Pancake Mix - With Video

Pancake Mix - it makes life so much easier! 

Unfortunately, a lot of us wouldn’t trust any kind of mix that we can find in our stores. I mean, when the dust is a centimeter thick, when the price is twice what it should be, and when there are about five ingredients that nobody in their right mind can pronounce, it’s kind of hard to want to buy it. 

Fortunately, pancake mix is easy to make! 

We’ve only been making pancake mix in our house for a couple of years, but I wish we would have been making it for a whole lot longer. When you have to make pancakes for a bunch of teenage boys, anything that saves time helps. This pancake mix is definitely a time saver, and the pancakes it produces are fluffy, tasty, and just outstanding. 

What you’ll need. 

A large airtight container 

2 cups flour 

1 tablespoon sugar 

1 teaspoon salt 

I teaspoon baking powder (sifted)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (sifted) 

Figure out how many cups your airtight container holds. Mine holds 24, so I can do 12 batches at a time. (This makes four breakfasts for my family)

To make your pancake batter.

2 cups mix 

2 eggs 

1 1/2 cups water or milk

1 cup yogurt or sour cream 

1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil 

Don’t over mix your batter - if there are little clumps, that’s ok. 

Fry pancakes on a hot griddle or cast iron skillet. 

Enjoy pancakes with butter and syrup! 

Scriptures From Around the World - The Philippines

By this we are known.

John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

I once had someone tell me that they didn't have a problem with God, or Jesus, or the Bible; they had a problem with organized religion....the church. How heartbreaking!  The body of Christ, the church, is a beautiful picture of Christ to the world.  But, Scripture doesn't say that the world will know us by how we treat them, or how we meet their needs, but how we love one another. This doesn't mean we aren't to meet the needs of the world around us (Luke 10:27-37, the story of the good Samaritan); but Scripture is clear that the way the world will see the love of Christ for them is to see His love in action within His church.

My family and I are currently in language school in Costa Rica, and what I've seen take place over the past year among our student body is what I've imagined the body of Christ should be to one another. It has been a beautiful picture of what the Church should look like...

We have borne one another's burdens (Galatians 6:1-3)

I have used this verse in the past to discuss bearing one another's frustrations or trials and meeting one another's needs.  We hurt when they hurt, grieve when they grieve, and rejoice when they rejoice. All of those things are true; but this verse is actually discussing when one of our brothers falls, we are to restore them into the spirit of meekness.  During my time in language school, there are times when I've both hurt someone else or been hurt by someone else.  One of those times, I called another classmate crying and truly hurt/humiliated.  I'll be honest, I was mad.  And, instead of my classmate encouraging me to remain in my state of anger, she prayed over me, then exhorted me.  She reminded me of how God uses all things for our good and His glory; how some people mean things for harm, yet God means it for good; and how this person probably never meant to intentionally hurt me so I need to forgive and allow God to work this out for my spiritual growth in Him.  I may not have wanted to hear it, but I needed to hear it.  We are to lovingly exhort one another with the purpose of drawing one another closer to the heart of God.

We have allowed love to cover a multitude of sins (Proverbs 10:12)

Because we have such a close relationship and we see each other every day, we have seen the best and the worst in one another.  We accidentally snap at people, or we are just in a snippy mood because we didn't sleep the night before or we are stressed because of an upcoming test.  We poke fun of someone who just "gets it" so we can feel better that it is taking us a little longer.  The thing is, though, that we don't allow those petty, frustrating moments break a bond that is greater than any family ties.  Because of our love for God, we have a love for one another that allows us to look beyond those aggravating faults of one another and see one another's heart for our Savior.

We have prayed for one another (James 5:16)

We start every class with prayer.  We pray for our teachers, one another, our administration, our school.  We pray for our community here in Costa Rica and for the countries to which we are going.  (We have especially been praying for Nicaragua lately...)  We've had prayer walks around our campus where we've been able to pray in specific ways for our teachers, our missionary kids, and the other students on our campus.  We've also prayed for our school--for God to send missionaries to our school and to Latin America.  We pray for unity among the body of Christ.  We worship with one another and come together to study His Word.  And, we also pray for what life will be like when we leave this bubble we call language school and head out to our respective places of service and no longer have the community we have here, one we do not take for granted.

