Dominican Mission Trip - School, A Service, and Salvation

You know it.  You have heard it.  You dread it just like I do.  It's that little humming, buzzing sound in your ear that wakes you from a deep wonderful sleep and lets you know you are not alone.  I woke up and heard it.  It was a mosquito.  And it was doing it's best to keep me company.  But I was tired and needed my sleep, so I put one ear to my pillow, wrapped my hand in the sheet and covered the other ear to block out the sound, and did my best to go back to sleep.  I guess it worked, because the next sound I heard was a rooster crowing.  And then his buddy not to be outdone crowed.  And then he crowed again, and then his buddy, and then he...you get the picture.  Constant crowing from two competitive roosters, and day two in the Dominican Republic had begun.

And what a beautiful day it was!

We all got up and got moving.  I was anticipating breakfast, because I had seen pictures from last year, and had heard that it was wonderful.  So we went down to breakfast, and Grammy helped us order.  I went the safe route with scrambled eggs, cheese, toast and fresh fruit.  Some people were more adventurous than me.  The Oldest Princess ordered a different kind of toast and did not like it at all.  But I am proud of her for trying.  While we were eating, the same person who shall remain nameless (from dinner the night before) was sitting next to C.  They were both sitting across from me.  All of a sudden, C sits straight up and freezes that way.  I looked at her to see what was wrong. Not moving her face, she gestures with her hand to her face.  There stuck to her cheek was a watermelon seed.  She finally said, "What?!?"  I don't really remember what exactly happened next, because we were laughing SO hard, but after we all calmed down, we figured it out...C had watermelon herself.  She was trying to get a seed out of the piece she wanted to eat when she felt something hit her face.  She thought it was the seed she was working on, but then she realized her seed was still there.  The person sitting next to her was also eating watermelon.  She had cut into her watermelon with her fork and sent a seed flying.  That seed landed on C's cheek.  I am not sure that C ever sat by the Oldest Princess, I mean the person who shall remain nameless, during another meal for the rest of the trip.  And really, who can blame her?

Our breakfast spot

We finished our breakfast and gathered to wait for our bus.  While we waited, we put air into some of the balls that we had brought to use, and then we got a game of four-square going, then a little volleyball, and then we wandered around a little.  There was a small pond with a bridge over it, and we took some pictures of the kids playing on the bridge.  There were turtles in the pond, and the kids named the turtles things like Sunny (because he was sunning on a rock), Little Louie (the smallest one), and Medium Marty (because he was, well, medium).  All this time, we are waiting on our bus. It finally came, and we were pretty late with a lot yet to do.

The Seniors 

The Juniors

In the school where we were, the older kids come in the morning hours.  Then they all go home for lunch, and the younger children come in the afternoon.  So when we got there, the older children were outside playing.  They were so excited to see us...especially the ones on our team that they knew from last year.  Our girls were excited to see that many of them were wearing the t-shirts that they gave them last year.  They were surprised and happy that so many of the children still had their t-shirts.  Some quickly fell into a game of basketball, and some circled up and bumped the volleyball around.

Last year, the kids tried to play basketball, but they couldn't.  The concrete was all broken and missing.  They could not bounce the ball, because the ball would go off in crazy directions.  Our team came home with a heart to do something about that.  They began to raise money for a new slab of concrete for these children to play on.  The concrete in the picture above is nice and smooth.  It is the answer to the prayers and hard work of some of our kids raising money.  They were all very excited to see that their work and prayers had helped to bring about a nice new playing surface for these children that they love.  If you gave to help this project, thank you very much!  It was money well spent.

Almost as soon as we got there, an older man came to the fence and tried to talk to me.  I tried to tell him that I could not speak Spanish, but he just kept on.  One of the little boys came over and tried to help me out by telling the man something in Spanish, but the only word I understood was "Americana".  It was very humbling to me, not to be able to speak enough to help him, or to explain what we were doing.  It left me feeling pretty helpless, and that would not be the last time I felt that way on this trip.  The little boy that came to my rescue turned out to be quite something.  The Young Prince nicknamed him "Bad Bean".  It turned out to be pretty fitting.  But maybe he stands out to me, because God wants me to pray for him.  God laid children on people's hearts last year, and we saw fruits from prayers prayed for those people this year.  So this little boy will be prayed for many times over, because he stands out, and I know it is for a reason.

