The Lenten Season

Today is Ash Wednesday and that means the beginning of Lent. Growing up I always wondered what that meant-Lent that is because that wasn't a huge focus in the church I grew up in. Over the years however, I have learned and continue to learn what the season of Lent is and what it can do in our journey. I read this today about Lent and thought I would share it with you...

During Lent, traditionally observed for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday, followers of Christ all around the world sacrifice things important to them, intentionally drawing themselves away from desires driven by their five senses. Lent helps us become more focused on the spiritual part of ourselves, preparing our hearts to genuinely experience the passion of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the Cross. Lent draws us closer to God through purposeful prayer, self-denial, repentance, giving, and time in the Bible:

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
—Romans 8:5

I am going to take a challenge presented by a friend to read the Gospels throughout this Lenten season. Starting tomorrow we are to read 2 chapters starting in Luke. I sometimes get nervous taking on challenges like this-probably because I don't want to fail. I pray God uses this time in the work to draw me closer to himself as we experience His journey to the Cross.

Reflections on my time in the jungle...

When I think of the teaching time we had in the jungle, it is definitely different than I expected. It's probably different from what you're picturing too. We didn't have monkeys all around us in the trees, in fact, it didn't really feel like we were in the jungle at all-until we looked past the little school we were in and saw we were surrounded by jungle. I guess I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking it would be like. I wasn't expecting to have a dry erase board or desks or a projector, but we had all of those. There was loud latin music playing across the street, and kids in the dirt street playing soccer outside the school doors. There were 5 kids and 1 teacher that showed up for the disabilities teaching. One of the activities I did was to assign different disabilities to kids in the group and then have them work together to build something out of straws. Not so easy. The objective was to see if those who were blind or couldn't speak were left out. It was interesting to me that ALL of those involved in the activity were involved! The others helped out those who couldn't work in the exact same way. Isn't that how the body of Christ should be? All of us working together with our strengths AND our weaknesses? God can use our weaknesses, sometimes in more ways at times than our strengths. As I mentioned in the previous post, one of the girls said something about my lack of Spanish as being a disability and indeed it can be and is. But hopefully God can use me in spite of it! I challenge you to not be afraid to show your weaknesses. Sometimes God can use those to touch others around us in ways we don't even know.

P.S. The students told us that the 2 weeks before when we were supposed to be there, one of the girls in the class got bitten by a snake...an X is what it is called. She was rushed to the hospital and they said she is doing OK. I am SO thankful I wasn't there to see that-I'm not sure how much help I would have been after seeing a snake!

Time in the Jungle, Teaching

As I posted recently, 2 weeks ago or so, we tried to make a trip to the jungle, specifically a village called Guagua Sumaco for me (Kim) to do teaching about disabilities to the youth of this area. On the way though, we were stopped because a bridge was out.
This previous Saturday (the 18th) we tried the trip again and MADE IT! My friend and fellow missionary, Mandy Hjelm went with us to help translate. I think for my first real teaching experience, it went pretty well. I tried to incorporate a lot of activities to break up the mound of information I gave which I think was good for the kids. You can see some of the above pictures. The activities were supposed to simulate different types of disabilities and how that would effect doing simple activities such as opening a piece of candy with a motor disability, trying to work together in a team with multiple disabilities such as being blind or not being able to use a hand or talk. Another activity was having the kids try to write their names with a piece of paper on their forehead. This would simulate how the brain may confuse letters. Overall, it was a great experience!
I asked a question during the lesson about disabilities and how it might effect the students. One in the class responded with "it's kind of like you and not being able to speak Spanish well". She didn't mean this is an insult, but it was very, very true. Not speaking the language fluently yet is a bit of a disability, but I KNOW that God can still use me, in SPITE of me and in SPITE of my limitations with the language. AMEN!

Pray CONTINUALLY?

