A special day

This past week was my birthday, I'm now a whole 28 years old!! Woohoo! Some friends had told me to save Tuesday night so they could take out for my birthday. I thought I would slip through with a quiet birthday, celebrating over supper with a few friends. However, I was in for a few surprises.
It all started Sunday night at prayer meeting. Afterwards, we usually have some fellowship time, which usually involves food, before everyone heads home. Someone had told that it was my birthday coming up, so they had a cake for me & for little Emerson, whose birthday was Monday.I was one of the first ones to leave the meeting because I had been invited to watch a movie with a long-time friend from Panama that night. Emerson's family had called me that afternoon to ask for a ride to church, so I had to leave early to be able to take them home & then get home in time to start the movie not too late. I finally got home, changed from my church clothes into comfortable lounge clothes, scarfed a bowl of cereal, and ran up to my friends' house. She greeted me at the door, and as I stepped into the house, I realized I was walking into my own birthday party! It's the first surprise party I've had that I was surprised at! :) Thanks guys, you're awesome!

They'd written to my Mom in PNG to find out what my favorite cake was. My mom sent 2 cakes that I like - super moist chocolate cake & cheesecake. My friend made both of them! My Mom & Dad had a bouquet of flowers there waiting for me.

Thanks, guys, you made me feel so special.

My ministry team & my friends from Panama planned the party. I found out afterwards, that as soon as I left the prayer meeting, they jumped in their cars to rush back to campus to make sure they got to the party house before I did. :) They made it!

Then, Tuesday morning, I showed up at work to find my co-teachers decorating the room with balloons & streamers. I went to get snack ready, and there was a tray of cupcakes ready for celebrating! One of the little girls also has a March b-day, so we celebrated together.

Do you think they enjoyed the cupcakes?

I know they did! They loved the birthday party, and so did I.

Thanks, Edna & Christine, for making my day special!

I'm so thankful for the people that God used to remind me that I'm loved and cherished. Thank you all!

This weekend (edited - content added)

This past weekend, we (those of us from NTM who attend & work with the Latin church) invited the youth from the church out to our campus to overnight & then hang out on Sunday. (We meet Saturday night - many of the Latins work on Sunday and since we share a facility with an American church, the building is generally empty that night.)
Saturday night, we watched a movie, then hit the hay. Sunday morning, we had breakfast all together, then we had a devotional - a time of sharing, praising the Lord, and prayer. Afterwards, we sent the kids on a treasure hunt all over campus.

We saw God answer prayer in several ways. We had a good turn-out: 8 in total-6 of them are regulars, 1 doesn't attend regularly, and 1 was an invited friend.
We experienced the most exciting answers to prayer Sunday morning. We had planned to spend much of Sunday outside with the treasure hunt. However from the moment that weekend appeared on the weather forecast, the meteorologists predicted a rain & clouds all day. We began to pray and asked some other to pray, at least that during the time for the treasure hunt it would be clear. Saturday night, still the forecast was: RAIN. I woke up early Sunday morning, took a shower, and as I sat on my stoop for devotions and some quiet time with the Lord (some of the girls were sleeping in my house), huge dark storm clouds rolled in and it began to rain. I wasn't too worried, b/c God had plenty of time to stop the rain. It was another few hours until the treasure hunt. I went in to make breakfast & as the other kids arrived, I noticed the rain was stopping. After we finished eating, I went outside to check the sky. It was clear! The clouds were COMPLETELY GONE!! There wasn't more clouds waiting to come, it was CLEAR!! The rest of the day was a beautiful day. Clear, bright, sunny. Exactly OPPOSITE of what the meterologists predicted. THAT'S MY GOD!!! It rained just a few minutes. God did over & above what we asked for. I think He was just showing off - showing us how abundently He can provide for us & bless us. The kids noticed it too, and praised the Lord for the clear, sunny day!
The other praise was equally exciting. We had asked the Lord for an opportunity to share the Gospel with anyone who wasn't saved. Toward the end of the devotional, we were taking prayer requests for a time of prayer. One of the girls asked prayer for unsaved family members. The friend that was invited asked, "What does it mean to be saved?" Sam was able to take a few minutes and explain our need for a Saviour to save us from sin and to provide a way for us to have a relationship with God. We praise God for this open door to have be a witness in Kat's life. She attends a church that does not teach the Gospel, and we pray that the Lord will be working in her life, convicting her of sin & her need of a Saviour.

