Woke up this morning, a little late, to everyone helping in the kitchen. Normally Mrs. McMath and Rachel are the only ones. They're wonderful, by the way, every morning waking up and making breakfast. Rachel amazes me; she goes to bed later than I do and wakes up earlier. She also does most of the house maintenance and a lot of the garden work. Then she keeps busy on different days with teaching piano, running an eBay business and cleaning a neighbor's house. She always seems to be up and going and doing something. She's a hard worker, but honestly they all are. And all very enjoyable to work with, as well. Rachel is the quieter one; a lot like I am when I'm at home. She's really sweet. I've really enjoyed getting to know her. Anyway, we had breakfast burritos and Mr. McMath did a short devotional since everyone had to get about their business early this morning. He talked about Job and how even when he lost everything, his estate, his children, his livestock, he still worshiped God. Even when his friends condemned him and his wife told him to "curse God and die," he still worshiped God. That's quite a testimony. And God, of course, blessed him for this; restoring to him more than before. After devotions we got ready. Then Naomi picked up a bunch of girls and we all went to a nursing home. At the nursing home Bro. Micah (age 27) gave a message and we all sang hymns and worship songs. It was a nice time. After that we came back, cleaned the church and had lunch with everyone. Then we went home and I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the blog. I hope you all enjoy it! And I would love your feedback on how I can improve it. Good night everyone. God Bless. :)
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Today has been a wonderful day. This morning we ate cinnamon bread for breakfast and then we had devotions. We read Proverbs 29 and Psalms 136-140. The passage that stuck out to me the most was Psalms 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart, Try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting". I think I'm going to make this verse one of my prayers. That I would continually surrender myself to Him and His way.
At 9am Naomi took me to Santa Fe (the capital of New Mexico) to do some touring. It was awesome! Everything was really beautiful! We went to a few catholic churches and admired their beauty. One thing that was quite surprising to me was that the catholic religion here was often mixed with the religion of the native americans and new age thinking. The catholics had just adopted it into their beliefs, so we got to see some of that. We also visited a few shops. All of which were WAY too expensive. Later we visited the Capitol building. It was nice to see how so much of the art in the building depicted the culture/religion of the state. There was a lot of art depicting native americans, hispanics, catholicism and native american religion. After the Capitol building, we went for lunch at Annapuna's. It serves Indian, Tai, and some Mexican food. I got a somosa with a side salad. It was very good. By the time we finished eating we thought we had better get home and help the others get ready for the evening. At 3pm we all were going to go to Tous and have a picnic and see the gorge. So, when we got back, we cleaned out the van and helped pack dinner. It took us about an hour (I think) to get to our picnic spot near the stream. We took the High Road to Tous which goes over the mountains. I was really surprised, it was really green up there. Almost like the ADK. It turns out that we were up at about 8000 ft of elevation and the mountains around us were closer to 14,000. They make our ADK high peaks sound small. When we got to the picnic spot, we enjoyed a wonderful chicken Today was a normal day. I had some time to myself during the morning. Then Mrs. McMath and I made cinnamon swirl bread and enjoyed each-others conversation. Later, after dinner, we went to a personal growth development where we learned about evangelism. Bro. Wilkins was teaching us that we should "be ready always to give an answer" for the hope that is within us. He taught us how we should start by getting to know the person, taking interest in them, and letting them talk about themselves and their occupation. Then asking them if they're interested in spiritual things. He also said that we should share with them the Gospel before we answer any questions or get into any doctrine. Also, we should engage them with examples that they will understand and not a lot of christianees jargon. I think those were all the main points that he brought out. After he gave the lesson, we prayed and he sent us out to different areas to knock on doors and do visitations. Naomi, Miss Jacqueline, Bri, I and four other girls all went to one area. Not too many people were home so we only gave a few tracks out. Then we went and visited a deaf woman and her daughter who attends the church and lived near by. It was really nice to see them both. After that we headed back to the church and hung out there until everyone was pick up. Once we got back to the house, us girls made and canned salsa while watching the long version of Pride and Prejudice. It's a 6 hour movie, so we didn't finish it all, but we did finish canning most of the salsa. It was late so we decided to do the rest of the canning in the morning. Yesterday was a good day. We had devotions and ate breakfast. Later in the afternoon we processed some green chili peppers and watched The Book of Daniel. It's an excellent movie by the way. We also shucked beans and made lemon bars. During this time, I've had a lot of great conversation with all the girls just getting to know each other better. After dinner we went to Wednesday night service. Mr. McMath preached on the power of prayer for spiritual battle. (Ephesians 6:18)"...