Finishing Well

TGI-Almost Over
Man, this last week was a doozy! Thursday will be the last day of school, which means last week was full of tests and projects and I am EXTREMELY ready for school to be out! I stayed up late a couple of nights studying physics from Rebekah's book so I could go over it with her in the morning before school, and while an optimist might point out that this "opportunity" allowed me to add several new words to my Macedonian vocabulary, I would point out that this "challenge" gave me a fever blister!!! But I am thankful that, though I may struggle and though I have to keep using Google translate for those technical words, at least I can help. Thank you, Lord, for Google translate and for the time and ability to help Rebekah! And thank you for the end of the school year!

Rebekah with her bug collection for Biology. Thankfully she didn't have to collect as many as we had to for Mr. Minchew's class! To this day, the smell of fingernail polish remover reminds me of 7th grade science class! Rebekah's smile is for the camera – not for the joy of collecting bugs!


In the end-of-school performance, Rebekah joined her class to sing a medley of Abba songs! She was mortified, but didn't show it as she lip-synced "Mama Mia!"

Later in the peformance Rebekah also read Psalm 23 in English and in Macedonian for the crowd of parents, teachers and classmates.


As the school year is ending, so is basketball season. Joshua (front row, 3rd from the right) has had several basketball games with his team, and as one of the youngest (maybe THE youngest???), he was thrilled to play in the finals in Skopje. They ended the season with only one loss.


This is Daniel with his two best friends, Boban and Hari.
They may look mischievous but believe it or not, these three musketeers are known to be the class peacemakers, stopping fights between the other kids, be they boys or girls! (Sure wish he'd play the same role when Josh picks on him!)
Their class danced to "Let's Twist Again" in the end-of-school performance.

On a more "sour" note, our cherry tree has fabulous cherries and we have added "pick cherries" to the kids' list of chores for the last week! Actually the cherries are sweet, not sour, but I was trying to be clever! I didn't grow up popping fresh cherries in my mouth as a refreshing summer snack – but we are all loving it! In a few more weeks we'll have to add "pick apricots" to the chore list!

Coming Up
Homeschooling
These next few days and weeks, I am focusing on ordering material and getting ready for next year's homeschooling efforts. I am quite overwhelmed and extremely terrified, but I know this is what we need to do. Please pray for me to rest in His plans and take it step-by-step (and stay a step ahead of whatever I need to be doing!). Please pray for us in this endeavor.

Volunteer Team
We have a team from Normandale Baptist Church in Texas coming in mid June. They'll be doing some repairs of playground equipment and laying a sidewalk for the approach to a walking bridge in our neighborhood. Also we'll be having some seminars and perhaps some sports evangelism. Please pray for us all as we prepare for this joint effort, and pray for the hearts of those who will hear personal testimonies of Jesus.

Williams on Stateside
Our teammates Jeff and Amy Williams, and Maggie, will head to the States in two weeks for a six-month Stateside. They will be in Texas and Arkansas, so let us know if you want to hook up with them to speak about Macedonia!

Wedding Bells

Sunday our good friends Gabriel and Monika got married! They are both strong believers in Jesus and are a part of our Bible studies here in Prilep. Gabriel has a protestant background but Monika is Orthodox, so the wedding ceremony was very Orthodox!

We have lived in Macedonia for a long time and we've been to several wedding ceremonies, but they have been either purely protestant or mixed. Actually, often only family and very close friends are invited to the ceremony (if there is one at a church) -- so we were very honored to be invited. Many Macedonians only register at the civil office and then some couples take pictures outside of a church building. But often when people say they are going to a wedding, they mean that they are going to a restaurant to celebrate someone's marriage, with dinner and folkdancing.

Anyway, until yesterday I had never been to an Orthodox wedding ceremony -- a completely Orthodox ceremony. We all squeezed into the small building and stood watching while the priest chanted blessings on the couple. He gave a very brief sermonette and then led them in some wedding traditions, like lighting a candle and holding it on their shoulders during the ceremony; placing wreaths (sometimes crowns) on their heads and trading them back-and-forth three times; kissing the Bible; making the sign of the cross with the rings three times and then kissing them before placing them on their fingers; the bride, groom and two witnesses held hands and followed the priest around the altar three times while the priest chanted and dispensed incense. I'm not sure yet of the meanings of all these traditions, though obviously kissing the Bible shows devotion to the Word of God.

Two things that I noticed were very different from Protestant weddings: first, after crossing the rings three times, the priest was the one to place the rings on the fingers of the groom and bride. The second big difference was that no vows were exchanged. The bride and groom said nothing at all the whole time (except to confirm that they were not related more closely than 4th cousins and that they were entering marriage willingly rather than being forced!). Kyle and I speculated that perhaps words are not necessary because the very act of having a church ceremony is the vow (since few do it).