Here are some pics of the weekend: (You can see what a gorgeous day it was!!)

One of the teams is super excited to find the next clue!

The other team is trying to figure out the clue they just got from off a buoy in the middle of the lake.

With each clue, they gathered letters. The very last clue gave them the final letters they needed to unscramble the words "Icecream @ DQ." So, after lunch, we headed to town to celebrate with icecream. It was a very rewarding time, and it was good to hang out with the kids, building relationships with them in a much more casual atmosphere than weekly church meetings.

Please pray that the youth would grow in their relationship with the Lord and that they would be godly testimonies to those around them - at work, at school, and at home.

A week's difference

A week ago, Saturday, this is what it looked like outside when my brother came back from taking a shower in the washhouse. (Our apartments have bathrooms, but no showers. So, we head to the washhouse to wash clothes & ourselves.)

Not even a week later, on Friday afternoon, it was 80some outside. It was definately starting to get hottish. So, a friend, Holly Tiegs & I solved that by jumping in the lake! My first swim of the year. :)

Gotta love Missouri weather!

The Team

One of the things that has brought me great joy has been the opportunity to be involved with the Latin church here at the Lake. And, one of the reasons that that brings so much joy is the team that I get to serve with at the church. There are five of us that attend & are involved in the church. Some of our responsibilities are to lead worship, play guitar & piano, produce powerpoints for worship songs, and teach the youth during Bible study time. We are all involved in relationships with the people - youth & adults, those who are bilingual and those who only speak Spanish - many of these relationships extend beyond church hours. It has been such a blessing & an encouragement to see how God has worked in the church these past few months and answered prayer.
God has given us such a unity and a like-mindedness in sprit and purpose. It is my priviledge to know these guys and to work with them. As you pray for me, would you pray for each of them, also, as they look to the Lord for wisdom & guidance in their daily lives & future ministry?
There are a few other "white" people who go to the church. This couple has been involved with the church for about 4 years now. They attend the American church where the Latin church meets and help out with worship & teaching the kids during Bible study hour. We all got together for a time of food & fellowship and just had a fun time of getting to know each other better.

I praise the Lord for the friends & co-workers with whom He has surrounded me. They are a blessing, encouragement, and joy to me.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Last week I missed a day of childcare when I went down to Branson to meet with the church-planting consultant for Mexico. When I returned to work on Wednesday, I had a few good laughs. All the kids get dropped off between 7:45 - 8:00. They free play for about half an hour, then they go potty, then we run them around the room to get some energy out. About 9:00 we sit down for circle time, talk about things, learn about numbers, letters, and read a story or something. As we were talking in circle time, about 9:15, one and a half hours after we'd all been together playing, one of the boys suddenly got super excited and said, "Miss Rachel, Miss Rachel, YOU'RE HERE!!"

That same morning, as one of the dad's dropped off his girl, he told me what had happened at their house the night before. He put his daughter to bed, and she prayed her normal prayer. But, then, she said she wanted to pray for her friends, too. So she proceeded to list all the kids in childcare, Miss Christine, Miss Edna, and the new teacher (fill-in mom while I was gone.) Her dad asked her if she wanted to pray for Miss Rachel, too. She said no, because she wasn't at school today. Needless to say, I was not prayed for that night by little Lucy. I didn't realise there were such dire consequences of missing a day of childcare! :)

I usually put my hair up, looped up in a pony tail when I'm in childcare. It keeps it out of my face & out of the way. Well, one day this week I left my hair down, straight & long. One of the little boys came in the door, "Good morning!" Then, he looked at me and said, "Miss Rachel, you put your hair on today!" And, then ran off to play with some of the toys!
This is what I look like when I "put my hair on!"

It's getting a little crazy in here!!!!

