Sunday Funday November 3
Prayers and Praises
Praises for a safe and problem-less return trip from the USA, with a friend, Rachel C., who will be staying with us for a couple of weeks.
Prayers as Rachel C. is 16 and this is her first international trip. She wants to be a missionary someday, and this is her first chance to see what it looks like.
Praises as Sofia is better—the day we returned she got pink eye (it is going around at the school. Again.).
Praises for the amazing church reunion (please check out the video) that included baptisms—with three of our Living Stones kids being baptized!
Interweb Reads:
Hardest Part of Missions: Yes, I promote my own posts. We are excited and happy for the next step for our amazing Brazilian friends…but also so sad to have them leave. (Five Minutes of Fergie)
The Successful Pursuit of God: “Later, when she was asked about the difference between her marriage to The Great Man of God and her current husband, she candidly said, “I have never been happier in my life. Aiden (Tozer) loved Jesus Christ, but Leonard Odam loves me.” So simply contrasted, so utterly devastating.” (Fathom)
Guard Your Gates: Guys…I get the whole “Not celebrating Halloween” thing, but this was the first article in a long time that I felt I could use to really explain WHY to my kids. (But I still like dressing up and candy.) (Sarah Bessey)
My Road to Emmaus: “As we began to open up about our suffering in this season, our friends—especially the youth we had invested in—began opening up about theirs. They not only shared stories of trauma from childhood and of anger about the inequality in their education and upbringing, but they also began to share their frustration and bitterness toward Ryan and me from when we had mentored them as teenagers. They felt that we had operated out of a project mentality, rather than from a genuine desire to get to know them as people, as though we were using their community and doing ministry there to feel better about ourselves. It became clear to us that even as we had earnestly tried to serve our young adult friends, there had been times when we had also hurt them deeply. When we listened to them, we felt a mixture of emotions. To be entrusted with their honest reflections was a privilege and a devastation. Even though it was painful to hear, we also knew it was a sacred gift to be invited into these depths.” (Christianity Today)
How Equipped is Enough?: “You weren’t trained in children’s ministry? Too bad, you get to do children’s ministry. You can’t carry a tune? Oh well, when the pastor asks you to lead worship, you get to do it anyway. You don’t know anything about eating disorders? Well, if there are no psychologists in your area, I guess you’ll be the one to help the girl in your youth group.” (A Life Overseas)
The Most Generous Country: I found this very interesting. There are many things I don’t like about America…but being gone gives you a fondness like never before, and I do feel that as a culture we generally do try to be generous—and I appreciate that.