Strangers in a Foreign Land

Finally, here is my promised blog about our most recent Global Project trip to Morocco.  I'll be posting five blogs over the next five days.  At least that is the plan.  So, here's today's post and then four more to follow around 5:00 PM (CDT) every night.  So, here goes:

Morocco is 99.95% Muslim and we were told in advance that we wouldn’t be able to talk about Jesus while we were there.  Our purpose was to work with Convoy of Hope to help provide some humanitarian aid to those who needed some hope. 

I must admit that before I left I wondered, really, what is the point?  But, I knew that John and I had been appointed by God to be on this trip and thus I would go and serve. 

Here’s a tip – do NOT read A Thousand Splendid Suns on your way into a Muslim country.  It will not help you arrive with a loving and kind spirit.  Unfortunately, I made that mistake so when we arrived late on Tuesday night I was unsettled and nervous.  We weren’t scheduled to meet up with our team until Wednesday morning (being as we’d detoured to Amsterdam along the way) so we were on our own.  I was unprepared for the fact that they’d want my passport number when we checked into the hotel.  I tried ignoring that question on the registration form but the hotel clerk would not check us in without it.  Apparently, this is standard operating procedure in Morocco.  Let’s just say, the government likes to know where you are while you’re there.  As you might imagine, this did not help settle my nerves.  

Wednesday morning arrived soon enough and we were back at the airport to meet the team.  Once the shuttle bus driver understood we were trying to meet friends coming in from JFK, he grabbed our bags and escorted us to the gate where they would be arriving.  Very kind!  Gradually, I was starting to feel more comfortable in my surroundings.

Once our team arrived we loaded up our luggage and headed for Khemmiset where we’d be doing the bulk of our work.  Pronouncing Khemmiset properly requires starting with something that sounds like you’re trying to clear out the back of your throat and then adding “hemmiset” after that.  It’s not easy for those of us who use English as our first (and basically only) language. 

Our hotel in Khemmiset was beautiful!  There are three couples with our group and we all shared an apartment type of living arrangement.  Two couples shared a bathroom and (upon my request) John and I had the master bedroom with an attached bath.  Just to be clear, I requested this room due to a lack of appropriate attire for moving between bedroom and bathroom and NOT because it contained a Jacuzzi tub and view of the lake.  I wasn’t even aware of that at the time of my request.  My friends, Patti and Rebekah climbed in to get a feel for the tub.  

  

I’m not going to lie, it was nice, but the jets didn’t work and we never really had time to use them anyway.  The apartment area also had a huge living room in it and ended up being the spot where we had all of our team meetings and breakfast each day. 

We had a chance, after our arrival, to settle into our rooms, take a nap and enjoy a little time outside by the lake before we had lunch and a team meeting to help us prepare for what was coming up in the next few days.   

After our team meeting the girls in the group went to downtown Khemmiset to purchase appropriate tops to wear during our ministry time.  We did not need to cover our heads, but it was important to be sure our backsides were well covered.  Who knew?  It was during this trip to town that I knew for a fact that we were indeed strangers in a foreign land.  

While Khemmiset isn’t terribly small (it has a population of over 111,000) eleven white girls still make quite a statement as they roll into town.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget the little girl we passed on our way.  She was probably around six or seven years old and had beautiful dark, curly hair.  She was standing, I believe, with her father, just off the side of the road and when she saw us she just stared with this “why do those people look so different” kind of look on her face.  Man, she was cute! 

Of course, after we parked the van and walked to the shop where we’d buy our clothes, we got quite a number of looks from the townspeople.  I leaned over to the team member next to me and started singing “I Love a Parade” because I felt very much like I was in one.  

New clothes in tow we headed back to our hotel for dinner.  I don’t remember a lot about the meal other than the band and dancers that performed during the meal.  Wow, just wow, is about all I can say about that.  Our room was just above the dining room so I know for sure that the music ended at 11:00 PM, which turned out to be the exact moment I turned out the light ending our first full day in Morocco. 

Dreams Do Come True

If you are a regular reader of my blog you may have noticed that my most recent post was taken down.  I can’t really go into the details as to why but suffice it to say, it was for the protection of the people that we worked with on our most recent Global Project Trip.  I have much to tell you about our trip but before we joined our team in Morocco, John and I spent nearly three days in Amsterdam and I just have to write about my favorite day. 

