical... we sometimes receive gifts with more attitude than gratitude (shockingly... I didn't even intend that to rhyme).. we forget to be thankful for God's blessings in our lives, choosing instead to think about the challenges we face instead.. we might not even really believe that a shoebox from Canada can change a child's life in another country far away... but if there is one thing I learned from Chile, it's that God is so much bigger than we give him credit for, that he is amazing and all-knowing and has the perfect timing for everything. I almost can't wait until November when we get to pack boxes again!
I miss Chile and not only because the weather there was steaming hot... I miss the friends we met and the happy kids we saw. One kid I met didn't want to open his box... he opened it to show me, we both looked inside, he pulled out one item, put it back, and quickly shut the box again. Maybe he wanted to savour the moment... not overwhelming himself with all of the toys at once, but just looking at one thing at a time. Or maybe he thought I'd take it all away if I looked too much :) I gave him a lollipop (should we debate whether it makes sense to give kids so much candy?) and he gave me the biggest smile. I met another kid who received a hat that said "Canada" in his box and he promptly took off his own hat and put the new one on. I met one family who asked me what the note in their daughter's box meant. Given that my Spanish is pretty limited, it was a bit of a challenge ... but I think I managed to eke out that it was a box from an 8 year old girl in Canada who said Merry Christmas to her new friend... and they were thrilled.
I think as adults we can often become jaded and cynical... we sometimes receive gifts with more attitude than gratitude (shockingly... I didn't even intend that to rhyme).. we forget to be thankful for God's blessings in our lives, choosing instead to think about the challenges we face instead.. we might not even really believe that a shoebox from Canada can change a child's life in another country far away... but if there is one thing I learned from Chile, it's that God is so much bigger than we give him credit for, that he is amazing and all-knowing and has the perfect timing for everything. I almost can't wait until November when we get to pack boxes again!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Apparently I'm the only one amused by my last post
Far be it that I should blog for my own amusement!
As demanded by someone who doesn't even live here any more, please find below a post about Chile. Some of you who do live here will already have heard this story, so bear with me.
At one of the distributions, possibly our third distribution of the week, we were in this gym-like building. We got to the site and immediately, some of the local church folks began helping us unload the cartons of shoeboxes. As an aside, I felt kind of useless as I couldn't really lift these cartons by myself.... must try to develop more core strength :) We had packed the bus pretty full of boxes, anticipating there would be around 700 kids at the distribution. Well, we got inside the gym and found maybe... 400 kids. See below.
See the floor space? Because eventually you could not see it at all! It was standing room only...
and so our team leader told us to pray and pray and pray.... as we did not think we had brought enough boxes. So, we put our faith in God, gathered in groups around the cartons, and prayed that God would somehow multiply the shoeboxes, that there would be a box for every kid. Well, we prayed, and more kids kept coming, and we kept praying....
Eventually, we had to arrange the distribution outdoors as there were way too many kids to give out boxes inside the building... so the NLT helped us to usher kids out the doors according to gender and age group. Such chaos! I handed out lollipops to keep the noisy kids quiet (nothing like a little sugar to quiet a child down, eh parents?) and then the box-handing-out process began....
Well, in the end, we gave out slightly over 900 boxes. Some kids had to put their names down to get boxes the following Monday (as part of OCC procedure, every kid gets a box if they come to the distribution - the pastors will arrange a day to get more boxes for the kids... no one gets left out.) but even though we had thought we only had 700-800 boxes, we gave out over 900. I believe God did multiply those shoeboxes, but the amazing part is that he kept bringing more and more kids to the distribution program. Over 1000 kids heard God's word that day, probably some for the first time ever. One of our team members shared the gospel message, through a translator, using the "wordless book" idea... some of you probably know... it's the book of colours, Black = our sin, White = forgiveness, etc. She pointed to each colour on the box she had brought. Many kids raised their hands when asked if they wanted to accept Christ.
