"New" year, but the same faithful God

"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." (Isaiah 54:10)

How good it is to know, that although the years may come and go, times may seem more uncertain, people may fail us, and even mountains may be crushed, God's faithfulness never fails, His kindness, mercy, and peace are always there there, never changing. None of us here on this earth know what this year holds - whether it will be full of joy, or filled with difficulties and sorrow. However, one thing we can know and be confident of, that God's mercy will still endure, He will always be faithful.

After spending three weeks with my wonderful family in the States, I arrived back in Belize a week ago. We have jumped right back into Bible studies, starting with Poite on Friday night. We were treated to a delicious meal upon our arrival, and had a good time of study. It seems that slowly the people are becoming more willing to participate in the discussion, instead of just listening. It is a challenge for them, especially for the women, to get over the custom of just sitting and listening, rather than actively participating. Many still struggle with reading, so we are using a combined method of oral teaching/discussion as well as reading with the goal of immediate learning in the oral teaching, but preparing for the long term by enabling them to read God's word for themselves.

Please pray for God's continued wisdom in conducting the Bible studies, as well as provision for travel as gas prices are up to 10.50 Bze per gallon.

Praising God for His faithfulness!

Property hunt...

As many of you know, we are hoping to put up a processing plant for the pig project. Of course it will need land to be built on. This involves a process of finding land we like, getting it approved for our use by the Ministry of Environment, then finally, raising the funds to purchase it! So... we have been looking as we find time.

Yesterday, Magdalena's son was sick so she needed some time off. I decided to take advantage of the moment by going out to look at a piece of land I had heard about. Clifford and I tromped to the back border of the property, and it was perfect weather... not to hot and not raining. The place looks good, and has a reasonable price. One more piece to check out, then we will have three places to get the environment check on before we decide and start trying to raise the funds for it. Please pray for the Lord's direction!

On the property.

And some pretty ferns along the way :)

Everyday Life :)

A couple of years ago a girl came up to me after I finished speaking at a church. With a look of great wonder, she cautiously touched my arm. Delight spread over her face afterwards as she exclaimed, "Wow, I got to touch a real live missionary!" I smiled to myself, and think of that at the oddest moments... usually when I am doing the most mundane every day tasks... the kind of tasks that people such as that girl don't envision missionaries doing. After all, don't missionaries just go around preaching the gospel, getting people saved, and building churches? :) So... to prove that real live missionaries (aren't all Christians supposed to be missionaries?) do everyday mundane tasks... let me tell you about my day Saturday.

We had several days of chilly, drizzly weather, and Saturday morning dawned cool and crisp. However, the morning bore the promise of sun... so it was a good day for laundry: things would actually dry! So, I set the machine up on the porch and started off, using the rinse water from one load to wash the next load, then keeping the water to be used the third time to scrub down the floors of the house. I washed clothes, towels, sheets, blankets, and rugs... it was time for a good cleaning! In between loads of laundry I took the recycled water, poured it onto the cement floors, and got on my hands and knees with a brush to scrub out the dirt. Sandra helped me finish up, and by 11:30 laundry was finished, floor was clean, beds re-made, and the last of the laundry was basking in the warm sun. I even used some of the recycled water to wash the shower curtain and scrub down the bathroom. Wow, did the place smell and look sparkling clean! And did I ever feel exhausted!

The early afternoon was spent catching up on some paperwork, then we headed outside at four to get some yard work done. The lawnmower buzzed, the rake moved, and the machete whacked, until 6:00 when it was time for a well-deserved dinner. It was a good day of work!

So... besides everyday cleaning, cooking, and laundry, real live missionaries take some time for days of deeper cleaning as well. After all, we are just real people like everyone else!

I know you already knew that, but it is good to throw a reality post in every once in a while, lest anyone think we teach and write Bible studies every waking hour. :)

Poite Bible Study

Just thought I would share a picture from our Bible study Friday night:

Bible Study and other travels - God is good!

You should have been there last Friday for the Bible study in San Benito Poite, we had a blessed time! It had been raining Thursday and Friday, so I was a little concerned about turnout, since people would have to walk in the rain, but God graciously cleared the rain in the afternoon, so it did not present a problem.

I wasn't sure how many to expect for the study, but as soon as we got the generator running and a light hooked up, people began to show up, coming into the building in small groups. I like watching people come at night, the lights from their flashlights, like moving pinpricks of light in the blackness, winding their way across the village toward the church. I was surprised by the number who came... pretty much every bench was filled! The church building is under construction, so there are no windows or doors, but that didn't prevent us from having a wonderful time. Rick and Magdalena did an excellent job teaching, and although the people were a little shy at first, we had some good interaction after all. We look forward to see what God has in store for the future studies!

