From the Myhres Blog

From the Myhres blog:

"This is the real context of Easter--no bunnies or lilies, instead the shocking hubris of desperate men, the hate and terror that must be radically healed before our world is redeemed. Our hope lies not in minimizing or softening evil, but in overcoming it by love."

Read the whole post:

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2011/04/evil-abounds.html

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Wish List

Some friends have asked if there is anything they can get for me as I am heading back to Sudan.

I have created an Amazon wish list with some items that I could use at the Secondary School and some things that I would personally enjoy. If you order an item from the wish list, it will be sent to the address where I am collecting things that I am taking back with me to Sudan.

If you would like to be sent the wish list, send me an email. I may also share it on Facebook.

Meditation

"As digestion is the turning of the raw food into chyle and blood, and spirits and flesh, so mediation, rightly managed, turneth the truths received and remembered, into warm affection, raised resolution, and holy and upright conversation. Therefore, what good those men are like to get by sermons or providences, who are unacquainted with, and unaccustomed to, this work of meditation, you may easily judge. And why so much preaching is lost among us, and professors can run from sermon to sermon, and are never weary of hearing or reading, and yet have such languished, starved souls, I know no truer or greater cause than their ignorance and unconscionable neglect of mediation. " ~ Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest


One of the pastors at WEPC shared this passage at a teaching fellowship this Sunday morning, and I immediately thought, "That is me." In this season while I am living in Richmond, I have been taking in a lot of truths from sermons, conversations with friends, teaching fellowships, books, and Bible studies. I have not however been making time to meditate on those truths.

I think I have been trying to take in as much as possible while I am at WEPC before I head back to Sudan, and as a consequence, I haven't really processed much of what I have heard or read.

This weekend I went for a jog through two adjoining parks in Richmond and took some time to just think. After I got back to the car, I got out my camera and took some pictures of the beautiful spring leaves and flowers. (The top picture I took in CT a few last week)


Taking in the beauty of the morning, meditating on creation itself, and allowing myself to think with out any end or result in mind helped me to really experience of God's holiness and His great love for me that He would pursue relationship with me.

I realized after hearing that quote from Richard Baxter that I have not profited as much from most of the sermons, Bible studies, books, and conversations that I took in this month without any further mediation or consideration, as I got from two hours of thinking and meditating on creation that morning.


Please pray that God would bring the things I have heard in the last month back to mind as I take time to meditate on the truths that people have shared with me.

Praising God Across the Ocean

I have been so blessed by Sudan Christian Fellowship while I have been living in Richmond! This Saturday I had the privilege of joining Sudanese women from several communities in Virginia and North Carolina gathered to hear teaching, praise God, and encourage one another.

The Sudan Christian Fellowship children's choir shared a song with the group of women in Arabic. Many of these children were born in the US, but their parents have taught them about Sudan. Even though I didn't understand all the words, my heart was encouraged, so I hope this song encourages you also.

Daniel 7:14
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Home

My Facebook profile doesn't list a hometown or a current city for that matter. Lots of places around the world are part of the idea of home for me. No single place is a complete picture of home, but Richmond is a part of what I consider my home.

I only lived in Richmond for two and half years after I graduated from college. I enjoy the running the Monument Ave. 10k, seeing movies at the Byrd Theatre, and spending afternoons at Maymont Park in the spring, but these aren't the things that I think of when I remember Richmond.

Richmond is a part of the mosaic that is my concept of home largely because of my church community.

Lots of things have changed at WEPC and in my Bible study in the last two years, but some things have stayed the same.

Every sermon still ends with Jesus and the cross. I can take a class called "Theology for Living", but more importantly WEPC is still a community that daily lives out their theology. I can still laugh hard with the women in my Bible study. It is also still a group women that have the freedom and love for one another to be able to share openly about our lives.

I could go on for paragraphs about the things that have stayed the same about my church community that make it home, but I will just share one more example.

My pastor still gives the same benediction every Sunday. The first time I heard it again after two years, well I really don't know how to describe how I felt and I'm not great with words, but I guess I could say it was like the peace and joy of being welcomed into a place you can rest and comfortably be yourself because you are loved. Okay that was cheesy, but the benediction really does mean a lot to me.