After Mrs. M met with the teachers and the kids had had some time to play and get reacquainted, we went upstairs, and our kids performed their white glove/black light song for the Dominican children. We then passed out a pair of gloves to each of them, and taught the song to them.  It was pretty neat to see how it all worked out.  We had trouble getting one of the groups of boys to get their mountain right, but otherwise, it went well.  

We then moved to another room, where we had a craft waiting for them.  We traced their hands on a canvas bag, and then let them decorate the bags as they wished.  It was heartwarming that some of the kids wrote the names of some of our kids on their bags.  I loved watching them all work together and form friendships so quickly.  They were all so welcoming and loving. 

Then we gave them the new shirts that we had brought for them this year (that our wonderful youth pastor and his wife screen printed for us).  We then found out that they used the shirts that we gave them last year as their P.E. uniforms.  That is why so many of them still had theirs.  They plan to do that again with the shirts that we gave them this year.

They also practiced their song that Mrs. M had sent for them to work on, and they blew us away with how well prepared they were.  They sang beautifully.

The older kids went home, and we all walked to Pastor M's house for lunch.  At one point on our trip we passed a place selling some sort of food, and there were huge bags of something covered in flies. I looked at C because she was walking near me and I wanted to see if she had seen it too, or if I was just seeing things.  She nodded that she had seen it too.

Walking to Pastor M's home

A beautiful little stream we passed filled with trash.

Lunch

After lunch, the kids grabbed a few balls and went out to the street to play.  Well, some of them played.  Others seemed bent on setting off the alarm on Pastor M's truck.  Isn't that right, C?  Despite the many alarms going off,  several of the neighborhood children slowly came out and joined them. The adults watched and took pictures from the balcony.  Pastor M got tired of C setting off his alarm, so he went out and moved his truck.  I love you, C!

Now you see it (truck in bottom left corner).

Now you don't (truck has been moved).

I think ball is universal in every language.

One little girl really wanted to get out there and play but despite prompts from many of the kids, she would stay on the sidewalk.  Finally A just went over and lightly tossed her a ball.  She smiled, picked up the ball, and she was hooked.  Way to go, A!

After playing for a little while, it was time to go back to the school for round two, but this time with the little ones.  I was excited, because I love the little ones.  I was not prepared for the fact that they would not all understand that we could not speak Spanish, so they would just rattle on, telling us all kinds of things, and we could not understand them.  But a smile and a hug is pretty much as universal as a ball, and we made it work.  First we practiced the song Mrs. M prepared for them to do for the program that night.  They were too young to do the gloves, so she had prepared items like a sun, moon, stars, fish, people, etc. out of bright poster board, and put them on sticks.  So the children just held up their item when it was their part of the song.  It was adorable! 

Then we split into two groups.  Some of us went with the younger group, others with the older group.  We did a craft and game/music time with each group.

Craft time

Music time

At one point, I looked out the window of the school and watched two little boys go through the trash in an empty lot and then leave with their "treasures".  I don't know what they were picking up, or what they were going to do with it, but it broke my heart to watch them rummage through the trash.

Back inside the walls of the school, we gave the little ones their t-shirts and sent them home to get ready for their program that night.  Mrs. M's Home Economics class had been working on little dresses, and Mrs. M brought the finished ones to give to some of the little girls. They loved them. Nice work, Mrs. M and the Home Ec. class!

One of the teachers let me know that two of the little girls were her daughters.  I, then of course had to introduce her to my children.  We, despite the language barrier became friends.  I loved her daughters.  They were precious.  The one on the end with the blue and white dress was my little buddy.