We have met one another's needs (James 2:14-18)

Children have had broken bones, urgent hospital runs, and hard days as MKs.  We adults have had surgeries, crazy and weird medical situations, hospital stays, falls, and hurting hearts.  There hasn't been one time that someone hasn't made a need known that it hasn't been met.  We have watched kids, taken meals to each other's houses, and held a girl's night at someone's house who had surgery.  We have cried with another and prayed over one another and met the needs of one another in tangible ways.

We are of one body (Acts 2:44; I Peter 3:8-9)

Our student body gathered recently and discussed this sense of community and why it's such a blessing to us.  We also discussed the things we could do better.  One student pointed out that the reason we can have the bond that we have is because we have the understanding that we serve the same God and have the same calling.  We may have different preferences on music, dress, or what we may/may not allow our kids to do; but we have the same mission: to love the Lord God with all of our hearts, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to spread the Gospel to the nation to which God has called us.  The Holy Spirit creates a bond that cannot be broken, if we keep our eyes and hearts focused on Him.

I don't share these things to boast about all the things we've done right or how we are a "perfect" group of people.  I share these things because God has used these things to both bless me and convict me.  It has blessed me to see the body of Christ coming together as one true body.  But, it has also convicted me to love my fellow believers back home and the people to whom I'm going to go minister the way I've loved and been loved during my time here.  I've been guilty far too often of allowing my own hurt or pride come between another believer and myself.  However, it is so important to treat my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with the love God has for us.  Why?  Because the testimony of Christ's Church is at stake: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Scriptures From Around the World - Egypt

Help! I´m Homeschooling! part 2

Click here to read  Part 1

 A Combo Deal 

Have you ever seen a one-room school house? I had only seen one on television until we saw one in Wyoming a few years ago.  It was about the size of our home school room, only it had twenty or so seats.  There is no way that this teacher had separate subject matter for each individual student at his grade level. She had to have combined.  Sure, there would have been some student groups based on reading or math skills. She may have divided between older and younger children. In these old, one-room school house teachers had to combine as much as possible. We can, too.

Our homeschoolers in Chicago 2015

Combine Subjects

Having seperate subject classes for each individual student can be a waste of class time.  For example, why do the children need to write endless handwriting pages that are boring to them and to us?  Combine handwriting with something. I included handwriting with spelling and vocabulary.  If the letters were not written correctly and neatly, they were simply misspelled.  My children were all too happy to put down those handwriting books. You could try blending handwriting with Bible memory verses, for another example.  Another handwriting combo could come with art.  Give the students some nice pens and paper for writing. Suddenly handwriting is fun, and the students are learning different kinds of lines and curves while making beautiful letters.

To leave off picking on poor handwriting, let's take a look at another subject that can be easily combined with something else, composition. Most social studies, science, and literature subjects have essays or other writing assignments.  Too often those assignments get skipped leaving an important part of learning the concept undone.  Writing about something helps a person develop a better understanding about that topic. Why not combine the rules given in your grammar and composition books with the subject matter found in your social studies book? This provides an opportunity to do both.  You may need to adjust the writing assignment in social studies to fit the concept being learned in composition. For example, your student may be  assigned a summery in composition with a random topic and an essay in social studies about the Transcontinental railroad.  Learn the rules of writing a summery, and write that summery about a section in the history book about the railroad instead of writing an essay. Two birds; one stone.

Combine Classes

There is no magic in learning geography in ninth grade, world history in tenth, and US history in eleventh.  Social studies is a prime example of classes that can be combined with several students spanning different grade levels.  Think back to that one-room school house.  Their history lesson would have been taught all together.  She may have taught about ancient Egypt. They would all have been learning about it together but their assignments and tests would look different.  Frankly speaking, history is a lot more fun learned as a group than individually out of a book. Pair younger and older children to do research.  

On a practical level, combining classes is a lot more prep work for the teacher, but it is well worth the invested time.  Often junior high and senior high books follow a similar subject progression.  A smaller, easier version will be in junior high while a more complicated version will be in senior high.  Just because the books are different doesn't mean that you can't combine the subject matter.  Thomas Edison was an important inventor in both the junior high and senior high books.  Don't let grade levels marked on a book intimidate you.  You can customize it for your students. 

