Danny Grows Up

Sigh . . . It has been more than a year since we have seen our children and grandchildren.  But we are planning a visit to the U.S. and Canada this summer.  We will probably arrive in the U.S. in June, and then move on to Canada in July.  I am soooooooo excited for James to finally meet Danny Boy!  He is really growing up, as you can see from the latest batch of photos.  Ok, I'll admit it.  I'm not just excited for James.  I am sooooooooooooo excited for myself to see Danny again!

Cutting the Cake -- Part of the Job Description

It seems that in many parts of Asia, special visitors at a party are asked to help the celebrants cut the cake. I remember several years ago, James and I attended a wedding in Myanmar. The groom was very dear to us, and so the couple honored us by asking us to help them cut the wedding cake. We stood beside them, and put our hands on their hands as they made the first cut. We even helped them feed each other! In our culture, this is a romantic moment between the bride and groom, but in their culture they wanted their respected elders to be part of that moment.

Since I am the International Student Coordinator of IGSL, many students from other countries see me as their mother while they are in the Philippines. Because of this I get invited to a lot of kids' birthday parties -- there are a few each month.

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And almost always, they ask me to help the child cut the cake.

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And then I pray for the child's life and future. It has become a precious time of connection with the families.

I am in the process of updating my job description. I've thought about including this unique role!

Missions Sunday

Recently, a friend asked me to coordinate a missions exhibit in our church. I asked when it would be, and he said it was about six weeks away. Since missions is one of my passions in life, I said yes. Six weeks seemed manageable, after all.

The next day, he called back and said that he had misunderstood the schedule, and the missions exhibit would be next Sunday. . . meaning I had six days to work on it instead of six weeks! I seriously considered saying no; there were certainly many compelling reasons to do so! But somehow I couldn't. I have been asking God to open the eyes of our church to the needs of the unreached people groups in Asia. This seemed like a pretty obvious answer.

So I decided to utilize my IGSL students, delegated like crazy, and came up with an instant missions fair. The students did an excellent job and I trust that our church's awareness has grown a tad.
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I want to make more of this small open door, but my time is limited, and I am trying to keep some margins in my life. At the same time, I truly long to see our church mobilized for missions. For now, I'm just talking it over with my Father, and waiting to see what He will do. He is far more passionate about missions than I am, so I know He will do more than I could expect or imagine!

Below are some photos from the "Instant Missions Fair".