Great Joy!

For the last year or so Levi has been telling us that he wants to be baptized, but when we would sit down to talk to him about what it means, we never felt he really understood enough. But we kept talking about it. A lot. (It tends to be a topic that we talk about at our house often.)

Even last week, while studying our Bible lesson during homeschool, Levi brought up the topic again. Clay happened to be home, so I sent Levi to talk to him. Again, we didn’t feel he quite grasped the significance of how our sin separates us from God.

Sunday night, Levi got in trouble for his misbehavior. Specifically, we told him that his actions were a direct result of his anger towards his brother, and that was sin.

We didn’t think much more of the incident. It was kind of a typical evening…until Levi approached me, sobbing, and he told me, “I don’t deserve to go to heaven!” It took me a minute to understand what he was talking about. Levi said, “Because of what I did…I don’t deserve to go to heaven!”

“I agree with you,” I told him. “You don’t deserve to go to heaven because you are a sinner. But you know what? I don’t deserve to go to heaven either, because I’m a sinner.”

Levi looked at me a little surprised, but kept sobbing uncontrollably.

I reminded him of the lesson from our Bible study group from the week before. “No one is righteous. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He gave His one and only son, who died on the cross, and he promises that if you believe in Him, you can have eternal life. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness!”

“I want to be saved,” Levi muttered through his tears.

“Do you want to ask Jesus to forgive you?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

And so, I was given the blessing of listening to my son pray and ask Jesus to forgive him of his sins. He repeated the ABCs of Salvation that is taught in the VBS curriculum…admit that you’re a sinner, believe that Christ died for you, and confess that Jesus is Lord.

All of this was repeated through tears, and occasionally he was overcome with sobs. But after praying, he felt a peace that passes all understanding.

For me, it was heartbreaking to listen to him sob as he realized the gravity of his sins. But, it was joy to listen to him confess Jesus as Lord. And it was a reminder to me…when was the last time that I sobbed over my own sin? When was I heartbroken over the thought that my sin separates me from Jesus?

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads

to salvation without regret,

whereas worldly grief produces death.”

2 Corinthians 7:10

Random thoughts and pictures

This is the view that we often see when we travel
out of our village. We have to cross the mountains!

You think your housework is tiring?
These women cook over a wood fire...so of course, they have to have wood.

Your commute to work gets icy?
Imagine this in the rain!
And remember, it rains an
average of 12 ft per year.

A few kids...
keeping their distance!
This was our first trip into this remote
village. We hope to return soon!

A mom and her kids, hiking back up
to their house. This is a path that we
take to visit our friend, Felicity.
Since my knee surgery last year, I
have to be careful when I visit.

See how the clouds settle down over the village?

This is a local construction site.

This ramp is how they get the
materials to the roof.

Open Their Eyes

Through the eyes of Levi...

We used to visit this house on occasion, and there were always eyes peeking at us through the slats. And you know what, my kids enjoy peeping through those slats too!

Smiling eyes of Ryan

       



       Now we are meeting in this home weekly, sharing the Good News, building relationships...

                ...and making memories that my kids will never forget.

Beautiful eyes of Ellie

My prayer for my children...
         and for the ZK people
...that God will open their eyes.

Bashful Matthew

"...to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light

 and from the dominion of Satan to God,

 that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance 

among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me."

Acts 26:18

Showers of Blessings

Ellie, imitating the flamingos.

Have you ever had one of those days where you stand in awe of God?

Today Clay and I celebrate 15 years of marriage. That in itself is a blessing. We had decided to spend two nights in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco. The first day, we swam in the pool at the hotel. Clay got to eat KFC, and in the evening we went to the cinema to see the new Star Wars movie.

The second day included a trip to the zoo where we saw animals from all over the world. One of our favorite parts of the zoo is the aviary. There are pink flamingos, toucans, roseate spoonbills, and so many other birds! One of the toucans was especially social and let us get really close for pictures. And of the flamingos had some peculiar traits which made us laugh!

Posing with the toucan!

                                                          In the evening, we had planned to eat at Maiña, a Brazilian steakhouse. We had been looking forward to this special treat for some time, and we had received a gift from a friend in the States, with a note encouraging us to do something special. (It's one of the more expensive restaurants because it's an all you can eat buffet where they bring the best meats right to your table!)

Before we headed up to salad bar to fill our plates, we joined hands and prayed, as is our custom. We thanked God for the day, and asked a blessing on our meal and on the restaurant employees. We enjoyed an amazing meal. And the service was great. What a great blessing for our 15th anniversary!