Saturday night I had the opportunity to speak at the Pastor Appreciation service in Maya Mopan. What a blessed time it was! I was blessed to see the people honoring the service of their pastor, my good friend Benito Tek. It was also a good opportunity to spend a little time with people there, since I don't get to go there as often as I used to. I was also blessed to be able to pray with one of my graduates, Anita, as she headed off to the hospital to give birth to her firstborn child.

Monday meant another trip to Poite, this time with Pastor Andres, to take care of an issue that I had been told about when I was there for Bible study. What a joy to see the truth of God's word bring peace in an otherwise difficult situation, and to see joy and peace replace the fear in Bro. Martin's (the local pastor) family. God is good!

It had rained quite a bit over the weekend, and again on Monday, so there were some patches on the road to Poite that had some fairly deep mud. We were so thankful for new tires that actually have some tread on them! We had no trouble at all. God is good!

San Benito Poite Bible study - tomorrow! Want to come?

Last Thursday we went to San Benito Poite. Those of you who have followed my blog/newsletters for a while, you might remember that Poite is a long drive away - three and a half hours on the public bus, two hours driving (average). It isn't that it is so far away, probably approximately 35 miles, but the road is rough. Well, Rick, Maggie, their two children, Clifford, Sandra, and I bounced along the road to Poite last Thursday, arriving late in the evening.

In keeping with true Belizean hospitality, we were fed hot corn tortillas, eggs, and pepper (fiery hot pepper :), even though we were unexpected guests. While eating, we discussed plans for Bible study. Pastor Martin was delighted. He promptly promised to not only announce it in church, but go and invite others as well. It is a blessing to feel like you are truly meeting a need.

The evening was filled with a little humor as well. Poite is a Kek'chi village, and only Rick and Maggie speak Kek'chi, so we were dependent on them to communicate back and forth with Bro. Martin, who doesn't speak English or Maya. However, Clifford tries a little Kek'chi here and there, so he experimented with a new word he learned with some of the children. Maggie, overhearing him, nearly choked on her food, but managed to keep herself fairly composed. However, once we were all safely away in the pickup, the word was brought up, and in the midst of great peals of laughter, Rick and Maggie assured Cliff that the word didn't mean quite what he thought... Ah the joys of learning another language! And no, I amnot going to elaborate on the word. :)

As a result of last week's trip, tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock we will head out to Poite again to kick-off the new Bible studies there. We are excited about it! We do have a few details to solve... do we haul the big generator from Bro. Martin's house every week, or do we buy a Coleman lamp? One is inconvenient and the other is expensive, but we will figure out something. Please pray for us as we go. Magdalena will be doing most of the teaching since she speaks Kek'chi and has been doing the translation work, but we all hope to share some with a little help with translation. Would you like to come along?

Knowing God

"He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well
Is not that what it means to know Me?
Declares the LORD.”

Jeremiah 22:16

God used this verse back in April to speak to me about the pig project. I was sitting on the side of a dusty road in the hot sun, filthy, smelling like a pig, and trying to figure out how to get a 280 lb pig back in the pickup. I asked God exactly why I was in Belize chasing pigs in the bush… He gave me this verse. The pig project is here because right now, that is the way that God is asking us to know Him... by caring for the needy here in Toledo in this way.

But knowing God means loving the way He loves.

That means being willing to poor out yourself for others...

regardless of the cost.

and sometimes it is joyous

other times it is deeply painful

but as we learn to know God in those ways, we develop a relationship with Him we never dreamed of.

If we limit our knowing of God to nice little Bible studies and sermons at church, we only know Him in the same way we might our neighbor... kind of superficial. But when we start to know Him by loving the way He does.... crying over the things that hurt Him...

then we know Him in greater ways

and we don't have to go to another country to know Him that way

we can know Him that way by simply reaching out to those around us.

showing love when we don't feel like it

getting dirty

sometimes we know Him by chasing pigs in the jungle

sometimes by rejoicing with baptisms....

sometimes by getting hit on the face by those whom we are pouring our life out for!

other times by being accused of the things we would never imagine doing

and feeling the sting of being branded as a "sinner"

but then we truly begin to understand the fellowship of His sufferings.

Knowing God is far more than listening to sermons, singing songs…

It stretches us…

It causes us to grow…

It changes us…

It is a relationship.

It is beautiful.

How does God want you to grow in your knowledge of Him today?

Lord, help us to never cease to thirst to know You more.