So crazy, they're going cross-eyed!!

Those 2-year old teachers are as crazy as the kids!

We've got a room full of wild characters... a lion, a tiger, a bear, oh my! And a dragon! Is that Miss Christine? She succumbed to 2-year old peer pressure and put on the dragon suit. Wanting to fit in, I tried to get into the duck, but got stuck! Haha! (The duck suit is smaller, I'm sure, than the dragon suit. I'll have to try that one!)

How would you go about teaching the letter "U"? We paraded around the room under an umbrella!!

That's about all the crazy this post can handle. How about some semblance of order & normalcy?

Ah, tranquility. Nice, quiet sticker work.

Getting ready to play musical chairs. Up until a few weeks ago, we played "nice" musical chairs. Everyone always won. We never removed chairs, everyone always got a chair when the music stopped. Now, we've moved it up a notch. We remove a chair each round, muahaha. Each round, whoever doesn't get a chair has to go sit down at their place at the table. We have to congratulate them & high five the ones who DON'T get chairs or else it's a bucket of tears we have to wipe up each time! It's good for them - teaches them that we don't always get what we want, that we have to share/take turns, etc. Good life lessons at a young age! And, it is entertaining for us teachers!

I guess I'm still a kid at heart. The simple things thrill me. I love to swing. I took this opportunity to swing doubles with this kiddo after he fell off the swing. So, as we swung we talked about ALWAYS holding on to the swing with BOTH hands or else you fall & get an owie! Consequences of unwise actions. Another good lesson for a 2 year old!

Sliding is so much fun!!

The sand box is a daily activity - monitored a few at a time. I think we'd have a mutiny on our hands if we skipped sand for just one day!

Thomas the Train is another special toy that comes out randomly with other vehicles - trains, tractors, trucks, police cars. It's another one of those "sharing" lessons that we love to help them with!

So, you can see, we stay quite busy, and at times I don't know if we're quite ourselves! But, we have tons of fun!!!

Thank you for praying for us, I know the Lord has given us creativity & patience with these kids. They truly are a joy!

Potential Partner

The big new development is actually an answer to prayer. You have been praying with me for some time now for a partner to be able to work in a tribe in Mexico or elsewhere if the Lord so led. There is a girl in the area who has just recently decided to go to Mexico to work in a tribe there. She is a teacher and is joining a team of 2 families to homeschool their kids so the moms will be free to study the language and culture of the people group. We met in December and talked about the possibility of partnering if she decided to head to Mexico. Now that she has decided to work in Mexico, we’ve talked to some of the leadership in Mexico, to both families on the church-planting team, and at this point, we are getting to know each other and talking about working together.

Her name is Katie Moore. She grew up in Venezuela and returned there as a teacher to teach the kids of some of the missionaries. However, several of the families left and she was no longer needed to teach. So, now she’s headed to Mexico.

Would you pray with us as we get to know each other in these next few months and talk through a lot of things. Would you pray for wisdom for us and that we would clearly see God’s hand working in leading us and guiding us. Also pray that everyone would be in unity in this decision of partnership.

I covet your prayers as the Lord lays us on your hearts. I feel kinda overwhelmed, as this has come together in the last few weeks rather quickly and in a way I wasn’t expecting. I was thinking I’d get to know someone before deciding to be partners. However, God has brought us together and we’re doing it backwards – talking about partnering, then getting to know one another.

Thank you all for your faithfulness to pray for me. It is a real battle out there, and our greatest weapon is prayer. Thank you to those who pray on my behalf.
Thank you also to those who give financially so that I can be involved in this ministry. I really appreciate your sacrifice, especially as we are falling on harder economic times. Thank you.
Thank you also to those of you who have encouraged me through phone calls, email, lunch dates. You’ve lifted up my spirits & let me know that people care. Thanks.

Snow Days!!

A little bit ago, we had two days of precipitation. It began as sleet, then changed into snow. We had several inches of accumulation & it was gorgoeus! Here's some pictures of the campus:
The second day was after the storm had passed. The sun came out & it made everything even more beautiful.

