Mother's Day Craft Ideas

Mother's Day is soon approaching, and I just wanted to share a few craft ideas that you can do at home or in your Sunday School class.  These all came from Pinterest. 

Did you know we have a Pinterest?  Please follow us!  Click here or there is a tab on the right with a link, or just search for Baptist Missionary Women.

(Click photos for original links.)

Missionary Monday - Meet Sarah Litson

Name – Sarah Litson

Field – New Brunswick, Canada

1.    Please share your missionary call. 

When I was a little girl, a missionary from South Africa came to our church and showed her slides.  I told my parents that night after church that I knew God wanted me to be a missionary someday.  As I got older and other worldly influences started to creep into my life, they continued to remind me of that decision.  I am so thankful for my parents.  As a senior in high school, I again determined to follow what I felt God had called me to do.  I met my husband as a sophomore in Bible college.  He too, had already surrendered to missions.

2. What do you miss most about the states?

Technically, I can see the state of Maine from my house :) , but it is still a long ways from friends and family in Oklahoma.  I also miss Mexican food!

3. What food do you miss from the states? 

Flaming Hot Cheetos  :) 

4. What do you love most about your field?

We’ve only been here since last September, but I would have to say after living 10 years in a tropical climate, I am really enjoying the change of seasons.  Fall was just beautiful.

5. What is a typical meal in your culture?

 During the winter months, they eat a lot of soups and stews.  So yummy on a cold day!

6. Say something in your language, then translate.

S’il vous plait, priez pour la famille et pour l’Eglise Baptist Independante d’Edmundston.  Please pray for our family and for Edmundston Independent Baptist Church.

7. What are some things you do to help your children not forget family back in the states?

We skype as often as we can.  It helps them to see their faces as we talk.  We have a digital picture frame that we filled with photos of our kids with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

8. Please share your favorite Bible verse, or one that has been an encouragement to you. 

 Philippians 1:20-21  “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Missionary wife, Tanna Collins shared those verses with my 9th grade Sunday School class and just a few years later, she, her husband and their five children were killed in a plane crash returning to the field.  Her testimony at our missions conference that year was amazing and really stuck with me.

9. What have you found to be the biggest challenge on the mission field?

Canada is so much different from Africa and I have to remind myself not to compare the two.  For example, daily life in Africa was at times, quite difficult, but the ministry there was very rewarding.  Here, the day to day life seems easier, while ministry is slower.  God is in control of both situations and it’s important for us to stay faithful wherever He puts us.

10. Name on thing God has taught you on the mission field. 

There is always someone who has it worse than you.  I’ve tried to always tell myself that no matter where we are and what is happening at the time, that I just need to “buck up” and not feel sorry for myself.  There is someone out there in a worse situation than me.  I think we are spoiled as missionaries today.  Those who went on before us, did it without the internet, without skype (or any telephones at all), and without the opportunity to pack up and fly home at a moment’s notice.  We are so blessed!

Are you interested in being interviewed?  Please email us at baptistmissionarywomen@hotmail.com

This weeks theme was for you to share your Sunday!

Next weeks theme - Share your house.

When Life Is Not What You Pictured

Living in Reality

Article by:

Suza Rasmussen

Instructor, West Coast Baptist College

http://ministry127.com/ladies-ministry/when-life-is-not-what-you-pictured

Do you remember when you were young and dreaming about the future? That’s usually a time when we are very idealistic. We think, “I’m going to have the perfect marriage…just like in the old movies. I’m going to be a really good wife, and my husband will be rich and handsome. My kids are not going to act like that! I’m going to get to travel and have exotic vacations. I’m going to be a really good Christian…” and on and on we would dream.

A few years later, when the road gets a little bumpy, if we’re not careful, we can become pessimistic. We think, “This marriage thing is not as easy as it looks… I can be such a nag. This cycle of cleaning and cooking never ends. I wonder how my kids are going to turn out… it’s so hard to always be consistent. I don’t think the teachers at school like my kids. There is more month than money. I must not be a very good Christian for all these things to be happening.”

Instead of becoming pessimistic (which can lead to being cynical), let me encourage you to become realistic.

Realize God loves you unconditionally. When earthly relationships are challenging, God’s love for you never changes. This will give you the security to go on (see Jeremiah 31:3).

Realize that God is good all the time. Be positive and look for the blessings. Don’t dwell on the negative (see Romans 8:28).

Realize that whatever God is doing is just fine with you, because God knows best. When your dreams are dashed, God has something better (see Isaiah 55:8).

Realize that happiness and contentment come from God alone. Don’t rely on anyone else for your happiness. With God, there is always hope (see Romans 15:13).

