Bronia's Food Diary (Bronia's Life in England part 2)

One of the things I have enjoyed is tasting new foods. Here is just a small sample of what I've tried.

A favourite for me is enjoying a typical English tea.

This is a typical English breakfast, which is similar to an American one, but they include baked beans with their eggs, sausage, bacon, tomato, and roasted potatoes.

And of course I had to try Fish 'n Chips.

This Steak Pie was delicious. I have fallen in love with the meat pies and tea.

This is another typical English meal.  Yorkshire Pudding, roast beef, roasted potatoes and vegetables.

And it wouldn't be complete if I didn't try a few desserts.

                                           Raspberry pie with custard

                                               Lemon pie with custard

This is the store where I do most of my shopping, Tesco.  These escalators are magnetized, so you can take your cart to the different levels without rolling down.

After years of cooking for my family, I am learning to shop for just one person, so I have to be careful that I don't buy too much. I do love to shop for food though, choosing my own menu plan and then making the food. I don't eat out often, and I make my own dinners in the communal kitchen I share with other volunteers. Often it's simple and reminds me of home, like this Greek Salad.

Bronia's Life in England (Part 1)

Bronia has been serving in England for over three months.  Half her time there is already up. I asked her to write a description of what her days entail. I thought some of you might be interested to see what her life looks like in England.

From Monday to Friday I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do my face and hair, listen to music and read my Bible. 

(This is a picture of my room. My bed is immediately to the right, where you can see a pillow in the corner)

I go to the nursery at 8 so we (all the nursery workers) can have devotions together. Then my work day starts by filling up the water pitcher and baby bottles. The kids arrive around 8:25. My job at the nursery is to always make sure the doors are locked when the parents leave. When Miriam (the head nursery volunteer) is teaching, I try to make sure the kids are paying attention, and at snack time make sure the children have drinks. 

                                                   (The toddler room)

From now on, every Thursday and Friday I lead an activity and the Bible story time.  

We go outside for about an hour and if the weather is really nice we can go outside for longer. But if it's not nice we just stay inside. The kids' parents come around 12:20, and my morning is done. 

At around 1:00 I have lunch in the dining room with the students.  North Cotes College includes a one-year Bible School, a one-year cross-cultural training course (what my parents did in Canada), and a one-year Applied Linguistics course, so there are many students for me to get to know.

In the afternoon I work in the Guesthouse. My job there varies a little, depending on whether people are coming or going. Sometimes I make sure the bedrooms are ready for guest, or that the bathrooms are clean. I vacuum the hallways and do the laundry. My favourite job there is to do the rooms. I start working in the guest house at 2:15 and end around 5:15.

In the evenings my time is my own.  Sometimes I watch a movie with some of the people here or maybe play a game. Every Monday at 7:30 all the volunteers go to miss Mandy's house for some fellowship time together. She is the volunteer coordinator, and the one who takes care of me here :) 

And then sometimes I will just take time for myself and go on a walk. The campus is beautiful and right now it's spring so there are beautiful blossoms everywhere. 

The ocean is right by the campus, and the weather here is interesting. One day it will be perfectly sunny with a light wind. The next few days will be rainy and cold. In the evening and morning sometimes you can see your breath. It is flat like Florida and the grass is thick and green.

Everybody here is great. They are friendly and like to include you in things so I'm slowly making friends. 

An Open Letter To Our Daughter

Our 19-yr-old daughter Bronia leaves for a six-month volunteering opportunity in England, in 11 days. My breath leaves me sometimes when I think about it.  Here are some of my thoughts about her leaving.

Dear Bronia,

It’s here. The time has come.  Even though you’ve said for years you would stay home until you married, inside your dad and I knew that sooner or later, an opportunity would come along for you that would take you away from us.  And here you are, moving to the UK for an exciting adventure.

First, you should know that your dad and I are so happy and excited about this opportunity for you. It suits you to a “T”. When we left home as teens, we didn’t think twice (or even once for that matter) of what was going on back home, or how our parents were handling our departure.  We just left, excited about the future.  And that’s as it should be.  We can see God’s hand in orchestrating this, and we’re thrilled to see you taking this step.

Leaving and “finding yourself” is what becoming an adult is all about.  But make no mistake.  You won’t “find yourself” in England any more than you would if you had stayed home with us.  “Finding yourself” is so much more than a singular experience or trip abroad or a moment in time.  While God can use those big moments, it’s really in the day to day submitting thankfully to His will where we truly find ourselves. We find our true selves only in HIM.