But the amazing part was still to come.

We asked our waiter for the bill, but he said it was paid in full. We were confused...maybe we didn't understand his tabasqueño Spanish accent? We asked him what he meant and he explained that the owner of the restaurant overheard us praying before our meal, and that our bill was paid.

The owner and our waiter are both believers. Our waiter hugged us and told us it was his pleasure to serve us. He thanked us.

All because we took a moment to bow and pray. We are humbled...and honored.

And we still have that gift to use for another day...so the blessing lives on!

Guaraná soda! Yum!

Guaraná soda...

Ryan, being served more meat!

A plate full of seafood!

His Words Shall Not Return Empty

"For as the rain and snow come down from heaven

 and do not return there but water the earth,

 making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty, 

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, 

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Isaiah 55:10-11

     When we first moved to Pine Hill 4.5 years ago, we met a young man named Nathan. We spent time with him occasionally, including a couple trips to a cave for some spelunking. And Clay always shared a Bible story. Things seemed to be good. He was quiet, but friendly.

     Then one day, about 2 years ago, Clay was visiting him in his home. As he started to share a Bible story, Nathan got upset. He said, "When you talk to me about God and the Bible, it makes me nauseous!" He was rude and angry with Clay.

     Clay was a bit shocked, but he only responded, "May your words fall on you." He figuratively shook the dust from his feet, and left.

     About 6 weeks ago, Nathan showed up at our house around 9pm to visit Clay. We were a little shocked and even suspicious of his intentions, but polite. This happened about 3 more times, random visits from Nathan, until one evening he told Clay, "I feel that I offended you 2 years ago. I want to apologize."  Things evidently hadn't gone well for him since that conversation, and he attributed it to the words spoken by Clay, a man of God.  

     We were shocked by the apology because it's really not cultural for a person to apologize for their actions.  Nathan kept showing up at our door. He even came during the heavy rains when most people would stay bundled up near the fire. Clay wasn't home that afternoon, but Nathan came back again that evening. It was as if he had a burning desire to hear the Word.

     As Clay shared his testimony that evening, he explained that as a youth he had prayed, confessing that he was a sinner and asking God for forgiveness. Nathan responded, "Lets do it! I want to pray like that too!"  And so he did.

     Again that night we were shocked and amazed. It had taken four years for that seed to sprout, but God's Word did not return empty. That weekend, we were surrounded by physical darkness--heavy rain and power outages. Times like these it's easy to feel depressed or sad or overwhelmed by the darkness. But God's Son was shining in that darkness.

     Since then, Clay has met with Nathan to disciple him and he has joined us in our home for worship. Pray for Nathan to grow in knowledge and faith! His journey is just beginning, and we stand amazed!

Faces of the ZK 2016

Some of you may remember praying for this little guy and his
mommy. He's 19 months old!

 We have been back in our village for two months and God has been so good to us. Our first term living in the village was filled with trying to get to know people, showing them God's love, and sharing His Word. In terms of church planting, it was a lot of work preparing the soil before we could plant.

                                                                                                                                                                      Since we've been back, we see a difference in how the people see us. They're still curious, and they still stare at us...but the children aren't afraid of us like they used to be. When we greet someone, they return the greeting. 

   The best part though is when people seek us out...
                                          an old man in need of prayer....
                                                a young man who acknowledges that he needs Jesus Christ!
                                                            or a friend who just wants to visit over a cup of coffee...

I love these smiles!

WE WANT GUAVA!

                                                                                                                       The neighbor kids know that we have at least 3 guava trees. One is in our front garden area, and the guavas fall every day. So the kids stand outside of our closed gate and yell at the top of their lungs, "WE WANT GUAVA!" (In ZK)                                                                                                                                                                                   They don't knock.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              They just yell. 

                                                            

       From our American worldview, we interpret this as rude. Of course you should knock and greet politely...and then ask if you could have some guava.

But these kids don't operate on an American worldview. 

 So Clay has talked to them. He kneels down next to them and offers him a guava...and tells them that they should at least give a greeting before "asking" for a guava.

So now we hear, "HELLO! WE ARE FINE! WE WANT GUAVA!"
Still yelled at the top of their lungs.

It took us awhile to understand why they were saying, "We are fine." But when we greet them, we say, "Hello. How are you?" So that must be part of greeting...telling someone that you are fine! Another fail on our part...trying to impose our American worldview...

Clay, visiting with the neighbors!