I don't remember when it was that I first dreamed of going to Amsterdam to see the tulips in the spring but it has been many years.  On January 1 of this year I spent several hours writing down my hopes, dreams, goals and aspirations.  On that list I wrote "Tour Holland in the spring."  Underneath my complete list of goals and dreams I wrote this, "I don’t know how you’re going to do it, God, but I’m going to ask." 

On April 23, my dream came true.  But it didn’t just come true; there was an added little bonus package.  Before we left home, I’d been watching the weather forecast and it appeared as though our time in Amsterdam would be pretty wet.  Even though I knew it sounded incredibly self-serving I asked two of my friends to pray for no rain on the day we went to the Keukenhof Gardens.  (To my credit, I didn’t ask for it not to rain for the whole trip.)   You won’t believe what happened.  We woke up to rain the morning of our garden tour, but shortly before we left the hotel, the rain stopped.  There were still thick clouds and we even got a few more showers during our 45 minute bus trip to the gardens.  BUT, as we walked up to the entrance gate the sun broke through the clouds and transformed the moment right before my eyes.  I couldn’t help it.  I cried.  I mean, just getting to visit the gardens was an incredible gift but to see the sun at the exact moment I arrived – well, that was like a kiss from God. 

And the beauty was incredible!  Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, forget-me-nots, and more lined the huge acreage of the gardens; all arranged in an incredibly artistic way.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story; not all 200 that I took, just some of the best.  Enjoy, and when you get a few minutes, write down your own list of dreams and goals; even the crazy ones.  There is something to putting it to paper, I don't know what, that makes dreams seem more possible.  God might say no, but only because He has even better things in store.

I would never have thought to put these colors together.  I'm not even all that fond of red and orange, but wow, it sure works!

Living the dream!  I did NOT sing "Tip Toe through the Tulips" though I did hear someone else singing it - off tune.

This is one odd shaped tulip, don't you think? 

I would love to see these opened up, wouldn't you?

You've got to get at least one windmill picture in Holland, right?

Just one beautiful spot after the next! 

This is a tulip field made to look like Chopin.  Personally, I thought it looked a bit like George Washington. 

 

 

 I will try to update my blog with stories from Morocco as quickly as I can.  Stay tuned.

STUG Moments

Last week I was watching Live with Kelly as I put my makeup on for the day. (I started writing about it then but was interrupted by the ending of an adorable one-year-old’s nap.) As it turned out, this was not a great moment for putting on eye make-up because I found myself in a puddle of tears. I had what my pastor calls a STUG moment; STUG being an acronym for Sudden Temporary Upsurge of Grief. It seems this morning’s STUG moment was in memory of my Grandfather Gall – I called him PomPaw.

Why, you might be wondering, would an episode of Live with Kelly bring me to tears? Well, let me go back a bit and explain. Perhaps it’ll give you some insight into the workings of a woman’s brain – or at least mine. When I was a little girl Pom Paw regularly told me the story of the time he took me up the mountain in a gondola. I’d been very excited about this adventure with my grandfather because he’d proclaimed that we’d “go up to the sky.” It seems though, that as our gondola inched its way up the side of the mountain I changed my mind regarding just how fun this event would be and started crying, “Pom Paw, I don’t want to go to the sky!”

Fast forward about forty years to the day I stood in line with my husband, John, and my son, Scott at the Banff Gondola. Though I don’t remember the actual “going to the sky” incident with my grandfather, I’d heard the story so many times that I can rarely go on a gondola without thinking of him. So, there I was in line with every other tourist in Banff, Canada and my mind flashes back to Pom Paw’s retelling of the gondola story, leaving me sobbing for no apparent reason. Poor John just stood there befuddled by my sudden melt down.

Last week, Live with Kelly, was filmed in, you guessed it, Banff, Canada. In a period of about 2.3 seconds my brain processed like this:

Kelly’s in Banff talking about skiing.

Skiing in Banff usually requires a gondola ride up the mountain.

The Banff gondola is where I remembered my grandpa’s story eight years ago.

Oh, I still miss my Pom Paw.

And BAM, a STUG moment is born, eliminating any hope of getting on my eye make for another ten minutes.

STUG moments usually don’t last long but they sure do sneak up on a person. So, if you find yourself in a teary mess someday, seemingly out of nowhere, just know you aren’t alone. We all have STUG moments. Lots of times, it’s the happiest of memories that lead to the saddest of moments. Still, I wouldn’t give up those happy memories for anything in the world.

