Chile-Argentina journal posted

For those of you interested in reading about the trip I took to Chile and Argentina last year, I have now, finally finished inserting pictures and have posted it here

Exciting developments in Asia for the Kingdom

I just returned from a men's retreat in Estes Park.  Wow, what an incredible weekend.  Our guest speaker is a missionary serving in Singapore who is doing ministry in China and southeast Asia. 

In a seminar that he led, he shared along with another member of the church who recently returned from China some of the great things God is doing in China.  Apparently, the Chinese government is paranoid about the spread of Islam in China.  They view Buddhism and Hinduism as too weak and pacifist to stop it and thus are beginning to realize Christianity is not so bad.  They have realized that 1) Christians are taught to respect their authorities and 2) that Christians will seek to evangelize the Muslims.  As a result, the government is beginning to loosen its grip on the Christian missionary movement.  The missionary said he was even invited to teach a course on the principles of Christianity at the Harvard equivalent in China, but the university sets the restriction of not being able to share specific Bible passages, just general ideas. 

In another seminar I attended, there was a missionary who recently returned from Pakistan.  He works in translating the Bible into the native dialect amongst nomadic sheepherders in the tribal region of the country.  He was sharing about a number of Muslims who have recently converted to Christianity, including clerics.  He also passionately shared about how the most effective weapon we have against Islam, even radical Islam is not guns/bombs, not evangelistic pamphlets, but PRAYER.  He reminded us that the Enemy is "not of this world" and therefore none of the weapons of this world will defeat him.  He also shared that most Americans have no idea that there is a huge underground Christian movement underway not just in Pakistan, but in Iran and Iraq and that the worst thing that could happen to Iran is for the US to attack it.  He said they are on the verge of seeing masses of former Muslims become Christian missionaries and preach to their people.  He pointed out Muslims view the US as a "Christian nation" and therefore assume all of the immorality that is part of our culture is part of the Christian religion, because that is the way Islamic nations are, with their culture permeating the beliefs of their religion.  Because much of our immorality is outlawed in the Qu'ran, they violently reject it. 

He also told the story of a cleric he heard of that used to be involved with terrorists and later converted to Christianity.   He said the best thing we can do to Muslims we meet is to tell them to read their Qu'ran in their native translation because many times, they recite the key verses in Arabic, because of the supposed "bonus points" they will get in heaven.  But, he said the Qu'ran is filled with contradictions that are obvious and that if they actually understand what they are reading, many times they have a feeling of emptiness and begin searching for something else.  He also shared many Muslims ARE open to the Gospel, you just have to approach it without denouncing their faith or insulting them as this gets them defensive and closed off.  This seminar was a huge eye opener for me in realizing how poweful God is and the work He is doing in the midst of so much violence and shrouded secrecy in the Middle East.     

Movie plugs

So you probably are wondering, "how am I spending my time?"  One of the things that I have enjoyed being able to do while relaxing during this time of furlough is watching some movies. 

Slumdog Millionaire - I just saw this movie yesterday in the theatres and it is amazing!  Definitely the frontrunner for the Oscar thus far.  It's about a young man who finds himself on India's version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" He makes it to 10,000,000 Rupees and then is arrested on suspicion of cheating since he comes from a slum and isn't supposed to know anything.  He finally begins to explain question by question to the police how the questions all had significance in his life and through these questions it portrays his life story of growing up in a slum in Mumbai.  

The Ultimate Gift (2006/07) - I just saw this movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I cried watching it (which never happens to me).  It's about a rich young man whose grandfather dies and leaves a wealthy estate.  He wills pieces of it to his sons and daughters, but to the rich young man, leaves a series of tasks that he must complete in order to prove his worth in accepting it.  The young man starts out greedy, uncaring and through these tasks his heart changes as he is forced to reach out to people.  One of his early tasks is to find one true friend and he befriends a little girl about 7 who he later learns has leukemia and is dying.  Through this relationship, his heart changes and he begins to see what his grandfather wants for him. 

 

Humbling myself . . .

So today, I did something very stupid that I think all of us have done at one time or another in our lives . . .I managed to lock myself out of the condo where I'm staying.  I woke up to find 6" of fresh snow on the ground.  I was preparing to drive down to south Denver to visit Denver Seminary, where I had a 10 am appointment.  As a result, I knew the drive would be cold, so I was sure to grab my hat, gloves, cell phone in the event of an emergency, wallet.  Ok ready to go!  I turn the lock on my doorknob, step out the door, shut the door and then reach for my . . .keys.  The keys were still inside.  And not just the condo key, the keys to car too.  Bummer . . .major bummer.  I then as discreetly as possible tried to check the windows.  Of course they were locked.  So, at this point, my plans to visit the seminary went out the window.

I wandered over to the rec. center a short two blocks away and spent the morning there trying to get out of the cold weather.  With my cell phone (that had one bar of battery left), I'm frantically trying to get a hold of the lady who had given me the car/condo keys originally to see if by chance she had a spare to either.  At this point, I remember the garage door opener is in the car, which is parked in the lot due to space issues, so I'm thinking if I can get inside the car, I can get inside the condo via the garage.

Finally, I hear back from the lady (Becky), who tells me she does not have a second key to either, but had thought of this scenario potentially happening.  But, she gives me the number of the car owner who is in town and I call him.  Yes, he has a spare key!  Then I hop on the bus head to Boulder (15 min from where I live) and pick up the car key.  Then I return to the condo about 4:30 get into the car, pull out the garage door opener . . .it's not working, but did several days earlier.  So then I go to the grocery store to buy a replacement battery, realizing that is the issue.  I get probably the last one of two batteries of its type, put in the new battery after a complicated ordeal opening the case and then the garage opens.  I run inside the garage to the door and as my luck would have it - locked too. 

At this point it is 5pm.  I head over to this lady's house who has invited me to come over in the meantime while I try to find someone with a key.  Finally, I get a hold of the owner's son who lives in Denver (30 min away).  He says he has an extra key and even offers to bring it up.  He's my hero today.  So, at 6:30pm, 9 1/2 hours after initially locking myself out, I am back inside stressed, frustrated and very embarassed. 

I learned a valuable lesson today - check for your keys BEFORE you lock the door :-), and if you have to lock yourself out don't do it on a day with 6" of fresh snow and freezing cold!           

Big Changes

Happy New Year!  Well, some changes are in store for me this year.  Yesterday, I received an email from Lidia, and we are clearly moving in different directions.  We have decided that we will not pursue a relationship this year.  She has her heart set on going to India this year and wants to focus on support raising for that and not me. 

I have also been thinking about my own experiences at La Palmera last year and while they were very great, I'm not a school teacher.  I am an even worse lab supervisor letting the kids get away with everything in the book, but I have learned some valuable lessons about discipline that hopefully will help me in the future. 

However, given all of these factors, I feel I will begin seminary THIS FALL as originally I had intended.  God has given me peace about my study fears and I even found myself wanting to dig deeper into the Bible a couple times before I left Bolivia, a positive sign.  At this point, assuming I am accepted, I am thinking I will enroll for the Masters of Divinity program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  It is a 3 year program. 

I will be returning to Bolivia in February and will take six months to help transition the computer roles and youth ministry leadership to a Bolivian who can take over for me, since I am not sure I will return to La Palmera after seminary.  The Lord is really laying on my heart a desire to plant a university ministry and I would like to do that somewhere else, where there are more college students but I am definitely thinking it will be in Latin America unless God says no.   

Thank you all for your continued encouragement, and I am definitely enjoying my time of furlough.