Rest

Mark 6:31

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

I read this the other day as I was praying and it spoke loudly to me. I have done everything but rest and be quiet before the Lord. I leave in 3 days for a 9 day trip to Honduras. I don't know a lot about the trip except that the Lord has provided once again for me to go on a trip "gratis". He is calling me to rest and a lot of my tiredness is out of my hands. I hope that this trip to Honduras will include some quiet places with God's rest. Please pray for our trip as we have already been facing what appears to be some spiritual attacks.

Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back - Clay

I have never watched this show, but I will this season because of this guy.




I worked with Clay at Camp Ozark for several summers. He is a cool guy who is a solid Christian. So, if it is any incentive, watch the show knowing you know someone who is a friend of someone on the show. They filmed the show earlier this year and all I know is that he lost his job over it because he was gone for so long. He has a pretty cool testimony on the sight as well. He openly talks about his faith with Jesus and they printed it!

OK, so I was able to load a whole TWO pictures today. I guess I caught my computer while the virus was sleeping. This is the pond in El Mosco at Lorenzo's house on Day 1
In the background (starting at the top and going clockwise) is Lafe, Kent, Matt, Esther, and Bethany

This is pretty much the end prodcut. We did get water to it through a gravity flow system and fish from Inez's house.

Oaxaca Episodes VII and VIII

OK, so my work schedule has kept me from posting lately. I worked over 100 hours from last Monday to this past Monday morning and I didn't sleep enough in between calls.

Click here to read Lafe's excellent blog on the last two days of our trip.
Episode 7 and Episode 8.

So now my view, which will be much shorter b/c Lafe did such a good job.

Friday, last day at the base. For those of you from Springfield who may be reading this and have never been to the base at Roca Blanca you are in for a treat. Mission trips are supposed to be about roughing it....right? Well, not at Roca Blanca, at least not for some of us. The base is an old hotel that has been converted into some very nice guest quarters right on the edge of the beautiful sandy beaches of the Mexican Pacific coast with an awesome view of the white rock (hence, "Roca Blanca"). The inside of the house is decorated with a great Mexican flavor which gives one the distinct taste of being in Mexico.

Again, for those of you who venture down there, ask someone to take you to Ernesto's to get a Licuado de Mango. These are a wonderful fruit drink composed of frozen mangoes, sugar, vanilla, and milk blended together for smooth tropical drink. One of my favorites.

The fishing trip was once again awesome. If any of you decide to go fishing, ask for Capitan Pato whose boat is the Barricuda. I have now been out with him 3 times and came back with a sailfish each time. If you are to go, you need to go to the fishing authority in Puerto and set this up a day in advance. It cost $30 an hour for the boat, includes gear and most of the time bait. We got to let Aaron Claar catch his first sailfish and biggest fish ever as a sort of bachelors party. Good times were had by all.

One of the coolest things was the dolphins. We saw a school of at least 200-300 dolphin that were praising the Lord. These fish were jumping, spinning, swimming, jumping and spinning. It was awesome and I just thought to myself that these fish are praising God by doing what they were created to do. It was a worshipful experience indeed.

Cindy and I were going to wake up early and jog on the beach. We got the waking up early part down just fine, but since Cindy was throwing up I decided to give her the day off. I was glad Lafe was able to wake me up so I could sit with her and try to help her. I really felt bad for her knowing we had a full day of travel ahead. She was a trooper though. Thanks to Polly and Rick for helping get the IV started, oh and Laura also.

The line in Houston was definetly the longest I have ever seen. We did see who we think was Moses Malone. There were two really tall African American men walking with fishing poles. The older one (Malone, I think) had a walking cast on. This allowed him to avoid the line and skirt right through customs. That got me to thinking. I bet he did that to avoid the lines and to avoid the "people". Since I have access to some medical equipment, I think I am going to try this the next time I am traveling alone. Do you think that is wrong?

I felt more rested on the trip than I had in a long long time. I was praying for refreshment and God delivered. I am back now, feeling as tired as ever and wishing I were in Oaxaca again. I am going to Honduras in a week and may just get some again. God knows my needs better than myself and this trip came out of the blue, was paid for by someone else, and I don't even have to take vacation for it. God is good, despite my lack of consistent time with Him lately.

For any of you from Springfield, I will send a request to our team to be praying for you. I will try to post pics when my computer gets unvirused.

Happy Fathers Day

Dad,

Just want to say Happy Fathers Day to you. I appreciate all the hard work you do for us (like mowing my yard yesterday when I was post-call). That really meant a lot to me. I appreciate how you have sacrificed yourself over the years to help us out in any way we can.

Thanks for all the fishing and hunting trips, for helping me out in all my sports, for helping me with my homework (wait, that was mom:) ), for teaching me how to cook BBQ. I believe most of my friends in LR and in Fayetteville would like to say thank you for teaching me how to BBQ as well.

I am so thankful for you coming to the Promise Keepers event and seeing you be so attentive to what they were saying. It is exciting to see you get excited about God stuff. I am sorry I could not be at home today, but I really do wish I was there floating down the Mtn. Fork with you. I look forward to doing that in July, though.

Thanks for Suzie as well.

