Junior Camp 2016~God hears our prayers

Back last fall, when we were first introduced to the idea

of a summer mission trip to New York City, I began praying about

and thinking through the details of such an undertaking.

If I were to go with my two oldest daughters, who would care

for our youngest four children?

I pulled out calendars and talked preliminarily with my husband

and mother-in-law about their schedules.
We thought about farming them out in pairs to friends.

But then, when I began looking at summer time opportunities,

I realized that our church was taking our junior kids {grades 3-6}

to summer camp the exact week my daughters and I would

be in New York City!! 

Thank you, Lord, for working out that detail for me before I knew 

I needed it to be worked out!!!!

For some reason though, this year held much more pre-camp anxiety and tears

for all 3 of my kids who were eligible to go.
They kept waffling back and forth about being happy about

this arrangement which was very unusual for my normally

"social butterfly-like" children.
It was very distressing for me to watch them shed tears every week

about being away from home or having to be around a younger sibling

or night-time fears.

We spent much time in bedtime prayers over this, and as the pictures

show, they decided to try and were very happy the entire week.

My older girls and I hopped a plane to New York City on Saturday.
My junior campers weren't leaving until Monday morning.
That meant I needed to supervise and locate enough luggage for

6 people to be away from home for a week before I left!
Just a little stressful!
Daddy was in charge for the rest of the day on Saturday, Sunday,

and getting the children to their pick-up point on Monday.
He had Monday and Tuesday off, and I had a marvelous plan!!!
In an effort to ease the transition for my anxious junior campers,
why not have Dad and the older brother ride along on the bus to camp,

spend the night, and then ride back home on Tuesday with the bus driver?

Perfect!!!!

This was a win-win plan for our entire family!!

Right in the middle of the week, after my husband has gone back on shift,
I get a call from the camp nurse.
Garrett seemed to have gotten himself into some poison ivy, 

was covered in an itchy rash, and was pretty upset about this turn of events.

He hadn't told his counselor about this the day before when it started itching

and had not slept well all night because of worry and itchiness.

So I'm in Queens, my husband is right in the middle of his work week

working at minimum staffing, and Garrett is miserable.

The last time he contracted poison ivy, his face swelled up like a pumpkin in two days, 

and he ended up on steriods with a steriod cream.

I was kicking myself for not remembering to send that cream to camp

with him for the "just-in-case!!"
I called home to our pediatrician and asked if we

should just take him immediately for a steriod shot at a local clinic,
but they advised me to have the nurse keep the benadryl flowing
and to watch him for dangerous swelling.
Right about that moment, as I'm sitting on the outside stair steps in Queens,
our team leader comes out to take a phone call.
He sees me a little stressed on the phone,

and asks if everything is ok.
After telling him what was going on and the conundrum our family was in
he immediately suggested that we pray at that moment for Garrett's healing!
In a few moments the camp nurse let me know she had given Garrett

some benadryl, put a steroid cream on him that she had, and that he was finally sleeping.

Remarkably, when Garrett woke up a couple hours later, the entire rash was

completely gone!!!!
Gone!!!!!
Maybe it wasn't poison ivy?
Regardless, we saw that as a miracle answer to prayer!!
We were in a bind and needed help!
Everyone around us was powerless to help us too!
We cried out to the God of Heaven to give us wisdom and 

answers!
Glory to God for answering our prayers!

Does Jesus care about the little things?
Yes, He does!!

Celebrating Two Decades Together

This past April, my husband and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary!
We wanted to splurge on ourselves this year, but a trip to Hawaii or a tour

across Great Britain just wasn't in our budget {we're keeping our eyes on that

last idea for our 25th!!}

So we decided to go back to "where it all began for us."
Our first apartment together!
Our first ministry!
Our first house!!

You get the idea!!

{Our first apartment in Grand Blanc, Michigan!
This is where we brought home our first baby!}

{Our first house in Flint, Michigan!!
I had to snap this picture as we drove past because the owners

were obviously there and we didn't want to look like creepers!
This is where we brought home our second baby!!}

{These kids were in our first youth group together but they

didn't even really pay attention to each other!  I had the privilege of

coordinating their wedding!}

{This girl was in our first youth group too, and she lived down the street from our

first house!}

{We were so excited to get to go back to our first church ministry and to see so

many dear, lovely friends with whom are hearts are knit together!!}

{This young lady was also in our first youth group at this church,

and she came to see us with her family even though

they attend another church now!!  What a blessing to see how God has richly 

blessed her life!}

{This precious lady was our very first Pastor's wife at this church,

and these are her kids!}

{This gentleman was my husband's co-laborer in our first ministry,

and he was also a groomsman in our wedding!!  His sweet wife took my hands

and prayed with me just before I walked down the aisle!}

{This lovely lady was a neighbor to us in our first house, and she is married

to the oldest son of our first pastor.  

She so graciously allowed my husband and I 

to stay in her home for the first night of our trip 

even though her hubby

 was out of the country on a business trip!!  

We had our first babies together and it was so fun to compare

graduation notes of our now grown-up kids!}

{We rented a car and drove to Ohio 

for the last leg of our whirlwind anniversary trip

and stayed in the gorgeous Inn where we stayed on our wedding night!
This is one of my favorite places on earth!}

{It was pure delight to get to share lunch with my Mom the next morning

at our favorite restaurant there on the Sauder Village Complex!}

{We had dinner down the street at the restaurant where our

wedding rehearsal dinner was held!}

{We capped off this day with a visit to the best soft-serve ice cream shop 

in the area that serves ice cream as tall as your face!!}

{We stopped in to see my sister......

