How fast things change...

I have been praying for an August departure date and here God is letting me go to Haiti in the middle of July! In preparation for the upcoming hot and humid weather I have cut my 'lucious locks' and have a much shorter and cooler 'do'! I love it!

I have been released for my first two years of service in Haiti with One Mission Society starting with a five month language study stint in Port-au-Prince, staying at OMS's guest house - "The Villa".

Villa Ormiso, Rue Roucourt, Carrefour, Ouest, Haiti
Courtesy of Google Maps

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

I will be leaving July 25th and Lord willing coming back December 17th to see friends and family for Christmas before heading back to Haiti in the new year to start work at Bethesda Medical Center! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

"Many Meetings" or "Explorations in the Flora and Fauna of the West Coast" or "Washington: A State of Financial Partnership" or "Experiences in Public Speaking" or...

Well, I have been back at home now for a few weeks. Hardly seems like it should be the end of May already! Washington was gorgeous.

I was truly blessed to see my Washington family again and to spend time with Erika.

I arrived on Friday, April 27th and spent a lovely few days with the Heins'. Saturday afternoon, Erika arrived with another friend from college, Mary, who had just spent the week with Erika at her apartment on Whidbey Island. After church on Sunday, Erika, Mary and I travelled back to Whidbey Island.

The next week and a half was filled with talking, laughing, movie watching, singing, dishwashing, cleaning, in short FRIENDSHIPPING. I was able to enter into Erika's world - a little bit - to see how things run and to not just hear about them on the phone. I met the friends she has made since we were both in college together - shared some laughs over just how similar some of us are :D

She was so proud of her chocolate cheesecake - it was delicious

Tabitha

Anna and I

Kayla

 As for meetings, the first Sunday I was in Washington, I spoke for 20 minutes at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Snohomish. I had been given the opportunity to speak there when Mom, Dad, and I were 'Way Out West' for part of my graduation trip in 2010, so it was good to go back again. They are a wonderful body of believer's and I felt very welcomed. Plus, getting a whole 20 minutes in a service? wow! I don't think I was able to thank Pastor Grady enough. I was able to speak at a Ladie's Bible Study, had my first one-on-one home meeting - exciting times, spoke at Family Bible Church in one of their Sunday School classes - they gave me the whole hour! I had 40 minutes to present and then we had a really good question and answer time for 20 minutes.


I was able to meet up with Dr. Hall who served for many years both in Ecuador and Haiti. He took me out for lunch and then all over the island showing me different areas and explainging things to me about the island. We had lunch at a very nice little restaurant overlooking the harbour. Our conversation revolved around Haiti and serving, living, working there and especially about language study. His advice? Go to Port-au-Prince and become immersed in it before you ever set foot on the Campus in Cap-Haitien where you will be sorely tempted to neglect language study and work at the Clinic.

On Monday Erika and I were invited to dinner at the Lucero's - a couple just starting with One Mission Society. I had met them a few weeks before when they were at HQ for their interview and had babysat their kids for the morning of meetings, so it was good to touch base with them again. We had a wonderful night of fellowship before heading to the Sea-Tac airport to pick up another good friend from college, Kristina.

Kristina bringin 'the goods' ;)

Kristina and I formed a "Three Musketeers" on campus - Erika being the last to join was our "D'artagnan"! We now form a small "Fellowship of the King" (from Lord of the Rings). Oh the happy times we have shared and continue to share together.

On Tuesday morning Kristina and I walked to the school where Erika teaches - we bought ourselves breakfast along the way and brought lunch with us! I believe her students were highly amused to meet us, Erika kept telling us we were something of celebrities to them. I played true to form and threw in a few Pippinish comments during her English lesson - chief of which was to proclaim that the object pronoun of you was yom (why not? if the object pronoun of who is whom?) Alas this was to be my parting comment as I was shortly thereafter escorted from the room by a stern faced Frodo (Kristina) so that Sam (Erika) could finish teaching in peace. :D

Tuesday evening the main purpose for my trip came into being. My first ever church missions committee meeting. To say I was nervous is an understatement! But I was confident that this was where the Lord had led me. So though, I didn't feel brave, (Erika has told me on different occasions that: "Being brave is not the absence of fear but acting in spite of it.") after a short time of prayer with Erika I faced the challenge at hand knowing not only that He was with me, but had gone before me! Prepared the way even! How blessed the thought.