A couple of days ago, I was thinking of friends and family and situations that I was going to be praying for throughout the day that day and I got really overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the amount of things that my friends and family are going through-separations, adoptions, trying to have a baby, surgeries, depression, loss of family members, and so, so many more. I don't know if others every feel this way, but I just felt overwhelmed. I have wrestled with this in my head because I don't know if this is right or not, I mean, praying for my friends, family and others is not a burden, in fact, I'm glad people trust me enough to allow me to walk with them and lift them up to Jesus. I still just keep thinking though, HOW much there is to pray for and that I don't know if I can keep up. Sometimes I think, 'do my prayers even matter?' Then I felt like Jesus was saying to me again for like the 100th time-TRUST ME! 'I AM IN CONTROL' This is the verse that came to my head...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
New International Version (NIV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
How POWERFUL! Pray CONTINUALLY-not just when you feel like it or when things are going great or when it's easy! PRAY CONTINUALLY! When it's hard, overwhelming, frustrating and even when you feel it doesn't matter-because it does! God hears!

This picture is from our last Sunday at our home church when the congregation laid hands on us and prayed for us. It is a great reminder to me to know that there are many people lifting US up and it encourages me to keep lifting others to Jesus daily, continually.

Only in Ecuador...

It's been quite an interesting weekend. We left Santo Domingo on Friday afternoon and traveled to a little town called Baeza-about a 5-6 hours in total. We stayed overnight in Baeza and met our friends Mandy (our fellow missionary and translator for the class) and Abby and got up very early because I (Kim) was going to be teaching my first class about disabilities in a small village in the jungle. We met our friend Rolando and in his family about an hour outside of Baeza and then started the 2 hourish trip to the village. About and hour or so into the trip-we ran into traffic that was very backed up. It's the rainy season here so we thought it was probably a landslide which is pretty common. We got down to the bridge and this is what we found! This road has at least 11 bridges alone getting to the village and they are not super sturdy so they don't allow big trucks. However, they said a large truck passed over it and this is what happened!
The bridge had a HUGE hole in it and we found out it was being held up underneath with very thin tree trunks.
Then we realized they were putting a tree trunk over the hole and then thin planks. Our friend Rolando that was with us said that a few people probably paid the engineers so they could pass over it. That's when we saw a truck and then a BUS pass over the broken bridge!!!!! It was incredible-don't worry, we decided not to pass over it-defintely not worth the risk. So, after a lot of travel, we headed the 3 and a half hour trek back to Quito. We will probably be doing the training in a couple of weeks-hopefully the bridge will be fixed! HA! Only in Ecuador...

To mothers-to-be and pregnant friends...

I felt compelled to write a blog post to my pregnant friends or those who are trying to get pregnant. I am passionate about preconception care and women's health so in light of that, I thought I should write this.

One of the best things you can do as a woman who is pregnant or wanting to get pregnant is to prepare you body. At least 3 months before you want to get pregnant-you should take at least 400mcg of Folic Acid. This simple vitamin has been proven to prevent neural tube defects such as Spina bifida. I would recommend taking a prenatal vitamin at least 3 months before getting pregnant as well as during the duration of your pregnancy and breastfeeding if you decide to breastfeed (breastfeeding info is a whole other post).

Make sure your immunizations are up to date. If you haven't had any vaccines in a long time, you should for sure check with your Gyne or midwife about this. Especially chicken pox and rubella are very important to check into as these can be extremely dangerous to the baby. Also-the flu vaccine is a must for pregnant mothers!

It is also important for your body to be in general good health. If you are overweight, even losing 10% of your BMI is huge! THis can decrease your rates of having difficulties in pregnancy as well as in your general health. Also, make sure to stop drinking, alcohol or drugs as well as exposure to toxic chemicals and fumes. All of these have been attributed to possible birth defects, as well as mental development. This can help prevent developmental disorders.

Another important thing is to get a check up-especially with your midwife or gyne to make sure you have no infections or other problems.

If you have questions-check out the CDC or March of Dimes
Their websites are:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/preconception/default.htm
http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/getready_10steps.html

El Ano Nuevo (the New Year)

On New Year’s eve, we experienced a very different celebration here in Ecuador. The traditions are quite different here, but fun. We had a great time learning and experiencing this with our friends the Burbanos. 1-2 days before New Year’s eve, we began to see paper mache dolls representing the old year. On New year’s eve, starting in the afternoon, ‘the widows’ of the old year come into the streets, stopping cars and asking for money. These ‘widows’ are typically men dressed up as women. We would like to say that this money is used for something good, but the ‘widows’ use it for alcohol. At midnight, to represent the new year coming in, people burn the doll representing the year past.

