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!

Just a thought

I guess I need to keep my computer connected to me at all times. (My mom thinks it is connected to me!) I keep having good ideas for a blog post and then I forget by the time I get a chance to write!

Well, here is one I remember.

On Tuesday I went with my parents to Sioux Falls to listen to my dad speak-he did a great job. I had not signed up for the seminars so while they had lunch and seminars, I went to Bagel Boy for lunch.

As I sat eating my sandwich, which was delicious, and reading my book, I also noticed a group of women having lunch together. It started out with two ladies sitting at a small round table really only big enough for about 3 people. In about 10 minutes' time there were six ladies sitting together talking and laughing and sharing time as they lunched. I didn't really pay attention to what they were saying even though they were loud enough to be heard throughout the restaurant.

Then I noticed another table of women. Three ladies sitting at a table large enough to hold at least 6 people. They were just eating their sandwiches and looking at that spot on the middle of the table where you look when you aren't quite sure what to talk about.

Two tables of women lunching together. Yet what a difference in how they spent their time together! Just something I noticed and found interesting...

A fun week

Last Thursday my Japanese friend came to visit. We have been having a fun week discovering South Dakota. We also made a little trip into North Dakota for a church visit. Noriko has taken about 1000 pictures! I don't have quite that many, of course, since I was driving.

The first day we took a walk around Madison. We stopped in the church where Dad was working on the computer.


We also went to Shonda's for delicious grilled salmon and veggies from the garden.


The next day we were off on a trip to Ashley, ND. On the way we stopped to take in the sights along the way, like DeSmet to see Laura Ingalls' homestead.



When we arrived in Ashley we went to the Schauer's for dinner and had fun playing with the children.


From North Dakota we headed to the most famous South Dakota site. It was much colder than we thought it would be so we had to buy sweatshirts! We both liked the pink one.


We also stopped by Crazy Horse and drove through the Badlands.



On Monday we had lunch in Hill City at Alpine Inn which was recommended by several people. While there we saw Monte and Marian, friends from Madison. In the evening we arrived back in Rapid City for dinner and ate a a Happy Days style diner where we saw more friends from Madison!

It has been so fun to have Noriko here! I will miss her when she goes home tomorrow! It has been good to speak Japanese together, too:)

How weekends are spent

While on home assignment the word schedule is used for Sunday church visits. After that, there is no schedule! Every week, every day is different. This is good. This is challenging. This is.

So, here is a little of what has happened the past three weekends:

A visit to Brandon Baptist Church where the morning music was put on by these guys...


The following weekend was Labor Day weekend, a Monday holiday in the U.S. It is also the weekend of Life Light, a huge Christian concert outdoors with bands from all around the U.S. and Canada playing music from almost every genre. Here is what it looks like from about halfway back from the main stage:


That weekend my college roommate, Cindy, came to visit-it was very bright!


It was also my birthday weekend. We started with breakfast at the Sims' house.


A little ladder ball in the afternoon.


And family dinner in the evening.



Last weekend was spent in Herreid, SD being encouraged by the church there. We also had an afternoon/evening of food and fellowship with area churches. One of the games was to put on extra large work gloves and open Hershey's kisses. This is what it looked like...


That was followed by pastors vs. youth volleyball...


So, although my Sunday schedule is full, it is a lot of fun, too!