The classes that should almost always be combined are the electives.  If you find you can't find your groove in combining reading, writing, and arithmetic, then please, consider combining the other stuff. There is no reason that Bible, art, auto mechanics, PE cannot be combined.  As I mentioned, doing combo deals with your classes relies heavily on preparation, but the results are spectacular.  You and your students will have fun on the learning journey, and their recollection of the subject matter will be more meaningful.

That one-room school house produced some great results.  One teacher teaching different age levels and learning styles had to make it work for everybody. You can, too.

Patrick and Vicki Weimer in Iceland since 1999

Distracted

I was on an early morning walk.  I was tired.  My brain was mush.  I was thinking through some problems that I was dealing with while trying to listen to an audible book about ministry.  My head was down and I was watching my feet as one went in front of the other and my fitbit counted the steps.

As I was walking, I noticed some goopy stuff on on the sidewalk.  This was notable because in Japan people keep the sidewalk and street in front of their house clean.  I kept walking, but then for some reason, I stopped and turned to see where the goop was coming from.  I expected to see trash spilled in front of the house.  This is a common occurrence here thanks to black crows.  You can imagine my shock when I saw this.

I walked within inches of the yellow tape.  I should have noticed the house.  I should have smelled the charred car.  I was stunned.  How could I have not noticed this?

After I snapped the photo on my phone, I continued my walk.  The audio book was turned off as I contemplated what had just happened.  I couldn't help but wonder how many opportunities I may have missed to minister to people in need because of my distracted thinking, my weary body, my mushy brain and thinking of my own problems with my head down.

I confessed my lack of dependence on the Lord and asked Him to help me turn my focus from myself to those around me in need.  I pray that I never miss a ministry opportunity as I missed this house on that early morning walk.

"But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head." 

~Psalm 3:3

Coconut Macaroons - With Video

Who doesn’t like macaroons??? 

I LOVE them! My mum loves them! My dad loves them! My brothers love them! 

Coconut macaroons are one of the easiest cookies to make. They don’t take a whole lot of ingredients, and they don’t take a whole lot of time to make. 

Here, in Papua New Guinea, store bought shredded coconut is very expensive! But coconuts are pretty cheap (40 cents). A couple of weeks ago we took some of our students to a student convention that was on the coast. We brought back several coconuts! I shredded those babies up in our food processor and toasted them in our cast iron skillet. Home toasted coconut, in my opinion, tastes so much better than the stuff from the store. 

To make these amazingly chewy on the inside, caramelized on the outside coconut macaroons you will need: 

2 2/3 cups toasted coconut 

2/3 cup sugar

 (you can do coconut sugar if you want) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup flour

 (you can substitute almond or coconut flour to make these gluten free) 

4 large egg whites 

1 teaspoon almond extract 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all that up and roll them into tablespoon size balls. 

Bake in a hot oven until coconut has browned. 

When cooked, dip the macaroons in melted chocolate. 

When cooled, enjoy with a cup of hot coffee! 

One of the reasons these macaroons are so chewy and caramalized is that the egg whites are not whipped. Whipped egg whites make the cookies more fluffy, so if you want fluffier cookies then whip those up. 

Amber Wells
Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 

Tales From the Road

One thing we missionaries all have plenty of, is, tales from the road.  For most of us, we drive all over to raise our support.  For our family, that meant driving all the way up to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, and then to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on the west coast; and then to Chihuahua, Mexico, to the south; and then to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, to the east.  Since my husband is a second generation missionary kid, this was the second deputation for him.  There is only one state in the continental US that he hasn’t been to.  My guess is you all know what I’m talking about.  Then there are the furloughs where we retrace the steps we made on deputation and take some new steps to shore up the support we lost.  Then there are the tales of the roads in the countries where we serve.  Yikes.  Nuff’ said. 

Today, I want to share a tale from the road.  I know we all have them, so I hope you don’t feel this one is a waste of your time.  The Lord used it in my life to assure me at a time I really needed it.

