Ordering Well

John and I go to the same person (Annette at the Family Salon) for our haircuts. Well, he get his haircut; I get haircuts, colors, pedicures and whatever else has to be done to keep me looking presentable. As I like to say, the maintenance just gets more and more expensive the older I get – kind of like a car.

Last night, John was in for a haircut and I was in this morning for “maintenance.” Annette told me that she asked John if I’d been busy baking in preparation for Christmas. I don’t bake. I used to, but when I discovered that most of the goodies I prepared went straight from the cooking rack into my mouth I decided that it was probably best I didn’t bake. I don’t mind eating other people’s goodies, mind you, and being as we have a fabulous bakery in town, I’m not afraid to call them either.

So, what did John say when asked if I’d been busy baking? He said, “No, Nancy’s more of a buyer than a baker.” Cracked me up! Though, as my friend Debbie says, “Knowing how to order well is important, too.”

36 Years of Communication

Wow! Another blog lapse. It seems I’ve got a lot in my head but not enough time to write it all down. So, today’s blog will be short, and somewhat unimportant, but perhaps a fun little glance into the Holte household.

I had a friend who told me recently that he reads my blog posts, and likes them, but well, “they are kind of long.” So for Chris, this one's for you.

Today, after months and months of procrastination and lack of planning, our plumber is at the house installing a couple of new faucets. Our kitchen faucet broke, oh probably a year ago, and my family has been not so patiently waiting for me to get a new one. This is the new kitchen faucet. The birds seemed very excited about it.

As is often the case, when shopping for household items, you start to notice that some other areas in your house could use a little help, too. And so it was for me when, after looking at new kitchen faucets, I wandered over to the bathroom faucet area and got to thinking, “You know, our bathroom faucet is getting pretty gross. These aren’t terribly expensive. Why don’t I just get a new one for the bathroom while I’m at it.”

I’m sure I talked to John about it before I placed my final order for both faucets, but he seems to have forgotten that. Thus, we just had the following conversation:

John: “What’s Leroy (our plumber) doing in the bathroom?”

Me: “He’s replacing the faucet.”

John: “Oh, you should have talked to me first.” (Really, I’m sure I did.)

Me: “Why?” (Not asked in a “why would I do that” kind of way but more in a “why, did you have another plan?” kind of way.)

John: “Well, I was thinking that we should just do the whole thing over.”

Me: (somewhat amazed) “Really? The whole bathroom?”

John: “No, just the sink.”

Me: “Well, I was thinking we’d re-do the sink when we re-do the whole bathroom.”

John: “Oh, well, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

Me: “And that’s why I just got the faucet.”

And that’s how communication works (or doesn’t) after 36 years of marriage.

Jesus Calling

I’ve been reading the devotional book Jesus Calling since the beginning of the year. It is truly the best devotional book I’ve ever read. It seems like every day the message has been written specifically for me. I jokingly tell people that I think the writer, Sarah Young, slips into my house at night, figures out what’s been going on in my life and then writes the devotion that I’ll read the next morning. I can say without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is using this devotional to change the way I do my life as a Christian.

In October the focus of the month has been living in the presence of Christ. In other words, instead of trying to do everything myself I should be calling on Him more often for strength, wisdom and peace. I woke up the other morning and realized that the previous day I’d spent much of my day frustrated and overwhelmed with way too much on my “to-do” list. I couldn’t remember calling on the Lord even one time during that previous day other than during my morning’s devotion. I felt like a failure at this whole “living in the presence of Christ” concept and confessed my sorrow and frustration to God.

I kid you not, when I opened my devotional that morning this was the first line I read: DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED by the difficulty of keeping your focus on Me. You see what I mean about the author sneaking into my house to write just the perfect thing for me to read the next day? It’s happened time and time again.

It’s easy for me to think that God is always just a tad bit disappointed in me and the way I live my life. I think the Enemy does his best to keep Christians discouraged so we feel unworthy to share the gospel. But, in truth I know that isn’t the case. One of the Bible verses for this day was Romans 8:33-34, “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

God doesn’t want me (or you) living in discouragement and frustration. He wants us living in the freedom of Christ. That is where we find the victory. That is where we find the peace. That is where we find life itself.

Last Day in Switzerland

My sincere apologies for the lag in my blog posts about our trip to Switzerland. A case of the shingles has slowed down my writing substantially but there was one very exciting thing that happened our last day in Switzerland that I want to share with you. There aren't, however, any pictures of the best part of the day so I'll share a few others with you that I took that day. Feel free to skip the pictures and move to the bottom of the post, if you'd rather.

