A little bit of heaven

One thing I love about missions is the little glimpses of 'all nations' worshipping together that we get. In this video, John, on the right, from our mission team is singing in English. Then, Alexi, one of the workers from the Venezuelan church joins in harmony in Spanish. Absolutely Beautiful!


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Another licensed driver in my house, Yippee??

I just watched Alyssa pull out of my driveway, driving herself to church tonight for the first time ever. I thought I would be so happy when this day came. Finally, someone else to help with all the taxi driving and since Alyssa is the cause of most of my mom-taxi trips anyway, I thought I would enjoy this new surplus of free time with which I would fold the laundry faster and clean the toilets more often. And I'm sure that relief will come eventually, but for now there's a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach brought on by the thought of my child being in command of a moving vehicle that is not a bicycle. And wondering how long she'll make it before she has an accident because all young drivers do eventually. Then praying that whenever it does happen, it'll only be minor.

I think I just wasn't ready for it to happen today even though we're 5 months past when she could have taken the test. In our 'wisdom' gained from talking to Alyssa's friends who all had to take the test twice, we were expecting her to get failed today for some silly mistake and to have to try again next week. So when she pulled back into the parking lot and said, "I passed!" I was so proud of her for doing what her friends couldn't, but caught off guard that this was really happening at the same time.

Thank goodness for cell phones. She has to text when she arrives and when she leaves which brings some peace of mind. Some...not a lot. I don't know how my mother did it without knowing for sure that I had arrived at my designated location. I think in a few weeks I'll be happy. Maybe if Kevin was here to share my angst it would help. He actually doesn't even know she has her license since he's still in the remote villages of Mexico and is being spared all this parental drama. I'll have to remind to him to thank me later for living through this rite of passage alone.

Short and Sweet

I picked up Alyssa from the airport a couple of hours ago. We're just sitting on the couch catching up on all the shows I DVR'd for her while she was gone. I'm savoring all of the stories that are pouring out about her trip. I'm taking notes so I can share them with you later.

I took Kevin, Zac, and Katie to the airport at 5am yesterday to begin their travels to Arizpe. I wasn't expecting to hear from them at all since there is no internet in Arizpe and phone service is not great. But I guess the Daddy had to make sure his baby girl made it home safely because he called tonight. We had a whole minute and a half to talk and I got that it was raining, which is highly unusual, and they are supposed to have a movie night in the town square tonight. There was also some trouble at the border and Kevin's van didn't get to Arizpe till 4 am so there are some things for you to pray for---cooperative weather and no border issues on the return.

My lips are sealed

I've been a full 26 hours with no news from Venezuela..no phone calls, no blog posts...but who's counting? Of course, today I have HUGE news to tell Alyssa and no way to tell her. I have her ACT scores and I am very happy with them but I can't tell you how she did because that just wouldn't be nice for her to find out after the 6 people who read this blog find out so I must be excited for her without sharing the news....a very difficult task when you have good news and a blog.

So to distract myself from the fact that I haven't seen my child in 6 days and had to go see 'The Proposal' by myself since my chick flick buddy is out of the country, I'll tell you about how Nathan got to have a light saber fight with Darth Vader.

At Disneyland, they have a Jedi Training Academy. Kids are randomly selected to be 'trained' then they get to fight Darth Vader using their newly acquired skills. Nathan could discuss Star Wars with you for 12 hours straight, go to bed, then still have more to say the next day. There have actually been times when I have banned him from discussing anything related to Star Wars with me. My brain can only take so much Darth Maul, Ewoks, and Yoda debate in one day. He also uses 'the force' to open automatic doors.

When I tell you that this was the highlight of his little life, I am not exaggerating. I think my heart might have broken if he hadn't been picked, but seriously, who could pass up that cute face?

Darth Vader didn't stand a chance!

All My Fears Calmed for $1.50

I got to talk to Alyssa on the phone tonight! Woo Hoo! She actually called while I was still at work, time difference and all. (Apparently it's a genetic thing to not be able to figure that whole time thing out because she didn't realize I was still at work.) I'm sure everyone in my office thought I had lost it. I sounded like a giddy school girl when I answered the phone. And may I just say that technology is a wonderful thing when my child can call me from another continent for $1.50.

First, I had to get all the 'mama' questions out of the way: Are you sunburned? A valid concern since she is practically sitting on the equator and has her father's redhead fair skin. Thankfully, she reports just some pink cheeks and that they're staying in the shade most of the time. "Is your stomach upset?" Also a valid mama question given the fact she's in a South American country where she can't drink the water. Good news on that front too! No one on the team seems to suffering any maladies. All that paranoia and trip to the dr. for prescriptions for doxycycline and cipro paid off.

