Last 90 Days Most Popular Posts (31 August 2008)
Here they are, with the most popular first. The first four (in bold) are winners two months in a row. Wow, lots of moving about in the last 90 days!
Jim
About Jim
Posts by Jim :
I can’t be a missionary, I’m not a people person! (guest blogger)
I got special permission from Beth McManus (who serves with CAM International with her family in San Juan del RÃo, Querétero, México) to post this email she sent. You can visit the website of the McManus family here.
I used to think that missionaries should be people persons. They should be energized by being with others. They should love being in crowds, talking, laughing, attracting others through their charisma. You’d think that having grown up on the field as an MK, I’d know better.
God doesn’t just call one type of person. The missionary body is every bit as diverse as the church body, each being asked to be the part God designed them to be. Christ doesn’t just use mouths to share the gospel, He uses hands and feet and knees and shoulders and eyes and even pinky toes! As I watch our mission body work, I am amazed at how different we all are. Some are accountant types, needing everything written out, planning to the last penny and accounting for every minute. Others are such people persons that they can’t plan a day to save their lives, “Appointment? I had an appointment with you? Oh well, I met this friend on the street and he needed to talk and so I took him for coffee and . . . ” Some are glum and pessimistic about life. Some are so visionary that they overwhelm everybody else. Some are in the middle, plodders who just “get the job done.” Some love get-togethers and socializing. Some would rather hide in a cave forever. Some vacillate between the two.
Some are short. Some are tall. Fat or thin, God uses all! (I’ve been inputting lots of books this week and am in the middle of Dr. Seuss. Can you tell?)
I think I’m in the middle. I’m not a people person, but I’m not a hermit either. I often dread activities with church people, the youth, or missionaries and then when I get there, I enjoy them. I like to listen to people and pray for them and try to help them, but every now and then I hit the wall.
I hit the wall after helping with 6 teams and having other guests all summer. I got to the point that I had a mini-panic attack about going to church one Sunday and would have skipped if my dear husband hadn’t ordered me to get ready and come with. I dreaded our team’s prayer meeting a couple weeks running. AND I even avoided my children, Alan and Mom as much as possible this week.
Alan has been working for weeks on a getaway for us but, being rainy season, it just didn’t seem worth it to pay to go somewhere only to be rained out. I found myself longing to just borrow somebody’s house, to just go somewhere that we don’t have to be company or answer phones or doors or talk about work or think about work or think about anything! The funny thing is that I never thought to PRAY about it. I just wished and longed.
Alan settled on a place and called some dear missionary friends who are like an Uncle and Aunt to me, asking if we could stay with them a night or two on the way to and from our destination. Lo and behold! They are on their way to Guatemala for a couple weeks and invited us to stay in their house the whole time! I got my wish!
God heard the longing in my heart and, in His great love, gave it to me even though I never thought to ask. It’s not that I didn’t think He cared or that I thought He’s too busy for “such little things” as vacation. I think I got overwhelmed with the cares of this world and forgot to keep looking to Him. I’ve often looked down on Peter for sinking in the waves instead of finishing his walk over the water to Jesus. I’ve often thought, “If I’d been there, I wouldn’t have done something so dumb!” Hmmm! Pride goeth before a fall, huh! Yet God uses me! He relishes my weakness because it shows His power when He works in and through me! I’m just amazed!
Reading through the Bible – in Spanish
You now see a new graph on the sidebar, as promised. I’ve decided that this new one will chart my current Bible reading project.
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For the last few months I’ve been working my way through the Bible in Spanish. The version is La Nueva Biblia de los Hispanos (NBLH) (also called Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy). I really like this version so far. It seems to be an excellent translation, and it uses the grammar common in Latin America, as opposed to Spain Spanish. If you’re going to be in Mexico, I suggest you check this one out.
Anyway, I’ve already started, but I’m planning to actually finish by next June.
