Learning to Appreciate

I did something last night that I never thought I would - I sat down on the couch with my family and watched an ENTIRE game of soccer!  Okay, okay, there were two motivating factors that prompted this phenomenon:  1.  The World Cup!  2.  The United States was playing!
When I lived in the Philippines as a single missionary, I learned to appreciate basketball.  Before that time, I didn't have much use for (or know much about) the game of basketball.  The Filipinos LOVE basketball!!  While I must confess that basketball is still not my favorite sport to watch, I have learned to appreciate it.
Now I live in Peru, South America, where soccer is King!  Until now, I have had a half-hearted interest in soccer.  I get excited when Peru wins a game.  But let's be honest - having The World Cup right next door in Brazil - it somehow changes your perspective!  The excitement of the Peruvians is contagious!  I've been keeping up with the scores, and we even watched part of the Argentina vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina game!  But something changed for me last night….after all, my home country was playing!  It was a great game (USA won!!!), and it was so much fun watching it as a family (Did I mention that the USA won?!?)!
So, now I am learning to appreciate soccer.  Martha and Ian enjoy playing soccer in the hallway of our house!  And it is yet one more connection I can have with the people God has called us to!

Phebe helping Daddy work!

Watching the construction

Mommy and her Treasures

Martha, Phebe, and Ian with Lis (Deaf)

Daddy and his Treasures

From My Perspective

Learning a new language can be frustrating, but it can also be one of the biggest blessings of the missionary's life.  Many times I remind my children how blessed we are as a family to know more than one language.  I often marvel at God's goodness in my life in allowing me to learn more than one language!  I have cried tears of anguish and tears of joy and hilarity over learning new languages!  Tears of anguish - wondering if I will EVER understand the people around me!  Tears of joy and hilarity at the humorous mistakes I have made!  Please keep in mind, I am no expert, and I am still learning, but let me try to better explain what I mean…..
I woke up the other morning (okay, we're talking about a week or two ago…) to the sound of the "town crier" making his daily announcements on the loud-speaker across the road from my house.  There isn't really anything so unusual in that - it happens frequently.  But as I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to clear the fog from my brain, I suddenly realized something….something very profound, something very special, and something very exciting - at least to me!  As I sat there, I suddenly realized with startling clarity that I understood everything he was saying!  Until that moment, it had always been kind of like the Teacher's voice on the Charlie Brown Specials….wah, wah, wah, wah, wah……but that morning I understood every word he was saying!
Now, I am NOT saying that I became an expert in Spanish overnight - oh no!  I still have LOTS of moments where I just give the person talking to me that blank stare of absolutely no comprehension!  I will say that learning a third language has presented its own sets of challenges!  I am still trying to figure out how those old-time missionaries who knew 5-7 different languages fluently kept them all straight in their heads!  My comfort is that they too were only human after all, and while we may not have any written record of their mistakes and faux pas, they MUST have had some!
I remember when I first started learning Cebuano, which is what I spoke in the Philippines.  My first year at Youth Camp (the year 2000)….I spent the whole week trying to figure out what the preachers were saying.  I kept hearing one word in particular - I heard it from every preacher.  To my ears it sounded like they were saying, "Brad."  I used up a lot of my time pondering over that word, and came to the conclusion that it must be someone's name!  I also concluded that the Filipinos must really like that name, because it seemed that every preacher had that name!  Here's where I confess to being rather slow at making connections sometimes - it wasn't until the next year at Youth Camp - I suddenly realized that "Brad" wasn't someone's name - it was the Filipino short cut for the word "Brother"!  Not one of those preachers were named "Brad" - but they were "Brother So-and-So" and "'Brad' So-and So"…..!
Fast forward to the year 2013…I now live in Peru and I'm learning Spanish (which I technically learned in Bible College, but now I'm learning it in a much more profound way).  My biggest struggle has been the similarities between Spanish and Cebuano.  Speaking to Matt one day at home (thankfully I was talking to Hubby and nobody else!) I made a blunder.  (Don't worry, I've made plenty of public blunders here - in Spanish and in Sign Language!)  I had noticed the ants crawling across my kitchen floor and said, "Look at the 'amigas'!"  Matt looked at me funny, then started laughing!  He gently corrected me (although how gently can you correct someone while laughing at them, I don't know!  Ha!  Ha!) and said, "Hormigas…the word is 'hormigas'!"  Oops!  The word for "ants" in Cebuano is "amigas."  In Spanish, "amigas" means "friends that are girls/ladies"!  So I had just said, "Look at the friends (feminine)!"
There is one thing that the Lord has taught me through all of this.  This is the one piece of advice I would put high on the list of things to tell a new missionary - especially a missionary wife.  "Use the language."  Yes, you will make mistakes - we all do.  Yes, you will be laughed at - we all experience it.  The key is to be humble enough to laugh at yourself.  The Lord taught me a valuable lesson when I was learning Cebuano - if I would laugh at my own mistakes (which really are funny when you stop to think about it!), it wasn't nearly so painful when those around me laughed at my mistakes too!  Having that sense of humor has been a help, not a hurt.  It has turned awkward moments into treasured memories!  Yes, I still roll my eyes and groan over mistakes that I have made, but I have learned from those mistakes.  I have been privileged to see how much it means to the people I am working with when I make the effort to use their language - mistakes and all!  I have received so much encouragement to keep on working to get those words and accents right!  Oh, I am still learning, and yes - STILL making mistakes, but that lesson learned from my dear Holy Spirit and Heavenly Father has sure made learning another new language a lot easier!

