April 2020
Week #7
29/04/20 11:31
Seventh week of quarantine! The routine continues: Faby at work in the garden to make the yard beautiful for future retreats; Alan studying calculus to help Quichua students in Riobamba. (And our dog, Bellita, keeping an eye on everything.)
Like Father, like son?
20/04/20 13:47
Sixth week of quarantine! Faby is busy at work in the garden. What am I doing? I decided to begin studying calculus online. My Father was a mathematical genius. I just compared my homework with a paper I found in his office. Whoah! I'm a LONG way from getting anywhere near my father's math genius. But the inspiration continues to motivate me.
Actually another motivation is that some of the Quichua youth are studying at the university level in Riobamba and their hardest subject is Calculus. Hopefully I will be able to help them some.
Patience
13/04/20 18:30
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. James 5:7
We are now in the fifth week of quarantine. What is going to happen next? I don't know. But I do know that God is at work. We spend a lot of time these days in the garden. This verse in James reminds us of plants and agriculture. Nothing happens fast. You have to wait for the plant to grow. God has His timing. Faby patiently works in the garden. Now, after patient labor, we are seeing some of the fruit: tomatoes and a purple flower. A farmer learns patience. So we too, during this crisis, must learn patience. God is at work.
I can still remember this poem my mother taught me when I was young:
If a string is in a knot,
Patience can untie it.
Patience can do many things—
Have you ever tried it?
If it were sold at any shop
I should like to buy it.
But you and I must find our own—
Nothing can supply it.
Mission Stories
05/04/20 19:03
This marks the third week at home due to the coronavirus crisis. Lots of time for gardening, yard work, sorting out my office. I found a couple of cassettes with great talks about missions. Here are the links:
Paul B. Long: "Pilar"
The story of an evangelistic meeting in a small, rural Brazilian town.
Gary D. Gordon: "What World Missions Means to Me." Oct 4th, 1987
A testimony of growing up in Brasil with his parents who were founding a hospital.
Norman G. Gordon: "I Give You What I Have." Jan 24th, 1988
A sermon comparing the story in Acts 3 to his experience in Thailand.