Sunday, September 30, 2007

India Itinerary

Below you will find Kevin's travel itinerary. A lot of you prayer warriors like to pray specifically for each day's challenges. Please know that every prayer lifted up on Kevin and his team's behalf is appreciated and I believe honored by God because it is His will for these unreached people groups to hear His word.

If you would like to leave Kevin an encouraging word or prayer in the comments, I will be printing these off and giving them to him on Wed. morning before he departs. I know that seeing evidence of your commitment to pray will be encouraging to him so "comment" away!

FYI: Times given are the correct time for that city. "Storytelling" refers to our team teaching the Bible to villagers and/or the church planters in that village. Most do not read and most of the tribes do not have a written language so it is important to teach the Bible in a way that they can memorize/remember. Each of the 4 team members has 4 portions of scripture to memorize. Pray for them to finalize their internalizing of these Bible stories so that it comes across naturally and with passion. The team consists of Kevin, Randy, Steve, and Joe.

Wed., Oct. 3
12:35 am Depart Tulsa for Chicago
7:05 pm Depart Chicago for Delhi

Thurs., Oct. 4
8:30 pm Arrive in Delhi
Stay overnight in IMB housing

Fri., Oct. 5
11 am Depart Delhi
2 pm Arrive in Patna, Bihar
4 pm Village visit for storytelling

Sat., Oct. 6
Storytelling in villages

Sun., Oct. 7
Visiting and encouraging believers in house churches

Mon., Oct. 8
Storytelling in villages

Tues., Oct. 9
Storytelling in villages
Visiting a sewing school (program for empowering women)
Dinner with a missionary family

Wed., Oct. 10
Prayer walk in Bodh Gaya (where Buddhism originated)
Storytelling in villages

Thurs., Oct. 11
Teaching trainees and church planters at a training school
Visit an orphanage

Fri., Oct. 12
Depart Patna for Delhi
12am Depart Delhi for Chicago

Sat., Oct. 13
5am Arrive Chicago
7am Depart Chicago
9am Arrive Tulsa

Friday, September 28, 2007

Say Cheese!

Remember when your church wanted a new directory and they hired Olan Mills to come take all the pictures? Remember the older ladies in polyester suits and the solid blue backgrounds and the outrageously priced pictures? We got to relive this, dare I say, awful experience a few weeks ago. I didn't even know Olan Mills was still in business. Unfortunately, I fell into the trap of "high expectations" when it came to having our first family portrait in what seems like forever. The kids didn't help the situation any by griping and complaining about it for three days leading up to our appointment time.

By the time we arrived at the church, we were all in a sour mood and ripe for disappointment. Sure enough, the first 6 takes were terrible with someone's eyes closed or someone's mouth caught in a strange expression in every shot. We were allowed a retake which met with more complaining because the boys actually had to stand close to the girls. Below is how the kids' picture turned out. I didn't get a copy of the picture that will be in the directory. I've already erased from my memory what it looked like but I'm sure when the directory comes out I will experience a new wave of embarrassment or mortification or some emotion in that category. I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson in here somewhere about relationships being more important than pictures but it must keep getting lost in my disappointment that all 6 of us were in the same place at the same time with our hair brushed and decent clothes on and I still didn't get a nice family photo!

Hut! Hut!

I just got home from my first high school football game in our new town. Actually, I haven't been to a high school game in at least a couple of decades. The last live football game I was at was either my college alma mater or the Cowboys--I can't seem to remember which was the latest but either way, it's been a while.

This game had the same familiar atmosphere and smells as I remember way back in my high school days--the popcorn that band parents are working hard to sell, the bands from the opposing teams attempting to outplay each other in the stands, the incredible number of turnovers that seem to occur in every high school game. I also found it funny that the songs the bands played were the same as 20 years ago. Hasn't anyone written anything new in the last decade to outshine "Eye of the Tiger" and "Louie, Louie"? It was fun to see some familiar faces from church in the crowds and cheer for their kids.