I’m actually doing something I’ve never done before – I’m reading through the Bible chronologically. I wouldn’t recommend this approach if this is your first time through the Bible (since it breaks up the thought process of the books), but it does give you a different perspective on how everything fits together. If you’re interested in trying it with me (perhaps in English!), here’s the chronological plan I’m using.
If you want to check out the LBLH, you can buy a copy at ChristianBook.com, or download it for e-sword here. It’s also available for Logos Bible Software. You can read it online here. For more on the principles of translation, visit the Lockman Foundation.
Now to kick things off, here’s my favourite Bible passage from my Spanish Bible:
Pues El nos ha desgarrado, pero nos sanará;
Nos ha herido, pero nos vendará.
Nos dará vida después de dos días,
Al tercer día nos levantará
Y viviremos delante de El.
Conozcamos, pues, esforcémonos por conocer al SEÑOR.
Su salida es tan cierta como la aurora,
Y El vendrá a nosotros como la lluvia,
Como la lluvia de primavera que riega la tierra."
(Oseas 6:1-3)
Meetings and update on Claudia
This evening I was over at Alberto and Claudia‘s house with a few friends. She is home now, and looking well (especially considering all she’s been through the last few days – here’s the back story).
She was sitting up and in the middle of a good Mexican welcome home party. 🙂
Thanks for your continued prayers for Claudia and her family. We praise the Lord that she’s home, but the treatment will be continuing. What lies ahead remains to be seen.
We enjoyed a bit of a personal planning meeting for the coming year with Rod this past week. We still have a lot to discuss, but we’re starting to get more of a picture of what will be happening in the year ahead (stay tuned!).
This went together with a brainstorming and planning meeting I went to for the church on … when was that? The week is a bit of a blur. Well, some evening this past week. I tried to mostly listen and learn, but it’s so great to hear the vision for planting new churches in the future, the vision for outreach to the community, and growth among the believers. There will be lots of great things coming up!
Thanks to those who have been praying this week. Now on to next week….
100% done language study?
For months and months you’ve been watching the little bar on the sidebar of this blog. It illustrated the progress of our language studies at the university in Cuernavaca. Finally, in late spring, it reached 100%. Celebration! But what does that actually mean?
Well, in practical terms it meant that we had finished our studies at the university, and were ready to move on to our "Orientation Year" which we are now beginning. We were finished because we had completed (in theory) a certain level of Spanish, which meant that we (supposedly) could figure out how to basically express our thoughts using correct Spanish grammar.
Sounds good right? Well, slow down cowboy. What does that really mean? Where are we, the Cottrills, at – in real life?
It means that, one day I can carry on a 15 minute conversation with someone. The next day I stand baffled at the checkout counter while the cashier tries to ask me something simple (like "do you have 1 peso so I can give you a 50 peso bill in change?").
It means that I can have a great conversation with a friend, and afterward realize I meant to say,"Maybe you can visit my house" but really said,"We all visited my house".
It means I may have a good vocabulary when it comes to cooking, but not know the word for "stir".
My brain works in mysterious ways, and my Spanish ability varies drastically from day to day. I learn things well, but usually need to hear them first a huge number of times, and then after all that I’ll still forget when I need the word the most! I’m sure a lot of you out there know what I’m talking about.
So yes, we’ve come a long way. And no, we’re not fluent comfortable Spanish speakers. We’ve had more than one person tell us that it was about 5 years before they really were able to comfortably carry on regular conversations. 3 years, 3 months to go! 😉
Thankfully, our leadership considers this year (orientation year) to be a language learning year. It gives us a chance to get out of the school where everyone TALKS VERY CLEARLY, to the "real world" where we have no clue what anyone is talking about (with all their accents, "improper" Spanish, idioms, word play, incomplete words and sentences…).
We will most likely try to work with a tutor for most of this year as well, to continue our more formal language study on top of the regular conversations and interactions we have every day. Hannah and Nathanael will also be continuing school in Spanish.
So now that I’ve explained that, I’ll have to put something new in the sidebar for you to watch!