I had a great weekend. The crisp cool air and the beautiful trees. I love this beautiful fall weather. I actually had both Saturday and Sunday off work. That doesn't happen very often, unless I request it.
Saturday: On Saturday, I went to my first Women's Conference. The North Central District of the Missionary Church had their Annual Women's Conference. The church we are now attending is a part of that. I decided to go because the speaker was a missionary with Wycliffe and I thought it might be cool to hear from someone else who actually works with them already. The conference was in Shipshewana at the Farmstead Inn. That area is so beautiful. It seems so peaceful out there. I was really glad to see other people from church there, since I had no idea who else was going. I'm glad I went though.
Jan Benson was the main speaker and she has been serving in Peru for the last 30 years. Gospel Center was their sending church and has supported them for over 30 years. They had their Bible dedication in August where they delivered the completed Bible to the people they had been translating it for. She showed a video of the dedication and it was so exciting. The people looked so happy. These are people that 40 years ago didn't even have their language written down and now they have the Bible printed in their language. The next step is to continue to teach the young people to read and write, so they can continue to study the Bible and maybe get sent out as a missionary themselves. God is at work! There are about 2000 languages left that need a Bible in their language.
"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Philemon 1:6
One big thing I took away from the day is that if God calls, then he will provide us with whatever we need. Life as a missionary in an unknown country can sometimes be scary or stressful. You may have to work with people that you don't work well with or the people you are called to serve may not receive you with open arms. But God can use us even when we don't understand why things are happening. After the conference was over, I introduced myself to her and told her that Steve and I were in the application process for Wycliffe.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37
On the way home, since I was in Shipshewana, I had to stop my Das Essenhaus and pick up some tasty food. I got some Apple Cinnamin Bread and some Black Bean Salsa. Both were spectacular. Then I rushed home hoping to get home before the Notre Dame game started since I only live a few minutes from campus. I didn't want to get stuck in the traffic going to the game.
Sunday: We got up and went to small group and church. The speaker from Saturday's conference and her husband spoke at church. He talked again about the work they did in Peru. The Missions Committee was taking them out to lunch and invited us to come along. We were babysitting our favorite girls on Sunday too and since we didn't want to be rushed at lunch, we picked up the girls and brought them with us. We went to Ho Pings House Chinese Restaurant. It was pretty tasty and it the lunch special prices were good. I feel like we made some new friends. I love knowing they they will be praying for us as we continue to Wycliffe journey.
When we got home, the girls wanted to play some Mario Cart with Steve. Kariana helped me make some Turkey Pumpkin Chili for dinner while Steve got the games set up. She learned how to saute peppers and was pretty excited about that. She said that even though she doesn't like vegetables, she still likes to saute them. I love that girl. She cracks me up. She also helped wash some dishes afterwards. I also made some pumpkin cookies too with the leftover pumpkin. The girls and Steve took a break from playing Mario Cart for some "snack time" and enjoyed them very much.
After some tough Mario Cart matches with Steve where Kariana actually beat him once, the girls relaxed and played until their dad came to pick them up. After the girls went home, Steve and I relaxed around the house, ate some dinner, and relaxed some more. It was a great ending to a great weekend.