After the little ones left, we rushed back to our villas and quickly changed and ate sandwiches so we could get back for the evening service.  The evening service was so that the older kids could do their black light routine, and the song they had been working on, and the younger kids could do their little black light song.  All of the parents were invited to see the program, and of course to hear Pastor M preach.  The kids did a great job in their little program, and then the pastor got up to preach.  Of course it was in Spanish.  Grammy, Mrs. S and I were on one side of the church.  Mrs. M, Mrs. B and the rest of the kids were on the other side of the church.  Mrs. M translated for our kids, and Grammy understood of course, but Mrs. S and I were pretty much in the dark as to what was happening.  At one point, I looked around and realized that everyone had their heads bowed, because we were praying, and I didn't even know it!  I do try to pick out words that I recognize, so I can kind of get the main idea of what is being said, but I was clueless to the fact that we were praying.  I whispered for Grammy to poke me next time we prayed, so I could at least bow my head.  We sang "At the Cross" as the invitation song, and I sang in English, even though the words were on the screen.  I was not sure how to pronounce them, and I didn't want to be singing something that I shouldn't be singing in the middle of an invitation song, so English it was.  And because I could not understand everything that was going on, I did not know until later that during that invitation, 10 people came forward to start a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior!  And two of those who came forward were the parents of one of the little girl that stole the hearts of many of the team members last year.  We were all thrilled!

 Pastor M preaching

 N setting up the black lights

 The little ones

The older kids

I have to give a shout out to the Oldest Princess who jumped in and took the place of one of the Dominican children in the white glove routine, because someone did not show up that night.  I am proud of her for helping out so that that mountain would have a peak.  Well, at least it was supposed to be a mountain.

After the service, we returned to our villas, where we had a quick "intervention" circle meeting as N called it, to go over our day and discuss our highs and lows, and get the schedule for the next day. Then we hiked back up that hill to our villas.  I was at this point beginning to get irritated because I was having trouble connecting with home, and I badly wanted to talk to my Prince and the Youngest Princess.  But it was not to be that night.

When we got into bed, two (or more) dogs were trying to get the roosters back for crowing and waking them up, so they were having a barking contest in order to keep the roosters awake.  It didn't matter to me.  I was too tired to stay awake and see who won.  I fell asleep in spite of their barking.

After all...we had just begun.  There was much more to be done.  But we'll save that for tomorrow...

Thankful Thursday 5/14/15

*For a sub when the PE teacher could not be there *For an awesome teacher's helper *For a fun experience for the youngest princess *For food and laughter with a group of good friends *For washing machines and dryers *For sunshine, sunshine, sunshine *For a good night's rest that helped take care of a horrible headache *For awesome coworkers *For safety on our outing *For new friends *For a good end to our school year *For healing *For hope *For shared prayer requests, and answered prayers *For surprise chocolate pie *For beautiful mornings and evenings *For much needed encouragement *For the privilege of prayer *For all of these things, and many, many more, I am thankful to the Lord.

Thankful Thursday

It has been a while. I stopped doing them, for several reasons, but I miss them, and really, I do them for me, and as a weekly reminder that God is actively at work in my life. So, they begin again... *For a friend who cared

*For an answer to a specific prayer

*For encouragement from an unlikely place

*For glimpses of sunshine

*For a fun afternoon ride that made me feel like a kid again

*For more children that now have sponsors, and hope for a better life

*For a sweet letter from our own sponsored child

*For three mission trips completely paid for

*For all of these things and many, many, more, I am thankful to the Lord!

Crawfish, snakes, and strawberries. Oh, my!

It was finally here!  Spring Break!  And after two long months of cold and rain, we were ever so glad to see it arrive.

The Prince had a conference in Chattanooga, so he left a day ahead of us and that left me to realize how much he helps out when it is time to pack us all up and get us going.

I took a day off, so we would only have to stay one night at home without him, and we jumped in the car Friday morning and headed to the country.

