Girls' Choices Make a Difference!

Many girls in Ukraine are choosing to stay in Ukraine with their fathers, husbands, and brothers and learn how to operate machine guns and molotov cocktails, and we read that Ukrainian restaurants have quit serving drinks in glass bottles because they are saving those bottles for a different kind of "cocktails."

While all that is going on, Christian girls in America choose to work with their fathers and brothers, too, in a different sort of war. That war is not won with guns or molotov cocktails. Neither is it won by merely teaching Sunday School and praying and hoping God will rescue sinners from being lost.

It is won by a lot of hard work that isn't always very fun.

Carrie, Hannah, and cousin Candace spent many hours staining hundreds of feet of trim boards for the St. Francis sanctuary. They hadn't known that would be one of the jobs and hadn't brought paint clothes, so they turned their nice skirts inside out to try to protect them from getting stained! Girls' ingenuity!

They didn't let the lack of proper paint clothes keep them from doing a needed job! I helped with that job a little, too, as well as coming up with a menu which all the girls helped cook, especially on the day that I spent working at the SIM office.

While our hearts pray and watch over our beloved friends in Ukraine, we kept working last week in South Dakota.

 Mrs. Patton had a scrap piece of fabric to use to measure and sew a practice valance for the church windows. 

Then she purchased burlap, and Candace especially sewed most of the six valances for the church windows. And whenever Candace had extra time, she helped me fix a skirt and sewed a whole new denim skirt for Hannah. Thanks, Candace! You were a blessing!

Wednesday evening as we tried to finish work at the sanctuary, I ended up on the phone with Stephen Archibald, taking notes for an article for the Indian Vision paper.  

I didn't have the skills or strength for what the men were doing, but I did what I could.

 

Sunday night with her husband gone around ten days, Tasbah Lavery was left in charge of evening service.  Leading a service is simply not her thing, but she did what she could as around 38 lively people crowded in.

Jonathan had been asked to lead the Bible study after the children were taken to their evening Sunday School classes. He led a study about what safety really means, in the wake of what is happening in Ukraine. 

What does it mean when women and children are having to flee a country by the millions?

Yes, in the middle of my heart going out to my sisters in Ukraine, I know that I must also focus on doing my duty here as a mother, a wife, and now a missionary again.

Girls can make a difference! 

Not with guns or molotovs, but with hard work, willingness, ingenuity, and faithfulness.

Chips, Pop, and Candy Bar

When our Mission Helps crew was nailing and screwing and pounding and drilling at St. Francis Holiness Chapel,

it wasn't just about getting the finishing touches done on a new church building that had been built to replace the one burned down a few years ago.

It wasn't just about sawing long boards into trim pieces on the table saw,

and making sure the tongue-and-groove boards fit together right on the ceilings of the two Sunday school rooms and sound room.

It wasn't about just working together with cousins to have a fun time--

even though we did have a fun time! Danny drew on the white board his own version of what he saw happening there!

It was a pretty good rendition of this above!

It wasn't just about caulking hundreds of feet of cracks all around edges and trimwork in the sanctuary and other rooms to try to keep flies from dropping in out of the attic!

 

It was also about listening to stories Mr. Patton told about the church's ministry there, especially to native American children. 

There has been such a breakdown in the family unit among natives, he said, that most children do not know what it is like to actually have a sit-down meal that is home-cooked, nutritious, and family-oriented.

 

While our children and their cousins come from families where meals are regular and nutritious, most of the children the missionaries bring to church live on chips, pop, and candy bars.

In recent times, someone sent some money to the church to use for their Sunday School. 

"What could we use it for?" the church folk wondered.

They decided to purchase a good supply of some kind of meat jerky sticks which they began to give the children on the bus on the way to church. 

If the children hadn't had any breakfast, they would be given a meat stick, and if they were still hungry and asked for another, no problem!

The simple policy of feeding a bit of protein to the children on the bus before church cut down behavior problems literally in half!

Children used to come to church wired from hunger or sugar, but the blessing of the meat sticks is very real.

Sunday evening, Ezra, David, and Candace were asked to be in charge of the service at Winner, at the church where Mission Helps has worked several times. While David led the singing,   

Ezra played the piano.

The three young people sang a couple hymns. 

   

Then Ezra shared a message from his studying the gospel of John recently.

And afterward, church folk served them a wonderful soup and frybread.

Not chips, pop, and candy.

But our hearts go out to those who live in homes where there is plenty of money from the government

but no real structure, no good meals, no Christian influence.