I hope you didn't work too hard today, but I know you probably did. Again, thank you so much for yesterday and last weekend. Happy Fathers Day.

I love you,
Jason

Jesus Meets a Gay Man

I found this tonight and think this will be a blog worth checking out on a daily basis. Grant and Brett, you will probably find some good stuff for church here. At least this link is a cool read. Pretty humbling too. I bet Jonny Baker and I would be good friends if we lived in the same town.

Butterscotch

One thing I forgot to add that Lafe probably won't mention. His new nickname is "butterscotch", at least that is the new nickname I gave him. This is how it happened.

Most of us have some sort of snack/candy we REALLY like. On this trip, mine was the Philippine Brand Dried Mangoes that you can buy at Wal-Mart. I plan on taking a lot more to Honduras.

Anyway, Lafe brought several pounds of butterscotch and was always eating it. The reason he did not want to make but one trip up and down the mountain was because he had to protect his butterscotch. He was nice enough to offer to us, but this is where he gets his nickname. If you don't care for a butterscotch, he makes fun of you in front of everyone and calls you bad names in Spanish. I have nothing against butterscotch, but I was afraid to go to sleep one night because I did not accept Lafe's offer of a butterscotch candy.

So, if any of you are out and see Lafe, say "Hey butterscotch". He will probably throw one your way so be ready to eat it. If not, don't say I didn't warn you.

Oaxaca Episode V

Click here to read Lafe's novel version (its good)

Last day of clinics. I went back to work in the clinic at Ixtyutla. I had previously worked here the year before the the Seoul Baptist Church team from Houston, TX. I spent most of this day pulling teeth. We owe a huge thanks, once again, to Dr. Skoch for teaching us how to do this.

My input from this day
(1) It was cool to see the pond finished in 2 days. We each got to have a hand in putting the fish in the pond. It is a project, along with the fruit trees, that could have a long lasting impact. Something we could go back and show our kids or grandkids some day "Yeap, 40 years ago I help plant this tree right here".

(2) Speaking of trees, there were some HUGE trees on the trip to Ixtyutla. I know some have to be 200 years old. If one could only hear it tell the stories it has been a part of. Wow, God is Good. "the whole earth is filled with your Glory Lord".

(3) Pulling teeth is no joke. It is Hot, nasty, bloody, painful work. But it helps people in some major ways. We really need to take a dentist or two back next year.

(4) Watching the kids play at Ixtyutla was fun. It is neat to see how the kids don't allow their parents views on life affect them too bad, yet. They really open up and allow us gringos into their lives some.

(5) Inez offered me his shower when he found out we were without water. Actually, Kevin and Laural offered theirs first, but they ran out of water as well. Kevin and Laural are the Canadians translating the Bible into the Mixteco language. They work with Wycliffe. They have a very hard job that requires lots of patience. They have the cutest little girl and the coolest kids (aside from Cooper, Camber, and Cayden of course). It is cool to see how these kids run around and play with the Mixteco kids like that is what they are supposed to do. They have no barriers. A kid is a kid is a kid to them. Bare feet and all. I wish the world was a little more like these missionary kids from Canada.

Back to Inez. God is going to do some awesome things in his life. He is hard working, fears God, and has a good head on his shoulders. I have a pic of he and his family on the wall in my house. I am greatful to him for opening up to me that way, b/c I had the D-train and really needed to get freshened up if you know what I mean.

(6) It is hard to have a lot of God time on a mission trip. I have noticed the missionaries have a hard time making time for some quiet time because of all the work that has to be done. It made me realize how little "be still and know that I am God" I have done lately. I thirst for this right now. The business of the residency life has me yearning to be still before God. Not easy for a driven type A like myself.

Still having computer problems. Will post pics at some point, God willing.

Oaxaca Episode IV

Still experiencing technical difficulties with posting pics. This has never happened before. I think it may be my computer running slow.

To experience the second day of clinic and pond building, click here. Once again, thanks Butterscotch, I mean Lafe.

Details I want to add:
(1) The clinic team went to a new Pueblo on this day called La Humedad. It was the first time the any mission team had gone there and they received a very warm welcome. This is exciting because we were helping reach and unreached region. One of the coolest things about this trip is that this is an area that is somewhat unreached. Yeah, the Catholic church exists there, but much idolitry and pagonism is mixed in with the religion. I am not saying that there are not disciples of Christ in the Catholic church, but many are lead astray. The priests there actually preach against a team like us coming to this area and threaten members of their own church if they invite us into their home. Now it seems to me that if they were truely Christians, they would gladly accept us. Paul speaks of shaking the dust of one's sandal if not accepted. Maybe this is what he was talking about.

(2) It was HOT on the hill (mountain). There was NO shade. The watermelon was awesome. I chose to work with the construction crew that day because I knew they needed some extra help and I wanted to sweat a little. I wound up sweating more than I expected and got a nice sunburn inspite of wearing sun screen.

(3) I took a shower by filling up an empty 5 gallon water bottle and turning it upside down with my hand over the opening. Worked pretty well for me.

(4) The rain cooled things down a lot. I actually got a little chilly that night.