We were driving in El Paso during a rain storm. For those of you who have done that, you know that the roads turn into rivers.  Incredible.  I’d never seen anything like it.  Finally, after crawling through the city, we get out to the interstate.  Traffic is moving fairly quickly, and we sail along for a couple of miles.  We head over an overpass.  Just as we head over the overpass, we see that the traffic is sitting on the interstate; and we have just enough time to brake, so we don’t rear-end the last vehicle in the line.  To the right there is a merge lane.  Suddenly my husband, who is driving, pulls the van sharply right into the oncoming path of a vehicle which is merging from the right.  This vehicle blares it’s horn at us and swerves by us, narrowly missing us. Yikes!  I turn to blast my husband for trying to kill me and my babies.  As I turn to blast him, I look through the driver’s window to see a loaded semi-trailer sitting right where we had just been.  This semi had come flying over the overpass, and didn’t have any time to get stopped.  My husband, had anticipated that this might happen, and so was watching his rear-view mirror, for any vehicles that might come over the top too fast. He pulled our van out of the way just in time to avoid being rear-ended ourselves, and possibly causing a chain reaction collision that certainly would have included others sitting on that interstate that day.  My husband and the semi driver exchanged big smiles and thumbs up, and we carried on our merry way.  

There have been many times where there have been things happen in my life that scared me to death.  I doubted God, and wondered if He was trying to kill or maim me and/or my family.  That is doubting the very heart of God.  Pretty arrogant isn’t it?  My husband wasn’t trying to kill me or my babies – he was saving us from being killed or maimed.  Sometimes we pray for God to make things clear to us or to give us wisdom in a certain area.  Sometimes what God reveals to us is painful to see.  Maybe the character of people we respected is revealed to us and we are heart broken.  Maybe God lets us see this in order to protect us. Truth is, we very well may not see it on this side. Farther along we’ll know all about it. Let’s just have the faith to rest in the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  As humans, we love to complicate our lives.  It is almost as if we think that, if our lives are complex and complicated, they have more value.  Or at least they are more sophisticated.  Let’s just simply trust the Lord with childlike faith that what He says He means – that what He says is true.  Whatever He has allowed into your life, He brought for your good.  It is an opportunity for you to give Him glory by the way you handle it.  Count it all joy!

Scriptures From Around the World - Australia

Hearts of Wisdom

 Hearts of Wisdom

Recently some missionary friends of ours finally made it to their mission field.  All the deputation, packing, moving and goodbyes behind them.  And just when they thought they could breath a sigh of relief, reality set in!  A new home, a new culture, new food, a new job, a new church and church family and the list just goes on and on. Can you relate?  

My husband and I was driving one day when he told me they had gotten settled in.  He had talked with the husband by phone and tried to encourage him from being overwhelmed by all the changes. I thought back to when our family first arrived on the field.  The memory brings back the feelings of being sad from missing our former home and loved ones, overwhelmed by so much to do and so many new things to learn, scared that I will never learn it all and that I am never going to be able to fit in with the people I come to serve.  And on top of it all, we had moved from Tennessee to the desert.  Things bite and kill you in the desert. LOL I was constantly looking out for rattlesnakes, scorpions, millipedes, killer bees, tarantulas and the list continues!    While we have only been here less than two years, that distance in time brought comfort to my soul when thinking about those early days.  They say ignorance is bliss, but I was not in bliss when we first started our ministry. The people we serve can be quiet and somewhat unapproachable.  I come from the South, where everyone is loud, and you say “hello” with a hug.  To hug or not to hug was a huge frustration in my mind. 

It’s funny how even though we consciously didn’t say “this is what we are going to do to get past this newness”, there were steps that we did take unconsciously that helped us through that awkward time. 

  

“teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Psalm 90:12 is a verse that fits that time exactly.  Relying on the Lord to guidance for our steps to take and not take.  But for those of you in those first days of ministry here are a few things that looking back helped us.

·         Family Devotions:  Family devotions gave us time as a family to hear from the Lord and hear what He wants to say to us.  Family devotions can be a wonderful time for family members to share how they are doing personally.  Are they scared?  Are they homesick?   It’s just a wonderful time for to get it all out and love on each other.

·         Personal Time in the Word:  It is so easy those early days to get so busy that personal Bible Time can get put aside.  But now is the time you will need His Word more than ever. 

·         The Sound of Music:  Our family keeps Christ honoring music playing in our home and vehicles constantly.  It can be an encouragement, stress reliever and comforting to the soul. There are so many times that a song reminds me of God's love for me.

·     Family Prayer:  At the end of every day our family prays together.  We pray for ourselves, our ministry, and others standing in need.  It ends our day on a note to satan that we are a united team for Christ.  No easier time for satan to attack than in those early days.  Don’t let him win!

