Butter Update

Well, I found some...

Paid $14 for this 500 gram packet of butter!!! All the way from France. :)

I told my husband...it is appropriately wrapped in a gold wrapper!!! LOL

Butter anyone?

Okay, just when you think you've seen it all, this country rises up and bites you again. :)

It seems that we have no butter in this whole city of 2+ million people. Grocery store shelves are bare of butter/margarine, or any such product. The little shops along the road are out of it. Wow!

I'm going to check at a few of the grocery stores that carry imported butter today...and hope they are not sold out! Who knows how much I'll have to pay for it, but what can you do? Gotta have my butter! :)

Dust

Living in Madagascar, one of the things you quickly have to adjust to is the amount of dust in the air. Known as the Red Island, the dust is very much a part of our lives here, particularly during the dry season. I am amazed at how often the furniture needs dusting! Even now, when our windows remain closed because of the cool temperatures, the dust still manages to find its way into our home.


This morning as I sat here looking at the dust on my desk, I begin to wonder if this has a spiritual application as well? If we are not careful, do we allow the dust of the world, the dust of LIFE, to clutter our lives? How often do we come in and dust off the furniture of our heart? How often do we allow the rain of the Spirit to refresh the dry, parched soil of our heart -- thus minimizing the dust?

I'm reminded of the words of the song:
We thirst for you,
We search for you,
In a dry and barren land,
We're longing for your hand
to guide us to a place where you
can cleanse us with your rain...
baptize us once again
We thirst for you!

Obstacles

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.

Most of us have read this story before. I was reminded of it this week. Yes, in life we often find obstacles in our path. Many times it is tempting to turn back or find the easy way around this obstacle. But what reward when we work to make a difference, push that obstacle out of the way, and work to overcome this difficulty in our lives! Relationships, ministry, personal devotion -- they are all worth our time and effort to overcome any obstacles in our path!

May God bless you today as you overcome your path's obstacles!

Youth Conference

This year is our Youth Department's 20th anniversary. During our youth conference last week, former youth department leaders were honored for their years of faithful service. We had a great Youth Conference as over 4,000 young people gathered from all over the island.

Pictured above: my husband greeting the crowd of young people...and the group of youth department leaders through the years.

Exciting News!

I'm proud to announce that I'm an aunt again!!!! We are excited to welcome Zackary into our family. My brother and his family have adopted this little boy. He is four years old and a real sweetheart. We were able to meet him while we were on furlough. Here is a picture of my brother, Daryl, with Kaitlyn (my niece) and Zackary.

Thank the Lord for New Beginnings who made this adoption possible! This is an awesome ministry - check out their website at: http://www.newbeginningsadoptions.org

PKs

We had a great PK camp. So blessed with a great group of preacher's kids! It was awesome to watch them come together in prayer, worship and fun!

Timothy Fund

Here is a special request:
Our missionaries to Malawi, Tremayne and Vicki Simoneaux, had to medically evacuate their son, Timo, to Johannesburg, South Africa with Bacterial (Pneumococcal) Meningitis. We are extremely grateful that our health insurance with Aetna Global Benefits was able to arrange for the medical evacuation and treatments in South Africa. They have been extremely helpful to us and the family in this medical emergency.

Brother and Sister Simoneaux are very thankful for the prayer support of our churches in America and around the world. The latest reports received indicate that God has intervened with His miraculous touch and with the assistance of the medical personnel and facilities in South Africa, Timo is improving.

However, the doctor in South Africa has advised that he will need additional follow up treatment and therapy. He has advised that as soon as possible, when Timo is able to travel by commercial carrier, he be brought to the United States for additional treatment. Our missionary health insurance plan will assist to some degree with the cost of commercial airfare, but the family will be faced with several thousand dollars in additional airfare expenses. Brother and Sister Simoneaux have also had additional personal expenses while staying in South Africa with their son that are not covered by insurance.

We are making this appeal in behalf of Tremayne and Vicki Simoneaux for your financial assistance at this time.

Please follow the directions below in making your contributions to this very IMPORTANT project: Make your checks payable to: Foreign Missions Division, 8855 Dunn Road, Hazelwood, MO 63042. Be sure to state that your offering is for account # 103.FA.033260.11.1104._.23

Carl Varnell

Secretary of Foreign Missions

PK Camp

Well, things have NOT slowed down yet. PK Camp started tonight. We have a great group of PKs with us and such a beautiful move of the Spirit tonight. A great start of a great week, I'm sure!

I'll write more as I can. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures to share:

We're home!

Well, we are finally back home!!! After being out of internet contact for so long, it feels good to be 'connected' again! I will post about all our travels soon, but for now, I'm trying to catch my breath and unpack! Lots of news and pictures to share!