Easy and Yummy!!

Over here, any time I can come up something I can make completely from ingredients from here I am happy. I am even happier when it turns out. Sooo....I made this on Saturday when we had a Thanksgiving meal with a few friends. I thought maybe somebody would like to try this really easy Pumpkin Cheesecake. Let me also say I am writing the ingredients for those who don't live in the easiest country in the world to cook in!:) You know places where you can't buy ready made graham cracker crust! So if you live where you can buy a pre-made crust...go for it.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup cookies (whatever graham cracker type you can find.)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/8 tsp ginger
1/3 cup butter melted

1 pack cream cheese (softened)
3 eggs beaten
15oz pumpkin puree
(you can make it exactly like the Libby's brand by just baking cut up pumpkin in a baking dish with a little water. Bake it...mash it...and then puree it. It freezes great too. )
1/2 cup whip cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
(you can brown sugar by adding 1tablespoon of molasses to 1 cup of white sugar)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt


Crust:
In a large plastic bowl crush cookies into a coarse powder
mix in sugar and ground ginger
add in butter
stir together and then pat into your pan. ( a break away pan makes a pretty cheesecake!)

Filling:
Combine cream cheese and brown sugar- beat until smooth(on low speed if you are using a mixer)
beat in eggs
beat in pumpkin puree
stir in whipped cream
mix well
stir in spices
-pour into pie shell

Bake for 35-40 min.

Something to come home to....

Okay, this is another one of those transparent moments when I open up and share something that will leave me feeling a little uncomfortable. Anyway, in the 3rd month we had been here. I was struggling big time with not wanting to be here. I mean BIG TIME. I was letting my negative thoughts get to me and I felt so alone. We had to go over to Spain to renew our tourist passport and we were finishing up our visit there. I was in the restroom of the Port in Spain and I looked at myself in the mirror and I came up with this big plan about how I was going to tell my husband I had had enough, that I was not made for this kind of work, I just couldn't take it anymore. I told myself I could stand up for myself and tell my husband I was not going back across the border............(okay now you all see how I really am.) I walked out the door and I.......quietly got on the ferry boat back over here. Honestly I could feel the battle raging inside me. The Spirit is ready but the FLESH is weak. I asked God for grace and begged for Him to help me. I prayed silently in my seat on the 35min ride back "home". I told God to please, by December when it is time to go back to the USA for a little while to give me a reason to want to come back. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to come back here after being in America. I am amazed to see how God has worked since that time. He has done things that at that time I did not think possible. He has worked in my heart and given me desire and contentment. He has given us many reasons to be excited to return to our work here. I am crying as I share my heart with you because God amazes me by His faithfulness. I fought for so long for reasons not to be here, I can't believe how God has changed my heart. I am looking forward to visiting the USA, but I am also looking forward to coming back to all that God is doing here!

Not Yet...

I just wanted to give a short update. I have yet to show my friend the second part of the Jesus film. I have spent time thinking and praying about when to show it and I think for it will be best received after we spend a little more time talking about the life of Jesus. Then move on to the death and Resurrection. The really good news is that she is still asking about it. Asking questions about what she has already seen and wondering about what she is yet to see. In the past days she has opened up more to me and had a different a different way about her here in my home. She invited us to her home,(which means she is considering us friends, not just employers.) I am really encouraged. Almost everyday this week we have had really good conversations about Jesus. I am excited to see what God is going to do in her life.

Please Pray!

Today my good friend and I watched half of the Jesus Film in this dialect of Arabic. It went well. I stopped the movie half way through because I saw it was getting late. I wanted to be sure we will have plenty of time to talk about everything afterward. I set the remote between us and told her at any time she could pause it to ask a question or make a comment. Surprisingly she didn't make one argumentative comment. Her only question was the question I anticipated, she asked,"Why do they keep saying He is the Son of God??". Muslims believe Jesus was only prophet. She watched and listened with I believe true interest. I told her later would talk more about her question and watch the rest of the movie. She thanked me many times and expressed her desire to learn more about what I believe. I am so excited to be given this chance to share the Story with some one who has never heard. Please be praying. Tomorrow Lord willing we will finish the movie. I know the Crucifixion is going to be very uncomfortable for her to watch and difficult to understand. Please pray that God will use all this in her life. She will have heard very clearly the message and it will remain in her head for the rest of her life. I believe God is at work! Please pray! My Arabic is still not very good so pray that God will help me with this as well!

"So thats why you guys have so many Bibles!!"