·         Trust God:  There are going to be times of trial.  A time to grow your faith.  While it may not be fun, years later you will be able to reap the benefits of God proving His faithfulness to you during this time

. 

During that drive with my husband, I told him that I am so glad to have the distance of time that we have.  We have learned so much in such a short amount of time.  Our faith while it can always grow has been grown so much. I feel our hearts are so much wiser. And oh by the way, the hug or not hug dilemma?  Well, it turned out to be TO HUG!  

Double Fried Bananas - With Video

Who likes bananas? Everybody! 

Ok, maybe not everybody. But, most people love bananas. 

There are so many different things to do with bananas. Banana pudding, banana bread, banana pancakes, banana ice cream! We often think of bananas as a sweet food, but here in PNG they are thought of as a savory food. 

Plantains vs Bananas 

For the most part, we think of plantains and think that’s the only kind of banana we can do savory things with. But that’s not necessarily the case. Pretty much everything you can do with a plantain, you can do with any variety of green bananas. 

There are so many different kinds of bananas! If you’re in a tropical country, you know what I mean! Banana that taste like apples, pears, bananas....orange bananas, red bananas, yellow bananas, and white bananas. We all have different names for the different kinds, so I’m not even going to try to name them! 

People are always selling us green bananas. A lot of times we hang the bananas and let them get ripe. But sometimes, we like to make savory treats with them. 

Our favorite treat to make with green bananas are Double Fried Bananas. 

Peel your green bananas. You may want to wear gloves when you do this as the sap from the green bananas is VERY sticky. 

Slice the bananas into inch thick rounds. 

Fry bananas in hot oil until soft all the way through. 

Remove from oil and smash the banana rounds with a cup or plate. 

Fry bananas a second time. When the edges start to brown, remove from the oil and season with salt. 

It’s that easy! These taste so good! You can’t just eat one or two of these chips! 

So, the next time you have a stock of green bananas, and you’re tired of waiting for them to ripen, try these banana chips! You’ll love them! 

Amber Wells 

Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 

A Georgian Picnic

I used to write about "a day in Taiwan...", and now I want to give you a glimpse into our life here in Georgia, Europe. We had an exciting day on Sunday, spending the day with the church on a picnic. Here are the highlights!


Sunday morning at 9:30, we leave the house for church. The church is meeting at the building first, at 10:00, and then plans to leave together at 11:00 for the park. It is (what an American culture would call) "Sunday school picnic" day.

Arriving at the church only a minute after 10:00am, we find we are the second family to arrive. People trickled in between 10-11:30. About then, I'm asking Michael if we missed something, but he replies that it is just the Georgian way. -And so it is! At 11:30, the pastor's wife and son come in and direct everyone to carpool to the park.

This particular place was a national park, where we were told sometimes there are cows or bears. We did see a cow, but thankfully, no bears! Though there was a large group that arrived at the park about noon, the main food had not yet arrived. Pastor had left at 10:00 to go shopping and was still out. There was a creek that ran through the park, and Jude looked forward to playing in the water. Still, we kept the boys occupied with games, sticks, rocks, and balls, not knowing the plan. As it turned out, that was a good thing.

After staying at this lovely national park for an hour and a half, the group decided it was too hot at this location and moved to the cars to go up the mountain to another location. The boys got a few minutes nap in the car, which was great.

We arrive at the new location about 2:00pm. The group walks a ways into the woods to decide the best place to picnic. Here also, we are told that giant wolves frequent these woods, but only in winter; and I am very grateful there are no snakes! Everyone hangs out chatting, resting, listening to music, and snacking on bread, iced tea, and other side dishes. One of the men starts the grill. Pastor arrives with the meat at 3:00pm to a big cheer.

It takes about an hour to roast the pork and chicken, and then we gather to eat. Though a few plates were available, most ate Georgian style with their fingers or with a stick to hold the meat. The food was very good. (I very much enjoyed a kind-of potato salad that one of the ladies had brought.) It didn't take long to eat the food! Then, we had the Lord's table under the canopy of trees- truly the Lord's house, and a short service with singing.

About quarter to 5:00pm, a desert of watermelons are cut into and served. Michael, my husband, is put in charge of American style picnic games. The kids and young adults played the games while the adults looked on and laughed and cheered. For sure, the egg toss was a new idea to everyone, but they loved the bean bag toss and trivia questions.

