Nancy’s Kitchen

  I turned 60 this year (2007). I just held my sixth grandchild. I have raised three sons and I would compare them to anyone else’s…and win! I have struggled and fought to see who I am and what I am to be when I grow up. And you know…I found it…I am going to be me!

I know that may sound silly but living it has been anything but silly.
I thought I had to do something to have value. You know…write a book, perform before many people, be an influencial public speaker, what ever it took to get recognition publicly. Yet through the struggle I have found that I have a big heart and I care. I care about the poor, about Gypsies, displaced people, about being able to reflect what I believe about God, His son, Jesus and the purpose He has for my life.

As I have worked to find myself, I have attempted to listen and follow what I have heard God say to me and been confirmed by several independent sources. I have gone to Eastern European Gypsies in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey; I spent six weeks learning to teach English to speakers of other languages; took sign language classes so I can “speak” to two of my granddaughters.

Over all this time God has lead me and continually encouraged me that I was moving where He wanted me to go. Looking back at my footsteps I see that teaching my children was out of love. Going to Russia with Steve’s family, our oldest, to adopt their second daughter was out of love. Three trips to the Gypsies were out of love. Going to South Africa and assisting in a hospice for AIDS patients was out of love. Spending my time in Texas to learn to teach English was out of love. Supporting women locally with various life issues is out of love.

I have been made to BE in love. There are many scriptural references to loving the lost and BEing a light. As I read them I hear God gently encouraging me to see that this is who I am, this is who He made me to BE, this is who I like to BE and feel most comfortable BEing. I am beginning to REALLY like me!

This is the basis of my next step. I am going to Israel and Palestine in February. My group will do some sightseeing but our purpose is to serve and feed and pray for poor Palestinian refugees in refugee camps, and persecuted Palestinian pastors and leaders. I will BE loving them. We will host and lead conferences in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Before I made this commitment I discussed and prayed with Richard and I sought other counsel. It surprises me that I am not alarmed by news reports. I am doing what I am made to do…BE! You are part of my family. I am asking for your prayers, letters of encouragement or warning, and requests for pictures I can take for you while I am there!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

“And now Lord, with your help, I shall become myself.” –Soren Kierkegaard

A friend (thanks Norma!) sent me this article to help me understand better the Palestinian Refugee situation. To respect copyright, I do not want to reproduce the article here, but I encourage you, the reader, to check it out. It is of moderate length, and well worth the time and thought to spend on it.

This photo really caught my heart and helped me to see perhaps through my Daddy-God’s eyes a bit more. I have spoken of going to Israel and ministering in the Palestinian Refugee camps by taking God’s Huge Love. This lady’s image will be my focal point as I reach out to other women in the camps. She will be my motivation and inspiration.

Hi All,
Here’s a .pdf copy of my returning newsletter with some photos. I hope you enjoy it and join me on my next trip in person or virtually.

Back FROM the Gypsies - 2007

Blessings!
Nancy

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

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

“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.

Richard and I drove out of the driveway this morning at 10:30. We drove away from Portsmouth, VA and arrived in Charlotte, NC at 4:30 p.m. We’re driving my little red 1999 Miata and pulling a little trailer (designed to be pulled by a motorcycle). What a sight! We’re headed to a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base near Tyler, TX. My previous post has a link to the newsletter introducing you to what I’ll be doing.

We had no trouble keeping up with traffic, and made 26 1/2 mpg, but we did have to adjust our speed to the resonance of the road and the trailer to keep the ride smoooth and not choppy like a small boat in a rough sea. Did you know that cement and asphalt road surfaces have different frequencies? It was a good day. Richard had me driving … “It’s your trip, you should drive.” So I did. I am tired. Tomorrow he will be doing some of the driving!! 5 hours was enough for me! We almost made it all the way to Charlotte on one tank of gas, but not quite. We filled up in Asheboro, NC. We thought about getting off I-85 at exit 311 and going to see the house Richard’s mom and dad built, but we were tired and eager to get to our hotel.

Tonight we will have dinner with old friends, Chip and Donna Smith, and their sons, Ford and William.

Now I must tell you that adventures, while exciting, are not always pleasant. As my friend, Kathleen Dillard once said, …just picture Indiana Jones and his archeological adventures! lions, snakes, bad guys… OK, I hope I’ll NOT run into any of those, but I will be encountering text-books, classrooms, new roommates, and overseas travel. These will be very good, but also can be very taxing.

What is this new adventure? I’m glad you asked!! Here’s my first newsletter, New Year, New Adventure.  (You may have to click twice - once on this link, and once on the same link on the next page that comes up.  Sorry - I’m not a programmer.)

Do read my newsletter and check back here often for updates! Comments and questions are welcome (click on “Comments”).

As I lay awake last night, around 3 a.m., I thought, “What is going on with my body clock?!” I don’t seem to have “synchronized” back into the Eastern Daylight Time Zone. Oh, yes. Soon I will have another opportunity… Daylight Savings Time ends on the 29th. Yea???

I must remember to use these awake times for prayer - quiet, alone-time with Jesus. After all, everyone else is asleep, but God never slumbers nor sleeps.

These are two precious Gypsy children selling souvenier tops to the tourists in Istanbul. I find myself really wanting to give them full price because I have seen the Gypsy “camps” (walled ghettos) in person. I pray as I look at their picture, “Lord, set Your People free! Bless Your Children!”