Our plan for Tuesday evening was to go into the "Red Light District" of Switzerland (yes, they too have a "Red Light District") to minister to the prostitutes, most of whom have been brought into this position through human trafficking. In the morning we bought some small gifts to take to the girls and put them together in cute little bags in hopes of making them feel special.

At 2:00 we met up with Pastor Desmond, the pastor of the church we were working with, at the downtown Zurich train station. Maybe it's because I don't spend a lot of time at train stations that I was fascinated by all the activity. Busy place. Also, this is where the good pretzel stand was located so, of course, we had a pretzel snack to tide us over.

After leaving the train station we did a bit of shopping to stock up on chocolates or any other trinkets to bring home. After finishing up our shopping we went to the top floor of a store called Manor for a coffee break. (And yes, I do realize that it appears that all we did was eat on this trip but it didn't really feel that way at the time - though my scale might disagree.) One thing I noted about Manor is that they have the exact same logo as Herberger's has here in MN. Hmmm . . . makes one wonder. The following two pictures were taking from the little deck right outside the eating area. We were in full on tourist mode as we stood out there taking pictures. (As if my white tennis shoes and mega-camera hadn't already alerted the locals that we were tourists.)

One funny story is about the clock in the background of this next picture. You can see a closer up version in this blog post but as we were walking today I was told that this particular clock has the largest face in all of Europe. A couple hours later we were walking past it again and I heard a man tell his friend that this clock has the SECOND largest face in all of Europe. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it is in fact, the second largest clock face in Europe (by .3 meters) but the largest clock face on a CHURCH. So, now we know. Oh, and it's St. Peter Church in case you are curious.


Pastor Desmond knows the owner of the local watch shop and suggested since we had some time before beginning our ministry that we go there and visit the museum in the store's basement. Wow, fascinating clocks! This first one is just one that I found interesting. I can't really tell you much about it.

This huge clock has seven faces and dates back to the 14th century. I didn't catch what all of the seven faces do but besides the one that tells the time there is also one that shows the movement of five planets. Here's the incredible thing; ALL seven faces are powered by one big weight. Crazy huh?

The last clock here is one of four, I believe, that are still in existence. I believe one of the other ones belongs to the Queen of England. I wouldn't mind having it on my mantle.

After our tour in the clock/watch museum we were waiting outside and John decided to take a picture of the actual storefront. The man on the left coming out of the store is a security guard coming to tell John that he can't take pictures! (We'd been given permission to take photos downstairs.) Let's just say that this isn't the store you'd want to go to in Zurich for a cheap watch.

Around 7:00 we headed over to Starbucks to meet up with the women who would join us (actually lead us) into the red light district for our ministry time. To be clear, it was just the female members of our team who visited the girls. The men stayed at Starbucks (or outside of Starbucks actually because they closed at 8:00) to pray for us.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about going into the red light district. I had NO idea what to expect. Well, I had some idea, but to be honest, it was much less offensive than I was anticipating; at least from the street view. Our "guide" had a bit of a "route" that she usually takes. She said she rarely sees the same girls because they are moved to and from other countries every few months to comply with visa requirements. We spoke with a number of girls; some in windows waiting for their evening's work and others just sitting outside of bars. The amazing thing is that all of them were so grateful for the gifts we brought and welcomed the information we had to share with them about Christ. The one girl whose face still sticks in my mind was from Romania. She appeared to be no more than 17-years-old. It made me so sad that she was forced into such a nasty way of life. Tragic!

There was a moment in the evening that was totally unexpected and one I will never forget as long as I live. We were outside of a bar talking to about four girls. We were probably there for about 15 minutes but before we left one of the girls prayed for US! For real!

Let's say you gave me a list of things I would never anticipate happening in my lifetime that looked something like this and told me to pick the one I would least expect to occur:

1) You will go sky-diving.
2.) You will adopt a child from a foreign country.
3.) You will have twenty grandchildren.
4.) You will be prayed for by a prostitute.

I would put "being prayed for by a prostitute" at the top of the list of things least likely to happen; and, by the way, I don't much expect the other things to happen either (with the possible exception of sky-diving, but shhh. . . don't mention that to my mother . . . or John.) It was the most surreal and humbling moment. You can be sure that I had to wipe away a few tears.

