Nancy’s Kitchen

Richard and I are reading a book by Richard Twiss entitled “One Church Many Tribes”. It is most interesting as we learn more of our Anglo-American culture and more of the Native American culture. At times we find ourselves in grief and abhorrance of the things our Anglo ancestors and predecessors, innocently or not, have perpetrated on the Native American population. (I noted that these kinds of abusive behavior is not limited to Anglo-Americans. It happens all over the world.) Other times we find ourselves receiving encouragement and a greater understanding of the potential of good interaction with and acceptance of different cultures. I need to spend more time now processing what we have been reading, finding out where we “fit in” to the overarching picture of God’s Love and Redemption for the world. Thanks for “listening”.

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When we reject the Author of morality and character, morality and character in our society will decline and eventually be extinguished like a candle snuffed out, resulting in personal and societal chaos and dictatorial governments.

Lord, forgive us for rejecting You.  Come! Rebuke the leaders who put on the appearance of “good” but reject the Only One who is truly Good.

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If I receive what you give me, you are pleased and happy.

If I walk into your house and take what is mine, you are not so pleased and not happy. You may feel you can’t stop me because what I took really is mine, but you surely would have preferred me to ask and make an appointment to meet you and receive what is mine.

If I walk into your house and take what is yours, and you and I both know it is truly yours, then you would be very upset, even angry, with me, and reasonably so.

What if we both claim to own what is being taken? Now what? Does “might make right”? Who gets the disputed property? Is it “all or none”? If we share, how do we determine how it will be divided?

What if one, or neither, of us is willing to negotiate a mutually-satisfactory division, but will only settle for the entire property with no sharing? Or what if both of us try, but a mutually-satisfactory division cannot be reached?

How might this be a parallel to the Palestinian/Israeli situation? What is a reasonable solution?

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Class was absolutely terrific!!  Our teacher is full of vitality and enthusiasm!  I expect to learn so much in this class!  Oh, yes.  ASL is her first language, so that adds a great dynamic to this class.  Reminds me of the TESOL method I took earlier this year.  Just jump right in and start using the language!! 

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The Global Celebration team is in Bulgaria!  We have had an awesome three days!  For instance, last night we made a “surprise visit” to a small gypsy camp, the poorest group in Varna GC has found yet.  Turns out, it’s about 5 minutes from our hotel!   Sweet, sweet people!  So beautiful, so open, so receiving!  A number of people were healed, including one lady who’s many lumps in both breasts totally went away, and a man confined to a wheelchair got up and walked!  He walked with help, but he stopped every few steps to do some shallow knee-bends — as if to say, “Look! I can do this!”  It was totally AWESOME!!  Check out the link to Global Celebration above and see photos and the team journal!! 

Please keep praying, as we also encountered some drug-related people who were not at all happy about us being there, but all was quiet and peaceful.  One man called the police, but since we had committed no crimes, the policeman told his superiors that he could not legally stop us.  :-) 

Other healings include a tumor dissolved off a man’s back, a child with cerebral palsy’s muscles completely relaxed in her father’s arms, another child healed of a hearing loss, a man’s severe vision problems cleared up and he invited team members who visited him in his home to come stay at his house next year! 

Packages of bread, rice, oil, and other essentials were distributed in the small community in Varna.  In Romania, we provided food for a sheep-soup & bread feast with watermelon for dessert… this meal has been known to bring tears to the people’s eyes, who have not had this favorite dish in many years. 

Today we are in Nessebar, an ancient shipping port on the Black Sea.  This is a tourist place and we are taking a break before we go to another new work in a Gypsy community near Burgass.  We will stay in Burgass tonight and head for Kazanluk, stopping in a small community in Sliven on the way.

As I was sitting waiting for dinner last night, I was telling a new friend that when Richard asked me why I am going on this trip again this year, I told him that I need to fulfill a promise to Lubcho (Sophia church musician) to take my violin again.  So I am here.  However, as I told my friend, how could I NOT return again?!!   I love it here!!

By the way, for you Kansans reading this, much of Bulgaria’s landscape looks so very much like the Eastern Kansas peneplain (flat-topped hills) that we grew up in.  The elevations of the hills are higher, but the look is exactly the same!!  OH!  And fields full of sunflowers, too!!  SO BEAUTIFUL!  and SPACIOUS SKIES!! 

Love you all,

Nancy

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Back to the Gypsies…

As I sit in the car, being chauffered to Washington, D.C. to catch my plane, my brain feels like a whirlpool and I watch the long list of items and ask, did I bring them, or did I forget them?  I’m excited, but not the exhuberant excitement I’ve felt in past years.  I have a suitcase that most likely exceeds the weight limit, full of 91 boxes of crayons, 25 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste, little girl things, matchbox cars, stickers, stickers, & stickers, clothes.   I am thanking God for last-minute monetary gifts that will likely cover any excess weight charge!!