Sometimes people believe that OCC doesn't really provide a solution to the world's poverty - they think, how can a shoebox change anything? Well, to some degree they are right - a shoebox doesn't help to lift a kid out of the circumstances they are in. But the shoebox comes with a message of hope - that the same God who created the child who sent the box also created the child who is receiving the box... that God offers salvation through his son Jesus Christ... and that our lives can be changed by accepting Christ. The best part for me, even more so than watching kids open their boxes, was seeing them come forward to make a decision for Christ. OCC's local teams follow up with all of the kids who have accepted Christ, they are invited to come for Sunday School-type lessons which they can complete and get a certificate for. By reaching kids, we can also reach their parents.
Next time I'll talk more about seeing the kids open their boxes! That was definitely exciting.
As demanded by someone who doesn't even live here any more, please find below a post about Chile. Some of you who do live here will already have heard this story, so bear with me.
At one of the distributions, possibly our third distribution of the week, we were in this gym-like building. We got to the site and immediately, some of the local church folks began helping us unload the cartons of shoeboxes. As an aside, I felt kind of useless as I couldn't really lift these cartons by myself.... must try to develop more core strength :) We had packed the bus pretty full of boxes, anticipating there would be around 700 kids at the distribution. Well, we got inside the gym and found maybe... 400 kids. See below.
See the floor space? Because eventually you could not see it at all! It was standing room only...
and so our team leader told us to pray and pray and pray.... as we did not think we had brought enough boxes. So, we put our faith in God, gathered in groups around the cartons, and prayed that God would somehow multiply the shoeboxes, that there would be a box for every kid. Well, we prayed, and more kids kept coming, and we kept praying....
Eventually, we had to arrange the distribution outdoors as there were way too many kids to give out boxes inside the building... so the NLT helped us to usher kids out the doors according to gender and age group. Such chaos! I handed out lollipops to keep the noisy kids quiet (nothing like a little sugar to quiet a child down, eh parents?) and then the box-handing-out process began....
Well, in the end, we gave out slightly over 900 boxes. Some kids had to put their names down to get boxes the following Monday (as part of OCC procedure, every kid gets a box if they come to the distribution - the pastors will arrange a day to get more boxes for the kids... no one gets left out.) but even though we had thought we only had 700-800 boxes, we gave out over 900. I believe God did multiply those shoeboxes, but the amazing part is that he kept bringing more and more kids to the distribution program. Over 1000 kids heard God's word that day, probably some for the first time ever. One of our team members shared the gospel message, through a translator, using the "wordless book" idea... some of you probably know... it's the book of colours, Black = our sin, White = forgiveness, etc. She pointed to each colour on the box she had brought. Many kids raised their hands when asked if they wanted to accept Christ.
Sometimes people believe that OCC doesn't really provide a solution to the world's poverty - they think, how can a shoebox change anything? Well, to some degree they are right - a shoebox doesn't help to lift a kid out of the circumstances they are in. But the shoebox comes with a message of hope - that the same God who created the child who sent the box also created the child who is receiving the box... that God offers salvation through his son Jesus Christ... and that our lives can be changed by accepting Christ. The best part for me, even more so than watching kids open their boxes, was seeing them come forward to make a decision for Christ. OCC's local teams follow up with all of the kids who have accepted Christ, they are invited to come for Sunday School-type lessons which they can complete and get a certificate for. By reaching kids, we can also reach their parents.
Next time I'll talk more about seeing the kids open their boxes! That was definitely exciting.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Dios te bendiga
I wish I could understand prayers in Spanish - they sound so melodic and full of praise.
"Dios te bendiga" means "God bless you", by the way.
I really must share a story with you that serves to remind me of how God moves and changes people's hearts. While we were in Chile, we took a charter bus everywhere. Chile is divided into 12 regions and we were in the ninth region, but had to travel around the region to get to the various distributions. Most of the places were around 1-3 hours away, so that meant a lot of time on the bus with the same people and the same driver. We prayed on the bus at least four times a day, for safety, in thanksgiving, for the shoeboxes, for the kids, for each other, etc. After the first distribution, our leader asked us to pray for the bus driver, who he assumed was not a believer, since one of the NLT pastors spent the entire bus ride speaking to the driver about God. So of course, we prayed.
We actually had two bus drivers, one for the main bus and one for the smaller bus that held a portion of our group. Let me say, these were fantastic bus drivers. Every time we needed to haul stuff out, they were right there helping to load and unload stuff. They even joined in our fun times, like at the ocean or swimming in the river or playing soccer - just all around nice guys.
