Our little corner of the world

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be."  (Psalm 138:16)

We watch our lives unfold little-by-little, but God not only knows everything that's going to happen...He's the One who planned it all!  "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to give you hope and a future."  (Jer. 29:11)

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In 2001, Dan graduated from college and prepared to continue his studies in physical therapy.  Therapy school is really expensive, so he found a great way to finance his future.  He joined the U.S. Army!  He joined as an officer, a second lieutenant, and the Army paid for his schooling, as well as his salary.  Towards the end of his first year, he married KC, a lovely girl whom we had met when she came down on one of the mission trips that Dan led.  We traveled to the States for the wedding...and if you'd like to read (or refresh your memory) about it, and read (or re-read) the poem I wrote for them, you can go to the post at this link: 
were-you-married-in-april.html

Then in 2001, two things happened.  Debbie graduated from college with her nursing degree,

and we traveled to the States for a long-delayed furlough.  We had over a year coming to us.  We settled in El Paso, Texas.  For about a year-and-a-half, we were all together again!  (A very special treat!)  How was that?

Dan had finished his master's degree, and had to tell the Army where he preferred to be stationed...first, second, and third choices.  He put El Paso for the first...and got it without any problem, because NOBODY else wanted to go live in that little far-off corner of the country!  (Besides, the military hospital there had asked for someone bilingual.)

Dan and KC bought a house, and Debbie moved in with us, in the small duplex we had rented, and got her certification to work as an RN.  Before finding a job, she went to Haiti for three months to volunteer at a hospital...and came home with hepatitis!

What did Germán and I do during our furlough?  He worked for a while in one of HCJB's U.S.-Mexican-border radio stations, and then helped out in a Hispanic church.  He occasionally preached, held Bible studies, did visitation, etc .  And I was able to contribute to that ministry with music and ...stories!  When we left, at the good-bye party, one of the ladies asked sadly, "Now who's going to make us cry?"  (When I sang, I tended to choke up and then they would!)...and "Now who's going to tell us stories?"

At home, I had a field day trying out new recipes!  I had taken my several hundred cookbooks out of storage, and being in a place where I could actually get all the ingredients (which doesn't always happen here!)  I tried out recipe-after-recipe...over 430, I think was the final count!

The second half of our time in El Paso was even more eventful, and I'll tell you about it very soon in another post. 


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"They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing your righteousness...The Lord...has compassion on all He has made."  (Psalm 145:7,9)

Celebrate His kindness and love along with us, for all He has done for you, and all He IS and CAN BE for you.  

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Have a great week...meet me here again, and besides letting you know the really cool things God did for us while we were in "our little corner of the world", I'll tell you one of my stories.

"H-Balm"...a poem for when you want to cry

     
                   H-Balm

Lord, what's in that bottle You keep?
   Your tears...when you weep,
   I nestle you in the palm of My hand.
   (See your name?  It's carved right over here.)
     And though your emotions seem to slip through my fingers,
     not a drop is lost, not a single tear;
        for every one is caught and kept,
        no matter why or where you've wept;
                                                 soul-floods of anger, joy and pain...
                                                 I treasure all this priceless rain.

     I can see that!  My bottle's so full!
     But WHY?
     If other people notice,
     they'll think You like me to cry!                                                          

     (sigh...)
                                                                                               

                         ...You have another bottle there...
                         What's in it?  More tears?  
                         (As if I didn't have enough already!)    

                        

                            
                       Dear Child, let Me show you.
                       If we take this second bottle,
                       and mix its contents with those of yours,
                       we get a heavenly healing balm
                                 that eases pain,
                                 that helps you rest,
                                 that soothes you,
                                 that restores.
                               