We had a great eight hour trip.  The sky was overcast, and it only sprinkled on us a couple of times. The oldest princess was a wonderful navigator.  She came up with a brilliant plan of an alternate universe, where eighteen wheeled trucks have their own lane, and fires only break out where they place street signs with firetrucks on them.  She even drove and gave me a break for about 45 minutes. In which I got totally hooked on a new Karen Kingsbury book.  The Young Prince entertained us the last few minutes of the trip with his impersonation of a very famous American.  You will have to ask him about it, if you know him that is.

We made it to our destination about mid-afternoon.  And despite my still parking the car, the kids were bailing out of every available door in the car trying to get to Unca and Aunt T as quickly as possible.  We ate, and talked and talked and ate...and that pretty much sums up the whole trip.  Talking and eating.  Eating and talking.  At least that's the way it felt to me.  But seriously, we did do a few other things among the talking and eating.

We were sitting on the back porch catching up, when the UPS truck came down the road.  Unca went to get the package and Aunt T mentioned that she bet he had ordered chocolate covered strawberries.  YUM!  So we anxiously awaited his return with the delicacies we all (except for the young prince) love.  Unca came back and told us that their dog jumped up in the truck and went to the back with the delivery man.  He said he apologized for the dog's intrusion, and the delivery man said it was no big deal, that he had recently had a goat do the same thing...just another day in the country.  Anyway, we all waited with watering mouths, trying not to look to anxious, while Unca opened the package.  It was....a....heater.  Oh, okay. A heater. No problem. Glad Unca got his heater.  Okay, seriously, I was a little disappointed.  But it was not the end of the world.  Later Aunt T confessed that we were hoping the delivery would be chocolate covered strawberries.

We actually got Unca to play a game of Pictionary with us.  It was a pretty friendly game.  Unca enjoyed himself, even if he wanted us to think he was miserable.  Plus, it helped that he was on my team, and we won.  I was helping one of my children who had to draw a dachshund.  The said child asked if that was the dog on the big bus.  Um, no, that would be a greyhound...  Then the other child who was guessing, guessed "weenie pig" instead of weenie dog...but that was about as rowdy as it got.

Then we had to humor the youngest princess and let her ride Unca's fancy new "tricycle" as she called it.  It was actually a cool little three wheeled scooter that could be ridden standing or sitting.  Unca dared the youngest princess to ride it to the end of the road and back by herself, in the dark.  She did it without a second thought.  The older two tried their best to get us to let them scare her, but we would not do it.  Next it was the Oldest Princess' turn.  She did not want to, but could not be outdone by her little sister.  So she rode it wide open and got down there and back as quickly as possible.  The Young Prince went next.  Unca tried to get someone to prove they were REALLY brave by getting them to go by themselves to the cemetery and take a picture of their hand on a tombstone, but he had no takers.  We all worked together and got Unca's new recliner in the house, which was no small accomplishment.  And then we decided to call it a night.

I had a room and a bed all to myself for all of about... half the night, until the Youngest Princess got up and came and got in bed with me.  The Young Prince slept on the bottom bunk and only hit his head once (at least the first night).  And some of you (those who have also slept on that bottom bunk and conked your head) can sympathize with him (right J and J?)

We went and saw a couple of movies on the rainy days..."Be kind and You no say to me no!"  And we all tried crawfish for the first time.  And before you ask...No.  We only ate the tails.  We all liked them...me the most of all.  I was really surprised, because I did not think I would.

We went to church, where we thought we had lost the Oldest Princess, but thankfully we found her before we had to call the police.  We then went on to celebrate the Youngest Princess' 9th Birthday with lunch at Applebee's and a movie.  Then home to some designer, one of a kind cupcakes.  And more games.  We played Gestures, and some of us spent too much time looking for props (cow bell), while some of us did better guessing than we did acting things out.  And yes, since you asked, my team did win.  Aunt T measured the kids against the door frame in the pantry, and it looks like one of them (the Oldest Princess) has grown as much as she is going to grow.  The other two are shooting up like weeds.