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" After service, Naomi told me a little about Israel. I was really surprised to find out that 85% of people in Israel don't believe in God and only 5% are Orthodox Jews. Most Israelis are very secular. Naomi was telling me about one guy that she and her friend were witnessing to. He believed in God and kinda mixed Judaism with new age thinking. Apparently a lot are like that. Anyway I have more to tell you about this story, but I'll have to get Naomi to tell me about it again so that I can relay it correctly. And I'm much too tired now. Good night all! Today was a calm day. We had breakfast and devotions as usual. Then we pick the house up a bit. After that I had some time to myself. This was a blessing to me because it gave me the opportunity to write down my heart for missions and this blog. It was a special time for me to meditate on what different scriptures say and what He's put in my heart and the different things He's done with me. As I think about it I get really excited about what God is doing and especially about what he might do. I find myself recognizing how much I still have to learn and how much I don't understand . Oh Lord there's so much You still have to do in me and not enough time in the day to accomplish it all. I have so much I want to start and do and I'm so ready to be about all of it. And then I hear His voice saying "Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth." This reminds me that it's not all about me exalting Him in the nations or encouraging the nations to exalt Him; He's going to do it in HIs time and all I need to do is walk in His way in the moment. It's amazing and humbling to realize how much I do not know and how much I have yet to learn and understand. It seems the more I learn, the more I find I have yet to learn. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent with making food and helping out here and there. After dinner, Mrs. McMath, Rachel and I went to the Faith Bible Institute (FBI) that they're hosting in their church. It was excellent! There are a few thoughts that I specifically took away from it. We first went through parts of the Old Testament. One of the accounts we discussed was the man of God who prophesied over the pagan alter that King Jeraboam had made and caused the kings hand to wither (1Kings 13). This man of God was instructed by God "And he said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. For I have been told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’” 1 Kings 13:16-17 As he was going on his way, however, another man who claimed to be a prophet, 'said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He was lying to him. 1 Kings 13:18 ' And so the young prophet disobeyed God and ate. And God judged him because of it. The lesson in this is that even if an angle tells you something contrary to God's word do not listen to him. The word of God (for us the BIble) is always the standard not the words of men or angels. Ok so another crazy truth, this one was a paradox shifter. The setting of this passage is that king Jeroboam has fallen away from God horribly and lead Israel to do the same. Because of this God is pronouncing judgment on the house of Jeroboam. The back round before this passage is Jeroboam's son is sick and his wife disguises herself and goes to a prophet to find out what is going to happen. The passage comes from 1 Kings 14:10-13 therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!”’ Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam." In this passage we are told that things are going to get really bad for the house of Jeroboam. It's going to be horrible and there is going to be pain and suffering and death. And then we're brought to the matter of this child and The Lord says "for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel." So this kid was going to die because he was blessed of God? What? Then we think to ourselves (or at least I did) "God I don't get it, what am I missing from this story, I must of missed something." Here's what I had miss; I forgot to remember that death for a believer in the eyes of God is a blessing. Think of how it would have been if that boy had lived. God had cursed his family and life for them was misery. Even if God had blessed the boy with life; he would have watch as everyone in his family died and was eaten by dogs and birds. He would have watched as those he cared about came to utter disaster and he would have been powerless to rescue them because they were under the righteous judgment of God. And the blessing of life would have been closer to a curse. Instead God allowed the child to die and that child went to heaven where there is no sorrow, no pain, no suffering, only joy, peace and love. Where he could live in the presents of a loving God forever without want. Now I don't know if I've explained this well enough for you to recieve the revealation of it, but if nothing else let it be a reminder to us that regardless of what we think God's ways are ALWAYS higher than our ways, His thought so much higher than our thoughts. How can we, finite, sinful man judge the all knowing, infinite, perfect, God. So let me encourage you, brothers and sisters, that when you find yourself saying "God that just doesn't seem fair" or "God that doesn't seem loving" to humble yourself and pray for God to work in your heart and help you to see thing the way He sees them. And forgive me, I am not just talking to you, but to me as well and maybe more to me. Anyway there were several other things I learned that I'll have to write to you all about latter. For now, good night. Sleep well and God bless. This morning has been a little less busy. We have had breakfast a little later this morning. Then we took turns reading Psalms 119 and Proverbs 24. After breakfast we cleaned up and got to meet thier dog Snickers. Snickers is a funny dog; she doesn't really like people she doesn't know. So, the McMaths wanted her to get used to me. Now with most people Snickers wont let them pet her until she's been alone with them for at least a week. So I thought bribing her might be a good idea. Elk jerky did the trick. She was still really skittish, but with Mrs. McMath there she