......and we got a tour of the local Sheriff's department!}

{How fun to have my Mom's birthday celebration dinner while we were there

and to spend some time with both my parents as well!}

Best trip ever and so much fun reminiscing over all the blessings

that the Lord has poured out on our lives over the last

20 years together!!!

Mission Trip 2016 ~ New York City {Final Recap}

As our week drew to a close in New York City, the Lord brought into clearer focus for me

several little thought-of facts about mission work in a "foreign" land.

These things challenged me.

Challenged me to pray more consistently.

To find ways to give more generously.

To encourage folks back home to get up and go help missionaries even

if it is only on a short-term trip.

To be bolder in sharing the gospel more lavishly in my own community.

1.)  No matter where a missionary is called to go, whether in their own country

or not, it's a lonely position.

Whenever you relocate anywhere, it can be hard making close friends.

Especially when your neighbors speak an entirely different language,

and their cultures are different.
When you pack up and leave the tiny little town you've only ever known,
the familiar streets, your neighbors, friends, and co-workers to move to
giant place that moves very fast and doesn't seem very friendly.

I was struck with how effective it was for those missionaries we worked with
 to immerse themselves in the culture of New York City
 and to be creative in finding ways

to build a rapport with the locals.

That takes perseverance, determination, and much patience.
None of the churches we visited were your typical, huge, faithfully attended,

multi-facility and activity heavy Baptist churches very common
 in every city of the South.

When walking is the primary mode of transportation, and the street is the only place to park,

you change up your service times to accommodate the needs of your people.

When your buildings are very old, and you are the only staff member you learn

to be creative with what little money is given to keep the repairs up.
Having close friendships at your church can be difficult when attendance

is sparse and the locals don't make church attendance a priority yet

or are still deciding if they want to switch to your church.

2.)   Being a missionary in your home country does not make the work

any easier.
In fact, that could possibly make it even more challenging.
In a third world country, people are naturally drawn to you because

they are curious about the color of your skin or the possessions

you might own simply because you grew up in the United States.
Not so in New York City.
You look and sound exactly like them.
Your culturally different neighbors may not find you as much of a novelty.
It seemed to me that you would really have to put yourself out there, intentionally,

to reach the lost around you.
I noticed that there were always people shoving things into our hands,

or someone entertaining on the subway trains, or someone trying to sell you something.

I imagine that after encountering that day in and day out, you would want to ignore it.

Most everyone on the trains found wearing a pair of earphones

 an effective way of blocking out the world around them.
Reaching the lost in a place like that requires taking

the time to talk to people.

I was mildly surprised at how friendly and engaging most New Yorkers are.

I don't know who started the rumor that they are cold, snobby, and indifferent,

but they probably didn't notice that these people are running

 a frenetic pace of life

and are simply worn down, weary, and empty.
So many of the people that I talked to, from the breakfast lady in the hotel

 to a gentleman on the subway, have to work 7 days a week.

Many of them with many hours of commuting on mass transportation.
In all kinds of weather.
Which leaves very little time for parenting and investing in a marriage.

I did not see lots of children.
There were children, of course, but the farther you went into the heart of 

New York City, the fewer you saw.

I often wondered why people would intentionally choose to live such a

frenzied life.

Then I heard the story of the man from Bangladesh.
Who won the lottery in his country and came to New York.

He bought a small convenience store and eventually brought his family over.

He said he would never go back to Bangladesh.

3.)  Learning your way around mass transportation, which really is not optional

in New York City, takes a mighty act of God's grace in your life!

It blew my mind how well our team leaders understood the layout of the city

and recognized train stations and could always find where we needed to be

at the right time.
We only took the wrong train a couple times, but we never missed our stop!!

4.) We often think the "job" of the missionary is to win the lost.
To bring in great swaths of harvest into God's family.

But what if you don't see but one or two accept Christ as Savior a year?

Maybe none?
Does that mean they must not be doing their job right?

What if you are called to simply throw out the seed?
Let God do the watering and someone else reap the harvest?

I witnessed first hand how being a missionary anywhere takes perseverance,

patience, and determination, and at the end-of-the-day, you may come home with no fruit to show.

We heard that it often takes people of the Muslim faith 10 years from the first

time they hear the name of Jesus to the time 

they are ready to become a Child of God!

TEN YEARS!!

That's where faith and trust comes in.
Faith and trust in the Word of God that says "His Word will not return void."

That that church flyer you find thrown on the ground might actually be picked up

by someone else who will in turn visit your church because they wanted

to see what so upset the person that tore it up and threw it away!!

We did not see many saved on this mission trip.
But the seeds scattered throughout this massive city were innumerable.

The lessons in pushing through physical exhaustion (we walked nearly 5 miles everyday not

counting the train rides), and teamwork were invaluable in the lives of each team member.

Trying new ways of sharing the Gospel gave each of us a new desire to 

go home and share with our neighbors.

Exposure to many different cultures that are not common in our home state

gave us a new understanding of why they do

some of the things they do.

The books we read in preparation for this trip (Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret\and

All Out for God) challenged our faith and desire to live a life

singularly focused for God's glory!

God changed my life and heart on this trip.

Seeing it firsthand and meeting the people of this great city has given

me a love for this place that surprised me!!

We will never regret the investment this was in the lives of our girls,

and how their worldview was impacted through this!

It truly was "the adventure of a lifetime!"