We spent a day working, to earn money for our upcoming mission trip.  The older two kids washed a couple of cars, and then did their favorite chore of all....cleaning out the gutters.   Unca and the Youngest Princess picked up limbs.  I never thought that the Youngest Princess was like Unca, until this go round.  Turns out she is MUCH more like him than I ever thought.  He helped her pick up limbs for a few minutes, and then he moved on to something else, so she recruited me to help her.  She wanted to drive the golf cart, find the limbs and direct me to pick them up.  I told her that was not how it was going to be, and that she was to help in the picking up process.  She then wanted to tell me how to load the limbs and where to put them etc.  I was picking up some limbs when she announced, "This bus is leaving in 5 seconds!"  I told her that she was NOT her uncle, and she could not talk to me that way.  To which she laughed and said, "I know, but we are blood-kin."  Yes, indeed.  And that has never been more apparent to me than now.  The Youngest Princess and I did a little crawfish "fishing" with a hot dog as bait.  We found one that would play tug of war with me, until he could steal the bait, but we never actually caught one.  That night we amused ourselves and several others making silly Helium Booth videos.  I definitely think Aunt T had more fun than any of us.  Unca even got in on the fun...Oh, the memories!

We took a trip to Avery Island, LA, home of the Tabasco factory.  We paid our $1.00 fee to get on the island, by pulling up to the little gatehouse, where the man promptly held out a stick with a rectangle piece of wood attached to the end of it.  A clothespin was nailed to the wood. Clipped to the clothespin was our pass.  We took the pass and replaced it with our $1.00 bill.  I've never paid a fee that way before...doubt I ever will again.

Much to our consternation...I mean, er, um, delight...there were two school bus loads of children at already there.  Exactly what a teacher on spring break wants to see (or maybe not).  And even more to our delight, two more busses rolled in.  There were kids everywhere!  And while in the gift shop, Aunt T happened to get in line behind one of those children.  He had picked up one of almost everything in the shop.  And of course he did not have enough money to pay for it all...so the very sweet, patient girl behind the counter worked with him, taking things off, putting things back on...until he was satisfied with the items/money spent ratio.  The teacher in me wanted to come unglued!  Where was the adult with this child!!!!  Obviously not supervising his little shopping spree.
Then it was time for us to take the "factory tour"...a fancy way of saying we got to watch a video (with about 50 of our new 3rd grade friends) about the making of Tabasco and take a short walk by a glass window that gave us a peek into the capping and labeling of the bottles.  What we saw was really neat, but it left us wanting more.  We wanted to see more of the behind the scenes factory stuff, but alas, it was not to be.

We left there and headed over to the Jungle Garden side of the island to experience some Lousianna bayou flowers and wildlife.  And boy, did we experience some wildlife...Starting with two more school busses and about 25 parents in their personal cars clogging the one way trail (Unca only honked about 15 times to let them know how he felt about them being in the way and then called to tell the office that we were stuck behind the unmoving masses), and in the middle there were alligators, turtles and snakes, Oh, my!  And ending with tons of birds at Bird City.  We got some pretty good pictures of the kids as well.  We stopped and ate some more crawfish, only fried this time.  I can also say that I tried a crawfish enchilada, and crawfish etouffée...and now being a fine connoisseur of crawfish...I can say that boiled is my favorite.  While we were eating, my Prince was able to log on to the restaurant web cam and see us.  He didn't watch long though, he said it made him feel like a creeper.  But we felt like he got to be a little part of our day.

When we got home, there were not one, not two, but three boxes of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us on the front porch.  Unca is THE man!  We promptly and happily indulged.  Then we played some more games.  We were having fun, until the Oldest Princess announced that she was not feeling well.  I will spare you all the details, but the rest of the evening was more clorox wipes, trash cans and yuck than fun and games.  And again, I missed my Prince and realized just what a wonderful help he is to me.  Especially when I am cleaning up yuck.  But things finally settled down, and we all got some sleep.  And the Oldest Princess felt much better the next morning.  But for some reason, she turned down the offer of a chocolate covered strawberry.  My guess is it will be a while before she wants one again.