Our town's band is the current national champion for marching bands--I'm sure there is an official title for that honor, but I don't know what it is. Being a former band nerd, I was anxious to see their halftime show. It was quite impressive and I was glad for their sakes that the styles of band uniforms have changed quite a bit, but they still had to wear those lovely hats with the feather plumes sticking out of the top. Just the boys went with us and we had a good time. Although the next time we're planning to go to a game, I will not go to the gym and work out beforehand. Climbing bleacher steps after doing lots of leg presses and squats is not a pleasant experience!

Monday, September 17, 2007

September Ministry Update/Prayer Needs

*Kevin is returning from Colorado as I type this. Please pray for him to have safe travel and wisdom as to what God would desire for our church to do about supporting the church plant there.

* We have a church-wide evangelism project planned for this Sat. We have 8,000 water bottles and tracts to pass out at various walking trails, sports complexes and community events throughout the city. Satan has already caused confusion through miscommunications among the different teams. Pray that everyone will be clear on their assignments and willing to give up 2 hours of their Saturday. Pray for our city to be open to hearing the gospel or at least accepting an invitation to visit our church.

*Kevin's India trip is coming up quickly. He will be gone Oct. 3-13. Pray for the team of 5 to be protected while they travel around the world and as they travel among the villages. Diseases, especially malaria, are a huge concern. Pray for resistance to the diseases and for no adverse reactions to the malaria medicine. Pray for the villagers to have hearts open to the gospel and for communication through the translators to be clear.

*Alyssa and either Kevin or I have an opportunity next summer to go to Guatemala. We are currently praying about if Alyssa will go and which one of us would go with her. Our church will be sending a team of 25 with Spirit and Truth ministries. The trip would encompass meeting physical needs through home building and food distribution along with meeting spiritual needs through distributing Bibles and showing the Jesus film in multiple villages. Please join us in praying for us to have wisdom as to whether or not we are to participate in this trip.

Blessings Amid Frustrations

My mom got to spend the weekend with us. After the kids not seeing for her for almost a year, we were all excited about her visit. We picked her up from the airport Friday morning and headed to the zoo. It was the perfect day for it since the high was only 75. We saw the cutest baby chimps which I couldn't take pictures of because I discovered after arriving at the zoo that my camera batteries were dead.

After church on Sunday I wanted us to go to a nice dinner out. Kevin was going to be leaving that afternoon for Colorado and with my mom here, I had visions of a wonderful family meal before everyone went their separate ways. I really wanted to go to my new favorite restaurant, The Elephant Bar, although our eating out budget was more along the lines of McDonalds. We all agreed to have water to drink and no appetizers to keep the costs down. Our service was extremely slow and the kitchen staff messed up our orders which they caught before they delivered the plates to our table. It took almost an hour for us to get our food. I tend to have the attitude of "If I'm not getting what I'm paying for, I need to speak up against the injustice." Kevin could see my feathers were getting ruffled and reminded me to give them grace--so difficult for me. Shortly after we were finally served our lunch, the manager came over to apologize for the delay and gave us our lunch for free! Just another example of how God can use difficult and disappointing situations for our good and bless us in the process. I know in the big scheme of things, a delayed lunch is small scale. But, if we're in the habit of looking for God working in the little things, I think it's easier to see Him working in the tougher, more difficult things.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Nathan's Ten Commandments (and other tidbits of news)



Nathan copied the ten commandments in Sunday School last week. I don't know how well you can see in the picture, but his teacher wrote 2, 4, 6, and 8. It's 7 and 9 that caused this particular project to end up on the blog. 7 reads "You shall not commit adultry" and my favorite, #9, "You shall give false testmony". No, I didn't forget the "not", but Nathan did and gave me a good laugh. Hopefully, he'll abide by the original version!