Today I attended Sudan Christian fellowship, and during the greeting time, I shook hands with everyone in the congregation. This Sudanese custom again brought a feeling a home to me. Sudan is now a part of my mosaic of home. I practiced a bit of Juba Arabic with Sudanese believers from many different tribes, and their joy over the very simplest phrases I managed to piece together also reminded me of my home in Mundri.

But ultimately, as a friend commented recent post, "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:20)

Advertisements and Choices

One thing I noticed when I got back to the US that I'm pretty sure wasn't around or at least wasn't as common when I left are those square bar-code things in public places.

I recently learned they are actually called QR (quick response) codes. The image above is for the mobile version of Wikipedia.

I haven't tried this out, but I hear you can use a smart phone to scan the code, and it will take you to a website related to the advertisement. According to Wikipedia, that is called mobile tagging. I have seen them on "For Sale" signs on houses in Richmond, on trains, in malls, etc.

I'm guessing that most of you have known about these for a while and may even use them on a regular basis, but it was new to me. =)


One thing that hit me pretty hard when I got back was the number of choices available for nearly everything. I was completely overwhelmed at the grocery store when I had to choose between between over ten different kinds of onions. In Mundri, you go to the market, and onions are either there or they aren't there. You may see two different types of onions, but they are probably the same price. In the US, in addition to the different varieties, you then have to choose if you want to get the organic type or not. Most of the onions at the supermarket were huge, so I really only needed half an onion. It took me about ten minutes to make a decision and that was after I walked away to calm myself down and remind myself that they are all onions and pretty much any onion would work for the meal I was planning on making.

When Winter is Over

Just before we left Sudan in January, Bethany shared this poem with our team.

Two weeks ago I got to go to Maymont park with the Masso family. It is one of my favorite places in Richmond. Spring is coming and the flowers are starting to bloom, and I thought again of the last lines of this poem.

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A Short Testament
by Anne Porter

Whatever harm I may have done
In all my life in all your wide creation creation
If I cannot repair it
I beg you to repair it,

And then there are all the wounded
The poor the deaf the lonely and the old
Whom I have roughly dismissed
As if I were not one of them.
Where I have wronged them by it
And cannot make amends
I ask you
To comfort them to overflowing,

And where there are lives I may have withered around me,
Or lives of strangers far or near
That I've destroyed in blind complicity,
And if I cannot find them
Or have no way to serve them,

Remember them. I beg you to remember them

When winter is over
And all your unimaginable promises
Burst into song on death's bare branches.

Friends

I'm sorry I haven't been great about keeping up with blogging or sending out prayer letters since I arrived back in the US in January. Part of the reason, I think, is that I am still processing. When I sit down to write something to share with all the people who are praying for me, I end up staring at a blank screen or writing something and then deleting it. My journal is filled with raw thoughts and prayers, but putting something coherent together has been a struggle.

I decided to just share some thoughts about the last few weeks with all of you.

Over the last few weeks I have been reunited with several friends and teammates who know me well. It is amazing thing to have friends that that can almost fill in the blanks for me as I ramble through unprocessed thoughts about the my time in Sudan and transitioning to life in the US.

Being back in Richmond has been more of a blessing than I anticipated. I have been able to sit and talk with friends and even step back into the same Bible study I was a part of over two years ago. All I can say that I am so thankful for all of the people who have been loving me well and pouring into me. Dear friends have welcomed me into their home and a family has even provided me with a car while I am in Richmond. I have been overwhelmed by the hospitality and generosity of friends! God is providing for me and caring for me through this time of transition in beautiful ways that I didn't expect. Tomorrow starts my time at WEPC as a missionary in residence. I don't know what exactly this will look like, but I am excited to find out what God has planned.