Finks, Guppies, and Moonshining

I have been on the road for the past two weekends! Wahoo! The title of this blog post relates to a car ride conversation that involved DINKS, YUPys and Moonlighting - and my propensity to get the names wrong/mixed up! I hadn't heard of Double Income No Kids (DINKS) before Lori Long mentioned it in the car I asked if they were kinda like guppies? or are they called wuppies? puppies? I couldn't recall but texted Dad who asked if I was thinking of Young Urban Professionals? Yuppies! That was it! Way to save the conversation Dad ;) Of course then Lori wanted to make sure I didn't forget it was DINKS and not something like FINKS or SPHINX or anything else for that matter :D I told her that the first time I tried to use the term "moonlighting" I actually said "moonshining" - obviously not quite the same thing :D

 Well, so that's the title! Now about my trip!

While staying with the Atkins, Shirley invited me to a Titus Women's Discipleship Summit in Ohio the coming weekend - April 19-21. It sounded like fun and she offered to come and pick me up on their way over - she and Jen, and Melissa, and Holly were all going and I'd be more than welcome to join!

This was perfectly timed as I had a few days of R&R from the Olney trip and a bit of a break from speaking engagements that pick back up on Friday! I will be going to Washington state for a week and a half to fund out there :D So exciting!!!

The Titus Women's Discipleship Summit - "Living Holiness - your fulfilled calling" was a huge blessing! I am so glad that I was able to attend! We arrived at The Amish Village Inn with blue skies and a drop in temperature! It was gorgeous!

When we checked into our rooms we received a welcome packet with name tag and a small gift bag full of goodies!!!!

I really felt the impact of God's Living Water washing over me. At one point I was just sitting there listening and noticed a little fountain that they'd set up at one of the main tables. They'd used little kerosene lamps on all of ours but the main one had a big lamp with a Bible and this beautiful running fountain - I was touched not only with it's beauty but it's symbolism.

The whole weekend was not only a blessing but a filling up - just a reminder of God's love for me! I am His daughter - a daughter of the King, a princess, adopted into His family and delighted in! Hemwants to lavishly love me - to pour out His richest love and holiness on and into me. The question is: Am I willing? Am I ready? Am I expectant? do my eyes look to Him as the Psalmist describes in Ps 123:2? (Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.)

One of the key chapters for the conference - at least the one that meant a lot to me was Isaiah 62 (I'll let you look this one up for yourselves ;D)

We put our own names in for Jerusalem and Zion - how precious this chapter became to me almost instantly. I especially appreciated the way that Stephanie Hogan described verse 3: "He won't rest until we lay down all to become a crown of beauty in the Hand of God to say to the world - 'Look. Look at Elida. Isn't she beautiful? Doesn't she just shine?'" Wow. This was such a special God-moment in my life - especially when I stop and remember that just days before in a phone conversation with a friend I had said that sometimes I just have to look in the mirror and say: "You are beautiful. So don't fall for the first or second or third guy that tells you this truth. Say it so you know it and realize it for yourself." Before getting off the phone she said to me, "Oh, Elida...you're beautiful." we both laughed - I think it may become a new sign off :D So how precious, how absolutely wonderful, that God gave me some of the most astounding verses from His Word telling me that I am beautiful! 

Olney - Home of the White Squirrels

I was in Olney, Illinois the weekend before last (April 13-15) - Home of the White Squirrels!

ROUSes? Rodents of Unusual Sizes? Looks like they are romantic too! who knew? ;)

This is what they really look like :)

Aren't they cute?