let me pet her. Later this evening she even came over near me (before she wouldn't get anywhere close.) The McMaths all agreed that it was the quickest she had warmed up to anyone. But I'm getting ahead of myself, the rest of the morning I had to myself (which gave me the opportunity to catch up on some things, so I was grateful). Naomi was working with her College Plus student calls and the rest of the family was busy shopping or visiting church members in the hospital. At around 1pm Naomi and I headed over to the church, where we met Naomi's good friend, Jacqueline (age 27) and her little sister Brianna (age 8)who is a sweet girl who loves to read especially the bible. Jacqueline and I put up wall words and Bri helped. I must admit it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. In all the buildings the walls are textured and some are mountainous. One of the walls was so textured it looked just like NM from the air, same color too. :) Just kidding not all of NM is brown, there is quite a bit of green in many patches. Anyway, we did find the secret to keeping the wall words on the wall, it's called Mod Podge. It's like a tacky glue substance that dries clear. We were really glad to have it; I don't think the wall words would last the night without it. After that I helped Naomi put away some school books and then write the children's names on each of their school workbooks. All of that took us about 4 hours; 3 of them were on the wall words. :) Then we went home and I helped prepare dinner with Rachel and Mrs. McMath while Naomi and Luke preped for their guitar lessons. After dinner was all picked up it was time to process some green chili peppers. Mr. McMath had already roasted 3 garbage bags for them and now we had to peel and core them. It wasn't too hard. He had roasted them really well so all we had to do was run our hands down the sides to get the skin off. Then we took out the seeds and rinsed them in water. After we did that, the peppers were brought inside, copped in a food processor, and bagged in 1 cup measurements, then frozen. We froze 90 bags tonight in about 3 hours or so. The Mr. McMaths would like to have 350 bags when their done. Green chillies are used in almost everything down here. Often people will buy them in large boxes and pay to have the store roast them. The boys most years will build roasters and sell them to people who don't want to pay the stores. We also did a smaller bag of sweet peppers such as banana peppers and "fooled you" jalapeños (mild/sweet jalapeno peppers). We then cleaned up and blanched broccoli and shucked shell beans. The ones I was shucking were really beautiful. Also, did you know that there is a shell bean called Money. So as it turns out you can indeed grow money just not on trees. By this time it was quite late, so we decided to pick everything up. And now, by God's grace I got a second wind, and I'm writing to you all about it. But I should probably go to bed now; morning comes early. Good night all and God bless. Today is a Sunday which naturally means it a very busy day for the McMath's. Spanish service started at 8:30 this morning. Naomi played the piano and we sang Spanish hymns. I didn't understand most of it, but it sounded beautiful. The message was given by Brother Karr and then translated into spanish (which I appreciated very much because I was able to understand it and begin to correlate it with the spanish). This morning we all gathered for breakfast at 7 am. Mrs. McMath and Rachel prepared breakfast burritos. They were very good. After breakfast, we preyed and did devotions together. Naomi and I then went to a prayer meeting and then we went to pick up Grace and Adrianna for the girls ministry. We met up with the other girls at the church. Then we headed to the surrounding neighborhoods to invite people to church and pass out tracts. After that we went back the the church, ate lunch and cleaned and set up the school rooms. By this time we had the help of some of the older kids as well. They were all a lot of fun to work with. After we were done, Naomi, Grace and I took Adrie and Josiah home. That's where the picture is from. Then Grace got pick up and I had some time to myself while Naomi practice for worship. This evening we ate dinner and then Naomi showed me the new church building. It's really beautiful! The building has been in progress for seven years and is completely debt free. The McMath boys and a some church members have built most of it. It's scheduled to be finished in December. After that Naomi and I played Rummie for a little while and then we all prayed and went to bed (or rather I went to my room to write).
Dear Friends and Family, Just wanted to tell you a little about my trip. Yesterday I arrived safe and sound in Albuquerque, NM where Naomi pick me up. I had a wonderful flight, looking at NM from the air was really beautiful and the views were even better from the ground. The Albuquerque airport was beautiful! It was definitely the most beautiful and calm airport I've ever been in; decorated more like a restaurant than an airport. It was really wonderful to finally meet Naomi. She is so sweet and immediately I felt right at home with her even though we hadn't been in touch for years. We drove about an hour into Santa Fe where we stop at a pizza shop and received a ready to bake pizza. That was a new experience. I've never been to a pizza shop that prepared pizzas for you to bake at home. From Santa Fe it was about a half hour drive to Española. It was around 8:30pm (10:30pm EST) when we arrived at her house. Naomi's mom met us at the door and shortly after I met her sister, Rachel, her dad and four brothers: Andrew, Luke, David, and Benjamin. They set me up in my room (Rachel's room actually). She was so wonderful to loan it to me. Then we spent some time getting to know each other before evening prayer. After which, Naomi and I stayed up and talked for a while longer before heading to bed. Dear Friends and Family,
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