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Out of touch

21 June 2008 – 2:47 pm

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we’re all still alive, but will continue to be generally out of touch for a while. We are hoping to have phone/internet access within a couple of weeks, but of course it will take us a while to catch up with all the messages and emails.

Meantime, you can call and email but we may not get your message or have a chance to respond until the middle of July.

We’re making some progress with the house here, but things take time! We’re thankful to be able to do laundry now (as of yesterday, I believe). It took some playing with the drain, a hole or two in the wall and some lengths of pipe, but no more laundry mats! ;)

Some of you knew that Hannah and Nathanael (and I) were sick. Hannah is feeling much better today. Nathanael and I are still struggling. Nathanael has been to the doctor and is on a several week regime to try to get his immune system up and running properly. That may be my problem as well. It’s too painful to talk much today due to a very sore throat (good thing I can type). We’d appreciate your prayers that we can get past all this sickness.

I’ll write more later about my visit to Canada. It was great to see some of you, and it’s great to be home again. I think the Lord really used the time to teach me some things which will be a help in the ministry ahead.

Keep smilin’ and we’ll talk again later!

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By Jim | Comments (1)

Hand made tortillas (video)

18 June 2008 – 4:47 pm

There’s nothing like hand made tortillas, fresh and hot!  Well, that and something in them - a little meat, chilli, onion, lime…. but I digress.

Our friends the McManus family took a video of some ladies making tortillas at a wedding.  It’s a very familiar sight, so I thought I’d share the video with you here.

The McManus family lives waaaaay up north in San Juan del Rio, Mexico.  Their blog is called Knowing Your ABCDs.



And here’s a follow-up - machine made tortillas (also a very common sight):

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By Jim | Also posted in Food, Mexico, Other missionary blogs | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A Visit with Mrs. G

10 November 2007 – 4:51 pm
Mrs. G

She sounds like everyone’s favourite grandma.  Her voice is warm as she tells stories from the Bible in language that children can understand.  Her British accent turns into a dozen different accents from all over the islands as she speaks for one Bible character, and then another.  Her name?  Mrs. G.

Well, actually Kitty Anna Griffiths.  Mrs. G started her ministry in 1973, recording children’s stories and broadcasting them on the radio.  Her books, with whimsical illustrations by "Willy", shared the same stories.  The ministry, still going strong today, is run out of Toronto, Ontario.

Joshua and the Neighbour's Ruse by Mrs G

I met her on at least one occasion.  Between the English accent and fancy hats she might make you think of the Queen - perhaps Mrs. G is the queen of storytelling.  :)

You may wonder what’s so interesting about someone telling Bible stories, without a 300 person professional cast and the backing of a major Christian label.  But there’s a lot more to Mrs. G than meets the eye.

Not just another story teller, Mrs. G has done her homework.  For one thing, she has a doctorate in literature from Biola University.  She has also done impressive historical research, and has visited Israel six times (three times as a special guest of the Israeli government!) to learn about the locations where the people lived.  She even travelled to Greece and Rome to work on her series on Acts.

This background knowledge shows up in the rich and accurate details in the stories.  The stories don’t just hit highlights, either - Mrs. G starts at Adam and Eve and works her way through the Bible, telling both the "nice and nasty" stories in a way that children can relate to (how about a story about the cities of refuge?  Or Job (one of my favourites)?  Or Jephthath?) .  The quality of her stories and biblical insight are enough for adults to enjoy as well!

Hannah by Mrs. G

The stories have gone beyond Bible stories - she tells other stories sharing Bible truths, and of all things she did a series on the Dead Sea Scrolls!

As the years went on, the stories became even better with fuller orchestral music and richer sound effects.  The stories on now produced on CD.  They have been translated into about 20 languages so far, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Tamil.  (Incidentally, the Spanish recordings are no longer available, but there are 4 Spanish books that are in print)

I was curious to hear what was new with the ministry, so this week I called the office.  Dr. and Mrs. Griffiths were both working in the office, and I was transferred to her husband.  Dr. Gerald Griffiths was a pastor for many years in Toronto.

He told me that they are busier than ever there.  They have no way to know how many stations around the world are now broadcasting the radio show, but there are many.  When he heard I was calling from Mexico, he graciously offered to send me the 4 Spanish books (which I’m looking forward to reading).

You can catch A Visit with Mrs. G online at various times on Saturdays and Sundays.  For the next broadcast time, check out the handy radiotime website.