We “find ourselves” when we look for opportunities to use our giftings, talents, and desires to serve the Lord. Sometimes those opportunities pay us, but often real opportunities to serve, lack funding. And that’s OK. We know WHO will be taking care of this endeavor.

We are proud of you. So proud. We are proud that you are choosing to do something that is way beyond your comfort zone. You are choosing to trust God for your future, and that immediate future is taking you to England, away from your family, your church, your culture, and everything that is familiar to you.

Be brave. Be fierce. Be strong. Choose love, not fear.

As much as we would want to shield you from difficulties, we know we can’t.  And that’s a good thing.  Because if we could make all your paths straight and smooth, we would be short-changing all that God does in the midst of struggles. And we don’t want to get in the way of what God wants to do in your life. We want Him to do what HE does best.  Mold you into the image of His glorious Son, Jesus.

So, your brothers say you’ll find a husband in England. Others say you’ll find yourself. We pray that you’ll find God faithful.  Because we have.  And He is glorious.

When Obeying God, Hurts Your Kids

I have known very few families, if any, going to the mission field with a bunch of teenagers. I'm sure it's been done before, I just don't know of any personally. So in a sense, Bill and I don't really know what preparing our teens to make the move overseas should look like. No books I know of, address this.

Teens are at a critical time in their life, as anyone with a teen will tell you. Knowing their identity, or finding it, is a big part of a teens' life. Shoot, it's a big part of an adults' life! And asking someone who is not sure of who they are to go to another country sounds like a recipe for disaster. Or so it seems lately.

You see, our decision to move to another country will profoundly affect our kids for the rest of their lives. It will cause some suffering. We're already seeing that, as some of our kids have experienced not having any friends for a season, or the friends they do have live thousands of miles away. It hurts them. Our obedience to the Lord is hurting our kids in some way. And that makes me sad.

So what's the solution? Not go? Be disobedient? To us the answer is of course "no", but continue on the journey that God has for us. But what about our kids? What do we do with their hurts and longings and heartaches? Take them to Jesus, and teach them to suffer well. As we adults know, life is full of hurt and pain. One of the best things we can do for our kids is teach them to suffer well. If they are believers, constantly remind them of who they are in Christ, pray for and over them, and endeavor to show unconditional love. Teach them they can know joy within their suffering, and that God knows and hears their hearts' cries. And don't be afraid to cry with them. Don't be embarrassed to cry real hard tears with them.

We are leaving everything we know behind, to follow and obey God, by making disciples in another country. And that hurts our kids. But God loves them so much more than I ever could, and I must trust that He knew exactly what He was calling our family to at this stage in our lives. The same thing He calls us to at any stage of life. Himself.

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

Summer Lessons Learned

We have just completed four months of traveling throughout the USA and Canada. This trip has been multi-purpose, although sharing about tribal missions and inviting people to partner with us as we prepare for Paraguay has been the focus.  During this time, we have learned a few things that we'd like to share. They're here, in no particular order.

1. We are not special. I (Debby) had this idea, that when people knew we were raising support to go overseas to do missions work, they'd all jump at the chance to support us. How prideful! We are not more special than other Christians, just because we're going to Paraguay as missionaries. We feel we are being obedient, but we're not more special.

2. We are not in control. I know this one seems obvious, but we've learned it in a new and deeper way. We have shared about tribal missions many, many times this past year. But we can't make people give. Only God can do that. Only He can move in peoples' hearts to want to partner with us in this. And this naturally leads to the next point.

3. Freedom. Because we can't control peoples' responses, we are free to really share our passion for tribal missions. We don't have to worry about saying the exact right things, or making sure we're communicating as flawlessly as possible. The truth is, neither Bill nor I consider ourselves great communicators, and that's OK. Our support raising is not based on how well we communicate our passion, even though we strive to do it well. Our support coming in is based on God moving in the hearts of people to see the work that needs to be done, and prompting them to join us in the work. There is freedom in that.

The reality is, there are still over 2000 people groups who have never heard of Christ's finished work on the cross. People whom Jesus loves and died to save. Romans 10:14 "How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"

Now let us ask you? What is your part reaching the unreached? How are you involved in seeing the unreached come to Christ? Are you a sender? Are you a goer? Are you both? Or are you being disobedient?

