Who Holds the Spoon?

It's amazing how much I learn from my children. It's no wonder Jesus took so many opportunities to show us how special little kids are to God!

Recently, I was especially challenged by my one-year-old, Edson. He is to the point where he eats all kinds of table food, but like most children, he gets more on the walls, floors, and his clothes than he gets in his mouth! When I am in a hurry or have just mopped the floor, I often decide to feed him rather than allowing him to use the spoon by himself.

Last week, I had one of those moments when I wanted lunch to be as non-messy as possible. I spooned up Edson's food and directed it toward his mouth. Without missing a beat, he grabbed at the spoon. At first I let him have control to see what would happen. As he grabbed, the food would fall off or he'd miss his mouth completely and the food would dribble down his chin and onto his clothes. After a few such incidents, Edson realized he wasn't getting any food --- at least not fast enough for his hungry tummy!

Finally, he handed me the spoon. I spooned up the food and began to diret it to his mouth. Sure enough -- he got a mouthful of food! He THEN grabbed the spoon out of my hand and held onto it. He looked at it for a few seconds, then looked at me, then with a HUGE grin handed me the spoon again. I reached out and took the spoon and fed him again. This little "game" continued until he had eaten all he wanted.

This situation really challenged me. You see, we humans are often like Edson. We want to feel like we have control. We desire to hold the "spoon" and direct our own life. However, what we often don't realize is when we do that we just make a massive mess of everything and end up feeling empty. What we forget is God is there, ready to direct that "spoon," filling us up with His Holy Spirit. Even more than I desired to physically see my son fed, God desires to see His children fed (spiritually) and filled up with HIM. He wants to satifsy!

Have you relinquished the "spoon" in your life? God has your best interest in mind. It's time to give up control and let God bring the satisfaction only HE can give. Be like Edson ---- give it up with a smile, realizing that's the only way you'll end up FULL!

Bolivian Culture in McAllen

I met my husband in Bolivia when I was working there as a single missionary. One of the many things I love about being married to Gerson is that he comes from a different culture. It's sometimes a challenge, but overall it's more enriching than anything else. One thing we try to do is incorporate both of our cultures in our household so our children will learn about where we have both come from. How do we do we incorporate Bolivian into our family? One way is cooking special, favorite foods that Gerson enjoys from his country.

When we lived in Indiana, some of his favorite foods were a challenge to cook because we couldn't get the ingredients. One of the joys of living in McAllen, Texas is that here we have lots of Mexican stores that can get ingredients from different Latin American countries.

The recipe I want to share is one I prepared today and no special ingredients are required! This is a fabulous recipe for warm weather when something fresh and cool is needed. It's also a wonderful dish to use up your boiled Easter eggs!
First off, boil potatoes. The original Bolivian recipe calls for 20 potatoes since this dish is used for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, or graduations where there are many guests. However, I just use 5 medium to large potatoes for our family. Even with 5 potatoes, we usually have enough left over for several meals. Cube the potatoes as you would for a potato salad and boil them. You don't want to boil them too long, however, or they will not stir well.
The recipe also calls for diced carrots (cooked), green peas (cooked) and onion. I like to keep things as simple as possible in the kitchen, so rather than do all that chopping, I pull out a bag of frozen veggies and heat them up. Like the potatoes, boil the veggies but only until they are cooked but firm.Pour the cooked veggies into the bowl with the boiled potatoes.
Then add the diced onions.
The recipe also calls for a cooked and de-boned chicken. Again, I try to keep things simple! Tonight I pulled out a bag of frozen chicken that was leftover from a rotisserie chicken we had bought at the local grocery store. Any kind of chicken will work. You can either boil a whole chicken, boil chicken breasts, or use leftovers for this. I popped the chicken into the microwave to thaw it and cut it up.
Then I added it to the rest of the of the ingredients. I also had hard boiled eggs all ready in my refrigerator. I peeled them, diced them, and added them as well. I use 2 eggs for this size of recipe.
The last ingredient is mayo! Add enough mayo to make it into a salad --- with the consistency like that of an American potato salad.
Place it in the refrigerator to chill. The result if SCRUMPTIOUS! It's hearty enough to be a complete meal, and it has protein, carbs, and veggies all in one.

Below I will put the original Bolivian recipe from my Bolivian cookbook. As you will be able to tell, I put my own spin on it. You can do the same! Hope you try it! Enjoy!

Sapicon (Bolivian Chicken/Potato Salad)

20+ large potatoes, cubed and cooked

1 cooked and de-boned chicken (cubed)

2 cups carrots, diced and cooked

2 cups green peas, diced and cooked

1 cup diced onion (optional)

4 hard boiled eggs

1 cup sliced green olives

mayonnaise to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Teamwork!

Unity is so important in the Body of Christ. As we Christians work together in harmony, the Lord is glorified and our testimony is strengthened. As we each use our gifts, skills, and abilities, the results are beautiful!
In February, the missionaries pulled together and held the dedication for Taylor Community Center. We even had the blessing of having 5 people from our WGM Headquarters in Indiana travel down to help us out and celebrate wtih us!
It was a team effort and we had many committees leading up the event to help with preparations. The food committee did a phenomenal job of planning the menu, buying the groceries, and preparing the spaghetti dinner that was served to 120 guests!
The decorating committee planned, shopped, and transformed the TCC gym into a beautiful banquet facility!
Everyone worked hard, using their gifts, to make the evening special for all our guests.
Many wore several "hats," pitching in wherever needed, giving selflessly when a need arose. . . even if it was for another committee!
It took everyone. Some gave by building a stage. Some gave by donating sound equipment. Some contributed by setting up tables, chairs, and multimedia for the presentation. Everyone pitched in and gave of themselves to see Christ lifted up!