And thus, an amazing moment capped off an incredible trip.

Enjoying God's Creation

I apologize for the lag in my blog. I’ve been sick. I’m writing this on Saturday, October 1 about our time in Lucerne on Monday, September 19. I figured I’d better hurry up or my brain will get a little fuzzy.

We didn’t actually anticipate having a lot of touring time in Switzerland but that is how things worked out. Nothing was really planned for us on Monday so we took a vote as a team and decided to do a day trip (at our own expense) to Lucerne. What a stunning place!

We started with a train ride through the Swiss countryside, from Zurich to Lucerne. After we arrived in Lucerne, and spent $2.50 to use the “clean” toilets at the train station (a marvelous example of free-enterprise), we had a little time to walk around and see the city before departing on a boat ride across Lake Lucerne.

The 669 feet wooden Chapel Bridge over the Ruess River has been a landmark in Lucerne since 1333. A large portion of the bridge was damaged in a fire in 1993 but has since been rebuilt and is still beautiful. I wonder whose job it is to water the flowers that line each side of the bridge? From a distance they are so perfect you almost think they are artificial flowers; but they aren’t.

You’ll be able to tell by most of my pictures that it wasn’t a warm, sunny day for our visit to Lucerne but we did not allow the clouds and rain to dampen our spirits. Views are always different when it’s raining but there was still plenty of beauty to go around.

After our 1½ hour boat tour we got off in Alpnachstad to board the world’s steepest cog railway. Basically, the cog is a gear on the underside of the train that hooks into a rack on the track allowing the train to scale heights at a steeper grade than a normal train would be able to. The cog train from Alpnachstad up Mount Pilatus climbs, at some points, a grade of 48%. Mount Pilatus by the way is named as such because local legend teaches that Pontius Pilate hung out there after he sentenced Christ to death and was later buried there. Who knows if that is true or not?

Although it was raining the views up the mountain were spectacular until it started to snow. I will confess that I would have preferred a bright, sunny day offering plenty of vistas to take in but I wasn’t the only person to consider in this expedition. Sitting across from us on the cog train was a girl from Brazil. She had never seen snow before and the look on her face when she first spotted the beautiful flakes was priceless. She was SO excited and thus we cheered with her.
By the time we reached the top of the mountain I was either sick from altitude or from turning my head so many different directions trying to “see it all.” But, thankfully, I recovered in time to have schnitzel for lunch, which I found out is basically a piece of pork pounded flat and fried. YUMMY!

There are two hotels built on top of the mountain; one built in the 1890’s. I am amazed at how they were able to build such a huge structure on top of such a tall mountain so many years ago.

Going back down the mountain provided another type of experience. We started off in a aerial cableway which is different than an aerial panorama gondola; although other than the size and seating, I couldn’t explain the difference to you. In the cableway we stood and the ride only took us a little way down the mountain where we then boarded the gondolas. Both were the smoothest gondola “type” trips I’ve ever been on. It was as though we were gliding through the air in hot air balloons.

This is going to sound strange, I know, but the highlight of the day came as we were gliding down the mountain. John and I were alone in the gondola and all of a sudden I heard this beautiful melodic sound. I know John can’t sing like that and I didn’t see any speakers in the gondola so I wondered where it was coming from. I glanced below us to see a field of cows munching on the grass, all of whom had bells around their necks. That’s what was making this beautiful sound. Apparently, each cow’s bell has its own tone so, when they are all moving about, the combination of the sounds creates a little concert. The lady in the gift shop at the bottom graciously answered all of our questions about the bells which I’m sure she answers a hundred times a day.

After we reached the bottom of the mountain we took a bus back to Lucerne (as we’d ended up in Kriens a few miles away.) There we did a little shopping, walking around (sometimes in the rain), and enjoyed a fabulous dinner before heading back to Zurich.

We saw lots of little ones on scooters like this one. So cute. I found it interesting that this mom led this little guy over to some steep steps. How she was planning to get down those steps with a stroller, a scooter, and a toddler I'll never know. Pastor Lindsay went over to help them out.

What a great day of enjoying God’s amazing creation!

Doing One Thing

This blog was written on Sunday, September 18.

Most of our day today was spent at church. The church is helping with the building of a transition home in Moldova. Of course, many of the members haven't had a chance to get to Moldova so the church basically had a "mission Sunday" to share about the work there, and about human trafficking in general. If you recall from my blog about Moldova you'll remember that the transition homes are just one way to prevent "at risk" girls from being trafficked.