Finally Free

This is probably my most personal post to date, and I realize that when you post something personal, you open yourself up to criticism. But even though this post is something that happened to me, it's not really about me. It is a personal illustration of sin, confession, forgiveness and beautiful reconciliation. My only desire in sharing this, is to point you, the reader, to the ONE who accomplishes true forgiveness and restoration in us, Jesus Christ.

Many, many years ago, before I was married and had a family, I committed a sin against someone. My sin was immediately exposed, and even though I apologized and asked for forgiveness, for some reason, I never "felt" forgiven and I carried the shame of what I did for decades.  From my memory, I never saw that person again.

Recently, I had an opportunity to see this person. Knowing I would be seeing them, I knew that in order to be able to visit with them, I needed to do my best to make things right. I honestly didn't know if they remembered the incident or not, which made it all the more nerve-wracking for me. Would I just expose myself? Should I even bother? My conscience wouldn't let me leave it alone. I prayed really hard for courage, and an opportunity to privately address the issue.

So, at the second chance (I chickened out the first chance, but God gave me another opportunity) I asked them if we could go for a walk, as I wanted to talk to them about something. They agreed. It was already evening, and I was grateful for the cover of darkness.

As we started to walk, I shared some background info to give a context, and feeling out of breath, I explained what happened. I got more emotional as I explained, and was overwhelmed by my shame and the difficult task of apologizing. Soon, all I could do was cry.

Then they just took me in their arms and simply said, "This, you have been carrying all these years?" No condemnation. No anger. Only forgiveness, only acceptance, only love.

As we finished our little walk, I can hardly describe how I felt towards them. I wanted to cling to them physically, basking in the glow of forgiveness and reconciliation.  I felt free. I wanted to be with them all the time. I wanted to be in constant communication. It was a feeling I have not felt often, if ever.  I no longer felt shame, and knowing they would never bring it up or expose me to anyone else, I felt safe.

Reading that last paragraph, I almost sound stalker-ish. But as I shared all of this with my husband, he just said, "Wow, they were a picture of Christ to you."

I began to think of all the similarities between my experience, and what is/can/should be our experience when we come with our sin, to Christ.

At first, we're grateful for the cover of darkness as we come with our sin and shame before Him. Sometimes we share background information, but then breathlessly, we admit what we've done. Sometimes our shame overwhelms us and we fall into sobs. He takes us into His arms and simply says, "this, you have been carrying?" No condemnation. No anger. Only the assurance of His forgiveness, His acceptance, His love.

Oh how are hearts are/should be changed toward Him. We want to cling physically to Him, basking in the glow of forgiveness and reconciliation. We feel free. We want to be with Him all the time. We want to be in constant communication with Him. No longer feeling shame, and knowing He will never bring it back up or expose us to anyone, we finally feel safe.

Join Us in Preparing our Horse

Proverbs 21:31 "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord."

A little over a week ago, I (Debby) returned from a 2 1/2 week trip to Paraguay. There were a few aspects to the trip, including meeting with NTM leadership and visiting with extended family. More than anything though, it gave us a better glimpse of what life and ministry will look like for our family, and frankly, we are even more excited and eager to get to Paraguay.

In about a week's time, our family is embarking on a three-month road trip, traversing both the USA and Canada. This trip too, has a few purposes. Our greatest desire would be that God would use us to inspire someone to join us in tribal missions.  Luke 10:2  And He said to them, "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

We plan on visiting many churches, family and friends. Our desire is to share God's heart for the nations, and our heart for Paraguay. We are so aware that we cannot go as missionaries alone. We need a team of people to pray, encourage, and support us financially. 

But our team is not just limited to people in North America. In Paraguay, NTM leadership is also preparing a team for our family. Leadership is thinking, praying and making plans for a visit to a church that will host us, as well as a family within that church to host us and help introduce us to Paraguayan culture.

While preparations are being made on both sides of the equator, we would appreciate your prayers for us in the following aspects. Safety as we travel, boldness as we speak, and for God to move in people's hearts to want to join us in ministry.

As we make all these preparations, we know that victory belongs to the Lord. We are joining Him in His work. It's not about us, but about the One who is drawing worshippers to Himself from all tribes, tongues, and nations, Jesus Christ.