Cuz came over and brought Little Miss P.  We built Pinterest worthy (well, maybe one of those "Nailed It" Pinterest pins) Easter gingerbread houses.  We also played hide and seek, and even hid some Easter eggs.  After they had to leave, we hung out by the pool, before cleaning up lots and lots and lots of pollen (AHHH-CHOO!).  Unca cooked ribs on the big green egg.  B came over to clean the pool, and see us of course.  We asked her to join us for dinner.  Aunt T used some concentrate shrimp boil that had us all choked up, literally, but at least it did not set off the fire alarm.  It was some strong stuff!  But the shrimp turned out delicious, and I know that B would wholeheartedly agree with me on that.

We then went to visit one of my aunts, because we had not seen her and we had to head home the next morning.  We enjoyed our visit with her as always.

We played a couple more games when we got home and then headed to bed.  The next morning was full of packing up, and getting ready to head home.  I hate this part of the trip!  I was the official photographer for the  1st Annual Gummy Octopus Eating Tradition.  I had already eaten Crawfish about every way possible.  Gummy Octopuses are where I draw the line.

Aunt Y and Uncle H came down to see us off, and after a few minutes of teasing the Young Prince about chickens and mailboxes, we hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and headed back home.  The only disappointing thing about the trip was that Unca barely squeaked by without having to eat his words and a $500 plant...that would have been interesting to see...

Thankfully we had an event free trip back home (with the exception of some pretty heavy rain the last hour and a half).    Aunt T's PB&J sandwiches hit the spot, and it was a good thing, because the bag of 7 plus crumbs of Munchos would never have been enough to tide us over.  We made it home to my Prince, and we were all glad to be reunited and back home again.

I just talked to Aunt T and Unca, and it looks like they may be making a trip our direction in just a few weeks to see the kids in the school play, so hopefully that will work out, and we will get to see them again very soon.  It was a great time as always.  We love our time with our family, it is more precious to us than anything in the world.

The Tiny Tarantula

Once upon a time, in a far away ocean, on a small island, a baby tarantula hatched.  He yawned, and stretched out his little soon to be hairy legs.  He blinked his 8 eyes and adjusted them to the light.  He climbed over 73 of his brothers and sisters.  As he started to leave the protection of the group, his mom and dad noticed.  They called out to him and tried to get him to come back.  They knew their tiny tarantula was not ready for the big wide world, as interesting and inviting as it may have seemed. But the tiny tarantula ignored their pleas, and continued to crawl away as he surveyed his surroundings.  He decided to check out something shiny in the corner.  It took him about 10 minutes to get all the way there.  He, being just a newly hatched baby spider was tired after that, and decided to hide in the shadow of the shiny thing for a while.  He got comfortable and took a little nap.  This wasn't so bad...

Shortly, a noise woke him.  It was two people who apparently wanted to share his space with him.  They came in and were talking and walking around.  One almost stepped on him, but thankfully he was able to scurry out of the way before they did.  He saw the lady pull a soft jacket out of the shiny thing.  So he thought that he would climb the side of the shiny thing, and check out what else might be inside.

He very carefully climbed until he was able to peek over the edge.  Everything inside looked soft, comfy and very inviting.  His little spider brain was pondering what to do, when he leaned too far over the edge and fell inside.  The next thing he knew, all the lights went out, and his world was upended.  Then it began to move and swing.  It seemed to him like his world didn't stop moving for several days.  Little did he know, but he was leaving his small island and taking a long trip.  Little did he know, but he would never see his family again.

When his world did finally stop moving, and the lights were turned back on, the tiny tarantula decided to slowly, carefully crawl out from his warm comfortable surroundings.  When he did, he heard a loud shriek and then heavy footsteps coming his way...

And let's just say that things did not end so well for our tiny tarantula who was so many, many, miles from home.  And I guess we could also say that curiosity doesn't just kill the cat.

Our little tarantula was away from the protection of his parents.  He took a trip he had no business taking.  He should have stayed on his small island living off of insects, lizards and such.  Instead, his curiosity got the best of him, and his little life ended way too soon.