At 5:30, we let the church know that, regretfully, we would have to leave, as the boys were exhausted. With looks of surprise that we were leaving so soon, folks got up to have another cup of my iced tea or grab the last of the cookies before we left. It was a quiet ride home, as the boys slept.

By the time we were loaded up, drove down the mountain, dropped off our car guests, and arrived at home once more, it was 7:00pm. The boys were exhausted and protested waking up to get out of the car. I decided it was an ideal time for a kids' Bible show (as I didn't want them going to bed for a nap now), and set the boys down so we could unload the car without the crying. Poor guys!

It was a full but satisfying day. We had a great time, and the food, as always was good. Now we can say we experienced a true Georgian picnic vacation. It was an enjoyable glimpse into the way that Georgians think and plan.

Scriptures From Around the World - France

Gospel Centered Ministry and the Missionary Woman

It happens to all of us probably more often than we’d like to admit: we lose sight of the main thing—the gospel—while exhausting ourselves with peripheral activities.  How can missionary women keep the gospel central to our lives and ministries, especially if others have alternative ideas?

We know that the definition of the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Good News is that Jesus died for the sins of people—personally—and that putting one’s faith in His propitiation will save a person. Because of the resurrection, there’s the promise of eternal life with Jesus. It doesn’t get better than that!

There are so many tugs on us! Can you do this? Can you help me with this? You’re an expert; add this to your duties. Can you serve on this committee, begin a Bible club in a new area, organize this function? And, unfortunately, most of us feel that adding to our ministry is always good, so we take this on and that on, and we begin to overwhelm our lives with good things—which become bad things. It’s so easy to say yes and later stumble under the burden.

How can we change our ministry perspective? How can we be more discerning when a thousand ministry-related things are tugging at us?

Let me offer some ideas that might help:

1. Take about a half hour to analyze what you’re presently doing. (If you don’t have a free half hour, you know you have a problem! Take a half hour off, anyhow.) Write out a list of your regular activities. You can include them all: cooking, cleaning, meetings, personal  and car care, ministry activities, work commutes, teaching, etc. Mention any deadlines you might routinely have (financial reports, blog posts, book writing, business deadlines, etc.). Assess what’s going on in your life right now.

2. Review your ministry description. I like to use the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), but you can use a sentence or quote you’ve written out or another verse. What is your purpose in your ministry? Make sure this is very clear in your mind.

3. Now, decide:

• Which of the activities or deadlines that you wrote down overwhelm you (if any)?
• Which of your normal activities do nothing to further the spread of the gospel?
• Do you need to revise any activity’s focus, so that it’s more effective in actually furthering the gospel?
• Do your normal activities speak Truth into other lives? (Yes, your husband and children count!) Analyze if you have regular contact with unsaved people and how your contact might open up opportunities to share the gospel with them. 
• Are you so activity/service oriented you’ve lost a gospel focus? (It’s easy to do!)
• Do you have room to add anything? If so, what kinds of ministries and activities do you think you could add?
• Do you need to cut back? (I’ve done this, and I need to do it again.) If so, where are your priorities? Which activities are more important?
• Ask for help. Ask your husband or team leader’s opinion. You’ll doubtless be surprised at the answers they give you. Be humble enough to seriously listen and consider what they say.

Many years ago, people would ask a dear missionary friend about what his wife did on the field. His answer? “She’s my wife.” This lady homeschooled their kids, made all kinds of connections with neighbors, and was constantly sharing the gospel. But, her main ministry was being there for her husband, cooking, cleaning, mothering, and being a wife. That is a valuable calling.

If you’re not married, I believe it’s harder in some ways, because everyone wants a piece of you. You are “free,” which often means you don’t even have time to breathe.

Whatever kind of ministry you’re a part of, make sure your own life is gospel propelled and gospel centered. If you need to say no, do so. If you need to be more evangelistic, do so. If you can add or subtract, make wise decisions. Ask the Lord to guide your thinking and your steps. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all (missionary women) liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given (James 1:5, my application).

Consider these Bible passages:

• The steps of a (missionary woman) are ordered by the LORD: and He delighteth in (her) way (Psalm 37:23, applied).
• NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105).
• Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
• But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18).

The next time someone asks you to add something to your plate, pause to pray for wisdom, analyze the request in the light of the gospel, and then make a wise decision.

God bless you!

by Lou Ann Keiser, in Basque Spain since 1984