I met and stayed with a wonderful couple - the Atkins - they had a cookout at their place for me and I was able to share testimony and fellowship with some MFMers and people from the community - it really was fun! They had a welcome cake and everything!

Their oldest daughter, Jen, asked if I remembered her? We'd met sixteen years before in Haiti when she'd come down with her sister and Dad - I didn't - but we had a lot of teams come through when I was growing up!

Here we are sharing the last piece of the ice cream cake :D

We got to talking afterwards and found out we have a lot in common - so much fun to meet new people and make fast friends - I'm really nervous about meeting people for the first time but it was great the way we fell into easy conversation.

So thankful to Ken Milone, my funding coach for setting up this whole trip!!!

I spoke at the MFM Council meeting on Friday morning - as I don't like mornings and had been up late the past few nights I was very thankful to God that everything went so smoothly!!! Then it was down to Carmi for an informal visit with some of the Milone's friends and out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant! An intern from MFM from a few years back, Trevor Fornwalt, lives in the area and came to the breakfast and then we picked him up for lunch too!!! It was great to hang out with him a little bit - he's just graduated from HS and is looking forward to starting college but his heart is in the Ukraine - so the next week he visited OMS in Greenwood to work out some details as to when he can go back and took me to downtown Indy for some fun and pics! Friends make life so much less dull, don't you think?

Back to Olney, I got a short nap before the evening. Busy, busy, busy! - and I felt so tired - even after the nap. I called a prayer partner and after a short conversation and some prayer was able to face the next part of the trip - I just really needed His strength and endurance. And He gave it - I left the little office room I'd been on the phone in - going in completely drained and feeling like a wooden dummy and coming out feeling so refreshed and ready for my speaking engagement...still a little nervous - but ready to jump in! I shared at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) where Emmaus Walk was having a sort of reunion/testimony/dinner time! They'd had the Walk the weekend before and from what I understand this was just a sort of get together of those who'd gone through it past and present. There was a beautiful time of worship after an amazing potluck meal and then different people shared testimony of what God had done in and through them both on the walk and since they had returned to 'normal' life. Then the Pastor of the church - Pastor Scott - introduced me and I was able to share for about 10 minutes. I really liked that I had been able to hear some of their testimonies first...kinda gave me a better idea of who my audience was and see how God's been working in and through them :D

Then back to the Atkins for some one-on-one fellowship/unwind time - before heading to bed before the start of another busy day!

Sunday I spoke at FUMC for 10 mins and then we headed across town to Grace Evangelical Church where I shared in the Women's Sunday School and then again in their main service. Pastor Scott at FUMC gave a wonderful introduction - wish I could take him with me everywhere!!! Wow - really understands faith promises, and the ministry I will be doing in Haiti :D

We had a few technical hiccups at Grace - but it worked out in the end :D

This trip was so much fun, got to meet new people and was overwhelmed by two things: 1) The fact that though I didn't know any of them they'd been praying for Nate and 2) Their generosity - I went from 56.2% funded to 58.4%!!!! Lots of special gifts, but at least one monthly supporter and I think that others will come on board too! Praise the Lord!

I FOUND IT!

I was finally able to convert my Scottish radio interview file extension .08 into an mp3 file! And then from an mp3 into a .wlmp and finally into a .wmv! Long day.

Whew! It's taken me much longer to do this than first anticipated! Because one cannot post a video that is 24 mins - who knew? So here is the interview in three parts (I like the second and third parts best).

Enjoy! :D

Life goes on...

I have been to Atlanta, Lynchburg, and Winston-Salem, and BACK! It has been busy and fun, long, and exciting! And now I am sitting quietly at home about to tell you all about it. Well, maybe not all :D

Praise the Lord for safety on the roads for all trips. Mom drove everywhere - she usually does :D and Dad navigated. I sat in the back of the rental car and read, watched the scenery and jammed with Mom to Sirius XM 40s, 50s, and 60s classsics - to and from Atlanta.