Additionally, we went down to a street in the tourist district to see large paper mache dolls that were in a contest with other businesses. People were very dressed up, similar to Halloween. It was quite the sight. It was very fun to experience this. Here are some pics to show you a little more what we saw.

The family in front of a big display of figures representing the 'old year'



Los Munecos (the dolls) of the old year



Olga and Caleb


Henry, Joel, Caleb and Simeon

Leftover turkey and trimmings???? What to do?

Have you ever wondered what to do with your turkey and trimmings leftovers after Thanksgiving or Christmas? I have a great solution! I guess I shouldn't say it is mine, I stole it from my mother-in-law one year when all of us got together and we had leftovers. What else is there to do, but make a casserole?
Now, for those of you very sectional eaters out there, you may be thinking "casserole, NO WAY!" I can understand. My hubby likes his foods separated and eats them one at a time. I hear your scoffs and reservations. However, I have to say-it is JUST wonderful. Here is the way I did it today:
I didn't have a lot of leftover dressing, so I started with the turkey on the bottom-enough to cover the whole bottom of your pan. I used a 9X13 pan, but you can use whatever size you want, depending on how many leftovers there are. After the turkey, I put dressing, then corn, a think layer of gravy, then mashed potatoes,then ended with gravy. I covered it with foil and put it in the freezer for a day when I didn't want to cook! You can do this casserole to whatever taste you like-whatever layers you like-although I always end with potatoes and gravy. Depending on how many leftovers you have-you can always give it to friends or your fav single friend who would probably really enjoy it.
Hope you try it!

Quick, Inexpensive Christmas Gifts...Cocoa Jars

3 cups powdered milk

1/3 cup sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

For peppermint hot cocoa, add in 1/3 cup crushed candy canes. For salted double chocolate cocoa add in ½ teaspoon sea salt and 1/3 cup chocolate morsels.

The recipe can easily be cut in half for smaller jars or doubled for larger jars.

Attach with directions: “Mix the ingredients in the jar together, then stir ¼ cup mix into 1 cup hot water or milk. Top with whipped cream.”

Then you just hope that your friends invite you over for hot cocoa.


****INFO BORROWED FROM: http://www.thenheathersaid.com/2010/11/23/handmade-christmas-kitchen-how-sweet-it-is/

Water Fights and Life Lessons

A couple of days ago, Simeon and I were 'washing' dishes in the kitchen. Simeon LOVES water and loves playing in it which helps me (Kim) with getting the dishes done. Anyway, during our 'washing' Simeon started flinging water (not unusual). I said in response to this "Simeon, this isn't the place for that." (Calmly of course)...

As I heard the words come out of my mouth, I thought to myself, "This sounds like an adult talking and scolding". What better place to fling water than in our house, in our kitchen? So, instead of doing the good adult thing and continuing the wash dishes, I proceeded to fling water back at Simeon. His face was priceless! He just looked at me with big eyes and then started laughing and flinging more water. After a few minutes, we were both soaked as well as the kitchen, but it was SO much fun and I wouldn't trade the sweet sounds of laughter for anything-not even a dry kitchen.

My life lesson for today:

Don't be too busy, or too 'adult-like' to take advantage of fun kid-like opportunities that your kids will remember.

Tragedy hits Ecuador

We just thought we would update you on what has been going on here in Ecuador the last couple of weeks. Here is a quick update...

On Thursday, August 4th, a tragedy struck the Ecuadorian Mission Field. A young man, by the name of Joshua Kim, of 21 years of age who was here visiting the Amazon region of Ecuador with his Presbyterian church from Orlando, FL, was swept away by a river that he and the team were swimming in to cool off from a hard day’s work. The place where they were swimming was a very popular among locals as there were people swimming there before and after they were.

Though I (Joel) wasn’t a part of the team in the Amazon, I knew I really wanted to help. So, I left early on the morning of August 5th to go over to the Amazon region of the country to be there with the team. The team ended up needing to return to Quito to fly out the next day though the pastor of the group stayed to continue the search for their lost friend. In addition to this, Joshua’s father and brother (who had been to Ecuador twice himself) and the senior pastor of the church flew in later that night. I took this group (the father, brother and both pastors) back to the Amazon region to continue the search for Joshua. Unfortunately, after five days of searching they left Ecuador without finding him. The good news is that on Friday, August 12th, Joshua’s body was found and is currently being delivered back to Quito so that he can be sent home to Florida.

