Petition

Please pray for the brother of one of my teammates. He was in a motorcycle accident back in the States. He's fine, but his foot is pretty mangled. Also pray for my teammate that she won't worry herself to death!

You Are Here

                 

                 

If this were the other way around and actually Africa, I'd be very close to where that pigeon is.

Between the Dead and the Living Dead

Today we stood between the dead and the living dead. Behind us centuries of decaying bones, before us millions of decaying lives. From a graveyard we overlooked a city full of people dead in sin, dead in idolatry, dead in a lie.

Eph 2:1 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."

The only difference between the living of this city and the dead is that the people here have a chance. They only lack messangers.

Rom. 10: 14b, c "And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

This city of more than of a million is lost and next to no one stands between them and a graveyard of eternal damnation. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Christians are spending their lives on legitimate ministries, but ignoring a needier field.

Ezek. 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none."

Is there a man who will stand between this one city, or any city like it, and the grave?

Go with God
--Mira

Independence Day

Today is the Fourth of July, an important day for all Americans wherever their feet may rest, for today is our Independence Day. Today we left Mother England and began to govern ourselves. Usually I'd be eating brats and waiting for the neighbors to shoot off illegal fireworks, but there's no Independence Day here, at least, not for the country itself. But every Christian has an Independence Day of his own.

Some of us declared the day when we were very small, some of us waited a very long time, but that doesn't make the day any less special. Every one us been given liberty through Christ. The entire book of Galatians was written to remind us of that liberty. Gal. 5:1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not again entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

We've been released from the bondage of season. Made free by the blood of lamb. But by becoming free we became bondslaves of Christ. (Rom. 6:18 "Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.") Some might wonder how you can call trading one slavery for another slavery, liberty. But in Jewish law a man might give himself as an eternal bondservant to his master. His ear was bored through with an awl and through his own choice become a slave. He became a trusted servant. Like Joseph in Potpher's house, the Christian may be a slave, but he has all the liberty and the power of his master behind him. (Rom. 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting.") Without our Master we are nothing. With our Master we are everything. Our slavery becomes our liberty.

When America became a country we left a government behind, but we replaced it with a better government. We went from one master to a better master. When I became a Christian I left sin behind and was given a better Master. The day that happened is my Independence Day.

Do you have an Independence Day?

Go with God
-Mira

Undercover Agent

by Jamie

Ever wonder what it would be like to be an undercover secret agent? Let me tell you!

My digital camera that I bought just before the trip has really been getting a workout. Taking pictures of our group is never a problem, but I have learned that the people here don't like being photographed, so it makes it really hard to take pictures of the city and streets without making people nervous and upset. Our team "Master"mind gave me a great idea. The next time I went out to one of the open-air vegetable/fruit markets I put on my sun glasses, turned off the flash on my camera, and muted all the sound effects. No clicking, no flashing. I held it at my side and casually sauntered down the street snapping pictures right in front of my unsuspecting subjects! It took me a few practice shots to get my angle right, but some of the pictures turned out great!

I'm not the only one with a knack for the sneaky. One other member of our team has shown great talent as well. To start the story off from the beginning . . . I and one of the other girls on the team made a cultural observation very early on in the trip. We observed that all the young, trying-to-be-hot guys that you pass on the street all seem to waft by on a wave of very strong, very good smelling cologne.  We both wanted to buy some for family back home, but didn't have clue what to buy. What were we to do--stop some guy on the street and ask him what cologne he was wearing? NO! Rather, we enlisted(conscripted might be a better word) the aid of one of the guys on the team, a most resourceful fellow who desires to be referred to as "Agent X." One day, my friend noticed that one of Agent X's English students was wearing the coveted cologne and ordered him to find out what it was. So, Agent X cleverly made "cologne" one of the day's vocabulary words and then casually asked,

"Soooo, what cologne do you wear?"

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I am now the happy possessor of a bottle of Madidni cologne!

This trip is definitely work, but the moments of hilarity come often!

Summery

I have a new student in my hallway class. She's eleven and she's very cute. She seemed to pick things up fairly well considering she knows no English at all, only her alphabet and that because she's been taking French.

In other news I went to the beach yesterday, fought with waves, and turned a very nice shade of red. As my Spanish-speaking friends says, "Chica roja!"

But in All...

The city we're staying in has taken the language of its country and mutated it in strange and random ways. Our personal language expert loves to point out all of the ways the city's version of the language is different from the language in the rest of the country. It's difficult to explain, but the following is how I imagine this situation in America. All apologies to anyone who actually lives in Snailville.

[A native of Snailville, U.S.A is having a conversation with a foreigner, while a Language Expert from a near by city listens in]

Native Speaker: So I was gonna go plant me some haryus, but you kn--

Innocent Bystander: [Interrupting] Pardon me, my good fellow, but what is an 'haryu'? I really don't believe I 'ave ever 'eard that word before.

Language Expert: [Hears the question and strolls over] Perhaps I can help. Here in Snailville they say 'haryu,' but in all America they say carrot.

IB: [Nods his head slowly] I see, please do continue.

NS: The cold kinda stuck 'round late like. It's May an' I still can't open me powers.

IB: [Looks shocked] Your... powers? I say, old chap, perhaps you forgot your 'lectric bill?

NS: [Seems insulted] Of course not!

LE: Here in Snailville they say 'power' which means 'might' or 'strength,' but in all America they say 'window".

IB: Quite good, thank you.

NS: So I'm wonderin' 'bout meh succhini

LE: [Is stumped himself. Lifts his eyebrows] You mean your zucchini.

NS: No, meh succhini.

LE: But in all America they say zucchini...

NS: Well, hereabouts we say succhini!

IB: [Confused] Succhini?

LE: No, succhini means 'bald.' Succhini seems to mean 'zucchini,' but only in Snailville, not in all America.

IB: [Still confused] Succhini...

LE: No, no! Succhini means 'bottle'.

IB: Succhini means 'bald', succhini means 'bottle', and succhini means 'zucchini'?

LE: Yes, in Snailville, but in all America--

[In the middle of the Language Expert's sentence the Innocent Bystander wanders off in a daze, muttering incoherently that it is time for tea.]

Go with God
-Mira