Our trip to VA was wonderful - both ways - once again thankful for friends and family. We were basically going to see Tiffany (my sister) for her Spring Break and to be an encouragement to her. We also got to see "A&M" (Andrew and Michelle - my bro and sis-in-law). She is 'preggo' with my niece!!!! and I am very excited :D Should be some time mid-July - I have already hit two garage sales and I'm not about to quit anytime soon!

My best friend from PCC, 'Aruba', lives in NC which wasn't too far away! It was close enough that she drove to and from VA just so we could spend a few days together! She had to work but I was able to hang out with her sister on Weds - she took me out to TGIF's - fun stuff - I'd never been before. And then we went to a nail and spa - never been to one of those before either - not likely to go again - it's pricey...BUT so much fun! We got pampered so much! I felt like a princess...well OK - I felt like the princess I am ;)

Aruba and I then went to Pine Dale Christian Church for their Wednesday night Women's Meeting. I was hoping to share but it didn't quite work out :( but it was good fun anyway! We started off by putting together 'hostess' baskets for a women's ministry they are involved in. We sang Potter's Hands acapella - beautiful. And then the speaker spoke on being clay in the Potter's hands. Challenging us with two life stories - one of a woman who appeared all put together and 'perfect' on the outside but who'd been struggling with allowing God to command her life for years. She'd been hurt by friends in the past and had built up numerous thick walls around her heart - keeping people at a distance.  And the other a woman who was open and obedient to God's still small voice when He told her to stop as she was driving along the Highway. She'd seen 'something' fall from an overhead bypass. The 'something' was a man who in a drunken stupor either fell or threw himself over the bypass to end his life. She was able to be with him in his final moments, to pray over him and with him - it turned out later that his family was in GA and had no idea where he was. What a comfort to them to know that a stranger, who was willing to listen to God's still small voice, was there when their husband and son was leaving this world.

The speaker had us read Jeremiah 18:1-4 then asked the simple question: What kind of clay are you? Dry? Moist? Cracked? Malleable? I am going to ask the same question. Look at these two women's lives -which are you like? Built up with walls refusing to let anyone in? or Living your life listening to His voice?

CROSS Training

Well...I have now graduated from CROSS Training...and what have I learned? Hmmmm a lot about myself, others, and Jesus.

There is NO way that I can share EVERYTHING that happened in the past 3 and a half weeks. But since a picture paints a thousand words....

Ok - so I was noted for changing up my name tag :D

Some serious brainstorming

Colleen with her Tower of Cubes
So tempting to knock down

Colleen, Beth, Lauren, Sarah, and Myself
Off for some Girl Time

Bud and Cindy getting some computer tips
from our very own techie - Ben

Lauren with her 'best foster mom' Cindy:)

New friends means new games
 This one's called Bronco 

Oh yeah! Don't mess with this Sheriff and Deputy

Rahab and Lauren

The Infamous Paul Cox
not on a Mobi phone call?
 A rare sight indeed!

Ok so the second trip to a Cross Cultural Church ended up being the typical CT experience...

...wrong turns, into traffic...

...dead ends...

...and GPS problems...

...but it ended well - with all of us able to enjoy an
Indonesian worship service, food, and fellowship

Beth with just a few more sessions to go

Graduation Speech

Signed, sealed, and delivered

Bud and Cindy
Looking forward to serving with this great couple in Haiti
Lord willing very soon :D

To end it we all went out for breakfast the day after Gradution

One of the highlights of CROSS training is the opportunity to share one's testimony in Chapel. I took   my slideshow presentation and the sound byte and made a video - hopefully the link works ;)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=363754776987578

I hope this has given you just a small peek into what's been goin' on. We cried, we laughed, we got frustrated, we learned, we grew, we were stretched, we fellowshiped, but most of all we became closer to 15 people who starting off were little more than strangers. Now we know we have others who have got our backs, will be praying for us, know us as we are and still love us, and have a deeper appreciation for the verse: "and it came to pass" ;)