Spreading the Reading Bug

I love to read – especially when I’m on vacation. The problem I encounter on vacation is that my husband, John, isn’t much of a reader. If he does read it’s usually either some outdoorsy magazine or an optometric magazine (being as he’s an optometrist I suppose this is understandable.) But carrying a boat load of magazines on vacation isn’t practical. Plus, I feel bad for the poor people who end up sitting next to John on a plane while he’s looking at pictures of diseased eyeballs. It’s just gross.

Anyway, back to the problem. What ends up happening when we’re on vacation is that I’m peacefully sitting on the beach reading my magazine and John is just sitting with nothing to do but look at me (and the water) until he can stay quiet no longer and then he starts talking. To his credit, he can stay quiet for a fairly long time. I knew I had to find a way to change this if I was ever going to get the type of vacation I really wanted – one on which I could do a lot of relaxing and reading. So, on our vacation earlier this month I came armed with a plan – ONE Kindle – ONE iPad – both fully loaded with books.

It took a day or two of cajoling before I finally came upon the method of getting John to invest his time in a book. I handed him the iPad, showed him how to turn pages (he’s not much into technology) and said “Here, just read the preface. If you don’t want to read it after you’ve read the preface, I will stop bugging you about it.” Five minutes later he sighed and said, “Well, now I have to read the whole book.” “YES! SUCCESS!” I screamed giddy with excitement. He responded with “Well, that was hardly fair. It was like handing sugar to a baby.”

All totaled, I read three books on vacation (after finishing one I’d already started) and John read two. The second one took just much cajoling as the first one by the way, but now at least I know the successful method of attack.

I’m sure you’re wondering what books I convinced John to read that were so good, so I’ll give you a brief synopsis of each one (and save my reviews of the other two for a different blog post.)

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand - This book is a page turner. It might take you a few chapters to get absorbed but once you do you’ll have a hard time putting it down. It’s the story of Louis Zamperini, once a defiant boy, who eventually used the talent he’d acquired running from trouble into being a high school track star, and later a major contender in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But the story doesn’t end there. Though it was expected that Zamperini would again participate in the 1940 Olympics his career was interrupted by the start of World War II. During the war Louis served as an airman which eventually led to a crashed plane, floating on a raft in the ocean for weeks before being captured and taken to a Japanese prison camp. I’ve got to warn you, there are some very gruesome descriptions of his life in this book. But, in the end, you’ll see that Louis had an undeniable resilience and God had an amazing plan. If you aren’t sure if you should read this book – just read the preface and decide for yourself.

Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero by Susy Flory and Michael Hingson – This book was offered as a free download for Kindle a while back and it looked mildly interesting to me, so I decided why not? It's free! Now I feel as though I should send a donation to someone; it was that good. The title of the book (lengthy as it is) sort of sums up the story but in reality there was so much more to it than how Michael and his guide dog, Roselle, escaped from the 78^th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower on 9/11. This book gives the reader amazing insight into the world of a blind person. As Michael says it’s not so much a story of how he escaped the World Trade Center on that fateful day as what got him there in the first place.

Check these books out. John will attest to the fact that they are worth reading.

Wedding Rings

Today I did a little survey on Facebook - just for fun. My question was this: If you are married (whether male or female) do you take your wedding ring off at night or wear it 24/7?

To be honest, I was surprised at the number of people who leave their ring on 24/7. Personally, I'm a taker offer. It's not because I don't love my husband, or don't like my ring. I just don't like having any jewelry on when I'm trying to sleep. Sometimes I even take my jewelry off for a 20 minute nap. Please don't take this as an invitation to break into my house at night and steal my rings. We have an amazingly advanced security system. Our system is so advanced I can't even begin to describe it.

As for my husband? I don't believe his ring has been off his finger more than five times in the last 36 plus years of marriage, which makes me wonder why in the world I spent that money having it engraved? I mean, were mine engraved on the inside I'd take it off and read it during the tough times. In fact, I'd probably read it TO John! The reason it's not engraved is not because John didn't have anything to say it's just that my ring was not "stable enough" to withstand engraving (which probably explains why it eventually split and had to be replaced.)

John's ring is now permanently embossed to his finger. I wonder if the engraving is permanently etched into his skin as well? We'll never know. It's not going anywhere.

If you stopped by my blog today for great spiritual insight, I'm sorry - this isn't it. But, I do have a word of advice regardless of how often you take your rings off. Take it to the jeweler regularly to have it cleaned and checked, especially if you have any kind of a stone in it. Those puppies can get loose and fall out. No one wants that to happen.