Never in my life when I decided to be a missionary did I think that I would be involved in something like this. What I can attest is this: Jesus Christ is alive and at work here in Ecuador! I have never meet a group quite like the four I met from Orlando, FL. It is obvious to me that the Holy Spirit has been guiding them and has been with them every step of the way. Their response to this tragedy was inspiring! They were touched by those Ecuadorian officials, church members and missionaries that were helping them search for Joshua. His brother, Joseph, testified that when he first learned the news of what had happened that he was shocked, horrified and sad about it, but that as he has been here in Ecuador, he has only been encouraged to continue the ministry that his brother had started. He had a whole new respect for his older brother and wanted others to know about him and his life through the blessings of ministry. Joshua’s father, Mr. Kim, amazingly testified very similarly. He said that he felt that his son passed away so that he would come to see Ecuador and the ministry that both of his sons had started there. He felt that it was taking so long to find Joshua because God wanted him to see more of Ecuador and the ministry that his sons had been involved in. He thought God was encouraging him to continue on the ministry and do more ministry in Ecuador, not just their family but the whole church.

Joshua Tico Kim will be remember for his dedication to ministry in the church and his love for others. He was always giving of himself. In addition to this, he was a talented musician, singer and composer. He was soon going to be moving to Boston, MA to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music. From everything that I have learned about Joshua I wish I had had the opportunity to meet and to get to know him.

Though the story of the family and close friends is inspiring for us all, I know there will be difficult days ahead with the reality of no longer having Joshua present with them. Please pray for them that God can provide that comfort that is needed in their loss.

Simeon at the beach

We had the great opportunity to go the SAME beach last week. After 4 days of not wanting to go in the water, Simeon found out he actually really liked it!

Anger

I urge you to live a life worth of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. -Ephesians 4:1-3

Last Sunday this is the text our pastor preached about. It struck me in my ongoing journey to reconcile my anger that these verses appear to be the epitome of salvation, grace and right living in Christ. THIS is how I want to live my life, THIS is the example I want to set for Simeon. Not a heart of anger, not a life of impatience, but a gentle and humble spirit, patient and as the MESSAGE Biblical translation says to be

..."steadily pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love"

In researching this passage a little more, I have a learned a couple of things. To live a life "worthy of the calling you have received" is referring to the gift of grace we have been given through salvation. Paul is reminding me (us) that if God's love is so amazing, his grace abounding, then we should as believers, live accordingly. EVERY believer, not just pastors and people in full time ministry, but EVERY believer. To add to this, the explanation of LIVING THIS LIFE OF CHRIST is mirrored in the attributes of humility, gentleness, patience, tolerant love, and peacekeeping. From the NIV Application Commentary regarding verse 2:

"Attention goes first to the ego and then to loving relations. An understanding of God’s work is always an attack on the ego, not to obliterate or humiliate the self, but to bring it into relation with God and to redirect its interests. In losing life we find it."

The word translated “be completely humble” focuses on one’s thinking; it means “lowliness of mind” as opposed to haughtiness

“Gentleness” Paul uses both these words for gentleness to describe his own demeanor — a gentleness he says is characteristic of Christ.

“Patience” (makrothymia) is the exercise of a largeness of soul that can endure annoyances and difficulties over a period of time

The NIV’s “bearing with one another in love” sounds archaic and loses the force of the text. A more appropriate translation is “putting up with each other in love.” The Christian life is a life of putting up with other people, and this tolerance finds its ability and motivation in love (cf. Gal. 6:2). “Love” and “putting up with each other” are intertwined and mutually explanatory. Both are ways of valuing the other person.

“Love” (agape) enjoys the other person, but it does not exist for enjoyment. It is not a feeling or emotion, but an act of the will. It exists only in relation to specific people, and it is always costly. The focus on love is an extension of the emphasis on love in 3:17 – 19. That is, the love experienced in Christ must be extended to others. The noun agape was rarely used outside Jewish sources and the Christian writings. A few secular occurrences are now known, but clearly Christians injected the word with new content to talk about love in relation to God — first love from God, then also love for God and for other people because of God. This love does not have its origin in human motivation; it is a choice made because of the love of God.