Anyway, on the second to last day (or so) we received good news - our bus driver accepted Christ into his heart! I was AMAZED. This wasn't even a fellow we had really concentrated our focus on, but through observing us and speaking to the NLT leaders, he came to see that he needed God and so he prayed for salvation. I mean, get out! The bus driver!
When it came time for all the goodbye speeches, he stood up on the bus and expressed to us how our group had impacted him. He said that in his work, he meets tourists every day but that he was so glad to have met us in particular, and to have come to know God... and he wanted our prayers so that he could share God with his family.
Our God is so amazing, so much bigger than we sometimes give him credit for.
"Dios te bendiga" means "God bless you", by the way.
I really must share a story with you that serves to remind me of how God moves and changes people's hearts. While we were in Chile, we took a charter bus everywhere. Chile is divided into 12 regions and we were in the ninth region, but had to travel around the region to get to the various distributions. Most of the places were around 1-3 hours away, so that meant a lot of time on the bus with the same people and the same driver. We prayed on the bus at least four times a day, for safety, in thanksgiving, for the shoeboxes, for the kids, for each other, etc. After the first distribution, our leader asked us to pray for the bus driver, who he assumed was not a believer, since one of the NLT pastors spent the entire bus ride speaking to the driver about God. So of course, we prayed.
We actually had two bus drivers, one for the main bus and one for the smaller bus that held a portion of our group. Let me say, these were fantastic bus drivers. Every time we needed to haul stuff out, they were right there helping to load and unload stuff. They even joined in our fun times, like at the ocean or swimming in the river or playing soccer - just all around nice guys.
Anyway, on the second to last day (or so) we received good news - our bus driver accepted Christ into his heart! I was AMAZED. This wasn't even a fellow we had really concentrated our focus on, but through observing us and speaking to the NLT leaders, he came to see that he needed God and so he prayed for salvation. I mean, get out! The bus driver!
When it came time for all the goodbye speeches, he stood up on the bus and expressed to us how our group had impacted him. He said that in his work, he meets tourists every day but that he was so glad to have met us in particular, and to have come to know God... and he wanted our prayers so that he could share God with his family.
Our God is so amazing, so much bigger than we sometimes give him credit for.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Hope for the broken-hearted
We're back from the OCC trip to Chile!
There's so much to say, I doubt one blog will suffice. Let me first say that Chile is a beautiful country. As most people know, it is long and thin - it's got the Andes mountains on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. Throughout the week, it struck most of us that Chile is sort of like Canada. Chile is a wealthy country by Latin American standards, although there is much poverty still, a lot of hidden poverty. But the amazing part was the hospitality of the people throughout the country.
We were hosted by Operation Christmas Child's National Leadership Team in Chile. There is an NLT for each country in which shoeboxes are distributed. This team was composed of four fabulous people whose smiles and hugs I miss already. Their passion for the work of Operation Christmas Child is so strong... they work tirelessly to make sure that local churches are trained for the distributions, and they arrange for all the boxes to arrive and be transported within Chile. These are pastors who aren't even paid for the work they do, in many circumstances. Yet they gave of their hearts and of their time to serve us. They hosted us, gave us a place to stay, people to cook for us... they smiled all day long, prayed for us, and put up with our (really weak) Spanish. We couldn't have asked for a better "family" to meet.
I want to share a story with you all. Three or four weeks ago, the three-year-old daughter of one of the pastors on the NLT was in a car accident. Actually, she was run over by a car while her parents were preparing to start the church service that day... it was her third birthday. Her family found her on the road with some rather awful injuries to her head. Her forehead was completely torn, her nose was crushed... but by the grace of God, miraculously she survived and recovered incredibly well. She had surgeries to repair the damage and she has some (barely noticeable) scars ... but for the most part she is a happy, cute little girl who you wouldn't know was in an accident at all. She has some mood issues and suffers from some nightmares where she remembers the accident - but wow - I can't believe how God has healed her. It's truly amazing.
I'll share more soon... when I get my thoughts together! Hasta luego...
