A dear friend sent me these posies this week. She shouldn’t have, but she did, and I am enjoying them! 
When I set my laptop on my kitchen counter today (yes, a googled recipe), it hit my newer flip phone and turned on the camera. I had no idea the camera would work when the phone was closed. Serendipitous discoveries are so satisfying. Of course I had to test it out….Testing, testing, testing. Ah, lovely shot, eh?
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Here is T’s newest video of his mission work in France. FYI, “pas de publicité” means “no solicitation” in French (and S.V.P. means “s’il vous plait”–if you please). French families are very private and don’t appreciate uninvited visitors or pamphlets. Sometimes the church’s newsletters are returned with stern notes about the rudeness of putting material in mailboxes. He films one such note. Can you find it?
As usual, it is easier to film sightseeing activity than hands-on ministry, so T warns that this video is not representative of his blood, sweat and tears. 
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From my childhood, I remember my extended family playing four for-all-ages games in the backyard: barney ball (a sort of baseball made of socks hit with your fist), croquet, horse shoes, and bocce.
My parents own a couple sweet bocce sets. Their particular sets have brightly colored plastic balls with weights in the center for ballast. The case can be carried anywhere, and the game can be played on any relatively flat lawn. Here we enjoyed a game in a newer park that offers bocce courts. We taught new friend Ben how to play, and he caught on a bit too fast.
The idea of the game is to throw out the “pauline” or as some call it, the “jack”: the little white ball. Then, everyone sees how close they can bowl their balls. In each round, only the closest person gets one point or two, depending on how many balls he has next to the pauline. The fun is bowling your ball accurately enough to knock someone else’s away from the pauline, while giving yourself better position. Such fun involves the balls “kissing,” which is where the name, as I understand it, comes from. The game is based on an ancient Roman game; bocce is from the Italian word for kiss.
When the game is close, measuring is required. L is using the tape measure that my dad carries conveniently in his pocket everyday. Such a handy dad.
I didn’t win.
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We took in a show with Edison Glass, a family favorite. The mission team that has been at our church went, too, which made for more company while we sifted through the weaker local warm-up bands.
The Working Title and Colors in the Air are touring with Edison and were, surprisingly, rich in creativity and tunes.
The downside was the venue. Garfield Artworks is a long hall with little ventilation, no a/c, one big ceiling fan, and no backstage. All the bands’ gear lines up along the walls near the stage like dumb security guards. The band members were sweating by the bucket. We didn’t have the nerve to ask for an encore because they played with their whole heart and soul for the main playlist and were melting before our eyes.
Edison Glass, with their layered vocals and almost-classical movements, belted my favorite song, When All We Have Is Taken/Comfort:
If I’m unable …when you are calling
If I’m unable
If I’m unable …when you are calling
If I’m unable
When all we have is taken
All we have is taken now
Take my affliction
I’m cured with your comfort
Take my affliction
Take my depression
I’m cured with your comfort
Take my depression
Will you learn fire burns?
When all we have is taken
I’m falling to grace again
When all we have is taken
Take it all, take it
now, I surrender…
Hallelujah
We stood as a front row of sorts, and D took dozens of amazing pics. You can see K’s face in one. Lead singers Joshua Silverberg and Josh Morin were gracious to chat with us before the concert…outside on the sidewalk. They were down-to-earth and didn’t make their tours sound glamorous. They miss their families, sleep at kind strangers’ homes, and drive and drive and drive. The encouraging news is that the Long Island-based band is playing with some big mainstream bands in the coming months in NYC.
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I am glad to have L back home after two weeks at the Theological Foundation for Youth (TFY) program. Unlike most kids who came to Pittsburgh from Seattle, Colorado Springs, Raleigh-Durham, Syracuse, etc., L just motored two miles down the street to the RP Theological Seminary.
I tried not to embarrass him by popping in, but I did drop off an item or two and just happened to be in his building on a couple occasions. He tried to hide.
I stole these pics from his friend’s Facebook. Forgive me, Logan. They show L’s dorm room, the classroom where they listened to up to 6 hours of lecture per day by Seminary profs, a picture of L in the park, and some of the 30 students going across the street (see the back of L’s head…yeh, that’s pretty much what I got to see).
The cool thing is that L came home wiser and cooler than ever.
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This year at our Vacation Bible School, I’m working with the junior high girls and am enjoying getting to know them better. We usually have 8-10 girls. Some of them I already knew from our weekly KidZone ministry, but some are new. Some know a lot about the Bible; some know nothing. One girl asked who God was, and once we started talking about salvation, I heard her say under her breath, “I’m afraid to die.” The remark softened my heart toward her.
You can see K sitting on the carpet with the little kids during the opening skit. There is a picture of our junior high girl Bible study and a few pix of Shayla (she is a quiet artist), Mimi (from Nigeria who knows her Bible very well!), and Dezhane (who I am just getting to know).
Ben (making the funny face) is one of the mission team members who works with the kids in the neighborhood everyday. He is from Indiana and says his parents still don’t know that he shaved his head (along with the other mission team guys). LOL
Our goals are to maintain long-term relationships with these kids, earn the opportunities to share more with them more about who they are in Christ, meet some felt needs (e.g., we try to feed them healthy meals, and they eat them all!), and show Christ’s love to their families, too. Pray for us if you think of it.
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We had our kick off Carnival for VBS last night. This is Zach who really liked the balloon sculptures.
One of the mission team members that is staying at our church this summer learned how to do the balloons sculptures in one evening with his laptop for research. What a blessing! The church also rented a cotton candy machine, had free tickets for hot dogs and chips, offered little Carnival games of skills with prizes, and had African drummers in native dress on the lawn. We also had 11 high school kids from the Theological for Youth program staying at our church building, so they blessed us with their help and energy, too. All in all, dozens of our regular KidZone kids and new contacts came to the Carnival. Some brought parents and grandparents.
This week we will have VBS every night from 6-7:30. You can pray for me as I help with the junior high girls.
Last week, I went to a Showbread concert with Levi and a couple of his buddies. The group can be a little screamo for me, but I enjoy their artistry and lyrics. Here is a sample of their lyrics from Sing Me to Sleep:
Come and find me on this floor
I am only a half, truth be told
Take away all the distance and say:
"My beloved, I'm here, and now you are whole"
If I turn and see your eyes in the dark I will know the blue in an instant
Never have they gone so far
Never has your face been distant
My life I will give you like a verse and a ring
I will be your only one
And what you ask of me will be yours until all is said and done
Your heart is a song that I hear Jesus sing
It comes over oceans to me
And the notes spell out messages in vibrant streams
And what's written you show only me
Phone pic from concert:
Which reminds me: my beloved and I had our 25th anniversary this past week! I can hardly imagine it has been so long. Life with him has been richer, better, sweeter than I could have understood when I said “yes” so many years ago. I thank God for his kindness to us.
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T finished an overview of his mission work in Switzerland. I’m embedding it here because he doesn’t embed or use a hot link on his xanga. But consider leaving him some props on his xanga, which is here:
http://www.xanga.com/gutless0304
There, he offers an update of the work he is doing in France now, too. 
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