                       It has a fragrance full of love,
                                 a formula divine.
                                       You see,
       that bottle holds your tears...this other one holds Mine.                                                                                                                                                         
*****************************************************************Becky Rhon****************                               

              

Different versions say it in different ways, but in this case I like the imagery of the King James:

"Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?"  (Psalm 56:8)

It's comforting to know that because Jesus became a man, He passed through the same kinds of things that make us cry. He understands our tears.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses..."   (Hebrews 4:15)

And Isaiah 53:3 tells us that He was "a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering."           

In case you wondered, yes...I've felt like crying these last couple of days.  I doubt Jesus had fibromyalgia, but He certainly knew what it was to feel physical pain...and also emotional pain.  He understands my tears.

And if you want to cry, He'll understand yours.

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She INSISTED that these were COWS, not lions...

 In the summer of 2000, we had a splendid chance to have our kids back in Ecuador...without having to wait until Christmas!  Dan organized and brought down a group of students on a short-term mission trip.  (And Debbie, who was also at APU, was with them!)


During the three weeks that they were here, farmed out to different Ecuadorian families, they got a taste of a variety of ministry opportunities, some of them involving things they had never seen up-close before.                                                                                                                                                              

   
They worked for a few days at an orphanage, having brought down a TV and some videos like Veggie Tales and Focus on the Family cartoons . (The orphanage wasn't a Christian organization, so they hoped this would plant seeds in little hearts...and big ones.)   They treated the kids to a day at the zoo, a very special occasion for them.  Dan was with one little three-year-old girl who, when she saw the lions, insisted that they were cows!  She refused to hear anything to the contrary.  They were cows, not lions!

Then the group went out to Machachi, a town about an hour away from Quito, where one of Germán's brothers pastored a church.  Their objective was to help, in both a financial and a practical way, with some construction being done for the church.  They provided a barbeque for everyone so that, after working together, they could all eat together.

On Sunday they took all of our church (Nueva Creación) to spend the day up at the hot springs in Papallacta.  Besides enjoying the springs themselves, they had a service, and Germán baptized almost a dozen people.
                                                                                                                                                    

Back in Quito, the next "adventure" was hard for some of the kids to experience.  They went out to one of the city dumps, where people who live there try to make a living going through garbage to find recyclable items.  The conditions those people live in really impacted the group. They took food, cut and washed hair, played soccer with the children, etc.

The final stretch of their time here was spent in the eastern jungles.  Flown in and out by Missionary Aviation Fellowship, they stayed several days in a Waorani village.  (You have probably heard them called "Aucas" - the ones that

martyred the five missionaries in 1956.)   Going in with a Colombian missionary,  the students helped with some construction, had some VBS activities for the children and joined the villagers for a nightly service in which the sermons were spoken in three languages!  The missionary used Spanish, a bilingual Waorani translated into their indigenous language, and Dan translated into English for the student group.

This turned out to be only the first of several summer mission trips that Dan, and later Debbie, would lead.  We were not only grateful that we could watch the way God was using our children, but also joyful  for the extra opportunity to see them and welcome them home!
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There was another Father who watched His Child work, as we did ours (although on a much larger scale!). Human mission trips do what they can to help, alleviate suffering, encourage believers...but God's Son came on a "mission trip" that provided ALL that we would ever need: help in any area of life, the comfort of His arms around us in our pain, the incomparable encouragement of knowing that His power and strength are available to us whenever we need them.  God watched His Son give the finishing, vital steps to complete this amazing plan for our salvation... the Cross  (during which He had to turn His back on His Son for just a moment - how terrible it must have been!) and then the Resurrection... and then had the immense joy of welcoming Him back to Heaven...welcoming Him Home!
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The fruits of Jesus' mission trip to Earth are eternal; they never change or expire or run out of stock.  "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order than in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus."  (Ephesians 2:6-7)
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Have a wonderful week!

It may be obligatory...but I might as well have some fun now and then, right?