I am so excited as I write this! Yesterday God gave me an awesome opportunity to share the Gospel completely with my friend who works in our house watching our children when we go to language school. She is usually a very hard case to crack. She rarely smiles and anytime I say anything about Jesus she is super fast with something about Mohammad. She fasted extra days after Ramadan to earn more points with God. When I have talked with her in the past she has always had a little smirk on her face. And a pitiful type little look every time I mess up my Arabic. But....PRAISE GOD, not yesterday!!!!! It began while she was helping me go through a lesson in my language school book. While we read many names we have in both Arabic and English, (OT names.) she asked me if we named our boys Issa (the Muslim name for Jesus. Not the same as Yesua El Mesih -Jesus the Messiah. A little confusing I know.) Anyway I told her we don't name our boys His name because there is no one like Him. And no man deserves His honorable name. She shook her head in agreement. She then said, "I will not name my son Mohammad because you are right." And so our conversation went out of our language school book to the names of God, to rights of citizenship.....why you ask???? Because if she has a baby in the USA her baby is a citizen of both America and this country. If I have a baby here my baby is American only. This is a Muslim country and they want to keep it that way. I am always talking about how in the USA we have Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc. I explained while saying "I 'm sorry." over and over ( you can say anything as long as you apologize here!) about all our freedoms. She was extremely interested. Sooooo....I took it a step farther. "In my country and in South America were I lived we have the freedom to study and learn about other religions, to go to any Mosque or Church or Temple we choose to." I explained how I am not allowed into the Mosque here. She was shocked. I told her about how in America you can buy huge beautiful Korans and tons of books about Islam. Or course she thought that was great. Then I told her the thing that hurts my heart is that if I were to lose my Bible I could not even buy a new one. She reasoned," Oh, because it is in English or Spanish..." I stopped her, "No, because you can't buy a Bible of any kind here."( I didn't want to go into the fact they are illegal.) She then started smiling...."Oh, now I understand why you all have so many, because your husband has the tendency to lose things." HAHAHAHA!!
From there I got to witness to her completely, we both believe that Jesus is coming back so I started there. I explained that Jesus DID die(Muslims don't believe Jesus died they believe He was called up to Heaven.) She surprised me by asking "WHY??" I explained everything to her. Near the end of our conversation I asked her if she had ever eaten food from Turkey. She told me "No." I then asked her if it was good or not? She laughed and told me she didn't know. She knew exactly what I was getting at. She told me food is like religion. You can't know the truth until you "try"it. She left promising to read the NT I had given her awhile back. I told her to begin with John and Romans. Please pray that she does. Tomorrow or the next day I am planning to show her the Jesus film in this dialect of Arabic. PLEASE PRAY!!! When she left yesterday she thanked me for our conversation and told me she knew it was very important. She told me she loved me as a sister. I was shocked, all this from the girl who prays in my son's room and always has a stone cold face. Please pray for her.

My House...My Rules!

Two days ago I had a conversation I would love to share with everyone reading. It was around 7:30 at night and one of my "friends" came to visit me. We made the first required 1/2 hour of small talk and then she started in on me. She has always tried to convince me to convert to Isalm. She always begins the same way....we are the same, we both love God,etc. I always struggle to get a word in. She is in her 40's and twice my size with a very forceful type personality. She has a very argumentative way about her in her conversation style. This is always very frustrating for me. So.....this time I with the courage that only God can give I let her have it.:) I was speaking in a tone I rarely use. I told her," Excuse me, this is MY house and you are NOT going to come here and talk at me. If you are going to continue to sit here I get to talk and you get to LISTEN." I went on to question her about the "peace" and "liberty" she talks about in her religion???? "So what I am seeing in Iran is liberty???"(In Iran, it has been reported that women are being arrested for exposing an inch of their hair. Also for wearing too bright of colors.) And What about Jihad?????? "Is that the peace you are talking about???" Or course she was trying desprately to stop me so she could speak, I just continued with my heart pounding and the feeling of anxiety probably very obvious in my voice. I could feel my face and neck were red hot. I continued by addressing her favorite topic....about how our Bible has been corrupted. She is always saying this. I told her to show me when and how it has been corrputed, I told her I needed an answer outside of the quran. Then from there we began to talk about a how I have read the quran and how she doesn't have a clue about the true Words of Jesus. I asked her why she is afraid to read the New Testament? Why is the Arabic Bible illegal here? I explained that in my country we have the freedom to search out the truth and that I did just that. I became a Christian when I was 17 so it is easy for me to explain how we are not born followers of Jesus. I explained that every person who is a ture follwer of Jesus Christ makes that choice for himself. I again let her know that I have read a good portion of the quran and I STILL believe the Words of Jesus. I challenged her to read the NT and to compare the lives and teachings of Jesus to the those of Mohammed. I paused to let her speak....I had to take a break.....She honestly didn't have much to say. I had gone to the bedroomto get her a NT.I laid it on the table and explained it was a gift from me to her. She picked it up and looked at it. She was quiet. I saw her struggle for what to say next. After a few minutes I guess she realized she had to change the subject, so what does she start in on.......President Bush....How we are all the REAL KILLERS....all the problems in entire world are caused by AMERICA. AHHHHHHHH...... with all the self control had I asked her if she wanted me to believe that all Muslims are terrorist and killers. Of course she said "NO!! That is not true." I explained that if we believe everything we hear on the news we cause ourselves to be ignorant only thinking what they want us to think. I told her how I believe we need to talk about problems we can do something about. I joked about me calling President Bush. She agreed with me that there is absolutly nothing she or I could do about the problems in Iraq, Afganistan, or Palestine. WOW....I was shocked we agreed on something. We talked peacefully for awhile longer and when she was leaving she thanked my over and over again for the NT. She kissed it and touched it to her heart. She left with the Word of God in her purse and questions in her mind.