Whew!!!!!    I must somehow decompress from all this preparation while my emotions are building, looking forward with expectation to seeing my friends on the mission team as well as the Gypsy friends I’ve been making over the last 2 years!!  It’s a good thing that I DON’T have problems with HIGH blood pressure!!  ☺

My biggest anxiety points seem to be: 1.    Looking for the people I took pictures of last year so I can give them prints. 2.    Staying focused among so many people and activities.  PLEASE COVER ME IN PRAYER FOR THIS ONE!!  I want to be where my Heavenly Daddy wants me to be at every minute, with every person He wants me to connect with.  John 2:5 – I want to do what He tells me to do, and say what He tells me to say.

God has consistently told me through His messengers to “Just be you!  You cannot imagine all that Jesus is going to do!  Jesus!  It’s just that easy!”  When I had not spoken it to anyone, He said that I don’t have to be “adequate” for anything, to just be myself!  It’s about spilling out God’s Love (Jesus) and Light and Joy all over the people!!  “Well,” I thought, “I can do this!!”

“Love them, Nancy.  Just be you and let my power and my light flow from you.  Remember Paul?  ‘I come to you NOT with fancy words to wow you, but in the power of the spirit!’  (1 Cor 2:4)  I call you to love and encourage, to BE MY LIGHT.  Go to the highways and the byways and love my people.”

Wandering with His Purpose, Nancy

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What a perfect day!! Our high temperature here in Portsmouth, VA was in the mid-to-upper 80’s; the sun was shining; the wind was blowing at just the right speed to offset the thermometer; and Richard and I got much yard work accomplished! We moved about 2 tons of river rock from the driveway to the corner of the yard that we are re-landscaping and smoothed it out around the ornamental grasses. I watered our potted plants (outdoors) and our former neighbors’ as well. I added water to their fish pond and fed the fish. Richard trimmed back the Lady Banks rose bush to the arbor. I cut the long trimmings into more manageable lengths for the trash removal. I also pulled out bricks from beside the house and stacked them to give to a friend. There had previously been a cold frame there that had rotted out and been removed. Richard also moved more rock from the driveway (off the alley) to create a splash area for the front of our gutterless house.

Sometime around 4 or 5 p.m., we stopped, came in and showered and rested for a bit before going out to buy groceries. We then fixed breakfast for supper and ate on the back deck in the waning light of the evening.

Finally, as an end to a perfect day, the fireworks began! Various people in the neighborhood were setting off fireworks and it so happened that we had a very nice display directly over the street in front of our house. We don’t know who was shooting them, but we certainly were enjoying the show!

So now, to the tune of occasional fireworks still shreeking and exploding in the air, I bid you, “Good night”.

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“What happened to TESOL?” you may be asking. The Lord has that “on hold” right now. My heart is there. I am looking for and at different curricular materials I might use. I am getting a clearer picture in my mind of what I’m looking for in curriculum. So TESOL continues to simmer on the back burner, periodically being tasted and seasoned as needed for a great dinner.

In 4 weeks, on August 2nd, I’ll be driving to Dulles International Airport to leave for Romania, Bulgaria and the eastern coast of Turkey to again minister God’s love and grace to the Gypsies there. I don’t feel the high level of excitement I have in past trips, but I do hear the Lord telling me to “prepare quietly”. So I am. Things are falling into place nicely. Having been there twice, deciding what I need to pack is much easier and low-key. I know I want to take about 1/2 of what I took last year!! Heavy suitcases are such a drag!! I am also asking God what He wants me to take as a blessing and a gift to the people.

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We walked into the sanctuary today as a broad range of children rehearsed what they would be sharing during the service. There were dioramas, pictures, pottery, reports, music, student-made videos and slide shows complete with music. We were “celebrating school” at the end of the year. The children attend public schools, private Christian schools, and home-school. All did excellently. Our granddaughter, Julia (6 yrs old), showed her diorama of a mother polar bear and her cub in their habitat. She proudly and sweetly shared about it.

The greatest aspect of this time of sharing was the feeling of family it created among us. We are a small, fairly close-knit congregation, but this day something happened and we all felt proud of all our children. None were favored over the others, none were lacking for appreciation. These were OUR kids!! I am so thankful for our worship leader and Kidz Praise leader, Stephen Elliott. He gets great ideas and follows through on them. He is a gift to our congregation. Thanks, Steve!

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In visiting Steve, Jodi and Adelina with Julia, and conversing about child-rearing, we discussed the need for – within limits – children to work things out for themselves. It occurred to me this morning that adults as well as children need to learn to get along together, to be considerate of and respect others as persons. Adults need to remember and understand that other adults also have needs, desires, preferences and agendas. Adults get their feelings hurt. Adults need to be affirmed. Guess what? So do kids! Kids have needs, desires, preferences and agendas. We as adults have the responsibility to help our children explore their world and learn what their own needs, desires, preferences, and agendas are, and what limits are necessary and good. We need to respect and honor each other as persons of worth, which we all are. Families and communities, places of employment and worship are all good places to practice this.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

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