A couple of us shared about our time in Moldova and how God worked in our lives while we were there. Since I only have one other thing to tell you about today I thought I'd give a brief summary of what I shared with the congregation.

As a little girl I grew up thinking that all children had parents that loved them. Now, of course, I know that isn't always the case but in Moldova I was overwhelmed by the reality of that fact. The more you hear about human trafficking, the more you want to "fix it" but the problem is too big for one person alone. In fact, it's pretty much an impossible problem. But God is the God of the possible and he kept reminding me over and over again of the quote that says "no one can do everything, but everyone can do something." The transition home allowed me so see the hopeful side of things. For this congregation to build such a home may be the "one thing" that will help make a small bit of difference. Pastor Lindsay also shared Andy Stanley's quote "Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." What we do may not seem like much, but in God's hands it is multiplied just like the loaves and the fishes.

I met a girl at church on Sunday, Tabea, who God is using in a big way to minister to women who have already been trafficked and forced into prostitution on the streets of Zurich. Tabea is a young mom with three kids and was praying for a way to minister to these women using the gift and talent God has given her as a therapeutic massage therapist. With the help of another organization in Zurich, and a miraculous opening in the building adjoining theirs, she goes into the red light district once a week, during the day, to offer free therapeutic massages to the prostitutes. These young girls are so abused and mistreated that they basically set up a stiff wall within themselves as a means of protection. To receive a loving, healing touch is something so rare, Tabea says, that as she starts to massage them their bodies feel like boards more than people. Eventually, as they begin to relax and trust her they will often cry and let down their guard a bit. Because the girls speak so many different languages Tabea's touch, and ultimately God's, is the only way she can show them love. To say that I was impressed with Tabea would be an understatement. She is doing the "one thing" that God has called her to do.

Good job, Tabea, good job.

Powered by Chocolate

Well, we've been home for five days now and I'm just getting around to posting my blogs from the trip. I'll try to post one each day for the next few days until you've "heard it all." Since I'm posting these from home and not during our trip I'm able to post the pictures along with the story. It takes a bit longer to add the pictures, having to choose and edit the pictures; thus the delay. This blog is about our first day in Switzerland - Saturday, September 17.

800 miles - that is the approximate number of miles that we walked today. Thankfully, there was plenty of chocolate to keep us energized. We were met this morning by Joel, the son of the pastor that we will be working with here in Zurich. Due to a scheduling mix-up, we won't actually see the pastor until church tomorrow. So, Joel, and his fiancé, Nicole, met us and showed us the city.

We started off by taking a train to downtown Zurich and then a tram (similar to our light-rail in Minneapolis) to Uetliberg which, according to the sign on the building there, is "The Top of Zurich." Granted, the hike to the top was, shall we say, challenging, for some of us but it was well worth it, The view was beautiful despite the fact that it wasn't a very clear day. Pictures hardly do it justice, but as you might guess, I tried.




Of course, all that walking wore us out so we needed to stop and have something to drink before catching the tram back into the city.

By the time we got back into the city it was time for lunch but instead of spending a lot of time at a restaurant we all voted for pretzels - the giant kind that you can get at sporting events only WAY better. I know you may find this odd, but as good as the chocolate is here, I think the pretzels are my favorite. They even make sandwiches out of them, with pretty much any kind of sandwich meat you could imagine.

After "lunch" we did a little shopping, focusing our efforts on getting some yummy Swiss chocolate because, as you can imagine, we were starving at this point. We hit up the expensive chocolate store first and later went to the "grocery store" for some more reasonably priced chocolate. I say "grocery store" but in reality it was a department store with a "grocery" department. Come to think of it I don't recall ever seeing what I would consider a "real" grocery store.

As we were walking through the streets I saw this beautiful clock. Later in the week I heard that it has the largest clock face in Europe - even bigger than Big Ben. About two hours later we were walking by the same clock and I heard some guy tell his friend that it has the second biggest clock face in Europe. Who to believe?

With chocolates in hand we continued to window shop on the Zurich equivalent of Rodeo Drive. At one point we ran into a full concert band performing on one of the streets and as we finished up our "shopping" some of us sat on a bench by a fountain to wait for the whole group. I was aghast when I saw a woman hold her son up so he could get a drink out of the fountain "spout." Apparently, the water in the fountains is safe to drink. I however, have not tested that personally. Pretty sure I won't.