Of course, the Bible itself does not tell us how a wedding ceremony should look. The most important thing is to commit your life to your new spouse and to God. Gabriel and Monika have done that and we were so blessed to be able to join them on such a special day!
We love you Gabi and Moni! May God bless you both as you grow daily in love for each other through Christ Jesus, the One who shows us what True Love is!

"I Give My Life and Love to You in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit"

18 fantastic years and counting!

Last Sunday was our 18th anniversary so Jeff & Amy Williams offered (well, Amy offered!) to keep the kids while we went away for the weekend. We drove just about an hour and arrived in a charming little town in Greece.
We had a fabulously relaxing time. Thank you SO MUCH, Jeff & Amy!

Just Like a New Bride
We may have been married for 18 years but I have to share this: two weeks ago we had our new teammates over for dinner. That same day we had made a trip to Ohrid to see our other teammates there and arrived back in town half-an-hour before the Fullers were to arrive for dinner! Remember, we must cook everything from scratch here so I hit the kitchen like a Tazmanian Devil and whipped up a delicious meal of beef stroganoff with salad and veggies. (Don't I sound humble?!) Anyway, they arrived at 6 pm and by 6:20, we were eating. While we were eating I stuck a blueberry cobbler in the oven to bake -- now I had also "whipped up" the cobbler (i.e. in a tizzy!) and when I checked on it about half-way through the baking time I realized something was terribly wrong. In my haste in making the batter, I had left out the baking powder, so it was not rising at all! Figuring I had nothing to lose (except my dignity!), I stirred in baking powder right then and returned it to the oven for the remaining time.

Half-an-hour later I served our young and impressionable new teammates some very unattractive black stuff with whipped topping! (It wasn't burned at all but the now-stirred-in blueberries baked extremely dark purple that really looked black!) Thankfully, it was actually quite tasty as long as you ate with your eyes closed! Some of us even had seconds, so it goes to show: you can't judge "tar cobbler" by its looks! NOR you can't judge a cook by her years of marriage!!!

WE LOVE MILTON!!!
Our friend Milton Perry visited us in early May. We met Milton shortly after we arrived on the field in 1997; he was an ISCer (a two-year missionary) serving in Croatia. That began a deep friendship which has remained strong despite our distance. He lived with us for five months in mid-1999, working as financial support (bookkeeping, that is!) for the IMB's efforts during the Kosovo Crisis -- and keeping our dog Jessie when we went to Greece for Joshua's birth! Through the years he has visited us several times here in Macedonia and also in the States when we've been on furlough.

This last visit was in coordination with his job at Samaritan's Purse distributing wheelchairs to contacts we have here in Prilep.

The pic below was taken while we were hiking on the mountain above Prilep. These are old graves cut into the rock about half-way down the mountain; centuries ago there was a fortress and town on the top of the mountain.
Milton, we love you and even though we have no clue when or where we'll see you again, we can't wait!

Early May Comes . . . and goes so quickly!!!

New Teammates
Our new teammates, Spencer and Janae Fuller, arrived late in April. After much prayer and red tape, visas were issued! Here's a picture of Kate (1-1/2 years old) with Josh, Rebekah and Maggie (Williams). (You can see Spencer and Janae in the red and black t-shirts, respectfully, in the picture below.)

The Fullers are here for a two-year term; Spencer hopes to head up efforts in sports evangelism, while Janae takes over our ESL program. We are so thankful to have them join us in Prilep!!!

May Day
May 1st is a big holiday here and some of our friends from the church in Skopje came down to celebrate with us!
They arrived on Saturday and we hiked to Treskavec (the monastery we hiked to a few weeks ago).

Our new teammates Spencer and Janae Fuller made the hike with us, along with their 1-1/2 year old Kate, who is riding on Spencer's back.
Even though they couldn't communicate in the same language, Kate made a new friend that day!



The weather was beautiful so the long hike, though exhausting was also somehow energizing! It is such a blessing to see how God is using the young people from Skopje to touch the hearts of the young people here in Prilep.

God works through missionaries in some ways and through national believers in other ways, all with the same goal of bringing the lost to a saving relationship with Him! All members of the same body with Christ as the head!


It was dark by the time we made it back to the car! Here's a pic of our sweet town of Prilep!


Once again I just have to say "Geaux Tigers!!!" (And apparently God says it too!!!)



2nd Day of May Day!!
On May 2nd we had a big picnic in a nearby glade. Some of our folks got there at 6am to "reserve" a spot for us! We cooked out on the grill and spent all day hanging out! It was a great day to be together and enjoy the blessings of beautiful weather and scrumptious food! Everyone that came is either in a Bible study or comes to English class. What a fantastic group!