There's so much to say, I doubt one blog will suffice. Let me first say that Chile is a beautiful country. As most people know, it is long and thin - it's got the Andes mountains on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. Throughout the week, it struck most of us that Chile is sort of like Canada. Chile is a wealthy country by Latin American standards, although there is much poverty still, a lot of hidden poverty. But the amazing part was the hospitality of the people throughout the country.
We were hosted by Operation Christmas Child's National Leadership Team in Chile. There is an NLT for each country in which shoeboxes are distributed. This team was composed of four fabulous people whose smiles and hugs I miss already. Their passion for the work of Operation Christmas Child is so strong... they work tirelessly to make sure that local churches are trained for the distributions, and they arrange for all the boxes to arrive and be transported within Chile. These are pastors who aren't even paid for the work they do, in many circumstances. Yet they gave of their hearts and of their time to serve us. They hosted us, gave us a place to stay, people to cook for us... they smiled all day long, prayed for us, and put up with our (really weak) Spanish. We couldn't have asked for a better "family" to meet.
I want to share a story with you all. Three or four weeks ago, the three-year-old daughter of one of the pastors on the NLT was in a car accident. Actually, she was run over by a car while her parents were preparing to start the church service that day... it was her third birthday. Her family found her on the road with some rather awful injuries to her head. Her forehead was completely torn, her nose was crushed... but by the grace of God, miraculously she survived and recovered incredibly well. She had surgeries to repair the damage and she has some (barely noticeable) scars ... but for the most part she is a happy, cute little girl who you wouldn't know was in an accident at all. She has some mood issues and suffers from some nightmares where she remembers the accident - but wow - I can't believe how God has healed her. It's truly amazing.
I'll share more soon... when I get my thoughts together! Hasta luego...
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Prayer changes things
Most of my days are spent in my fabulous little office, staring at a pile of papers or at my computer screen. But every once in a while I get to leave the office and meet real people - sometimes clients, sometimes friends or family of clients, you know. I like to think I can be a people person most of the time - I'm kind of mean, but I'm also kind of nice. It's a dichotomy.
Yesterday and today I met some really awesome people. They work (actually, they are full-time volunteers) at a particular missions organization (which I won't name until the case is over... although they will be at Missionsfest... ) I had to do some interviewing and afterward, I shared with them that I too attend church and that in a few days, the hubs and I are headed off to Chile with Samaritan's Purse. On both days everyone was so excited and happy for us, and then spontaneously they all wanted to pray for us. I must say that the prayers were incredibly encouraging. These are folks who have given up careers in order to enter into full-time ministry to the very poor people in a very poor country.... and here I am in my cushy life (or so it feels sometimes) and they wanted to pray for me.... someone they don't even know. They wanted to know about our trip and what we'll be doing, how long we'll be there, all of that. Turns out, their churches have also participated in Operation Christmas Child and like us, they've always wondered exactly how the process of distributing the shoeboxes goes. Pretty neat stuff.
It's always such a warming feeling to know that someone is praying for you. I was moved that people who don't have to care about me really do care, and that God binds us all together in his family. I can only hope to be as much of a blessing to others as these folks clearly are to everyone around them. May God richly bless their ministry.
Yesterday and today I met some really awesome people. They work (actually, they are full-time volunteers) at a particular missions organization (which I won't name until the case is over... although they will be at Missionsfest... ) I had to do some interviewing and afterward, I shared with them that I too attend church and that in a few days, the hubs and I are headed off to Chile with Samaritan's Purse. On both days everyone was so excited and happy for us, and then spontaneously they all wanted to pray for us. I must say that the prayers were incredibly encouraging. These are folks who have given up careers in order to enter into full-time ministry to the very poor people in a very poor country.... and here I am in my cushy life (or so it feels sometimes) and they wanted to pray for me.... someone they don't even know. They wanted to know about our trip and what we'll be doing, how long we'll be there, all of that. Turns out, their churches have also participated in Operation Christmas Child and like us, they've always wondered exactly how the process of distributing the shoeboxes goes. Pretty neat stuff.
It's always such a warming feeling to know that someone is praying for you. I was moved that people who don't have to care about me really do care, and that God binds us all together in his family. I can only hope to be as much of a blessing to others as these folks clearly are to everyone around them. May God richly bless their ministry.
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