The moral of the story: We know what is right, and we know what is wrong.  The world tries to tell us that there is no right or wrong.  That we should stretch our little legs and blink our eyes and try things out.  That we should do whatever we want, and whatever makes us feel good.  That we shouldn't listen to our parents or stay close to home, because our parents are nerdy, and home is boring...but the world...Well, now...the world is exciting, and we definitely should try it out.  But unfortunately, that philosophy often only ends in sadness and heartache. God has given us a plan book for the best life that we can possibly live. Doing it our own way only muddies up the water and messes up God's perfect plan for us.

It is so much better to follow God's plan.  As we yield to His will, and do things His way, we see that it gets easier and easier to continue to do so.  It may be hard in the beginning, but as we begin to experience life as God has planned for it to be, then all we want is more of life as God has planned for it to be.

It is so much better to listen to those who have been there and are wiser than us.  It is so much better to stick close to those who love us and have our best interests at heart; to listen to those who want to see us succeed and live long healthy lives.  The Bible even promises that if we will honor and obey our parents, that we will live long, and that things will be well with us.

I don't know about you all, but I want to live a long, full life.  I don't want to be like the tiny tarantula, who never experienced life as it was meant to be for him.  But the choice is ours...I have made my choice.  Which way will you choose?

*Inspired by a true tiny tarantula adventure as told to me by my wonderful mother-in-love*

A Small Part of a Big Story

It all started with a young boy and a fifth grade research paper.

Well, actually it started way before that...with a young girl who learned about five missionaries who gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel.  She then began to read about their story, very inspired by men who would choose to lay down their lives in order to keep from sending unsaved men to eternity without a chance to have a personal relationship with God.

And really if you want to get technical, it all started way before that, with the five missionaries themselves.  Five men who had a burden to take the Gospel to an unreached tribe in the jungles of Ecuador.  It is a story that took place in the 1950's, of five men who loved God and loved others more than they loved themselves, and it is beautifully recorded in the book Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of one of the five massacred missionaries.

I remember first hearing the story as a young lady in high school, and then reading everything I could about these men who were willing to give all for other men to come to know Christ, and about the wife and sister who returned to the very people who murdered their loved ones.  I was fascinated that the men would put themselves in such danger in the first place, and then challenged and amazed that the wife of one and the sister of another would go back to the very people who killed their husband and brother to try to reach them for Christ.  The great news, is that the women actually were able to finish what the men had started, and many of the people of the Auca tribe actually accepted Christ as their personal Savior.

One of the first known Christian converts of the Auca tribe was Dayuma.  She escaped from her jungle tribe when she was in her mid-teens, after a family dispute.  She helped the missionaries learn much about the Aucas, their language and their way of life.

After the men were killed, Dayuma joined Rachel Saint and Elizabeth Elliot in returning to the Auca tribe to tell them about Christ.  One of the Aucas who received Christ was Mincayane (not completely positive about the spelling of his name), one of the men who actually, participated in the massacre of the missionaries.

Fast forward quite a few years.  I was grown and married and teaching fifth grade.  I had a boy in my class who had a tender heart and a hunger to do something great for the Lord.  That boy happened to be my son (the Young Prince).  So when it came time to do our research paper, I encouraged him to do his paper on Jim Elliot, one of the five missionaries.  He did.  And like me many years before, he became fascinated by the story.  Not too long after that, one of the martyred missionary's sons, Steve Saint came out with a movie about the story, titled, The End of the Spear.  We, of course went to see the movie.  It helped us to learn more about the story and Dayuma and the man named Mincayane.

Recently, my father in law, was able to visit and work with some missionaries in Ecuador.  He was talking of a return trip, and said how neat it would be if the Young Prince could go with him.  God totally worked it out for the Young Prince to be able to go last month.  As part of his 16th birthday present, his Poppy arranged for them to charter a small plane and fly over the area where the missionaries were trying to minister.  They actually landed and were able to have two young men act as guides and take them to "Palm Beach" the very spot where there missionaries were killed.

