An Overdue Update

Sorry it's been a while. I've had trouble getting acces to blogger.

We had a team from Chattanooga here to do construction on our house and that went really well. We got everything painted, a usable bathroom, and a somewhat set up kitchen. Derek and I are still working on some of the details like furnishing and stuff. It's interesting to see how other Americans react to the third world and to the life our beneficiaries. Their shocked and sobered reactions often make me realize where I am living and what I'm doing all over again and reinvirograte me for the task before me. It's also nice to see familiar faces as two of the girls went to college with me. I often don't see familiar things and have realized that I actually get glimpses of the first world only at night. At that time you can't see the slums. All you see is light and it reminds of home.

I just had an amazing support group meeting. I was teaching in Mark 2:1-17 and got to thoroughly explain the concept of grace. It's funny how I can have a bullet point outline and then change it or expand as I'm teaching because grace wasn't there at first. It just came up and I think they might start to grasp the true meaning of forgiveness especially in the orthodox culture. Legalism exists everywhere but has different manifestations. Grace is such a hard concept to grasp because our nature fights against it. We want to pay for or earn things that are given to us, but grace can't be paid for outside of Christ's death. As I read this morning from J.C. Ryle's devotion book "Day by Day", the comforts of Christianity disappear without Christ's death.

Soccer coaching continues to be a challenge here, but I still enjoy it. I'm so thankful for this door opening up. I love being around the game again. I feel a lot of confidence coaching soccer because I played for so long and had so many good coaches. I hope to impact them in good ways as an example but also teach them discipline. The season will be over in about a month, so it's quick. It's so nice to be able to go to the field and forget about work and just run around with the guys. I love providing that opportunity for them as I had in school.

The boys program is coming along well. We made coat racks by sawing, drilling, and glueing wood (manly stuff) and last week made model airplanes, which we will finish tomorrow. We are currently running clinics all day with the MTW medical team that is here, but Derek and I have langauge school in the mornings. Language school is tough but good. I've found myself thinking in Spanish and Greek while trying to learn Amharic. Very interesting. Well I will keep this thing more updated especially when the team leaves and language school ends.

Peace,

Jim