Father, remember the children of native Americans who hunger for real food,

but most of all for You!

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Sticks Over Windows--and Experts Stumped

 Our Ukrainian pastor friend sent us this photo of the sticks brought to use for window protection at a place for shelter in a Ukrainian village.

All I could think was, "How much protection will those sticks be?" 

What if all you had was sticks to tack over your windows when the enemy has tanks and missiles and machine guns?

Yet every one of us are about that helpless against our enemies--were it not for our Refuge.

He is so much more than sticks!

He is the All-powerful God!

He is on the side of the weak and helpless and oppressed.

Jonathan read last night (and didn't tell me till this morning) that the R u s s i a n s hit the big TV tower in Kiev, killing five civilians and injuring five more.

"Do you remember the TV tower?" he asked me.

I did not. 

But I did remember the Jewish memorial right near that tower, now called Babi Yar. We understand it sustained damage as well.

 

Yet all at the same time as we are seeing many photos of terrible damage and devastation, we are also reading that it could be so much worse. 

People on every side all over the world are "mystified" as to why things are not worse.

Headlines this morning read, "What Happened to Russia's Airforce? US Officials, Experts Stumped."

"Experts" don't know why there aren't more fighter jets in the sky.
They don't understand why Ukraine's air space is not under R u s s i a n control yet.

They don't know what is happening to the air support.

And some of what they do know is not good news for the R u s s i a n s.

Many jets and helicopters have been downed.

Neither R u s s i a nor the world was expecting this.  They expected far worse. 

It's uncanny.

It's mystifying. 

And I love it. 

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God," is one of my mother's favorite verses. 

God knows exactly what is going on, 

and it just may be that He is part of the mystery that has the experts stumped. 

 https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/air-force/2022/03/01/id/1059173/

Singing in Ukraine--and Kindness in a Parking Lot

 Saturday night I could not get to sleep till nearly three o'clock. 

A heart-rending scene of a weeping Ukrainian father saying goodbye to his little daughter was etched in my mind as we glimpsed it shared on Facebook just before going to bed. 

But after praying and blogging a while, I glanced just a bit at Facebook again, and this time our pastor friend was on live. He and another man were singing with the pastor's guitar.

His time was already late Sunday morning, nine hours ahead of us.

And he was singing. In the church basement that Jonathan's Mission Helps team had helped to finish, he was singing apparently during their morning worship service.

And when he laid his guitar aside, he faced his hearers with a smile. Tired bags were under his eyes, but he faced us with a smile, and he talked about God.

He was speaking in Ukrainian, but I kept hearing the word "Bozhay," which means God. 

It calmed my heart, and I went back to bed and managed to get four hours of sleep. 

And then we began receiving amazing news about unusual things happening in Ukraine that seemed to only come from God. Like the picture above. Our missionary friend Ed Durham shared how a coworker Jonathan had in Ukraine 22 years ago had seen unusual sights in the sky like the one above. There were at least four photos of different "clouds" that looked ever so much like angels. It is our understanding that Jonathan's former coworker actually saw the "clouds" he photographed, even though someone on Facebook claimed that these same photos had been circulating years ago.  

Then we saw this message shared above.  

It appeared that God Himself is fighting, sending angelic hosts. 

One things is certain.

God is very involved and concerned about what is happening. 

Even if Scripture must be fulfilled, God is right in the thick of things. 

He will never forsake His people or not remember their prayers!

And right in the middle of God caring for His people in Ukraine, He also does unusual things for His people in America. My mom in Missouri wrote a few days ago about doing some grocery shopping at a Country Mart. On her way out, Mom smiled at a couple ladies passing her going into the store. As Mom was preparing to load her groceries into the car, she heard, "Ma'am! Ma'am!"

    As Mom turned, one of those ladies was holding something out to her.

"I just wanted to bless you today!" the lady said, handing my mom a wad of bills. Then she turned and went back toward the store. 

    Dumb-founded, my mom finished loading the groceries and then sat down in the car. When she counted the money, it added up to about $60!

"So amid all the terrible news we are hearing yesterday and today," Mom wrote, "there are some bright spots to lighten our days."

Yes, whether in a basement where a pastor was singing in Ukraine while sheltering from the enemy, or in a parking lot where someone just decides to bless someone else,

God is at work doing unusual things. 

Whether shapes of angels in the sky, or human angels actually reaching out to an elderly person,

God's love and care is shared and made known and really experienced. 

Keep it up, Lord! 

Make Your beautiful self known to all!

No Greater Love--and He Blew Himself Up

"Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend,"

Jesus said.