The focus on ONE ANOTHER is significant. Living a Christ-centered life is about bearing with one another-particularly other Christians. Christianity is a God-directed, Christ-defined, other-oriented religion. Only with such direction away from self do we find ourselves.

In my search for a deeper understanding of Christ, my life, my attitude and my anger can not help but be changed. If I am truly, TRULY seeking HIS face, I will find Christ's. I pray this for you in this day and in your life as you deal with your children, spouses, co-workers, and fellow Christians.

Visit from Mom and Dad Carter

Grandma and Grandpa Carter came to visit last week. We visited a lot of sites around Ecuador. Here are some of the sites around Ecuador that we visited.

Anger

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

—Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32

If you had told me a few years ago that I had a problem with anger, I probably would have laughed and said “yeah right”! But I have realized over the past couple of years that I DO indeed have a problem with anger. You might be asking yourself how this is possible. I have a loving, amazing husband, a wonderful son and I am doing what the Lord has called me to do WHERE He has called me to do it (as I understand and hear Him right now in my life). You would be right, I am truly blessed and I would be the first one to admit that. However, I think being human and our sinful nature doesn’t have anything to do with what our life looks like. God blesses us even when we don’t deserve it, that’s what GRACE is all about-but that is for a different post entirely. I am human and just like everyone else I struggle with sin on a daily basis.

For those of you who know me, you know I am a fairly open person. I wear my emotions on my sleeve (anger, happiness, joy, pain). When I started talking with Joel about how to deal with my temper especially, we talked about different things to do. One of my suggestions was to blog about it. However, it’s a different sort of blog. It is personal and that is not always easy. However, I really think this is something I am supposed to do. Not sure why and I am sure it will not be an easy thing to do at times, but I want to be vulnerable and I want to change, that is the bottom line.

SO, the 1^st blog is about WHY I am doing this. I realized like I said that I had a problem with my anger a few years ago, but for the last year, it has been very noticeable. I realized that I did not want Simeon growing up with a mom that has a bad temper and I especially didn’t want him growing up learning that behavior. There are so many other things I want to give him, but I don’t want to give him the legacy of anger.

I look at my husband and feel he is such an example to me of someone who is constantly trying to be like Christ. I realize that is what I want to be like. Now, honestly, this is not easy. It is not easy to realize that you are lacking in certain areas of your life. In fact, there are times that I have been jealous of Joel because he is patient, kind and very tender-hearted and understanding to the needs of others. I am not like that in most situations. I am very blessed to have a husband that I can learn from. Now, he would be the 1^st to say he is not perfect, but in this area, like I said, I am glad I am able to learn from him. He suggested reading through Philippians and Ephesians. I really appreciate the above verse from Ephesians. I like that it describes the ‘bad’ characteristics and then the ‘good’ characteristics and then talks about how God forgave us and that is what we should do for others. Basically we should have the attitude of Christ. I am far away from that, but I am striving for it.

I ask that if you read this blog regularly, that as you do, you would pray for me. It is not an easy endeavor to change an engrained part of who you are. Pray for change, for a likeness to Christ and an attitude of tenderness.

Simeon Dancing to Reggae

Simeon is definitely Joel's son-he LOVES Reggae

Simeon's gift to us on his FIRST Birthday-His FIRST steps

On his 1st Birthday, Simeon decided to take his first steps. After everyone left and it was just our fam. It was very cute and you can hear our excitement!

SIMEON TURNS 1!!!!!!

Simeon celebrated his FIRST birthday on March 5th! We had people over to celebrate and had a little party. It was a lot of fun and Simeon got his very own cupcake! Hope you enjoy the pics!

P

Video from Christmas

Simeon and Grandma Carter

Some pictures from Christmas 2010

Simeon loved having an actual bath to take a bath in and rubber duckies at both grandma and grandpa's house!

The Delp nieces + an O'Dell. Sporting the Liga jersey we got her for Christmas!

Grandma Delp and Simeon

The O'Dell nieces with Simeon

Zach, Mo, Simeon, Joel and I the night we got back to the States. Zach and Mo got engaged a couple weeks after this picture! YEAH!