Sunday Funday Easter 2020
Many of you have also asked how Living Stone’s kids are doing, and how Brazil is being affected by Covid-19:
Prayers and Praises
Praises for how people have responded to needs that have been made clear by the kids at Living Stones. Prayers for the needs that have not been spoken.
Praises for the health and safety of our family and team here in Brazil, Prayers for some of the missionaries in other countries who are sick.
Praises that we’ve made it through two weeks of online school and two weeks of “vacation.” Prayers for the two more weeks that were announced on Easter: we are hoping to go back to school (or get further updates) by May 4th.
Praises for a really wonderful Easter that looked so very…odd, but was satisfying. Our Easter video should be out sometime this week.
Interweb Reads:
This PODCAST is FIRE! Short daily entries by a missionary in Africa talking about life and feelings and missionary issues. Seriously, the best way to really get into the mind of those of us abroad during this time (Djibouti Jones)
Not the New Normal: “I’m grateful for the many pastors and churches working hard to get their services online so their members have access to sermons. And I do believe this situation is causing a shift in our culture, which is bringing about some needed changes. However, it breaks my heart to think people may begin to feel that this is a “normal” way of being the Body of Christ — that we can survive (or even thrive) by watching a sermon on a screen, or “sharing” a post to spread the Good News without ever having to leave the comfort of our couch. “ (Taking Route—speaking of which—they have one of the BEST e-newsletters around, so you should sign up!)
A Mississionary on Trial: A super interesting and sometimes cringy story. This deserves a whole blog post, but I am not ready to write it yet. I follow NoWhiteSaviors on Instagram, and they probably need a blog post sometime, but I am also not ready to write that either. I am listening and learning. I am seeing “White Saviorism” in my own life and I know that in a different system, Ms.Bach was/could be me. I am seeing how culture has played into how this article was written. I am seeing how many different ways you can tell the same story, and how powerful it is to be the biggest publisher of that story. (New York Times)
Bill Gates gives to the Rich: Lots of people are looking at Bill Gates for many reasons during this pandemic. I am not commenting on any of them, but looking more at how powerful it is to give—and how hard it is to really give responsibly. I look at all of the money that he (and others) has donated to charity, and I am glad—but at the same time, how and where money is given moves the river of how charity is done. It is incredible to me (in a good and bad sense) how non-profits have changed in the last 10 years to be able to recieve funding: and I am not exempt. If I learn that if I do a, b, and c I can recieve x amount of money, I normally will try to do them for Living Stones. Having one person with so much power over non-profits because of the money they will then recieve is a bit scary. This article is looking at a different aspect of the power of giving: how giving in fact MAKES them money. It is generocity on capitalism steroids, and I am both intrigued and repulsed. (The Nation)