(5) The group has now finished sharing their "story". I feel like this did a lot to bring us closer and I hope to do it with any future team or community group. It would be fun just to do that with a group of friends b/c I don't know everyone's story of how they came to know Christ.

Oaxaca Episode III

Please continue to read about our trip here.

Events Lafe did not include:
(1) We pulled the first of many teeth in the clinic at Pueblo Viejo. Dr. Mark Rucker,
Dr. Adam Maass and I all went to the clinic of Dr. Steven Skoch, DDS in Fayetteville "in case" we had any teeth to pull. Well, word got out the gringos were pulling some teeth! It was a lot of fun. We saw some of the worst teeth I have ever seen aside from all the meth users here in NWA. As a side note, you can't judge a book by its cover, but you can tell who a meth user is by looking at their teeth! Don't use meth b/c it messes up your teeth along with the rest of your life. I think we should pull the teeth of all meth users without anesthesia as preventative measure.

We owe a big thank you to Dr. Skoch and his office and to Dr. ANGELica, the local missionary doctor we worked with. She truely is an ANGEL.

(2) While the construction crew was eating rubbery meat, we were eating ants as big as peanuts! Well, maybe not that big but close. They were cooked on a skillet and were considered a delicacy up there. They tasted like chicken....I mean like burnt pop corn kind of. I have video to prove it.

(3) Florentino did actually wake me up as well. I thought I was having a dream in Spanish when I realized there was really a man shouting something really fast in Spanish and acting really scared. All I heard was "hermano" which means brother and diarrhea which means well, you know. I went outside clumsily and heard the distinct sounds of someone having some bowel problems. I asked who it was and if they needed help and Adam said "no, I will be ok".

I went back inside, told Florentino "it's the doctor, he will be ok" and went back to sleep. I would have offered to place my hand on Adam as well but he said he would b eok. I prayed for him, though.

(4) It was pretty hot at night and I had my -400 celcius sleeping bag. Note to self, get a warm weather sleeping bag and bring a sheet. One thing I did do was to sleep in scrubs with socks and a shirt. I tuck everything in to keep the bugs out. Works pretty well and keeps you somewhat warm.

For some reason, I am having trouble loading images onto blogger from my computer. I think it is because of my friggin computer. Gosh, I may have to use my numchuck skills on it.

In 3 weeks this is where I get to go (San Juan). I will tell you more later.

Lorenzo and his son

View From the Pond in El Mosco

Kelley Kid

This is the picture of my future nephew. His arm is bent with his fist to his mouth. That big round thing in the upper right is his head. I know it doesn't look good, but I didn't taket he pic. They need to teach OB docs how to take better pics!

I don't know if you can make it out, but he is sucking his thumb. This is funny b/c Lindsey used to suck her thumb when she was young (like 23). Just kidding Lin. For all of you out there who have not seen the ultrasound pic, here it is. We left out the defining pic that tells us it is a boy.

By the way, you can check out the Kelley's new blog here.

Oaxaca Episode II

Once again, Lafe did an amazing job at describing the 2nd days events in Oaxaca. He even put in a little blip about the drama he and I shared together. It is funny, you should read it.

I will try to post pics later. Yeah, I know, I keep saying this, but one is my pics weren't that good. I didn't take many either, so I am a little disappointed. I will post when I get a chance. I did work last night so I have to sleep a little today. Give me a break.

Oaxaca Episode 1

Since Lafe did such a great job telling the details of the trip, I am going to let you read his post. Good Job Lafe!

He did leave out a few details of the first two days.
1) Kent's wife Kristen almost flipped the Fellowship van on the way to Tulsa. Don't tell them, we may need it next year. Don't tell Kristen, I don't think she even knows how close she came to flipping it.

2) Stu's parents are awesome! They let 15 total strangers keep them up really late and they got up really early along with Stu to make us a nice breakfast. Thanks a lot. That family defined hospitality that night.

3) Matt McClure forgot his wallet. Seems he had to make a last minute buy on my computer and left the wallet sitting on my desk. No big deal except you need money and ID to get in and out of the country.

4) My room was so cold the first night I got cold. Seriously. Sorry Lafe and Kent.

5) Ernesto's licuados de mango rock the house. I still think they are the best drink I have EVER had.

6) The sharing time was awesome. I had about 5 people share each night about a 5 minute glimpse into their story of how they came to know Jesus. Something about doing that really brings a group along quickly. If you have a small group and haven't done this, do it soon. Thanks to Dr. Dan Foutain for pointing this out.

7) I got the trip with my captian from previous fishing trips set up for the following Friday.

More to come tomorrow.

Back From Oaxaca

As I am about to embark on more sleep than I have had in a week or so, I wanted to inform my blog fans that I and my team have returned safely. We almost got swept away by the storm in Oklahoma last night (gusts up to 70 mph), but thanks to God we all made it back in one piece.


It was a trip of epic proportion. We ventured into unreached villages, pulled teeth, had amazing team unity, safe travel, caught 2 sailfish, saw a school of probably 300-500 dolphins, ate some amazing food, and only had a few cases of diarrhea.

Pics and possibly videos will follow, with more stories this week. I am off to sleep now.