Lessons in Parenting (or Who is teaching Who?)

As a Mommy, one of the greatest joys (and yes, sometimes one of the greatest heartaches!) is teaching and training my children to serve the Lord.  As I write to you this afternoon, Ian is in his bed.  It is rest time, but it doesn't sound like much resting is getting done at the moment.  From the sounds of it, Ian is passing on his small store of knowledge and wisdom.  And to whom might he be passing such a treasure trove?  His "creatures" - Monkey, Bear, Dog Pillow, Rhino, and Uff (the stuffed doggie)!  I can hear him imparting the "wisdom of the ages" on to them all.  You know, the important things in life like…"You need to say 'Yes, Ma'am'"….."You need to obey."  You know, all those things his Mommy and Daddy are constantly telling him?

As a parent, I have learned to be very specific with what I say or ask.  I walked into his room recently and caught him jumping on the bed.  We have a "No Jumping on the Bed" policy.  When I asked him what he was doing wrong, he admitted to jumping on the bed.  I went on to explain that it doesn't please Jesus when we don't obey Mommy and Daddy.  I asked him if he remembered what the Bible said in Ephesians 6:1 about what he had done wrong.  This was his reply, "Ephesians 6:1…Children don't jump on the bed in the Lord, for this is right." !!!!!!!!!  That wasn't the exact answer I was looking for, but I had to give him credit!  It served me right for asking that question the way I did!

I really do love to hear Martha playing with her dollies.  Occasionally, she will come to me and explain that "Dolly did _________ (whatever the current offense might be)."  Then she will tell me that Dolly must be disciplined.  In our little family, we make it a point to pray with our children after a time of discipline.  I always remind Martha to pray with Dolly after the discipline.  I usually hear something like this, "Dear Jesus, please help Dolly to obey.  In Jesus name, Amen."  

It is always a fresh reminder that even in play, my children are learning, preparing, and setting the foundation for their entire life.  How many habits do we grown-ups have that can be traced back to some childhood play or habit?  And my children aren't the only ones who are learning - I am learning too - if I'll just pay attention!

It was a joy and blessing today to see Martha at the sink washing dishes.  She didn't get very many washed before I came to take over, but she was making an effort!  Normally she is the official "Dish Dryer," but today she was promoted to "Dish Washer"!  It makes me laugh every time I think of those two words, "Dish Washer"!  As a young person, I used to beg and tease my parents for a dishwasher (you know - the machine).  Inevitably my Daddy would grin and say, "We already have one……YOU!"  This was never the answer I wanted to hear - especially since I am an only child!  Now I can pass those words of wisdom on to my own daughter - Hee!  Hee!  Hee!  Thank you, Daddy!  They rank right up there with, "Not everybody's doing that, because you're not!"  (I've already had the privilege of using that one with my own children - in case you were wondering!) 

What to do when you can´t do anything

Greetings!  What a strange title for a blog, right?  Well, I´ve been thinking about this topic for several days now, and thought I would take a few moments and share with you what I´ve been doing since I can´t do anything!  By now you are wondering WHY I can´t do anything.....well, I´ll tell you.....we are expecting our third baby!!  Everything is going fairly smooth.....I am delightfully nauseated (like a good, pregnant lady should be!), not walking about much (Doc´s orders), and resting (also Doc´s orders)!
So...what am I doing...?
1.  Learning how to type on Hubby´s computer. 
     Now why would that be something I need to learn?  He bought this computer here in Peru - the keyboard has all the English characters plus the Spanish characters!  This means that the keyboard is differently arranged - all the punctuation marks are in different places from what I´m used to!  Talk about a challenge!  But if I can learn to wash my clothes in Spanish (all the words on the washer and dryer are in Spanish), I can learn to type on a Spanish keyboard!
2.  Sewing projects
     Now I have time for all those sewing projects that I want to get done.  I´ve been crocheting and cross-stitching - not at the same time of course!  I haven´t graduated to that level of talent just yet!
3.  Reading
     I´m rereading old favorites, and working on new books.  Now I have time to study my Ham Radio Operator´s Manual - with the goal of getting my Ham Radio Operator´s license. 
4.  Praying
     I didn´t put prayer last because it is the least important.  I put it last because it has become the most precious use of my time.  Since I´ve had all this time, I got to asking the Lord what I could do - something profitable for the benefit and blessing of others.  Naturally, I considered what I could do with my hands for others...all the while the Holy Spirit was nudging me to see the obvious.  All right - let me be completely honest here - I made the mistake of thinking that praying was not doing.  The Holy Spirit nudged harder until I saw my folly - what could possibly be a better use of my time to be a benefit and a blessing to those around me?  Right now I can´t go to Callao with Hubby, but in prayer, I can go with him.  I´ve been often reminded lately of the precious hymn ¨Little is much when God is in it.¨  One of the verses says, ¨Are you laid aside from service, body worn with toil and care?  You can still be in the battle, in the sacred place of prayer.¨  And that is exactly where I want to be - in the sacred place. 
Yes, I´ll admit some days seem to drag by, but I know my Lord is walking with me, teaching me things now that will bless the rest of my life - and hopefully those around me!  Some days my attitude is raunchy - sad, but true.  Praise the Lord for His love and patience - it never fails.  Psalm 91 is my constant source of comfort and strength.
You know, I don´t have all the answers, nor am I a ¨super-Christian¨ by any stretch of the imagination.  I just wanted to share my heart with you this morning.  Hopefully, the things I learn will be a blessing to someone coming behind me, or to those who walk beside me.  I pray you will have a blessed day with our Saviour today!