I wish I could say I have mastered the art of packing and living out of a suitcase after two years overseas. This morning when I arrived at the Seattle airport getting ready to catch a flight back to Richmond I couldn't find my drivers license. After a bit of searching I realized I also didn't have the keys to the car I am using while I Richmond. Not good.... It was EARLY in the morning, but I decided to call my teammates that were still sleeping back in the hotel room we were sharing and ask them to look around. They very graciously searched the room. My drivers license wasn't there, but they found my keys, and thankfully were able to send hem on the hotel shuttle to the airport for me. The only picture id I had with me was my Penn State student id. Why I still have my student id in my wallet, I'm not sure, but after some extra security screening I made it to my flight just in time. When I arrived in Richmond and started unpacking, I found my drivers license. It was in my makeup bag of all places! Seriously, I have no idea what I was thinking when I put it in there... or more likely I just wasn't thinking. I had torn apart my purse and luggage at the airport looking for it, but never thought to check in my makeup bag.

I traveled to Seattle to attend the wedding of Kim and James. It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding that gave glory to God for what He has done in the lives of the bride and the groom. I cried several times throughout the ceremony. The wedding also provided an opportunity to spend some good quality time with people who have served in East Africa with Kim in Uganda and Sudan. We had a great time laughing, talking, and exploring Seattle together.



Since I was already going to be on the west coast for Kim's wedding, I decided to spend a few days in San Francisco before the wedding with several fellow Penn State Chemical Engineers. We reminisced about our years together in Happy Valley and spent time catching up on each others lives. We also got to go on a free tour of a chocolate factory!


The best thing about being back in the US has been spending time with friends and family in person and even just being able to talk on a phone with no delay or dropped calls. It has encouraged my heart and brought me so much joy. I know I won't be able to see everyone that I love and that has had an impact on my life over the last twenty six years, but I am thankful for all the opportunities I have had and will still have to hug my friends before I head back to Sudan.

Back in Richmond! (Date Correction)

I am back in Richmond, and it is good to be back!

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This Sunday, March 13th I will be giving a brief update at West End Presbyterian Church during both morning services.

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The New Sudan Film : DATE CORRECTION!

In my last prayer letter I made a mistake on the date of the showing of the film The New Sudan.

It will be showing on Saturday, March 19th from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall at West End Presbyterian Church.

"The New Sudan is a film detailing the civil war and the road to sustainable peace as South Sudan prepares for independence in July 2011. The story follows the lives of four Southern Sudanese and four significant areas of need and development: water, medical, education and church development. Michael & Karen (World Harvest Mission: Sudan), speakers. There is no charge for this event."

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The Michael and Karen will be giving a mission update at West End Presbyterian Church at both services on Sunday, March 20th.

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Date Review:

March 13th - Christine's mission update at both morning services of West End Presbyterian Church
March 19th - Showing of The New Sudan film at 7:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall of WEPC
March 20th - Michael and Karen's mission update at WEPC

Where are you from?

*With my grandparents in Santos, Brazil*

*A brief encounter with my cousin Bruno in the Sao Paulo airport as he arrived home from Australia the same day I left Brazil. Another cousin arrived back in Brazil after spending the last few weeks in Paraguay just as I was boarding my flight*

* With my cousin Shaila at the Great Wall in Beijing*

The last few weeks of traveling and visiting my family have been such a blessing! I have a very international family which has its perks, but it also means that I only see most of my relatives once every two or three years.

While I was in Shanghai visiting my cousin Shaila a young expat boy who was about four or five years old came up to me after he saw me at a few different stores in the international area of the city and we had the following conversation.

Boy: Where are you from?
Me: I'm from Brazil (the answer I gave when in Shanghai with my cousin).
Boy: We have friends from Brazil and you don't sound like them.
Me: I was raised in the United States.
Boy: So you live in Shanghai now also!
Me: No, I actually live in Africa.
Boy: Then why are you in Shanghai?
Me: My cousin lives here.
Boy: Is she Chinese?
Me: No, she is Brazilian, but she was raised in Austria.
Boy: So you are like me! I have to go pick new shoes, bye!

I never found out where he was from before he ran off to catch up with his parents and buy new shoes, but from his accent he was probably from northern Europe. In five minutes I heard him speak three different languages. Where are you from can be a difficult question. =)

Today I am so thankful for my family! I am thankful for my cousins and the way all of our very different international experiences and upbringings bring us together as third culture kids.