A Little Update

Between the Thanksgiving post and the one before it, a lot of traveling has happened. Here is a little update!


My mom, sister and I went to Sioux Falls Seminary for a mentoring workshop. Several of our friends were leaders or participants. It was fun to see them and hear from them. We even sat with a fellow Madisonite!


Then I went to Jamestown where I had a lovely surprise. The pastor who baptized me was there with his wife visiting her mom! It was so good to see Doug and Patty, catch up and play "remember when..." We also had a lovely cup of hot chocolate at a great coffee shop in downtown Jamestown called Babb's.

Then came the visit to Grand Rapids to see Susie and family. Susie and my sister and I grew up together. We call each other's mom, Mom. For years we ate dinner together every Wednesday after piano lessons and before church. We had a great time chatting and playing with her kids. We went to Lake Michigan one day to see one of the lighthouses.




Also, while in Michigan I was reminded of the black squirrels which we do not have in SD or Japan.


After leaving Grand Rapids I headed over to the eastern side of the state where I visited two churches in St. Clair Shores, Bethel and Community. I got to stay for a week between church visits so had many opportunities to hang out with various people from both churches. Thanks, all!

Four of the five ladies who took me out for Mexican food and shopping.


My friend who used to minister in Belgium and who took me out for Panera and shopping and encouragement.

Okay, so this is a little more than a little update! Just wanted to bring you up to speed on the home assignment adventures! Thank you for reading and commenting and praying and encouraging!

A Day of Thanks

This year I spent Thanksgiving with family and friends in SD. The day started with the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade viewing and running into the kitchen to check on the sweet potatoes during commercial breaks. Then we headed over to our friends' house. These friends and their entire extended family have adopted my family since we don't have any relatives here in South Dakota. A very few times while I was growing up we spent Thanksgiving with relatives, usually it was with the Sims' family.

Here is one of the three tables set up for the 40 guests!


We had lots of fun eating, talking, watching football (American football), bowling, eating and talking some more. Here are three of my little friends who enjoyed the Japanese candy I brought as well as learning how to write their names in Japanese.


It was a great day! I am truly grateful for my family, friends, faith, and so many other things that I won't take time today to list them all.

Of course, being in the US meant I didn't get to spend the day with my mission family. I am grateful for technology and the chance to see and chat with them while they celebrated on the 23rd.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Poetry

My favorite hymn of all time is "To God Be the Glory." (I do realize many people younger than 25 have no idea what a hymn is, but I love the old hymns as much as the 'new' worship music.:) The hymn is written by Fanny Crosby who wrote over 8000 hymns. Today I was doing a little reading about her and found her first poem. It is pretty amazing for an 8 year old. By the way, Fanny was blind.


O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be

How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
I cannot, and I won't!



Just a little something to help you start to get into an attitude of gratitude as Thanksgiving approaches.

Thought from St. Ignatius

I am reading a book about Mother Teresa. It is filled with letters that she wrote to and received from her superiors as she was forming and serving as a Missionary of Charity in India. So much of what I have read has made an impact, but here is a recently read quote. This was written in a letter from Archbishop Perier quoting St. Ignatius.

"My only wish and desire, the one thing I humbly crave to have is the grace to love God, to love Him alone. Beyond that I ask for nothing more."

Oh to live with such a desire!

friends

As I have traveled around the upper midwest the past two months I have met many new people, shared numerous times about ministry in Japan, and stayed with a variety of people, some I have stayed with before and others were first timers. Overall, it has been a great home assignment so far.

A week ago I went to Minnesota and stayed with long-time friends. What a blessing those 6 days were!
I stayed with fellow missionaries...

Barb and I tried to buy out all of the tall-sized pants and jeans at Shopko.

I stayed with a college roommate...

We did a lot of fun things including a corn maze...
and breakfast with another roommate...


I also had dinner with another roommate...

She is also in ministry so we had a good time of sharing and encouragement.
Six of us lived together senior year so I have lots of college roommates!

And yesterday I got to visit with a best buddy from high school, junior high, elementary, well, since forever, right here in Madison.


I was reminded how blessed I am with such wonderful friends. Thank you, Jesus!

the harvest is ready

I have been traveling through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota for the past couple of months. I have watched the fields turn from green to brown as the beans, corn, and sunflowers matured and dried in preparation for harvest.

Everything was looking so good. Then the rains came. In October. The crops don't need as much rain as we've gotten this October. We've had a few days of no rain, in a row, so the farmers have been scrambling to get the soy beans harvested. Then the rain started again today.

As I was driving back from Iowa last night in the rain past all of the unharvested fields I thought of the well-known verses from Matthew. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

I was thinking of all the things that can hinder the harvest, rain, broken tractors, snow, etc. There are also things that hinder the harvest that Jesus was talking about in Matthew. The main hinderance Jesus talked about was the lack of workers. I am sure we can think of many other hinderances, culture, prejudices, religion, etc.

There are outside influences the enemy uses to hinder us. There are also lies he tells us to keep us from participating in the harvest. "You are not called." "You don't know enough to talk about the Bible." "You are too busy." And so on.

There is another hinderance, comfort. It is uncomfortable to participate in the harvest. Farmers who harvest crops work long hours during the harvest season. Being a harvester for Jesus is uncomfortable.

What is hindering us from being harvesters?

Least Favorite Part of the Job

Part of being a missionary is asking for support. I do not know one missionary who likes this part of the job. But, two weeks ago I went to a conference put on by a ministry that helps make it a little bit easier.

Steer, Inc. is a ministry that partners ranchers and farmers with missionaries. I actually have several people who support me through this program. It is great to see people who desire to share God's Word around the world finding ways to make it happen. If you want to know more about this innovative program check it out here.

While at the conference I got to get together with fellow NAB missionaries (Lance and Debra Rundus), see people from supporting churches, and meet missionaries from other organizations.


We also got to hear some inspirational speakers, Kim Meeder (who I wrote about in this post), Mark Mittelberg, Brian Wechsler who is a representative from Village Missions, and Josh McDowell, who I did not get to hear since I had to leave early.

So, in the midst of thinking about the least favorite part of my job I got to be part of one of my favorite parts of my job, hanging out with other missionaries!