We saw two churches that were right across the river from each other. FrauMünster Church was built in 853, and was beautiful. At one point a fire destroyed a part of the church so it was renovated and some of the stain-glass window were replaced by more modern windows designed by artist, Mark Chagall.

The second church we visited, GrossMünster, has quite the intriguing history. It was built by Zwyngli Platz during the days of the protestant reformation in the 1600's. Unfortunately, Zwyngli was a bit nuts and, in an effort to eliminate the corrupt Catholic priests he'd take them up in the bell tower and throw them out the window. I can say with pretty much 100% certainty this was NOT how Jesus would have handled corruption in the church. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful church.

After a stop for dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant we headed down to a park along the waterfront. In the background of this picture you can see both FrauMunster church and the giant clock.

There is a little pond at the park with stepping stones across it. Most of the stones are placed so that anyone, really, can walk across them without much effort. But some of the stones are placed further apart either for design or so that one 20-something man (say, Joel) could dare another 20-something man (say, one of our team members, Heith) to jump across them. (You know where this is going, don't you?) It appears that it's difficult for a 20-something man to say no to a dare such as this and once the jumping and momentum got going, well, it couldn't be stopped . . . until Heith landed in the pond, just shy of the fourth stone. I know it's wrong, but it still makes me laugh. Thankfully, his injuries were minimal, and we expect his shoes will be dry sometime before we leave.

Our return to the hotel consisted of three forms of transportation - four if you include our feet; boat to tram, tram to train, train to hotel shuttle from the airport. It's a great system which would be even easier if only I knew German. So far, I love Switzerland.

Moldova

I am posting this on Saturday night in Switzerland. There is so much more to tell you but I have to get to bed. Following is a recap of our two days in Moldova. All I can say for now is that Switzerland is amazing and I will probably have to post the rest of my blogs when I return home as internet use is incredibly expensive.

I could write a book on our two days in Moldova. If you've been checking for my blog update you have probably guessed we did not have internet access in Moldova. But, we did have ducks and chickens; grapes and tomatoes right outside our door. Oh, and a rooster who obviously has not been schooled in the proper crowing hour.

We arrived in Chisano (pronounced Kish - ah - now) on Wednesday afternoon and spent most of the day getting to know our host and being briefed on what we'd be doing there.

The goal of the group we worked with is to help prevent kids from becoming victims of human trafficking therefore the majority of our time was spent going to schools distributing pamphlets with information on how to avoid getting caught up in the trafficking web. It's a huge problem in Moldova because of the low income level. When a person is desperately poor and can't get a job, he/she is a prime target to be trafficked. The unemployment rate in Moldova is nearly 65%!

Every week there are 22,000 victims of human trafficking worldwide. Only 1% of the victims are ever rescued so keeping them from being trafficked in the first place is key. It's an overwhelming problem with no easy solutions. The things I learned would make your blood boil - at least I hope it would - but it's too much to share here.

One of our stops on Thursday was at a state run orphanage. The young children came right over to meet us as soon as we got out of our van. What amazed me was that when our friend in Moldova pulled out toothbrushes for the kids they flocked to get them as though he were giving away gold bars. While at the orphanage we gave a trafficking prevention presentation to the older kids - probably the most at-risk group of teens for trafficking.

There was one little girl at the orphanage that reminded me of a little girl we met in Russia two years ago. She was quite eager to talk to us when we first arrived and loved having her picture taken. As we left I went to give her a hug and she kind of pulled away from me. I realized later that she very rarely has any kind of loving touch, or really any kind of human touch at all and probably didn't know what to think when someone touched her in a kind way. (Either that or she just didn't like me.) Heartbreaking.

It would be easy to get overwhelmed with the sadness, and vastness, of the problem but fortunately we were able to see the upside of things also. After leaving the orphanage on Thursday afternoon we drove to a transition home for girls. That is another project that our hosts support. The transition home was amazing. There are eight girls living there, along with "parents." It isn't a big house but it is filled with lots of love. In this home, and all of the transition homes that are built, the "parents" are a local pastor and his family. When asked how living in this home has made a difference in their lives the responses were things like, "I finally have a family," "Now I have hope," "Now I know what it feels like to be loved."