Such a Spirtiual Thing to Do!!!!

Today I had a really disturbing experience! I went to practice Arabic with my friend at her store. I usually go and just sit and talk with her for an hour or so. She is rather forceful with correcting me so really she is just what I need! Anyway, first I should in saying I went to her "store" I am being really generous with that word. Her "store" is the size of a small bathroom. So we were just sitting there talking....as women do best... and these SUPER MUSLIMS came in, you know the fully covered can't see their face all black type. I always feel like they think I am dressed awful or that my hair is just creating such a problem here. So I am always uncomfortable around them. I mean come on, all you can see is two tiny dark eyes....a little spooky right???? Well, they were especially strange because they came in asking to see the clothes that were hung up directly over our heads. They were hovering.....I hate when people hover.......they were almost leaning on me...AHHHHHHHHH. (People here have no concept of the whole personal space idea, you know your bubble...) Anyway, as my friend and I were helping get down the clothes they supposedly wanted to see, evidently in that moment the lady was not focused on the clothes as we were, because they STOLE MY PURSE! They were gone about two minutes when I noticed my bag was not were I had left it. Which was about an arms reach from me. In the movement of us lowering the hanging clothes and offering our assurance the clothing was nice they had stolen my purse. I was shocked! I am not going to lie......I was super MAD! So many thoughts were racing through my mind. I felt so taken advantage of. It is hard sometimes to think good of people, you know to trust people. But when you get burned like that... The crazy thing was that it was head covered women, not poor dressed "wordly" women. I was robbed by supposedly the example of Spirituality. Hummm.. I asked my friend this question," So I am a foreigner right, and Follower of Jesus, NOT a Muslim. You want to me to like and respect your religion when my things just got stolen for the most spiritual among you....?" She was quiet, her usually holier than thou answers didn't seem to flow in this situation. I explained that though I was upset it was only things that I lost and things are not what brings happiness.


To be honest when things like this happen, I get mad. I really loose compassion for the people here. It is easy to do. They are so aggressive and critical. I always have to keep reminding myself that they really don't know any better. They have NO hope and nothing to live for. My husband reminded me as we were walking down the street with me crying after the whole ordeal that God has given us so much and I have to be an example of His Grace. Man, it is humbling...I just wanted to be mad at that lady. I wanted to take out all my feelings of frustration with this culture on her. I wanted to go off about hypocrisy and about how everything they do is for show. My flesh so weak. Praise God, He helped me overcome all my anger towards them.( For today, I have to seek continually to know the mind of Christ.) I know that lady as well as all the other Muslims just need Jesus. Only by His blood can they have a new life. Only by the Word can they really learn how to fear God and live Holy lives....I can't expect honesty and peace.

Everything is working Again!!

Not that everyone was just at the edge of their seats waiting for a blog entry or anything, but I sure am glad to have the Internet working again!!! We were traveling for a week or so and then we were home for about three hours and our Internet quit working. If you've ever lived in a third world country you know exactly what I mean!!
So much has happen in the last few weeks. I'm glad my husband was able to write about all the exciting things!
Another exciting thing happened today....not quite as exciting as 5 ex-muslim men being baptized but none the less exciting.....

*Our Daughter who is 19 months old used her little potty seat for the first!* I am crazy for writing about this, but come on, diapers are VERY expensive here!! :)