Better yet, you can order the stories from their office ("the Granary").  I believe they also have a club where you can get a recording each month.  They will send you a catalogue if you request one.  Hannah and Nathanael have been enjoying listening to Mrs. G lately - maybe your kids will too!  Here’s how you can contact them:

A Visit With Mrs. G
P.O. Box 150
Station O
Toronto, ON
M4A 2M8
CANADA
(416) 755-5918

(You can find some of the books used at amazon.com (here’s what’s currently available), but for the recordings (and most of the books) your best bet is the ministry itself)

Here’s another review of the recordings, and another.

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What I’ve been reading

27 October 2007 – 7:32 pm

I thought I’d drop by just for fun and tell you about some interesting books I’ve been reading / read / just started reading.

Empire of the Bay

One BIG one I just finished was Empire of the Bay, by Peter C. Newman.  This book is all about the Hudson’s Bay Company, especially its history between 1670 and the founding of Canada in 1867.

The Hudson’s Bay Company controlled an area 10x the size of the Holy Roman Empire - 1/12 of the earth’s surface.  It reached from the far north to what is now San Francisco and Hawaii.  Its story really is a key to the story of Canada.  It explains how the Canadian mentality turned out to be so different from their neighbours to the south.  It shows how the company mentality helped avoid the slaughter of native peoples that took place elsewhere in the Americas (but then again this mentality abused natives in other ways).

In a sense, it was one of the largest empires the world has ever known.  It’s believed to be the best documented institution in the world, next to the Vatican.  The paper archives alone weigh in at over 68 tons.

Anyone interested in Canada ought to have this one on their shelf.

Shepherding a Child's Heart

The second book is The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande.  Actually, I already read this one - I’m just reading the new edition.  Everyone in CAM Mexico (ideally?) has been working through this one over the past year.

I’ve written about this one before - read my post about the Peacemaker conference.

I just started reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp.  I haven’t read much, so I can’t vouch for it, but this one is all about raising children and helping them to know and love God.  Us parents can use all the help we can get!  :)

Getting Things Done

Next, another book I’ve already read.  It was so good that I finally got myself a copy so that I could take a closer look.  Getting Things Done is a best seller by David Allen.  It’s all about … well, getting things done!  But doing it with peace of mind and purpose.  Though everything in the book doesn’t apply to all people, there is certainly some wise advice here that has already been a help to me personally.

If you ever feel like you’ve got too many loose ends in your life and you don’t know what to do next, or you’re starting to feel like you’re always a slave of the urgent, this is a book to take a look at.

I once heard that a book wasn’t worth anything unless it was at least a hundred years old (having stood the test of time).  So that brings me to the last two…

The Resurrection by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy).  I listened to this one as an audio book.

Tolstoy is a Christian anarchist.  I am not.  However, he has some great insights in this book, especially regarding human nature.  His thoughts on how people arrange their views of life are chilling:

The Resurrection

"Everybody, in order to be able to act, has to consider his occupation important and good.  Therefore, in whatever position a person is, he is certain to form such a view of the life of men in general which will make his occupation seem important and good."

In other words, we all arrange our views of the world so that we appear to be good and noble - true, and terrifying.  There’s been a lot of talk about self-deception lately because of the bestseller Leadership and Self Deception (which I haven’t read).  It’s worth repeating - the heart is deceitful above all things… (Jer 17:9).

Anyway, a fascinating book.  You can get a paper copy of Resurrection here.

Heather and Snow

Finally, for quite some time I’ve been reading Heather and Snow by George MacDonald.  Unabridged and unedited.  I have to say that, because it’s hard to find an unedited version of MacDonald these days.

As you’ll notice if you click the link, I got this one free online and I put it onto my Franklin dictionary.  This is a novel set in Scotland.  It’s good so far, and it’s quite a mind-stretcher, because some of the language is quite… well, Scottish.  I’m part Scottish, so that’s all cool.  Here’s a sample:
‘He cam to me o’ the Hornside, whaur I sat weyvin my stockin, ower the bog on ’s powny–a richt bonny thing, and clever–a new are he’s gotten frae ’s mither.  And it’s no the first time he’s been owre there to see me sin’ he cam hame!’

‘Whatfor gaed he there?  That wasna the best o’ places to gang ridin in!’

‘He kenned whaur he was likest to see me: it was me he wantit.’

Right - let’s stretch those linguistic neurons, shall we?  Pick up a copy of Heather and Snow here.

So what have you been reading lately?

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