I had to calm the potential mama fears first before I could move on to the actual important news of her trip just in case our call got dropped. We were dealing with a pay phone in a small town in Venezuela and a cell phone in America after all! Anyway, the ministry is going well. They are visiting different villages each day. Some team members are doing door to door evangelism while others do VBS or sports camps with the kids and teenagers. The team all wrote their testimonies in Spanish before they left and they also have translators with them. Alyssa's also part of a drama team and they are doing a drama in each of the areas they minister to also.

It was great to hear her voice after 5 days, now just 5 days to go. I'm glad she has this opportunity of a lifetime to make an eternal difference in the lives of others, but I'll also be glad when she's home again. Because seriously, The Bachelorette and So you think you can dance just aren't the same without her. We're going to have some serious DVR catch up to do next week!

Finally!

We didn't hear from Alyssa yesterday at all which I'm okay with. I know they are extremely busy and it's not convenient to find a phone to call home on when you have 18 people in your group. But, there was no new post on the blog yesterday either and while I know that more than likely everything is fine, I like seeing something tangible that reassures me of that fact. So finally, there are 2 new blog posts today along with some pictures.

Here's an excerpt from Sunday's post:
It is hard to imagine just how large your Christian family is and today we were reminded of this. It was great to meet together with our brothers and sisters as the morning began and worshiped our Lord together. We sang songs (half the time not even knowing the words but still singing!), listened to preaching, and even spent some time teaching students and children. Afterwards we gathered together and enjoyed an amazing meal. It was a picture of Biblical community! Brothers and sisters united together through Christ; smiling, laughing, and worshiping together in fellowship!

Tonight we spent some time with the church and reached out to the community. We gathered together at a local park and played basketball, volleyball, and soccer with the community. We took some time with the people and shared our testimonies and got the chance to see over 30 people accept Christ!

I tried to put some pictures on here for you but I'm having techinical difficulties saving it from their blog and uploading to mine so here's a link for you. If you want to read more about the trip than I've posted here, just click 'daily blog' at the top of the page. Thanks for praying continually!

1 Missed Call

Alyssa's team finished their traveling yesterday. She tried to call us but, sadly, we missed it. My phone was in my purse and set to vibrate since I had been at work all day. And the synapses that registered the phone was vibrating more than once, meaning it was an actual call, to realizing it was probably Alyssa, to leaping from the couch across the room, to digging it out of my purse...the call went to voice mail which when played back was a bunch of static. Bummer. I'm hoping she'll try again tonight. Today is their first full day of ministry so I'm anxious to hear how it went.

Here's a post from the team's blog about yesterday's travels:
So your probably wondering how was the drive. Well, we were told it would be a 6 hour drive. Thank goodness this wasn’t the case. It actually only took us a little over 4.5 hours. The sites were wonderful as we made our way through Caracas. The mountains, the ocean, all the house on all the hillsides made for a great first part of the trek. It’s amazing to think over 4 to 5 million people call Caracas their home. The houses are in places on the side of mountains that you wonder how you could even walk up to the houses. We had the opportunity to relax in our wonderful bus until the police decided to pull us over. Come to find out the police pull you over just if they feel like it. No reason, no purpose, but I guess to say hi. Turns out our driver knew one of the police men. We get back on the road then all of a sudden our bus dies. Our driver opens the hatch inside the cab and starts going to work. Cranks the engine to no avail. Vladimir decides we should pray. So, he prays in his native tongue and we pray in ours and we once again were being protected by Jesus. A few minutes later, a few cranks, a few turn this and that on the motor and it starts. We pulled over a little later down the road to stop and use the el banó. What was sitting in front of us? Did you think it was fast food, because it was. Burger King and his royal burgers awaited us. We all ate some Whoppers and pappas, some had ice cream sundaes(Alyssa) and of course Coca-Cola. We arrived at our hotel, checked in, changed clothes, and then came to the church. They prepared a wonderful lunch for us(yes it was our second lunch) and we felt so unbelievably welcomed to be apart of their work in the kingdom. Well we have just been hanging out here at the church for a while now and we are meeting some really incredible people. We have been able to share our favorite music with them. John and I were amazed to learn that they loved Hillsong United music and knew most of their tunes(of course they knew them in spanish).