Way back in April . . .

We have a lot of things to catch you up on. Sorry for the delay in posting – just always had something else on my plate. In a couple of days I'll do another posting so I don't overwhelm you with one huge posting! Please check back!

R&R on our Team Retreat

We had a FANTASTIC team retreat in late April. Unfortunately, because of the volcano in Iceland, the team from FBC, Ruston, Louisiana, arrived two days late. They arrived in time for the retreat but we are so sorry they didn't get to see Prilep and meet some of friends there. Instead they came directly to the hotel in Bitola and had to hit the ground running, jet leg or not!



The REALLY great news is that, despite the delay, they arrived with all their luggage. Our kids wallowed in fabulous American treats like Goldfish, Fritoes, Cheetos, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Super Bubble Bubble Gum! The team even brought some comics from the Sunday paper. As you can see, our kids didn't waste any time getting down to business!












We all really needed the time to retreat a bit and regroup with Jesus! Despite several more getting this stomach virus (ugghh!!!), the fellowship was great and the kids absolutely loved the class times with the team! All the children (well, those who can talk!) are still talking about the great time they had! Thank you SO much, FBC, Ruston for sending a team and thank you SO VERY EXTRA much to Sharon, Penny, Ellen and Mary, for all your time and effort! You truly blessed us and we desperately needed it! There is no way we could have done it without you!

Here are a few pics from the retreat:

Sick Days

We've all taken turns with a stomach virus this last week. The first one to get sick was Maggie, our teammates' one-year-old who was staying with us while they celebrated their fifth anniversary with a weekend in Greece. Within a few hours, Daniel was also sick and Jackie was too a few hours later. Then we skipped a day and Josh got it; the next day Kyle got a milder version. Rebekah is the only one who escaped. Oh, and Maggie's mom, Amy, got it in Greece! (And dad Jeff got it yesterday.) Needless to say, this was not our most fun week!

You will be relieved to know I am NOT posting pictures!

But here are some pics of a religious festival from the week before we got sick. People hiked up to a particular monastery and near the top there was a carnival then inside the monastery they had a liturgy.
And people brought eggs to be blessed by the priest and then the eggs were redistributed to the people. People also light candles for their health or for mercy for a loved one who has died and fill bottles with blessed water to take home with them, again for good health.

Time to Party
Also of note was Maggie's first birthday party. This was two days before we all got sick! Don't we look healthy and happy?! Who'd have guessed what the next week would hold?!

Fruity Kids
Also here is a picture of Josh with his extraordinarily straight banana – and Daniel showing off some Cheetos that someone blessed us with!!!
Coming Up:
We're off to a MUCH NEEDED team retreat April 22-25. All of our team (here and in Ohrid) have been sick with this virus and/or had various extremely stressful kid health issues, so we are all really looking forward to it. First Baptist Church Ruston is coming to take care of our kids.

Please pray for our team retreat to be a time of refreshment and spiritual renewal as we focus on Jesus. Pray that we would leave behind all burdens, distractions (and strategies!!) and rest in Jesus and His unfailing love.

Thank you so much for caring for us and the people of Macedonia!

Easter Week in Review

But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)


On Wednesday before Easter our living room was jam-packed as Kyle taught about Jesus' death and resurrection! God continues to amaze us as He brings more and more people to study His word. Easter last year we were thrilled to have 11 people join us; this year 23 people came! Seven of those who came had never been to any of our Bible studies!

On Friday night we watched The Passion of Christ at the club. The group was small, mostly our regulars. The film is so intense, and watching it on Good Friday – or Black Friday, as it's called here – makes it even more moving.

Saturday and Sunday were fantastic family days for us! Saturday we drove about an hour away to a mountain on which we had camped several years ago -- the trail winds through pastures and follows a meandering stream. With the snows melting, the stream was deeper and wider than last time, with more white water and new side-streams finding their way down ridges to meet the rushing waters of the bigger stream. Absolutely beautiful!

We hiked

and picnicked

and waded in the icy stream

and played chase

and read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Josh is sitting on our own Stone Table)

and cloud-watched (sorry no pic; I guess I was too engrossed in the cloud!)

and wrestled.

We just feel like God gave us a glimpse of heaven that day!!! Wow!














On Sunday we went out to a nearby mountainside to hide (and hunt) eggs. Jeff, Amy and Maggie Williams went with us. We hid eggs around a couple of huge boulders and the kids found them all. Then the kids took turns and re-hid them for us. I think there was only one egg that's still hiding up there!

Sunday night we had an Easter worship time with friends at Jeff & Amy's house. Some friends from Skopje (who are from Prilep) were home for the holiday so they joined us and brought some friends too.