Looking toward the lake. Our cove was frozen out until the main body of the lake - but the ice wasn't thick enough to walk on.

Student Apartment Buildings. There are 4 apartments to each building. I live in a student apartment just like these.

Canoes that won't be used for a while yet.

Snow accumulation. So pretty.

It reminds me of God's creativity, majesty & control over everything.

Psalms says... The LORD does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths. He causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.

He sends his orders to the world - how swiftly his word flies! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Then, at his command it all melts. He sends his wind, and the ice thaws.

He has EVERYTHING under his control! Praise Him!

Ready or Not, Here it Comes!

Thankfully we were ready! Last Monday was the start of classes here at the Missionary Training Center. That means that childcare also started for those students with kids under school age. That is one of the things that I do here.

Last semester I rotated around in different rooms, helping out all the age groups wherever I was needed most.

Now, this semester, I have a class of my own.

This is the 2-year-olds team: myself, my co-teacher, Christine Hamb, and the craft & spontaneous fun creator, Edna Berto

So, 5 days a week, 4 hours in the mornings, we are responsible for these kids. We have 11 or less, depending if some are sick, etc.

For the most part it has been good and I've enjoyed it. But, it wears me out!

Please pray for me that I would have patience, love, wisdom, and CREATIVITY!!

Another goodbye

The Lord was very good to us this Christmas in allowing all of us to be together again. It will be several years before my parents plan to come back for a furlough, so we enjoyed the time together knowing it will be a while before we can enjoy that again.
My dad is again in PNG, already back at work at the hangar, maintaining the aircraft and fulfilling several other jobs as well. My mother returns to PNG this week. My brother is back in Wisconsin studying the Bible at New Tribes Bible Institute & Elisabeth is at home in Texas, enjoying her job as a vet tech at a local equine medical clinic.
Thank you all for your prayers for our family. We appreciate you!

About this time 30 years ago...

...two young people getting ready for one of the most significant days of their lives. And on that very cold & snowy day in Steinbach, Manitoba, these two commited their lives together for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, 'til death do them part. Today, they are celebrating 30 years of marriage!

David & Lena Chapman - 1978

David, Lena, me & Elisabeth - 1985

David, Lena, Elisabeth, Joshua, me - 2008

Congratulations, Mom & Dad on 30 years! You have been such an example to us kids as to what a godly husband and a godly wife should look like. Thank you for that legacy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This week at church we celebrated the majesty of God in His demonstration of love for us in sending His Son to Earth to live as we do in order to ultimately provide a way of salvation for us. However, this season of reflecting on God's love for us began a few weeks ago. Every two months, those of us from NTM who attend the church are in charge of the church service. We try to focus on God's heart for missions. This time we ended by giving every family a Christmas present - 31 Days of Praise by Ruth (& Warren) Myers - in Spanish of course. If you do not own this book, I highly recommend it. It has helped me keep my focus on the Lord & praise Him by meditating on truth when I do not feel like praising.

We had a wrapping party!

Then, last night was our special Christmas service at church. We praised the Lord for His sacrifice and humbling Himself to come to Earth as a baby through some of the traditional Christmas songs. And, there were a few specials.

We prepared a song to sing for the church. We sang part in English & part in Spanish. Hopefully there will be more participation from others in seeing us being willing to participate in the service. We're praying that others would be motivated to be involved also.

The kids had a fun song to sing with lots of jingle bells!

There were quite a few visitors who came for the first time last night. The pastor spoke on the salvation that Christ came to provide for us through His death on the cross. Pray that door were opened and that we might continue to have a witness to some of these people.

Merry Christmas!!

A Chance to Share

There are several of us "white" people who attend the Latin church here at the lake. One of those "white" ones is a local pastor who has a burden for the Latins in the community. Last week, he invited Rebekah Huffman (one of the students at the training center who also attends the church) and me to speak at his church this morning. One Sunday a month they have a missions emphasis, and he wanted each of us to share our "God story." It was a very friendly church, and it was fun to be able to share with them what God has done in my life & what He is teaching me.
It was a good day.
Thank you to those of you who pray for me. I appreciate your faithfulness.