HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL

JOEL IS 4 YEARS OLD....

Joel is having his birthday party today. They are playing pin the coconut on the tree, and
Throwing water balloons, a little duck duck goose, and ring around the rosie.

He got a chicken for a present:)




Bet he loves being the center of attention.

This little guy is a treasure.....



Erik just finished translation checking on the book of Luke...
It is finished...Praise the Lord.

A Fish Fry...

 

Birthday Girl....

I love being a grandma. I have 8 grandchildren, 7 boys and 1 girl.
My granddaughter is a treasure and a touch of feminine sweetness among all that testosterone.


Today is Sierra Brianna's 10th birthday.
She is a special girl who lives in a special place.

She has a generous heart.
When In Port Vila we went on a grandma date. I gave each child 5 vatu to spend. The boys promptly spent theirs on pop, candy, and chips, but Sierra after buying a small purse for herself saved the rest for something special.
This month she finally saved enough for a bush knife a surprise for David.
He was delighted.

Sierra lives in a place where the women do most of the work.
She is a little worker bee...
This girl can pluck a chicken, do
a load of laundry by hand,
babysit her brother or a village baby,
or make lap lap with very little complaining.

One day I found laundry hung high in the rafters of the garage.
"How did that get up there?" I asked her.
"Oh, I climbed up there and hung it. I thought it would dry faster," she said.

Mama Ellen gave me a chicken, and Sierra agreed to pluck it with the help of her friends if they could have all the insides to cook and eat.
No problem I assured her. She got the gizzards and I got my plucked chicken ready to cook.

Sierra is a loyal friend. She likes to play ball with her village friends, and dolls with her missionary friends.
She does cross-stitch, knits, and can make a skirt on the sewing machine.
Sierra is home schooled and loves to read.

She is a good cook and likes to bake. My granddaughter is a wonderful blessing.


Happy birthday Sierra....We love you and miss you....




At the market....
shopping.....she saved her money instead of spending it....
Waiting for the bus Sierra is reading....
turtle farm.....
Sierra with baby Grace.....
Plucking my skinny chicken....
using sand to scrub the black off the pots.....

Sierra and her village friends.

His Grace Is Sufficient For Me....

We faced many obstacles when I was in the village, sickness, weather, spiritual blindness, but in all these things I saw the hand of God and his blessings.
Every time that I am with my kids and the other missionaries I am acutely aware of the way God seems to meet their needs. It is a blessing to watch God's power at work in their lives.

One verse that kept coming to mind over the week was in IICorinthians 12:8-10:
"Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake;for when I am weak then I am strong."

In this verse we see that Paul is longing for relief from his "thorn in the flesh", so that 3 times he asked God to remove it. I am not sure what Paul's thorn was but we see God refuse to remove it instead He tells Paul,
"MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU"
IS SUFFICIENT is a verb in the present tense / meaning that there is constant availability....So for Paul and Us, God's divine grace seen in Jesus Christ is constantly available and is enough. God would not take away the problem, but God would provide the grace to endure it.

"MY POWER IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS"
Our weakness as humans allows God's power to be more manifest.

I know for sure that when there was no doctor and my grandson was burning up, when the rain was coming in sheets and destroying the road in and out, when there was no one to call to remove a huge tree in the road, when the people walked in darkness and not light, these were the obstacles that allowed God's grace and power to shine through. He did not take them away, but He gave the grace to work through them.

The next verse is the hard part, I think.
"MOST GLADLY, THEREFORE,I WILL RATHER BOAST ABOUT MY WEAKNESSES, SO THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY DWELL IN ME."

I am ashamed to admit that "MOST GLADLY" was not my first reaction, I came to it, but not my first reaction. Paul says He would not rejoice in the pain of his obstacle, but be content(have a proper mindset) in the power of Christ seen through it.
So it's not about the weaknesses or the insults, or the distresses, or the persecutions or the difficulties, but instead about Christ and Him glorified.
That is a tough call for me. Most times my focus was on the difficulties instead of recognizing that the power of Christ had the potential to be seen through the obstacle. I see that missionaries live with so many daily obstacles that their first reaction is prayer and then they face the obstacles expecting God to give His grace to deal with it, and He does.

With each obstacle God kept reminding me that HE was able. That HE was bigger than all the obstacles.
So as a POM, and a POM grandma I will rejoice in the struggles that my children face, and then I will pray that He will be lifted up in their lives.

Lord I Pray.....
That Your Grace will be sufficient for my missionary family, that Your power will be perfected in their weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in them. Help them and me to be content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with the difficulties;for Christ's sake; for when we are weak then we are strong.
so Lord that when each obstacle is gone through and the power of Christ is manifest, then You will be glorified. I Pray In Jesus Name....Amen

Please Pray....

Please pray for Mendy. She is a missionary on Tanna Island.
Sunday she broke her foot, and when she went to the hospital in Lenackel
the x-ray machine was broke so they sent her home with crutches and told
her to come back later in the week.

What Would You Do?

I pulled up this phone message last night, and I thought I would share it with you because this is the reality of my missionary families life.
After being there it is easy for me to understand, but without being there it sounds absolutely CRAZY....

Erik's voice: Question of the day.
Would you buy a 50lb. bag of flour made in China covered with rat poop and pee for $25?

He paused to give me time to think about it.
No I thought I wouldn't but you probably would.
Lord, please give him wisdom and protect my family I prayed.

He continued:
Well I did.....

The next message I pulled up: Erik again...

Don't worry, I fished to the bottom and found a sack that had no poop on it and didn't smell like pee.

Thank you Lord, for the bargain and the wisdom... I prayed with a chuckle :)