What a joy it was to see Helen Moon honored for her and her late husband's contribution to seeing TCC finished.
What a challenge to hear retired WGM missionary Tim Hawk encourage us to invest in eternity.
What an inspiration it was to praise God through special music.
My prayer for the evening was the God would be glorified and that everyone would feel His love as we served them and worshiped together.
I believe the Lord honored our united spirit and answered abundantly! Praise the Lord for His goodness!

Unusual Tools

Through God's faithfulness and the generosity of His children, we now have a beautiful soccer field on World Gospel Mission property here in McAllen!
The spring soccer season has arrived and Gerson is in his element coaching. He is overseeing 4 teams who are using our soccer field to practice. Games will begin on Saturdays in a few weeks. Currently two teams practice on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The other two teams use the field on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
What a joy to see the "cancha" filled with kids playing soccer!
The community has responded with enthusiasm and the are made up of children from 3-12 years old. Some of these athletes are from Taylor Christian School. Some are home-schoolers. There is also a number who are from our very own neighborhood and community.

Many of the kids are not from Christian homes. They are looking for hope, purpose, love.
And Gerson's primary goal is to show them Christ's love and train in the His Word as they also play and learn the game of soccer.

Do we use unusual tools to evangelize? YES! But need is great. The response is enthusiastic. The work is hard with long hours. And we do it because we know the ANSWER to the kids' needs and questions.We also know it is WORTH IT ALL.
Will you join our prayer team? Pray for Gerson as he works with the kids almost every afternoon. Pray for us as we try to connect with the parents who come and watch the practices, hear the devotions, and sit on the sidelines for 1 hour and half. We are hoping I (Betsy) can begin building relationships with the mothers who stay during the practices. Pray for us as share the Gospel using a simple soccer ball.

TCC Moon Chapel

What have been up to during the month of February? I assure you, we have not fallen off the planet. Rather, we have been busy preparing for the dedication of Taylor Community Center. One part of the dedication was the dedication of the our chapel, which we have named "Moon Chapel" after Bill and Helen Moon. (Helen is pictured above with Gerson.) Bill and Helen were instrumental in the construction of TCC. The chapel always held a special place in Helen's heart. She desired that it would be a place of prayer.
When Helen retired from World Gospel Mission about a year ago, the chapel was pretty bare. It had the basics: chairs and a borrowed podium. Helen wanted to see the chapel have an altar and look like a prayer chapel!

The Lord provided! He sent Mike and Jan Cummings (who happen to be related to my father) from Southern Illinois. The arrived in the Rio Grande Valley for a month-long stay. We put them to work! While they were here, Mike made an altar, a podium, and a cross for the chapel. What a blessing!
While Mike did amazing things with the wood, Jan was his handy helper and stained it all. She was also an extra set of hands to hand him tools and help in whatever way her husband needed.
Meanwhile, Mom and I began working on making the chapel look warmer. After brainstorming, we decided to make banners based on the Fruits of the Spirit. We designed the banners on paper, then began looking at fabric and putting the banners together. Thanks to my mom's expertise with a sewing machine, the banners turned out fabulously!
Love ------ The greatest sacrifice and example of love --- Jesus dying for us on a cross.
Joy ---- Based upon, "Joy comes in the morning."
Peace --- "I've Got Peace Like a River!"
Patience --- We're all under construction. Praise God He's not done with us yet!
Kindness ----Eeveryone united to help one another, regardless of race, age, or economic status.
Goodness --- Comes from pure motives from a pure heart.
Mike installed the altar and the cross and moved the podium into place.
Then he hung the banners on the wall. Now the chapel looks like a prayer chapel! What a joy it was to see Helen see the chapel for the first time and realize her dream of a quiet place to pray had become a reality!

Dear Praying Friends,

February has flown by! I haven't had the time to post as much as I would've liked. It has been a month full of planning and preparing for a super special event.

This Saturday, the 25th of February, Taylor Community Center will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary since the ground-breaking in 2002. We will be serving a spaghetti dinner and having a worship service afterwards, praising God for His faithfulness.

I was asked to be the chairperson of the committee planning this event. I have never been in charge of planning an event to this scale and it has been overwhelming. Yet, in my weakness God has shown Himself to be all sufficient and has extended His grace and help over and over again.

One way the Lord the Lord has shown us His goodness is by sending us many winter Texans who have volunteers and have spent many hours helping us get ready for this celebration. He continues to surprise us with His provision and help.

Would you pray for us as we finish off all the details in this final week leading up to Saturday? We have a lot of work still to do. Our desire, above all, for this event is that God to be glorified and for HIS name to be lifted high!

Thanks, praying friends. We love and appreciate each of you.

Busy, Busy, Busy?

My intention was to update this ministry blog every week. Recently, I've realized what a lofty goal that was! Life continues to busy, busy, busy, but we desire with ever fiber of our being to not just be BUSY, but to be PURPOSEFUL in all we do.

Our pastor has been challenging us with this. So often, those of us in Christian ministries feel we need to be BUSY and fill our days being BUSY for God. We have the misconception we are working "for" God, but in reality we should be working WITH Him. For if He is not WITH us as we work, we accomplish nothing but empty busyness. OR we can be still, listen to His voice, follow His instructions, and move mountains!

God is doing great things in us. It must begin in US. Will you continue to pray for us --- that all we do is purposeful and God-centered? That we will listen to HIS voice and HIS plans and say goodbye to any busyness that is not effective? We don't want to be busy for the sake of being busy. If we're busy, we want it to be a busy that is anointed by God and makes an eternal difference.