One more thing. Whether your ring is gold, titanium, silver, rhodium or even a tattoo; whether it has lots of sparkle, a little sparkle, or none at all; give it a gander every now and again, remember the excitement in your heart the day it first went on your finger, the commitment that it stands for and cherish the one who gave it to you.

Whatever it Takes

During my devotion time one day I was reading Acts 23 and all of a sudden I found myself laughing out loud. There is nothing comical about Acts 23. The story really starts in Acts 21 when the apostle Paul decides to go Jerusalem. Long story short, Paul had been persecuted and was basically fighting for his life. He's sitting in a prison cell (for his own protection as much as anything else) when the Lord appears to him and says “Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have told the people about me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome.” (Acts 23:11)

What made me laugh was thinking that I might know what went on in Paul’s mind when the Lord appeared to him that night. Though I can’t be sure of Paul’s thoughts I think I can make a pretty educated guess.

A couple of years ago, I hit a pretty low point in my life. I’d just been told that I had some health issues that, if left unchecked, would eventually leave me pretty debilitated. The problem was that the cure wouldn’t come in the form of a “one-a-day” vitamin, or even through surgery. The cure would come through a complete overhaul of my diet that would, at the very least, require a lot more cooking on my part. I am not a cook. I can cook, I can even cook pretty well, but I’m not much of a fan of the whole process. The menu planning, the shopping, and preparing of food just seemed so time consuming that I oftentimes found myself running to the local fast food joint for a quick bite. Yes, I’m aware this is an unhealthy habit, but did you not see how stressed I get about cooking?

So, there I was, having to cook, not liking it, and giving up some of my favorite foods (a couple of food intolerances were thrown into the mix to make it even more fun.) As crazy as it may seem, this turn of events led me to a very low point in my life. In hindsight my response was perhaps a bit overdramatic but hey, I do overdramatic well. It was during that time that a woman, whom really, I barely knew, came to me and told me that God had given her a message for me.

Getting a message from God through someone else is not the kind of thing that happens to me on a regular basis, but I was in a bad spot and I know that God sent her to me that day to give me encouragement. The truth is that her message for me wasn’t all that different from what the Lord told Paul while he sat in prison. No, she didn’t tell me I would go to preach in Rome (though I’m not opposed to that idea) but she did tell me, essentially, that God had plans to use me in a big way. This was great news but do you know what I really heard that day? What I heard, and what I think Paul might have heard also, is this, “You’re gonna live!” That’s it. I had to ask my friend to write down the message she'd given me because I really wanted to hear it all but at that moment I was focused on the “you’re gonna live” part echoing inside my head.

You see, when God tells you He’s got plans for you, and you’re thinking that you might be on the road to your demise, it changes things up. It gives you a reason to do whatever it takes (in my case, embrace the whole diet change and cooking process) so that you might be ready for all that He has for you.

I don’t want to miss out on any of God’s adventures for me because I was unwilling to change something as simple as the way I eat. Is there anything God has asked you to change? Are you willing? I encourage you – make the change. You won’t regret it.

An Idea for Inventors

I’ve got what I think is a great idea for a new invention. Since I have more ideas than I do the creativity and smarts to bring them to life, I’m going to share my thought with you, the general public, in hopes that someone will pick it up and run with it. Basically, I’m giving you the opportunity to make millions of dollars with my idea. You’re welcome.

Recently, at our house, we installed a new thermostat. Well, by “we” I mean “we paid” and a qualified heating and air-conditioning person did the work. The new thermostat is one that can be programmed thereby eliminating the need for me to drag myself out of bed to turn the temperature down immediately after I have settled in for the night. I thought it would be the answer to my “I’m too hot/I’m too cold” issues, but as it turns out, not so much.

While I do enjoy not having to get up out of bed, I’ve come to the conclusion that a programmable thermostat is not exactly what I wanted. What I want is a thermostat that reads my body temperature and sets the thermostat accordingly. I mean, if they can send a man to the moon . . . . a body temperature regulated thermostat should be possible, right? I’d be more than happy to wear a bracelet, patch, or even get a chip embedded to enable the thermostat to work properly. Well, maybe not the chip; that seems kind of extreme, but you get the idea.

So, there you go inventors. If you take my idea and make it happen you will be a hero to middle-aged women everywhere. And really, what more could you possibly ask for?