Prayer letters! Some famous, some infamous...the object of jokes at times...but a necessary part of being a missionary.  They're not always easy to write, but I figured that, as long as I have to, I could try to give people something to grin about.  So I devised the "KWIZZ", a multiple-choice "test", a different and a little more interesting way to tell people about the things that are happening in our lives and ministries, or review things we've told them about already, or just "connect".  We've included them occasionally in our letters, and people write and tell us how many of the questions they get right! 

They usually have from five to twenty questions, and the light-hearted answers tend to be quite obvious, as you can see for yourself.  I've been looking through back-issues of our letters, and chosen some of the questions that will give you an idea of what the KWIZZES were like...and hopefully make you grin, too!

(In 1991, when in Dallas, after Germán's surgery)
1.) Germán was diagnosed last year as having...
     a)  appezooticky  (a fear of animals in the zoo)
     b)  acromegaly  (a pituitary tumor)
     c) acidophilus   (acidity due to overindulgence)
     d) acrodynia (you figure it out!)

(Just before returning to Quito in 1992)
2.) The Rhons came to the U.S...
     a) with Christopher Columbus (He didn't land in the U.S.?  Oooops!)
     b) almost three years ago
     c) so long ago they can't remember when

3.) Becky is...
     a) packing (slowly but surely)
     b) going crazy (slowly but surely)
     c) trying to lose weight (slowly!)
     d) eager to see as many of you as she can (surely)
     e) all of the above

(In 1993, when Dan was in 12th grade here)
4.) Dan played ______________ in "The Music Man", the school play.
     a) all 76 trombones!          b) the role of Mayor Shinn
                    c) the role of the villain

5.) Another event for Dan was his...
     a) abduction into the FL  (Foreign Legion)
     b) reduction into the HSS  (Head-Shrinking Society)
     c) induction into the NHS  (National Honor Society)

(In 1994)
6.)  Debbie's favorite vegetable is...
     a) chocolate cake        b) broccoli  (sort of)
                      c) non-existent

7.)  Becky collects...
     a) bells               b) utility bills (I frame them!)
     c) junk               d) cookbooks

(In 1997)
8.) Hobby-wise, Dan is a serious amateur...
     a) philatelist     b) phast phood phreak
          c) photographer

9.)  Debbie continued to take...
     a) photography lessons        b) phlute lessons
             c) phlirting lessons

10.) Her favorite vegetable is now...
     a) none of the above               b) blueberry bagels
                      c) lima beans

(In 1998)
11.)  As Dan was a few years ago, Debbie was ________ the National Honor Society.
     a) conducted to             b) deducted from
     c) abducted by              d) inducted into

(In 1999)
12.)  Once the college school years starts, Debbie will concentrate...
     a) only on weekends               b) on nursing courses
                   c) on the good-looking guys

(And in 2003)
13.) Dan just got his Master's Degree in...
     a) physical therapy             b) photography
     c) phrenology                     d) phrisbee-ology

14.)  Debbie flew to Canada in July...
     a) as a fugitive from the National Border Patrol
     b) to be maid-of-honor at her best friend's wedding
     c) to train for the new Olympics Competition in Medical Dancing; this includes
         the Tourniquet  Twist, the Shot-Put Shuffle (like the pun?), the Bedpan Boogie and
         the Catheter Quadrille
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"A cheerful heart is good medicine..."  (Proverbs 17:22)  I hope you have a very cheer-filled week!

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 Answers:  1) b ; 2) b ; 3) c ; 4) b ; 5) c ; 6) b ; 7) a, d ; 8) c ; 9) b ; 10) c ; 11) d ; 12) b ;      13) a ; 14) b.  
(P.S.  Debbie likes all kinds of vegetables now!)    

I keep looking at my left hand...

I was dismayed!  One day last month, while getting ready to do our grocery shopping, I suddenly realized my wedding ring wasn't on my finger!  Since I lost a lot of weight, the ring has been loose, but I've always managed to keep it on.  I never took it off...except when obligated to (like at the hospital).  Now I had lost my ring.