 Palm Beach

While on the beach, their talk naturally turned to the five missionaries, and in talking to the two young men who were their guides, they realized that one was a Christian, and one was not.  William, the one who was not a Christian explained that Dayuma, the first Christian convert from the Auca tribe, the one who helped the missionaries learn about the Aucas, was his grandmother.  Sadly, she had passed away a few months earlier.  The men all took turns praying (except for William), and then they left the beach.

Left to right: Tepenia, one of the guides, the Young Prince, William, and Miguel, a Dominican Christian

Oh, and Flat Stanley in the center.  

The Young Prince was being a great big brother and helped his little sister out with a coming forth grade project by taking Flat Stanley on his trip to Ecuador.

As they were walking back to the village and Poppy asked William what was keeping him from being a Christian.  He explained that he was worried about what his friends would think, and afraid of ridicule or persecution by his friends.  Poppy then asked William if he wanted to be a Christian.  He said yes, that he did want to be a Christian.  Poppy called over Miguel, a Dominican Christian on the trip with them, and Miguel explained in Spanish to William how to become a Christian.  There on the trail, William bowed his head and prayed in his native Auca tongue and asked Christ to be his personal Savior.  Praise the Lord!

The group then continued on to the village.  One of the men asked if they could see the grave of Rachel Saint (the sister who spent the rest of her life with the Auca tribe teaching them of Jesus). William said yes, and took them to her grave.  And just a few feet from her grave, was another grave. William explained that it was his grandmother's (Dayuma's) grave.

It was then time for them to go.  The Young Prince said he hugged William and told him, "Adios." Then they got back on the plane and headed back to Shell Mera.  When they got to a place where they had internet service the Young Prince messaged us to tell us what had happened.  After explaining it, he said, "I'm a part of the story now!"  As a high school girl reading the story, I never would have dreamed that one day, my father-in-law, and my son would visit the very place where the story happened, and actually get to continue the story by having a part in leading Dayuma's grandson to the Lord!

I have no doubt that it was all orchestrated by God.  The trip probably never would have happened if the Young Prince had not been so interested in the story and seeing where it all took place.  They were supposed to take the flight the day before, but arrived at Shell Mera too late to get a flight out, so they had to wait until the next day.  I truly believe that it was all orchestrated by God, so that William would be with their group, so that he would be able to hear the Gospel one more time and have another chance to accept Christ.  I also believe it is just like God, to allow the Young Prince to be a small part of a big story that he has admired for years.  And it is just like God to let the Young Prince's mother  get the exciting news all the way from Ecuador, that a story she loves continues still, and God continues to move and work through the sacrifice of five men.  Five men who loved God and loved others more than they loved themselves.

Thankful Thursday

*For God's hand of protection on an accident that could have been much worse

*For God's leading to not only one great book, but two great books

*For an impromptu dinner with my man

*For a beautiful sunset that brought back to mind the beautiful sunsets I loved from my college dorm room window

*For getting everything done on time in the middle of a very busy schedule

*For roasted peanuts shared with friends

*For getting to hold a precious little one

*For a win for some of my favorite young men

*For home and a soft bed when I don't feel well

*For a lazy Saturday morning with my kids

*For time to make a dent in my mountain of laundry

*For a fun time with both of my princesses at a friend's birthday party

*For a delicious dinner grilled by my man

*For snuggling with the youngest princess until she falls asleep

*For a good night's rest

*For a church family to encourage, share struggles, and just do life with

*For prayers of friends

*For kids who want to do right, in a world where most kids want to do wrong

*For ladies who are faithful to see something through to the end

*For a verse that made me realize just how many people have loved, cared and poured their life into mine over the years.  How blessed am I!

*For beautiful weather

*For health that we often take for granted

*For a home that is a sanctuary from the storms of life

*For students who really grasp what I am teaching

*For children with discernment, who are strong enough to stand firm, and be in this world, but not of it

*For a great guitar teacher for the young prince, and for a chance for the young prince to learn and develop his talents to use in serving and worshipping God.

*For answered prayers for several friends

*For  the best husband that a girl could ever ask for

For all these things, and many, many more I am thankful to the Lord, because ALL good things some from Him alone.