Our team recently attended a forest wedding that required a lot of off-roading to reach. It was a beautiful adventure, and a beautiful beginning for two young people who are American by passport but very much a part of this place. One of the most beautiful experiences of cross-cultural living is watching people several countries celebrate together. It’s a foretaste of what it will be like in Heaven as all nations join together in worship to the King of Kings!

Catching a glimpse of nature in process is exciting. These pinecones are donning their summer color before the brown of fall comes. God’s creation displays His amazing creativity and order.

“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord.” Psalm 96:11-13

We recently attended a friend’s wedding–the church ceremony and the dinner afterwards. Dinner really isn’t the word to describe the table that was set for us–dishes were literally stacked on each other as the servers brought plate after plate of food. It was a feast!

What a great reminder of the abundance of God–except His is of lasting value. While food eventually spoils, the gifts that our Heavenly Father gives do not, and we can always count on that.

Relational ministry sometimes looks like setting up a make-shift classroom on your friend’s balcony, and hanging out with some great kids in the village for five days. While we’ve never taken Kids’ Camp on the road before, God presented an opportunity to work with our dear friend. She is a vital partner, and this was an opportunity to honor her among her neighbors, move new relationships forward, and invest in her community.

Our favorite part of the week was an evening discussion that J led as we sat under the night sky with some of those who attended. The kids shared so openly, and she spoke words of life over them. What a joy, and what a gift!

Pedal boats can be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. You do have to keep pedaling to get across the lake, but you can also float and drift and enjoy the journey. I’m often guilty of focusing on the end goal, and I know I miss a lot by doing that. There’s so much beauty around us, so much that God is doing–let’s take it in!

We are all familiar with the idea of the body of Christ, and how our different talents and gifts can work together to make something beautiful. In this case, the something beautiful was a turtle keychain. Our middle daughter did a fantastic job leading the kids through this process, and I was so thankful, because this is not my strong suit. 🙂

“He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.” Psalm 1:3

You just never know what you’ll find when you come to work. However, it’s not usually anything this dramatic. It appeared that someone pushed in the window on the center’s door in an effort to reach in and let themselves into the office. Thankfully, it’s not possible to enter that way, but they did leave quite a mess.

Even with the frustration of this incident, I was so thankful for students who showed up for their lesson, but instead stayed with me to help in any way that they could–including clean-up. Our landlord was very kind, and had it fixed by the next day. It was a good reminder that we never know what the day holds, but that we can choose to find the good in it.