We've had a lot of firsts around here lately that most parents experience with their kindergartners, except we're experiencing them with our 7th grader. Zac has had his first bus ride, first tests, first locker combination, and today...(drum roll) his first school picture. I know they will probably be terrible, as most school pictures are, but I couldn't resist purchasing some just to see how they turned out. (See a future blog for the results!)

Alyssa has started dance again for the school year. We think we've found a good studio with experienced instructors. She's taking her usual ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical and modern. She is missing tap this year since that class was only offered on Wed. nights, but I'm excited we got her schedule down to 3 nights a week and no Saturday practices!! Woo Hoo! My fellow dance company moms can truly appreciate how rare that is.

Nathan's first soccer game is tomorrow morning, so check back soon for a video!

Monday, September 3, 2007

You've got questions, I've got answers, maybe :)

Several of you have called or emailed over the last several weeks. You all seem to have the same common inquiries so I thought I would post the questions and answers here for everyone to see--just in case you were wondering the same thing.

When will Kevin be traveling again?

Kevin will be gone Sept. 16 and 17 to Colorado Springs to meet with a church planter to explore the possibility of our church helping with that project. Oct 3-13 he will be in India. Currently there are floods there along with an already unstable situation. Please be in constant prayer during those 11 days for his protection and for the gospel to be effectively communicated. The week after Christmas we will be sending a team to Sonora, Mexico again for vision and physical therapy clinics. At this point, I'm not sure if Kevin will be going on that trip or not, but I'll keep you posted!

How do you like your new town or Do you like it better than Dallas?

I actually love our new town. It has a small town feel--very little traffic, friendly people, slower paced--with all the big city conveniences. We already have the problem of not being able to go anywhere without running in to someone we know or knows us. I was at Alyssa's dance studio on Friday, which is quite a distance from the church, when someone walked up to me and said, "Aren't you Kevin Cottrell's wife?" As mentioned in the "Cheesecake" post, there are a few stores and restaurants (although I somehow left La Madeline off of the original list) we miss but we're surviving so far without them.

How is Zac liking public school?

Zac has adjusted very well so far to public school. He's not crazy about getting up at 6:45 but he's done a great job of setting his alarm clock and getting ready without my help. He has been a little surprised by all of the rules and the "one rule fits all" philosophy, especially when he is punished for the actions of a group not including himself. (He has run a lot of laps in PE for other's talking habits.) The homework load has been light so far and he's been able to get most of his assignments done in class.

How do you like your new church?
I love our new church and church family. Our Sr. Pastor is a wonderful teacher, and I'm enjoying learning from him. If you'd like to hear a sample of our services, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll give you the website where you can download podcasts of the services. We also have a wonderful worship team and I love the music that they put together every week for our praise time. I've had the opportunity to get to know most of the staff and enjoy spending time with them on the social side of life also. I also love our church's passion for missions and their willingness to go literally to "the ends of earth" for God's glory. We're currently in the midst of an evangelism focus which will culminate in us hitting the entire city in teams on Sept. 22. We'll be handing out water bottles and tracts at sports complexes, parks, walking trails--any place we can find thirsty people who might be open to hearing the gospel.

How is your new job going and how does that work with homeschooling?

I love my new job. I'm doing mostly clerical/bookkeeping type work along with some customer service, which I actually enjoy. I get to listen to Christian music all day. The company is small and has family atmosphere and most of the employees are Christians making for a relaxing work environment. Not many people can say that about their jobs! I work Tues., Thurs., and Sat. Obviously, Sat. doesn't effect our school day, but the other 2 days have required some minor adjustments. I don't have to be at work till 11 so we try to get 3 hours of school done before I leave. I make sure we get anything that would require my assistance or teaching done in that time and leave the easy workbook stuff for Alyssa to help them with. If we're really disciplined and work hard, I can almost finish school with the little ones in that period of time. Alyssa then babysits for the afternoon. She's excited about having a steady babysitting income which I'm guessing is going to end up hanging in her closet.

Other questions? Leave me a comment and I'll post an answer.