I left the house with a naked left hand, the first time since we were married 41 years ago.  (Our anniversary is next week.)  I knew I could have another one made, or buy one, but I wanted the original back!  It has my husband's initials and the date of our wedding engraved inside.  We looked around, but couldn't find it. When we got back from the supermarket, I sat down and hurried off a collective e-mail to everyone on our mailing list, asking them to please pray about my ring.

I said in the e-mail, "My hand feels naked, but not my heart!"  Germán is a loving husband who takes good care of me.  But I remembered that God knew exactly where the ring was, and if I were going to be allowed to have it back, He would bring it to light in His time; if not, then He would help me get over the loss.

Whether I found the ring or not, I knew I could count on an unchangeable and unconditional truth, one I could never lose:  God loves me!  He holds me in His hand, and lets me know that He's "there for me"...always.  This poem says it well:

                                              YOU LOVE ME 

               You love me fiercely -- my defense rests in your hands securely.
               You love me gently -- your caress can always reassure me.

               You love with laughter spilling out contagiously to cheer me!
               You love with your unveiling peace that bids me see You clearly.

               You love with justice, firm and fair...and yet You love with mercy.
               Through challenges your love's a well to ease my thirsty journey.

               You love me with a "still, small voice", when I must hush to hear You...
                or fire-spun dance, when I can shout the joy of being near You!

               You love me as my Shepherd, swift to seek me and restore me.
               Your love it is that begs to share the writing of my story.

               You love with patience when I stall...when pain and grief undo me.
               You love me wordlessly...just hold me while your grace flows through me.

               The myriad ways You love me, Lord, must feed the growing flame
               of gratitude for being my Friend, for loving me by name.
              
                              ***************************************** (Becky Rhon)

Four days ago, we were doing some house-cleaning.  Suddenly my husband called out, "Becky, I have a surprise for you." I rushed up the stairs..."My ring???"  He had found it!  I think he was as excited as I was!  How I thanked God! As soon as I could, I again sat down and wrote a collective e-mail, this time letting everyone know how He had answered all the prayers for my ring.

                                    
Now, during the day, I keep looking at my left hand, reveling in the joy of having my ring back where it belongs!
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Sometimes we let things and circumstances distance us from our Father...and when we realize it and seek His company, I imagine He feels about the same way I did when my ring was found...although to an exponential degree!  He revels in the joy of having us back where we belong:  at His side, in His embrace.

"You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."  (Psalm 16:11)
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Let's keep to that path of life as we walk beside our Lord this week!

"I'll die if they can't come!"

Soon after Debbie left home to start her university studies in the U.S., I wrote in a prayer letter,  "Although Germán and I have what's called an 'empty nest', the house still whispers Dan's and Debbie's names often, and their presence still seems to glow, especially in their rooms."

God was so good to us, providing the means to bring them both home for Christmas year after year. But one year...I thought they wouldn't be able to come, which would have broken my heart.

Germán worked on getting the tickets with our travel agent.  It seemed like we'd get them at a fairly good price.  Then...to my despair...she told him that 1) now the tickets were a lot more expensive, something we didn't know if we could manage; and 2) even worse, there were no tickets available on the date the kids had decided would work with their school schedules, for which there was hardly any leeway.  It was the weekend, and Germán would check in again with the agent on Monday.

I sat down at the computer and wrote my family.  I explained the situation, adding , "I'll die if they can't come!",  and asking them to please pray over the weekend. It was one of the most difficult weekends of my life! The possibility of Dan and Debbie not making it for Christmas was unbearable.

Obviously, I didn't die...so what happened?

When Germán got home Monday afternoon, his news astounded me.  He told me that he and the agent had been reviewing all the ticket possibilities on the computer, and there were still no openings.  Then suddenly, right before their eyes, TWO  - exactly two - cancellations appeared on the screen!  (What would we have done if it had been only one?)  That wasn't all:  the seats "just happened" to be for exactly the day we needed...AND at the cheaper price!  The agent snapped up the two tickets for us  immediately.  Our kids would be coming home!