Realize that you must keep short accounts with God and with others. Forgive and let it go. Forgive yourself. God does not forgive us because we deserve it; He forgives us because of what Christ did for us (see Ephesians 4:32).

Realize that God will give you grace to live with the consequences of your sin (see Romans 5:20).

When we come to realize all of these truths, the final stage in our spiritual journey is contentment. This comes from trusting God; He will bring us into our desired haven (see Psalm 107:25-30). My challenge to you: don’t float along in the idealistic stage or sink into the pessimistic stage, but allow God to grow you through realizing all He has for you so that you rest in contentment!

I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11b

Green Pepper Chicken

Hello, wherever you are in the world!
At this moment, I'm in Michigan, but a week from today, I'll be getting on a great big plane and flying home to Ghana!
How very excited I am (along with all the other emotions I'm feeling right now)!
Hope you've enjoyed the copycat recipes over the last few weeks!
Today I'm going to bring you a Sorta-Chinese dish. I say sorta because I'm positive it's not authentic. But, I'm posting it here because it is still delicious, and I'm not really sure what other description I could post it under.
Besides, you eat it on top of white rice.....that makes it Chinese, right?!?
{I'm sure any missionaries to China might disagree!}

Green Pepper Chicken

2 Tbsp. oil
1 lb boneless chicken, cut into 1-in. pieces (whatever cut you prefer, breasts or thighs)
1 c. water
1/2 c. ketchup
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
1 lg. onion, halved and cut into thin slices
2 green peppers, cut into thin slices
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

cooked white rice for serving

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken; cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. In a medium sized bowl whisk water, ketchup, soy sauce, and pepper; gradually whisk in the flour. Remove chicken from skillet. Stir in the water-ketchup mixture and bring to a boil; add chicken and the onion. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add peppers and mushrooms and simmer, covered, for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionaly. (Watch closely at the end as it will start to stick).
Serve over rice.

  Do you like Chinese food? I do! And I'm definitely eating my fill of all the kinds I can't get in Ghana before we go back :)
What's your favorite Chinese dish?

Missionary Monday

A Day in the Life of YOU!

Please share how a typical day goes for you.

Next week's theme - Your Sunday

Change Your Attitude!

I don't know how many times over the years I have said this to my children..."change your attitude!"  Kids just don't like to be told what to do. They don't see things from our adult vantage point. They only know they don't like it!

Just the other day we had some friends over for the night. She and I were preparing breakfast when she needed to stop and correct her daughter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Megan cross her arms in protest. Becky, the good Mommy she is, didn't let that pass. "Meggy, you don't cross your arms at Mommy." What Megan needed was an attitude change.

Sometimes there are things God brings into my life that, well...I just don't like. I don't see them from His vantage point - only mine. With arms crossed I have my little attitude. I can picture Him looking down on me saying, "Tammy, you don't cross your arms at your Father." Now you know what I'm going to say next...what I need is an attitude change.

How do we change our attitude? Well, changing our attitude isn't about changing our situation. It's about changing the way we choose to react. Like how we react when the neighbor's music is too loud and it's past midnight. How we react when we're cut off in traffic. How we react when we're called a derogatory name because we're foreigners. Or how about how we react when someone eats the last horded Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Now I'm preaching to the choir! This is where we are at. We live in places where everything around us is different. Some days we just really don't like it! BUT,  that is exactly where God wants us. He is not only using us to spread the Gospel, He is using our environment to conform us to the image of His Son.  Romans 8:29a - "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."

When we surrendered to God's call to go to another land and give the Good News of the Gospel, and see lives changed, we didn't realize that much of the change was going to be in us. We only saw part of God's plan. Sort of like Jonah. Jonah knew God wanted to warn the Ninevites of their coming destruction if they didn't repent, but what he failed to understand was that God also wanted his own heart to be changed.

So let's be challenged today to let the Word of God transform us - to change our attitude. It's not us trying harder. It's allowing Him to work in our hearts and change us from the inside out.

Missionary Monday

Lord, I give up
All my own plans and purposes,
All my own desires and hopes
And accept Thy will for my life.
I give myself, my life, my all,
Utterly to Thee
To be Thine forever.
Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit.
Use me as Thou wilt,
Send me where Thou wilt,
Work out Thy whole will in my life
At any cost,
Now and forever.- Betty Scott Stam (Martyred in China, in the 1930s)

I've been pondering this Missionary Monday these past few weeks.  Trying to decide how to make it more "popular" if you will.  So, I thought we would try weekly themes.  Every Monday I will announce the following week's theme.  This gives you a week to get your post ready.  I know there are many of you who blog (because I read your blogs!).  So, this week, just link up a recent post of something you did...anything!

Next week's (4/23) theme: A Day in the Life of You! 

Post how a typical day goes for you.  This should be fun!