Category: BLOG
-
buzzing around connecting point
Equipped with one enormous jelly green raffle ticket roll and cute little aprons, round and round we buzzed like the proverbial summer bee at a watermelon fest. ‘We’re raising money for a little boy named ‘Cash’ who is sick. Would you like to buy a ticket to help his family?” A few folks swatted us…
-
and that is our story
Last night we traveled to distant, much loved lands. We broke bread together and re-told the stories of redemption. It is by design that we see Jesus sitting and talking at table over and again. It is by design that the deepest symbols of love are the bread and the wine. And, that is our…
-
so this is goodbye
You get a lot of goodbyes when you go missionary. Every other summer, we pack our bags and mixed emotions and leave our home for a summer in the States. The odd scorching days become a whirlwind of travel, speaking at churches, fast food, strange beds, long road trips, and great family memories. Along the…
-
hide. here come the missionaries.
A new friend of ours admitted that he often skips service when the missionaries come to speak at his church. It sort of falls under the ‘no guilt for not going’ category (my words not his). He didn’t believe me when I told him that I used to do the very same thing. Even when…
-
courage
They thought that the bullet would silence us. But out of that silence came a thousand voices. Nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, fervor, and courage was born. Malala Yousafzai, in a speech to the UN this week. She is a Pakistani teenager who was shot in the…
-
weeping linens
Most assuredly, I come as a huge shock to the scurrying shoppers swooping in to quickly gather up their bounty. There, in the middle of the linen aisle, I stand, a forlorn woman, weepingly caressing a trendy gray and yellow weave, 400 count, Egyptian cotton sheet set. “You are beautiful.” I lament. “Ma’am, do you…
-
just a little chuckle
Today we sent all 4 girls to volleyball camp right down the street. Some comments that made me chuckle: Do you speak European? Hungary? Never heard of it! Do you have electricity there? We may need to think about adding Geography back into the school curriculum. Tune in tomorrow for a new post – got…
-
when missionaries are weird
When we left for Moscow all those years ago, young and carefree and very American, one of our best friends made us promise we would not morph into weird missionaries. We have tried our best, Mark, to take your advice. Even so, being back in the States rams home the reality that we have changed, a fact that…
-
an ordinary missionary on furlough
Let’s be honest. If someone asked, ‘What does a missionary do?’, most of us would dig deep and mumble something about learning languages and telling people about Jesus and smile that please-don’t-ask-me-more-cause-that’s-all-I’ve-got grin. The real truth is that most of us are not exactly sure what a missionary does and we are even more confused about…
-
beyond the seminar
I slipped into the air-conditioned comfort of a packed seminar as it was beginning and settled in to hear statistics that I already knew. They were still appalling. Nearly three weeks ago, a plethora of Nazarenes filled a small conference room to hear a good-hearted, Christian man fill our notebooks with statistical information about his…
teanna sunberg 