God would have had every right to say to me, "Oh, ye of little faith!"  Years later, I am still amazed and flooded with gratitude when I remember.  It was simply too incredible to be just a coincidence.

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"I will sing of the love of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.  I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that You established your faithfulness in heaven itself....O Lord God Almighty, who is like You?  You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds You."  (Psalm 89: 1,2,8)

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on your works and consider all your mighty deeds."  (Psalm 77:11,12)

You might say that these verses sum up the purpose of my blog.  As I write,  I "sing" and "declare" and "remember" how God has blessed us... protected us... led us...taught us...tried us... given us reason after reason for praising Him.  Have you been remembering how He has blessed you?  

Mushroom in the sky!

God must have had a lot of fun creating what would become Ecuador.  There is beautiful scenery, breath-taking snow-capped mountains, and a world-famous wildlife population.

We have enjoyed the diversity and splendor of Nature, but this country sits in the "Ring of Fire", and we have also seen her dark side...like in the earthquakes I wrote about several posts ago, or...THIS:

On a bright, clear day around the beginning of October of 1999, Pichincha re-awoke completely and spewed this magnificent mushroom into the air.   We live at the foot of the volcano, so it was practically in our backyard!  It's last eruption had occurred around 1859 (historical records don't always match up exactly), when, with its attendant earthquakes, the city of Quito was almost destroyed. 

It was sort of exciting! We never get snowfall here in the city proper; the closest we come is the occasional hail-storm, which paints the ground a brilliant white for a few hours...until it all melts.  Now we had something falling from the sky!!  Of course, being volcanic ash, it wasn't  the kind of stuff one could go out and make "ash-angels" in!  Everyone had to wear a surgical mask (or its equivalent) when outside, to avoid breathing in the ash.  It covered our driveway to the great depth of...about half an inch!

School was suspended all over the city until the air was considered OK to breathe in, and it was recommended that everyone stay indoors as much as possible, particularly those with a history of respiratory problems. Houses all over the city had duct tape X's (or the equivalent) on their windows, since there were earth tremors keeping the ash emissions company. People stocked up on groceries and bottled water...just in case Pichincha really got mad and decided to bury the city again.  (In the early 1660's, the volcano erupted and covered Quito with about a foot of ash.  Of course, Quito was a lot smaller back then, but still...)

Pichincha has more than one peak, and the one with the crater is tilted away from the city, so the lava boiled its way down the other side...thank God! Only two people died, and over 100 were injured, but mainly from things like falling off their roofs as they were trying to clear the super-heavy volcanic ash before it piled up high enough to break through!

The mountain continued to "cough" and "burp" off-and-on over the next few months.  At times we had to cancel activities because the ash-fall was heavier.  Our kids came down for Christmas, and they just barely squeaked into the airport before it was closed because of reduced visibility.  
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Although I doubt you'd find the word "volcano" in the Bible, there are  what seem to be descriptions of their activity, like in Psalm 97:5, which says "The mountains melt like wax before the Lord...".  I wonder if the Children of Israel, out in the wilderness, thought at first that they might be experiencing a volcanic eruption.

 Exodus 19:18 says, "Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently..."  (Exodus 19:18)  I'd say they probably (even if not right away) realized that the mountain acted like that only "because the Lord descended on it".  (If it had been a volcanic episode, it seems to me that Moses wouldn't have been able to ascend to the top of it to meet God.  He'd have burned to death or suffocated in the ash and smoke!)

Natural disasters can come on us unannounced, (as well as unnatural ones!) but there's not a single one that can negate the words from God's compassionate heart: "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed."  (Isaiah 54:10)  (I know, I used this verse in the post about earthquakes.  Isn't is awesome?)
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God's awesome!!  Besides getting our kids in just before the airport closed, He performed an out-and-out God-move to get them here, one of those things that are too cool to be just a coincidence.  I'll tell you about it next time!