It is the ultimate love, the ultimate sacrifice. 

It's what Jesus did.

 And it's what a young Ukrainian man did just a couple days ago as the R u s s i a n army was advancing toward a bridge to come and take over another section of Ukraine.

This young man was the one to set up the explosives, and the last his comrades heard from him was that it was too late to escape himself. He said he was going to detonate.

And he did. 

He gave up his life for his friends, his country, his cause. 

He was quickly dubbed a hero. 

Back in Amish country where I spent several years of my life, and where my son Tim is living right now while attending Penn View Bible Institute, the Amish and Mennonites are taught not to take part in war. 

Not to take up arms.

To be non-resistant. 

What this Ukrainian young man did was probably not something the non-resistant folk would consider heroism.

I respect their views, but I also respect this young man's courage. 

It made a difference. 

I don't know if this young man had a moment to cry out to God at the end of his life. 

I hope he did.
I hope he didn't go to his death cursing and swearing like so many soldiers in today's armies.

Alone.  

I hope somewhere in his life He had heard about the One Who gave Himself up to the cross,

Who chose to die even when He could have called ten thousand angels to deliver Him from the whole rotten mess. 

We want to hope that God will deliver Ukraine, and save the innocent and the believers, 

but Jesus went to the cross even when His disciples didn't think He should.

He died even when they wanted Him instead to become King.

Lord, Your great love led You to the cross.

If Your love leads us to a cross, too, help us to carry it bravely. 

Dust Storm--and the Heaviness of War

Tuesday during our week in New Mexico, wind kicked up and brought a big weather change, complete with a dust storm and then snow.

Out by the water pump where the chickens came for water, I just couldn't resist taking this picture of chicken feet (and boots) in the sand! 

(This was after the dust storm was over!)

 As you can see, there was practically nothing but dirt around the mission ground in Navajo land.

 The only thing to mark the dirt road onto which we had to turn to get to the mission was a bent orange barrel on some kind of post.

A very barren land.

  Wind blew dust into the crews' faces if they were working outside, and through the window if they had it open to work on the new windows.

Inside the temporary schoolroom (i.e. the missionary's mobile home) the school children and Melody and I sang while we watched dust billowing for miles around. 

 It was "The Lord Knows the Way Through the Wilderness."

"All I have to do is follow." 

 But does the Lord know the way through the wilderness of the war beginning in Ukraine?

The war that has already hit a kindergarten and orphanage?

Already inflicted many casualties on both sides?

Does He know the way? 

I messaged our dear pastor Roman in Kenyazachee, whom we last heard from last Sunday,

one week after Sunday evening in this little New Mexico chapel, 

that is heated with wood heat.

And my phone doesn't show that he has read my message many hours later. I wonder if phone service has been shut down.  

Jonathan was in tears over and over reading articles and posts from friends and others in our beloved Ukraine. 

While we got a little school ready for Navajo children, Ukraine was preparing for they knew not what.  

Hanging on the wall of the New Mexico mission home was this picture of the Navajo code talkers who helped make the difference in World War II. The monument to their honor is only about 25 miles away from the mission. Who will make the difference in this war in Ukraine? The church people who spent Sunday a week ago fasting and praying? The ones down in their church basements praying this weekend? The ones accepting guns and learning to use them? The ones confronting R u s s i a n tanks which have run out of fuel, and drivers who don't know where they are going?

While Navajo school children helped carry flooring into the new building, children in Ukraine were having their last few days of peaceful school. 

While our sixteen-year-old Danny showed a Navajo boy how to caulk cracks in the wall, sixteen-year-old boys in Ukraine had no idea that only a week or so later they would suddenly be called into military service for their country.  

While young Navajo children eagerly stood in line to help carry flooring in to the new school, little children in Ukraine enjoyed a few more days of peace.

  While Jonathan drove down the road a little ways to check out the damaged roof of a dear old grandpa who lives near the mission, people in Ukraine had no idea how much damage would soon be happening in their nation.

The man's roof was a mess, and Jonathan tried to estimate roughly what he thought a reasonable price would be for the man to have someone fix it. 

But who can calculate the cost to fix a broken world and broken hearts and damaged people?

Does the Lord really know the way through the dust storms in the wilderness? 

Is it really safe to follow Him?

The believers in Ukraine are saying "Yes."

All you need to do is follow. 

Jesus, I pray that our fellow brothers and sisters in Ukraine, young and old, men and women, rich and poor, will be given clear direction as to how to best follow You through this tragic storm called war.