In the transition homes the girls are taught basic skills such as tailoring, cooking, gardening, etc. These skills not only help them learn how to care for a household, but also enable them to get jobs so they can successfully support themselves. And, if the girl has a dream to go to college or to get some trade school training they try to find scholarships for them. I didn't really notice it at the time but one of my team members pointed out that the home for the girls is probably a bit nicer than the conditions of the homes of those who actually built it. I think that says a lot about the care they offer the girls.

If you read my pre-trip blog you might remember that I had some concern (translate as "scared to death") about the home we'd stay in during our time in Moldova. I was even more concerned as we were being driven there on Wednesday night. It was dark and we were driving on dirt roads better suited for a four-wheeler than a small sedan filled with four people and 150 pounds of luggage. I looked over at Pastor Lisa, who was going to be staying at the same house with us and said, "I think this would be a good time to break into the chorus of 'I Surrender All.'"

I have to say I've stayed in worse places - and better places. Our hostess didn't speak a lick of English but, despite the fact that she cares for a husband who as far as I could tell is basically dying and hasn't left his bed in three years, was incredibly gracious and cooked us a huge breakfast every morning. She has so very little yet offered us so very much. Before we left she gave Pastor Lisa and I table runners made her grandmother. It was incredibly humbling. The picture here is of Nadia, our hostess, and me in my anti-trafficking t-shirt.

Well, I have rambled on long enough and yet only touched the surface of all that happened during our short Moldovan visit. Despite the lack of creature comforts that I am used to I would do it all again if it just keeps one girl or boy from getting caught up in trafficking.

I Refuse

In a few short hours we will board a plane bound for Moldova. Well, actually, we’ll board a plane, and then another plane, and THEN the plane to Moldova but eventually we’ll end up there. Where in the world is Moldova anyway? I will have to say that with our recent surge in traveling my geography skills have reached new heights and may now be at least at a fifth grade level. Moldova is located east of Romania and is surrounded on the other three sides by the Ukraine. I’m sure it’s perfectly clear for you now. We’ll be in Moldova for just a couple of days and then we head to Zurich, Switzerland for five days. As you might guess, this is a mission trip, or as we call them at our church, a Global Project. I wonder if anyone really goes to Moldova just for fun?

I love going on Global Project trips but if I were to be totally honest I’d have to say that most often, before I leave, I am scared to death. Do I fear harm of some sort? Not at all. Here’s what I am afraid of; the food and the accommodations. I know it sounds silly but it’s the truth. I’m not a huge fan of foreign foods. There are even a few, quite a few really, American foods that I don’t like all that much. Basically, I’m a fussy eater. Add to that a couple of food allergies and eating can sometimes be a challenge. As long as I don’t need to worry about offending anyone I’m o.k., it’s just that sometimes we are fed by a host family/missionary/orphanage cooks and you really don’t want to offend them. So, I try. I’ve already started praying that I won’t be faced with anything that’ll make me gag. Ha! (I also have a suitcase full of high energy foods to “tide me over” until our return.)

As for the accommodations, well, let’s just say you never now what you might end up with but you can be fairly certain that it’ll never be The Hilton. But, I’ve managed to live with some pretty nasty places and as long as I have my own travel pillow along, I usually do o.k. This time will be a little bit more interesting in that we’ll be staying at someone’s home in Moldova. I’m trying to think of it as a short-term Rotary Exchange program.

Why then, do I go, you might be wondering? Because I feel that God has asked me to do this for Him. When I consider all He’s done for me, it would be foolish really to say no. And, as a missionary friend once told me, “If God asks you to do something and it makes you fearful, do it afraid.”

There is a song that I’ve been hearing a lot on the radio lately. It pretty much sums up my feelings about this trip. It’s called, I Refuse by Josh Wilson. Click on the song title if you’d like to hear it in full. It’s an amazing song! Below is the chorus.

‘Cause I don't want to live like I don't care.
I don't want to say another empty prayer.
Oh, I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself.
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse.

So, that’s why I go. Because I refuse to say no to God. Would He find someone else for the job it I didn’t go? Of course. But then I would miss out on the adventure and the blessing.

I was encouraged this morning by a verse I read in my morning devotions. In Psalm 139:5 David says to the Lord, “You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” Even though I may be fearful, I can rest in the knowledge that God has his hand of blessing on my head. Why then, should I be afraid?

I know I’ll have more to share as the week progresses so check back. I’m not entirely sure of my accessibility to the internet; that’s part of the adventure. I’ll post when I can. And, when I come to mind, I wouldn’t be at all offended if you offered up a prayer for our team and the people to whom we’ll me ministering.